U. S. Steel Corp. on Friday confirmed that 799 employees to date have been temporarily laid off in Fairfield.
Sarah Cassella, a spokeswoman for U.S. Steel Corp. in Pittsburgh, told the BBJ on Friday that since March 29, 799 workers have been laid off at both the Fairfield Works and Fairfield Tubular facility. That's in addition to 300 previous layoffs at the company earlier this year.
April 18, 2015: the post below bothered me overnight. In "fairness," I really think the drop in the stock market yesterday was simply an opportunity to take profits, and once the market began to drop, the computers took over. Most likely it was the Greek and the Chinese economy story that drove the market in the first place, but the Mideast is certainly heating up.
The Kirkuk oil field has ever since [its discovery in 1927] remained the most important part of northern Iraqi oil production with over 10 billion barrels (1.6 billion cubic metres) of proven remaining oil reserves in 1998. After about seven decades of operation, Kirkuk still produces up to 1 million barrels per day (160,000 cubic metres per day), almost half of all Iraqi oil exports.
So, that's to the north where Iraqi forces re-took the city of Mosul after a heavy investment of resources, men, materiel, and cooperation of the allies.
Much closer to Baghdad is the news coming out of Ramadi, see below.
Another story in today's WSJ is an example of how far the terrorists have come in re-drawing maps in the mideast. It turns out that terrorist groups are now in control of another provincial capital in Syria:
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad blamed Turkey in remarks published Friday for the fall last month of Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib to Islamic fighters, saying Ankara provided “huge support”—logistic and military—that played the key role in the defeat of his forces.
Idlib’s fall was a major blow to Assad’s government. The city was captured by opposition fighters led by al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, and the ultra-conservative Ahrar al-Sham group.
It was the second provincial capital to fall to militants during Syria’s civil war. The city of Raqqa fell in 2013 and is now in the hands of Islamic State militants.
So now we have al-Qaida (a resurgence it seems), al-Sham (new boys on the block), and ISIS.
And, of course, no update on Yemen and the Iranian "armada" that is headed there to support the rebels.
Original Post
Now that the news cycle is over for the week, it appears that the news embargo has been lifted, at least temporarily. Earlier there was a story that Greece is beginning to sell its assets to meet debt payments now due April 24th.
Thousands of families fleeing Iraq’s western city of Ramadi choked checkpoints leading to Baghdad on Friday, after an Islamic State advance spread panic and left security forces clinging to control.
A column of traffic several vehicles wide snaked for miles at a checkpoint in Sadr al-Yusufiyah, on the edge of Baghdad province, as minibuses, cars and trucks picked up families who crossed by foot carrying their possessions in bags and wheelbarrows.
Suhaib al-Rawi, the governor of Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital, described it as a human disaster on a scale the city has never witnessed.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned that the city is at risk of falling to the Islamic State despite seven months of airstrikes by U.S. planes in Anbar. Such a loss would be a serious blow to Iraq’s government, which recently announced a military campaign for the province after retaking the militant stronghold of Tikrit, and to the international effort to push back the militant group, whose gains in Ramadi have demonstrated an ability to create chaos even while under pressure.
Seven months of airstrikes. Something tells me the colonels at Air War College are hearing from their US Army colleagues about "boots on ground."
So, this is pretty much where we stand at the moment in the Mideast --
Iraq is no longer functioning as a "state" -- US assessment
ISIS is moving towards Baghdad
Iran is sending an "armada" of 7 to 9 ships to assist the rebels in Yemen
Obama promised a few days ago to expedite weapons/ammunition requested by Saudi Arabia
Obama's one-sided agreement with Iran provided the opening Putin needed to send missiles to Iran
The market fell almost 300 points today; the Dow is now at a loss for the year. Coincidence? I think not. Pundits said it was due to Greece and the economy in China, both of which have been known for some time. Something tells me the movers and shakers on Wall Street were getting word of ISIS moving towards Baghdad earlier today. Movers and shakers did not want to be caught holding securities over the weekend.
Four patients are being treated at Community Regional Medical Center's burn and trauma unit. Three of them are in critical condition and one is in serious condition.
Four other patients were taken to St. Agnes Hospital and three more to Madera Community Hospital.
Traffic going north and south on Highway 99 was halted by the explosion at about 2:30 p.m.
The explosion happened at the Fresno County Sheriff's gun range, where a work crew including county jail inmates using heavy equipment apparently hit a pipe carrying natural gas. One of the workers appeared to be in critical condition.
I am not saying that CBR is safer than pipelines. I am saying that both CBR and pipelines carrying crude oil or natural gas are inherently risky but processes can be put in place to minimize risk.
Celanese Corp. is considering expanding its South Texas chemical plant to produce methanol, the company has announced.
Building a methanol unit at the plant in Bishop near Corpus Christi
would be the latest move by the Dallas-based chemical company to
capitalize on an abundance of cheap U.S. shale gas. Celanese has been
building a new methanol unit in Clear Lake, southeast of Houston under a
joint venture with Mitsui & Co., one of Japan’s largest generally
traded companies.
The project, which should be finished by October, will have the
capacity to produce 1.3 million tons of methanol per year. Made from
natural gas, methanol is used in a wide range of products, including
plastics, paints, solvents, refrigerants and pigments.
According to projections, the world will add 50 million metric tons of
new methanol capacity within the next decade, with about one-third of
that coming from North America.
So, while every story in America is about growing, the Mideast continues to build up for war. The Hill is reporting:
U.S. military officials are concerned that Iran's support for Houthi
rebels in Yemen could spark a confrontation with Saudi Arabia and plunge
the region into sectarian war.
Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships — some with weapons —
toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels,
according to two U.S. defense officials.
Officials fear the move
could lead to a showdown with the U.S. or other members of a Saudi-led
coalition, which is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen and is
conducting its fourth week of airstrikes against the Houthis.
Iran
sent a destroyer and another vessel to waters near Yemen last week but
said it was part of a routine counter-piracy mission.
What's
unusual about the new deployment, which set out this week, is that the
Iranians are not trying to conceal it, officials said. Instead, they
appear to be trying to "communicate it" to the U.S. and its allies in
the Gulf.
The really, really good news for Iran: the US president is trying to run out the clock. His original staff is dwindling; the ones that are still there are working on their resumes for LifeAfterObama.
