Non-Mini Auto Sales -31.5 % in March of Japan's Table

Automobile sales in Japan, excluding 660cc minivehicles, fell 31.5 percent in March from a

year earlier to 323,063 vehicles, the Japan Automobile Dealers.
Association said on Wednesday. Sales at top-ranked Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research), excluding the Lexus brand, fell 31.9 percent, while those at Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 33.5 percent and Honda Motor Co's (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research) retreated 24.5 percent. It was the lowest March figure for non-minivehicle sales in 35 years, since sales tallied 293,598 units in 1974. For the January-March period sales totalled 715,556 units, down 30.9 percent from a year earlier.
The following is a sales breakdown, with percentage changes from a year earlier, for March:
TOTAL 323,063 (-31.5)
Cars 286,311 (-30.9)
Trucks 34,118 (-37.2)
Toyota brand 135,700 (-31.9)
Lexus* 1,639 (-51.1)
Toyota Motor (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research)
Nissan Motor (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 59,292 (-33.5)
Honda Motor (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 45,253 (-24.5)
Mazda Motor (7261.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 17,211 (-36.3)
Mitsubishi Motors (7211.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 7,619 (-36.6)
Suzuki Motor (7269.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 10,128 (-17.4)
Fuji Heavy (7270.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 10,925 (-24.5)
Imports 22,168 (-24.7)
*Lexus is the luxury brand of Toyota Motor. Sales in Japan
began on Aug. 30, 2005.

Source : uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKT6680620090401

General Motors Corporation on 45% Sales in March-

General Motors Corporation (GM) announced on Wednesday that it saw a 45% drop in United States vehicle sales for its cars in March. Executives from several auto firms, however, said that there was some hope for the auto industry to stabilise, as car sales rebounded in the last week of March.

"The market is starting to show small signs of life which need to be nourished like seedlings," said the vice president and chairman of Chrysler LLC Jim Press. "It's too early to see a trend, but spring shows signs of hope."
Other automobile manufacturers also saw their car sales slip: Chrysler and the Japanese Toyota both reported a 39% loss, whilst Ford Motor Company sales fell 41%. Annualised sales of vehicles in the car industry in the US are predicted to have dipped below nine million in March, compared to February's 9.12 million, which was the lowest number since 1981.
"Auto makers are pulling every lever in their effort to attract buyers, as evidenced by the new programs from Ford and GM. The typical incentive programs simply do not resonate in today's economy," Jesse Toprak, an analyst for Edmunds.
Ford shares gained 2.3% to a level of US$2.69 in early trading at US stock markets on Wednesday, while stocks for Toyota's US depository increased 5.9% to $67. GM shares slipped 1.6% down to $1.92.

Source : en.wikinews.org/wiki/General_Motors_automobile_sales_plunge_by_45%25?curid=124043

Make food tastier for cancer patients

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy leave a lingering bad taste in the mouth of cancer patients and possibly causes malnutrition, according to a compilation of existing studies.

One of the goals of a new study, said Andrea Dietrich, professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) at Virginia Tech, is to help researchers find ways to make food more palatable for such patients. A bad taste in the mouth leads to poor nutrition because patients avoid eating, said Susan Duncan, professor of food science and technology at Virginia Tech. Approximately two-thirds of cancer patients, who receive chemotherapy, report decreased or lost taste acuity or metallic taste which can impair chances of their survival, as reported in an earlier study conducted by the Duke University. Dietrich, an expert on water quality and treatment, has expanded upon her knowledge of this field to include such assessments in cancer patients. She worked with Jae Hee Hong, Susan E. Duncan, and Brian T. Stanek of Virginia Tech's Food Science and Technology Department, Pinar Omur-Ozbek, also of CEE, Yong Woo Lee of Virginia Tech's School of Biomedical Engineering and Glenn Lesser, a physician of hematology and oncology at Wake Forest, said a Wake Forest release. Their joint paper appeared in the March-April Journal of Supportive Oncology.

Source : www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/099200904011421.htm

Japan's new automobile - 31.5% dived

New automobiles sold in Japan dived 31.5 percent year-on-year in March to 323,063 units, the lowest level since 1974, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Wednesday. It was also the eighth consecutive monthly fall in the sales of new vehicles. In the year to March, sales of cars, buses and trucks fell below the 3 million line for the first time since 1971, contracting by 15.6 percent year-on-year to 2,891,901 units, said the trade body. A sharp decline in demand amid the economic recession is believed to be the key factor behind the slump in sales, according to the association.

Source : news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/01/content_11113005.htm

Bailout Works - Automobiles

David Sanger analyzes President Obama's plan for the ailing domestic auto industry. And the historical precedents, Sanger suggests, are not encouraging: "In the past, the United States government had briefly nationalized steel makers and tried to run the railroads, with little success."
I claim no particular expertise on either of those episodes. But Phillip Longman, a fellow at the New America Foundation, does. And in the latest edition of the Washington Monthly, he argues that the railroad takeover was actually a great success:
here is a bright shining example from not so long ago of government bureaucrats engineering the revival of an industry easily as troubled as today’s automakers and, if anything, more central to the economy. And it all turned out better than anyone dared hope, with a dazzling return to profitability. It is the story of the railroad industry, and while the parallels with today’s auto industry are not exact, they are close enough to provide many useful lessons. Its example suggests that, as the automakers return to Washington for a second round of assistance, the greatest danger may well be not that government will intervene too much, but that it won’t intervene enough
Nor is this an isolated example, according to Longman:
The federal government has quite an impressive record of rescuing institutions considered too big to fail. In addition to almost routine workouts of failed banks conducted in good and bad times by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other regulators, the list includes many large industrial companies as well. In 1971, for example, Congress extended emergency loans to failing aircraft builder Lockheed and wound up not only saving a company vital to America’s national defense and export manufacturing base, but earning a net income for the Treasury of $5.4 million in loan fees.
None of this means Obama's plan for the auto industry is sure to work. But the idea that government can't intervene successfully to rescue a dying industry seems to be pretty off-base.

Source : blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/03/31/planes-trains-and-automobiles-sometimes-bailouts-work.aspx

Apple iMac processors

Source -- youtube

Space Stations Wings In Robots Arms

Astronauts used a pair of robotic cranes to unpack the International Space Station's last set of solar wing panels from shuttle Discovery's cargo bay on Wednesday, part of three-day effort to bring the orbital outpost up to full power.
Installing the power system is the primary purpose of NASA's 125th shuttle mission, which began Sunday with Discovery's blastoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle arrived at the station, orbiting 220 miles above Earth, on Tuesday for an eight-day stay.
The shuttle and station crews used robot arms on both spacecraft to delicately maneuver the 31,000-pound (13,950 kg) girder, which contains the solar power panels, out of the shuttle and over to the space station. It is scheduled to be installed on Thursday during the mission's first spacewalk.
Once in position, the station's 11-part spine will be complete after more than a decade of construction. NASA has up to nine shuttle missions remaining to finishing installing science laboratories and equipment to support an expanded, six-member space station crew.
The power system, built by Boeing, is designed to supply 124 kilowatts of electricity to the station -- enough to power 42 average-sized U.S. homes.
During their first in-flight interview, rookie astronauts said the rocket ride into space was smoother than they had expected.
"The time kind of sneaks up on you. You're sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting and all of sudden you're inside the nine-minute hold (in the launch countdown) and you know you're going to go," said Richard Arnold, one of Discovery's two teacher-astronauts.
"I was surprised at how relatively quiet it was -- a bit of shaking, a very smooth ride. I was expecting a bit more noise," he added.
After reaching orbit, the crew surveyed their ship's heat shield for damage. NASA on Wednesday told the crew the shuttle was in good shape and no additional inspections were needed.

source : www.uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKTRE52E09120090319?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true