"March 17, 2009"
http://www.spaceweather.com/
"Daily Sun: 17 Mar 09 The Sun is blank--no Sunspots. Sunspot number: 0"
"Far side of the Sun: This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far
side of the sun."
"Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet"

The face of the Sun is without blemish:
http://www.spaceweather.com/images20...5gjlqo64 0ri6

Please visit:

http://blog.nj.com/southjersey_impac...SolarCycle.jpg

The right panel shows the face of the Sun as it looked on a good day during
the late Modern Warm Period. Sunspots are the apparent size of craters on
the moon. The left panel shows a Sun as it appears today. Please write to Al
Gore so that Al knows that the Sun is not living up to his religious
expectations. Al Gore is a divinity school dropout. George Carlin had a
better grasp of the true nature of God's creation, than does Al Gore.

Please visit:

http://www.co-intelligence.org/newsl...es/sun-etc.jpg

which shows the relative sizes of the Sun and planets. Compared to the Sun,
Jupiter is the size of a pea, earth is the size of a grain of sand.

Singapore Exports Decline, Extending Longest Slump Since 2002

By Shamim Adam

March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore's exports fell for a 10th month in
February, as a collapse in global demand for electronics and pharmaceuticals
extended the longest slump in the nation's overseas sales since 2002.

Non-oil domestic exports dropped 23.7 percent from a year earlier, after
contracting a revised 34.9 percent in January, the trade promotion agency
said in a statement today. Economists had expected a 27.8 percent decline.

Singapore, the world's busiest container port, posted the biggest drop in
cargo-box traffic in at least 11 years last month, adding to signs the
nation is in its sharpest and deepest recession on record. Minister Mentor
Lee Kuan Yew said this month the economy may contract as much as 10 percent
this year if exports continue the recent pace of decline.

"With external demand still in limbo and the uncertainties surrounding the
global economy, the pain on the external front will last for many more
months to come," said Irvin Seah, an economist at DBS Bank Ltd. in
Singapore.

The global economy may shrink this year for the first time since World War
II, with trade dropping by the most since the Great Depression, the World
Bank said this month. Japan's exports tumbled 45.7 percent in January and
China's plunged by a record 25.7 percent last month as recessions in the
U.S. and Europe smothered demand for Toyota Motor Corp. Camry sedans and
other Asian goods.

"We remain bearish on the exports outlook for Southeast Asian economies,
especially Singapore," said Alvin Liew, an economist at Standard Chartered
Plc in Singapore. The 19.8 percent decline in Singapore's February container
traffic "adds to concern of a bleak exports picture in the near term."

Electronics Drop

Non-oil domestic exports will plunge 17.5 percent this year, according to a
central bank survey of 20 economists released yesterday. The government
expects overseas shipments to fall as much as 11 percent this year.

Singapore's non-oil exports rose a seasonally adjusted 1.8 percent last
month from January, when they slid a revised 3.3 percent, today's report
showed. Economists had expected a 1.9 percent decline.

Electronics shipments plunged 31.9 percent in February from a year earlier,
the 25th consecutive drop, following a 38.4 percent decline in January.
Sales of electronics products by companies including Chartered Semiconductor
Manufacturing Ltd. were worth S$3.46 billion ($2.3 billion) last month.

Non-electronics shipments, which include petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals,
fell 18.3 percent in February from a year earlier. Pharmaceutical shipments
dropped 23.4 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at


Last Updated: March 17, 2009 01:00 EDT