Oil, obrigado

Petrobras, the huge state oil firm in Brazil, has announced another big oil find. The well is about 275 kms off the Sao Paulo state coast in a water depth of over 2000m. It appears this is a light crude find, compared with most Brazilian crude which is heavy. Brazil has announced a spate of big discoveries in the pre-salt region, located under a thick layer of salt 7 kms beneath the ocean's surface. This is going require serious technology. No doubt the technological hurdles will be overcome in the years ahead. Where does this leave Brazil? Currently it is a darling of the international investment community. But down the track the country runs the risk of the 'Dutch disease'. Already it complains of currency wars which are pushing up its exchange rate to overvalued levels. Chinese investment into Brazil has skyrocketed. All these demands for Brazilian currency plus Brazil's own high rate of government spending are leading to problems down the track. Brazil has historically been a 3-4% growth economy and things could well start to break if it keeps on growing at 5-7%, as recently. The QSL is from Radio Record in Sao Paulo, heard in Otford, Kent in 2000.

Cat's and Lilly's in the pink

US corporate profits continue to surprise on the upside. This is quite typical when the economy is in a rising phase as it is now. Two big global firms with headquarters in the mid-west reported better than expected profits today. Caterpillar Inc., the maker of huge earth-moving machines and based in Peoria, Illinois, said that profits in the last quarter quadrupled on a year before. Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eli Lilly and Co, the big drug-maker reported net income of $1.17bn, up 28%. This major operator (even though it's only the 10th biggest of its kind) sells its wares in over 140 countries. Like most drugs firms it is suffering from a run-off of top-selling patents which are now expiring and being replaced by generics. Even so Eli Lilly has revenues of $24bn per annum, which is about the GDP of whole countries like Latvia or Jordan. The QSL is from WHRI World Harvest Radio in Noblesville, Indiana (just a few miles north of Indianapolis), heard on short-wave with a test broadcast in 1985.

No more terror from Echo Tango Alpha?

ETA, the Basque separatist organisation has declared a permanent ceasefire. Riiiight. This is the 11th one. Number 10, announced in 2006, came to an end nine months later. So will it be different this time? In politics, as in economics, that is a very dangerous phrase to believe in. But maybe. The Basques have battled Spain since the Carlist wars back in the 1830s. This time the hope is that the ongoing internal struggle within ETA is enough to leave its opponents of armed struggle and terrorism in the ascendant. The Spanish Basques, in the north-east corner of the country have a significant degree of control over their own lives, collecting most of their own taxes. There has also been a revival of their language, Euskera. The QSL is from Euskadi Irratia, Bilbao, broadcasting on AM 1071, heard in London. Bilbao is the biggest city in the Basque country. In the top left corner you can see a bit of Euskera, confirming the report. It's very different from Spanish!

Bye bye Ben Ali bye bye

In South Africa, you will find the most southerly tip of the African continent at Cape Agulhas. In Tunisia you find the northernmost tip at Cape Blanc. I doubt that President Ben Ali was thinking of this when he skipped the country last week after 23 years in power. His overthrow was swift and jostling to establish a new government is under way. I visited Tunis in 1998 and spent time with some of the local stock exchange people. Already then the share trading system was very modern and automated. The island of Djerba off Tunisia's coast in the Mediterraniean is a stunning resort venue and I spent a great week there, mainly sailing Hobie Cats. The weather conditions were perfect. Plenty of sunshine and every afternoon the Sirocco would pick up steadily making for ideal Hobie conditions. At that time Ben Ali had already been in power for 11 years and he still had another 12 to go. The QSL is from La Telediffusion Tunisienne. This was one of the stations I heard and wrote to many times over the years without a peep. My visit to Tunisia motivated me to try again and suddenly there it was.

The sorry state of Illinois

The credit crunch has brought the finances of many US states into sharp focus. None more so than Illinois. There is even an activist non-partisan organisation which calls itself Illinois is Broke which highlights the mess the finances are in. Total debt is over $170bn and is rising at around $15bn per annum. During the boom years many states and countries were able to hide behind strong tax revenue growth and ignore unsustainable spending. When the crunch came the spending was left high and dry along with the debt as the revenues dried up. In Illinois' case that debt is equivalent to $25k per household. That's a lot in a state where the per capita income is around $41k. The retirement age for public sector workers is just 55 - look to a big increase in that in the years ahead. Illinois and other crisis states like California are interesting because they highlight the problems of countries like Greece and Ireland in the Eurozone. US states are now irrevocably part of the Union. Greece and Ireland could yet pull out (I think they won't). In the 1800s it was by no means certain that US states were permanently in but they are now. The QSL is from the Chicago, IL station WMVP, a sports broadcaster on AM 1000 heard in Cape Town 2007.

Could condemned combi contact Cocos?

David Klatzow, the South African forensic scientist, has a new book out - 'Steeped in Blood.' One chapter deals with the SA Airways Helderberg crash, when a Boeing combi plunged into the sea near Mauritius, in 1987. He alleges that the Margo Commission which investigated the disaster was a cover up. According to him the fire which ultimately downed the plane started not too long after take-off in Taipei and the SA authorities instructed the pilot continue the flight towards Mauritius. The reason for this was that there was illegal rocket fuel on board (which had caused the fire). As such, if the pilot had landed at an Asian airport the illegal fuel would have been discovered and no insurance would have been paid out. Even though this was in the sanctions period, SA aircraft (designated 'Springbok') would typically call in to flight controllers along the route - aeradios like Lumpur, Darwin and Cocos were easy to hear in Cape Town. In addition, any instructions from SA would also have used an HF frequency and so could have been easily heard by amateurs and professionals. The truth is unlikely to come out but something strange happened on that flight. The QSL is from Cocos Aeradio on the tiny Cocos and Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean. It refers to a contact with a Springbok flight, heard in 1986 in Cape Town.

Gbagbo won't gbo

The Ivory Coast presidential elections went pear-shaped. In a close poll, challenger Alassane Ouattara was deemed to have won. But incumbent Laurent Gbabgo refused to accept the result. Then followed a farce with both 'winners' having themselves sworn in in separate ceremonies. The international community and neighbouring west African states (Ecowas) have turned against Gbabgo, with the latter threatening to remove him by force. Gbagbo, a history PhD, originally opposed Ivorian strong man Felix Houphouet-Boigny in the 1990 presidential election but lost easily. He tried again in 2000 but the military leader Robert Buei claimed victory. Gbagbo's supporters took to the streets and turned Buei out. Civil war followed between the Muslim north and Christian south. A sort of peace was eventually restored and after several postponements a new election was announced for 2010. The country again stands on the brink of turmoil. Ivory Coast produces over a third of the world's cocoa and the post-election uncertainty has helped push the price up towards $3000/tonne. Chocolate-lovers beware! The QSL is from Radio Abidjan, heard in Cape Town in 1970, when Houphouet-Boigny was still well in control.