Tide Reverses in Latin America; Brazil’s Prospects Fall While Mexico’s Rise as Fed Prepares to Ease Bond Buying

September 8, 2013, 7:35 p.m. ET

Tide Reverses in Latin America

Brazil’s Prospects Fall While Mexico’s Rise as Fed Prepares to Ease Bond Buying

THOMAS CATAN

The divergent fortunes of global emerging markets can be told through Latin America’s two biggest economies: Mexico and Brazil. Think of it as a tortoise-and-hare story. For the past decade, Brazil has boomed by selling raw materials to China. Its expanding middle class gorged on a tide of cheap credit unleashed by central banks in advanced economies as they tried to energize their recoveries. Read more of this post

More money, more problems for Norway

More money, more problems for Norway

Monday, September 9, 2013 – 08:50

AFP

OSLO – Norway which goes to the polls today, is an island of prosperity in Europe, with so much money that it literally doesn’t know what to do with it. The Nordic country faces an embarrassment of riches as it tries to figure out how to spend its huge pile of oil money without damaging the economy in the long run. “All countries around us are forced to reduce their spending,” said Mr Oeystein Doerum, chief economist at Norway’s largest bank, DNB. “Our biggest challenge is that our oil wealth is so huge, we run the risk of wasting it on substandard projects that are not profitable enough.” Read more of this post

Russia to Brazil Intervention Adds to U.S. Debt Woes Amid Losses

Russia to Brazil Intervention Adds to U.S. Debt Woes Amid Losses

Investors suffering the worst losses in Treasuries since at least 1978 can add dollar sales by emerging-market central banks to their list of challenges. Speculation that the Federal Reserve, the biggest buyer of Treasuries, will reduce its purchases sent U.S. debt down 4.1 percent this year and boosted the dollar against developing-nation currencies for four straight months, matching the longest streak since 2001, according to Bloomberg data. India, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia have intervened in foreign-exchange markets, and dollar sales mean liquidating Treasuries, according to bond traders at Scotiabank and Bank of America Corp. Read more of this post

N.Y. Subpoenas Bitcoin Firms in Probe on Criminal Risk

N.Y. Subpoenas Bitcoin Firms in Probe on Criminal Risk

New York’s top banking regulator sent subpoenas to 22 digital-currency companies, including BitInstant LLC and Dwolla Corp., to determine whether new regulations should be adopted to govern the emerging industry, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bitcoin is a virtual currency created four years ago that can be used to buy and sell a broad array of items, from electronics to illegal narcotics, according to the agency. Read more of this post

Hedge Funds Cut Back on Fees; Pressure From Disappointed Investors Changes ‘2 and 20’ Model

Updated September 9, 2013, 12:31 a.m. ET

Hedge Funds Cut Back on Fees

Pressure From Disappointed Investors Changes ‘2 and 20’ Model

GREGORY ZUCKERMAN, JULIET CHUNG and MICHAEL CORKERY

Pressure from disappointed investors is forcing hedge funds to roll back their fees, putting the standard charge of 2% of assets under management and 20% of investment profits on the endangered list. Until a few years ago, most funds were like upscale New York restaurants: Some succeeded, others failed, but almost none cut prices. This pricing power was a product of the tens of billions of dollars that flowed into the industry after the tech meltdown of 2000, when savvy investments by some hedge funds shielded their investors from the drubbing suffered by holders of broad stock funds. Read more of this post

Haunted Greeks Sell Real Estate EBay-Style to Evict Debt Specter

Haunted Greeks Sell Real Estate EBay-Style to Evict Debt Specter

A legend that has swirled around the dilapidated mansion on Smolenski Street in Athens is that the ghost of the previous owner deters prospective buyers by moaning: “The house is mine.” The Greek government refuses to be spooked. The protected two-story mansion and tower, replete with palm trees in the overgrown gardens, will be sold on Sept. 17 to the highest bidder in an EBay-style Internet auction. Greece is trying to dispel criticism it’s not doing enough to sell real estate pledged as part of its 240 billion-euro ($315 billion) rescue. Read more of this post

Defiant Dancers Warn of Assad’s Reprisals as U.S. Warships Wait

Defiant Dancers Warn of Assad’s Reprisals as U.S. Warships Wait

As U.S. warships carrying cruise missiles took position in the Mediterranean, Syrian revelers danced in defiance to tunes extolling their president. “These songs put us in a beautiful mood,” said Nazhat Haj Ali, a supporter of Bashar al-Assad, describing the beach party on the sea’s eastern shore he had organized in the coastal city of Tartus four days ago. “Let the warships come. Our president is strong, and if they attack, he will emerge stronger.” Read more of this post

Classic Ferraris, Bentleys soar in value as gold price sinks

Updated: Saturday September 7, 2013 MYT 2:11:56 PM

Classic Ferraris, Bentleys soar in value as gold price sinks

LONDON: Classic cars such as Ferraris, Bugattis and Bentleys soared by 28 percent in value in the year to June, outstripping gold, art and luxury London property thanks to rising demand from wealthy Asians. Property consultancy Knight Frank, which publishes an index tracking the performance of luxury goods, said the world’s wealthy were putting more money into tangible items that they could enjoy as the world economy looks to be recovering. Read more of this post

Cash-Starved Spanish Companies Run Out of Time

Cash-Starved Spanish Companies Run Out of Time

Patricia Carral Cunningham says the economic recovery may come too late for her business even after she kept up sales to weather Spain’s six-year slump. “I’ve put up all my personal assets as guarantees and now there’s no way I can get another credit line,” according to Carral, 50, who says her Madrid-based construction company Soldray S.L.’s 20 years of experience helped it survive the end of a real-estate boom in 2007. Read more of this post

America Faces the Shock of the Old; Future Economic Growth May Depend on Innovation

September 8, 2013, 5:48 p.m. ET

America Faces the Shock of the Old

Future Economic Growth May Depend on Innovation

JUSTIN LAHART

U.S. companies just haven’t been pushing boundaries like they used to. Innovation is the secret sauce of growth, enabling an economy to advance at a faster pace than the mere combination of investment and labor allows. A history of innovation encompassing the likes of the light bulb and the Internet is a big reason why the U.S. economy has been so much more robust over the long haul than others. But there is no guarantee that past will be prologue. Read more of this post

A solar-energy firm backed by entrepreneur Elon Musk ditched a type of “Happy Meal” share-lending deal that has given some investors indigestion

September 8, 2013, 8:29 p.m. ET

Musk-Backed SolarCity Scraps ‘Happy Meal’ Deal

Financing Technique Has Concerned Some Investors

MICHAEL SICONOLFI And MICHAEL ROTHFELD

A solar-energy firm backed by entrepreneur Elon Musk ditched a type of “Happy Meal” share-lending deal that has given some investors indigestion. SolarCity Corp., SCTY -2.53% a San Mateo, Calif., energy-services provider where Mr. Musk is chairman, made the disclosure recently in an amended securities filing. At issue is a financing technique for cash-starved companies named after the McDonald’s Corp. MCD +0.63%meal-and-toy combo. Companies strapped for cash serve up everything investors need to profit: bonds that are convertible into stock if the borrower does well and tools for betting against the firm if its prospects sour. Read more of this post

Billion dollar bond shows South Korea is hot – and it knows it

Billion dollar bond shows South Korea is hot – and it knows it

Reuters Sep 6, 2013, 02.12PM IST

SINGAPORE: Korea is hot and it knows it. To prove it, Seoul has just issued a $1 billion 10-year bond that highlights just how different Korea is from the rest of emerging Asia. While Indonesia issues dollar bonds in desperation – and India only in its imagination – to shore up ailing currencies, South Korea did so to flaunt its credentials as Asia’s new safe haven. Demand was so great that Seoul could have issued a bond five times the size. A third of the debt was placed with foreign central banks and sovereign wealth funds – the world’s most prestigious and conservative investors. It marks a dramatic turnaround for a country that was an IMF pupil during the Asian financial crisis 16 years ago and traditionally gets hammered, along with Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, when investors sour on Asia’s emerging markets. Read more of this post

12 Korean conglomerates’ cross-share holdings valued at near $83bn

12 conglomerates’ cross-share holdings valued at near $83bn

2013.09.09 14:41:44

South Korea’s conglomerates held their affiliate shares worth nearly 90 trillion won ($82.7 billion) in the form of cross-share holdings. 12 conglomerates formed cross-share holding loops as of late June, and the conglomerates’ 76 affiliates made 117 cross-share holding loops, said local corporate information provider Chaebul.com Monday. The conglomerates’ stakes in the form of cross-share holdings were valued at 86.7 trillion won. Nine subsidiaries of the nation’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, including Everland, Samsung Electronics and Samsung Life Insurance, had 16 cross-share holding loops. Their combined stocks in cross-share holdings came to 39.4 trillion won, the largest among the 12 conglomerates. Hyundai Motor Group’s four affiliates created two cross-share holding loops, with a total value of 28.0 trillion won. Lotte Group established a complex web of cross-share holdings, as its 15 subsidiaries have formed 51 cross-share holding loops. It was the largest number of loops among the 12 conglomerates, with a combined value of 6.8 trillion won. Hyundai Heavy Industries Group and Daelim Group established one loop of cross-share holdings among three subsidiaries respectively. The former cross-share holdings stood at 4.4 trillion won in value, and the latter at 963.1 billion won. Youngpoong Group had 10 cross-share holding loops totaling 3.0 trillion won, while Tongyang Group had 17 loops.

World Gaining Faith in Japan as Topix Index Gets Cheaper

World Gaining Faith in Japan as Topix Index Gets Cheaper

Japanese shares are getting cheaper faster than any developed market as global investors regain faith in the world’s third-largest economy, with valuations declining even as the benchmark Topix index rallies. The price-earnings ratio for the nation’s companies dropped to 14.3 times estimated profits from 17.1 at the start of 2013 because the Topix’s 34 percent surge, the biggest among 24 developed countries tracked by Bloomberg, has failed to keep up with analyst forecasts for 60 percent income growth. Nowhere have valuations contracted faster than in Japan. Multiples have increased in the U.S., France and the U.K. Read more of this post

Yudhoyono Reopens Possibility of Capital Other Than Jakarta

Yudhoyono Reopens Possibility of Capital Other Than Jakarta

By Arientha Primanita on 5:02 pm September 8, 2013.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said his administration has continued to consider the possibility of moving Indonesia’s center of government to a city less densely populated and problem-prone than Jakarta. “We had made a small team to think about the moving of our capital city,” he said at a press conference in St. Petersburg, Russia on Saturday, according to his official website. “In this case, the center of economy, trade and others would stay in Jakarta, but we would move the government center to another place.” Read more of this post

Jokowi’s rising star puts Megawati in the shade

Jokowi’s rising star puts Megawati in the shade

Monday, September 9, 2013 – 09:00

The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

JAKARTA – The cult of personality surrounding Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri and making her the most powerful figure in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is gradually fading with the rise of populist Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. For decades, PDI-P members saw Ms Megawati as the political heir of the country’s first president, Sukarno, her father. Read more of this post

Indonesia Top Destination for Thrifty Tourists: Visa

Indonesia Top Destination for Thrifty Tourists: Visa

By Dion Bisara on 10:25 am September 6, 2013.
Indonesia remains the Asia Pacific region’s top destination for budget-conscious tourists, according to a survey by credit card company Visa. The survey, titled Global Travel Intentions Study 2013, released on Thursday, showed that travelers to Indonesia spend an average $1,634 per trip, less than the worldwide average travel budget of $2,390 per trip. The study surveyed 12,631 travelers from 25 countries in the Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa and the Middle East between November and December last year. Read more of this post

High logistics costs impede higher economic growth for Indonesia: World Bank; “The costs of logistics across Indonesia account for some 24 percent of GDP”

High logistics costs impede higher economic growth for Indonesia: WB

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Fri, September 06 2013, 2:43 PM

High logistics costs are a serious impediment to higher economic growth for Indonesia, says a report released on Friday by Bandung’s Institute of Technology in West Java, in partnership with the World Bank. “The costs of logistics across Indonesia account for some 24 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), higher than in neighboring countries. Cutting costs and improving the quality of logistics and transport systems would vastly improve Indonesia’s access to international markets and increase trade,” a senior trade specialist at the World Bank, Henry Sandee, said in an official release. Read more of this post

Cost of oranges betrays lack of zest in Indonesia’s economy

Cost of oranges betrays lack of zest in Indonesia’s economy

5:25pm EDT

By Rieka Rahadiana and Jonathan Thatcher

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s government is confident that a slide in economic growth, exacerbated by recent capital flight from emerging markets, is a hiccup that will soon pass. The price of oranges in a Jakarta market gives a clue why that faith looks misplaced. Domestic demand should certainly get a healthy boost next year from spending during parliamentary and presidential elections. But that masks problems with the basic drivers of growth that some doubt will get more than cursory attention until a new government has to confront them in late 2014. Read more of this post

Hedge fund titan Ray Dalio: We are “going to have the emerging market crisis”; EMs face “a major balance of payments problem” that will eventually lead to significant problems; “I want no one in the audience to be polite with me. Let’s have a thoughtful disagreement.”

Hedge fund chief says Japan needs another ‘big round’ of stimulus

Filed Fri Sep 6, 2013 5:02pm EDT

By Katya Wachtel and Jennifer Ablan

NEW YORK – Hedge fund titan Ray Dalio said on Friday the Japanese economy will need another big round of stimulus to boost sluggish growth, and some emerging markets are on the path to crisis. Dalio, chairman and chief investment officer of $150 billion firm Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, was speaking at the Japan Society in midtown Manhattan. In April the Bank of Japan pledged to inject about $1.4 trillion into its flagging economy in an effort to end two decades of stagnation. The monetary easing, coupled with reflationary, pro-growth policies championed by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, sent stocks rallying and the yen tumbling. Japan emerged from recession in 2012. “The effects are going to wear off,” Dalio said, referring to prior stimulus measures. Japan’s central bank is “going to have to do another big round of purchases,” he said. In a thirty-minute talk, Dalio addressed trouble in economies from China to France. He sounded a cautious note about investing in emerging markets, especially in equities, which have plunged in value this year. Emerging markets will not be an “an attractive place” to invest in the near future “given flows and pricing.” He said emerging markets face “a major balance of payments problem” that will eventually lead to significant problems. We are “going to have the emerging market crisis,” Dalio said during a question and answer period. India should “prepare for the worst” since it has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of foreign capital flows that are already bypassing emerging market equities, he added. As for Europe, Dalio said that France is of particular concern to him since “it has not dealt properly with debt to income ratios rising.” Dalio is one of the $2.25 trillion hedge fund industry’s best known managers, known not only for his solid long-term returns but also for a unique culture at his Stamford, CT-based firm, where employees are encouraged to challenge each others’ and their bosses’ ideas publicly.

“I want no one in the audience to be polite with me,” Dalio said during the question and answer segment. “Let’s have a thoughtful disagreement.”

Widespread Brazil Protests Mark 191st Independence Day

Updated September 7, 2013, 7:10 p.m. ET

Widespread Brazil Protests Mark Independence Day

LORETTA CHAO in São Paulo and PAULO TREVISANI in Brasilia

Dozens were arrested amid fresh protests that interrupted Independence Celebrations in Brazil’s major cities on Saturday. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff leads a parade to commemorate the 191st anniversary of the Independence Day of Brazil in Brasilia Saturday.

Demonstrators use pieces of wood to confront riot police at a protest in São Paulo Son Saturday. Police used tear gas to disperse crowds of at least hundreds of demonstrators who stormed a celebratory military parade in Rio de Janeiro and burned Brazilian flags. At least 24 people were detained by police and several were injured in the clash, but no serious injuries were reported by late afternoon. In Brasilia, 34 of about 1,000 protesters holding signs and chanting slogans demanding better public services and an end to corruption were detained. More were detained in Fortaleza, Curitiba and other cities. Thousands of marchers blocked São Paulo’s main avenue. Read more of this post

Psst…wanna buy a bit of Legoland and Madame Tussauds? Disney rival Merlin aims to conjure IPO for small investors

Disney rival Merlin aims to conjure IPO for small investors

Merlin Entertainments is planning to offer more than 10pc of its shares to retail investors as the world’s second biggest attractions owner behind Disney gears up for a £3bn-plus stock market listing before Christmas.

The millions of visitors who go to Legoland and other attractions owned by Merlin Entertainments around the world – Madame Tussauds, Sea Life Centres, London Dungeon (and its spin-offs), London Eye (and spin-offs) – certainly appear to think so. Recent surveys put customer satisfaction at more than 90pc. Photo: Mikael Buck

By Nathalie Thomas

9:30PM BST 07 Sep 2013

The owner of Madame Tussauds and Legoland wants to offer a significant proportion of its shares at flotation to small investors, given the high profile of its brands among the general public. Nick Varney, Merlin Entertainments’ chief executive since 1999, is understood to feel particularly strongly about including a retail offer as part of the flotation, which could be launched before the end of the year. Although the exact percentage of shares for smaller investors is yet to be settled, it is believed to be more than 10pc. Merlin’s plans could be complicated, though, if the Government begins the Royal Mail’s initial public offering (IPO) at about the same time. Read more of this post

At Virgin America, a Fine Line Between Pizazz and Profit; An airline whose sleek style rates highly with its passengers is still struggling to make money for its investors, and has lost $675 million since 2007

September 7, 2013

At Virgin America, a Fine Line Between Pizazz and Profit

By MATT RICHTEL

ON Monday, June 17, at 6:30 a.m., Robin Wolaner boarded a flight from San Francisco to Seattle. An executive for a nonprofit organization, Ms. Wolaner was no mere traveler. She was bounty, the kind of frequent flier who makes or breaks airline profits, and she’d been snared by Virgin America. There were more convenient flights later that morning, but Ms. Wolaner’s affection for Virgin’s service, as well as for the Wi-Fi, leather seats and even what she called the “adorable” animated safety video, prompted her to get up earlier than was ideal. This despite the fact that she once flew American Airlines so often that she is “platinum for life.” Read more of this post

Car dealerships in China, formerly highly profitable, have been hit by tighter cash flow and the sales networks of many brands are deteriorating

China’s car dealers switch tack as cash flow tightens

Staff Reporter

2013-09-08

Car dealerships in China, formerly highly profitable, have been hit by tighter cash flow and the sales networks of many brands are deteriorating, reports the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald, citing Shen Jinjun, president of the China Automobile Dealers Association. According to a Sinotrust market survey of 109 car brands, in the first quarter of this year dealers withdrew from 764 sales networks, higher than the 386 in the previous quarter. They either cannot survive or are transferring to other businesses with higher profit returns, said Gasgoo CEO Chen Wenkai. Read more of this post

Asia’s Recent Past Catches Up With It; Federal reserve ‘tapering’ is merely exacerbating problems created by earlier failures to reform

September 5, 2013, 12:39 p.m. ET

Asia’s Recent Past Catches Up With It

Federal reserve ‘tapering’ is merely exacerbating problems created by earlier failures to reform.

FREDERIC NEUMANN

As investors cast around for someone to blame for recent market turmoil in Asia, it’s easy to point the finger at the U.S Federal Reserve. Hints that the Fed may taper its massive monetary easing, the thinking goes, has pushed up interest rates in America. That, in turn, is drawing capital away from emerging economies. There’s just one problem with this conventional wisdom: The current turmoil in emerging markets, above all Asia, has mostly local roots. It’s true that easy money provided a cushy ride since 2009. With rising interest rates in the United States, those days are now over. Still, the scale of the current sell-off, such as in India and Indonesia, suggests that something more profound is going on. After years of policy neglect, emerging Asia no longer offers the returns in growth and profits that investors seek. Only far-reaching reforms can pull the region out of its malaise. Read more of this post

Thais Debate Rising Cost of Living: Perception or Reality

September 7, 2013, 3:27 PM

Thais Debate Rising Cost of Living: Perception or Reality

By Warangkana Chomchuen

BANGKOK–For Thai consumers, September has delivered a triple whammy. The costs of cooking gas, electricity and expressway tolls rose at the start of the month. Electricity went up 0.07% per unit used. Drivers using Bangkok’s elevated highways can expect to pay about $10 more a month. Cooking gas prices will increase incrementally every month over the course of 12 months. By August next year, the cooking gas will have risen by 38% to 25 baht (80 U.S. cents) a kilogram of gas from 18 baht. These increases might not seem a big deal, and that’s what the government officials have been telling the public. The increases, they said, would barely budge the country’s inflation rate. But the new price increases have nevertheless stirred up public anger – and whipped up a debate over whether it will lead to a sharp increase to living costs. Read more of this post

Five Years Later, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Remain Unfinished Business; Fixing the Mortgage Giants Remains the Largest Single Piece of Unfinished Business From the Financial Crisis

September 6, 2013, 8:04 p.m. ET

Five Years Later, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Remain Unfinished Business

Fixing the Mortgage Giants Remains the Largest Single Piece of Unfinished Business From the Financial Crisis

NICK TIMIRAOS

WASHINGTON—Of all the temporary patches the U.S. government slapped onto the sinking financial system in September 2008—from pumping money into banks to rescuing insurer American International Group Inc. AIG -1.01% —none was more urgent to then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson than saving mortgage giants Fannie Mae FNMA +0.81% and Freddie Mac FMCC -0.88% . Read more of this post

Where’s the next Lehman? Five years after the maelstrom of September 2008, global finance is still not safe enough

Where’s the next Lehman?

Five years after the maelstrom of September 2008, global finance is safer. But still not safe enough

Sep 7th 2013 |From the print edition

THE bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, an American investment bank, in 2008 turned a nasty credit crunch into the worst financial crisis in 80 years. Massive bail-outs from governments and central banks staved off a second Depression, but failed to prevent a deep recession from which many rich economies have yet fully to recover. Five years after that calamity, two big questions need to be answered. Is global finance safer? And are more crises on the horizon? The quick answers are yes, and yes. Global finance looks less vulnerable because reforms to the financial industry have made it more resilient, and because America, the country at the heart of the Lehman mess, has got rid of much of the excess debt and righted many of the imbalances in its economy. Today’s danger zones are elsewhere. They are unlikely to spawn a collapse on the scale of 2008. But they could produce enough turmoil to hit growth hard. Read more of this post

White Knights Dispense Short Shrift in Asia; Short Sellers in Asia Need to Be on the Lookout for Big Shareholders

Updated September 6, 2013, 6:05 p.m. ET

White Knights Dispense Short Shrift in Asia

Short Sellers in Asia Need to Be on the Lookout for Big Shareholders

ABHEEK BHATTACHARYA

Small short seller slays big Asian firm. This David-and-Goliath tale has played out many times, but a third character has shown up recently: the white knight. A string of short sellers have targeted companies with Asian operations recently. Most famously, Muddy Waters alleged in 2011 that Toronto-listed Sino-Forest overstated its timber assets in China. Sino-Forest later filed for bankruptcy protection. But the latest dust-up shows how a third-party investor can hurt the shorts. On Aug. 26, California-based Glaucus Research accused Singapore-listed vegetable producer China Minzhong Food K2N.SG -0.45% of fabricating its sales. The stock lost nearly half its value before trading was frozen later that day. Then on Sep. 2, Minzhong’s largest shareholder came to its aid. PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, INDF.JK -0.83% a noodle maker run by Indonesia’s fourth-richest family, said it plans to make an offer for the shares it doesn’t own, which could effectively take the company private. It will even offer a 10% premium to where the stock traded before the Glaucus report. Minzhong’s shares have since rebounded to the offer price. That may squeeze some shorts, though it is unclear whether Glaucus exited its position in time. Indofood says this is a “strategic acquisition” that will “be mutually beneficial to both Indofood and China Minzhong.” Pre- Glaucus, Indofood owned about 29% of the company. Read more of this post

South Korea Bans Japanese Fish Imports Over Fukushima Leak

South Korea Bans Japanese Fish Imports Over Fukushima Leak

South Korea banned imports of fish caught near the site of the Fukushima nuclear accident over concerns of radioactive contamination from the plant. The ban affects marine products from eight prefectures, including Fukushima, where the 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated the plant, causing the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Some of the fishing grounds were already closed. The decision came after the Japanese government revealed last month that 300 tons of contaminated water leaked from the site, with some making it to the ocean. Read more of this post