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Business News
for 01/09/2009

(last updated 7:30am EST 01/09/2009)

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• Hong Kong stocks close lower on profit-t... Hong Kong stocks close lower on profit-taking
01/09/2009
Hong Kong stocks dipped 38.47 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 14,377.44 on Friday, on profit-taking. Turnover weakened to 45.14 billion HK dollars (5.82 billion U.S. dollars from 55.52 billion HK dollars (7.17 billion U.S. dollars) on Thursday. Profit-taking in China Mobile and electronics parts maker Foxconn following sharp gains last week led Hong Kong shares lower, outweighing gains in index heavyweight HSBC. The index fell for four consecutive days this week to l ... (4 h ago)

• Taiwan stocks close lower Taiwan stocks close lower
01/09/2009
Taiwan's share prices finished lower Friday, with the weighted index, the market's key barometer, moving down 33.05 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 4,502.74, according to media reports reaching here from Taipei. The local bourse opened lower at 4,515.1 and fluctuated between 4,546.71 and 4,472.45. A total of 3.04 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of 59.56 billion new Taiwan dollars (1.79million U.S. dollars). Five of the eight major stock categories gained grou ... (4 h ago)

• Share sales "don't shake relations" betw... Share sales "don't shake relations" between Chinese, foreign banks
01/09/2009
It's likely to be business as usual between Chinese banks and their foreign counterparts, even though the latter have been selling their stakes in Chinese financial institutions, analysts here said Friday. The analysts said recent sales of stakes in such institutions as the Bank of China (BOC) and China Construction Bank (CCB) represented an effort by the foreign holders to relieve their domestic financial stress. And the banks on both sides of several transactions said the foundation fo ... (4 h ago)

• China's 4Q business climate index drops ... China's 4Q business climate index drops on slowing economy
01/09/2009
China's business climate index fell for the second quarter in a row during the final three months of 2008 as economic conditions deteriorated sharply, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The index was 107, vs. 128.6 in the third quarter. The index was 137.4 in the second quarter and 136.2 in the first quarter, the bureau said. The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading above 100 shows economic expansion, while a reading below 100 indicates contraction. The survey began in 1 ... (4 h ago)

• Hong Kong stocks close 0.27% lower Hong Kong stocks close 0.27% lower
01/09/2009
Hong Kong stocks dipped 38.47 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 14,377.44 on Friday. Turnover weakened to 45.14 billion HK dollars (5.82 billion U.S. dollars) from 55.52 billion HK dollars (7.17 billion U.S. dollars) on Thursday. &$ &$Source: Xinhua&$ &$ ... (4 h ago)

• Agricultural Bank of China launches shar... Agricultural Bank of China launches shareholding company
01/09/2009
The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) said it launched a shareholding company here Friday with registered capital of 260 billion yuan (38 billion U.S. dollars). The bank said the equity in the new company was equally split between the Central Huijin Investment Co., an arm of China's sovereign wealth fund, and the Ministry of Finance. The bank will be restructured into a state-controlled, shareholding commercial bank and renamed Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. It will be publicly l ... (4 h ago)

• Chinese oil fund in the pipeline Chinese oil fund in the pipeline
01/09/2009
China is reportedly planning to establish a giant government-led fund along the lines of the National Social Security Fund, in a bid to stabilize oil supply, demand and prices. The fund is expected to come into being within a year, reported Newexpress Daily, a Guangdong-based newspaper. It will also increase the negotiating power of China in oil trade with other countries. "The timing is good for setting up the oil stabilization fund," said Han Xiaoping, an energy analyst ... (4 h ago)

• Chinese fuel surcharge tax scrapped Chinese fuel surcharge tax scrapped
01/09/2009
The Chinese Ministry of Finance has decided to suspend the collection of taxes on airlines' fuel surcharges in a move to alleviate the financial woes of domestic carriers. The ministry said the suspension would be effective Jan 1 and continue untill the end of 2010. The tax rate on fuel surcharge now is 3 percent. "The benefit is limited as the tax only accounts for a very small proportion of airlines' costs," said Mao Ang, analyst, China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd. "For listed car ... (4 h ago)

• Migrant workers try hand at entrepreneur... Migrant workers try hand at entrepreneurship in hometowns
01/09/2009
Half a year after being laid off by a Beijing-based electronic product sales company amid the global slowdown, Yu Yanbin has become his own boss, running a leather product factory in his hometown. Yu went back home to Gangbei Village, Xinjian County of east China's Jiangxi Province in May. Following the suggestion of a township official, he set up the factory -- Jiangxi Haobo Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. -- in August. "I do not need to pay rent or taxes. The gover ... (4 h ago)

• China online shopping still lacks guaran... China online shopping still lacks guarantee of integrity
01/09/2009
In recent years, with the increase of the number of netizens, e-commerce driven mainly by online shopping has been developing rapidly. According to Dr. Yuan Dengke, Deputy Director of the China E-Commerce Credit Research Center of the China Electronic Commerce Association, China's B2C (short for Business to Customer) e-commerce market in 2007 maintained a healthy growth. B2C websites have achieved a total income of 5.22 billion yuan, up 33.5% from the previous year. And it is predicted t ... (6 h ago)

• Weaker pound forces Britons to tighten h... Weaker pound forces Britons to tighten holiday budget
01/09/2009
Julia Foster from Essex, a county on the southeast coast of England, is still pondering whether she should spend an already booked holiday for March in the French resort of Nice. Usually a trip to France is not uncommon for her -- she visits the country at least three times a year on long holidays or one-day trips -- this year, however things are different. Britons have begun to feel the effects of a depreciating pound mainly caused by sharp cuts in interest rates as part of effo ... (6 h ago)

• Audi sales hits record high in 2008 desp... Audi sales hits record high in 2008 despite global downturn
01/09/2009
Luxury carmaker Audi said on Thursday its global sales, going against the world trend, surpassed the 1million mark in 2008, the first time in its history. It sold 1.0034 million cars worldwide in 2008, an increase of 4.1 percent compared to 2007, the company said. A range of new models contributed to the boost in sales, it said. In December 2008, its global sales increased by 17 percent over the same month in 2007, to 82,800 from 70,523. Also in December, Audi sal ... (6 h ago)

• Romanian PM: Job creation, improved busi... Romanian PM: Job creation, improved business environment priority for 2009
01/09/2009
The Romanian government's 2009 priorities are creating new jobs, improving the environment for business and absorption of EU fund, said Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc Thursday. He made the pledge after meeting with Mugur Isarescu, head of the central bank. A massive public investment in infrastructure would also be a priority, as it would contribute to job creation and social stability, said the prime minister. "We must not sacrifice vulnerable social groups," he explai ... (6 h ago)

• Jobless hits 12-year record in Spain Jobless hits 12-year record in Spain
01/09/2009
The number of jobless people in Spain stood at 3.13 million in December 2008, a record since the country began to collate information about the unemployed in 1996. In 2008, the country had 999,400 more people without work than in 2007, an increase of 46.9 percent, the labor ministry said on Thursday. The service and construction sectors were among the worst hit, with 492,000 and 307,000 out of work respectively. Industry and agriculture registered 112,000 and 32,500 more ... (7 h ago)

• Shadow of recession hangs over Las Vegas... Shadow of recession hangs over Las Vegas trade show
01/09/2009
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which opened on Thursday in Las Vegas, is expected to draw fewer visitors as the shadow of economic recession was hanging over the industry. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which is hosting the CES, predicted about 130,000 attendees at this year's show, based on the number of people who have registered for the event. Last year, 142,000 people came to the show. Some 2,700 exhibitors will tout their latest innovations a ... (7 h ago)

• Brazil's mining giant suspends collectiv... Brazil's mining giant suspends collective vacations
01/09/2009
Brazil's mining giant Vale announced on Thursday the suspension of the collective vacations for 450 employees from a mine in Fabrica Nova in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. According to the company, the second largest in the country, the vacations had to be suspended because it did not have time to fulfill a series of requirements stipulated in Brazilian labor law. As a result, the number of Vale employees to get collective vacations fell to 5,050 since November. ... (7 h ago)

• Ecuador to comply with OPEC's call for r... Ecuador to comply with OPEC's call for reduction of oil production
01/09/2009
Ecuador said Thursday it will suspend the production of oil companies Perenco of France and Agip Oil of Italy under the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut oil output to balance oil prices. Derlis Palacios, Ecuadorian mining and oil minister, told reporters that the decision to "to close the wells of the Italian company has been made," adding that Perenco must also suspend its exploitation activities of Field 21, located in the Ecuadorian Amazons. ... (7 h ago)

• Australian dollar ends higher Australian dollar ends higher
01/09/2009
The Australian dollar ended higher on Friday, with the Australian dollar trading at 70.81 U.S. cents, up from Thursday's close of 70.60 cents. During the day, the Australian dollar moved between 70.61 U.S. cents and 71.34 cents. The Australian dollar closed the session at 64.54 Japanese yen, down from Thursday's close of 65.30 yen and at 51.83 euro cents, down from 51.85 cents. &$ &$Source:Xinhua&$ &$ ... (7 h ago)

• S Korean central bank to provide $3 bln ... S Korean central bank to provide $3 bln to local banks
01/09/2009
South Korea's central bank announced Friday its plan to provide 3 billion U.S. dollars to local banks to help ease dollar liquidity crunch. The Bank of Korea (BOK) said the money is part of a 30 billion-U.S. dollar currency swap agreement signed with the U.S. Federal Reserve in late October 2008. The BOK has used 10.4 billion U.S. dollars out of the swap line so far, it said. As of the end of last year, South Korea's foreign reserves totaled 201.22 billion U.S. dollars. ... (7 h ago)

• Cambodian garment industry needs to surv... Cambodian garment industry needs to survive crisis
01/09/2009
Garment, the foremost pillar industry of Cambodia, has an urgency to survive its crisis in the upcoming days, amid the ongoing global financial crisis and the recession of traditional demand from the U.S. market. &$ &$LESS EXPORT IN 2008 &$ &$ At an annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Federation of Textiles and Apparel (AFTEX) which was held here on Thursday, Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said that the garment industry saw a 2 percent decrease ... (7 h ago)

• Obama Unveils Ambitious Economic Agenda Obama Unveils Ambitious Economic Agenda
01/08/2009
President-elect Barack Obama warned of dire and lasting consequences if Congress doesn't pump unprecedented dollars into the economy, making an urgent pitch for his mammoth spending proposal in his first speech since his election. (14 h ago)

• In Dollar Terms, Borrowing Drops Big Tim... In Dollar Terms, Borrowing Drops Big Time
01/08/2009
Consumers cut back on their borrowing by a record amount in dollar terms in November, another sign of trouble for the rapidly weakening economy. (18 h ago)

• Madoff Belongs In Jail, Prosecutor Says Madoff Belongs In Jail, Prosecutor Says
01/08/2009
Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff and his wife sent at least 16 watches, a jade necklace and a diamond bracelet to relatives, proving he will continue to dissipate what is left from his $50 billion fraud, a prosecutor told a judge. (21 h ago)

• New Jobless Claims Make Unexpected Drop New Jobless Claims Make Unexpected Drop
01/08/2009
New claims for unemployment benefits dropped unexpectedly last week while the number of people continuing to seek aid rose sharply, the government said Thursday. (22 h ago)

• More Than 1/3 Of Rescue Money Disbursed More Than 1/3 Of Rescue Money Disbursed
01/08/2009
The Treasury Department says it has disbursed $266.9 billion from the $700 billion financial rescue program. (22 h ago)

• Wal-Mart Falters In Latest Retail Report Wal-Mart Falters In Latest Retail Report
01/08/2009
As merchants reported their sales figures, confirming fears that the holiday season was the weakest in four decades, the malaise cut through practically all areas from kitchen gadget stores to jewelry purveyors and teen apparel retailers. (23 h ago)

• Late Loan Payments Hit Record High Late Loan Payments Hit Record High
01/07/2009
Late payments on consumer loans in last year's third quarter hit the highest level since record-keeping began in 1980, the American Bankers Association said. (1 d ago)

• Working Triage In The Credit Crisis Working Triage In The Credit Crisis
01/07/2009
A new report says that, in the third quarter of last year, nearly 3 percent of loans were at least 30 days late - the most since they started keeping track 28 years ago, Anthony Mason reports. (1 d ago)

• Is Saving Chrysler A Lost Cause? Is Saving Chrysler A Lost Cause?
01/07/2009
Even by the standards of battered automakers, Chrysler is in dire shape. Its December sales tumbled 53 percent, and analysts say it probably won't survive the year as an independent company. (1 d ago)

• No Respite From Massive Job Losses In '0... No Respite From Massive Job Losses In '09
01/07/2009
Americans probably suffered a net loss of 2.4 million jobs last year, and the pain is likely to stretch well into 2009 and possibly beyond. (1 d ago)

• Worried Companies Pitching Products Hard Worried Companies Pitching Products Hard
01/07/2009
And deals abound, reports . But which ones are worth going for? (1 d ago)

• Unemployment Claims Crash System Unemployment Claims Crash System
01/07/2009
Electronic unemployment filing systems have crashed in at least three states in recent days amid an unprecedented crush of thousands of newly jobless Americans seeking benefits, and other states were adjusting their systems to avoid being next. (1 d ago)

• Europe's Energy Supplies Hang In Balance Europe's Energy Supplies Hang In Balance
01/07/2009
The crisis triggered by Russia's natural gas dispute with Ukraine could accelerate the Kremlin's efforts to build alternative pipelines, but any project faces big financial and political hurdles. (1 d ago)

• Hustler's Flynt Sues Nephews Over Name Hustler's Flynt Sues Nephews Over Name
01/07/2009
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt has sued two of his nephews for selling their own line of adult movies under the same family name. (2 d ago)

• After Wall Street, Cooking Up A New Job After Wall Street, Cooking Up A New Job
01/06/2009
For laid-off workers, finding a new job can be really tough. Sometimes, as Anthony Mason reports, it's best to cook one up yourself. That's what one woman went from rolling in dough - to literally rolling dough. (2 d ago)

• Wave Of Suicides In Wake Of Financial Wo... Wave Of Suicides In Wake Of Financial Woes
01/06/2009
His spirit broken by financial fears, German billionaire Adolf Merckle took his own life this week — becoming the latest high-profile casualty of a global economic crisis that already has claimed the lives of executives in Europe and the U.S. (2 d ago)

• Fed: Bold Moves Won't Stop Economic Woes Fed: Bold Moves Won't Stop Economic Woes
01/06/2009
Even as Federal Reserve officials slashed their key interest rate to a record low and pledged to use other unconventional tools to fight the financial crisis, they still feared the economy would be stuck in a painful rut for some time. (2 d ago)

• Conviction Upheld For Enron's Skilling Conviction Upheld For Enron's Skilling
01/06/2009
A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling's convictions for his role in the energy giant's collapse but vacated his 24-year prison term and ordered that he be resentenced. (2 d ago)

• Pending Home Sales Fall To Record Low Pending Home Sales Fall To Record Low
01/06/2009
Pending U.S. home sales fell to the lowest level on record in November, as the plummeting stock market and faltering economy caused buyers to delay their purchases, the National Association of Realtors said. (2 d ago)

• Toyota To Cease Production For 11 Days Toyota To Cease Production For 11 Days
01/06/2009
Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March, a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the nation's top automaker as it grapples with shrinking global demand. (2 d ago)

• Oil slips on weak global demand Oil slips on weak global demand
01/09/2009
Worries about global economic growth and expectations of a weak U.S. jobs report pushed oil prices lower Friday. (3 h ago)

• Obama team preparing bailout overhaul Obama team preparing bailout overhaul
01/09/2009
Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy F. Geithner and President-elect Barack Obama's economic team are overhauling the embattled bailout and broadening its scope well beyond Wall Street. (4 h ago)

• December jobs report likely to be grim December jobs report likely to be grim
01/09/2009
Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon. (5 h ago)

• Madoff said to have stashed $173 million Madoff said to have stashed $173 million
01/08/2009
Prosecutors say Bernard Madoff had $173 million in signed checks in his office desk that he was ready to send out at the time of his arrest last month. (15 h ago)

• Chain stores post dismal December Chain stores post dismal December
01/08/2009
Major retailers Thursday reported dismal sales for December, confirming fears that the holiday season was the weakest in four decades. (15 h ago)

• Citi agrees to let judges alter mortgage... Citi agrees to let judges alter mortgages
01/08/2009
A trio of Democratic senators say they have reached a deal with Citigroup Inc. on a plan to let bankruptcy judges alter home loans in an effort to prevent foreclosures. (15 h ago)

• ‘Winners’ in Madoff case face hard choic... ‘Winners’ in Madoff case face hard choices
01/08/2009
The many Bernard Madoff investors who withdrew money from their accounts over the years are now wrestling with an ethical and legal quandary. (16 h ago)

• Stocks end day mixed after Wal-Mart warn... Stocks end day mixed after Wal-Mart warning
01/08/2009
A profit warning from Wal-Mart Thursday touched off fresh worries about consumers’ willingness to spend, and closed mixed after an early sharp decline. (16 h ago)

• Critics suggest reeling Chrysler is a lo... Critics suggest reeling Chrysler is a lost cause
01/08/2009
Even by the standards of battered automakers, Chrysler is in dire shape. (17 h ago)

• Detroit show features track for electric... Detroit show features track for electric cars
01/08/2009
Organizers of Detroit's annual auto show have carved out space in the convention center basement for a 700-foot-long oval driving track to showcase zero emissions vehicles. (17 h ago)

• Consumer borrowing plunged in November Consumer borrowing plunged in November
01/08/2009
Consumers cut back on their borrowing by a record amount in dollar terms in November, another sign of trouble for the rapidly weakening economy. (18 h ago)

• Job hunts grow harder as recession deepe... Job hunts grow harder as recession deepens
01/08/2009
New claims for unemployment benefits dropped unexpectedly last week, but the number of people continuing to seek aid rose sharply. (18 h ago)

• U.K. slashes rates to 315-year low U.K. slashes rates to 315-year low
01/08/2009
The Bank of England cut official interest rates by a half a percentage point to 1.5 percent on Thursday, the lowest level in its 315-year history. (23 h ago)

• Foreclosure suspensions extended through... Foreclosure suspensions extended through Jan.
01/08/2009
Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will extend the suspension of foreclosure sales and evictions from single-family homes through the end of January. (23 h ago)

• Small retailers struggle in tough season Small retailers struggle in tough season
01/08/2009
Like a lot of small retailers, Henry Burton depends heavily on the holiday season to ring up sales, and, like a lot of retailers, this past holiday season proved especially challenging. (23 h ago)

• Detroit’s auto show likely to be a bit a... Detroit’s auto show likely to be a bit austere
01/08/2009
With the industry in financial dire straits, much of the glitz and glamour at this year’s Detroit auto show will be replaced by a new sense of austerity. (1 d ago)

• ConsumerMan: Obama coins worth the price... ConsumerMan: Obama coins worth the price?
01/08/2009
For the Obama inauguration, you can find all sorts of souvenirs for sale, including commemorative coins. Are they a good investment? Well, is a t-shirt a good investment? (1 d ago)

• Sports Biz: Five sure bets for 2009 Sports Biz: Five sure bets for 2009
01/08/2009
So what’s ahead for the year in sports business? Here are five predictions as we enter the last year of the decade. (Hint: Look for Tiger to roar back to the top of the golf rankings.) (1 d ago)

• Korean Carmaker Seeks Receivership Korean Carmaker Seeks Receivership
01/09/2009
Ssangyong Motor Company, the smallest of the five South Korean auto makers, filed for receivership in a bid to stave off collapse. (4 h ago)

• German Bank Gets More Money From Governm... German Bank Gets More Money From Government
01/09/2009
The government took a quarter stake in Commerzbank as it stepped up efforts to stabilize the financial system and consolidate one of Europe’s most fragmented banking landscapes. (7 h ago)

• Deal Struck to End Gas Cutoff Deal Struck to End Gas Cutoff
01/09/2009
The European Union said that gas supplies to the Continent should resume shortly, after a deal was struck late Thursday with Ukraine and Russia. (7 h ago)

• Troubles of Satyam Could Benefit Rivals ... Troubles of Satyam Could Benefit Rivals and 2 U.S. Companies
01/08/2009
Big winners from the fallout are likely to be two American companies, Accenture and I.B.M., as competitors begin angling for a share of Satyam’s nearly $2 billion in annual revenue. (8 h ago)

• Indian Company in a Fight to Survive Indian Company in a Fight to Survive
01/08/2009
While the Indian outsourcing company Satyam struggles to pay employees, investors prepare to sue its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers. (8 h ago)

• Pressured by I.R.S., UBS Is Closing Secr... Pressured by I.R.S., UBS Is Closing Secret Accounts
01/08/2009
UBS will close about 19,000 accounts held by Americans that may have gone undeclared to the Internal Revenue Service. (9 h ago)

• British Central Bank Cuts Rate to Record... British Central Bank Cuts Rate to Record Low
01/08/2009
The rate, now 1.5 percent, is expected to be cut to close to zero by the second quarter. (9 h ago)

• Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ and Madoff... Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall St.’ and Madoff
01/08/2009
Sonja Kohn, who gathered billions for Bernard L. Madoff from investors in Russia and across Europe, has disappeared from view. (21 h ago)

• The Costly Compromises of Oil From Sand The Costly Compromises of Oil From Sand
01/08/2009
Environmental groups in the U.S. and Canada are pushing for a slowdown to oil sands development. (21 h ago)

• Worldwide, a Bad Year Only Got Worse Worldwide, a Bad Year Only Got Worse
01/08/2009
After a catastrophic year for global markets, analysts are cautioning investors not to expect the big rebound that usually follows a sharp downturn. (21 h ago)

• China Losing Taste for Debt From U.S. China Losing Taste for Debt From U.S.
01/08/2009
As the global downturn has intensified, Beijing is starting to keep more of its money at home, which could have painful effects for U.S. borrowers. (23 h ago)

• Bank of America Raises $2.8 Billion Bank of America Raises $2.8 Billion
01/07/2009
Bank of America sold part of its holding in China Construction Bank, sending shares in China’s big banks skidding. (1 d ago)

• Marks & Spencer Plans Job Cuts and Closi... Marks & Spencer Plans Job Cuts and Closings
01/07/2009
Marks & Spencer is the latest British retailer to be hit by the country’s worst downturn in more than 17 years. (1 d ago)

• In Europe, Mounting Signs of a Rapid Slo... In Europe, Mounting Signs of a Rapid Slowdown
01/07/2009
Negative business sentiment, a hard-hit banking system and a global downturn are working their way through Europe with a vengeance. (1 d ago)

• Lenovo Cuts 2,500 Jobs Lenovo Cuts 2,500 Jobs
01/07/2009
The Lenovo Group, China’s biggest personal-computer maker, will cut about 2,500 jobs, or 11 percent of its work force, amid a worldwide economic slump. (1 d ago)

• Facing Losses, Billionaire Takes His Own... Facing Losses, Billionaire Takes His Own Life
01/07/2009
Adolf Merckle’s speculation in volatile Volkswagen shares pushed his sprawling empire to the edge of ruin. (2 d ago)

• Toyota to Shut Factories for 11 Days Toyota to Shut Factories for 11 Days
01/07/2009
Toyota Motor will idle its plants in Japan for 11 days in February and March to reduce output in the face of steeply declining global vehicle sales, the company said Tuesday. (2 d ago)

• The Irish Economy’s Rise Was Steep, and ... The Irish Economy’s Rise Was Steep, and the Fall Was Fast
01/06/2009
The Irish developer Sean Dunne, who became a symbol of the country’s boom, faces a foundering economy. (2 d ago)

• Advertising: A Lawyer’s Call for a Great... Advertising: A Lawyer’s Call for a Greater Black Presence in Agencies
01/08/2009
A project announced by the N.A.A.C.P. and lawyer Cyrus Mehri aims to increase the number of black workers on Madison Avenue. (8 h ago)

• Meredith Dismisses 7% of Its Workers and... Meredith Dismisses 7% of Its Workers and Closes Country Home Magazine
01/08/2009
Meridith said it was eliminating 250 jobs, including about 40 people who work at Country Home, a reduction that a company spokesman said was effective immediately. (8 h ago)

• Tv Sports: On Second and Third Downs, Fo... Tv Sports: On Second and Third Downs, Fox Announcers Come Up Short
01/08/2009
When you can’t tell the difference between second down and third down, or between third and fourth down, you’re in trouble. (9 h ago)

• For BlackBerry, Obama’s Devotion Is Pric... For BlackBerry, Obama’s Devotion Is Priceless
01/08/2009
President-elect Barack Obama has become BlackBerry’s most prominent user, a pitch that would be worth millions if he could charge for it. (9 h ago)

• Democrats Seek Delay in TV Shift Democrats Seek Delay in TV Shift
01/08/2009
The Obama transition team is seeking to delay the Feb. 17 move to digital TV, saying millions of homes aren’t ready. (9 h ago)

• London Journal: Atheists Send a Message,... London Journal: Atheists Send a Message, on 800 British Buses
01/08/2009
An ad campaign for atheism in London is aiming to counter religious ads, one bus billboard at a time. (12 h ago)

• Brad Grey, Paramount Chief, Renews Contr... Brad Grey, Paramount Chief, Renews Contract
01/08/2009
Mr. Grey, a former talent manager and producer, has renewed his contract to run Paramount for five more years. (12 h ago)

• Azerbaijan Bars Foreigners From Use of I... Azerbaijan Bars Foreigners From Use of Its FM Band
01/08/2009
The move to enforce a law that bans foreign companies from broadcasting in the country effectively bans Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America and the BBC. (21 h ago)

• MarketPlace: A Time Warner Deal That Kee... MarketPlace: A Time Warner Deal That Keeps Going Downhill
01/08/2009
The owner of CNN and Time magazine said that it expected to record a fourth-quarter $25 billion write-down that would lead to an operating loss for the period. (23 h ago)

• NBC’s Matthews Won’t Run for Senate NBC’s Matthews Won’t Run for Senate
01/07/2009
Chris Matthews, the host of the MSNBC program “Hardball,” told his staff on Wednesday night that he would not run for the Senate in 2010 in Pennsylvania. (1 d ago)

• Advertising: As Consumers Try to Cut Bac... Advertising: As Consumers Try to Cut Back, Tropicana Promotes Quality and Value
01/07/2009
Tropicana, the juice brand, is undertaking a major makeover of its advertising, marketing and packaging in a new $35 million ad campaign. (1 d ago)

• Joe the Plumber to Become War Correspond... Joe the Plumber to Become War Correspondent
01/07/2009
The Ohio man who became a household name during the presidential campaign says he is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for the conservative Web site pjtv.com. (1 d ago)

• CNN Reporter Tops List for Surgeon Gener... CNN Reporter Tops List for Surgeon General
01/07/2009
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a medical correspondent for the news network and a neurosurgeon. (1 d ago)

• Israel Puts Media Clamp on Gaza Israel Puts Media Clamp on Gaza
01/07/2009
Journalists have been barred from the battle zone in Gaza, but they are given full access to sites in Israel hit by Hamas rockets. (2 d ago)

• Advertising: New York Store’s Ads Play F... Advertising: New York Store’s Ads Play Funny and Rude, Like the City
01/06/2009
Do you enjoy watching the bracing rudeness of New Yorkers? J&R, the music and electronics retailer, is counting on it. (2 d ago)

• Time Warner and CBS Avert Programming Di... Time Warner and CBS Avert Programming Dispute
01/06/2009
Time Warner Cable extended a deal to carry CBS television stations, CBS said, avoiding what could have been another heated industry dispute. (2 d ago)

• George Osborne tries to claim Barack Oba... George Osborne tries to claim Barack Obama's endorsement for Tory anti-recession strategy
01/09/2009
One of the most powerful arguments that has been used by Gordon Brown to defend his anti-recession strategy has been to point out that other leaders – and particularly Barack Obama in the US – are also in the "fiscal stimulus" camp. With Obama still enjoying stratospheric approval ratings worldwide, this leaves the Tories, who are putting their money on the "monetary activism" approach (in other words, concentrating on freeing up the supply of credit), in a bit of a pickle. And as Patrick Wintour reports today , the Germans' belated conversion to fiscal stimulus leaves the Conservatives looking even more isolated. George Osborne, in a speech to Policy Exchange today, responded with a valiant attempt to show that Obama and his staff are really on the Tory side of the argument after all. Brown has suggested that the "fiscal stimulus" merchants are following the same policies as those that made Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal such a success. But Osborne claimed that one of Obama's key economic advisers has challenged this claim, saying: Much of the attention has focused on the fiscal measures Roosevelt took with his New Deal, perhaps because they are the easiest to understand and explain. What can get overlooked are the monetary and banking policies which many historians and economists now believe were of far greater significance and impact. For example, the academic work of Professor Christina Romer, the chair of Barack Obama's council of economic advisers, has shown that nearly all of the observed recovery from the Great Depression was due to monetary expansion, mainly due to inflows of gold that reduced real interest rates and therefore encouraged investment spending. As she put it: "Monetary developments were a crucial source of the recovery of the US economy from the Great Depression. Fiscal policy, in contrast, contributed almost nothing to the recovery before 1942." Osborne also tried quoting Obama directly. In a speech yesterday , the president-elect gave some details of the fiscal stimulus package he wants Congress to pass after his inauguration. But Osborne picked out a sentence which, he argued, supported the Tory claim that circumstances in the UK were different. It is worth noting what president-elect Obama said yesterday: 'We cannot have a solid recovery if our people and our businesses don't have confidence that we're getting our fiscal house in order.' I'm not sure Osborne is going to convince the world that Obama really is a monetary activist, but the rest of his speech was more substantial. Osborne used it to announce that the Tories want to force a vote in the Lords on their plan for a national loan guarantee scheme , but also set out what is probably the most detailed critique of the government's bank rescue scheme from a Tory frontbencher that I've read. And he made the overlooked point that Brown has already tried not just one fiscal stimulus, but three: the £2.7bn tax tax cut, the stamp duty holiday and the £12bn VAT cut. Conservatives Economic policy George Osborne Global recession Banking guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (3 h ago)

• Taxpayers face loss in £13bn HBOS/Lloyds... Taxpayers face loss in £13bn HBOS/Lloyds TSB fundraising
01/09/2009
The taxpayer has moved closer to owning almost 44% of the new "bank for Britain" that will be created by the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB after the £13bn fundraising by the two banks closed this morning. At 11am, the last moment for shareholders in either bank to support the cash calls, the taxpayer was also facing a £3.5bn loss because shares in the two banks were changing hands below the price at which the government was expected to buy them. Lloyds TSB's shares were trading at 133.2p, below the 173.7p at which its £4.5bn rights issue was being priced. HBOS was trading at 79p, below the 113.6p at which the troubled bank was raising £8.5bn. At these prices, there is little incentive for shareholders in either bank to buy the new shares because it is cheaper for them to buy them on the stock market. The actual acceptance rate will be announced on Monday. The emergency takeover of HBOS, which was brokered by Gordon Brown in September at the height of the banking crisis, is expected to be completed next Friday and shares in the new Lloyds banking group begin trading on January. The combined bank will have large market shares in mortgages, savings and current accounts that would ordinarily have prompted a full blown competition investigation. But the deal was given special clearance to allow HBOS to be rescued. No HBOS executives are to join the board of the new bank, which is yet to tell its combined 140,000 staff of the scale of job cuts needed to save £1.5bn a year by 2011. Eric Daniels, the Lloyds TSB chief executive who will hold the same role in the enlarged bank, has dismissed rumours that as many as 40,000 roles are under threat. Branches of the combined 3,000 network of the two banks are also expected to be cut. Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas said: "At first sight, the combination of Lloyds TSB and HBOS looks like a recipe for disaster - 95% of earnings will come from the UK, with an unenviable number one market share in all the things that investors are currently most afraid of: mortgages, unsecured loans, credit cards and commercial property." But they note they are more optimistic because the planned cost savings "offer a rare assurance in a very uncertain world". "Counterintuitively, Lloyds Banking Group is a defensive play," the Exane BNP Paribas analysts James Eden and Ian Gordon said. HBOS Lloyds TSB Banking guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (3 h ago)

• Thorntons joins the Christmas losers as ... Thorntons joins the Christmas losers as sales fall
01/09/2009
Britain's passion for chocolate at Christmas has not saved Thorntons from the ranks of festive losers (3 h ago)

• Virgin Atlantic launches fares war Virgin Atlantic launches fares war
01/09/2009
Virgin Atlantic has launched a business class fares war this morning, slashing some ticket prices by 40%, in the latest indication that the economic downturn is ravaging one of the most profitable parts of the airline business. Virgin is reducing some upper class fares on the London to New York route by 40% in a sale which lasts until 27 January. Fares to London and Sydney are falling by between 16% and 24%. British Airways, which suffered a 12% slump in premium traffic last month , is also making heavy cuts in fares to bolster demand. BA's "premium leisure sale" will see the cost of a London to New York trip fall by 40%, with small discounts on other flights to the US, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. It will also run until 27 January. Business travellers are more resilient to price increases than other passengers, but the slump in the UK economy is destroying the airlines' most profitable customer base. BA has admitted that demand from banking industry passengers fell drastically in the weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. Virgin, which does not give detailed passenger numbers, is also thought to have suffered. Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic chief executive, said the airline had a responsibility to "pump-prime" the economy. "These lower upper class fares will enable small and medium-sized businesses in particular to do deals and meet contacts around the world and help get the global economy moving again," he said. Douglas McNeill, analyst at Blue Oar Securities, said the move "reflected a trend across the industry". "You can see it against the broader context of weak demand and weaker business class demand," he said. Airline industry Virgin Atlantic British Airways Global recession Recession Lehman Brothers guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• New job cuts at Bovis Homes sees workfor... New job cuts at Bovis Homes sees workforce down 60% from last year
01/09/2009
Housebuilder Bovis Homes today scrapped its final dividend and admitted it is cutting more jobs to cope with the "worst conditions in many years". After a sales slump, the company decided to axe another 200 jobs by the end of March. It has already laid off 400 workers since last summer . That means it will be left with just 400 staff, a 60% reduction from its 1,000 strong workforce last year. Other measures to save money include axing the final dividend,which had already been slashed from 20p to just 5p. Bovis said the Bank of England's aggressive interest rate cuts since October, which have taken borrowing costs from 5% to 1.5% - the lowest since the central bank was founded more than 300 years ago - have had little impact so far. "Confidence is low, bad news predominates, and corrective economic actions which have worked historically have not yet seen a positive response," the company warned. The housebuilder's forward sales at the start of this year stood at 425, 48% below last year. The firm renewed its banking arrangements late last month, which shored up its finances until March 2011. Analysts described the trading update as a mixed bag. Hugh Rich at Panmure Gordon said: "Whilst trading is in line with expectations, the performance on debt is significantly better than we had been looking for. However, news that the business will not pay a final dividend is disappointing, particularly as there appears to be little cash constraint at the business." Bovis completed 1,817 homes last year, down from 2,930 the year before, in line with its expectations. But the average sale price slid from £179,500 to £150,000 as the firm built a greater proportion of cheaper social housing. The shares dropped 1.5p to 443.25p this morning, a fall of 0.34%. Bovis Homes Housing market guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• Russia and Ukraine agree to gas monitors Russia and Ukraine agree to gas monitors
01/09/2009
Hopes were rising this morning for an early end to the gas crisis after Moscow and Kiev agreed last night to an EU plan to send European gas monitors to Ukraine. Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz said today it had dropped objections to Russian observers, a key demand from Moscow for any resumption of gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine. The multilateral monitoring team was expected to be in place today. The team will measure volumes of Russian gas arriving in and leaving Ukraine, following persistent Russian allegations that Kiev was stealing gas destined for Europe for its domestic consumers. Speaking to European journalists, including the Guardian, last night , the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, said he was fully behind the proposal by Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, to dispatch an international team to Ukraine. "It's a very good formula. We fully support this. We think it should be done as swiftly as possible," he said. Putin said the monitors needed to arrive at gas "entry and exit points" on the Ukrainian-Russian border. "We don't want these people sitting in a hotel in Kiev and drinking tea and garilka [Ukrainian vodka]," Putin said, adding that Ukraine had initially refused to sign a protocol allowing monitors. This morning a European Commission spokesman said 10 to 12 European observers would monitor the transit of Russian gas via Ukrainian territory. There was no indication, however, whether Russia would then resume gas supplies to Ukraine, which have been shut since Wednesday. Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller indicated that it would support the monitoring scheme. "In the event that a multilateral commission for monitoring gas transit through Ukrainian territory is created, Gazprom will, off course, provide the opportunity for the work of commission observers at gas-measuring stations in Russia on the border with Ukraine," Miller said in a statement released this morning. Even if a deal is hammered out, it could take several days before supplies are fully restored. A quarter of Europe's gas is supplied by Russia, 80% of which travels through Ukraine. For days, the two sides have blamed each other for the crisis, with Ukraine accusing Gazprom of halting supplies without warning, and the Russians claiming that Kiev has shut the pipelines after stealing supplies. The dispute has left tens of thousands of homes across Europe without heating. Countries who have escaped the worst of the disruption have begun shipping supplies to those badly affected, leading to fears that UK consumers may not receive the cheaper fuel bills they had expected . Oil and gas companies Russia Ukraine European Union Europe guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• JD Sports sprints higher on festive sale... JD Sports sprints higher on festive sales success
01/09/2009
JD Sports has raced ahead in morning trading after the sports retailer said strong festive sales mean it will 'marginally exceed' the City's forecasts for annual profits. The company, in which Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley's rival business Sports Direct has a stake, did not start its sales until Boxing Day - in contrast with some other High Street operators - and managed to maintain margins over Christmas. Group like for like sales increased 2.8% during the five week period to January 3 this year, which may not look particularly impressive but sales in the comparable period a year ago were very strong: up almost 10%. Sales through its sports outlets were up 1%, reflecting a trend away from sportswear superbrands seen at other retailers, but sales through its fashion stores - Scotts and Bank - were up 12.5%. As a result, JD Sports' cumulative like for like sales for the 48 week period to January 3 are up 3.8% - with sports sales up 3.1% and fashion up 8%. The company said gross profit margins having improved marginally over the full period compared to the previous year. "The Board now believes that current market expectations for profit before tax and exceptional items will be marginally exceeded," the company added, helping its shares gain 27p to 232p. The FTSE 100 index meanwhile, is down 18.16 points at 4487.21 points, weighed down by weak UK industrial production data which paints a grim picture of the UK economy. Retail industry High street retailers guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (4 h ago)

• Views on the news: 9 January 2009 Views on the news: 9 January 2009
01/09/2009
Sympathy was in short supply this week as readers digested a succession of gloomy corporate announcements. Monday's news that Waterford Wedgwood had fallen into administration after 250 years of making luxury glassware and china saddened many, but some commentators took a pragmatic approach and suggested that the company had simply not moved with the times. Endofdays said it was "sad another company has fallen", but added: "However if it isn't producing products that people want for a price they are willing to pay it has no future." Galleyart said: "Oh no, not Wedgewood! exclaimed my partner - when have we bought any? I said in reply..." Oldwrinkly looked elsewhere for an explanation, writing: "Strange isn't it? Our great manufacturing companies can survive, (in this case over 250 years), several world wars, countless recessions, the great depression and a number of governments previously thought to be 'not very bright'. "And yet, after 11 years of Brown's lamentable 'economics', they are falling like dominoes. Take a look at the FTSE from eleven years ago and compare it to today. It's frightening to see just how many of our wealth creating companies have simply disappeared. "Maybe Wedgwood should start making begging bowls. We will all need one quite soon." Revelations that the weight loss of Apple boss Steve Jobs was down to a 'hormone imbalance', rather than from a more serious illness, for some reason failed to stir sympathy from many readers either. SoundAndImage , for example, posted: "Well I for one am sick and tired of hearing about this guy - why should a global business depend on the heath of one man? "Pardon the pun, but it looks like they keep all their apples in the one basket which is hardly good business practice." Aside from commiseration for those facing redundancy, the news that Marks& Spencer is to close 27 stores and shed more than 1,200 staff found little evidence of goodwill for the high street giant. Ottery summed up the views of many with the post: "So, again, they are hurting and damaging poorer people, not because their company is losing money (PROFITS are still £595m!), but because the profits are not high enough. In other words, not because the company needs it to survive, but so the directorate can show the shareholders that they are being tough and doing what is necessary to maintain their income at its current level. These people are despicable crooks of the first order. "'Executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose said the cutbacks, which will save £200m, were necessary to help M&S ride out the UK slump'. Bollocks." However, a few readers, such as gumbo did see sense in the strategy, writing: "I wish people would stop the self righteous carping about how M&S as a whole is making money therefore they shouldn't be allowed to cut any unprofitable stores. If they're losing money in 27 stores then they're basically giving away shareholders money which is effectively negligent on the part of the directors." Dan Roberts's blog, which took a wry look at the better-than-expected results from Debenhams and Next early in the week, stirred many readers into print. MorganaLeFay was just one of many who insisted this did not herald a rush back to the high street: "Let's all go and spend any money that we save from plunging household bills - fuel, mortgages, etc - in retails goods like clothes, and tack. That's what we were told to do time and again by Brown and Co., and I'm sure that our banks will all understand why we have no money left in the months to come to pay back our consumer debt when we explain that we did it for the greater good of economic growth. "I'm happy for Next and Debenhams and all the others whose sales expectations kept up better than expected, but I'm not willing to rescue any one retail company at the expense of my credit rating." Readers seemed most nonplussed by the decision on Thursday of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to cut interest rates to 1.5%. Nutsch came up with an interesting take on events: "I normally hate analogies, but can't help thinking if the UK were a car, the Bank of England would be the engine and clearing banks the gear-box and wheels. "The clutch is broken and we are stuck in neutral, meanwhile the BoE just keeps revving that engine for all it's worth. Soon the tank's gonna be empty. "Until there is a connection restored between the BoE rate and the real economy, what is the point? "Now I can see why I hate analogies. Is Gordon Brown the furry dice?" While benedikt74 fumed: "Idiotic Brown trying to bailout all the debtors when people who save get screwed over... really disappointing.. like the VAT cut... What's next a fee on people who do not have a credit card?" Indeed, what will be next? Keep them coming. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (5 h ago)

• Know your consumer rights when a retaile... Know your consumer rights when a retailer goes into administration
01/09/2009
Woolworths has closed its last store, and over the coming months other retailers looks set to follow suit. We find out what rights you have if you buy items from a store that falls into administration. Can I still shop in a store that has called in the administrators? Usually, yes. Even when stores announce they are going into administration their shops will often stay open as they sell off as much existing stock as they can - often at big discounts. You should also be able to speak to staff about what to do if you need a refund or are expecting a delivery. Customer service lines will also usually stay open until every last shop has shut down, so you should be able to ask them directly about the status of an order. I ordered a sofa two months ago from a retailer that has now collapsed. What can I do? Made-to-order furniture can take weeks to arrive so it is possible that many people could find themselves in this situation. The first thing you should do is contact the company you ordered the furniture from to find out what production stage it is at (when home furnishing store The Pier and Danish furniture specialist Ilva went under last year their customer service lines remained open until the full closure of their shops in order to help customers worried about furniture orders and delivery). If your furniture is ready and due to be delivered before the company closes its stores you should receive it as normal, although you may find you have to keep calling to confirm a delivery date. It is worth reconfirming your delivery slot as often as you can to make sure they really are coming. If your order is ready but the company cannot deliver it you may be able to collect it from a warehouse or distribution centre, providing you can identify the goods as yours - so keep any paperwork or confirmation emails you may have been sent. In a worse-case scenario you may be unable to get in touch with the company you placed your order with, or it will contact you to tell you it cannot honour your order. In either case, if you have already paid for the product in full, or partially with a deposit, then you will have to contact the company's administrator to arrange a refund. Check the retailer's website to find out which firm is acting as administrator - contact details should be clearly available. I ordered goods online and paid with my credit card. Can I claim for a refund from my card provider? It depends how much you spent. Under the Consumer Credit Act a credit card company is "jointly and severally liable" along with the retailer for the quality of the goods or service you purchased, providing you spent between £100 and £30,000. If you did and the company goes bust you will be able to claim your money back from your credit card provider. If you spent less than £100 you will have to contact the administrator for a refund. I used my Maestro debit card to spend £100 with an online retailer. Can I claim my refund from my bank? No, unless you used a Visa debit card. Debit cards are not covered under the Consumer Credit Act, so your bank won't step in and help. However, if your bank has given you a Visa debit card you will be covered under the chargeback scheme, and should be compensated for any sum of money lost when a company goes under. If you didn't use a Visa debit card you should contact the administrator directly with full details of your order (the order number, details of the product and when you ordered it). The administrator should be able to tell you whether or not your order will be fulfilled, or whether it will arrange for a refund to be paid. I have been given a voucher. Can I still use it in the remaining shops? Yes, you should be able to. When Woolworths went into administration it was effectively business as normal until the very last stores shut down. But you should use the vouchers as soon as you can otherwise there will simply be nothing left to buy - when The Pier went into administration in December the only items left after its closing down sale were plain cushion pads, according to customer services staff. If you do not spend your voucher and a shop closes for good, you become a creditor of the company and need to hope there is enough money for the administrators to meet your claim for a refund. I recently bought an item but when I took it home it didn't work. Can I still return it and get my money back? Possibly not, says Michelle Shambrook, deputy operations manager at the Office of Fair Trading. "You will still have rights as a customer, but if the company is in administration and you go into a store to try and return something, the store staff will not be able to help you," she says. "The shop will only be open to sell off existing stock, so if you want your money back you will have to register your claim and the faulty item with the administrator - their role is to ensure that as many consumers as possible get their money back, but in a worse-case scenario sometimes there is simply no money to settle any claims and you may not get any money back." Consumer affairs Retail industry guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (5 h ago)

• Manufacturing output down 7.4% on year, ... Manufacturing output down 7.4% on year, says Office for National Statistics
01/09/2009
Britain's manufacturing output is falling by the sharpest rate since the early 1980s, sparking fears that the economy is shrinking faster than predicted. Official figures showed manufacturers cut production by 2.9% between October and November, the biggest fall since the Queen's Jubilee in the summer of 2002 and well below City forecasts of a 0.7% drop. That took the annual decline to 7.4%, the weakest since June 1981. The slump was widespread across the manufacturing sector, with chemicals, metals and transport – including the beleaguered car industry – particularly badly hit. The worse-than-expected figures prompted some analysts to forecast a steeper recession. Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, said: "These numbers are even worse than we expected, and twice as bad as October. We had already revised our GDP forecast for the fourth quarter down to -1.4%, and -2% for 2009. We may have to take another look at that and push the numbers lower." New car sales fell by a fifth last month, and the industry is braced for worse to come this year. Paul Everitt, the head of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said this week the industry was "in survival mode". The pound extended losses against the dollar and the euro after the figures from the Office for National Statistics were released, and shares on the FTSE 100 index fell 25 points to 4480.32, a drop of nearly 0.6%. The pound briefly touched a low of $1.5118 against the dollar from $1.5150 just before the news, while the euro firmed to 90.49p from 90.27p. Industrial output, which comprises manufacturing, mining and utilities, dropped by 2.3% on the month and by 6.9% from a year earlier, the sharpest annual fall since March 1981. Separate ONS figures for producer price inflation came in stronger than expected. Firms' output prices were unchanged last month – compared with analysts' expectations of a fall – leaving prices up 4.7% on the year, the weakest rate in a year. Manufacturing data Recession Automotive industry Euro Economics guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (5 h ago)

• Week in pictures: 9 January 2009 Week in pictures: 9 January 2009
01/09/2009
Interest rates hit historic low of 1.5% and 250-year-old Waterford Wedgwood went into administration (6 h ago)

• Eidos warns of disappointing sales for n... Eidos warns of disappointing sales for new Lara Croft game
01/09/2009
Lara Croft has become the latest victim of the financial crisis, with sales of her latest game not selling as well as expected, particularly in North America. UK games developer Eidos warned this morning that sales of Tomb Raider: Underworld had failed to meet its expectations, wiping £20m off its projected sales for this year. Its earnings will also be hit, it said, which may force the company to renegotiate its loan terms with its bank, Lloyds TSB. Last year the firm made a pretax loss of £136m . Eidos admitted that it sold only 1.5m copies of Tomb Raider: Underworld between 18 November, when the game was launched, and the end of 2008. The figure is below the firm's own forecasts, mainly because of a lower start in North America. The game launch was also delayed by five months. "In a difficult North American economy we have seen retailers restricting inventory levels and triple-A products being discounted above our expectation," said Eidos. Shares in Eidos crashed by 28% in early trading, dropping by 5p to 10p, another setback for Time Warner, which has replaced property entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz as the biggest shareholder, and recently raised its stake in the firm from 16% to nearly 20%. This prompted speculation that the US media giant could make a takeover bid for the troubled computer games company, recently renamed from SCi Entertainment. Hit by costly software delays, Eidos axed a quarter of its workforce last year and ousted its founder and chief executive, Jane Cavanagh, and her husband . While the early Lara Croft games were hugely successful, Underworld - the eighth game in the Tomb Raider series - was poorly received by reviewers and Eidos sought to block all reviews for Underworld below an 8/10 score before the game was out. At the time, a spokesman for the company was reported as saying: "The brand manager in the US that's handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don't put people off buying the game, basically." Computer games site GameSpot described it as a "competent but underwhelming platform game that has little to offer fans of the genre" and gave it a 5.5 score out of 10. Worried about further discounting, Eidos has revised its sales assumptions for Underworld and its other video games, and now estimates annual revenues will range from £160m to £180m, below earlier forecasts of between £180m and £200m. "Given revised profit expectations, we may need to enter into discussions with our lending bank regarding our June 2009 covenants," the firm said. Tchenguiz, who owned 22% of Eidos after its £60m emergency fundraising in May, was forced to sell most of his holding in October after facing demands for the recall of loans from crisis-stricken Icelandic bank Kaupthing. An Eidos spokesman said today that the company had "plenty of headroom" financially. Eidos is optimistic about the forthcoming launch of its new Batman: Arkham Asylum video game, which is being promoted by Time Warner's Warner Bros division and is being trailed on DVDs of the movie "The Dark Knight" Nick Batram at house broker KBC Peel Hunt said today's downgrade was obviously disappointing, but not that surprising given the state of the consumer market. "Batman is a major second-half launch and given its importance to Time Warner, we still expect this to happen," he said. But he warned that the Batman launch will only have an impact on Eidos's finances towards the end of its second half so the group may have to speak to its lenders. Travel & leisure Games guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (7 h ago)

• Tories to force vote on national loan gu... Tories to force vote on national loan guarantee scheme
01/09/2009
The Tories announced today that they would force a vote in parliament on their plans for a national loan guarantee scheme. In a speech, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said his party wanted to force Gordon Brown into either backing the Tory plan or showing that he was committed to doing nothing. Osborne announced the move as John McFall, the Labour chairman of the Treasury select committee, urged Brown to consider creating a state-owned bank get lending flowing to businesses. For weeks the Tories have been calling for the creation of a £50bn national loan guarantee scheme as their solution to the problem facing businesses that cannot get access to credit. Osborne said today that, when parliament returns next week, the Tories would table an amendment to the banking bill proposing the establishment of their scheme. Peers are debating the bill next week and the Tory tactic will ensure that the matter gets put to a vote. Osborne said: "It presents the prime minister with a clear choice. He can support the radical action needed to limit the effects of the recession or continue to achieve nothing." Ministers have already said that they want to take further steps to increase the supply of credit to businesses, although they have been critical of the details of the Tory proposal. McFall, who is close to Brown, believes that the "political centre of gravity has jumped violently" in favour of government intervention to resolve the squeeze on lending that is putting thousands of British companies and jobs at risk. "The situation with private banks regarding the freezing up of credit is so serious that consideration should be given to the establishment of a state bank in order to deliver the government's lending targets," he writes in today's Guardian. "A year ago such a demand from a leftwing politician would have provoked a 'loony left' response. But no more; after the extraordinary self-induced implosion of the financial system, the future of the market system now rests in the hands of governments. The politicians are the only show in town." McFall suggests the new bank could be the Post Office or a "new state financial institution". McFall's recent pronouncements on the Post Office card account , lower taxes and higher spending and recompense for those who lost out over the 10p tax debacle all produced a swift response from the government. The Post Office was offered a new government contract, the chancellor slashed VAT by 2.5% and pledged more government spending on capital projects, and £2.7bn was spent trying to redress the 10p tax issue. Today, McFall asks whether the British taxpayer is "being taken for a mug" with public money being used to support ailing banks while credit lines to cash-strapped businesses are drying up. "As banks restrict their lending to individuals and small businesses, they risk dooming the economy to an even deeper recession," McFall warns. "This is the economics of the graveyard." The respected Labour backbencher insists it is an economic and political imperative that lending continues to British businesses. "If it takes a new state financial institution to deliver this much needed lending, then so be it," he writes. "One thing is certain: if the opportunity to free up credit lines to businesses is not taken up in the near future, then instead of a mere recession, we could experience, as [Paul] Krugman [the economist] has suggested, Great Depression II – which would have devastating consequences for years to come. "This is an opportunity not to be missed. It should be the government's priority in this the first month of 2009. Prevarication must not be the name of the game." Economic policy Gordon Brown Banking Postal service George Osborne guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (7 h ago)

• Dan Roberts assesses the effectiveness o... Dan Roberts assesses the effectiveness of monetary policy.
01/08/2009
Cost of borrowing hits record 315-year low (8 h ago)

• Report accuses International Energy Agen... Report accuses International Energy Agency of obstructing a global switch to renewable energy by publishing misleading data
01/08/2009
The international body that advises most major governments across the world on energy policy is obstructing a global switch to renewable power because of its ties to the oil, gas and nuclear sectors, a group of politicians and scientists claims today. The experts, from the Energy Watch group, say the International Energy Agency (IEA) publishes misleading data on renewables, and that it has consistently underestimated the amount of electricity generated by wind power in its advice to governments. They say the IEA shows "ignorance and contempt" towards wind energy, while promoting oil, coal and nuclear as "irreplaceable" technologies. In a report to be published today, the Energy Watch experts say wind-power capacity has rocketed since the early 90s and that if current trends continue, wind and solar power-generation combined are on track to match conventional generation by 2025. Rudolf Rechsteiner, a member of the Swiss parliament who sits on its energy and environment committee, and wrote today's report, said the IEA suffered from "institutional blindness" on renewable energy. He said: "They are delaying the change to a renewable world. They continue touting nuclear and carbon-capture-and-storage, classical central solutions, instead of a more neutral approach, which would favour new solutions." Today's report compares past predictions about the growth of wind power, made by the IEA and others, with the capacity of wind turbines actually installed. It says: "By comparing historic forecasts on wind power with reality, we find that all official forecasts were much too low." In 1998, the IEA predicted that global wind electricity generation would total 47.4GW by 2020. This figure was reached in December 2004, the report says. In 2002, the IEA revised its estimate to 104GW wind by 2020 – a capacity that had been exceeded by last summer. In 2007, net additions of wind power across the world were more than four-fold the average IEA estimate from its 1995-2004 predictions, the report says. "The IEA numbers were neither empirically nor theoretically based," it says. The IEA's most recent forecast, in its 2008 World Energy Outlook, predicts a fivefold increase in wind energy from 2006-2015, but then assumes a rapid slowdown in deployment over the following decade. The Energy Watch report calls this a "virtual stagnation" and says "no arguments are given why the wind sector should suffer such a crisis by 2015 and after". The report concludes: "The IEA outlook remains attached to oil, gas, coal and nuclear, and renewables seem to have no chance to reverse this trend. This organisation… has been deploying misleading data on renewables for many years [and is still doing so]." It adds: "One has to ask if the ignorance and contempt of IEA toward wind power and renewables in general is done within a structure of intent." Mr Rechsteiner, who says he has investments in a handful of wind turbines, said the IEA routinely drew senior staff from the fossil-fuel industry. "The oil business is very skilful in keeping its energy access exclusive," he says. The IEA describes itself as an "intergovernmental organisation which acts as energy policy advisor to 28 member countries in their effort to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for their citizens". It refused to comment on today's report. The Energy Watch group is run by the Ludwig Bölkow Foundation in Germany. John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley and a member of the Energy Watch group, said: "The IEA has been complacent, and part of the conventional wisdom that the solution is more oil and gas. The British government relies on the IEA. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king — but the IEA's one eye has a cataract." Today's report says the number of wind turbines installed over the last decade has grown by 30% annually, and total windpower capacity is more than 90GW – the equivalent of 90 conventional coal or nuclear power stations. It adds that the boom in wind energy is "so far barely touched by any sign of recession or financial crisis". If current trends continue, the report claims wind capacity could reach 7,500GW by 2025 – making half of all new power projects wind or solar. Conventional power stations could be phased out completely by 2037, it claims. Werner Zittel of the Energy Watch group, said: "It is time to realise that the many detractors of wind energy have got it wrong. We have seen more than 10 years of unprecedented growth in this sector… This is not about morals or environment but the commercial reality that wind, coupled with hydro, solar, biomass and geothermal energy is not only a rapid and cost-effective alternative, but one that could deliver all our energy requirements within the first half of the century." Wind power Energy Renewable energy Climate change Green politics Fossil fuels Oil and gas companies Nuclear power guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (15 h ago)

• IT'S SHELTER SKELTER! IT'S SHELTER SKELTER!
01/09/2009
PUBLISHING giant Meredith Corp. has shut down Country Home, only weeks after it had adapted a stop-gap measure of slashing its frequency this year in a bid to keep it alive. However, ad pages, which had tumbled 24.9 percent in 2008 to 631... (7 h ago)

• SHORT FUSE SET FOR DOLAN EXEC SHORT FUSE SET FOR DOLAN EXEC
01/08/2009
Cablevision has quietly stripped Eric Sherman of his responsibilities as president of the Fuse music channel, a move expected to result in his eventual departure from the network, The Post has learned. Sherman has essentially been a lame-duck... (9 h ago)

• DTV DELAY BACKED BY OBAMA DTV DELAY BACKED BY OBAMA
01/08/2009
President-elect Barack Obama backs a move to delay a mandatory switch to digital-television signals, on fears viewers are unprepared and as the government has run out of coupons to help pay for converter boxes. "The Feb. 17 cutoff date for analog... (9 h ago)

• SOM DUMPED BY L&T SOM DUMPED BY L&T
01/08/2009
Another bad marriage has ended for Peter Som. The young fashion designer - whose simple, sporty clothes famously won the favor of Vogue Editor Anna Wintour - has been dumped by majority investor NRDC Equity Partners, The Post has learned. NRDC... (9 h ago)

• MERRILL PREZ OFF TO YALE MERRILL PREZ OFF TO YALE
01/08/2009
Merrill Lynch President Greg Fleming is resigning from the company and will take a teaching position at Yale University, according to a person briefed on his plans. Fleming, 45, joined Merrill in 1992 and was slated to become head of investment... (9 h ago)

• FORECASTS DIFFER FOR RETAILERS FORECASTS DIFFER FOR RETAILERS
01/08/2009
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said fourth-quarter profit will miss its forecast and predicted January revenue may be little changed as customers curb spending globally. Sales from US stores open at least a year increased 1.7... (9 h ago)

• ATTY. FINDS DISCRIMINATION ON MADISON AV... ATTY. FINDS DISCRIMINATION ON MADISON AVE.
01/08/2009
A top civil-rights lawyer is taking aim at Madison Avenue. Cyrus Mehri, who has wrung multi-million-dollar discrimination settlements from Texaco, Coca-Cola and Morgan Stanley, is pushing ad agencies to change their minority hiring practices... (9 h ago)

• SEC FINDS MADOFF KNOCKOFF SEC FINDS MADOFF KNOCKOFF
01/08/2009
Now that Bernie Madoff has set the Ponzi scheme bar so high with his alleged $50 billion scam, other purported crooks are looking tame in comparison. Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission cracked down on another one, this time in the... (9 h ago)

• MORTGAGE RATES DROP MORTGAGE RATES DROP
01/08/2009
Big US banks are starting to offer fixed-rate home loans below 5 percent after Uncle Sam began buying mortgage securities to bolster the housing market. JPMorgan Chase is advertising 30-year mortgages as low as 4.75 percent on its Web site, Wells... (9 h ago)

• RATTNER BLOWOUT RATTNER BLOWOUT
01/08/2009
Steve Rattner is said to be in line to become the new White House car czar - but he faces a sticky conflict of interest surrounding a bitter $125 million fight with Chrysler's owner. The Wall Street titan surfaced yesterday as a leading candidate... (9 h ago)

• POST-PONZI MESS-UP, SEC RENEWS SODANO SU... POST-PONZI MESS-UP, SEC RENEWS SODANO SUIT
01/08/2009
Wall Street's beaten-down watchdog is trying to bare its teeth by re-opening prominent cases in the wake of its embarrassing lapse in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. The most recent instance is the Securities and Exchange Commission's revival, in... (9 h ago)

• BUSINESS BRIEFS BUSINESS BRIEFS
01/08/2009
Hedge trim Hedge funds lost 18.3 percent in 2008, their worst year on record, as managers misjudged the severity of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. A gain of 0.42 percent in De cember lessened the av erage loss for the... (9 h ago)

• Madoff debate: Should he be free on bail... Madoff debate: Should he be free on bail?
01/07/2009
A debate has been raging over the fact that Bernard Madoff remains free, spending his days in his luxury penthouse despite being accused of the largest financial fraud in history. (1 d ago)

• Porn industry seeks own stimulus ... pac... Porn industry seeks own stimulus ... package
01/07/2009
Seems everyone is lining up for a government handout, but in the case of the porn industry, you may wonder where the hands have been. (1 d ago)

• Google cuts contractors, plans to grow Google cuts contractors, plans to grow
01/07/2009
Google Inc. has jettisoned a substantial number of temporary workers in a recent austerity drive spurred by the recession. (1 d ago)

• Alcoa to slash 13,500 jobs to save money Alcoa to slash 13,500 jobs to save money
01/07/2009
Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. is cutting roughly 13 percent of its global work force by the end of the year as it slashes costs in the face of a deteriorating world economy. (2 d ago)

• Enron’s Skilling loses appeal of convict... Enron’s Skilling loses appeal of conviction
01/06/2009
An appeals court has upheld former Enron Corp. CEO Jeff Skilling’s convictions for his role in the energy giant’s collapse but orders that he be resentenced. (2 d ago)

• Bank of America CEO to skip '08 bonus Bank of America CEO to skip '08 bonus
01/06/2009
Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive and Chairman Kenneth Lewis is recommending that he and his top executives receive no bonuses for 2008. (2 d ago)

• Charities hurt in Madoff case get charit... Charities hurt in Madoff case get charity
01/06/2009
Nonprofits that are struggling because their donors lost money with Bernard Madoff are getting a bailout — but not from the government. Richer foundations are stepping in to help. (2 d ago)

• Prosecutor wants Madoff jailed immediate... Prosecutor wants Madoff jailed immediately
01/06/2009
A prosecutor says disgraced financier Bernard Madoff violated bail conditions by mailing about $1 million worth of jewelry and other assets to relatives, and wants him jailed. (3 d ago)

• Average Mortgage Rate Hits 5%, Lowest in... Average Mortgage Rate Hits 5%, Lowest in Decades
01/08/2009
It is unclear whether the record low will be enough to lure home buyers back into the housing market. (8 h ago)

• Citi Reaches Deal With Lawmakers on Home... Citi Reaches Deal With Lawmakers on Home Loans
01/08/2009
Under the plan, bankruptcy judges will be allowed to alter home loans in an effort to prevent foreclosures. (9 h ago)

• Aged Madoff Investors Wonder About the R... Aged Madoff Investors Wonder About the Rest of Their Days
01/08/2009
Many of Bernard L. Madoff's larger clients will survive, but there are dozens, if not hundreds, of less wealthy victims who poured their life savings into what turned out to be phantom accounts. (18 h ago)

• Gentler Tax Laws Urged on Debt Default Gentler Tax Laws Urged on Debt Default
01/08/2009
The Internal Revenue Service’s watchdog agency calls on Congress to ease some tax laws regarding defaults on consumer debt. (19 h ago)

• State of the Art: Many Ways to Plug In t... State of the Art: Many Ways to Plug In to Tech Savings
01/08/2009
When every $100 counts, here are a few suggestions for using high-tech gadgetry to save you money. (22 h ago)

• Wealth Matters: The Rules That Madoff’s ... Wealth Matters: The Rules That Madoff’s Investors Ignored
01/08/2009
The mystery is why so many wealthy people handed over so much money with so little due diligence. (1 d ago)

• Motherlode: Spending too Much? Blame Mom... Motherlode: Spending too Much? Blame Mom.
01/07/2009
A British poll reports that financial heredity may come from the mother. (1 d ago)

• Market Values: Looking Ahead for Good In... Market Values: Looking Ahead for Good Investment Opportunities
01/07/2009
The United States may not need the rest of the world to get a recovery started and keep it going. (1 d ago)

• Practical Traveler: Stuck in Paradise, N... Practical Traveler: Stuck in Paradise, Needing Medical Help
01/07/2009
Before embarking on an overseas vacation, travelers should check their medical policy to see what is covered or get special travel insurance. (1 d ago)

• Mortgages: An Erratic Year for Mortgage ... Mortgages: An Erratic Year for Mortgage Rates
01/06/2009
When it comes to mortgage rates, 2008 may be remembered as the year the market went haywire. (3 d ago)

• Reshaping governance: interview with Lor... Reshaping governance: interview with Lord Michael Hastings
01/09/2009
I had a conversation with KPMG's global head of citizenship and diversity Lord Michael Hastings from London. He proposed a radical shake-up of corporate governance around the world. Read on. SOX... (1 h ago)

• Corporate ethics and law Corporate ethics and law
01/09/2009
More than two years ago, I did a blog entry on the difference between ethics and morality. Moral decisions, around issues like theft and corruption, are absolutes regardless of time or culture. They... (1 h ago)

• Blagojevich and Spitzer: a moral tale ab... Blagojevich and Spitzer: a moral tale about power
01/08/2009
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, now embroiled in allegations that he tried to flog to sell President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat, and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who... (1 d ago)

• Picasso, Van Gogh and networking Picasso, Van Gogh and networking
01/08/2009
Why did Pablo Picasso end up earning more than Vincent Van Gogh? Picasso left an estate valued at $750 million, Van Gogh died a pauper.According to Professor Gregory Berns, it was all because Picasso... (1 d ago)

• Subprime meltdown drives litigation Subprime meltdown drives litigation
01/07/2009
The financial meltdown is driving litigation.New data released in the Securities Class Action Filings: 2008 Year End Assessment, from Cornerstone Research and the Stanford University Law School... (1 d ago)

• Rise of the new consumer Rise of the new consumer
01/07/2009
The market meltdown is changing consumer behavior. And it will produce a new consumer.Retailers tell me consumers are still buying, they're just not spending as much. Instead of a $20 bunch of... (2 d ago)

• Innovation in the downturn Innovation in the downturn
01/07/2009
Is a downturn a good time to start a business?It's not a bad question actually. Bill Gates didn't wait for the recession of 1974-75 to pass when he founded Microsoft. Other companies that... (2 d ago)

• What's ahead for US financial institutio... What's ahead for US financial institutions?
01/06/2009
With President-elect Barack Obama vowing to reshape the United States financial regulatory system, something that should have been done some time ago, it is worth looking to see what lies ahead for... (2 d ago)

• Diagnosing the liquidity and credit crun... Diagnosing the liquidity and credit crunch
01/06/2009
Every downturn is different and this one is no exception. That's why comparisons with previous downturns and meltdowns are meaningless. It also explains the growing number of analytic studies... (2 d ago)

• Less product, same price Less product, same price
01/08/2009
Have you noticed there's less peanut butter in your jar? Some packaged goods companies have been reducing the weight of certain products and selling them for the same price. Sean Cole asks: Is it deceptive? (22 h ago)

• Taking Stock: Get banks smaller Taking Stock: Get banks smaller
01/08/2009
There are a lot of reasons why our economy is in a sorry state. Among them, the way we've done business and how banks have been structured. Kai Ryssdal speaks with management expert Charles Handy about how we got in this current economic mess. (22 h ago)

• The business of the BCS The business of the BCS
01/08/2009
The Oklahoma Sooners will face off against the Florida Gators in the final game of college football's Bowl Championship Series tonight. The BCS ranking system decides who makes the national championship, but has been controversial ever since its inception 10 years ago. Kai Ryssdal speaks with Diana Nyad about the business of the BCS. (22 h ago)

• Home Depot ends Olympic sponsorship Home Depot ends Olympic sponsorship
01/08/2009
Home Depot is ending its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic team, bringing to close a 16-year program that allowed athletes to work part-time at the construction retailer while enjoying full-time benefits and pay. Jeremy Hobson reports. (22 h ago)

• Dell's move a big blow to Ireland Dell's move a big blow to Ireland
01/08/2009
Dell is planning to cut 1,900 manufacturing jobs in Ireland. That move could trigger even more job losses in the local supply chain. As Stephen Beard reports, Dell's move could be a big blow to Ireland's manufacturing industry. (22 h ago)

• Consumers expect to buy low Consumers expect to buy low
01/08/2009
The 2008 holiday shopping season was one of the worst ever. Retailers offered a lot of sales, but it didn't get people to hit up the stores. As Stacey Vanek-Smith reports, all those markdowns have created an expectation from consumers and put retailers in a bad spot. (22 h ago)

• Obama urges action on stimulus Obama urges action on stimulus
01/08/2009
President-elect Obama urged Congress to act swiftly to approve his massive stimulus package, warning of the consequences that could happen if nothing is done. Though the details of the plan are a little murky, John Dimsdale reports it sounds pretty familiar. (22 h ago)

• U.K. slashes interest rates to historic ... U.K. slashes interest rates to historic low
01/08/2009
The Bank of England cut official interest rates by a half a percentage point to 1.5 percent on Thursday, the lowest level in its 315-year history. (23 h ago)

• Satyam executives try to soothe investor... Satyam executives try to soothe investors
01/08/2009
Top executives of beleaguered Indian outsourcing company Satyam Computer struggled to reassure investors, employees and clients Thursday after its chairman resigned following an admission he cooked accounts and inflated profits for years. (1 d ago)

• Satyam scandal could be 'India's Enron' Satyam scandal could be 'India's Enron'
01/07/2009
The head of Indian outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services resigned on Wednesday, disclosing that profits had been falsely inflated for years. (1 d ago)

• Europe shivers as Russia cuts gas shipme... Europe shivers as Russia cuts gas shipments
01/07/2009
Russia shut off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine on Wednesday — leaving more than a dozen countries scrambling to cope during a winter cold snap. (2 d ago)

• Bank of America sells China bank stake Bank of America sells China bank stake
01/07/2009
Bank of America Corp. raised more money Wednesday to cope with U.S. economic turmoil by selling part of its stake in China Construction Bank Ltd. for $2.8 billion. (2 d ago)

• Billionaire kills himself over financial... Billionaire kills himself over financial crisis
01/06/2009
The family of Adolf Merckle says the German billionaire committed suicide after his business empire got into trouble because of the global financial crisis. (2 d ago)

• Toyota to suspend car production in Japa... Toyota to suspend car production in Japan
01/06/2009
Toyota is suspending production at all 12 of its Japan plants for 11 days over February and March as it grapples with shrinking global demand. (3 d ago)

Business

Technology

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Entertainment

This is abundant, look forward to looking into ea...
John gogs :: 12/28/2009

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?...
CocoChanels :: 07/03/2009

Hi, my friends!! I want to get program XRumer 5.0 ...
MagicOPromotion :: 05/03/2009

Where is this money coming from except from the mo...
carl allen :: 04/11/2009

out of control
staystrong :: 02/23/2009

The poor thing! Once so high and mighty and far ab...
leaf :: 02/22/2009

It always amazed me how eagerly people flocked to ...
David :: 12/23/2008

• Dismal December sales add to retailer wo... Dismal December sales add to retailer woes
01/08/2009
Major retailers Thursday reported dismal sales for December, confirming fears that the holiday season was the weakest in four decades. (15 h ago)

• Season of savings brings rewards Season of savings brings rewards
01/07/2009
When it comes to holiday shopping, Americans have been great at saying they were going to cut back — but not so good at actually doing it. This year appears to be an exception. (2 d ago)

• Stores worry holiday sales may be perman... Stores worry holiday sales may be permanent
01/06/2009
Shoppers are getting used to those 75 percent off sales, and that's bad news for merchants who worry they will also have to quickly slash prices on spring goods to attract customers. (2 d ago)

• How to play the rebranding game How to play the rebranding game
01/07/2009
Some entrepreneurs find that their moniker becomes too limited and outdated as the business evolves and enters new markets. There are services out there that help you change. (1 d ago)

• Why the BBB deserves a FFF Why the BBB deserves a FFF
01/07/2009
Your Biz blog: Everything in life seems to get more and more difficult these days. Now the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is getting in on the act. (1 d ago)

• 4 Crisis Related Suicides (Report) 4 Crisis Related Suicides (Report)
01/07/2009
TimesOnline reports; Adolf Merckle, the 74-year-old head of a conglomerate that employs thousands in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, killed himself on Monday. After writing a suicide note for his... (2 d ago)

• Charities Given a Helping Hand Charities Given a Helping Hand
01/07/2009
The Associated Press reports; Nonprofits that are struggling because their donors lost money with Bernard Madoff are getting a bailout - but not from the government. Richer foundations are stepping in... (2 d ago)

• Mortgage Plan Gives Stocks a Boost Mortgage Plan Gives Stocks a Boost
01/08/2009
NEW YORK, Jan. 8 -- A deal to help head off more mortgage foreclosures pulled Wall Street out of a slump Thursday, giving stocks a mostly higher close. (11 h ago)

• As Bonds Fall Again, Stocks Gain Ground... As Bonds Fall Again, Stocks Gain Ground
01/06/2009
Stocks rose modestly yesterday as investors dismissed more poor economic news and crude oil prices briefly climbed back to $50 a barrel. (2 d ago)

• The Amish Flock From Farms to Small Busi... The Amish Flock From Farms to Small Businesses
01/08/2009
The move into commerce by a religious sect that has determinedly kept the modern world at bay has been more out of necessity than desire. (1 d ago)

• Tool Kit: A Business Forced to Shrink Ma... Tool Kit: A Business Forced to Shrink May Be Stronger
01/06/2009
The silver lining of today’s clouded economy is that many people are more satisfied as their companies shrink. (2 d ago)

• What are three big things in social entr... What are three big things in social entrepreneurship in 2009?
01/07/2009
As we are in the beginning of the year 2009, I wanted to ask you a futuristics! question: What are the top trends in the year 2009 in area of social entrepreneurship? I personally think there are 3... (1 d ago)

• Qinghai Solar Power Plant Would Be World... Qinghai Solar Power Plant Would Be World's Biggest
01/08/2009
Venture Beat was the first source that I saw this in: plans have been announced to build a gigawatt-sized solar power station in Qinghai Province, China. If it goes through, it would be the largest... (12 h ago)

• Finding a Job with Social Media Finding a Job with Social Media
01/08/2009
Mashable has a piece by Dan Schawbel (Personal Branding Blog) on how to use social media to find a job. Schawbel is a little more upbeat about LinkedIn than I was last week. But he make some of the... (12 h ago)

• SiliconValley NewTech Meetup (My first) SiliconValley NewTech Meetup (My first)
01/07/2009
The tech community is alive and kicking here in Silicon Valley. After beeing a couple of times to teh SF Newtech Meetup (which has become huge) I also joined the Silicon valley NewTech Meetup... (1 d ago)

• One Key to Success: The Bi-Cultural Cons... One Key to Success: The Bi-Cultural Consultant
01/07/2009
From a business perspective, the main barrier to success in China is culture. Cultural difference between a European, Australian or American businessman and his Chinese partner can lead to problems in... (1 d ago)

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