Ford announces deep production cuts in response to growing losses
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Ford announces deep production cuts in response to growing losses

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Ford has announced sweeping cuts of 21% (168,000 units) in its US and Canadian production, resulting in the partial closure of ten of its plants during the fourth quarter. The measure comes on top of existing turnaround plans announced in January, in which 25,000 to 30,000 positions should be cut and 14 plants closed by 2012.

Ford is the world’s third-largest automaker and the U.S.’s second-largest. However it has in recent years been struggling with poor profitability and shrinking market shares. In 2005 it lost $1.6 billion and recently the company reported a second quarter loss of $254 million and a 34% year-year decline in sales for the month of July.

George Pipas, director of sales analysis at Ford, points to rising gas prices having negative impact on the sale of the companies SUV lines as well as its sales leader, the F-series pickup truck as being the direct cause of the latest initiative.

So far the following plants are thought to be affected:

Ford’s stock fell 17 cents (2.1%) to $8 on the New York Stock Exchange.

U.S. House Ethics Committee to examine congressional press secretary vandalizing Wikipedia articles with government computer
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U.S. House Ethics Committee to examine congressional press secretary vandalizing Wikipedia articles with government computer

Sunday, August 19, 2007

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Timothy Hill is the congressional press secretary working for U.S. Representative David Davis (R, TN-1) in Washington, D.C.

This news story originally broke as an article appearing within the August 11, 2007 edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee) in which Hill first denied any personal involvement in the “blanking” vandalism of the Wikipedia articles David Davis (Tennessee politician) and Matthew Hill (Matthew Hill is a Representative within the Tennessee General Assembly and older brother of the press secretary) during a first interview with a KNS reporter. Hill later called back the KNS reporter for a second interview in which he reportedly admitted to using a government computer within the Washington, D.C. congressional office of U.S. Rep. David Davis to “edit” both the David Davis and Matthew Hill Wikipedia articles .

Hill repeatedly blanked six to eight paragraphs of reference text at each article pertaining to both U.S. Davis’ and Tennessee Rep. Matthew Hill’s political lobbying and/or campaign finance connections to Altace, Hoechst AGand former King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CEO John M. Gregory. Hill’s Wikipedia article edits were then linked through the article histories back to Rep. Davis’s congressional office via an IP (internet protocol) number to the U.S. House of Representatives Information System.

Other interesting Wikipedia articles edited with the history detail revealing Rep. Davis Davis congressional office IP number (although not attributed to Hill) includes John Leslie (porn star) and sports professional Ray Jackson. The vandalism at the Jackson article was not directed toward the sports pro, but rather at a congressional staffer of the same name who is employed at the House Rules Committee.

The rules of the U.S. House Committee on Standards for Official Conduct (more popularly known as the U.S. House “Ethics Committee”) oversees ethics education and conducts investigations of ethical matters pertaining to House members of the U.S. Congress and the members’ congressional officers and staff members, including investigating within the scope of campaign activity:

  • No campaign activities allowed in any congressional office or room (including district offices)
  • No use of congressional office resources (including equipment, supplies, or files) for any campaign purpose

The scope of duties for a congressional press secretary is traditionally limited toward preparing internal documents within a congressional office (i.e.: “press releases”) that are later disseminated to the news media outlets, writing up and producing newsletters to mail to the constituents back within the congressional district, and serving as a contact person within a congressional office for news reporters.

There is also an IP number indication that U.S. Rep. David Davis’ congressional office has also been anonymously “shadowing” online blogs with at least one blog (The Tennessee Waltz) originating in East Tennessee with content that was critical toward Rep. Davis for his voting against the federal 2007 Animal Fighting Prohibition Act. The legislation passed this year without Davis’ vote and was signed into law by U.S. President Bush.

Derailments close Australian rail routes
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Derailments close Australian rail routes

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Two train derailments in two days have closed railway lines in Australia.

A Rio Tinto iron ore train derailled at Pilbara, on a spur of the Tom Price to Dampier line on Thursday 29. The following day, a freight train with 40 wagons derailed east of Kalgoorlie, injuring three people.

The second derailment has closed the line used by the long distance Sydney to Perth Indian Pacific passenger train. Operators Great Southern Railway expect to lose A$500,000 revenues as the line remains closed until at least Thursday. Police say heavy rain has affected the area, and the federal Australian Rail Track Corporation say that a new access road needs to be built in order to clear the wreckage and repair the track.

Rio Tinto have sufficient stocks of iron ore already in place to keep working. However, the freight train was carrying consumer products, which may run short in the south of Western Australia in the next few days. The Kalgoorie crash is to be investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, while maintenance company Transfield Services will also be examining the incident.

Is There An All In One Car Service In Tempe? Yes!

byAlma Abell

One of the most important tools a person uses in their daily life is often going to be an automobile. They get you all over town, take you to work in the morning, and bring you back to your family at the end of the day. They help you go out and get your groceries and then pick up the kids on your way back to the house.When it comes to having work done on your vehicles, you probably have at least three contacts saved in your address book:

1. Your maintenance and mechanical repair guy2. Your tire guy3. Your auto body guy

How frustrating is it that you have to take your vehicle to one of three possible locations depending on what’s wrong with it? Wouldn’t it be easier if you could find a local car service in Tempe that can handle all of your needs in one spot? A full service Car Service in Tempe would be able to provide you with:

* Mechanical Maintenance and Repairs – One of the most common reasons for people to take their vehicles into the shop is for scheduled maintenance or a mechanical failure somewhere within the vehicle. Obviously, avoiding those major break downs is the ultimate goal, but it is also important to have a trusted mechanic on hand who can get you back on the road quickly in the event of a mechanical failure.

* New Tires and Tire Repair – If you need new tires, or you have a leaking tire that just needs fixed or patched up, wouldn’t it be great if you could have that done while your car is already in the shop for a check up? Tires are the second most common reason people have problems with their cars. If you can have them taken care of at the same location as your mechanical needs, this might be a huge help!

* Auto Body Repairs – While not as common, it may be good to know your shop can also handle repairs of this nature, just in case you need them!

You’re probably sitting back and thinking, “thanks a lot. Now I really do wish there was a place like that around here!” Stop wishing, because there actually is a place in your area just like the one described here. Head on down to AZ Auto Crafters and check it out for yourself.

The Relationship Between The Health Coach And Client}

The Relationship Between The Health Coach And Client

by

John Tartol

How do you generally feel after you’ve met with your family doctor? Do feelings of motivation, inspiration, and support overwhelm you? Or you feel anxious, nervy and even afraid (to some extent)? Is the relationship between you and him is one of mutual trust and respect? If you feel like your doctor is not showing that level of interest and engagement in helping you out with your current health problems, you can consider to see an experienced and well-trained Wellness Coach Thousand Oaks, who is also recognized as that missing link that helps clients achieve optimal health and personal wellness.

The relationship between a health coach and client is very different from that of a conventional doctor and patient. Read on to know how.

The Relationship Is Seen As A Partnership

Health coaches are a lot different from how conventional doctors work, who often act as an almighty authority regarding what you should do, when you should do, and how you should do it. Health coaches take their own time in settling with their clients; they take time to know clients and studying their medical history and current health condition. They want to know what are the goals of their clients and what do they expect from him. They devise a wellness plan that fits their clients’ needs and requirements. There is no one diet plan that works the same way for each and every individual and Wellness Coach Thousand Oaks supports the individual.

Changes Are Implemented Gradually

Ongoing support makes the world of difference because it allows the individual to implement small changes gradually over time while dealing with their personal challenges every day. The big advantage of hiring a wellness coach is that you won’t feel alone with your daily list of do’s and don’ts. Your coach will be with you at every step of your weight loss management, guiding you and fixing your accountability. He will give you 1-3 simple suggestions to experiment each week, along with guiding you how to integrate new habits into your daily life.

Loving Accountability And Support

Health coaches are so passionate and zealous about their profession and it shows in the way they are so focused in helping you achieve your desired weight. A knowledgeable and expert health coach believes in working with one client at a time so that he can pay unflinching attention on him. They will monitor your progress regularly, inspire and encourage you in small but meaningful ways, and will keep you motivated whenever you start to feel low and discouraged.

Coming to conclusion, the relationship between your health coach and you is more personalized as compared to the relationship between a doctor and patient. You will get the time and attention you want from your health coach so that you don’t feel alone in your battle against obesity. Since your health coach works with one client at a time, there’s no question of him losing his focus. You will eventually feel looked after and cared for with your health coach guiding and monitoring your progress carefully.

Be ready to get fit and healthy lifestyle with our

Wellness Coach in Thousand Oaks

. A Wellness Coach is an individual who helps others keep on track with their wellness plan. They will help to not only devise an exercise routine, but also work on other aspects of wellness with the client.

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com}

Law center helps defend open source
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Law center helps defend open source

Wednesday, February 2, 2005

Eben Moglen, Columbia University Law Professor, will head the newSoftware Freedom Law Center (SFLC). An initial 4 million dollars has been provided by Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) to fund the project.

The law center will provide free legal service for open source projects and developers. In 2004 OSDL established a separate $10 million Linux Legal Defense Fund providing legal support for Linus Torvalds, Linux kernel creator and end user companies subjected to Linux-related litigation by the SCO Group. The new law center will not be affiliated with the OSDL.

“This is about taking care of the goose that laid the golden egg and not letting wolves come in the middle of the night and steal it away,” Moglen said during a press conference. “This is a legal firm not involved so much in litigating and defending as it will be for counseling and advising and nurturing non-profits and to prevent millions of dollars in litigation.”

Moglen will serve as chairman and director-counsel of the non-profit organization. Also on board as directors are: Lawrence Lessig, law professor at Stanford Law School; Daniel Weitzner, director of the World Wide Web Consortium‘s technology and society activities; and Diane Peters, general counsel at the OSDL. Daniel Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent Foundation, will help manage as legal director.

Moglen, one of the world.s leading experts on copyright law as applied to software, will run the new Law Center from its headquarters in New York City. The Law Center will initially have two full-time intellectual property attorneys on staff and expects to expand to four attorneys later this year. Initial clients for the Law Center include the Free Software Foundation and the Samba Project.

Other services provided by the SFLC include: asset stewardship, to avoid intellectual property claim conflict; license review and compatibility analysis; legal consulting and lawyer training.

Wikinews Shorts: April 9, 2007
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Wikinews Shorts: April 9, 2007

A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, April 9, 2007.

Contents

  • 1 Three-year-old New Zealander chokes to death on candy
  • 2 Golf: Zach Johnson wins 71st Masters
  • 3 New York couple taking taxi to Arizona
  • 4 Vocational nurse charged with fatal Houston fire
  • 5 Iran starts industrial-scale production of nuclear fuel

The New Zealand Police has reported that a three-year-old boy choked to death on Saturday afternoon, due to what they believe was a piece of candy at his birthday party.

The parents did call New Zealand’s emergency number, 1-1-1, after their son alerted his parents to the fact that he was choking. The paramedics were unable to revive the Napier boy when they arrived at the scene.

The case has been referred to a coroner.

Sources


Relatively unknown golfer Zach Johnson won the 71st Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Johnson shot 3-under-par 69 in Sunday’s fourth round, to win by 2 strokes over Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen, and Rory Sabbattini.

Johnson won a purse worth US$1,305,000 and a lifetime qualification to the Masters Tournament, held annually at the Augusta National Golf Club.

Sources


A couple living in New York City have decided to take a taxi all the way to Arizona. Betty and Bob Matas are retiring and leaving the city for good. What started as joke, has become reality, in part to spare their cats from traveling in a jetliner cargo-hold. They have negotiated a US$3,000 flat fee instead of the metered rate, which was estimated at US$5,000.

Sources


A vocational nurse working for Dr. John Capriotti, a plastic surgeon, was accused of setting the fire that wounded several and killed three people in Houston, Texas on March 28. She was allegedly trying to cover up the fact that she hadn’t completed the paperwork for an upcoming audit.

The fire began in Dr. Capriotti’s office on the fifth floor and quickly spread to the sixth. Arson investigators from the Houston Fire Department, the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been working to determine the source of the fire.

Sources


Iran announced that it has started industrial scale production of nuclear fuel involving hundreds of centrifuges. The announcement comes as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reasserts his nation’s nuclear rights in the face of two rounds of sanctions by the UN Security Council, which is seeking a halt to such work.

The United States denounced the declaration, saying it showed Iran was defying the international community.

Sources



Romanian tourism to be rebranded
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Romanian tourism to be rebranded

Friday, May 6, 2005

Romania’s National Authority for Tourism (ANT) announced that they would promote tourism in Romania through a new branding strategy, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development. The director of ANT, Marius Critonescu, said that the branding exercise will be “a significant component of the Romania’s development as a new tourist destination of international level.” He also added that the development of an integrated brand for Romanian tourism will promote a more positive image for the country, thereby increasing the number of tourists and investors. In recent times, there has been quite a lot of investment in “national branding”, especially in the field of tourism, as most marketing experts believe that branding for a product or a country is theoretically the same thing, and that the same strategies and approach should be used for both.

Concerning the Romanian tourism rebranding, international tourism and marketing expert James MacGregor stated that, “We have to touch the hearts and souls of the contemporary tourists who no longer travel for a simple beach or ski track. They want to live a self-knowledge experience that is truly uplifting and will leave unforgettable memories. The brand must show them not what they will see or do as tourists but what they will feel when visiting Romania.”

Choosing A Financial Professional}

Submitted by: Jerry Rodgers

When we buy a car or a house, consider a school for our children, or plan our next vacation, what kind of approach do we take? For one thing, we take our time. We shop around and consider our choices.

Yet when it comes to selecting a financial consultant, not everyone takes such care.

MarketWatch.com senior columnist Chuck Jaffe sometimes speaks to audiences on this topic, and when he does, he likes to conduct an informal poll. First, he asks people to raise their hand if they have ever worked with a financial advisor. Many hands go up.

Next, he asks these people to keep their hands in the air if they hired the first financial advisor they met with in their search. Few if any hands are lowered. Then he asks them to keep their hands up if they did a background check on that person before agreeing to work together. After asking that question, Jaffe writes, I have never had a single hand stay in the air.

Credibility and compatibility both matter. When it comes to the alphabet soup of financial industry designations, some of them carry more clout than others. Some of the most respected professional designations are Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). These designations are earned only after thorough examinations and a required curriculum of college-level studies in financial planning applications, retirement, insurance and estate planning fundamentals and other topics. Real-world experience must also complement this course of study.

Beyond a financial professionals credentials and designations, you have the matter of compatibility. You dont want to work with someone who insists that you fit into a preconceived box, for you are not simply Investor A, Investor B or Investor C who deserves this or that generic strategy. Better financial professionals really get to know you and they will not be offended if you make the effort to get to know them.

This is a relationship-based business, and when a financial consultant offers a thoughtfully considered, personalized strategy to a client resulting from one or more discovery meetings, he or she has taken a step to earn the respect and trust of that client. Finer financial professionals abide by a clients preferences and risk tolerance and take the clients values, needs and priorities into account.

How do you check out a financial professional? You can visit www.finra.org (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and use FINRA BrokerCheck to see if anything questionable has occurred in their career. If that financial professional is an investment advisor, you can go to the Securities and Exchange Commission and look at that advisors Form ADV at advisorinfo.sec.gov. Part 1 will tell you about any issues with clients or regulatory agencies; Part 2 will tell you about the advisors services, fees and investment strategies.

In addition, AARP offers you a Financial Adviser Questionnaire, and websites like abika.com, paladinregistry.com and advisorbackgroundcheck.com can provide you with further information.

About the Author: Frank T. Johnston is freelance writer and loves to write about financial planning.He is quite impressed with the

brokerwatch.blogspot.com/2009/01/broker-watch-frank-cuenca-and-monarch.html

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=846323&ca=Finances}

Oil spill in Alaska closes 800 miles of pipeline
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Oil spill in Alaska closes 800 miles of pipeline

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

800 miles of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System were closed down following a spill of thousands of barrels of crude oil south of Fairbanks, Alaska. A power failure following a routine fire-command system test caused relief valves to open and crude oil overflowed near the Fort Greely pump station 9. The valves opening allowed a pressure release for the system and oil flowed on a pad to a tank that can hold 55,000 barrels (2.3 million gallons). As of Wednesday afternoon, the tank vents were still leaking probably from thermal expansion inside the tank. Another secondary containment area below the tanks capable of holding 104,500 barrels was not yet filled to capacity.

The spill coordinator for the Department of Environmental Conservation, Tom DeRuter, said that the oil spill contamination should be confined to the graveled oil containment liner. “Safety is their No. 1 objective right now. As soon as it is safe to move in, then they’ll get the power on and try to empty that tank out. As long as everything is in that liner, it gives us time,” DeRuter explained.

40 people had been evacuated from the Fort Greely site, and the Prudhoe Bay station has been reduced by 84%. “We’re going to take as long as we need to make sure the site is safe before we start back up,” said Alyeska Pipeline Service Company spokesperson Michele Egan. There is capacity in reserve tanks for 48 hours during this slow down of production.

About 650,000 barrels per day run through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline between Prudhoe Bay to the Port of Valdez oil tankers. The majority of shares in Alyeska are held by BP Exploration, Alaska (BPXA) which is also currently addressing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP addressed a 267,000 gallon crude oil spill in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 2006 resulting in a lawsuit against BP Exploration.

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