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Tobacco Ruling May Speed Altria Breakup
What is being called a "hollow" court victory for the government against Big Tobacco is widely expected to accelerate the breakup of its biggest member, Altria Group Inc. Thursday's after-market ruling by a federal district judge that Altria and other cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, but which didn't impose onerous financial penalties, clears the way for Altria's board to move ahead on the company's long-contemplated restructuring, analysts agreed. But there was disagreement over how soon the board might make known its intentions on breaking up Altria into three segments - Philip Morris USA, Philip Morris International and Kraft Foods Inc.
http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060818-000593-0928
 
Boeing: May end C-17 production in 2009
NEW YORK - Boeing Co. said on Friday it will end production of its C-17 military cargo plane in mid-2009 if it does not receive any further orders from the U.S. armed forces. In a widely expected announcement, Boeing said it told suppliers to stop work on any planes for which there is no firm funding, which it said was the first step in the long process of shutting down its supply chain. The company said shutting the production line could ultimately cost 5,500 Boeing jobs in California, Missouri, Georgia, and Arizona.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060818/bs_nm/arms_boeing_dc_1
 
Ford to halt production at 10 plants
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. said Friday it would temporarily halt production at 10 assembly plants between now and the end of the year, blaming high gas prices for pushing many consumers away from its pickups and SUVs and toward higher-mileage models. Ford said the cuts will reduce the need for costly incentives to reduce bloated inventories. But they also illustrate just how out of step the lineup at the nation's second-largest automaker has become, as it loses market share to mostly Asian competitors under the watch of Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060819/ap_on_bi_ge/ford_production_cuts
 
Japan ends U.S. long-grain rice imports
Japan has suspended imports of U.S. long-grain rice following a positive test for trace amounts of a genetically modified strain not approved for human consumption, a news report said Sunday. Japan's Health Ministry imposed the suspension on Saturday after being informed by U.S. federal officials that trace amounts of the unapproved strain had been discovered in commercially available long-grain rice.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060820/ap_on_bi_ge/japan_us_rice
 
Irish company challenges scientists to test 'free energy' technology
DUBLIN - An Irish company has thrown down the gauntlet to the worldwide scientific community to test a technology it has developed that it claims produces free energy. The company, Steorn, says its discovery is based on the interaction of magnetic fields and allows the production of clean, free and constant energy -- a concept that challenges one of the basic rules of physics. It claims the technology can be used to supply energy for virtually all devices, from mobile phones to cars. Steorn issued its challenge through an advertisement in the Economist magazine this week quoting Ireland's Nobel prize-winning author George Bernard Shaw who said that "all great truths begin as blasphemies".
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060818/bs_afp/irelandscienceenergy
 
Photo Release - Christening of Northrop Grumman-Built Makin Island (LHD 8) Honors Heroes, Offers Hope for Gulf Coast Shipbuilders
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi - Patriotic tradition and unyielding optimism joined today when ship's sponsor Silke B. Hagee smashed a champagne bottle against the hull of the Northrop Grumman-built amphibious assault ship Makin Island (LHD 8) before an audience of more than 1,000 guests. With a confident and spirited swing, Hagee, wife of U.S. Marine Corps commandant Gen. Michael Hagee, capped a ceremony that honored some of America's most heroic Marines and also signified a major milestone in the recovery of Northrop Grumman Corporation's Pascagoula facility, which today hosted its first ship christening since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The Makin Island is 844 feet long and 106 feet wide and weighs 42,800 tons. Its 70,000 horsepower hybrid propulsion system will drive it to speeds in excess of 20 knots. As a multi-purpose amphibious assault ship, it is designed to transport and land a Marine Expeditionary Unit, a force of almost 2,000 Marines, ashore by helicopter, landing craft and amphibious assault vehicle. It will also have secondary missions of sea control and power projection by helicopter and fixed-wing vertical short take-off and landing aircraft; command and control; and mission support, including a hospital with six operating rooms. Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense company headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. With more than 120,000 employees and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=PZ&Date=20060819&ID=5958670

http://media.primezone.com/noc/gallery/display?o=189&pkgid=2806&max=3&start=0
 
Navistar says Ford cuts will result in nearly 400 layoffs
CHICAGO - Navistar International Corp. the U.S. diesel engine maker, said on Monday it would lay off nearly 400 workers after Ford Motor Co, one of its key customers announced it was cutting fourth-quarter production by 20 percent. The Warrenville, Illinois-based company said 380 unionized workers at its Indianapolis, Indiana, engine assembly plant would be idled beginning October 2 as a result of the move. It said an undetermined number of non-union workers would also be laid off as a result of the production cuts. Navistar builds the 6.0-liter V-8 diesel engine that powers Ford's F-Series Super Duty pickup.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060828/bs_nm/manufacturing_navistar_dc
 
Ford to offer up to $140,000 as buyout: UAW
The United Auto Workers union said on Thursday Ford Motor Co. is offering 8 buyout packages to its U.S. union-represented factory workers, including up to $140,000 one-time payment. The buyout packages are part of Ford's accelerated turnaround plan that will be detailed on Friday. The offers, which include early retirement incentives, are also being extended to union-represented workers at Automotive Components Holdings, a group of factories formerly held by Visteon Corp. Ford's former parts unit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060914/bs_nm/autos_ford_uaw_packages_dc_1
 
Cool for the Ford folks. They offer us a measly $25k, which is the same incentive they offered 15 years ago, what about inflation? Yes, that's my Uncle Sam.:o
 
Ford to cut one-third of work force
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. said on Friday it will slash $5 billion in costs and one-third of its work force as it warned its auto business would not make a profit in North America for another three years. The automaker also ruled out an immediate sale of its Jaguar brand, disappointing investors who wanted Ford to press ahead with asset sales to raise cash. Ford shares dropped as much as 15 percent Friday, the biggest single-day percentage decline in almost four years. Ford also suspended its dividend and pledged to revamp its vehicle line-up, an area of weakness widely cited by analysts.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060915/bs_nm/autos_ford_dc_13
 
DaimlerChrysler Cuts Profit Forecast
BERLIN - DaimlerChrysler AG cut its 2006 operating profit forecast Friday, saying it now expects a euro1.2 billion ($1.52 billion) third-quarter loss at Chrysler -- more than twice the amount anticipated. Shares in the company fell more than 5 percent. The German-American automaker lowered its operating profit forecast for 2006 to approximately euro5 billion ($6.34 billion), based on an expected full-year loss for the U.S.-based Chrysler Group of euro1 billion ($1.27 billion).
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060915/germany_daimlerchrysler.html?.v=15
 
Ford Cuts 10,000 Jobs, Closes 2 Plants in Bid to Remold Itself Into More Competitive Company
DETROIT - Ford took drastic steps on Friday to remold itself into a smaller, more competitive company, slashing thousands of jobs and shuttering two additional plants to cut costs and fend off a financial crisis. The company announced it would cut 10,000 more white-collar positions in addition to offering buyout and early retirement packages to all of its 75,000 hourly employees. It also suspended its dividend. The blue-collar cuts at Ford, the second-biggest U.S. automaker, are another blow to organized labor, which has been losing members as the auto industry reshapes itself to battle lower-cost, nonunion rivals. Ford Motor Co. said it would shutter a stamping plant in Maumee, Ohio, in 2008 and its Essex engine plant in Windsor, Ontario, in 2007. It will also close an assembly plant in Norfolk, Va., in 2007, a year earlier than previously announced and will cut a shift in January. An assembly plant in St. Paul, Minn., which is scheduled to close in 2008, also will have a shift reduction in 2007. The new cuts bring the total number of plant closures to 16, adding to the 14 plants announced in a previous restructuring plan. The company has identified nine plants to be closed through 2008, but Ford officials would not talk about which facilities would be shut down after that. Ford said it would complete its cuts of about 30,000 hourly jobs by the end of the 2008, four years ahead of its previous target. The company said it had cut 4,000 salaried positions in the first quarter of this year. The new cuts would reduce Ford's total North American work force by 29 percent, from the current level of about 130,000 to about 92,000 by the end of 2008. The salaried job cuts represent about a third of that work force.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060915/ford_cuts.html?.v=46
 
These plant closures in the US auto industry will be community killers. It's not just Ford. US jobless claims are sure to soar over the next two years. Hope these folks can find good paying jobs elsewhere. :(
 
The trickle down effect has been already happening in our communities. Yesterday the local news reported that another parts manufacture laying off 150 of 420 in a very small community. Happy Thanksgiving.:( :(

Fivetears said:
These plant closures in the US auto industry will be community killers. It's not just Ford. US jobless claims are sure to soar over the next two years. Hope these folks can find good paying jobs elsewhere. :(
Click to expand...
 
I was just in Dawsin, St. Helen, Lapeer & Saginaw Michigan; 9 - 12 August. Such beautiful areas, beautiful homes, powerful automotive industy and factories. A fishing paradise. Farms. Some of the nicest people "Don'tcha Know." A place you'd think and even believe you could go from "rags to riches" if you ever lost it all anywhere else in the world...; not the opposite.

What will become of all this 2 years down the road? The families. :(
 
Report Says General Motors and Ford Have Discussed Possibility of a Merger or Alliance
DETROIT - Executives of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have discussed a possible merger or alliance, the trade journal Automotive News reported Monday. Both companies declined comment. Automotive News quoted what it said were several people familiar with the talks as saying that discussions involving senior executives began in July and are not taking place now. The journal quoted one source as saying that GM Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson and his Ford counterpart, Don Leclair, discussed a GM-Ford alliance in August. The report comes as GM and Ford have been slashing their work forces and closing plants in efforts to reverse multibillion dollar losses. Their sales have been hurt by competition from more fuel-efficient models from Asian automakers. As the two biggest U.S. automakers, any deal would presumably face scrutiny by U.S. antitrust regulators.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060918/gm_ford.html?.v=8
 
Ford, GM have discussed alliance: reports
Citing several sources familiar with the discussions, industry newspaper Automotive News reported there were no ongoing talks between the two companies and said it was not clear earlier discussions would bear fruit. The Wall Street Journal said Ford and GM "briefly discussed" an alliance, but had since dropped the idea with no plans for further talks. GM and Ford declined comment. "As we've often said, GM officials routinely discuss issues of mutual interest with other automakers," GM spokesman Brian Akre said. "As a policy, we do not confirm or comment publicly on those private discussions, which in many cases never lead anywhere." To further complicate matters, GM is already in the midst of a 90-day study of a potential tie-up with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Renault SA in which Nissan and Renault could buy up to a 20 percent stake in GM. That deal, urged by GM's largest individual shareholder, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, has been widely viewed as a means of prodding Wagoner to speed up the company's turnaround efforts.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060918/bs_nm/autos_gm_ford_dc_4
 
Trade deficit up to $218.4B in 2nd qtr.
WASHINGTON - America's trade deficit increased in the spring to the second-highest level in history, reflecting a big jump in payments for foreign oil and a deterioration in the country's investment position. The deficit in the U.S. current account rose to $218.4 billion in the April-June quarter, an increase of 2.4 percent over the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Democrats called the widening of the deficit further evidence that President Bush's free-trade policies have left American workers exposed to unfair trade competition and a steep loss of manufacturing jobs.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy_3
 
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