In Paris, Mr. Combes stated that he planned to gain insight about the company through its employees, shareholders and stakeholders before creating a revised strategy for the company, which lost 1.4 billion euros (1.9 billion) in 2012. Mr. Combes said he is prepared to perform the necessary work needed to make the company profitable again. The company released Ben Verwaayen, former CEO of the company, after failing to generate profits over the last 4 years following the merger between Alcatel of France and Lucent Technologies of New Jersey in 2006.

Alcatel-Lucent is already downsizing their global workforce by 7%. A majority of the company’s workforce is spread throughout the world, mostly in the United States, China, India, Japan, Netherlands and South Korea. Roughly 9,000 people work in France, making up approximately 12% of all the employees. The current downsizing is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Alcatel-Lucent has declined to say which of their businesses they might sell. Aleksander Peterc, analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in London, commented, “Alcatel-Lucent is in a crisis situation, and even just identifying which businesses it intends to sell would be a step forward that could save thousands of jobs.”

So far, the company has identified its optical submarine cable business and its enterprise business as potential cuts that will be made under Mr. Combes’ leadership. With sales falling in 2012 for its optical networking and wireless businesses, those may be examined for further cuts as well. All agree that it will be a difficult task to pull the company out of its downward spiral.

Some feel Mr. Combes will need to take even more action to rebuild Alcatel-Lucent, including selling more of its businesses. At the end of 2012, the company secured additional time by receiving emergency funding in the amount of 1.62 billion euros from Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. The loan included conditions that would pay back revenue derived from any future asset sales.

Shane Warne

The Australian cricket legend Shane Warne is a speed lover. He owns cars like the black Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, the Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari. Warne attributes his passion for cars to his dad, who taught him how to drive when he was 17. His dad also bought Shane his first car, a Ford TC Cortina with hotted-up magnesium alloy wheels.

Warne’s collection of luxury cars can be dated back to 1996 when he bought a Ferrari 355 Spider. Both in performance and quality, the F355 was the first Ferrari of a new generation and continues to be one of the most popular Ferraris ever. The F355 was later on sold by Warne in exchange for a Ferrari 360 Spider in titanium.

Ferraris were not enough for Warne. The spin king has parked a fleet of cars in his garage, including two Mercedes four-wheel-drives, two BMWs, a Bugatti Veyron 2008 and a Holden VK Commodore and the latest head-turning Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.

Michael Clarke

The Australian cricket captain’s love of fast cars is no secret. Cricket fans may remember that he once splurged $250,000 on an Aston Martin as a Christmas gift for his former fiancée, Lara Bingle.

Last year, he even swapped his bat for a steering wheel and made a surprising appearance in the International Rally of Queensland. He drove a rally-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer Evo in the rally as part of the promotion for the personal sponsor BP Ultimate.

“It’s pretty well known that I have a passion for driving, but a part of me has always wondered what it would be like to go up against the best in the business,” Clarke said in a statement. “There’s no doubt that rally driving is one of the most exhilarating sports around and, as someone who puts my heart into everything I do, this is a great opportunity to mix it with some of the world’s best drivers.”

Trent Copeland

Copeland is a right-arm fast-medium bowler, who plies his trade for the NSW Blues – although he has also turned out for Australia and Australia A. Copeland’s first car was a second-hand Sigma, but he is now driving an Audi Q5 which he chose together with his wife Kim Green. After spending the whole day walking among the Range Rover, Audi, BMW and Mercedes, they finally chose the one they currently have.

Copeland’s ideal car is a Maserati. “But you know what? I can’t see myself having any car other than the one we’ve got at the moment. I’m pretty happy with it. I never thought I’d ever drive a car that nice.”

The fans of cricket players may admire both their skills and their ability to afford amazing cars, but remember that one of the most important issues you need to figure out when purchasing an awesome car is securing your auto finance. Those who want to start their car collection may consider consulting an expert from WAF first for bad credit car loans – don’t let your finances ruin your dream!

Author bio: Yuan Liu is a freelancer who always adores those who own cool vehicles, including Batman. She is thinking about getting a Toyota Prius for herself.

Additionally, 1,900 positions will be eliminated from Citi’s capital markets and transaction processing units and an estimated 2,600 jobs will be eliminated from its back office operations.  The job cuts total about 4% of the company’s work force.  The layoffs will drop the company’s head count down to about 250,000, nearly 30% less since before the financial crisis in 2007.  John Gerspach, the bank’s chief financial officer, described the downsizing as “part of a continuum.”

The changes will result in a charge of nearly $1 billion in the fourth quarter, but are expected to save $900 million next year and $1.1 billion annually starting in 2014.  Chief executive Michael L. Corbat said in a statement, “These actions are logical next steps in Citi’s transformation.  While we are committed to – and our strategy continues to leverage – our unparalleled global network and footprint, we have identified areas and products where our scale does not provide for meaningful returns.”  Citi is the nation’s third-biggest bank by assets.

Citi has been trying to bolster returns to counteract mounting pressure from shareholders.  This has mainly involved working through a glut of bad loans and systematically dismantling some businesses. The bank has also been facing a continuing battle against high operating costs and persistently sluggish markets.  The announcement did not signal a new strategy or direction for the bank.  Michael Mayo, an analyst at Crédit Agricole Securities, said, “Ultimately, it misses the point.  They need a more radical restructuring.”

Indian regulators are investigating a nearly $100 million investment in an Indian company, Bharti Retail, by Wal-Mart.  The investment took the form of debt securities that could be converted into a 49% ownership stake in Bharti but paid no interest to Wal-Mart.  Officials are trying to determine whether the loan from Wal-Mart to Bharti was intended to circumvent the foreign investment rules.

Bharti Retail operates more than 200 supermarkets across India.  Wal-Mart has a 50-50 venture with Bharti that operates 17 wholesale stores.  Wal-Mart also provides logistics and management services to Bharti’s Easyday retail stores.

A letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from a lawmaker representing the Communist Party of India prompted the investigation.  Mr. Singh’s office forwarded the letter to the Ministry of Commerce, which forwarded it to the central bank, which oversees foreign transactions involving Indian companies.  An Indian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the investigation was not yet a formal inquiry.

For a long time, India prohibited foreign equity investments in retail chains that sold more than one brand of products.  Those rules have recently been changed to allow foreign companies to own up to 51% of multi-brand stores.  The rule change has faced stiff resistance from the opposition, which includes other political parties and allies of the governing coalition.

The Indian unit of Wal-Mart released a statement saying, “We are in complete compliance with India’s F.D.I. laws.  All procedures and processes have been duly followed and details filed with relevant Indian government authorities including the Reserve Bank of India.”  Wal-Mart’s actions in overseas markets have also come under scrutiny in the United States.  The federal government is currently investigating allegations of bribery at the company’s Mexican subsidiary.

The bank’s regulatory and legal issues have been a continued source of financial pain.  Barclays recently disclosed that the company was facing lawsuits related to a rate-rigging scandal.  Barclays announced a $450 million settlement with British and American authorities over the manipulation of benchmark rates, including the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, in June.

According to a statement from the bank, Barclays is facing class action lawsuits in the United States related the manipulation of benchmark rates, with one of the lawsuits also citing unnamed current and former members of the bank’s board as defendants.  Barclays said it was “not practical” to estimate the costs related to the legal proceedings.

Regulators are also investigating the company’s financial director regarding a different matter.  British regulator Financial Services Authority is looking into the actions of some current and former Barclays employees, including finance director Chris Lucas, over fee disclosures related to the bank’s capital-raising efforts in 2008.  The bank said in a statement, “Barclays considers that it satisfied its disclosure obligations and confirms that it will cooperate fully with the F.S.A.’s investigation.”

According to regulatory filings, the issues revolve around agreements with the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation of Japan and the Qatar Investment Authority.  In 2008, the British bank obtained £11.8 billion, or $18.6 billion, from Middle Eastern investors in two rounds of capital raising.  Existing shareholders voiced concerns that their rights were overlooked when Barclays turned to outside investors for capital.

The new 7,500-square-foot Cinnabon store is located on a busy street in Tripoli’s business district.   According to the company, the Tripoli Cinnabon store logged $45,000 in sales in the first week of its opening.   Shattuck said, “Ultimately, we think there’s an even larger opportunity in the country for us.”

Two years ago, when U.S. sanctions on the country were easing, the company started seriously considering expanding into Libya.  Shattuck said, “We were in every major market in the Middle East.  Expanding into Libya made sense as part of our emerging market strategy.”  The company currently has more than 900 locations in 51 countries.  Cinnabon is based in Atlanta.

The company had received numerous franchise inquiries from Libyans living overseas.  Shattuck said, “They were already familiar with the brand and wanted to bring it to Libya.”  The company plans to open at least 10 Cinnabon locations in Libya over the next four years.

Cinnabon’s expansion into Libya had been planned for the early months of 2011.  The company had selected local franchise partners, selected a location, and had shipped the first products when the country erupted in civil war.  Shattuck said, “We quickly halted everything because the revolution happened.  Fortunately, we were able to secure the location and it made it without serious damage.”

Chuck Dittrich, executive director of U.S.-Libya Business Association, said American business interest in Libya is growing.  The U.S.-Libya Business Association is a trade group representing American companies interested in doing business in Libya.  Much of the interest is coming from the energy, infrastructure, and health care industries.  The trade group led a delegation of 20 American companies to Libya to discuss business opportunities in April.

Indonesian young people gathered at street-side food stalls called warung ten years ago to hang out and gossip.  21-year-old engineering student Oka Dharmawan said of 7-Eleven, “It’s a new concept of hanging out.”  He meets his friends at a local 7-Eleven nearly every night to log onto the wireless hot spot and enjoy Slurpees.

Henri Honoris, president director of Modern Putra, 7-Eleven’s Indonesian franchisee, said, “People still like to talk about their lives, they like to gossip.  Now we give them an alternative.  It’s a warung with better quality.”  Mr. Honoris said that he spotted the potential for a revamped 7-Eleven early on, but it took two years to persuade the company to allow him to build the locations.  In 2009, 7-Eleven opened its first 20 Indonesian stores.

The company’s strategy has been to combine a small supermarket with seating and inexpensive ready-made food.  The combination attracts a wide array of customers in a city lacking outdoor recreation space and slowed by nearly constant traffic jams.  65% of 7-Eleven’s Indonesian customers are younger than 30 and many of them spend hours surfing the Internet at the locations, which never close.

7-Eleven revamped its sales strategy to appeal to the local tastes of the world’s most populous Muslim country.  Many stores offer a variety of local and exotic cuisines, including ready-made fried rice, doughnuts and chicken katsu, a Japanese-style fried cutlet.  Beverages offered include its signature Big Gulp soft drinks, flavored-ice Slurpees, and beer and wine coolers (depending on the approval of the local community).  Meals can cost less than 23,000 rupiah and many customers like the comfort of being indoors and the international food options.

Debnath Guharoy, Asia director for Roy Morgan Research, said, “The neighborhood 7-Eleven has become recreational.”  He continued, “Before you had a dirty, sweaty little street shop, and that’s all there was.  Now you can go to a clean, air-conditioned shop and it’s a better experience.”  In Indonesia, 7-Eleven has 57,000 Twitter followers and more than 44,000 Facebook fans.

TNK-BP has been a lucrative investment for BP and the company offered to buy out the Russian oligarchs who own the other half of the venture last year.  TNK-BP is one of the top oil companies in Russia and makes up about 30% of BP’s oil and natural gas production and 20% of its reserves.  The company has been responsible for around 10% of BP’s profit annually over the last decade.

According to a company statement, BP bought into the joint venture in August 2003 for about $8 billion and has earned $19 billion in dividends since then.  David Nicholas, a BP spokesman, said, “It’s been a successful joint venture for both partners over the last 10 years.  There’s been some disruptions, and we’ve worked hard with our partners to come up with a long-term solution that would bring long-term clarity to the venture, which has not happened.”

BP said the process of evaluating a potential sale could take several months and that there was no guarantee that a transaction would take place.  A sale of the stake would generate proceeds the company could invest in operations with higher profit margins.  The stake is estimated to fetch up to $30 billion.

Alfa Access Renova issued a statement suggesting that it might be interested in buying some or all of BP’s stake.  The Russian partners have the right of first refusal for any buyout offers.  The statement said, “It has become apparent that the parity ownership structure has become inoperable given fundamental differences over strategy and governance between A.A.R. and BP.  A.A.R. remains committed to the successful development of TNK-BP including potentially increasing its shareholding in the business.”

Swiss regulators and Google both said they were happy with the ruling, which leaves the service legally intact in Switzerland.  Google introduced Street View in Switzerland in 2009.  The national regulator threw the future of Street View into question in 2010 by demanding that Google’s pixilation technology, used to blur certain images, work without error, 100% of the time.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court said Google did not have to guarantee 100% blurring of the faces of pedestrians, vehicle license plates and other identifying markers captured by Google’s Street View cars.  The court stated that 99% would be acceptable.  Google claims that its technology is already capable of blurring faces and license plates 99% of the time.

Switzerland has some of the strictest privacy safeguards in the world.  In Switzerland, privacy is so closely guarded that many residents do not list their names on their mailboxes.  Additional conditions imposed by the court would require Google to lower the height of its Street View cameras so they would not peer over garden walls and hedges, to completely blur out sensitive facilities like women’s shelters, prisons, retirement homes and schools, and to advise communities in advance of scheduled tapings.

Worldwide controversy erupted when it was disclosed that the specially equipped Google Street View cars were collecting unencrypted Internet data from wireless networks as they passed by households.  The information collected included snippets of e-mails, photographs, passwords, postings on Web sites, and other private information.

Google claims that the collection of private information was accidental and that the data was not intended for or used in any Google product.  A recent Federal Communications Commission report did not agree and, in April, the F.C.C. fined Google $25,000 for obstructing an investigation into Street View.

In Europe, Google is facing an antitrust investigation on charges of dominating the Internet search market.  The competition commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, said that Google will be given an early July deadline to come up with “concrete signs” of its willingness to offer “remedy proposals” and if the proposals “turn out to be unsatisfactory, formal proceedings will continue through the adoption of a statement of objections.”  Google said it was working with the commission.

The reasons for the company’s stagnation are both of its own creation and beyond its control.  Toyota has struggled to grow and its rebound after the economic crisis was greatly hampered by a recall crisis.  An upswing in the yen is weighing on Toyota’s profits and has made manufacturing much more expensive.

The auto maker said that net income had fallen 31% for the 12 months through March to ¥283.6 billion.  Natural and nuclear disasters in Japan and flooding in Thailand wreaked havoc on production lines.  The drop in income was largely attributed to the impact of those disasters and the strong Japanese currency.

In the January-March quarter, profit more than quadrupled to ¥121 billion, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.  If the projections are met, it would be Toyota’s best annual performance since the 2009 plunge.  However, the reported forecast fell short of a ¥817.7 billion average predicted by polled analysts.

The company has been successful in beating its own estimates on bringing factories back online after the disasters.  Toyota has raced to fix supply lines damaged by the tsunami and ramp up production.  It may be difficult for Toyota to recover fully without shifting more of its production out of Japan.

The company plans to bring an aggressive new model lineup to major markets like the United States and Japan.  It believes that this will help boost profits to ¥760 billion in the year through March 2013.  The company also expects sales in emerging markets to grow at a healthy pace.  Toyota is the maker of the Corolla compact and the Prius gas-electric hybrid.

European regulators issued the ultimatum because they believe Google tips the scales in its favor with its search results.  Search has become a critical component of the internet, directing consumers to the services and information that they desire.  European antitrust chief Joaquín Almunia said that regulators had identified “four concerns where Google business practices may be considered as abuses of dominance.”

Google may have unfairly exploited its market position by displaying links to its own services when answering a query.  This could demonstrate that Google was giving preference to their own products over those of competitors.  Another area of concern involves how Google conducts its advertising business.

Google was also accused of including material in its own search results that was copied from competitors’ Web sites.  Restaurant guides and travel sites were particularly affected.  Mr. Almunia said, “In this way they are appropriating the benefits of investments of competitors.”

Google has long said its search results are neutral.  A Google spokesman stated that the company disagreed with the commission’s conclusions and said “innovation online has never been greater.”  Regulators are trying to strike a delicate balance as they try to fix problems in the fast-changing technology industry before proposed remedies lose their relevance.

If Google does not comply, the company could possibly face an antitrust lawsuit.  In Europe, antitrust fines can reach up to 10% of a company’s annual global revenue. Google’s 2011 revenue was nearly $38 billion.  The case could also inspire a Federal Trade Commission investigation if Google decides to fight.  European officials and United States regulators have been working closely.  Google is the dominant search engine in the United States.

Paul Lugard, an assistant professor at the Tilburg School of Economics and Management in the Netherlands, said that there may be a need to act swiftly, but there are concerns that “this form of highly unusual public encouragement in the full glare of the media puts even more pressure on companies like Google to settle early rather than contest charges that they really do think are groundless.”

Carmakers in Europe are suffering from a staggering reduction in sales and an overabundance of manufacturing capacity.  Many Opel factories are running well below capacity and operating during only two shifts a day instead of around the clock.  There has been widespread speculation that Opel may be forced to close one or more factories in Europe.

Opel’s plans include goals like increasing sales outside Europe and beginning to build Chevrolets on the Continent.  In a statement, Opel’s chief executive, Karl-Friedrich Stracke, said the company would be honoring an agreement made with workers not to close any facilities prior the end of 2014.  Mr. Stracke’s statement also addressed many of the criticisms of company strategy that have been made by worker representatives.

One of the main concerns has been the growing market share in Europe of Chevrolet brand cars, which are imported from South Korea and other locations.  Mr. Stracke said, “We are in talks with our colleagues in Detroit and Shanghai to find out whether we can build Chevrolet vehicles in Europe, to improve utilization of capacity.”  Opel will also try to build sales in places like Australia, Latin America and the Middle East.  Analysts believe that it may take years for Opel to win a share of new markets.

The company also plans to use its factories more efficiently.  Mr. Stracke said that the company must reduce the number of factories building the next generation of the Astra to two from three.  Mr. Stracke said, “In light of expected demand, it only makes economic sense to have two Astra factories.”  The Astra is the company’s best-selling model and is currently built at factories in Poland, Britain and Germany.

Ford is increasing its annual manufacturing capacity in China from 450,000 to 950,000 by expanding the new assembly plant in Chongqing and by building yet another assembly plant next door.  The state-of-the-art assembly plant that Ford is building in Hangzhou will have an annual capacity of 250,000 cars.  By 2015, Ford plans to have its annual capacity up to 1.2 million cars.

Part of Ford’s plan in China is to extend their model lineups to start offering vehicles in markets in which they have not competed previously.  China is the world’s largest market for vehicles, with annual sales of 18 million units.  Ford holds a little over 2% of the market in China.

Ford will be facing a number of issues with its expansion in China.  After a decade of double-digit annual growth, auto sales in China increased just 2.5% last year.  In the first quarter of this year, sales were down 1.3% from a year earlier.  This was the first quarter to show a decline in seven years.

Most of Ford’s operations are far from the coast in western China, which severely limits export options.  The operations inland are far from China’s wealthiest cities, generally located close to the coast.  The company’s Chongqing factories also cannot easily import or export parts for automobiles.

Rampant discounting at dealerships is another problem that has started to surface in the Chinese market.  Early this year, dealers promoted steep discounts off the retail price on many vehicles, including large luxury models like the Mercedes S-Class.  Now that those discounts have mostly disappeared, dealerships may find it harder to make sales and move units.

Mark R. Widmar, the company’s chief financial officer, said, “We need to resize our business to a level of demand that is highly reliable and predictable.  We do not see a business case for continuing manufacturing operations in Germany.”  Five months ago, First Solar was celebrating the creation of the millionth solar module at the plant.  Germany is the world’s largest market for solar power.

First Solar said it would return a $30 million government grant, write off at least $150 million in assets, and spend up to $55 million on severance payments to its employees to pull out of the German market.  The company plans to focus on other areas of the world and emphasize building large-scale solar projects.

Government subsidies for solar power are decreasing around the world.  Europe provided generous subsidies for solar makers that spurred a boom in development, especially in Germany and Italy.  In 2011, Germany and Italy accounted for more than 50% of the global market.  Those subsidies are decreasing as government and corporate budgets are squeezed by the economic downturn and the demand for solar power weakens.

The industry had become accustomed to increasing growth each year, but now many suspect that the market is overheated.  Significant global overcapacity in panel manufacturing and intense competition from Chinese makers of solar panels has driven prices down.  Global installations of solar capacity are predicted to expand by no more than 10% this year. German installations are expected to remain flat.  Global installations of solar capacity grew by about 40% last year.

Starbucks is still laboring to lure people into its stores nearly a decade after venturing into the European market.  Sales and profit growth in Europe lag far behind the company’s results in the Americas and Asia.  Ms. Marion Bayod, a 35-year-old masseuse, said, “I never go into Starbucks; it’s impersonal, the coffee is mediocre, and it’s expensive.  For us, it’s like another planet.”

The company has struggled on the continent that claims to have given birth to cafe and coffeehouse culture despite enjoying a strong turnaround in the United States and steady growth in Asia.  The biggest challenge may be customizing the Starbucks experience to appeal to a variety of European tastes.  In the parts of Europe where Starbucks does well, its stores are often packed with urbanites, tourists, and laptop-wielding young people who see the coffee chain as an symbol of American popular culture.

France has proven to be a tremendous challenge for the company.  60% of French people prefer espresso, yet many find that Starbucks espresso tastes too charred by French cafe standards.  French friends also tend to sit when they sip instead of ordering their coffee to go, causing Starbucks to have to invest huge amounts to give its stores in France additional seating space along with other renovations.  After eight years spent establishing 63 French Starbucks stores, the company has never realized a profit in France.

Massmart must rehire 503 distribution workers let go by the company prior to the merger as a condition of the merger being allowed to go through.  The decision is a godsend to the workers who will be reinstated.  The reinstated workers are also entitled to backpay for the time between their reinstatements and their layoff in 2009 or 2010.  Massmart is one of the largest retailers in the country.

Unemployment in South Africa currently stands at about 24% officially, but that figure does not take into account any of the discouraged job seekers outside the workforce.  Nelspruit (Mbombela), a largely rural area east of Johannesburg with high unemployment, was one of the hardest areas hit by the layoffs as many of the workers laid off came from the area.

Bridget Kenny, an associate professor of sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, said, “It’s a small town in a rural area, with mostly farm labor.  For workers to be reinstated in a job in Johannesburg is one thing, but it’s more important in a place like Nelspruit.  There are not a lot of [work] options. The way households work, it’s often a single wage earner supporting multiple family members.”

A South African union claimed Massmart issued the layoffs to be more attractive to Walmart.  Walmart and Massmart had both denied that the layoffs were linked with the approaching merger.  A joint statement released by the companies stated that they “respectfully disagree” with the court’s finding of a link between the merger and the layoffs.

The company also predicted a sharply lower full-year profit.  Honda scrapped its earnings forecast when it last reported earnings results in October, and is now predicting that its net profit for the fiscal year through March will drop nearly 60% to 215 billion yen.

Global vehicle sales in the quarter reached 830,000 units, a decrease of 2.9% from a year ago.  Vehicle sales rose 16% in Japan and increased 2% in North America from the same quarter a year ago.  Unit sales in Europe, Asia, and other regions decreased.  Honda’s motorcycle business is booming in emerging markets. Motorcycle sales increased 6.3% during the quarter from the same quarter a year ago to nearly 3.1 million units.

Honda has had a tough year with the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that damaged some of its suppliers and Thailand’s floods, which swamped its vehicle assembly plant in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok.  The flooding also interrupted the operations of many Honda suppliers, causing the company to reduce production in facilities as far away as Canada and the U.S.

Honda stopped making cars at its plant in Thailand in October.  The company recently released a statement saying that it was making progress draining the factory and cleaning up equipment.  The company is aiming to resume production there at the end of March.  Production in neighboring Asian countries disrupted by the floods in Thailand is expected to return to normal levels by April.

According to Tomohiro Okada, a company spokesman, the flooding in Thailand has cost the company 260,000 vehicles in lost production worldwide.  The company said it will make requests of the Thai government to take steps to prevent the risk of flooding in the future and is working with the local industrial park to build water protection walls around the plant.

Most of the position eliminations will come from the company’s sales, corporate, and business units.  About 40% of the cuts will be made among sales positions and 20% of the job eliminations are positions that are currently open and will not be filled.  No jobs are being cut at Kraft’s manufacturing facilities at this time.  The company said in a statement that it is still reviewing its manufacturing facilities to consider what is best for both new companies.

The company announced plans to split into two independent companies last August.  One of the companies would focus on the global snacks business while the other will be a North American grocery business.  Kraft said the planned actions would help the businesses run more effectively.  Kraft has also made plans to contract sales for its grocery business out to two agencies.  Acosta Sales & Marketing will handle its grocery store and big box retailer sales while Crossmark will handle the company’s convenience store sales.

The company’s facilities in East Hanover, New Jersey, where the snacks business is based, will become the U.S. headquarters for its global snacks business.  The employees in the Tarrytown, New York offices, where the beverage business is based, will be transferred to the greater Chicago area.  The offices in Madison, Wisconsin, where the Oscar Meyer business is based, will remain open and the cheese, dairy, and grocery offices in Glenview, Illinois will close.

Tony Vernon, executive vice president and president of Kraft Foods North America and CEO of the future grocery company, said in a statement, “Making these tough choices is never easy, and we recognize the impact these changes will have on many of our people and their families.  But our plan for a more nimble company, combined with the current economic and competitive pressures, led us to this point.  Taking the necessary steps now will enable us to continue investing in our beloved brands to drive growth.”

This transaction will better position the company to succeed both in the region and internationally by providing Aujan Industries with a platform to accelerate the international growth of the Aujan brands.  The Coca-Cola Company gains a significant equity stake in one of the leading still beverage businesses in the Middle East.  The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2012.

Ahmet C. Bozer, head of Coca-Cola’s Eurasia and Africa Group, said, “In addition to their great brands, we are investing in Aujan because it is a well-run, successful business.  This transaction creates a platform for further cooperation between The Coca-Cola Company, Aujan and existing bottling partners across the region.”  This is the largest-ever investment by a multinational firm in the Middle East’s consumer goods sector.  The Middle East has the world’s highest rates of nonalcoholic drink consumption.

Aujan was founded in 1905 and employs more than 2,500 people.  The company is consistently in one of the top three positions in still beverages in every country in which it operates and is one of the top 100 companies in Saudi Arabia.  The company brings in revenue of more than $850 million annually.

Sheikh Adel Aujan, Chairman of Aujan Industries, said, “As one of the region’s leading beverage companies, this partnership will allow us to unlock new and substantial opportunities.  Drawing upon Aujan’s deep regional insights and the international capabilities of The Coca-Cola Company, Aujan will continue to leverage the strength of its leadership team and is now positioned for even greater success in the region and internationally.”

Sheikh Aujan continued, “Today’s announcement marks the fruition of extensive dialogue between Aujan and The Coca-Cola Company which has resulted in a soundly based framework for the commercial development of the business.  Now supported by our shared heritage of more than 200 years, we are beginning an exciting new chapter in Aujan’s history.”

A judge has been asked to order Chevron to halt all activities in Brazilian territory for an indefinite period.  Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency has already prohibited Chevron from any drilling activities in Brazil until the investigation into the leak is completed.  Chevron said that it had not received any notice of the action by the federal prosecutors and that the company had not been contacted about the issue.

The statement from the federal prosecutors said, “During an investigation, the attorney general’s office found that Chevron and Transocean were not capable of controlling the damage caused by the spill of nearly 3,000 barrels of oil, proof of a lack of environmental planning and management by the companies.”  Transocean Ltd. is the drilling contractor for the well where the leak occurred in November.

Transocean also said that it had not received any official notice of the prosecutors’ action.  The company’s statement stated, “At present, our rigs are operating in Brazilian waters and we continue to cooperate with the authorities.”

The company was strongly criticized for not fully sharing information about the spill and for not having the proper emergency equipment available to deal with the issue.  Company representatives have stated that the spill occurred because Chevron underestimated the pressure in an underwater reservoir.  Both Chevron and Brazilian officials claim that the leak is under control.

Chevron released a statement saying, “From the outset, Chevron responded responsibly to the incident at its Frade Field and has dealt transparently with all Brazilian authorities.”  Chevron was fined around $28 million by Brazil’s Environment Ministry for the incident, but that does not shield the company from further penalties.  Chevron may contest the fine in court, which is allowable under Brazilian law.

The cases were filed in United States District Court in Manhattan.  A Justice Department official said around $60 million in bribes was paid in the case and at least $25 million of the bribes were funneled through United States institutions.  Siemens has nearly 60,000 employees located in the United States.

One of those indicted was Uriel Sharef, Siemens’ managing board member whose position was just below the rank of chief executive.  Lanny A. Brewer, an assistant attorney general, said that the indictment documents “a stunning level of deception and corruption.”  He also commented that, “Business should be won or lost on the merits of a company’s products and services, not the amount of bribes paid to government officials.”

The bribery scheme was aimed at helping Siemens secure a contract to produce national identity cards for Argentina.  The contract for the identity cards was worth $1 billion.  Siemens and its Argentine subsidiary pleaded guilty to criminal violations of the corrupt practices act in 2008.

Siemens agreed to pay fines totaling $448.5 million and the subsidiary was fined $500,000.  The companies also paid another $1.15 billion to settle charges from the Security and Exchange Commission and the Office of the General Prosecutor in Munich.

Director of enforcement for the S.E.C., Robert Khuzami, said this was an important case because “one of most critical functions of law enforcement is to communicate to companies and individuals that they’re not dupes for obeying the law.”  He added, by enforcing the corrupt practices act, “we reward those companies who refuse to pay bribes,” as well as “root out competitors who do stoop to those levels.”

Apple sued Samsung in the United States in April over allegations that the product design, user interface, and packaging of the Galaxy copied the iPhone and iPad.  Samsung countered with lawsuits that accused Apple of infringement on the patents of Samsung’s wireless telecommunications technology.

Apple spokeswoman Fiona Martin said in a statement, “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging.  This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Then, Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung in the Australian courts also accusing the company of copying its iPad and iPhone.  An Australian Federal Court judge ordered Samsung to halt sales of the device ahead of a trial on the matters in question.

Samsung appealed, and a full bench of the Federal Court threw out the earlier ruling and said Galaxy sales could resume.  Apple immediately appealed that decision to the High Court, which imposed a temporary injunction against sales that would be extended for a week while the court considers the latest arguments from Apple.

The decision from Australia’s High Court means that Samsung cannot sell the device in the country until at least December 9.  Samsung is eager to begin selling the Galaxy tablets in Australia as soon as possible to take advantage of the Christmas shopping season.  Samsung said in a statement, “Samsung believes Apple has no basis for its application for leave to appeal and will vigorously oppose this to the High Court.”

Meanwhile, a judge in the US has denied Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against multiple Samsung products.  The judge did not think Samsung’s gadgets posed a great enough threat to warrant them being immediately banned from sale.  U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh wrote in her decision that “It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung’s accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed.”

Congress’ leading allies criticized the decision to lift the caps, saying that the move will lead to job losses and hurt small shopkeepers.  Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the leader of India’s most populous state, said allowing foreign direct investment in the retail sector would bankrupt her state by forcing local shops to close down.

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said in a statement that the experience of allowing foreign retailers in other countries led to price rises as companies established a monopoly exploiting farmers and consumers.  Jayalalithaa said, “The world over, whenever local governments opened up the retail sector, local prices went up sky high.  To announce such a major policy decision affecting millions of people outside of parliament without even consulting the state governments is unprecedented and indicates the overwhelming arrogance of the government.”

While the politicians criticized the plan approved by the Cabinet, supporters of the plan say that attracting foreign retailers could result in more than 10 million jobs created, better prices for farmers, and reduced inflation.  Some supporters said that the retailers’ stores should be restricted to cities that have a population in excess of 1 million.

A number of state assemblies are prepared to veto the entry of overseas retailers in a move expected to bar the retailers from opening locations in 19 or more of the 45 largest cities in India.  The ability of the states to block the goals of foreign companies shows the growing power of the state leaders and the weakness of the national government.

Satish Misra, a political analyst at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, said, “The smaller parties are able to blackmail the government, completely stalling decision making.  This is bad policymaking because you have parties that are only thinking on a small-time horizon.  They are not thinking about what is best for India as a whole.”

The agency decided to halt Chevron’s drilling rights and rejected a request from Chevron to drill wells in the deeper subsalt areas in the Frade field where the spill occurred.  The request was made before the leak.  Frade field is located in the Campos Basin, which is the source of over 80% of Brazil’s oil output.

The Frade leak has been stopped except for residual droplets being released from a fissure in the sea floor.  This additional leakage is expected to stop within a few days.  Most of the oil spilled has been mechanically disbursed.

The decision on the suspension was announced as the head of Chevron’s Brazilian unit testified before Brazil’s Congress.  Chevron’s CEO in Brazil, George Buck, told Brazilian lawmakers, “We controlled the source in four days. We worked with transparency and cooperation with the authorities of Brazil.”  He also said that the company “acted as rapidly and safely as possible” and “used all resources” to contain and stop the flow of oil from the well.

The suspension will remain in place until Chevron fully restores safety conditions in the field and the company has been fined $28 million for the spill by Brazil’s environmental agency.  Chevron announced an indefinite voluntary suspension of all current and future drilling off Brazil, apart from plug and abandonment work, and halted all of its local drilling operations after the leak occurred.

Disney agreed to pay about $300 million for their stake in the channel.  UTH Russia, a fast-growing media company, will remain majority owner of the station.  Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said, “We had a toehold, but this gives us an important foothold.  We can now grow more robustly.”

The Disney Channel is crucial to the Walt Disney Company’s strategy for foreign expansion.  Disney typically focuses on introducing the channel first when pursuing new markets, in order to deliver its brand directly to people’s homes. Then it uses the channel to sell theme park vacations and merchandise.

The Russian market is difficult to enter for many companies because of bureaucratic hurdles and restrictions placed on foreign media.  Disney previously attempted to secure distribution for a broadcast Disney Channel in 2008 with a tentative partnership with Russian media company Media-One Holdings Limited, but the government blocked that deal.

According to ratings agency TNS Russia, Disney will be the second foreign channel to be broadcast nationwide in Russia.  The other station is MTV.  The channel will be introduced by Disney and UTH sometime next year.  Sources say that the channel will include advertising and feature signature Disney shows such as “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” along with programming created in Russia.

In 2007, 34% of Russians living in cities with more than 100,000 people subscribed to cable packages that included at least one “thematic” channel like the one Disney is offering. By April 2011, that number had increased to 60%.  The growth of ticket sales there for Disney movies is also a good omen for the deal. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” earned $64 million in Russia over the summer; in 2007 “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” earned $30 million.

Various one time gains, such as the sale of a refinery in Britain, were booked at a net of $245 million.  A year ago, the company booked net charges of $1.4 billion, mainly due to impairments on assets resulting from an accounting review of operations in its refining arm and in Canadian heavy oil sands.  Healthy margins were cited on the company’s chemical products, refinery margins were unchanged, and intake fell.  The results were better than expected and shares rose 1.3% in early Amsterdam trading.

Shell did not announce any financial fallout from the oil spill related to its Gannet Alpha platform located in the North Sea.  Chief Executive of the company Peter Voser said in a statement, “Our third quarter results were higher than year-ago levels, driven by higher oil prices and Shell’s performance.”  Analyst Richard Hunter of Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers noted that “Whilst ongoing concerns around safety issues and government tax takes persist, these are currently outweighed by the strength of the company’s operating performance.”

Shell reported that its production earnings were $5.44 billion, an increase of 58% excluding one-time gains in both years.  Actual production decreased by 1.6 percent to 3.01 million barrels of oil per day and the company disposed of nearly 100,000 barrels worth of production, but added 270,000 barrels of new production at projects in Nigeria, Qatar, and Canada.  The company plans to continue investing heavily in new capacity projects and is slated to bring 20 new projects on line by 2014.

In court papers, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, and Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said the transaction should be reconsidered because the tribunal’s hearings were flawed.  Lawyers requested that regulators review the decision because they say that the regulators failed to adequately consider the public interest when making a decision on the deal.  Regulators were also faulted for failing to secure adequate information from the retailers about their product sourcing or how it would change, and neglecting to allocate sufficient time to question witnesses.

Lawyers for the government objected on the grounds that the conditions were inadequate to protect the economy and prevent a surge in imports from undermining manufacturing output.  Wim Trengove, the government’s senior counsel, said, “The question before court is whether the merger can or cannot be justified on public-interest grounds.”  A three-member panel, headed by Judge Dennis Davis, is hearing the case.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, outlined plans for the creation of 15,000 jobs in South Africa within five years and the allocation of nearly 60 billion rand in additional purchases of food or consumer goods to local suppliers during the same time period.  Jeremy Gauntlett, senior counsel for Wal-Mart and Massmart, said, “Mergers are an attribute of commercial activity, which are not in themselves bad.  There was no serious debate before the tribunal that one was looking at a significant lowering of prices” as a result of Wal-Mart’s entry into the South African market.

Wal-Mart said in a statement, “We care deeply about the well-being of the community with over 3,000 of our own associates living and working in Chongqing.  We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience this may cause our customers and are even more determined to meet the service expectations they have of us.”  The company also stated that it was looking forward to working with the authorities in Chongqing to improve its operations to meet the standards required by the government.  Wal-Mart had 346 stores in China in August.

The action by the fiercely nationalistic municipal government is viewed as having broader political implications for the foreign companies that operate in China.  Chinese government officials require foreign companies to adhere to more stringent standards of quality control, labor rights, and other industrial issues than Chinese-owned companies.  Foreign companies that do not adhere to these standards are punished heavily with costly fines and business closures that result in lost revenue.

China has been rocked by a number of scandals in recent years over the quality and safety of goods and foods produced in the country.  Some of the most prominent scandals reported include chemically tainted pet food, industrial waste contaminated baby formula, and tainted counterfeit toothpaste.  The baby formula incident was responsible for sickening an estimated 50,000 infants across the country.

Messagenet, an Italian competitor to Skype, had asked that the deal be blocked unless Microsoft opened Skype’s 124-million user network to competitors.  In voicing no objections to the deal, Mr. Almunia chose not to act on the complaint.  According to a statement by his office, the commissioner said he was approving the purchase “because the deal would not significantly impede effective competition.”

The commission concluded that, in the consumer communications business, Microsoft and Skype overlapped only in video communications, offered separately by Microsoft through its Windows Live Messenger program.  The commission found no competition concerns in the growing consumer communications market where, it said, numerous players, including Google, are present.  Skype had only “a limited presence” in the sale of Internet communications to businesses and did not overlap with Microsoft’s Lync Internet communications software.

Microsoft’s distribution of Skype through its Windows operating system could improve the image of Internet calling and, with Skype’s huge user base; Microsoft will be able to significantly expand the availability of low-cost Internet telephone service.  This will position Microsoft as a direct competitive threat to Cisco Systems and Avaya, the two largest companies selling Internet-based telephone service software for businesses.  Whether Microsoft will be able to generate a profit from the purchase of Skype remains unclear, but some experts believe that direct revenue is not the main reason for the purchase.

This will not be the final antitrust hurdle for the transaction.  Regulators in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, and Taiwan are still deliberating on whether to approve the deal.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission voiced its approval of the transaction in June.

Robert Wine, BP spokesman, said in an e-mail,” Deals of this scale take time to finalize with competition authorities.  We are working with the other shareholders in PAE to secure competition approvals and complete the deal.  We can confirm the deal has not yet closed as Argentine competition approvals remain outstanding, but we remain optimistic that these approvals will be granted in due course.”  Jiang Yongzhi, spokesman for Cnooc, said in an e-mail, “We’re still waiting for the Argentine government and regulatory approvals.  We will keep the market well informed of the progress.”

After the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill, BP has agreed to sell more than $25 billion in assets to shore up its balance sheets and had around $20 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter.  Since a record-breaking loss of $17 billion in the second quarter of 2010, the company has turned a profit in every period.  A 40% gain in the price of Brent crude bolstered the company significantly.

The $7.1 billion deal has reportedly been hit by opposition from politicians and there is a chance that the deal will not be completed when the accord expires in November.  Last November, Bridas agreed to buy the 60% stake in Pan American it does not own already from BP and the deal, which was scheduled to be completed by June 30, was put on hold until after Argentina votes in a presidential election next month.  The company is prepared to let the agreement lapse and stay on as a partner in the venture.

Sony will not reduce the price of the device as expected after rival Nintendo discounted their devices by up to 40% following sagging sales.  Criticism has been leveled at the company for setting the price of the PlayStation Vita high for mass-market sales, at $325 for a Wi-fi only model and $390 for a 3G plus Wi-fi version.  Sony said in August that they saw no need to reduce the price of the PlayStation Vita from the announced figures. Sony must also compete against a raft of new software unveiled by Nintendo in a bid to revive interest in the brand.

Sony is hoping that the release of the PlayStation Vita will help increase demand for dedicated portable gaming devices.  Demand for these items has decreased dramatically over the past several years as smartphones and tablet devices have been designed to allow the playing of increasingly complicated games.  Many casual gamers switched to tablet devices and smartphones for their gaming because of the devices’ ability to provide multiple functions and wide gaming libraries.

Twenty-six game titles for the PlayStation Vita will be launched at the same time as the device and prepaid 3G plans for the devices will be provided by NTT Docomo, Japan’s biggest mobile carrier.  The PlayStation Vita is expected to go on sale in Europe and the United States in the early months of 2012.  No specific dates for these launches have been released.

The aircraft that crashed was a Yak 42. The plane was taking players of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team. This is one of the best hockey teams in Russia. They were traveling to Minsk, the Belarusian capital.

Only two out of the 45 people aboard the plane survived the crash. This number, sadly, is including the 8 crew members that were also aboard this flight. 11 people on the aircraft were citizens of foreign countries said the Russian ministry.

Yaroslavl’s regional governor, Sergei Vakhrukov, said the two people that survived the plane crash were Lokomotiv Yaroslavl’s hockey forward, Alexander Galimov, and a flight crew member named Alexander Sizov. Both are in an intensive care unit currently and are listed under critical condition.

The Russian Emergency situations team have recovered 35 bodies from the wreckage. They have not updated their hunt for the last missing bodies. Many of the bodies were found in the Volga River. The plane crashed on the banks of the river.

This Russian hockey team had numerous ties with the National Hockey League in America. The team’s head coach was Brian McCrimmon, 52 was the head coach of the hockey team. He was born in Canada and had a coaching stint with the Detroit Red Wings as an assistant coach.

Here is a list of former NHL players that were on the plane: Karel Rachunek, 32, a Czech native; Ruslan Salei, 36, from Belarus; Karlis Skrastins, 37, from Latvia; Pavol Demitra, 36, from Slovakia; and Josef Vazicek, 30, from the Czech Republic.

The NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, released this statement after the crash:  ” This crash represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world — including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends who at one time excelled in our league. Our deepest condolences go to the families and loved ones of all who perished.

The plan is viewed as necessary to compete with rising global competition in the industry.  The government-backed fund, the Innovation Network Corporation, would contribute the equivalent of $2.6 billion to the deal and receive a 70% stake in the newly formed company.  The other 30% stake in the company would be divided equally between the three manufacturers.

The government of Japan, where the three companies are headquartered, encourages the leading manufacturers of the nation to increase their global presence by consolidating.  This helps the companies fight off competition from large manufacturers from other countries, like South Korea whose Samsung Electronics is larger and more profitable than any of the large electronics manufacturers in Japan.

Some in the country are not pleased with the plans for the deal as it uses public money to invest in a private company.  The electronics manufacturing industry has been volatile over the last few years and Hitachi, Sony, and Toshiba all lost money on their LCD units, although Toshiba’s unit returned to profitability last year.  The deal also comes at a time when many economic experts are recommending that governments, including the government of Japan, make reducing their public debt a high priority.

Japan Display, the newly formed company, plans to recruit managers from outside the three businesses and focus on investing in product lines.  The merger is expected to be complete in the spring, although approval must be obtained from the antitrust regulators in Japan first.  The market for small and mid-sized LCD screens is expected to top $24 billion this year.

The major points in the documents are the cooperation of Libya with western secret intelligence agencies such as the CIA. Libyan officials agreed to discontinue their nuclear energy and weapon program in 2004. This documents also discussed the United States “rendition program.” This is the torture of captives on the United States behalf in third party countries for intelligence purposes.

These documents also revealed that the Libyans were very interested in anti-Gadhafi radicals in Canada, United States and Europe that were Islamic. The United States was also trying to acquire any information that Libya may have on the terrorist organization Al Qaeda.

In these documents, the United States also asked Libya to help with anti-American rebels in Somalia. Porter Goss, who was the CIA director at the time, was found to have contacted Libya several times regarding intel. Goss was in direct contact with Moussa Koussa, who was the head of external intelligence at the Libyan government.

“Moussa Koussa was on a first-name basis with the CIA and MI6,” said Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch. “There’s Christmas greetings in here. There’s documents saying, ‘Thanks for the oranges you sent.’”

More reports of the United States rendition program in Libya have emerged in the past years. Libyan prisons are notorious for their cruel and inhumane treatment of their captives. Even though some of these prisoners might have been incarcerated there because of the United States will, they cannot be punished because it is not in their country.

The State Department’s 2005 report on human rights in Libya said, “Security forces reportedly subjected detainees to cruel, inhumane, or degrading conditions and denied adequate medical care, which led to several deaths in custody.”

This nuclear power plant produced 60 megawatts of power on its first day of operation. The Atomic Energy Organization is the government organization that is responsible for running all atomic energy operations in Iran.

The plant has the capability to produce over 1,000 mega-watts of power when it is fully operational. This is approximately 2.5% of Iran’s energy consumption. Iran will have a celebration on September 12 to honor the new nuclear power plant.

This nuclear power plant was started in 1975. This was before the revolution that started the current Iranian Islamic republic. The IAEA is the United Nations nuclear watch dog agency. They currently say there are no other nuclear power plants under construction in the region. However, they do know that some nations are currently making plans to build nuclear power plants in the future.

Many believe that Iran is spitting in the IAEA’s face by building this nuclear reactor. The IAEA has been trying to resolve our nuclear problem on earth by convincing countries for cleaner renewable sources of energy such as wind energy. Two days ago they released a statement reiterating the importance that we, as a planet, try and stop the production of nuclear reactors and weapons for the sake of our own species. Two days later Iran said that they had just put the finishing touches on the Bushehr nuclear power plant and were reading to put it in to operation.

Masoud Shafiee, the American’s Iranian lawyer, said it can take anywhere from 2 days to 2 months for the Iranian courts to respond to the appeal request.  ”However, I am hopeful that because of the holy month of Ramadan, and because my clients are innocent, the authorities will show mercy and release Shawn Bauer and Josh Fattal in a few days,” said Shafiee.

Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting. The month is coming to an end this week.

Josh Fattal, Shawn Bauer, and Sarah Shroud were all detained by Iranian police on July 31, 2009. They were hiking in the Iraqi kurdish region and allegedly cross in the Iran illegally. Shroud, who is Bauer’s fiance, was released from captivity due to medical reasons. The two men still remain incarcerated in Iran. Shroud’s case is still open, but United States officials do not believe she is going to be prosecuted.

Fattal and Bauer each received 5 years for “espionage.” This was because Iranian officials believe they were cooperating with the United States government, providing them intelligence. They both received three additional years for entering in to Iran illegally.

The United States has received its information regarding this case via the state run media outlet in Iran. Many officials believe this is a very biased source to receive news, specifically new regarding America, from. However, what we do know for sure is Iran seems unwillingly to negotiate with United States officials that are asking for the release of Fattal and Bauer.

Rescue officials have arrived at the scene of the crash the United States press has been told. We have not been told if any damage was done to property on the ground due to the space craft.

Russian space officials knew something was wrong with the space craft immediately after take off. The Spacecraft was launched earlier today. They Roscosmos (the Russian form of NASA), knew there was something wrong immediately after take off because it had deviated from its planned trajectory right after take off. The rocket did not reach the planned orbit. Soon after that it completely disappeared from the radar.

“The engine system’s erratic functioning and its subsequent breakdown occurred during the operation of the third stage at the 325th second of the flight of the Soyuz-U carrier rocket with the Progress M-12M resupply vehicle,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

The spacecraft was suppose to deliver over 3 tons of supplies to the astronauts that are currently on board the International Space Station. There was food, medical equipment, cleaning items, and scientific equipment on board the spacecraft.

There are six astronauts on board the space station. Three from Russia, two from the United States, and one from Japan.

“The situation with the loss of the Progress is not good, of course, but there are stocks of necessities aboard the ISS to support the cosmonauts that will be sufficient to last out until the arrival of the next Progress” cargo ship, Russia’s Space Mission Control executive Vladimir Solovyov told Russia’s Interfax news agency. We hope Vladimir is right. 

Some people believe Gadhafi is no longer in Tripoli. A popular rumor right now is that he fled to a neighboring country such as Chad or Algeria. The United States government still believe Gadhafi resides in Libya. The Pentagon has told the media that they have no information on him leaving Libya.

“There remains a degree of uncertainty and there are still regime elements who pose a threat. But this much is clear. The Gadhafi regime is coming to an end and the future of Libya is in the hands of its people.” said President Obama.

Gadhafi has been in control of the country since he lead a revolution to overthrow the last regime over 42 years ago.

U.N. officals are attributing the rebellion to the people of Libya wanting to experience a true democracy instead of a dictatorship. However, there are still plenty of soldiers that are loyal to Gadhafi and are willing to die for him.

At the Rixos Hotel, where most international journalists are staying, you could hear loud sounds of gun fire and artillery being used in the streets.

NATO has been watching for civilian attacks by Gadhafi’s forces as a desperate attempt to take back the city again. A NATO official had this to say regarding that matter, “If there is a last ditch effort we want to protect civilians.” He asked that his identity wasn’t revealed.

Iranian President  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to visit the United States in a month. He is planning to attend the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. May people are sour that the Iranian president is coming to our country, especially after the sentencing of our citizens.

The news medium from which we received this piece of information is a state run media outlet that is completely controlled by the government. The government uses this channel to make high profile announcements. However, United States officials still haven’t confirmed the sentencing.

The Washington State Department is still trying to convince Iran to release our citizens. The final court hearing was three weeks ago. The Americans have adamantly denied the charges saying they were just walking along the border with no intentions of espionage what-so-ever.

Originally there was 3 Americans detained, the last one being a girl named Sarah Shourd. She was released in September of 2010 on a 500,000 bail. Her case is still “open” but it is unclear whether Iranian officials will prosecute her.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, the two Americans currently detained in Iran, have been sentenced 3 years for illegally entering Iran, and 5 years for spying for the United States. Bauer and Fattal have already served two years in incarceration, but Iran did not clarify if that time will count towards their sentencing.

The leaders of France and Germany on Tuesday asked for more integrated policy system to aid the euro in growing and stabilizing the European economy. However, Wall Street investors were disappointed in these statements. They were hoping that the leaders would announce plans to contain the debt crisis in roiling global markets.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with each other in Paris to discuss a proposed rule that would require all 17 countries to have balanced budgets. They said the goal behind this is to form a greater convergence among the core countries policies in the EU, particularly France and Germany’s. These nations are being hit the hardest by the policies currently enacted.

The European Union officials are under constant pressure to try and resolve Europe’s debt crisis.

Both country leaders sounded optimistic about their talks earlier in the day. Merkel acknowledged that weak economic growth every were creates a problem for Germany’s export driven based economy.

Investors in the United States were disappointed by Nicolas Sarkozy’s statement saying that the size of the EU’s stability fund is sufficient as of now. Many economists predicted that the EU would have to expand on this fund. The current stability fund is 440 billion dollars. Some economists thought they would have to double the fund due to Europe’s economic crisis.

The leaders also agreed that issuing “Euro Bonds” would not solve the debt crisis. Euro Bonds are a collective bond used to help pay off debt of peripheral countries.

The weakness being shown by the strongest economic countries in Europe is troubling to investors. It makes them wonder if these economies can support countries that are in the European Union but are struggling with their economies.

It was released that the European economic growth shrank to a mere .2%.