News Snippets - 20071130

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/July/07_odag_507.html
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9816583-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Fact Sheet: President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force Marks Five Years of Ensuring Corporate Integrity

President Bush created the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force on July 9, 2002 to restore public and investor confidence in America’s corporations following a wave of major corporate scandals. Since its inception, the Task Force has compiled a strong record of combating corporate fraud and punishing those who violate the trust of employees and investors.
In the last five years, the task force has yielded remarkable results with 1,236 total corporate fraud convictions to date, including:

• 214 chief executive officers and presidents;
• 53 chief financial officers;
• 23 corporate counsels or attorneys; and
• 129 vice presidents.

Additionally, the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section has obtained more than one billion dollars in fraud-related forfeitures and has distributed that money to the victims of corporate fraud.

The list of companies include Adelphia, Cendant, Comverse, Computer Associates, Dynegy, Enron, Enterasys, Homestore, Imclone, Impath, Monster, Network Associates, Prudential Securities, Qwest, Refco, and WorldCom.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7080143.stm

US payout awarded over pesticide

A US jury has awarded a total of $3.3m (£1.58m) to six workers who claim they were left sterile by a pesticide used at a banana plantation in Nicaragua.

The workers accused Dole and Standard Fruit Co and Dow Chemical Co of concealing the dangers posed by the pesticide, used in the 1970s.

The harmful effects of Nemagon, banned in the US in 1977, include birth defects, damage to the liver and kidneys, and sterility in male workers.

The case is the first of five lawsuits involving at least 5,000 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, who claim they were left sterile after being exposed to the pesticide.

Other growers and manufacturers are named as defendants.

Legal experts say the case is significant as it raises the issue of whether multinational companies should be held accountable in their home countries or in the countries where they employ workers.

Shares of Alibaba.com Climb on First Day of Trading

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/shares-of-alibabacom-climb-on-first-day-of-trading/index.html?ex=1352091600&en=408c899cd43d5645&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Shares of Alibaba.com, one of China’s biggest Internet companies, soared in early trading on Tuesday in China’s latest hot initial public stock offering.

The public offering is expected to raise nearly $2 billion in Hong Kong, making its debut offering as large as Google’s 2004 I.P.O. in the United States. Alibaba is now valued at $21.5 billion, close to the market value of Yahoo, making it the most highly valued Chinese Internet company and one of the richest in the world.

Alibaba.com, a business-to-business Web site that connects entrepreneurs in China with buyers worldwide, is one of the best-known Web sites in the world’s fastest-growing Internet market.

China has more than 170 million Internet users, second only to the United States.

Chrysler to cut up to 12,000 jobs

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/01/business/NA-FIN-COM-US-Chrysler-Job-Cuts.php?WT.mc_id=atomfrontpage
Chrysler LLC said Thursday it plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs, or up to 15 percent of its workforce, as part of an effort to slash costs and match slowing demand for some vehicles.

The automaker will cut 8,500 to 10,000 hourly jobs and 2,100 salaried jobs through 2008. The company already had begun cutting 1,100 temporary workers Wednesday. It will eliminate shifts at five North American assembly plants and cut four vehicle models from its lineup.

The cuts come in addition to the 13,000 layoffs Chrysler announced in February as part of a massive restructuring plan. Those cuts included 11,000 production jobs and 2,000 salaried jobs. The new round of cuts was expected to involve buyouts or early retirement packages similar to those made in February.

Chrysler officials said falling demand for vehicles in the U.S. market made the cuts necessary. Chrysler's sales were down 3 percent in the first nine months of this year, according to Autodata Corp., and the company said it expects sluggish sales to continue in 2008.

Wait, Don’t Eat That: Candy Scandal Stuns Japan

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/world/asia/31japan.html?ex=1351483200&en=cea45f17c5b5a783&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
It was supposed to be a celebratory year for Akafuku, a confectioner that had been selling bean-jam sweets here since 1707. On its 300th anniversary, its top-selling sweets were still indispensable gifts to bring back home or to the office after a trip to Ise Shrine here, Japan’s holiest religious site.

Instead, Akafuku has become the latest Japanese food company to be exposed for lying about the contents of its products, tampering with expiration-date labels and recycling ingredients. For only the second time in its history, Akafuku, which was forced to halt production during World War II because of a sugar scarcity, has suspended operations, this time indefinitely.

Security Pro Admits to Hijacking pcs for Profit
Washington Post - 6 hours ago
A Los Angeles security professional has admitted to infecting more than a quarter million computers with malicious software and installing spyware that was used to steal personal data and serve victims with online advertisements.

China Raises Key Banking Benchmark
TheStreet.com - 4 hours ago
By Daniel M. Harrison In a move aimed at cooling China's rapidly expanding lending and capital markets growth, China's central bank Saturday said it would raise the reserve ratio requirement for banks by half a percentage point, to 13.5%.

Former President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has started his own newsletter. Considering the fact that he has a huge fan following in the IT workers’ community and school children it is surely going to touch a chord with this population.

Pravda - A tabloid class apart

So one though that Indian tabloids like TOI are the leaders when it comes to pulp fiction style of news reporting. The readers of Indian tabloids could consider subscription to Pravda to get more juicy pulp.

Here are some of the news headlines appearing on the front page.

Oprah Winfrey finds herself amid sex scandal at her South African school

Russian woman gives birth to her son at age 79

Trial of man charged with killing his Russian-born estranged wife postponed

Blind boy sees light again after baptism in Russia

A-380 superjumbo jet offers double beds, privacy and champagne but bans sex onboard

Thirteen terribly weird facts about women]

CIA feared alien invasion more than Soviet nuclear attack

Saturn rings still remain mysterious for modern scientists

Any life on Mars came from Earth

Scientists examine psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich work on sexual energy

Thirty-seven men arrested in Malaysia during a gay party

Paris Hilton prefers beauty contest in Tokyo to Rwanda charity trip

Woman injures man in attempt to commit suicide in Tokyo

Men who drive black cars with teddy bears and stereos inside are irresistible for women

Al-Qaeda prepares to blast USA on Christmas Eve

Pravda was the official newspaper of communist party of Russia from 1918 onwards. It was shut down by Yeltsin in 1991. Whether the website http://english.pravda.ru/ is of the same paper is difficult to ascertain.