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Link only - Federal government pulls plug on failed cellulosic ethanol factory

Factory orders edged up 0.3% to $453.5 billion in September...Economists polled by MarketWatch had anticipated a 0.1% fall...

The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing gauge dropped to 50.8% last month – just slightly above a 2011 low - from 51.6% in September. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected the closely followed index to rise to 52.1%. Reading over 50% indicate more manufacturers are expanding instead of shrinking.

General Electric picks Colorado to build biggest US solar factoryBy Associated Press, Published: October 13 NEW YORK — General Electric Co. will build the largest solar factory in the U.S. near Denver. The company, which had announced in April it would build the factory, said Thursday it had selected Aurora, Colo., a suburb east of Denver, as the location. **SNIP** The falling prices have led to the bankruptcies of three solar panel makers in the last two months, including Solyndra, a panel maker that collapsed despite receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government. Vic Abate, who runs...

...Factory orders fell 0.2% in August. Economists had expected a 0.3% drop...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Factory activity in the Philadelphia region weakened sharply in August to the lowest level seen in more than two years, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday, adding to fears that the economy has ground to a halt. The Philly Fed’s business outlook survey fell to negative 30.7 in August from 3.2 in July. This is the lowest reading since March 2009. Readings below zero indicate contraction in the region’s factories. The size of the decline in the index stunned analysts — economists had expected a reading of 0.5 in August...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. companies hired far fewer workers than expected in May and output in the manufacturing sector slowed to its lowest level since 2009, adding to concerns that the U.S. recovery is running out of steam. Economists slashed their forecasts for Friday's payrolls report, considered the best barometer of the world's biggest economy, after private-sector job growth tumbled to just 38,000, its lowest level in eight months. Wednesday's reports were the latest signals that economic growth remained sluggish in the second quarter after hitting a weak spot in the first months of the year. "It fits very...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector receded in May, according to a closely followed index released Wednesday. The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing gauge fell to 53.5% in May from 60.4% in April, marking the third straight decline and the biggest one-month drop since 1984. It’s also the lowest reading in one year. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the index to drop to 57.1%. Three months ago the index peaked at a seven-year high of 61.4%.

In the wake of the National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB) contentious decision to prevent Boeing from opening a plant in South Carolina, three Republican senators have introduced legislation to protect South Carolina’s right-to-work laws. Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jim DeMint of South Carolina introduced the Job Protection Act Thursday. If passed, the legislation would prevent the NLRB from blocking a company from moving jobs to another location, guarantee employers the ability to decide where to conduct business, and protect employers’ ability to discuss the costs associated with unionization without fear of an...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — An index tracking manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region jumped in February to its highest level since January 2004, a sign that the factory sector is gaining strength, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported Thursday. The Philly Fed business condition index rose to 35.9 in February, up from 19.3 in January — an increase much stronger than expected. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected the index to tick higher, but just to 20.8. See MarketWatch economic calendar.

The number: Factory orders of 0.1% have come in a bit lighter than expected, and the number is down from 0.6% in June.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Russia has offered to help Venezuela set up its own space industry, including a satellite launch site, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made his first visit to the South American country on Friday. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Russia's offer before Putin arrived, saying officials would discuss the possibility of setting up a "satellite launcher and a factory." The two countries are also discussing new weapons deals, Chavez said Thursday night in televised remarks, without giving details. Chavez has built close ties with Russia, buying more than $4 billion in Russian weapons since 2005, including helicopters, fighter...

As California's population expanded dramatically after World War II and the state constructed a world-class freeway system, the state became famous for its car culture. Detroit saw opportunity, not only adopting California name places as monikers for its products (Catalina and Ventura, for example) but also establishing design studios in Southern California and opening auto assembly lines. Those auto plants have closed, one by one, victims of consolidation, cost-cutting and foreign competition. Last month, Toyota announced that it would shutter the last of them, a partnership with General Motors called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., after GM pulled out. Not...

BEIJING -- Ethnic tensions between workers at a toy factory in southern China sparked a brawl that left two dead and 118 injured, state media and a government spokesman said Saturday. The official China News Service said hundreds of workers at the Xuri Toy Factory in Shaoguan City fought for two hours before more than 400 police restored order early Friday morning. A spokesman from the Shaoguan City government said the brawl was due to tensions between Uighurs - Turkic-speaking Muslims - and Han Chinese, who make up most of China's population.

TAJI — The Taji Vocational Institute (TVI) has achieved another important milestone in its education of Iraqi Soldiers for future employment at the Taji National Maintenance Depot, now known as the Joint Base Factory (JBF), with the combined graduation of four classes here, April 8. The ceremony, co-hosted by Iraqi Brig. Gen. Schalal, commander of the JBF here, and Iraqi Brig. Gen. Sabah, commander, Taji Location Command, recognized each of the previous TVI honor graduates that have completed their on-the-job training experience in their respective industrial maintenance shops. Each honor graduate was presented an award of achievement of their outstanding...

Ramallah - Palestinian security officials said on Sunday that they had found a Hamas bomb-making factory underneath a mosque in the occupied West Bank. "Security forces found a bomb-making factory inside a mosque in Qalqiliya," an Interior Ministry statement said. "Many of the bombs were ready to use and many of them were of industrial grade."

That's right, Jamie Masada wants government stimulus funds to launch a nationwide comedy tour. And he’s not joking. “We thought if we could get 1/10,000th of 1 percent of the bailout money, we could get comics on buses, tour the country, do free shows and feed the people who come,” Masada said. Masada wants to take 200,000 signatures from the Laugh Factory’s online petition to Washington, DC so he can make his case to President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. So far, he says they have about 10,000 signatures. “I have already spoken with Paul Rodriguez, Dave Chappelle, Dom...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25035&Itemid=132 www.mnc-i.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE No. 20090121-09 Jan. 21, 2009 NP, MND-B Soldiers confiscate Iraqi, U.S. currency, weapons from suspected IED-making factory in Karadah Multi-National Division – Baghdad BAGHDAD – National Policemen from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st NP Division, conducting combined operations with Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, discovered a large amount of Iraqi and U.S. currency in a potato chip factory in Baghdad’s Karadah district Jan. 21. The factory is suspected of being used in the production of improvised-explosive devices and in funding terrorist operations. The combined forces seized...

DETROIT (Reuters) - Citing a credit crisis and dwindling sales, Chrysler LLC on Wednesday said it would shut down all of its manufacturing operations from the end of this week for at least a month. The blanket shutdown marked a deepening of the financial crisis for the embattled U.S. auto industry and came as Chrysler and its larger rival General Motors Corp both seek to shore up cash as they seek a federal bailout they say they need to survive. Chrysler, considered the weakest of the Detroit automakers, made the announcement on its plant shutdown in a letter sent on...

Ahmed Adnan Hashim proudly shows off a container of Nu-Nu brand yogurt, produced at the factory he manages with his brother, Qahetan, in Bada, a small town south of Baghdad. Soldiers recently delivered two industrial generators donated by a factory in Iskandariyah to help the dairy plant stay on its feet. Photo by Sgt. David Turner. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Ahmed Adnan Hashim is passionate about yogurt. He’s passionate about cheese and cream and the other products produced at the Nu-Nu factory in Bada, a small town in northern Babil province. With his brother, Qahetan, managing the factory, Nu-Nu...