Free Republic

Every nation could be described as a manifestation of a unique trait of character and most countries furthermore nurture, give emphasize to and celebrate this national identity of theirs. Some examples of such key national characters (please DO comment if you feel inclined to); USA: Liberty Italy: Creativity France: Refinement India: Spirituality Germany: Self-discipline Finland: "Sisu" (a Finnish term meaning "To have guts") Britain: Elevatedness Denmark: "Hygge" (a Danish word meaning "Good-naturedness", of mind as well as of deed) Spain: Passion China: Cultivation Russia: Chaos - just joking, I would actually say "Heart" (in the sense of having a big...

In a further sign of weakening demand for large, gas-guzzling SUVs, GM has announced it is idling its 54-year-old Arlington, Texas plant for three weeks. This comes only two weeks after a GM spokeswoman said this about Arlington: "We are currently running at full production and foresee continuing to run at full production indefinitely..." Workers at the plant had been producing 900-1000 Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans, GMC Yukons, and Cadillac Escalades a day. Ten months ago, Autoblog reported large SUVs were holding their own. Now, these models are seeing reduced sales compared with last year as consumers react to...

During the War of Independence, America learned the painful lesson of reliance on foreign nations. The newborn United States had to rely on France and the Netherlands to supply everything from iron and gunpowder to blankets and clothing, and Britain routinely cut America’s supply lines. Seeing this weakness, America’s founders implemented a national strategy promoting industrial and military self-sufficiency in order to establish the nation’s security. It seems America has forgotten that lesson. One specific example is in mineral production. America’s leaders have allowed the nation’s once formidable mining industry to erode. Many minerals—including some that are strategically important for...

Ford Motor Co., the world's third-largest automaker, will accelerate introduction of new vehicles in the U.S. this year through mid-2009 as the company tries to stabilize sales, the company's sales chief said Tuesday. "From the summer of 2008 through the summer of 2009, Ford will be doing something it hasn't done a lot of lately and that's launching new products," Group Vice President Jim Farley said at an analyst presentation in New York. "We will be launching a new vehicle every month or two," he said.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Capt. Clint Roberts makes his living cutting accident victims out of hideously mangled vehicles, but even he could hardly believe it when two people in a 2007 midsize car survived a head-on crash with a full- sized pickup last year. The Ford Fusion's reinforced steel construction probably saved the lives of the 18-year-old driver and his 16-year-old passenger. But Roberts said it gave his Hillsborough County Fire Rescue crew fits as they tried to free them last November. Because hydraulic cutters couldn't shear the roof posts, rescue workers had to turn to heavy-duty electric saws, replacing...

. . . 4. Boeing’s Growing Dependency on Japan Japan’s technological leadership in composites is one reason that Boeing is going to contract 35 percent of the 787-airframe structures to Japan. In an interview with Paul Lagace, MIT Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Engineering Systems, “the United States lags behind Japan, Spain and Russia in aircraft composite technology” (Lagace, 2004). Boeing’s airframes have changed very little since the introduction of the 747. With Airbus introducing major technological advances over a relatively short corporate lifetime, Boeing has been forced to move into this all composite aircraft. In the past, when...

WASHINGTON - Big industries are waging an intense lobbying effort to block new, tougher limits on air pollution that is blamed for hundreds of heart attacks, deaths and cases of asthma, bronchitis and other breathing problems. The Environmental Protection Agency is to decide within weeks whether to reduce the allowable amount of ozone — commonly referred to as smog — in the air. A tougher standard would require hundreds of counties across the country to find new ways to reduce smog-causing emissions of nitrogen oxides and chemical compounds from tailpipes and smokestacks. Groups representing manufacturers, automakers, electric utilities, grocers and...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Anti-fur campaigners have tried everything from impassioned appeals to pet lovers, gruesome videos, name-and-shame campaigns and adverts featuring nude stars proclaiming they'd rather go naked than sport a pelt. But despite their best efforts, wrapping up in fur is a trend that has failed to go away. "Without a doubt, there are more people wearing fur today than ever before," said Timothy Everest, a member of the Hong Kong Fur Federation. Still, while industry insiders gush about growing sales and new frontiers, public relations remains the crucial battleground for a $13.5 billion fur industry dogged by...

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday two more assembly plants were running out of parts and would have to be idled as the impact from a week-long strike against supplier American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) widened for the No. 1 U.S. automaker. Six GM assembly plants in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario, Canada, have either been idled or could be idled as early as Tuesday because of parts shortages, the automaker said in a statement. The temporary factory closures mean 13,700 GM workers, or almost 20 percent of its blue-collar...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, Feb. 25, 2008 – To some, it might be laughable that the economic welfare of an entire community relies on thousands of flightless birds, but in the farming communities of southern Baghdad, chickens represent a significant way ahead. A member of the State Department’s Baghdad 7 embedded provincial reconstruction team is helping these communities establish themselves as centers of poultry production. “Some of these farmers had over 100,000 chickens at one time,” said Mike Stevens, the team’s agricultural advisor. Stevens, a native of Park Rapids, Minn., said farmers from Adwaniyah, Arab Jabour and Hawr Rajab...

BAGHDAD — With nearly five years of war taking a toll on Iraq’s domestic poultry industry, overall chicken and egg consumption is down in the country, while 40 percent of the commercial eggs consumed in Baghdad are imported. But with recent security improvements, achieved through the cooperation of local residents and a counter-insurgency strategy implemented by Coalition Forces, an opportunity has been gained to resume production. In Mahmudiyah, an agricultural community south of the Iraqi capital, and a traditional hub of Baghdad province’s poultry industry, some of the most violence of the war effectively halted production of a variety of...

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. will extend buyouts and early retirement incentives to its entire U.S. hourly work force as the automaker expects sales to fall this year in a rapidly weakening economy. The corporation will offer all of the automaker's 78,000 workers some type of buyout, GM spokesman Dan Flores said. GM's 40,800 workers now eligible for retirement will receive special incentives next month to leave the company by April. Another 5,200 workers already were offered retirement packages to leave by March. It's not known how many of the 735 hourly workers at GM's Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, 1629...

A growing number of oil-industry chieftains are endorsing an idea long deemed fringe: The world is approaching a practical limit to the number of barrels of crude oil that can be pumped every day. Some predict that, despite the world's fast-growing thirst for oil, producers could hit that ceiling as soon as 2012. This rough limit -- which two senior industry officials recently pegged at about 100 million barrels a day -- is well short of global demand projections over the next few decades. Current production is about 85 million barrels a day. The world certainly won't run out of...

ADDRESS GIVEN TO THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATED MEN STUDIES ANNUAL MEN'S NIGHT GEORGE W, ROMNEY President, Detroit Stake, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President, American Motors with an introduction by President Ernest L. Wilkinson AMS EXEMPLARY MANHOOD AWARD Presentation by Clark Thorstensen November 10, 1961 Price 15¢ ADDRESS GIVEN TO THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATED MEN STUDIES ANNUAL MEN'S NIGHT GEORGE W. ROMNEY President, Detroit Stake, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President, American Motors with an introduction by President Ernest L. Wilkinson November 10, 1961 PRESIDENT ERNEST L, WILKINSON This is a distinct honor to...

"Reports of the death of U.S. manufacturing have been greatly exaggerated." This is the opening line in a revealing and timely economic analysis aptly titled "Thriving in a Global Economy — The Truth About U.S. Manufacturing and Trade." =============================================================== The Good News is we're doomed! Part II 9/3/07 Early Tuesday morning I was tuned to Squawk on the Street on CNBC. Big economic report about to be released. During the wait, the ominous drumbeat from the TV box: 'Period of anxiety', 'period of uncertainty', 'period of fear', 'worst yet to come', 'credit collapse', 'credit crunch', 'subprime collapse', 'housing collapse', 'recession...

Hail the working man. Another Labor Day is upon us/has come and gone. But are we still celebrating a blue-collar, industrial work force that barely exists anymore? Lots of people think so, but not city guru Joel Kotkin. As he wrote earlier this month in The Wall Street Journal, the death of manufacturing in America is a myth. In fact, in parts of the South, the Great Plains and Pacific Northwest, high-skilled workers are fueling vibrant local economies and helping America make $1.6 trillion worth of industrial stuff -- 42 percent more than in 1982. I talked to Kotkin (joelkotkin.com)...

SHANGHAI: China has 150,000 super-rich with personal wealth of $5 million or more and their ranks are rising fast, pushing up prices for golf, yachting, villas and other luxuries, researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said yesterday."The number of wealthy individuals in China is growing very fast, based on the economic boom," Hoogewerf, who compiles an annual China "rich list", said. His China Luxury Index, which tracks 32 items including the Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB and the Louis Vuitton Speedy Bag, shows prices of luxury products in China jumped 8.7 per cent in the year to this February, compared with a 3.5pc rise in...

It's been a quarter-century since author John Naisbitt blithely described manufacturing as a "declining sport" that Americans could easily offshore to Asia. Since then obituaries for U.S. manufacturing, both mournful and enraged, have been written many times...Snip... Manufacturing's role in promoting job and income growth is often understated. Although overall industrial jobs have diminished by almost five million since the late 1970s, the loss has been concentrated largely in lower-skilled positions. The number of higher-skilled positions, with a median hourly wage of $24, jumped by more than 36% between 1983 and 2002 to nearly 4.5 million, according to a 2006...

Dutch-Swedish chemicals group Akzo Nobel said Monday it had made a new takeover offer for British rival Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), valuing the company at 8.0 billion pounds (111 billion kronor, $16.3 billion). "Akzo Nobel was able to make this increased proposal after further discussions with both ICI and (German company) Henkel," Akzo Nobel said in a press release. Related Articles Akzo Nobel to develop bird flu vaccine 18th October 2005 Article Options Send to a friend Printable version Submit to Digg.com Akzo Nobel is working with Henkel on an offer for ICI and plans to sell on ICI's adhesives...

270+ HI-RES Photos from the IDEF 2007 Defence Show: 8th International Defense Industry Fair held in Turkey.

The Alliance for Climate Protection, which is part of Al Gore’s Live Earth campaign, tells people that by using compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, they can save energy, save money and live longer. But they fail to mention that the bulbs are made in communist China and are potentially hazardous to human health.

DETROIT (AP) -- Contract talks between the U.S.-based automakers and the United Auto Workers formally begin next month, but the key issue is already clear: Eliminating the roughly $25-an-hour labor cost gap between Detroit and its Japanese rivals. Officials at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler said Wednesday that reducing labor costs to the level paid by Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. -- Detroit's prime competitors -- will be the top priority. Industry analysts say that survival of the three U.S. companies is at stake. The three automakers based near Detroit generally pay about 30 percent more per hour...

Edwards Calls for Probe of Oil Industry Friday June 1, 2007 1:31 AM By MAY WONG Associated Press Writer MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Thursday called for a federal investigation into possible antitrust violations by the oil industry and criticized oil companies for raising gas prices. ``There's absolutely no justification for the gas companies to be as profitable as they are and have the taxpayers subsidizing the industry,'' Edwards said. The former senator from North Carolina spoke to reporters during a brief campaign stop at a restaurant in Silicon Valley to outline an energy...

By Mac Gordon WardsAuto.com, May 23, 2007 2:09 PM Veteran Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers are upbeat about Chrysler Group’s purchase by New York investment firm Cerberus Capital Management LP. The dealers express hope that new ownership and “fresh cash” will bolster the auto maker’s marketing and product-development programs. “The Cerberus team sounds like they’re really committed to shaping up Chrysler,” says Bob Feeny, owner of a Chrysler Dodge store{snip} Don Schunk, a St. Louis Chrysler-Jeep dealer, applauds the Cerberus decision to keep Tom LaSorda on as CEO{snip} Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers have fared relatively well during the auto...

By John McElroy WardsAuto.com, May 23, 2007 12:43 PM While everyone else is focused on Daimler selling Chrysler, I’m trying to figure out who Cerberus is going to flip it to. You know this crowd did not buy Chrysler to hold it. That’s not what they do. {snip} Getting Chrysler’s labor costs to match Toyota’s in North America... Putting those savings into the product... Quickly pruning the U.S. dealer base... Expanding aggressively overseas. {snip} So the real question is, who gets it? It sure would make a tantalizing acquisition for someone such as Fiat, PSA, or (gulp!) one of those...

China’s rapidly worsening pollution is being driven by a surge in investment in energy-intensive heavy ind­ustry caused by cut-throat competition among cities and provinces, according to a study released Tuesday. The study, by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, says the huge investment in steel, aluminium, cement and other plant has begun to reverse almost three decades of gains in energy efficiency. “It is not air-conditioners and automobiles that are driving China’s energy demand but rather heavy industry,” say Daniel Rosen and Trevor Houser of China Strategic Advisory, the authors. “Consumption-led demand is China’s future energy challenge.” China’s...

A large retail chain had a problem. It sold three similar power drills: one for about $90, a purportedly better one at $120 and a top-tier one at $130. The higher the price, the more the store profited. But while drill know-it-alls flocked to the $130 model and price-fretters grabbed its $90 cousin, shoppers often ignored the middle one. So the store sought advice from a new breed of "price-optimization" software from DemandTec Inc. What followed offers us a clue about important shifts that technology is bringing to retail shopping. After analyzing an array of variables, including sales history and...

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2007 – Servicemembers and their families are being treated to free movies and refreshments, thanks to a member of the motion picture exhibition industry. National Amusements has teamed up with the United Service Organizations of Metropolitan New York to offer free movies, popcorn and small drinks to active-duty military personnel and their families through April 30. Beginning May 1, all National Amusements movie theaters in the United States will continue to show their appreciation to military personnel by offering a discounted general admission rate of $7, with $5 rates for matinees and children. The partnership with...

"Manufacturing is the key to national power," wrote former presidential candidate and conservative columnist Pat Buchanan. "Not only does it pay more than service industries, the rates of productivity growth are higher and the potential of new industry arising is far greater. From radio came television, VCRs and flat-panel screens. From adding machines came calculator and computers... research and development follow manufacturing." The increasing frailty of America's manufacturing might was exposed last week as Chrysler announced a restructuring plan that inflicts yet another blow to America's anemic manufacturing base. Under the Chrysler plan, 9,000 U.S. autoworkers are set to become...

U.S. Defense Industry Succumbs to Outsourcing National Security By William R. Hawkins Wednesday, December 27, 2006 CONFERENCE PROMOTES OUTSOURCING OF NATIONAL DEFENSE As the U.S. trade deficit continues to worsen, Americans are told by pundits and officials that they must accept losses in a number of manufacturing categories, from electronics to automobiles. They are told instead to concentrate their efforts in areas of comparative strength. Yet, when the United States has a clearly demonstrated competitive advantage in a major sector, foreign firms and governments target these areas to prevent the American economy from fully realizing the gains from its investment...

Struggling auto giant Chrysler could soon come back under U.S. control after nine years in the hands of the Germans. Sources said yesterday that executives at General Motors Corp. have held preliminary talks with DaimlerChrysler boss Dieter Zetsche about buying the Chrysler unit outright. The talks, which were first reported by the trade journal Automotive News yesterday, sent shares of DaimlerChrysler up nearly 4 percent.

Imagine you've just given a year and a half of your life to serving your country in Iraq and come home to find that your pregnant wife and your toddler daughter have been forced to leave the United States and now the government won't let them back in. You sit at home waiting, but no one can give you answers when or if they will be allowed to return. You wait five months, long enough for your new baby to be born in a foreign country. But still, no one can give you answers. That is what Aaron Thorsted of...

WASHINGTON -- A new coalition of environmental groups and major corporations such as Alcoa Inc., General Electric Co., DuPont Co. and Duke Energy Corp. will boost pressure on Congress and President Bush next week to address climate change more rapidly. The informal coalition plans a news conference Monday to publicize its recommendations, ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union address, according to a person familiar with the situation. It will suggest that Congress and the administration move quickly to address global warming through steps such as capping greenhouse-gas emissions and discouraging construction of conventional coal-burning power plants, which are a...

Elected officials, business leaders and environmental watchdogs, invited by the editorial board, recently met at The Dallas Morning News to discuss clean air issues. This is the first of three excerpted transcripts from the roundtable. The speakers quoted: Colleen McCain Nelson, editorial writer; Margaret Keliher, Dallas County judge through 2006; Richard Greene, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency; Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office; Jim Schermbeck, Downwinders at Risk board member; Todd Campbell, director of public policy for Clean Energy and mayor of Burbank, Calif.; Al Armendariz, assistant professor, SMU School of Engineering; Robert Cluck, Arlington...

One study shows that milk can help people lose weight. Another shows that tomato juice might prevent cancer and a third shows benefits to fizzy sodas. But consumers should take those studies with a grain of salt, researchers reported on Monday. If a study was industry-funded, it was far more likely to have a positive finding than if it was paid for by the government or an independent group, the researchers found. "We are not singling out any industry or any particular study," said lead researcher Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard University. "Our first look shows...

Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar on Dec. 29 dismissed U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran as "psychological warfare" and suggested they would not affect Iran’s missile production capability. The U.N. Security Council banned Iran from importing or exporting sensitive nuclear materials and technology as well as ballistic missile delivery systems in a move aimed at stopping it from nuclear enrichment activities that can be used in nuclear weapons.

TOYOTA RECENTLY projected that it would surpass General Motors in 2007 as the world's top-selling automaker. GM lost $10.6 billion in 2005 -- about what Toyota earned in profits. Toyota's outstanding shares of stock are now valued at 10 times those of GM. [...] the G6 is actually a mid sized, mid priced car, with a base price of $17,825, intended to compete with the Camry. Dream on. Maybe it's unfair to blame a whole company for one crummy model. But the problems with Pontiac's G6 are emblematic. This was the car launched with a stunt hailed as one of...

If California's $3.4 billion solar initiative succeeds in promoting 1 million more rooftop, solar-electric systems, it could still be considered a failure. That's because the 10-year program, set to begin next month, aims to do more than just subsidize installations. It's also intended to make solar electricity's cost comparable to the power provided by utilities. Today it costs twice as much. If solar costs could be made competitive, the impact would be profound. Most conventional power is produced by burning coal or natural gas, making the electric-generation industry a leading source of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Cheap and...

Ownership of Westinghouse Electric Co. was transferred from British to Japanese hands yesterday as Toshiba Corp. completed the purchase of the Monroeville-based nuclear power plant company from British Nuclear Fuels PLC for $5.4 billion. An official announcement of the deal was expected this morning. Top officials of Toshiba, who are expected to be in town Friday to speak to Westinghouse employees, have said they intend to keep the company headquartered in Monroeville and retain current management and staff, which number about 3,000 locally and 9,000 worldwide.

China has for the first time a presence at the Paris Motor Show exhibiting five models, but their arrival was considered as a "challenge", not a "threat" by their competitors. Despite only five models were exhibited by the companies Landwind and Great wall Motor, they displayed China's ambition to become a world-class car manufacturer, AFP reported on Friday. "In a short term, the Chinese were not a threat, but in the medium term they clearly posed a challenge, the president and chief executive of German automaker Volkswagen, Bernd Pischetsrieder, said. However, president of U.S. General Motors Rick Wagoner, said China...

Volkswagen has struck a deal with unions to extend the working week of staff at six German plants without any increase in pay. In return for raising their hours by four hours a week to 33 hours, the 100,000 workers have been guaranteed job security until 2011. The carmaker promised to build the next generation of its flagship Golf model at its main factory in Wolfsburg. The company wants to cut costs for the production of its vehicles. Cars such as the Golf are selling strongly but are bringing in little profit. VW had been seeking a 35-hour week without...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has released a plan to control greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding, reducing or capturing them. Government officials said The Climate Change Technology Program represents the technology component of a strategy introduced by U.S. President George Bush in 2002 to combat climate change that include measures to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions through voluntary, incentive-based and mandatory partnerships, advance climate change science, spur clean energy technology development and deployment and promote international collaboration. "The technologies outlined in the plan -- hydrogen, biorefining, clean coal, carbon sequestration, nuclear fission (!!)...

Aided by a governor who has promised to preserve the coast, California is expanding its network of areas where fishing and other marine harvesting are banned or restricted. The idea is to better safeguard the diversity and abundance of marine life by limiting those activities in key habitats such as lagoons, bays, kelp forests, rocky reefs and the edges of marine canyons. California already has 80 “marine protected areas” covering about 4 percent of state waters, but scientists agree that most of those sites are too small to help depleted species rebound. “No other state in the Union has done...

SACRAMENTO If California becomes the first state to cap greenhouse gas emissions from industry, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to ensure that the government can delay the regulations if an emergency arises. The so-called "safety valve" sought by the administration has emerged as one of the key obstacles in negotiations over the landmark bill. Democratic lawmakers who are pushing the bill say they fear such a clause would provide more of an escape hatch than a safety valve, providing a loophole for industries that don't want to meet the emission limits. "We want to make sure we have a bill that's...

CAMP LIBERTY — “With unity and security, there will be prosperity,” said Col. Robert Scurlock Jr., 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division commander in a press conference Wednesday. Another way to improve prosperity is to turn once dormant factories into bustling centers of activity again. Recently the Multi-National Division – Baghdad assessment team conducted a three-day visit of seven state-owned factories in Baghdad in a continuing effort, coordinated with Coalition forces and the Iraqi government, to help improve local industry. The goal of the operation is to increase the factories’ productivity, which will hopefully lead to an increase in...

Suddenly, China dominates steel industry The Charleston Gazette (W.VA) 07/23/2006 By Author: Paul J. Nyden Today, China has the world's largest steel industry. In fact, the world's most populous nation now produces more steel than the next four largest producers combined: Japan, the United States, Russia and South Korea. Chinese mills make 31 percent of the world's steel. Between 2000 and 2005, Chinese steel production grew by 170 percent, from 126 million metric tons to 349 million metric tons. China's steel exports quadrupled between 1998 and 2005. Steel imports flooding into the United States doubled between 2000 and 2005. The...

Duds intended to complement inmate motorcycle program CARSON CITY -- A Nevada prison industries program that builds customized motorcycles will soon expand with its own clothing line as well. The clothing line, to be called "Most Wanted," will be designed by Jan Rousseaux of Las Vegas and will be manufactured by inmates within the Nevada Department of Corrections at the Lovelock Correctional Center. The clothing is intended to complement the motorcycle program, called "Big House Choppers," which is run out of the Southern Desert Correctional Center, northwest of Las Vegas. The new clothing line will be launched at the motorcycle...

The Washington Post is wailing about the environmental ruination of that great ecological wonder, the Canadian tar sands. Canada's Athabasca Basin holds more hydrocarbons (oil) than anyplace else in the world. It has a huge patch of tarry goo, the remains of a once-vast inland lake, spotted amongst 40,000 square miles of jack pine and black spruce growing amid mosquito-rich swamps. The same evergreen-and-swamp vista extends in a broad band for more than 2000 miles, from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the shores of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast. The Athabasca's population density is less...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Three former employees of a US auto parts company have been indicted on charges of stealing company secrets and providing them to a Chinese rival, authorities said. The Justice Department said that Anne Lockwood, formerly a vice president for sales at Metaldyne, her husband Michael Haehnel, a former Metaldyne engineer and Fuping Lui, an ex-Metaldyne metallurgist were indicted in Detroit, Michigan, on 64 counts. "Regardless of the highly competitive rough and tumble of today's global automotive industry, stealing is still stealing," US Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a statement. The indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges that the...

Jack Welch gives advice on how the new graduate can succeed in American companies. It seems to be good advice to succeed in any company -- anywhere. His number one piece of advice: OVERDELIVER - This is very un-American -- and very un-student-like. In school, students learn to meet certain objectives -- answer certain questions within certain time parameters. In the workforce -- it's not that way anymore. To get an A+ in business, Welch says, a person -- 22 years old or 62 years old -- needs to: 1. Expand the organization's expectations of what you can do --...