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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (23982)	6/24/2005 1:59:58 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 361708

Alcoa to Cut 6,500 Jobs in Restructuring By MIKE CRISSEY, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 23, PITTSBURGH - Alcoa Inc., the world's largest aluminum producer, will cut about 6,500 jobs globally — or 5 percent of its work force — in the next year, most of them in its automotive businesses, as part of a restructuring aimed at saving the company $150 million a year. The company said it plans to cut about 3,500 jobs in its automotive divisions. The cuts include previously announced plans to shutter its Hawesville, Ky., automotive plant, as well as cutting 2,500 jobs in its AFL automotive wire harness business. The Pittsburgh-based company said it will record after-tax charges of $220 million to $250 million, or 25 cents to 28 cents per share, in the second quarter as part of its plans to streamline the company. The charges include layoffs, plant closures and consolidations. Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said the aluminum maker has been hit by North American automakers scaling back production amid slumping sales. Earlier this week, Ford Motor Co., the nation's No. 2 automaker, announced it was cutting another 1,700 salaries positions atop 1,000 salaried job cuts it announced in April. Ford's U.S. business was off 4 percent through May. Meanwhile, General Motors Corp., the No. 1 automaker, has announced it would close plants and eliminate 25,000 jobs over the next three years. General Motors said U.S. auto sales were down 5.2 percent through the first five months of the year. Both automakers are offering deep discounts on their vehicles to try to prop up sales. Ford is offering employees and retirees up to $1,000 in cash to entice friends, relatives and neighbors to buy vehicles with employee discounts. General Motors has tried to boost sales by offering customers the same discounts it gives its employees. Last month, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Ford's debt, along with No. 1 General Motors Corp., to below investment grade, or junk status. S&P said the automakers no longer can count on generating enormous profits from their SUV lineups, which could cause a severe blow to profits. Both Ford and General Motors buy aluminum from Alcoa, Lowery said. Besides the cuts in its automotive businesses, Alcoa said it plans to cut 1,000 jobs at its extrusion plants in the U.S. and Europe, which make fabricated aluminum; trim 1,500 jobs from its packaging and consumer business, which includes Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil; and cut 490 positions in its primary metals and global mill products divisions as well as some corporate jobs. Alcoa also announced it would take a hit from the shuttering of an aluminum smelter in Hamburg, Germany, that it partially owned with Markisches Werk GmbH. The German company said it was closing the smelter because of high energy costs. During the first quarter, Alcoa recorded restructuring charges of $25 million after it cut 1,800 positions to save $45 million a year. The combined first-half restructuring charges are expected to total between $245 million and $275 million as Alcoa removes a total of 8,300 jobs from its payroll in a move to save $195 million pretax each year. "In total, the restructuring we have undertaken this year should generate nearly $200 million in annual cost savings, helping put our businesses in a better position to compete globally and serve our customers," Chairman and CEO Alain Belda said in a statement. "While eliminating jobs is unsettling, we will do our best to minimize the impact on our employees and the communities where we operate." Alcoa also said it expects to slightly offset the restructuring costs with a tax benefit of $100 million to $120 million during the quarter. In addition, the company will record a 25 cent per share gain on the previously announced sale of its stake in Norwegian metals company Elkem. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect earnings of 49 cents per share on revenue of $6.68 billion during the second quarter. Alcoa shares fell 50 cents to close at $27.19 on the New York Stock Exchange, near their 52-week low of $26.03. The stock rose 8 cents in the late-trading session. ___

To: SiouxPal who wrote (23982)	6/24/2005 2:03:11 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361708

I Wish I could say you were wrong.. but Suicide bomber kills six U.S. troops in Iraq By Luke Baker BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber attacked a U.S. Marine vehicle in the city of Falluja, killing six American troops in one of the deadliest single assaults on U.S. ground forces in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Friday. In Washington, President Bush vowed insurgents in Iraq would be defeated. "The way ahead is not going to be easy," Bush told a White House news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari. "The enemy's goal is to drive us out of Iraq before the Iraqis have established a secure, democratic government. They will not succeed," said Bush. A U.S. official said two Marines were killed and 13 were wounded in the attack late on Thursday in Falluja, west of Baghdad, while four other U.S. troops were presumed dead, suggesting their remains had so far not been identified. The deaths brought to 1,731 the number of U.S. troops killed since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. U.S. officers say insurgents are developing more powerful "shaped" bombs that are capable of piercing if not destroying U.S. armored vehicles, greatly increasing the deadliness of their attacks. In mid-June, five U.S. Marines were killed in a roadside bomb blast near Ramadi, a rebellious city west of Falluja. The week before five U.S. soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack on their vehicle in a nearby town. RUMSFELD GRILLED Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, one of the architects of the war that overthrew Saddam, was grilled by members of the U.S. Senate on Thursday who suggested he and others had painted too rosy a picture of the Iraq conflict. "This war has been consistently and grossly mismanaged," Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democrat, told Rumsfeld. "And we are now in a seemingly intractable quagmire." The top U.S. commander in the Middle East and Gulf regions, General John Abizaid, declined to endorse comments by Vice President Dick Cheney that the insurgency was in its last throes. He said the strength of the insurgency had not diminished and that more foreign fighters were in Iraq than six months ago. "There's a lot of work to be done against the insurgency," Abizaid told the hearing. Bush, under pressure over declining support among Americans for his policy on Iraq, discussed strategy with Jaafari, whose Shi'ite-led government took office just two months ago. Jaafari told reporters he did not think a timetable should be set for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq, saying their help would be needed for some time to come. White House officials signaled there would be no major change in Bush's policy and that U.S. troops would stay in Iraq until Iraqis were sufficiently trained to defend themselves. "This is a critical moment in Iraq," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said as he announced Bush would make a major address to troops and the nation on Iraq on Tuesday. "This a real time of testing," McClellan said. Jaafari's trip to Washington followed a visit to Brussels where he met donors to discuss financial support for Iraq. VIOLENCE INCREASES Since his government was formed in April, violence has increased. More than 1,000 Iraqis have been killed in guerrilla attacks and sabotage goes on unabated. A major oil pipeline was attacked on Thursday and a blast on a water pumping station left half of Baghdad without water earlier this week. A contract dispute between the Iraqi government and a British security company that protects Baghdad airport blew up on Friday. The firm went on strike and civil aviation at the airport had to be shut down. The Shi'ite-led government is trying to find ways to draw the minority Sunni Arabs, who form the core of the insurgency, fully into the political process and end the violence. But one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite leaders, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, ruled out dialogue with insurgents who, he said, had declared all-out war on his community and "must be terminated." "The terrorist groups have revealed their purpose, which is creating sectarian strife, and stand in the way of the political process and building the new Iraq," said Hakim, a day after two waves of car bombs killed more than 30 people in mainly Shi'ite neighborhoods of the capital. (Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny, Alastair Macdonald, Waleed Ibrahim and Omar Anwar in Baghdad)