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Pyongyang now more than one-third smaller; food shortage issues suspected THE ASAHI SHIMBUN 2010/07/17 SEOUL--The long-term effects of continued food shortages have apparently reached the city limits of North Korea's capital. According to news agency Radiopress, which monitors North Korea, the physical size of Pyongyang's administrative district has been recently reduced by more than one-third. It said Radio Pyongyang and other state-run domestic media have recently introduced the counties of Kangnam-gun, Junghwa-gun and Sangwon-gun as well as the Sungho district as being under the jurisdiction of neighboring Hwanghae-bukdo province. The counties and the district previously belonged to Pyongyang. South Korean...

Room for rent: No drugs, drama or pets. Must be mellow and employed. Living with housemates is not exactly ideal, but it’s a choice many people are making to get through tough times. Job losses and other financial constraints are forcing people to reduce living expenses in a big way. For some, that might mean downsizing from a house to an apartment — or just a room. Some people have had to move home with the folks. Others are able to remain in their homes, but only by bringing in boarders to help cover costs. Living on your own in...

"Last year," Ryan Bingham says, “I spent 322 days on the road, which means that I had to spend 43 miserable days at home.” Home is an Omaha rental unit less furnished than a hotel room. He likes it that way. Today, he is where he feels at home, in an airport — glass walls and glistening steel, synthetic sincerity and antiseptic hospitality. Today, he is showing Natalie, a ferocious young colleague, how an expert road warrior deals with lines at security screening: Avoid, he says, getting behind travelers with infants (“I’ve never seen a stroller collapse in less than...

New York Times Staffers Freaking As Bill Keller Raises The Axe Keith Kelly|Dec. 4, 2009, 11:10 PM | 61 | With just days to go until a Monday deadline, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller yesterday confirmed that he was unlikely to get 100 newsroom volunteers to accept buyouts -- meaning he'll wield the layoff ax for the second time in two years. Sources said the newsroom was in a state of high anxiety this week because of chatter that just 50 unionized editorial workers from the Newspaper Guild are expected to step forward for voluntary buyouts by the...

The Cato Institute today announced the launch of "Downsizing the Federal Government," a new website aimed at providing policymakers, media and the public with comprehensive data on federal spending. The federal government is running massive all-time record budget deficits, spending too much, and heading toward a financial crisis. Without a change of direction in Washington, average working families will be faced with huge tax increases and a lower standard of living. This makes the launching of this website especially timely and applicable.

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 U.S. floated plan to withdraw fighter jets Japan stayed silent in light of North Korea, realignment worries Kyodo News The U.S. government sounded out Japan in early April about pulling out all of the approximately 40 F-16 fighters from Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture, possibly beginning later this year, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said Friday. As part of the ongoing review of the U.S. defense strategy by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, the United States at the time also told Japan of an idea to remove some of the more than 50...

Think the answer to America's problems is bigger government? Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg has seen the result up close and says it's not pretty for the economy or investors.

Twentieth Century Fox, which is still producing the series even though new episodes will air on Comedy Central, is recasting the major voice roles for the show. That means no more Billy West (Fry, Professor, and Ziodberg), Katey Sagal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender), Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker, among others), or Tress MacNeil (Mom, and several others). Worst! Fox released a statement saying "We love the Futurama voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands. While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on. We are confident that...

Across the country, the recession is putting increasing pressure on law firms to slash spending and discount their services. Client demand for lower prices is prompting firms to outsource some of their document work to India, hire more temp or contract lawyers, shift from billable hours to fixed fees and eliminate staff. [Snip] More than 60,000 people work in the legal profession in the Washington area, which, per capita, employs more in that sector than any other metropolitan region in the nation. Much of the work centers on the federal government, providing stability and steady work for many lawyers. But...

When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers need to find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well. Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his board of directors gives him a big bonus. Our government should not be immune from similar risks. Therefore: Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members and Senate members from 100...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- While a number of technology giants have been making public disclosures about job cuts in recent weeks, IBM Corp. has been quietly eliminating positions in a number of divisions including its storied research unit, according to an organization seeking recognition as a union with the company. nearly 200 jobs have been cut from the research group, 1,200 from the systems technology group, over 300 from finance nearly 100 from human resources. an IBM spokesman, said the company is not commenting on the number of job cuts underway or on which business units are affected. Alliance@IBM believes...

NY Times assets up for grabs(Agencies) Updated: 2008-12-30 07:56 The New York Times Co, facing a $400 million debt repayment and a 60 percent drop in its stock price this year, is pursuing asset sales almost a year after its biggest investor demanded changes to the business. The New York Times headquarters is seen in February 2008 in New York City. New York Times is seeking a buyer for its 17.5 percent of the holding company for the Boston Red Sox baseball team, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing two unidentified people familiar with the discussions. That sale...

INCREDIBLE SHRINKING TIMES FEELS THE 'PINCH' By KEITH J. KELLY Posted: 4:36 am September 6, 2008 The New York Times yesterday said it will cut back the number of sections it has in the daily paper it sells in the metro New York area beginning next month, the latest cost-saving move at the beleaguered newspaper. The change returns to four the number of sections in the paper, and represents an about-face from the daily's fanfare-filled move in 1997 to expand to six sections and incorporate color onto its pages. As part of the move, the Sports section will now be...

Southfield (WWJ) -- General Motors is preparing to announce a major downsizing and restructuring moves Tuesday in response to falling U.S. sales. A statement from the company says Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will discuss the changes at a news conference at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Before the news conference, Wagoner will address employees. The company released no further details.

Starbucks to close 600 U.S. stores, cut 12,000 jobs By Matt Andrejczak, MarketWatch Last update: 6:43 p.m. EDT July 1, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Starbucks Corp., dragged down by a slowing U.S. economy, is pulling the plug on 600 of its underperforming U.S. coffee shops and trimming the number of stores it had planned to open over the coming year. The shutdowns, starting now and running through March 2009, are far more than the coffee-shop chain had originally planned. In January, Starbucks said it planned to close 100 U.S. stores as part of the transformation plan set in motion...

MSM's Downsizing Bloodbath May Give Alternative Media a Boost Downsizing BloodbathWhat the newspaper industry's unprecedented wave of layoffs says about American journalism -- and what it means for newspaper readers and bloggers By DAVID PAULIN The downsizing bloodbath in America's newspaper industry is different from earlier waves of layoffs over the years. This time top editors and reporters are being let go at the most prestigious newspapers. What does all this say about American journalism? And what will it mean for newspaper readers and bloggers? First, consider the financially troubled New York Times. Layoffs are being threatened there -- something...

It would be too easy to lay this debacle at the feet of the Chinese but responsibility doesn’t belong there. Mattel and Corporations like it have for years outsourced American jobs to foreign countries to take advantage of less restrictive manufacturing laws and cheap almost slave labor.

LANSING, Mich. - Piles of crushed concrete and broken brick wait to be hauled away as bulldozers tear down old General Motors Corp. factories that have stood for a century on the banks of the Grand River in downtown Lansing. Behind the demolition, a gleaming white Cadillac factory built five years ago with state-of-the-art technology greets the next generation of auto workers. GM has a far smaller presence in the Lansing area than it had just a few years ago. But the automaker's new factories here are more efficient and better-suited to survive in the hyper-competitive automotive industry. [Snip] GM...

ATLANTA, May 3, 2006 – With the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process shutting down 25 major installations and radically realigning 24 others over the next six years, a BRAC conference under way here is focusing on growth as well as downsizing, a defense official told reporters here today. "Traditionally when we've done these events, they've been very much closure-focused," said Philip W. Grone, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment. But this conference, he added, also features "a very healthy focus on growth." This is happening because many areas will gain substantial numbers of uniformed and civilian military...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The struggle to save unionized manufacturing jobs and continue the 140-year production of Winchester sporting arms in New Haven has attracted national and international attention as the Belgian Herstal Group prepares to close its US Repeating Arms Company (USRAC) factory doors on March 31. Workers and community activists began organizing when the January announcement was made, bringing public attention to the devastating impact the closing will have on the 180 workers, the African American community where the plant is located, and the entire city. The company has enjoyed $17 million in tax abatements which are tied...