Toyota workers raised safety concerns with bosses in 2006 memo

The notice told of worries about employees and vehicles over the automaker's push to trim costs and boost production.

All six Toyota veterans around the table agreed: The memo they were about to send to senior management could damage their careers.

The workers had recognized a troubling trend. In recent years, the automaker had kicked into high gear to fill the booming U.S. demand for smaller, more gas-efficient vehicles.

The union men had watched the company take what they believed were dangerous safety and manpower shortcuts to lower costs and boost production.

Alienating bosses could make the men company pariahs. But they knew they had to sound the alarm. From 2000 to 2005, their memo pointed out, Toyota had recalled more than 5 million cars -- 36% of all sold vehicles, a rate higher than other companies.

Full News : LA Times

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Oscars 2010: full list of Academy Award winners

The independent Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" has emerged as the big winner at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony. Following is a complete list of Oscar winners :

BEST PICTURE
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges for "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"The Secret in Their Eyes" (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) - Argentina (Sony Pictures Classics)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz for "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mo'Nique for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal for "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Geoffrey Fletcher for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
ANIMATED FEATURE
"Up" by Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar)
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"Logorama" by Nicolas Schmerkin (Autour de Minuit)
ART DIRECTION
Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg for art direction and Kim Sinclair for set decoration on "Avatar" (20th Century Fox)
COSTUME DESIGN
Sandy Powell for "The Young Victoria" (Apparition)
MAKEUP
Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow for "Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Mauro Fiore for "Avatar" (20th Century Fox)
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"The New Tenants" by Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson (A Park Pictures and M & M Production)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"The Cove" by Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens for (Roadside Attractions)
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
"Music by Prudence" by Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett (iThemba Production)
VISUAL EFFECTS
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones for "Avatar" (20th Century Fox)
SOUND EDITING
Paul N.J. Ottosson for "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
SOUND MIXING
Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett for "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
FILM EDITING
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis for "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
ORIGINAL SCORE
Michael Giacchino for "Up" (Disney/Pixar)
ORIGINAL SONG
"The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight), music and lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

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500 dead after violent clashes in Nigeria

At least 500 people were killed Sunday in communal clashes near Nigeria's central city of Jos, an official has confirmed.

"We have been able to make 95 arrests but at the same time over 500 people have been killed in this heinous act ... by Fulani herdsmen," Dan Manjang, a state governor's adviser, said.
Nigeria's central Plateau State was also quoted on state radio saying 500 people had been massacred in a night raid on three villages on the fringes of Jos.

Full News : Telegraph

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Oscars stay predictable in early awards

We're several awards into the 82nd annual Academy Awards, and it's all going according to the oddsmakers.

The trophy for original song went to Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett for "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)." The award for animated feature film went to "Up," which is also nominated for best film. And as expected, Austrian actor Christoph Waltz danced away with supporting actor for playing a brutal Nazi Jew hunter in "Inglourious Basterds." All three have dominated this awards season, winning practically every available honor.

Mark Boal won original screenplay for the war drama "The Hurt Locker." It was followed by a tribute to the late, great teen-angst writer-director John Hughes, who died unexpectedly last year. Several of the Hughes veterans gathered on stage in his memory, including Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick and Judd Nelson.

Awards in the short film categories included "Logorama" for animated short, "Music by Prudence" for documentary short and "The New Tenants" in the live action short category.

Ben Stiller, decked out in "Avatar" Navi blue, complete with tail and braid, presented the best makeup award to "Star Trek."

The show kicked off with Neil Patrick Harris, who got rave reviews for hosting the Tonys and the Emmys last year, performing a musical number -- "No One Wants to Do It Alone." It was a reference to the hosts of the show, the wild and crazy Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, or, as Harris called them, "the biggest pair since Dolly Parton."

And with that, the hosts came down from the heavens at the Kodak Theatre, holding hands.

The witty, salty banter that ensued included putting on 3-D glasses to spot director James Cameron in the audience and joking that Meryl Streep, with whom the two starred in "It's Complicated," is the most nominated performer in academy history. Or, as Martin said, the performer with the most losses. (Then they joked about having a threesome with Streep on the set.)

Will double the hosts and double the nominees add up to double the fun and ratings?

So far, so good.

For the first time in 66 years, the academy has expanded the number of best picture nominees from five to 10, and the result is an eclectic mixture of blockbusters such as "Avatar' and indies such as "The Hurt Locker" and "An Education."

And speaking of the best picture winner -- will it be "The Hurt Locker," which has gained momentum in the past few months despite the recent disclosure that one of the producer's sent e-mails out asking academy members to vote for the film, or the highest grossing movie to date, "Avatar," which won the Golden Globe for best drama film?

With those films battling for the first prize, perhaps one of the other eight nominees such as "Inglourious Basterds" will slip in to win the top Oscar.

The academy may also make history -- if Kathryn Bigelow receives the director Oscar for "The Hurt Locker," she'll be the first woman to win the honor.

Adding to the fun for Oscar watchers: Bigelow used to be married to "Avatar" director James Cameron. But there is no rivalry between these two – Cameron has been a vocal supporter of Bigelow's film.

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Arrow shares soar 40% on takeover bid

Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina have made a joint bid for Arrow Energy in a deal worth at least $3.3 billion, as they seek a slice of the booming coal seam gas sector.

Shares in Arrow Energy jumped more than 40 per cent to a record high on the news, and were recently trading 41.4 per cent higher at $4.92.

Arrow said this morning that the non-binding, conditional bid from a company jointly owned by Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina would give shareholders $4.45 of cash per share plus a share in a new entity comprised of Arrow's international business.

The move would be the latest move by major energy firms into Australia's coal seam gas sector, after energy majors such as BG Group, ConocoPhillips and Petronas, already pumped in about $20 billion since 2008, with the aim of converting the abundant gas resource into higher-valued liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export into Asia.

The bid was likely sparked by Arrow's decision last month to acquire the full ownership of its $2.2 billion Fisherman's Landing LNG project, which will be fed by coal seam gas, the Australian Financial Review reported today.

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Yahoo Mails plays Nice with Facebook

Yahoo Mail users can add their Facebook friends' e-mail addresses to their Contacts list, Yahoo announced Thursday. The move reflects Yahoo's desire to capitalize on the fast-growing social-networking market.

Yahoo Mail now includes a Facebook option in the e-mail program's Import Contacts pane. After users input their Facebook user name and password to give Yahoo Mail access to their profile, the e-mail program will import all their Facebook friends' e-mail addresses into their Contacts list.

The integration of Facebook friends into Yahoo Mail is part of Yahoo's broader strategy to add Facebook Connect, a service from the social network that allows users to integrate elements of their Facebook profiles into third-party sites, to more of its Web properties.

But Yahoo isn't stopping at Facebook. Last month, the company announced a partnership with Twitter that would allow the sites to share content. Users will be able to check their Twitter profiles from Yahoo sites later this year.

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Mercedes-Benz F800 hybrid

Western Europe's first ever diesel hybrid will be launched by Mercedes later next year.

Unofficially it’s the new CLS sporting saloon. Guess we’d better get used to it as this apparently is the new corporate look for Mercedes. I thought it was a wee bit heavy-handed.

More up to the minute is the introduction of the latest E300 hybrid diesel which offers 69mpg fuel economy and 109g/km CO2 emissions.
It has the 204bhp, 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel coupled with a 15kW electric motor between the engine and the seven-speed automatic transmission.
When it is launched at the end of next year it will be western Europe’s first ever diesel hybrid.

Source : Telegraph

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Sandra Bullock wins 'worst actress' at the Razzies

Sandra Bullock warmed up for the Academy Awards with a stop at the Razzies to collect a dubious honour: a worst-actress prize for her romantic comedy flop "All About Steve."

Bullock swung by the Razzies on the eve of her expected triumph at Sunday's Oscars, where she is considered the favourite to win best actress for "The Blind Side." If she wins Sunday, Bullock will be the first person to win an Oscar and a Razzie over the same weekend.

Source : Telegraph

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Sanyo's Eneloop Bike

A new range of battery-powered bikes can help cyclists get fit and protect the environment.

The bicycle is fast becoming the ultimate eco-friendly fashion accessory. Youngsters career about the streets of East London on colourful fixed-gear bikes; politicians make 'eco statements', conveniently being caught on camera while cycling to work; and some offices even provide employees with fold-up bikes for the daily commute. London, it seems, is cycle obsessed

The Eneloop technology means that the bicycles have a huge range; nearly 40km per 210 minute charge.

In order to eliminate all emissions created by the bikes, Sanyo has gone one step further. They have created the worlds first 'Solar Parking Lot'. It's essentially a giant recharging station for the Eneloop range of bikes, and the park is intended to create absolutely no pollution at all. Powered by sets of solar panels on the roof of the lot, bicycles are recharged both night and day with leftover energy used to light the parking area.
Sanyo, it seems, has found the perfect solution for the green-minded yet lazy cyclist. They have removed all the effort of cycling along with all the pollution of driving.

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