US – Saturday, March 20

Final push is on for health care reform

Democrats in the House of Representatives on Thursday predicted weekend passage of a sweeping health care overhaul that budget analysts said would cut the U.S. deficit over 10 years and dramatically expand health coverage.

Pakistan charges U.S. 5 with terror

A Pakistani court formally charged five young Americans of plotting terrorism in the country yesterday, their lawyer said, in a case that has raised alarm over the danger posed by militants using the Internet.

James admits to ‘poor judgment’

Sandra Bullock is having quite a week with her dogs. On Thursday, husband Jesse James released a statement to People magazine about the affair rumors swirling around the couple, stating that a “vast majority” of the allegations are “untrue and unfounded,” but says, “It’s because of my poor judgment that I deserve everything bad that is coming my way.

SXSW: Day three

I couldn't wait to share this photo. They are a band from Chicago called Banana and the Woman, which my friend so keenly observed might have just as easily been called Sleeping Bag and the Rainbow Wig if the costume section at their Five and Dime had different options.

‘Free’ ad leads to fraud suit

NEW YORK. A Wisconsin college student is suing credit firm Experian — the brains behind the ubiquitous FreeCreditReport.com jingles — for fraudulent advertising after she inadvertently signed up for a monthly $14.95 monitoring service.

The key to Kyoto

Kyoto’s temples and Geisha culture are legendary, but this city is no slouch when it comes to mixing in a large slice of contemporary, too.

Published 01:06, November the 20th, 2009

AOL plans to lay off a third of employees

Fall from grace

When AOL’s plan to merge with Time Warner was announced in January 2000, the Internet company was valued at $163 billion.

The December spin-off is expected to effectively value AOL’s market capitalization at around $3 billion.

AOL plans to cut one-third of its work force, or about 2,500 jobs, in an effort to trim some $300 million in costs as part of the Web company’s planned spin-off from Time Warner Inc.

The struggling Web pioneer, which is now focused primarily on advertising-supported content, said on Thursday that it would start with a volunteer buyout program and move on to involuntary layoffs if enough workers do not step up.

AOL said the layoffs would result in restructuring charges of up to $200 million. It said that substantially all the charges would be incurred from the date of the spin-off through the first half of 2010.

REUTERS