Probe finds jump in runaway Toyota complaints: report

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Over 1,000 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported sudden, spontaneous acceleration of their vehicles since 2001, including crashes blamed for 19 deaths, far more than earlier disclosed, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration previously has said it had received reports of 100 such incidents, including 17 crashes and five fatalities.

Read more on the LA Times probe.

Here's a few ideas from Muhammed El-Hasan's Business Casual column.

Also, read the original story of Bikini Espresso's closing.

Toyota Executive Denies "Cover Up" In Probe of Runaway Cars

A senior Toyota executive denied today allegations the company is trying to cover up the cause of an estimated 2,000 reports of so-called runaway cars that experience sudden surges of acceleration.

"It is not part of the Toyota culture and Toyota way to cover up anything," said Yukitoshi Funo, one of Toyota's five executive vice-presidents at its Tokyo headquarters.

Read more on Toyota's acceleration problem.

Toyota Returns to Profit

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor returned to a profit in the latest quarter and halved its annual loss forecast Thursday as aggressive cost cuts, government incentives and signs of a global economic recovery all buoyed its bottom line.

Its Japanese rivals Honda and Nissan both recently reported rosier earnings after a battering in the global economic crisis, which brought sales to a standstill and set off a wave of factory shutdowns and layoffs.

Read more on Toyota's 2Q profit.

Space arms race inevitable says Chinese commander

(Telegraph) China, which hopes to put a man on the moon by 2020, has long stated that it supported the peaceful uses of outer space and opposed the introduction of weapons there.

Read more on arms race.

Car maker develops its own flower species

(Drive.com.au)Toyota has created two flower species that absorb nitrogen oxides and take heat out of the atmosphere.

The flowers, derivatives of the cherry sage plant and the gardenia, were specially developed for the grounds of Toyota's Prius plant in Toyota City, Japan.

Read more on Toyota's new flower species.

F-35 total may be cut by half, report says

Manufacturer disputes findings

(Air Force Times) Rising costs, changing threats and rival aircraft -- manned and unmanned -- could cut nearly in half the number of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that ultimately are built, a Dutch defense analyst said in a report to the Dutch parliament. And if fewer planes are built, the price for each, already $100 million or more, will undoubtedly increase, analyst Johan Boeder warned.

Read more on the F-35 Northrop Grumman Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:12:56 -0800 In today's Business Casual column.

Read Muhammed El-Hasan's column.

Toyota warns 3.8M of floor mats

(Detroit News) Washington -- Toyota Motor Corp. began mailing notices this week to 3.8 million vehicle owners, urging them to remove their floor mats while it seeks a remedy for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration.

Toyota hasn't determined the factors behind a number of accidents, including the Aug. 28 wreck of a Lexus ES-350 in which an off-duty California Highway Patrolman and three others died.

Read more on Toyota's recall.

Chevron says shuts down El Segundo refinery

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp (CVX.N) is shutting down its Los Angeles-area refinery in El Segundo, California, the firm said on Tuesday in a filing with state pollution regulators.

The shutdown started late on Monday, it said in the filing with the California Emergency Management.

Read more on Chevron's shutdown.

In some cases, workers thought their boss resembled famous halloween characters. Here's how workers viewed their bosses, according to the survey:

•Glenda the Good Witch, liked and respected by all - 20%

•The Wolf Man, is fine one minute, howling the next - 11%
•The Invisible Man, never around - 10%
•Casper the Friendly Ghost, eager to help, but often misunderstood - 9%
•Dracula, constantly sucking the life right out of you - 6%
•Wicked Witch of the West, always acting conniving and sending out minions to do his/her dirty work - 5%
•The Mummy, slow-moving and has an ancient thought process - 4%
•Grim Reaper, constantly delivers bad news and inspires fear among workers - 3%
•Frankenstein, green with envy - 1%

•Workload - 18%

•Performance reviews - 9%
•Tight deadlines - 9%
•Hours worked - 8%
•Meeting with their boss or supervisor - 7%
•Sitting through meetings - 6%

U.S. Newspaper Circulation Falls 10%

(NYT) The two-decade erosion in newspaper circulation is looking more like an avalanche, with figures released Monday showing weekday sales down more than 10 percent since last year, depressed by rising Internet readership, price increases, the recession and papers intentionally shedding unprofitable circulation.

Read more on dropping circulation numbers.

Boeing refused to release tanker pricing -Pentagon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing declined a Pentagon request to release Boeing's pricing information from the last aerial tanker competition after Northrop raised concerns that it was disadvantaged by the Air Force's release of Northrop's pricing data to Boeing, according to a Pentagon letter.

Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson told Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) in a letter dated Sept. 23, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, that defense officials did not believe the company was competitively harmed by Boeing Co's (BA.N) knowledge of "some of the prior pricing" and remained convinced that "the integrity of the procurement process will be maintained without the release of additional pricing information."

But Johnson said the Pentagon "actually sought Boeing's permission to release this information, and Boeing declined," according to the letter.

Read more on the earial refueling tanker.

This is where many dreams of homeownership are laid to rest, on the cold, hard steps of the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Norwalk.

U.S.A.F. Launches Major Technology Review

(Aviation Week) In the midst of a deeply entrenched identity crisis, the U.S. Air Force is turning to technology as the potential answer to some of its problems.

Air Force Chief Scientist Werner Dahm is conducting a sweeping "Technology Horizons" study to lay out technological opportunities that could produce useful applications for the service.

"I don't think in the history of the Air Force we've been at a turning point like this. Maybe the closest was the Sputnik launch," Dahm tells Aviation Week. "What does the Air Force do when it is faced with a radically different future? Part of what it does is reach into its science and technology domain."

Read more on Air Force's technology review.