Engineering firm reduces pay cut (BBC News)
Staff at a Gloucestershire engineering firm who agreed to take a 20% pay cut are to get a 10% "increase" from October.

Jobs on Adobe: My Way or the Highway
Apple CEO Steve Jobs published an open letter on Apples website Thursday spelling out his criticisms of Adobe Flash. In short, its really all about the technology, he wrote. Flash is proprietary, dated, unreliable and unsecure, according to Jobs. It

Exporters witness worst of times in 2009 (rediff.com)
Exporters bled all through the year, with heir woes peaking in May when consignments dropped 40 per cent, the most in 13 years, but hope appeared by way of 18.3 per cent growth in exports in November.

Background Note: The Netherlands (Scoop.co.nz)
Geography Area: 41,526 sq. km. (16,485 sq. mi.). Cities: Capital --Amsterdam (pop. 761,262). Other cities --The Hague, seat of government (482,742); Rotterdam (582,949); Utrecht (299,484).

Detroits jobless economy: Startups take root (CNN Money)
In Detroit, a city with rampant unemployment, big crowds in the middle of the day may mean someone is giving out freebies. But on a recent workday, over 450 people packed an auditorium downtown. They werent looking for a hand out, sympathy or even a