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Sony Corp reported a negative result in its third fiscal quarter and reiterated that it expects a record annual loss due to falling demand and the rise of the yen, while its rival Nintendo Co. cut its forecast for the entire year for the second time in three months.


Nintendo scored an increase of 21 per cent in operating profit for the period between October and December, thanks to robust sales of its year-end computers for video games Wii and DS.

However, reduced its profit target for the year ending in March by 16 percent, far more than expected, and slightly lowered its sales target for the Wii, a move that generated fears about its growth potential.


"It will be a big impact for Nintendo (...) unit if they reduce the goals of the Wii because people expect that up," said Hiroshi Kamide of KBC Securities.

However, the new estimate of annual operating profit of Nintendo, 530,000 million yen (5,900 million U.S. dollars), still imply a record, which contrasts sharply with Sony, which is heading to its worst loss in history and operational the first in 14 years.


Nintendo said operating profit increased in the quarter to 249,200 million yen from 205,300 million yen in the same period last year.

That result was hardly in line with the average forecast of 247,900 million yen from four analysts surveyed by Reuters.


Nintendo's strategy to expand its client products through simple but innovative games has been an overwhelming success and the Wii in sales exceeds the Sony PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Microsoft Corp., since it debuted in 2006.

Sony has been hit by falling prices and stagnant demand for flat screen televisions, digital cameras and other electronic products, while taking huge costs by closing factories and eliminating jobs.


The maker of Bravia TVs and Cyber-shot cameras reiterated a forecast released last week a record operating loss of 260,000 million yen (2,900 million U.S. dollars) in the year ending in March.

This compares with a profit of 475,000 million yen in the previous fiscal year.


A BATTERY OF INVENTORIES

While inventories are stacked and prices fall, Sony feels depression in every corner of their operations, ranging from semiconductors to the film and insurance.


The company reported an operating loss of 18,000 million yen in the fiscal third quarter, compared with a profit of 236,200 million yen between October and December 2007.

Other industry heavyweights such as Samsung, have already reported quarterly losses.

Toshiba * 1760 record quarterly loss mln dlrs for chips

* Bajará costs mln dlrs for 3300


* NEC Elec loss records, will reduce costs by 890 mln dlrs

* Toshiba will eliminate 4,000 contract, NEC, 1200

Toshiba Corp said Thursday it plans to reduce costs by 3,300 million dollars next fiscal year by a reduction in capital spending and hired workers, noting that it aims to its worst annual loss.


The second largest worldwide manufacturer of NAND memory, next to industry leader Samsung Electronics, are fighting a slowdown that has already been nearly two years, caused by a chronic excess supply and weak demand for digital cameras and other electronic devices.

Semiconductor manufacturers have cut production to revive prices, but the anemic consumer demand has limited price increases and forced some companies to seek government support.


Toshiba said it will cut capital spending by half in the year starting in April, by delaying the construction of two new plants of flash memory chips and slowing other projects.

Moreover remove posts 4500 recruits, but will return to take 500 people employed by the division of power plants and elevators, which used to make profits.


Analysts warned that further cuts in personnel and costs could limit future growth and market share.

"Only a restructuring will not help the companies in the current economic conditions," said Masaru Hamasaki, senior strategist for Toyota Asset Management.


"If companies cut jobs or reduce capital spending on the basis of its current level of earnings, this can lead to shrink their business," he warned.

Toshiba has moved its operations in recent years, allocating resources to focus on NAND flash memory chips, used in digital music devices like the iPod from Apple Inc. or cell phones.


The global market for flash memories retrajo in the third quarter over the same period last year, according to research firm iSuppli.

The electronics group is simultaneously punched in the global recession, the strong yen and depression of the chip sector, said Fumio Muraoka, executive vice president of corporate signature at a press conference.


The company announced the red in the third fiscal quarter and warned that it expects to close in negative fiscal year, which means the group's first annual loss in 7 years.

Toshiba said in the third quarter had an operating loss of 158,800 million yen.

He also noted that throughout the year (ending in March) might incur a loss of 280,000 million yen, compared with a previous forecast of a gain of 150,000 million.

All 16 analysts consulted by Reuters expect an annual operating loss of 67,500 million yen.

SHADOWS IN THE FIELD OF CHIPS

Its local rival NEC Electronics Corp, which makes chips for Nintendo's Wii console and Co for Lexus luxury car from Toyota Motor Corp., also warned a net loss for the fourth consecutive year.

The deterioration of the economy crushed the prospects for a restructuring of the subsidiary of electronics manufacturer NEC Corp.

Now expects operating loss of 55,000 million yen in the year ending in March, versus a previous forecast of a profit of 1,000 million yen, amid a drop in sales of autos, televisions display crista liquid phones cell phones and other products.

NEC Electronics, which reported a quarterly operating loss of 16,200 million yen, reported that cut costs by 890 million dollars over two years, eliminating 1,200 jobs under contract.

The U.S. company Eastman Kodak photographic products Co on Thursday reported an unexpected loss for the fourth quarter and announced it will eliminate up to 4,500 jobs, with a dramatic drop in demand for digital cameras and printing equipment.

Along with this, the firm announced a new round of layoffs worldwide, which aims to reduce costs. The adverse results come one year after completing a restructuring plan that lasted four years and halved its staff, now at about 26,900 people.


The losses in the fourth quarter for continuing operations came to $ 137 million, or 51 cents per share, compared with earnings of $ 215 million, or 75 cents a paper, a year ago.

The company reported preliminary results of which could add some depreciation of assets during the period.


Kodak, which provides commercial printing services, coupled with the manufacturing of digital cameras, photo frames and printers, said that revenue fell 24 percent to 2430 million dollars.

In December, Kodak said its results of 2008 could break the expectations due to the "growing global recession."


The firm announced that it will reduce its global workforce between 3,500 and 4,500 jobs during 2009. That includes layoffs of between 2,000 and 3,000 employees announced in late 2008 for implementation in 2009.

"Over the last three months of the year, experienced dramatic declines in several of our key businesses due to a slowdown in consumer spending and strong demand in Caiuá team," said chief executive Antonio Perez.

The popular website to find work Monster Worldwide announced on Tuesday that some hackers managed to enter the database and steal personal information from customers.

Monster spokeswoman, Nikki Richardson confirmed that the pirates went to many sites around the world, but said that some regions, particularly Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe, were unaffected.


He said that Monster is working with the security organs appropriate "but declined to say which countries. An investigation is under way in the United States, where the company is based.

Monster has users in some 36 countries, including 45 million in Britain. This is the second attack suffered by Monster software in 18 months.


A statement on the site 'www.monster.com' indicates that we learned recently that they illegally entered our database and extracted data from contacts and accounts, including usernames and passwords, email addresses, names, phone numbers and other data. "

The company said that hackers had access to no social security numbers nor the resumes of the clients. Now the company warned that intruders can use the stolen information to "catch" other.

* Trichet said the ECB could cut rates again

* German unemployment rises almost double the expected


* Collapse of air cargo volume in December

* Sony suffers loss in 3rd. trim, Nintendo low picture

The European Central Bank (ECB) might cut interest rates to new record minimum, its chairman said Thursday, while German unemployment data showed its biggest increase in nearly four years, while confidence deteriorated economy in the euro zone.


Japanese firms felt an even greater harm to the global financial crisis, and international aviation agency said that 2009 would be one of the most difficult years in its history.

The ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the bank could take more unusual measures to combat the global economic slowdown and cut rates below their current level of 2 percent, as a minimum.


"At the moment we have taken non-standard and could take more of these measures. Veremos. Advancement or not discard anything," Trichet said in an interview with CNN that appears on its website.

The signs of global corporate voltage stressed the need for dramatic responses, while the fiscal stimulus plan of 825,000 million dollars from the U.S. president Barack Obama was endorsed Wednesday by the House of Representatives.


It marked the first legislative success of his presidency, but showed the deep partisan divisions since, despite an offensive to convince Obama, all Republicans voted against the project. It is expected that the Senate approved a similar version.

Cutting JAPANESE EARNINGS


In Japan, Sony Corp followed the path of electronics maker Canon Inc. with a bad earnings report.

Sony fell on negative results in the last quarter and reiterated its projection of a record annual loss due to the collapse in demand and the strengthening of the yen. The rival Sony, Nintendo Co. cut its outlook for the full year for the second time in three months.


Nippon Steel, the second largest steel worldwide, lowered its projected pre-tax profits for the year to March by 36 percent by the weakening of demand for all types of products.

The electronics group Toshiba Corp said it planned to cut costs to $ 3,300 million in the next fiscal year, reducing capital expenditures and contract jobs.


The International Air Transport Association (IATA, for its acronym in Spanish) said that air cargo in December fell 22.6 percent over the same month of 2007, a free fall "unprecedented and disturbing" that reflects the slowdown international trade.

Passenger traffic fell 4.6 percent. The figures are bad news for the global economy in general, since one third of international trade takes place in goods shipped by air.

The IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani said that was not anywhere on the floor of the market, adding: "Keep the seat belts tight and get ready for an emergency landing and turbulence."

The global economic crisis has already cost billions of dollars and now threatens millions of jobs.

In Germany, unemployment rose by 56,000 people in January in terms of monthly and seasonally, compared with a projection of 30,000. The unadjusted total, a sensitive indicator in an election year, grew to 3.489 billion.

In France, hundreds of thousands of workers staged a nationwide strike to try to force the president Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to work more on attempts to protect jobs and wages.

The House of Representatives controlled by Democrats on Wednesday approved an historic plan for economic stimulus 819,000 million dollars, which gave the presidency of Barack Obama an early legislative victory.

On a day when attention devoted to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama has worked hard economic issues that have dominated the early days of his administration, which inherited an economic crisis unparalleled since the Great Depression of the 1930s .


The 244-188 vote in the House sent the proposal to the Senate, where debate is expected to begin this week with a parallel bill that has already been taking shape. The Democratic leaders have promised to have legislation ready for Obama to enact the mid-February.

With unemployment at its highest levels in the last 25 years, banking bamboleándose despite the infusion of staggering amounts of money from a financial rescue plan and states struggling to fund their budgets, the Democrats say the legislation is necessary while Republicans criticize because they believe falls short in tax and public spending is too.



Before the vote in the House, in his first briefing at the Pentagon as president, Obama heard the views of the four military chiefs of the Joint Staff in the next step to fulfill its promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months.


Among these are general military leaders have openly declared that his apprehension about the impact of prolonged and repeated assignments to which the troops had been put in Iraq and Afghanistan. The chairman and deputy chairman of the Joint Staff, the military advisers of the president and Defense Secretary Robert Gates attended the meeting.

Leaving the meeting, Obama said his government faced "difficult decisions" on Iraq and Afghanistan. But the new commander in chief of the armed forces did not provide more details about its plans.


"Our efforts continue to pursue the extremist organizations that can cause damage to our homeland is a priority in our minds," Obama said to reporters after spending two hours at the Department of Defense. Not answered questions about the withdrawal in Iraq.

Earlier, the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Obama is thoughtful process as it aims to change the mission in Iraq. Questioned about when the president is ready to talk about their decisions in that war, Gibbs said: "I think it will be relatively soon. I do not want to put an exact date."


Obama promised during the election campaign to withdraw troops from Iraq by May of 2010, but clarified that prior consultation with the military, and adjust the schedule in order not to endanger the lives of soldiers to stay in the Arab country to train Iraqis and fight al-Qaida. He also sought not risk the stability of Iraq.

Meanwhile, Obama increased a bit to complete his cabinet with the backing of the committees of the Senate nomination of Eric Holder as Attorney General and retired Admiral Dennis Blair as the new director of national intelligence. The full Senate could confirm later.


Blair is the most important intelligence adviser to Obama, with a budget of 50,000 million U.S. dollars which includes 16 agencies.

Holder, who became the first African American to be Secretary of Justice, testified during the hearings that "waterboarding", an interrogation technique simulates drowning, is torture and promised to prosecute in U.S. courts to detainees at Guantanamo prison thus breaking the government's anti-terrorist policies of George W. Bush.


The Press Secretary of the White House also confirmed that the February 19 will be the first international trip of Obama as president, on a visit to Canada.

Gibbs gave no further information about the trip. A source who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because the itinerary is still under analysis, said that at least there will be a visit to Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

A team of British scientists for the first time used a new technique successful fertilization "test" to better predict what a woman's eggs are the most prone to pregnancy, reported Monday a major expert in fertility.


The treatment combines antenatal checks currently in use with a new computer program that can detect defects in the eggs with chromosomes that are likely to lead to a spontaneous abortion.

The first patient, a 41-year-old British woman in 13 who had failed fertility treatment, is currently pregnant, the researchers reported.


The ultimate goal is to more multiple births and fewer pregnancies and spontaneous abortions, said Simon Fishel, director of CAREfertility, the clinic who developed the technique.

"We will go slowly with technology because we do not want to create (false) expectations," Fishel said at a press conference. "The Holy Grail is to achieve a pregnancy with an embryo," he said,


More than 3.5 million babies born worldwide through assisted reproductive technology since July 25, 1978, when two British doctors brought the world to the first "test tube baby, Louise Brown.

That number is growing rapidly because more and more women are waiting longer to be mothers and increasingly couples can go to a treatment of in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Most of them are women between 30 and 39 years.


The technique involves removing the eggs from the ovaries of a woman and combined with sperm in the laboratory. Doctors then pick the best embryos, usually one or two, and implanted into the female womb.

The challenge is to choose the best embryo, said Fishel, who was part of the team that brought the world to Brown.


Currently, doctors often use a microscope to select an embryo with the best way, rather than check their DNA, Fishel said.

"Now we can see all the chromosomes of an embryo in real time and can apply for a fresh embryo after watching their chromosomes," said the expert.


Fishel's team, which refined a technique to detect problems in complex chromosomes, took a sample of a small polar body called the egg, which contains half the chromosomes of the egg but is not part of the process of fertilization.

Researchers used a new computer program to find that two of nine eggs of women in the IVF treatment had failed 13 times were good candidates for a pregnancy.


The patient, who wants to remain anonymous, is entering the last two months of gestation.

"Although they are in a very early stage, this technique would offer a new diagnostic and therapeutic hope for couples who suffer from repeated failure of implantation (embryo) through IVF," said Stuart Lavery, director of IVF at Hammersmith Hospital London.

Health regulators in the United States reported on Monday that they are reviewing the effectiveness of the widely used anticoagulant Plavix, made by Sanofi-Aventis SA and Bristol-Myers Squibb, in some patients.

The action comes after several studies showed that the popular drug did not work so well in some people, possibly because patients metabolize them differently according to their genetic or consumption of other drugs.


Bristol and Sanofi had agreed to conduct studies on the interaction of genetic and drug Plavix, also known as clopidogrel bisulfate, said in a statement published on its website the Food and Drug Administration of the United States (FDA by its Spanish acronym).

"This information should lead to a better understanding of how to optimize the use of clopidogrel," added the agency.


Laura Hortas, a spokesman for Bristol, said he had no details on how many companies would need to study or how long it will take steps.

The result "will allow us to understand and characterize the factors that influence this complex issue," said Hortas on behalf of both laboratories.


While some reports have suggested a possible interaction makes Plavix less effective, other research found no such problem, the FDA said.

Plavix is an antiplatelet which aims to reduce the risk of dangerous blood clots that could cause heart attacks and strokes (CVA). To operate, you must first be metabolized by the body, according to the FDA.


One type of medication usually prescribed to patients treated with Plavix are antacids such as Nexium and Prilosec AstraZeneca PLC and other inhibitors of proton pump, the federal agency said.

However, the FDA said that doctors and patients should continue using Plavix until there is more data available.


Doctors should reassess the use of some antacids, including versions sold in the patients taking Plavix, the FDA said.

The FDA said that the laboratories had agreed on a timetable for carrying out the studies, but gave no further details. The agency added that it could take months to review the findings after the completion of investigations.


The communique from the FDA is available in English, http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/early_comm/clopidogrel_bisulfate.htm.

The Paraguayan government on Saturday admitted the existence of a dengue epidemic, but low-intensity andalusia confirmed 35 individuals out of 360 patients treated in public hospitals, and in Bolivia reported an increase of evil in Santa Cruz.

According to the Bolivian authorities, just over 3,000 people came to the hospital so far this year with symptoms of dengue fever in this eastern city.


Meanwhile, Ivan Allende, director of Health Surveillance, Ministry of Public Health in Paraguay, told reporters that the majority of infected people live in the interior and the same amount in just three quarters of Asuncion.

"Of the 360 suspects, after laboratory tests out to 146 people but continue to study the blood of 179 other subjects," he said.


The doctor explained that "the epidemic of dengue fever is low, it means that we are on alert and worried but still can not declare a state of national emergency."

Symptoms of the disease are high fever, headache, diarrhea, nausea and severe pain mainly bones.


Between February and May 2008, the previous government of President Nicanor Duarte declared a national emergency andalusia checked more than 1,300 cases of patients of which eight were fatal shunt.

In Bolivia, the Health Minister Ramiro Tapia, who reported in 3233 across the country were positive cases, of which 2800 were filed in Santa Cruz until January 20.


Last week, his office confirmed the two deaths by dengue hemorrhagic fever in Santa Cruz.

Dengue fever appears in the rainy season in tropical areas. The bearer of evil encuba mosquito larvae in stagnant water. If the treaty is not a bad time can lead to dengue haemorrhagic fever, causing death.

For anyone who must endure endless business meetings, with contributions and pastelitos boring just any diet, Jennifer Baran said to have the antidote.

In his conference room with walking "nobody has to sleep sitting up. Everyone walks or jogging in tapes for burning fat elliptical machines.


The rest of the room, which began renting Baran recently in his gym in Buffalo, has the appearance of any conference room with a screen for PowerPoint presentations, conference phones and coffee-making machine.

The big difference here is that the participants exercised while working.


"Exercise? Do not think so." That was the initial reaction of the teacher Michele Ganschow when the director of their school, Cherie Ansuini, scheduled a work session in the gym of Baran.

Ganschow went to the reunion will begin shortly and began to take a taste.


"One takes more time. It is two things at once," he said.

The idea has some aspects that can be considered negative. For example, many people might not like sweat against colleagues.


"It's fun to see the expressions on all the machines," said trainer John Grzymala exercised while on a bike and elliptical hear the presentation of Ansuini. "Surely I am red as a beet," he said, to laughter from his colleagues.

A positive aspect is that the shirts and pants gym comfortable replace more formal dress, which will probably require dry cleaning. The monitors, moreover, indicate a calories burned, making it clear that the meeting was productive from the viewpoint of the health of employees.


Another benefit: The more people talk about. When you are exercising, they tend to focus on specific things and get down to business.

Baran opened signature Healthy Living Support Network with the idea of offering advice on nutrition and physical education, and talks on motivation.


The concept of the conference room with exercise equipment inspired Dr. James Levine, a specialist in obesity from the Mayo Clinic, who installed devices in his office after publishing a study showing that people thin stands an average of two hours more than the rest and burned 350 calories more than the obese.

"We are trying to incorporate the exercises to everyday life," said Baran, who has a master's degree in social work and certified instructor.


Hoped that readers clubs, people who watch movies together and prove their new business conference room. It also offers another room with a collection of exercises reclined bicycles. The rent of the rooms is between 60 and $ 90 an hour.

While most of those attending the reunion organized by Ansuini for the school Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was brought to a more intense pace, if you exercise at a slower pace for a longer period, also benefits.


Craig Dexheimer was walking in his belt, with his elegant suits and removed without even the twins, when answered a telephone call at his office in Minneapolis. His company, Salo, set up two conference rooms with exercise machines and said that idea is lighting.

The firm has partnered with Levine last year to analyze the effects of incorporating some exercises to work site, including "desk" with tapes that are moving to no more than two miles (3.2 kilometers) per hour.

It is assumed that such a pace to allow someone to exercise without sweating or running out of air. At about ten o'clock, Dexheimer, who is chief operating officer of the company, had traveled 4.3 miles (6.9 km) and thought to continue walking until noon.

Said it receives numerous calls from people interested in the idea and also organizes visits to their offices.

"You can check your e-mail and database" while walking, Dexheimer said, who said he lost 11 kilos (25 pounds) in six months. Says that the weight loss affected other changes he made in his lifestyle. "There are some things that are more difficult to walk a while, just as writing by hand or take notes."

"It takes two or three days to get used. But one fits," said the executive.

Back in Healthy Living, armed with a clip off the tape if it is pulled, Ansuini gave its report without problems from the tape path, albeit at times was slightly shaken.

"I think we are more productive because we have more energy, more adrenaline than usual, when working from a tape treadmills, said Marc Bandelier, one of the teachers of the school Ansuini, during a break to drink water.

Bandelier, by the way, burned 268 calories.