World Business

TEHRAN, Iran Iran’s military says U.S. helicopters hold been flying also close to its border with Iraq and may even have crossed the frontier.

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The statement, carried by the state news agency Wednesday, says the helicopters were seen in Iraq and are “likely to violate Iranian airspace”.

The Iranian military said it would rejoin to any violation of its borders and warned the U.S. army to keep its remoteness.

The U.S. militia has over 150,000 troops in Iraq who shape extensive use of helicopters to transport forces and carry out patrols.

Iraq-based U.S. forces carried out a raid forward neighboring Syria on Oct. 26, killing eight people.

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MOSCOW Russia will deploy short-range missiles near Poland to counter U.S. military plans in Eastern Europe, President Dmitry Medvedev warned Wednesday, setting a combative tone that clashed with global goodwill completely Barack Obama’s election.

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In his first state of the nation speech, Medvedev blamed Washington for the war in Georgia and the world financial crisis and suggested it was up to Washington to mend badly damaged ties.

Medvedev also proposed increasing the Russian presidential term to six years from four - a change that could deepen Western concern over democracy in Russia and make merry into the hands of his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has not ruled out a return to the Kremlin.

Extending the presidential season could mean a feasible 12 more years in the top office despite the popular Putin.

Echoing Putin, who made criticism of Washington and the West a hallmark of his two-term, eight-year presidency, Medvedev used the speech in an ornate Kremlin reception hall to cast Russia as a nation threatened by encroaching American martial might.

“From what we have seen in recent years - the origination of a missile defense system, the encirclement of Russia with military bases, the relentless expansion of NATO - we possess gotten the spotless impression that they are testing our strength,” Medvedev before-mentioned.

He signaled Moscow would not bestow in to Western calls to give a pull troops from Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, or rescind its avowal of their independence following the August war.

“We be disposed not retreat in the Caucasus,” he said, winning one of many rounds of applause during the televised 85-minute address.

Talking tough, he fleshed confused long-promised military measures in response to U.S. plans for missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic, creator Soviet satellites now in NATO. The Kremlin claims the system is meant to weaken Russia, not secure from danger to counter-poise Iran, as Washington insists.

Medvedev said Iskander missiles would be deployed to Russia’s western enclave of Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, “to neutralize, admitting that necessary, a projectile defense system.”

The Iskander has a range of surrounding 280 kilometers (175 miles), which would relinquish it to reach targets in Poland but not in the Czech Republic - but officials have said its range could be increased. Medvedev did not recite whether the missiles would be fitted by nuclear warheads.

Russia will also deploy electronic jamming accoutrement, Medvedev said.

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Terry Bergeson is disappointed to have existence trailing challenger Randy Dorn in the drive swiftly for who will subsist Washington’s top schools official, but she’session not disposed to give up.

Given the number of ballots yet to subsist counted, “Friday is about the earliest we could make a reasonable decision,” said Alex Hays, her campaign consultant.

Dorn is ahead in the statewide correspond, with strong leads in large counties such as Snohomish, Pierce and Thurston. He’s the executive monitor of Public School Employees of Washington, a union that represents 26,000 teacher aides, bus drivers, janitors and other train employees.

Dorn also captured a narrow lead in King County on Wednesday afternoon

Dorn’s campaign is pretty cocksure that the overall devoted count bequeath continue to go in his favor.

If he wins, it would be a big upset for Bergeson, who has spent three terms in office and hasn’t had a tight race from the time of she first ran for the post in 1992 and lost.

This year, Dorn benefited from strong financial support from the parent union of the Public School Employees, the Service Employees International Union. It poured about $400,000 into a political committee that ran ads for Dorn and against Bergeson. Counting that money, Bergeson staffers said, three times the dollars were spent on behalf of Dorn than during the term of Bergeson.

Bergeson sought a fourth term to continue labor she’sitting done since the mid-1980s to set of recent origin, higher acquired knowledge standards conducive to students, and to develop tests to judge whether they’ve reached them. If re-elected, she said, this four-year term would be her last.

As a state representative from 1987 to 1994, Dorn helped write the education expressed command that Bergeson has implemented, but he says she’sitting taken it in directions that he and others never intended. If elected, he pledged to work to get free of the WASL and replace it with a shorter, less-expensive exam.

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In the middle of the Machinists strike, Boeing inspectors in Everett discovered a new, embarrassing and serious point in dispute through the synod of the chief 787 Dreamliners.

Boeing said Tuesday about 3 percent of the fasteners installed on the five test airplanes while suffering construction in Everett were installed incorrectly and must be removed and reinstalled to protect the airplane’sitting structural integrity.

“It’s a matter of whether the structure will hold together properly,” said Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter.

“In commercial airplanes, it has to have being right. It can’t be ‘good sufficiency,’ ” she said. “So we go away from the thicker settlements and we fix it.”

Boeing said more of its global partners, though it wouldn’t specify what one. ones, later found the same fastener problem in airplane sections under construction at their factories.

The unique fasteners were used inside the planes to fasten titanium structural parts to composite plastic parts.

Boeing wouldn’confidentially disclose exactly where the problem fasteners are located, mete Gunter said lengths of titanium are used in the fuselage frame to stiffen the plane’sitting skin and to strengthen talents of the structure, including the seams where the of great size sections join.

Boeing has not determined yet if the problem will further delay the 787 schedule, or whether it can be fixed during the period of production buildup after the strike.

The fastener issue was in the beginning detected about sum of two units weeks ago during an scrutiny of the “static test” airframe in Everett, an early-production airplane that undergoes prolonged stress tests in a large fixture inside the factory.

The static test plane was subjected to a “high move test” Sept. 27, at the time the internal pressure is raised to 1.5 times the maximum the jet might see in service. Gunter said the fasteners did not come short for the period of this test, proving the strength of the structure is across what it of necessity to be.

Nevertheless, when inspectors afterward discovered the problems with the fasteners, Boeing couldn’familiarily ignore the potential reduction in the plane’s structural integrity.

Inspectors later found the like moot point on the four 787s in final assembly, three of that are due to be flight-test airplanes.

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WASHINGTON President-elect Barack Obama pivoted quickly to begin filling used up his starting anew administration on Wednesday, selecting hard-charging Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff while aides stepped up the gait of transition work that had been cloaked in pre-election separation.

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Several Democrats confirmed that Emanuel had been offered the work at jobs. While it was not clear he had accepted, a rejection would amount to an unlikely public rebuke of the new president-elect within hours of an electoral literary institution landslide.

With hundreds of jobs to glut and only 10 weeks to the time when Inauguration Day, Obama and his transition team confronted a formidable task complicated by his anti-lobbyist campaign rhetoric.

The by authority campaign Web Site said in no degree political appointees would be permitted to work on “regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for pair years. And nay political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service for the period of the remainder of the administration.”

But almost exactly one year ago, on Nov. 3, 2007, solicitant Obama went considerably further than that while campaigning in South Carolina. “I don’t consider a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won’t find a job in my White House,” he said of lobbyists at the parturition.

Because they often have prior experience in administration or politics, lobbyists outline in the same proportion that in posse appointees for presidents of both parties.

On the morning after making history, the man elected the first black president had breakfast with his wife and two daughters at their Chicago home, went to a nearby gym and visited his downtown offices.

Aides said he planned no public appearances till later in the week, when he has promised to hold a tidings conference.

As president-elect, he begins receiving highly classified briefings from upper side intelligence officials Thursday.

In offering the post of White House chief of staff to Emanuel, Obama turned to a comrade Chicago politician with a far different style from his own, a human being known for his bluntness as favorably as his candid determination.

Emanuel was a political and policy aide in Bill Clinton’s White House. Leaving that, he turned to investment banking, then won a Chicago-area House seat six years ago. In Congress, he moved quickly into the leadership. As chairman of the Democratic campaign committee in 2006, he played an instrumental role in restoring his party to power after 12 years in the smaller number.

Emanuel maintained neutrality during the long original battle between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, not surprising given his long-standing ties to the forgoing first lady and his Illinois connections with Obama.

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Employers should read the fine print to hear how the risks of loneliness options like guaranteed investing. contracts be able to grow during financial crises

By Karen E. Klein

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Q: Our small manufacturing company has a $1 million-plus employee profit-sharing account deposited by UBS Financial Services (UBS). We recently current a letter stating that, based forward the current illiquidity and volatility of the market, plan-level withdrawals will be put on a 12-month hold. I be the subject of 25 employees with questions about their accounts, but I be delivered of not gotten a clear explanation. Can you explain on the supposition that this is grateful practice for a trust company?

—J.B., Albuquerque

A: The letter you sent along with your inquiry was indeed confusing—and smooth potentially alarming. Experts typically advise that you take questions like this to your account delegate, who should be quick to explain the details. But since you did not get a clear discernment after going that route, we asked some experts to look at the letter and also contacted the fund trustee, Wilmington Trust Fiduciary Services (WL). (While the literal meaning went out under the letterhead of UBS Global Asset Management, Wilmington Trust Fiduciary Services is the trustee and overall manager of the fund, says Kris Kagel of UBS media relations.)

The communication you received specifically addressed the guaranteed investment contract (GIC) portfolio in your profit-sharing account, one of diverse investment options offered to your employees. The key language in the letter involves two words: "participant" and "plan." It confirms that the GIC portfolio does have sufficient liquidity in favor of participant-level withdrawals—which resource that your employees can take money out of their GIC accounts or chop that money into other investments within the profit-sharing plan, such as bonds or stock mutual funds.

It is solitary plan plain withdrawals that are being placed on a 12-month hold, says Bill Benintende, vice-president of media relations at Wilmington Trust. "Plan level" refers to your company explanation for the reason that a whole, he says.

"It means if the company unequivocal it didn’t want to offer the GIC as an investment selection anymore, the trustee—which is Wilmington—can require them to wait 12 months before they drop the GIC option," Benintende says. "But if individuals who participate in this plan are invested in this GIC product and they want to subduct their money or switch it into another medium like a stock capital or a bond money, they are permitted to do that."

The decision to place a 12-month hold on way level withdrawals was made for the cause that of the "extraordinary events going on in the securities markets, affecting liquidity of short-term investments," Benintende says. If many companies simultaneously dropped the GIC option from their accounts, whole those funds would be liquidated simultaneously, which could put a sonnet on the portfolio, he says, and "nobody wants to have that situation."

The other investment options your plan offers—bond funds, supply funds, etc.—are not affected by this decision. "The GIC’s underlying securities are short-term, fixed-income investments that have been inferior to unusually high stress and strain in this market," Benintende says.

But let’s go back to basics for a force: Guaranteed investment contracts are stable value funds that are sold by insurance companies. They are somewhat comparable to a fixed-income annuity. Like a bank certificate of deposit, the GIC’s value remains stable rather than fluctuating with the block or bond markets.

What people small business owners don’t effectuate when they set up their company retirement accounts (BusinessWeek, 4/25/07) is that GICs are not backed by the government, to the degree that Treasury funds are, nor are they insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as bank-sold CDs are. And, while the U.S. Treasury Dept. has freshly instituted a temporary surety program for money-market funds, that guarantee does not apply to GICs. In fact, a GIC is guaranteed solely by the insurance guests that issues it. So grant that that company goes bankrupt, the GIC might lose some or all of its worth.

Kent Smetters, an affiliate professor of security against loss and risk management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, says business owners who set up pension plans should be very clear about exactly what options they are choosing for their employees. "Unfortunately, very slightly politeness is paid to the fine print in these contracts and in addition much weight is given to the slightly larger returns paid by these [GICs] relative to Treasuries. That usually is not a problem…till times like a little while ago when you really need the circulating medium," Smetters wrote in an e-mail.

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At the nonprofit’s latest venture capital forum for media outfits headed by women, the outlook is decidedly upbeat

By Nick Leiber

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Given the magnificence of the financial markets, how hard is it for media startups to get equity financing right now? It’s the morning of Oct. 30 in Midtown Manhattan, and the 22 women entrepreneurs invited to jaculate at AllThingsMedia, a venture capital tribunal that showcases women-led companies in the media and entertainment industries, are about to find out.

Since the forum’s kickoff bootcamp day (BusinessWeek.com, 7/21/08) back in July, participants have been encounter regularly with volunteer coaches to brace up weak spots in their pitches and get advice. Today, the entrepreneurs will each accept 10 minutes to force a fixed representation to an audience of 280 people, including prominent spirit investors, venture capitalists, and corporate investors. Once an entrepreneur makes her measure, she’ll spend the rest of the time networking and collection of people informally through potential backers.

Co-hosted by the agency of the Paley Center for Media and nonprofit Springboard Enterprises, the goal of the forum is to give women who lead emerging advance companies a better shot at securing equity capital. Kay Koplovitz, USA Network founder and Springboard co-founder, says she wanted the court of justice to point of convergence forward media being of the kind which a way to help the industry fare better than the struggling music industry.

Now in its ninth year, Springboard has hosted or co-hosted 17 forums in eight markets, helping 360 women-led companies land more than $4 billion. Applicants must head investment-ready companies and have existence willing to engage in Springboard’s tough-love coaching process. "It’s the only program of its kind that operates on a national level," says Babson College professor Patricia Greene. "Beyond helping individual women, I think Springboard has made of that kind a difference as remote as reminding people in the investing community we’re missing an awful lot of talent."

Kelly Fitzsimmons, the co-founder and CEO of harQen, a Web telephony company in Milwaukee, is among the entrepreneurs invited to pitch. "When I came in, [my company] was a very confusing sell," says Fitzsimmons. "I wasn’t confident how to put contemporaneously my pitch and present it to people…I really struggled to put in concert a value statement. [The coaching process] really allowed me to avow my story and find my voice."

One of Fitzsimmons’ coaches, Ellen Corenswet, a partner at Covington & Burling who specializes in venture capital and emerging growth companies, agrees the process helped Fitzsimmons, explaining by what means she worked with Fitzsimmons both to simplify her slides and to make them more dynamic while also acquirement her to conversation more about herself in her presentation.

After prominent Springboard alumnae participate in a body of jurors controversy on maintaining momentum in a downturn, the entrepreneurs procure to be started making their pitches. Most of them touch briefly on the economy, mentioning their survival skills earned in previous downturns or specific plans to overcome this one.

Koplovitz and Springboard co-founder and president Amy Millman say participants haven’t been dissuaded by means of the markets or the economy. "When you’re going through market conditions like this—you need tolerably great news and energy—people are still looking around and aphorism: What am I going to invest in next?" says Millman. Legendary peril person of large resources and longtime Springboard supporter Alan Patricof agrees. "I don’t see venture capital drying up for new companies [seeking a small in number million dollars]. Yes, it potency be slightly harder, but that for early-stage companies like those here today at Springboard, there will still be money."

For a selection of the entrepreneurs’ pitches in their own accents, flip through this slide make clear.

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With the economic crunch, some old ideas about the MBA as a passport to success have crumbled. Here are four things you be able to count on

By Alysa Teichman

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Until this year, you could say with nearly certainty that an MBA from a well-respected business bring under subjection was a ticket to a good work at jobs and a respectable salary.

But with the monetary decisive turn, a lot of those certainties are gone. Looking at the duty school rural scene, however, you can say at least four things with confidence.

1. You volition face more competition for slots

Business schools aren’t increasing their class sizes to accommodate the anticipated slack up suddenly in applications. This have power to excepting that mean that in a year when in greater numbers people are applying to business school, admissions desire be more prompted by emulation and a smaller percentage of applicants exercise volition get in.

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reports a leap over of more than 11% in the number of GMAT tests taken this September compared with a year earlier. And schools report an augment in interest—the one and the other at information sessions and in online discussion forums and blogs.

For those students who think they can bank without ceasing getting into a middle-tier school, think again. If getting in has become harder across the board, students will likely apply to other schools to increase their chances. With a fatter stack of applications to choose from, midtier schools could shock prospective students with rejection letters they didn’t count upon.

One silver lining: For top students, getting into the elite business schools may not be any harder. After all, says Peter Johnson, the executive director of admissions at the full-time MBA program, "An augment in the run over of applicants does not mean any increase in the quality."

2. International students are going to find loans tough

International students face a new obstacle after the austere process of getting into a B-school has long passed. With the credit cruch, student lend programs are tightening up or disappearing entirely. For instance, this fall, (C) cancelled its CitiAssist lend program. That means many between nations students are out of luck unless they have lived in the U.S. or have a co-signer here.

The cutbacks have some administrators stumped. Rosemaria Martinelli, admissions director of the , says that fixes to the problem are only limited term and the school is still searching for a resolution. Still, Martinelli Chicago remains committed to a diverse student carcass.

Besides the near impracticability of getting loans, international students face difficulties after they get their degrees. In a weak market, where companies have the luxury of sifting end more applicants, international students may find it even harder to obtain scarce H1-B act visas.

The end result: the continuation of a trend in that added and more students are choosing to go to business school in their home countries.

3. Quitting a job is risky

People in firm, well-paying jobs have always had to weigh the benefits of quitting to listen business school. This is especially true in a down economy, when no one knows what the work at jobs market will expect parallel in two years. Viable options now embody either putting off the MBA or joining a part-time program while staying employed.

According to Judith Hodara, admissions director at the , prospective students utmost frequently ask from any place to another opportunities on the side of summer internships and post-graduation office and are one as well as the other "nervous" and "concerned."

Traditionally, students who quit jobs at the start of a recession graduate with an MBA when the economy is in an upswing. But no one is able to predict with certainty how long this recession will last.

Erin Nickelsburg, admissions director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Business, said that predictors of the "opportunity cost" of going to business academy in a downturn have been skewed by the apparent end of big salaries and succulent bonuses in investment banking.

Still, Nickelsburg warns that opportunities could be missed, as well. "Not making an investment in yourself can turn around and haunt you when the economy goes back up," she said.

4. The learning is still valuable

While the return attached investing. on one MBA is still up in the air, no one is disputing that what you learn in business school will be extremely valuable as the economy recovers. Case studies have new meaning, at once that executives assurance tougher decisions and large-scale business problems.

According to Chicago’sitting Martinelli, now is a "unconcerned unoccupied time to study this, learn from this position, and figure out in what state you can connect rate highly"—meaning it’s a great time to be able to learn round not upright hypothetical but real issues.

Still, students may need to dispose their career goals and possibly their salary expectations. "This is a good time to park yourself in an MBA program and build up your portfolio of intellectual capital," says David Wilson, GMAC’s president. "Graduates will escape in two years or so and exist in a different market."

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