Finding a Buyer for Chrysler (2/2)



 Besides Kirk Kerkorian, 2 private equity groups have offered to buy Chrysler. Cerberus Capital Management has made an offer. So has a partnership of the Blackstone Group and Centerbridge Partners. The value of these offers has not been made public.

Private equity groups are specialists in what is known as taking a publicly traded company private. They buy all the stock in the company. Then they make changes to the business in an effort to add value. Finally they sell the company back to public shareholders for a profit.

Magna International, a Canadian maker of car parts, has also made an offer to buy Chrysler. Magna reportedly has offered more than four and a half billion dollars.

Labor unions are likely to play an important part in negotiations to sell Chrysler. Workers have said they will oppose any sale if it means more job cuts, or cuts in pay or retirement benefits like health care. Not only that, the company is said to have at least 15 billion dollars too little in its retirement plan.

Lonely Farmers Look for Love Online (1/2)




The Web site FarmersOnly.com calls itself an online dating and friendship finder. The idea started in the mind of a man in Ohio. Jerry Miller wondered how farmers could meet new people who understand the life of a farmer.

Jerry Miller is not a farmer. He works in advertising and public relations. But he represents a lot of farmers. As he tells it, the idea for the site was planted when a farmer told him one day that she was recently divorced and would like to date. But she already knew everyone who might be a possible dating partner.

And the men she met through dating services did not understand the difference between city life and rural farm life. Someone would invite her to meet for coffee at 9 o'clock at night, when she had to start her day at 5 the next morning.

So, in 2005, Jerry Miller launched his Web site. Yet the name is a little misleading. "You don't have to be a farmer to be on FarmersOnly.com, but you do have to have the good old-fashioned traditional values of America's Heartland." That is what it says.

Lonely Farmers Look for Love Online (2/2)




You also have to live in the United States or Canada to be a member of the site. Some services are free, but a full membership costs 50 dollars for a year. As of last week the site listed more than 58000 members.

Many of them are among the two million farmers in the United States. Others are students or workers involved in some way with agriculture. Still others are people who have said goodbye to farm life but would like to return.

Jerry Miller tells us about 30 marriages in the last year have resulted from his Web site. Some farmers have also found love through a group based in Illinois. Singles in Agriculture was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1986. It organizes gatherings that usually end with a dance, but is not a dating service.

The purpose is to support educational and social activities that offer people a chance for friendship, travel and activities like camping. Its Web site, singlesinag dot o-r-g, says there are more than one thousand members across the nation and as far away as France.

The Formula for Becoming a Pharmacist (1/2)

Two listeners, Youngmin Kim in South Korea and Nestor Gastelo in Peru, would like us to talk about pharmacy education in the United States. This will be the subject today in our Foreign Student Series.

"Pharmacists are health professionals who assist individuals in making the best use of medications." That description comes from the Code of Ethics of the American Pharmacists Association.

The job may include filling doctors' orders and helping people choose medicines that can be sold without a prescription. A pharmacist might also answer questions from patients and work with medical devices and other technologies.

Community pharmacists work in drug stores. Pharmacists are also employed by hospitals and drug companies. Pharmacists in the United States must meet the professional requirements of the state where they want to work. Many universities have a college of pharmacy. Since 2004, these offer only a doctor of pharmacy degree. The program takes 4 years.

The Formula for Becoming a Pharmacist (2/2)




Students generally enter pharmacy school after 2 years of general courses. Pharmacy students must be skilled in mathematics and the sciences. They must also take the Pharmacy College Admission Test.

After they earn their degree, they must complete a residency training program in a hospital or other setting. One year is required, but a second year can be added in a specialty area like cancer care or infectious diseases. After their residency, pharmacists must pass the licensing examination given by their state.

Foreign students who plan to train in the United States and return home should make sure their degree will be recognized there. In the same way, foreign-trained pharmacists who want to work in the United States must be sure that their degree will be recognized here. Even so, they will have to complete a residency in the United States. For more information, check with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, at ashp.org.

Foreign-trained pharmacists must also pass a certification process. More information about that is available from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, on the Web at nabp.net.

Newest Warnings on Climate Change Present It as a Security Threat (1/2)

 American officials have been warned that climate change presents a serious threat to national security. The warning came from a group of former military leaders from all of the United States armed services.

They released a study, published by a research organization. The nonprofit CNA Corporation brought together eleven retired admirals and generals. Among them was retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, who commanded American forces in the Middle East. They say effects of climate change should be considered in national security and defense planning. They also say the United States should take a stronger part in helping to limit climate changes at levels that will avoid conflicts.

The study describes climate change as a "threat multiplier." Changes in the weather could lead, for example, to fights over water or other resources in areas already at risk of conflict.

A worsening of conditions can lead to failed states, it says, and that can create fertile grounds for extremism and terrorism. The report warns of a danger of added tensions even in politically secure areas of the world.

Newest Warnings on Climate Change Present It as a Security Threat (2/2)

Sherri Goodman headed the project. She says two senators have already proposed legislation to further some of the ideas in the study. The two are Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Dick Durban of Illinois.

The report came out last Monday, one day before the United Nations Security Council met to discuss the issue of energy, security and the climate. This was the first time the council has debated climate-related security threats. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett led the debate. Britain holds the council presidency this month.

More than 50 U.N. delegations attended the day-long meeting in New York. Some delegates questioned if the council was going outside its main responsibility to prevent wars and protect world peace. Many of these delegates were from developing countries. They said climate change is an economic and social development issue for the General Assembly to consider.

China's representative noted the importance of existing international agreements to deal with climate change. But delegates from mostly small island nations welcomed the debate. The representative from Papua New Guinea spoke for the Pacific Islands Forum. He said the effects of climate change for small island populations are similar to any refugee crisis in larger nations in conflict.

Officials Hunt for an Explanation of Pet Food Scare (1/2)

Melamine is an industrial chemical. So how and why did it get into pet food that caused kidney failure in cats and dogs? And what might be the risk to the human food supply? These are questions that food safety investigators in the United States are trying to answer.

Tests found melamine in wheat gluten imported from China and used in pet foods. The United States Food and Drug Administration says Chinese officials said the wheat gluten was not meant for pet food. They said it was meant for industrial use.

But an F.D.A. official noted that melamine can make products appear to contain more protein than they truly do. So one theory is that it may have been added to the wheat gluten on purpose.

In addition, the agency says melamine has been found in some pet food products in rice protein concentrate from China. Those products have been withdrawn from market.

And, in another development, the Royal Canin operation in South Africa has recalled products made in its factory in Johannesburg. The company acted on reports of animals dying after eating food made with corn gluten that contained melamine.

Officials Hunt for an Explanation of Pet Food Scare (2/2)

In the United States, pet foods marketed under more than 100 different names have been withdrawn, since March.

Melamine has also been identified in the urine of pigs at a California farm. State health officials say the melamine is believed to have come from rice protein concentrate in pet food added to animal feed. Operations at the farm have been halted while further testing is done. But officials said the evidence so far suggested no serious health risk to anyone who ate meat from the pigs.

The F.D.A. says it is looking for any threat to the human food supply. The agency says it is now testing samples from all shipments of rice protein concentrate from China. The agency says it is also testing all shipments of wheat gluten from China.

The pet food scare as well as recent cases of people getting sick from bad food led a subcommittee in the House of Representatives to call a hearing Tuesday. The lawmakers have questions about the ability of the Food and Drug Administration to protect the safety and security of the nation's food supply.

Virginia Tech: 'As Strong a Place as It Has Always Been' (1/2)

Classes began again at Virginia Tech on Monday, one week after the shootings by a student. Seung-Hui Cho, an English major in his final year of college, killed thirty-two people. He also took his own life.

University officials were criticized for not acting more quickly to warn of the danger of a gunman. School administrators across the country are re-examining their security policies and communications systems. But they say privacy laws restrict how they can deal with mentally troubled people, even if there are warning signs of possible violence.

Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, is a public university that has gained greater recognition in recent years. Its engineering and computer science programs, for example, are known internationally.

Seven percent of the students at Virginia Tech are international students. The Cranwell International Center at the university says there are about two thousand foreign students this year. They come from more than one hundred countries. But most are graduate students from India, China and South Korea.