Nut rage sister faces fruit juice questions in S. Korea

Yahoo – AFP, Park Chan-kyong, 1 May 2018

The daughters of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho have both resigned from
their company posts following separate controversies

The stony-faced daughter of a Korean billionaire, whose older sister was brought low by the "nut rage" scandal, apologised Tuesday as she reported to police for questioning over allegations she sprayed a business associate in the face with fruit juice.

"I'm really sorry for causing concern," Cho Hyun-min repeatedly told a crowd of journalists outside the Gangseo police station in Seoul, without admitting to any specific actions.

Cho, who police said is accused of using violence and obstructing business, is the daughter of Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho.

Hanjin is among the country's 15 biggest business groups, owner of flag carrier Korean Air, logistics and transport firms, and with interests in information technology and hotels.

It used to own Hanjin Shipping, once one of the world's biggest shipping firms, which was declared bankrupt last year.

The younger daughter's police interrogation is only the controlling family's latest brush with the law, with a series of scandals making them some of the country's most notorious super-wealthy.

South Korea's economy -- the world's 11th-largest -- is dominated by a series of giant business conglomerates known as chaebols.

In the past, the chaebols contributed to the country's fast economic growth, but as the founders' sons and grandsons took over they expanded into every corner of business, and now stand accused of suffocating smaller companies and hampering innovation.

They have long had murky ties with political authorities -- Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong was jailed last year for his role in the corruption scandal that brought down president Park Geun-hye, although most of his convictions were quashed on appeal.

Many chaebol families retain only a small ownership stake in their companies, but maintain control through complex webs of cross-shareholdings between subsidiaries, and rapid promotions for family members -- some of whose antics have battered the firms' images.

"The Cho family is one of the most vilified chaebol families, with multiple family members implicated in alleged bad behaviour," Chung Sun-sup of online information service chaebol.com told AFP.

Cho Hyun-Ah (C) made global headlines in 2014 for forcing two flight attendants to 

kneel and beg for forgiveness after she was served macadamia nuts in a bag rather

 than a bowl

'Family misdeeds'

In the most infamous incident, the chairman's elder daughter Cho Hyun-ah made global headlines in 2014 for forcing two flight attendants to kneel and beg for forgiveness after she was served macadamia nuts in a bag rather than a bowl.

She ordered the Seoul-bound flight back to the gate so one of them could be ejected in an incident quickly dubbed "nut rage".

Since the accusations against her sister emerged, hundreds of Korean Air personnel have joined an online chat room to allege Cho family misdeeds against employees and domestic staff.

Police said last week they were investigating allegations that the sisters' mother Lee Myung-hee had herself abused employees verbally and physically.

Korean Air said the company had no comment.

The family are also accused of using Korean Air planes to smuggle luxury goods into the country to avoid import duties.

Chairman Cho Yang-ho -- who last year faced accusations of embezzling company funds, although prosecutors rejected a request for his arrest -- last month apologised for the "immature" behaviour of his daughters, both of whom resigned from their executive posts.

The row could yet impact Korean Air itself, and other conglomerates.

Thousands of petitioners went to the presidential Blue House homepage, urging the government to ban the airline from using "Korean" in its name and to expel Cho Hyun-min, who was born in the US and is an American citizen.

Under South Korean immigration law, foreigners found to have disturbed social order or harmed public safety can be ordered to leave the country.

Former lawmaker Park Won-suk said the Cho family controversies would serve as a "catalyst" for a reform drive.

President Moon Jae-in was elected last year partly on promises to reform the chaebols -- a pledge various politicians have made many times before.

There has been little action so far, but Chung noted that the justice ministry last week introduced a bill to grant minority shareholders a greater voice in appointing board members.

The move was "apparently in sync with mounting public demand for chaebol reform triggered by the Cho case", he said.

Daughter of Korean billionaire faces ‘fruit juice’ inquiry after older sister was brought low by 'nut rage' scandal https://t.co/0r9WjgqmN8
Head of the family, Cho Yang-ho (pictured) is one of South Korea's wealthiest men pic.twitter.com/Y4CLzk10Gy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 1, 2018

Nepal running on empty

Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, is usually a bustling hot pot of bumper-to-bumper traffic, noise, pollution and the odd cow on the road. But nowadays it's eerily quiet, as Sophie Cousins discovered.

Deutsche Welle, 11 Oct 2015

On the main roads you can count on your hand the number of cars and motorbikes that drive by; bicycles are now the main mode of transport. On a positive note, the smog has lifted from the city to showcase the wide-ranging, snow-capped Himalayas, which draws thousands of tourists to the land-locked country every year.

But, while it may be quiet on the streets of the capital, it's a different story at petrol stations across the city. Taxis have been lined up at petrol stations in southwest Kathmandu for the last week, unable to work due to the fuel crisis.

"I have been waiting in my car, queuing, for the last six days. The situation is very bad. What can I do? I need fuel to work," taxi driver Trilocan M.R told DW, while dusting his white, beaten-up taxi. "Maybe by Sunday or Monday I will be able to get fuel."

Waiting for hours for a meager
amount of fuel

A blockade on Nepal's border with India has halted imports, disrupting supplies for more than two weeks during clashes between police and protesters opposing the country's new constitution that have seen more than 40 people killed.

Reliant on India

Nepal is completely reliant on India for all its fuel, food and medicine imports. Thousands of trucks are stranded at the border, which has lead to a severe shortage of fuel, resulting in school and restaurant closures, astronomical taxi prices and public transport shortages. As the blockade on the border shows no sign of easing, Nepal is now considering airlifting fuel from either Bangladesh or Malaysia, according to local news reports, and may build a petroleum storage plant near its border with China.

Back at the petrol station, the army and police try to control crowds as they line up with jerricans and empty bottles of water.

People in the crowd push and shove one another in attempt to reach the only pump with fuel, yelling with frustration that they've been standing for more than 12 hours.

As a result of the critical fuel shortage, taxi drivers are now charging four times the fare to make up for the days they haven't been able to work.

At Purano Bus Park in central Kathmandu the scene is chaotic as hundreds of Nepalis cram onto the rooftop of the limited buses that are still running; babies are passed around over people's heads, and the elderly are shoved and pushed until they get a seat inside. Those who don't manage to squeeze onto the bus, hang off the side of its doors, or stay and wait, hoping for another bus to arrive.

There have been chaotic scenes
in Kathmandu

Tourists staying away

The fuel shortage is not only affecting transport around the country. Restaurants and hotels have been hit hard by another issue making headlines around the world, only a few months since the devastating earthquake that killed more than 9,000 people.

While tourists are slowly returning to the country for the trekking season, hoteliers fear that the latest crisis will further deter people from visiting.

Numerous restaurants have been forced to shut down or offer very limited menus. The only seemingly bustling restaurants in the tourist district were those that can serve wood-fire pizza.

Keshab, owner of Karma Travellers Home, a small hotel in the tourist district of Thamel, said the fuel shortage was of huge concern. "The situation is terrible," he told DW. "I have a few customers but nowhere near as many as I usually would for this time of the year. Customers who are coming to Kathmandu are emailing me asking if there's food to eat because of the fuel shortages. I tell them yes, you have breakfast for as long as I have gas, but after then, no," adding that he'd sent his children back to his village where there is firewood.

After the earthquake, Keshab saw a huge spike in the number of cancellations and is worried that the strikes and fuel crisis could further affect his business.

"Nepal, I think, is a beautiful country. When people come here they say they feels like home, that they like it much better than India. I hope this crisis will be resolved soon."

The crisis is also affecting Nepal's world-famous forests, thousands of which are under control of locals to for sustainability purposes. Krishna Bahadur Khadka from the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal, an umbrella organization of community forests across the county, said he was highly concerned about the spike in demand for firewood.

"The fuel situation is a big crisis for the community forests where now more people are getting firewood for cooking," he told DW.

"We are worried that people are now cutting down trees which means carbon emissions are being increased and contributing to deforestation."

Dutch flag carrier KLM to cut management by 25%, boost efficiency

DutchNews, October 1, 2015

Dutch airline KLM is poised to cut a quarter of its managerial jobs and support functions, broadcaster Nos says, after acquiring a copy of the reorganisation plan. 

The document states that KLM is too complex, too slow and too expensive. The company is too hierarchical, has too many managers and ‘has lost sight of its customers’. Slashing costs will involve ‘flipping all the switches’, Nos says. 

According to KLM, this means 25% of managers will lose their jobs and those who remain will have bigger departments to deal with. In addition, support, HR and communications departments, can be streamlined and made more efficient. 

The job cuts should lead to savings of €40m a year, Nos says. 

The plan was sent to the airline’s works council on July 8 and it has reacted positively, Nos says. 

The reorganisation has been on the cards for some time. A spokesman told the broadcaster that the changes would make KLM more future-proof but declined to say how many jobs will actually be lost.

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Software developer Valve Corp in Bellevue, WA, has

300 employees and not one manager or boss. (Value Corp)

Who Needs Bosses? Not Game Company Valve

Zappos is going holacratic: no job titles, no managers, no hierarchy


"The New Paradigm of Reality" Part I/II – Feb 12, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, ..... etc.) (> 28 Min)

All aboard the Vatican train for pope's summer castle

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 14 Sep 2015

A steam locomotive prepares to depart from the Vatican's train station to the

pope's summer home of Castel Gandolfo (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Castel Gandolfo (Italy) (AFP) - It was once used exclusively by popes, but the Vatican's train line can now be ridden by all from the Holy See to the papal summer palace.

Each Saturday, tourists can climb aboard for an express trip to Castel Gandolfo, a lavish estate Pope Francis has never used but wanted to share with the public in a gesture which will also boost the Church's coffers.

From San Pietro, to Trastevere and Ostiense, the train chugs through the Italian capital and its green suburbs, down past the Roman ruins on the Via Appia, before climbing through the Alban hills to the picturesque Lake Albano.

The crew of a steam locomotive prepare

 for its departure from the Vatican's train

 station to the pope's summer home of

 Castel Gandolfo (AFP Photo/Filippo

Monteforte)

Some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Rome, it pulls to a stop at the castle town, a former summer favourite with popes hoping to escape the heat of the capital, and still frequented occasionally by Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI.

The villa and gardens, owned by the Holy See since 1596, expanded over the centuries to include other properties and now sprawl over 55 hectares (135 acres).

Inside the grounds, there are views down to the lake or glimpses of the sea beyond gardens decorated with sculptures. There are also orchards of apricot, peach and olive trees, and greenhouses of ornamental flowers.

The estate's gardens first opened to the public in 2014, with tours organised for groups and by reservation only.

But workaholic Francis, who does not take vacations and has only been to the summer palace twice, urged his Museum's director to go further, opening up the entire estate and setting up a new museum.

'Closed for centuries'

Visitors to the villa can stand where popes down the centuries stood to bless summer Sunday crowds -- the very window from which Benedict XVI said his last goodbyes before retiring from the papacy.

As well as a papal portrait gallery, visitors can pore over embellished vestments worn by the holders of Saint Peter's Chair down the ages, including elegant papal slippers of the type shunned by down-to-earth Francis.

For 40 euros ($45), tourists get the full package: they can skip the queue in the morning to see the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel in Rome, before walking through the Vatican's gardens to the train station.

Once at Castel Gandolfo, they hop on a special white tourist train which takes them around the papal villa, including past the pope's organic farm, which houses cows, free-range hens, cockerels and pontifical bees.

From the train's windows they get a glimpse at the makings of the papal menu: freshly laid eggs, milk, vegetables, fruit, honey and fat rounds of caciotta cheese from the farm often end up on the pope's table back in the Vatican.

Tourists can now take a train trip to Castel Gandolfo, a lavish estate Pope Francis

has never used but wanted to share with the public (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Visitors can then wander around the town of Castel Gandolfo, a mediaeval borough listed among Italy's most beautiful, before getting the train back to the Vatican in the afternoon.

There is also a 16 euro option for those who want to skip the Vatican Museums and just do Castel Gandolfo.

Frugal Francis, who has shunned the Holy See's papal apartments for life in a Vatican hotel, has said he has no time to visit the estate -- a decision, however, which has seen local shopkeepers hit by a drop in tourism.

The Argentine hopes that by launching the new link with the summer palace it will revive the struggling businesses.

"Seeing as he's unable to spend time at Castel Gandolfo because of his numerous engagements, Francis wanted to make a generous gesture so that we can all visit a place which has been closed for so many centuries," Osvaldo Gianoli, director of the Castel Gandolfo villas, told AFP.

Singapore looks to Taipei as unlikely model for cleanliness

Want China Times, CNA 2015-01-31

A worker cleans Taipei Main Station, July 24, 2009. (Photo/Chen Chih-yuan)

Singapore is well known for its strict rules intended to keep its streets clean, so it may come as a surprise that activists in the city-state are looking to Taipei as an example of how to maintain a trash-free city.

But Liak Teng Lit, chairman of Singapore's non-governmental Public Hygiene Council, told the Straits Times that his country has "let things deteriorate until we now have a crisis of cleanliness," a reference to the massive amount of trash left strewn about last weekend after a music festival.

In contrast, Liak said that on a recent trip to Taiwan, he and other council members learned that "cleaning is a part of education," adding that it "teaches the value of labor and that it is not shameful to sweat."

He praised Taipei for keeping its streets clean with only 5,000 professional cleaners looking after a city of almost 3 million people, whereas Singapore has a small army of 70,000 cleaners for its population of 5 million.

The praise echoes remarks made by William Wan, co-founder of the Singapore Kindness Movement that works with Liak's organization, who said earlier in the month that trash left after New Year's celebrations showed that Singapore needs to transform from a "cleaned city" to a "clean city."

Revelers who left a "meadow of trash" at the Gardens by the Bay this past weekend told the Straits Times they littered because they saw other people doing it and assumed somebody would come by to collect it.

On Wednesday, Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong took to Facebook to draw attention to the sad scene left after the Laneway music festival.

"All of us can play a part in picking up our own litter, educating our children and grandchildren, and reminding others to do the right thing," the prime minister wrote.

Korean Air Heiress Charged Over ‘Nut Rage’ Case

Jakarta – AFP, Jan 07, 2015

South Korea's Korean Air plane, center, sits on the tarmac at Gimpo airport
in Seoul on Dec. 9, 2014. (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-je)

Seoul. South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday charged Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah with causing a safety hazard on a flight following a “nut rage” incident that sparked a national uproar.

Cho, daughter of the airline’s boss and herself a KAL executive at the time, ordered the chief purser off a Dec. 5 New York-Seoul flight and compelled the taxiing plane to return to the terminal gate so he could disembark.

She had taken exception to being served macadamia nuts which she had not requested — and in a bag, not a bowl.

“The plane was forced to change its planned line of movement and the chief purser, who was on duty to ensure flight safety, had to leave the plane, causing safety hazards,” senior prosecutor Kim Chang-hee told journalists.

“Korean Air staff were mobilized in attempts to eliminate and tamper with evidence” by fabricating statements in order to get Cho off the hook, he said.

Cho is charged with forcing the flight to change its planned movements and using violence against crew members, both breaches of an aviation safety law, as well as obstructing official duties by leading the company’s attempts to cover up the incident.

If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison but legal experts said she would likely draw a suspended jail sentence.

Cho, 40, was arrested and jailed on Tuesday last week after a local court issued a warrant, citing “the gravity of the issue as well as the organized efforts to cover up” the case.

She has been sharing a cell in a Seoul detention center.

Cho is one of three children of KAL boss Cho Yang-Ho, who is also the patriarch of business conglomerate and KAL’s parent company Hanjin Group.

She has publicly apologized for the incident and resigned from all her posts at Korean Air and its affiliates.

Prosecutors also brought charges against a Korean Air executive surnamed Yeo for his alleged involvement in Korean Air’s attempts to eliminate evidence.

A transportation ministry official who leaked details of a government probe into the case to Yeo was also indicted.

Prosecutors said they would investigate allegations that government officials got free upgrades to business-class seats from Korean Air.

The transport ministry has vowed to sanction the airline with a flight ban, most likely on the New York-Seoul route, that could last for up to a month, or with fines of up to $2 million.

Separately, the ministry has announced it would punish eight of its officials after admitting that their investigation into the affair was biased in favor of Cho and Korean Air.

In the public eye, the incident exemplified the authoritarian mindset of the family-run business conglomerates known as “chaebol”, and their unhealthy connections with government officials.

“The case fueled seething public resentment against chaebols and government watchdogs who are enjoying their patronage instead of overseeing them,”, said Sogang University sociology professor Chun Sang-Jin.

Agence France-Presse

Related Articles:

Korean Air heiress arrested for 'nut rage'

South Korean heiress apologizes to flight attendants for 'nut rage'

South Korean heiress apologizes to flight attendants for 'nut rage'

The daughter of Korean Air Lines chairman has apologized to the two flight attendants she harrassed about improperly served macadamia nuts. One steward described her allegedly outlandish behavior on South Korean TV.

Deutsche Welle, 14 Dec 2014

Cho Hyun-ah, daughter of Korean Air Lines Chairman Cho Yang-ho and former head of cabin service for the company, apologized personally on Sunday to two flight attendants she admitted insulting and humiliating in an incident dubbed "nut rage" by the media.

Cho made headlines last week over her behavior on a Korean Airlines jet, in which the 40-year-old executive delayed the New York-Seoul flight because she was dissatisfied with the way an attendant served her macadamia nuts. New details about the events have emerged, with the flight attendant in question claiming he was asked to lie to investigators and forced to kneel by Cho.

"People who haven't experienced [this] will not understand that feeling of being insulted and shamed," said senior flight attendant Park Chang-jin on South Korea's KBS television network. After Cho became enraged that the first-class steward brought her the nuts, which she had not ordered, in a packet instead of a bowl, Park says he and his colleague were made to kneel in front of her, before being called names and pushed into the cockpit door.

According to Park, Cho shouted to the cabin crew to "call right now and stop the plane. I will stop this plane from leaving." In his KBS interview, Park said he feared to "disobey the daughter of the owner."

Cho vehemently denies forcing anyone to kneel, saying on Sunday: "I've never heard of such a thing. I don't know anything about it."

She went to the homes of both Park and his unnamed colleague, but as neither of them was home she left notes of apology.

Privilege and arrogance

She resigned her post as head of cabin service for Korean Air Lines shortly after the incident, and both Cho and her father made public apologies at press conferences. Cho told journalists, "I sincerely apologize. I'm sorry," a few hours after her father had bowed to members of the press corps and taken responsibility for failing "to raise the child properly."

The drama has captivated South Korea, where Cho has been called a "princess" and chided by the media. Amid growing criticism of such displays of entitlement, many point the finger at a culture in which business dynasties were credited with leading the country to modernization and wealth.

Cho is being questioned by state authorities about whether she violated aviation law.

es/tj (AP, AFP)

Related Article:

Korean Air CEO's daughter resigns over 'nut rage' row

Pope admits risk in ditching 'sardine-can' popemobile

Yahoo – AFP, 13 June 2014

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from inside his popemobile as he arrives at

 Manger Square to celebrate an open air mass on May 25, 2014 in the West Bank

town of Bethlehem (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)

Barcelona (AFP) - Pope Francis admitted in an interview Friday that he takes a risk when he ditches a "sardine can" popemobile to greet the people, but at his age he has little to lose.

The 77-year-old pontiff recalled that for his July 2013 visit to Brazil officials had prepared a glass-enclosed "popemobile" to shield him.

"But I cannot greet the people and tell them I love them inside a sardine can, even if it is glass," he said in an interview with the Barcelona-based Vanguardia newspaper.

"For me it is a wall," said the spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

"It is true something could happen to me but let's be realistic, at my age I do not have much to lose," he told the paper's Vatican correspondent Henrique Cymerman.

"It is in God's hands."

Francis has preferred to use open-top cars in contrast to his predecessor Benedict XVI who rode in a bulletproof "popemobile" -- a novelty introduced after the attempted assassination of John Paul II in 1981.

Related Articles:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There it a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness.  …”

A century ago, Ford's assembly line changed society

Google - AFP, Mira Oberman (AFP), 6 October 2013

An auto worker tightens bolts on the wheel of a Focus at Ford's Michigan

Assembly Plant on October 1, 2013 (AFP, Mira Oberman)

Detroit — It began on October 7, 1913 when engineers constructed a crude system using a rope and winch to pull a Ford Model T past 140 workers in a sprawling new factory dubbed the Crystal Palace.

Henry Ford launched the modern assembly line in a suburb of Detroit a century ago -- and helped spark a radical transformation of both manufacturing and society.

By drastically reducing the cost of production with standardized parts and more efficient assembly, Ford was able to bring the luxury, convenience and freedom of the automobile to the masses.

Other industries soon adopted the innovation and today, everything from cereal to caskets is made on assembly lines.

An auto worker drives a newly-built Focus

 off the line at Ford's Michigan Assembly

 Plant on October 1, 2013, in Wayne, 

Michigan (AFP, Mira Oberman)

"It had a huge, huge impact," said Stephen Burnett, a professor with Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Standardization led to lower costs, higher quality and more reliable products.

Most critically, the assembly line cut the amount of time it took to assemble a Model T from 12.5 hours to just 93 minutes.

"Any time you increase the productivity of labor, tremendously valuable things can happen to the economy," Burnett told AFP.

Higher productivity means more profit, some of which is often returned to workers through higher wages. Workers then have more money to buy products, creating what economists call a virtuous cycle of growth.

The assembly line also changed the way people worked and lived, accelerating the shift from rural areas to cities, and increasing the number of people doing repetitive, low-skilled jobs.

From 100 to 1,000 Model Ts a day

While piece work was a time-honored tradition and the moving assembly line had already transformed the meatpacking industry in Chicago and Cincinnati, it was Ford who found a way to make it work for complex manufacturing.

"Henry Ford said if I could save every one of my workers 50 steps a day then I could save miles by the end of the year," said Bob Kreipke, Ford's corporate historian.

Ford had already cut costs by standardizing the vehicle and its parts -- the Model T was famously available in any color the customer wanted, so long as it was black.

But the cost was still too high and the volume too low for the "great multitude" he hoped to reach.

That changed with the assembly line he launched in Highland Park.

An auto worker assembles a Focus at

Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant on

October 1, 2013, in Wayne Michigan

(AFP, Mira Oberman)

Trains filled with parts rolled down the main bay of the Crystal Palace, where cranes slid through the sunlight pouring in from a glass ceiling and lifted the parts up to balconies. 

Conveyor belts and gravity wells carried parts to workers as cars were pulled from floor to floor.

"It was a beehive of motion when it was in play," Kreipke said as he toured the historic plant Ford now uses for storage.

"When he first started he made about 100 cars a day and it got up to 1,000 -- which is almost the same as a modern factory."

In 1914, Ford's 13,000 workers built around 300,000 cars -- more than his nearly 300 competitors managed to build with 66,350 employees.

Lower prices, empowered workers

The specialization of the assembly line meant that Ford no longer had to use craftsmen and could instead hire low-skill workers and teach them a few simple steps.

But the monotonous work led to high turnover, leading Ford to double his minimum wage in order to keep his line humming.

The five-dollar day was eventually followed by the five-day work week, which meant Ford workers had both the money to buy his cars and the leisure time to use them.

Despite the higher labor costs, Ford's efficiencies allowed him to eventually lower the price of the Model T from its introductory rate of $850 to $260.

Technological innovations like automation and just-in-time delivery have brought further efficiencies.

New technologies, 100 years on

Balconies built to receive parts lifted by

 a giant crane are seen at Ford's Highland 

Park plant -- which was dubbed the Crystal

 Palace because of its glass ceilings and

huge windows -- on October 1, 2013 (AFP, 

Mira Oberman)

Today, just 500 people work directly on the assembly line at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant, which now builds 605 Focus and C-Max sedans in each of two 10-hour shifts. Some 48,000 people worked at the Crystal Palace at its peak.

The flexible line builds five different models -- a high performance, a hybrid and a standard Focus plus the hybrid and plug-in hybrid C-Max -- with a range of colors and features, including a hatchback option.

A complex computer system tracks each vehicle as it makes its way down the line, matching engines to bodies and letting workers know when it's time to swap parts or press a different badge onto the frame.

Hydraulics lift the car and the heavier parts so workers don't have to stand in pits or strain themselves, and robots handle the most precise work like welding in the body shop.

"If Henry Ford came right now in a time machine, he would be very proud of the workforce here and be very proud of what we've done with his manufacturing process," said David Torosian, who manages the plant.

Govt preparing compensation for poor affected by fuel price hike

Antara News, Sat, February 25 2012

 "It is not yet final and still has yet to be discussed with the DPR. But it is certain that the poor`s income must be raised. It would be a pity if it is not," Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri said.

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• Asita notworried about aircraft fuel prices increase

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government will immediately discuss compensation for the poor who will be affected by the planned fuel price hike with the House of Representatives (DPR), Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri said.

"It is not yet final and still has yet to be discussed with the DPR. But it is certain that the poor`s income must be raised. It would be a pity if it is not," he said here on Friday.

He said the government still had time to discuss the matter before the revised budget is passed and subsidized fuel oil prices are adjusted.

"We will decide about it later. We still have time for it," he said.

He said the government has had an experience in providing compensations for the poor such as in the form of cash handout (BLT) when the fuel price was raised in 2005 and 2008.

He said the government so far has not yet made any decision regarding the amount of the BLT to be given like several years ago.

"It has not been decided. It may be higher or lower. It is not yet final," he said.

Salim said his office still has data of those eligible for the cash handout. "We have the data. It will be us who will distribute it perhaps with the help of PT POS, BRI and other banks," he said.

The minister of development planning, Armida S Alisjahbana, meanwhile said that the cash handout is a short-term policy. She said the government could also expand the hopeful family program to assure that poor families receive immunization and proper education.

"We wish the next generation will be healthier and more educated to cut cycle of poverty," she said.

Armida said the cash handout in a short term could help the poor meet their basic needs such as rice while the benefit of the hopeful family program is long-term.

"The BLT is an option because in Cluster One it no longer exists. We wish it is the hopeful family program that will be carried out so that they would not become poor. BLT is only for emergency so that people have money to buy rice," she said.

Editor: Heru

Scandal in Russia Over Official's Plane Hold-Up

Jakarta Globe, June 14, 2011

An Aeroflot pilot is being hailed as a hero by bloggers for refusing
to delay a flight to allow a top official to board. (AFP Photo)

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A pilot for Russia's flag carrier Aeroflot was Tuesday hailed as a hero by bloggers for indignantly objecting to a command by air traffic control to delay his flight to allow a top official to board.

The pilot on the flight last week from the Siberian city of Irkutsk to Moscow was told he could not take off until regional governor Dmitry Mezentsev had arrived for the flight from an over-running meeting.

The Aeroflot pilot's indifference to the ranking of the official have made the leaked tapes of the exchange an Internet sensation in Russia and the latest example of the increasing use of the net to expose the excesses of the elite.

"I'd rather vote for him in the elections than (President Dmitry) Medvedev," wrote one user on YouTube, where the exchange has now been listened to almost 350,000 times after its posting by prominent blogger drugoi.

"Bravo comrade!"

Showing a defiance of authority still rare in Russia, the pilot bluntly says the governor has no right to hold up passengers and even suggests the press should be invited to find out what is happening.

Pilot: "I was told to get in touch with you, what's the problem?"

Controller: "The top official needs to get here and then we will allow take-off."

Pilot: "Well, let the top official fly on his private jet and I will fly these passengers.

"This not a charter but a scheduled flight ... kindly make sure your top official does not turn up late for the flight and then he can fly with us.

"I have already closed the doors and I am not going to allow anyone else on the plane."

Controller: "We are not going to let you take off."

Pilot: "Please invite the television and journalists here to find out why a scheduled flight is being delayed."

Eventually, the flight took off one hour late with Mezentsev on board.

"Courageous pilot! Respect to these guys," wrote another blogger on Youtube.

The Kommersant daily said the resonance of the scandal risked ending the career of Mezentsev, who is already enduring low popularity and is under pressure from ruling party United Russia after poor local poll results.

"I apologized to the passengers, I explained the situation," Mezentsev said in an interview with the pro-government Izvestia newspaper Tuesday in a clear attempt at damage-limitation.

"I only use scheduled flights. I have headed this region for two years and not once have I used a private VIP jet"

AFP

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