Tens of thousands of anxious workers in Ontario's auto industry will be off the job during the next few months as the once-mighty auto-giant General Motors today announced plans to shut down virtually all of its North American plants for January.   Company and union officials confirmed yesterday additional production cuts for December and the first few months of next year that will hit every assembly plant in Ontario.  Plunging sales in the US continue to hammer production in Canada.

Despite the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passing a similar bill on Wednesday night, the Senate on Thursday night failed to rally the 60 votes needed to bail-out General Motors and Chrysler, devastating world markets and threatening to bring more trouble to the global economy.   "I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the Senate floor in Washington last night.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan with a group of US private-equity firms had agreed to buy BCE in June 2007 for $34.8 billion in Canadian dollars, but last night accounting firm KPMG said the company had too much debt, causing the biggest takeover in CanadaÔÇÖs history to collapse on the day it was supposed to have been completed.┬á The acquisition was terminated by the purchasing group, which also includes Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, and Merrill Lynch & Co., after auditor KPMG said it would leave CanadaÔÇÖs largest phone company insolvent.

Congress will vote as early as today on a $15 billion plan Democrats reached with the Bush administration to keep the Big Three afloat while forcing them to restructure. It is said that President George W. Bush wants strict conditions attached to any agreement to bail out the firms. This includes an appointment of a ÔÇ£Car CzarÔÇØ who will dictate how the companies are managed to ensure the money is accompanied by sound financial recovery plans. Approval of a bailout for General Motors and Chrysler LLC would put automakers under U.S.

Sony, maker of the Walkman portable player and PlayStation 3 game console, announced today that it is embarking on a series of measures to strengthen its corporate structure and increase profitability in light of the current global economic condition.   The news came as Japan stated its economy had shrunk between July and September by much more than initially expected, and a slew of similar stories from Japanese manufacturers facing decreases in demand had been hitting the airwaves.

Dow Chemical today announced that it would shed 5,000 full time jobs, and take a raft of other cost cutting measures, as it accelerates its transformational strategy to reflect current economic conditions.

US employers cut payrolls by 533,000 in November, the biggest monthly cut in 35 years, bringing the US unemployment rate to a 15-year high of 6.7 percent, and the total number of jobs eliminated this year to 1.9 million.┬á The new statistics have handed Americans more grim news right before the holidays, and has fueled fears that the worldÔÇÖs largest economy is positioned for a deep, long downturn. ┬á ÔÇ£You canÔÇÖt get much uglier than this,ÔÇØ said Richard Yamarone at Argus Research in New York.

AT&T Inc., the largest US phone company, joined the faltering US economyÔÇÖs procession of layoffs by announcing on Thursday its plan to cut 12,000 jobs in an effort to trim expenses. ┬á┬á The company plans to record $600 million in expenses for severance packages, with job cuts taking place in December and throughout 2009. The reductions will amount to nearly 4 percent of AT&TÔÇÖs workforce, and bring the companyÔÇÖs total job cuts this year to over 25,000, although it is unsure which departments and cities will suffer the cuts.

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have all submitted their proposals to Congress, asking for a combined total of $34 billion with the promise of slashing costs, reducing levels of debt, and investing in greener technologies.   General Motors asked Congress for a $12 billion loan in order to provide adequate funding through 2009, as well as a $6 billion line of credit in case industry conditions worsen.

JP Morgan is to axe more than a fifth of the workforce, about 9,200 jobs, at the former Washington Mutual. ┬á Nearly 4,000 of the cuts will be made by the end of January, and the remaining 5,200 will be eliminated by the end of 2009. The lingering 5,200 workers will receive double their annual salaries payable in a lump sum when their employment ends. ┬á While the job cuts at Washington Mutual were expected, the amount of additional cuts will put more pressure on AmericaÔÇÖs quickly rising unemployment rate.