Bentonville, Arkansas, United States (AHN) – Wal-Mart Stores announced Wednesday that it will no longer pay its employees who work Sundays an additional $1 an hour. The new policy, however, would only cover workers hired after Jan. 1, 2011.

Current U.S. employees numbering 1.4 million will not be affected by the new policy, a Wal-Mart spokesman said.

The policy will also not apply to workers in Wal-Mart’s 49 Massachusetts and 10 Rhode Island outlets because the employees in the two states were not extended the extra $1 Sunday pay since their hourly rate for Sunday work is 1.5 times based on state labor regulations.

The policy is part of Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke’s strategy to reduce cost after Wal-Mart registered six consecutive quarters of sales declines at its U.S. operations.

On top of lower sales, operating expenses went up in 2009 to about $80 billion partly due to health benefits extended to workers.

To offset revenue reduction in its U.S. operations, Wal-Mart offered in November $2.4 billion to acquire a majority share in Massmart, a South African retail chain.

Wal-Mart is expanding its international business, particularly in emerging markets with high growth potentials.

Wal-Mart got the unanimous vote of the Massmart board, but needs the approval also of the South African regulators and 75 percent of Massmart stockholders.

The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union expressed concern with the possible Wal-Mart buy-in because of the U.S. retail giant’s stand against unions.

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Chicago, IL, United States (CNS) – She might be one of the most influential women in media, but she’s got her fears, too. Oprah Winfrey has recently admitted to feeling scared about launching her first cable network, OWN.

Oprah, who is ending her long-running daytime television chatfest, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” next year, says launching OWN is by far the hardest thing she’s done in her career so far.

She says in her own magazine, “O,” “I have never felt such fear in all my life.”

“I was afraid it wouldn’t be what ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ has been, and has meant, for all these years.”

OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network is set to replace the Discovery Health Channel. It’s set to launch on January 1st.

In addition to her new cable television network, Oprah also co-founded the Oxygen channel and is president of Harpo Productions.

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Dutch Harbor, AK, United States (AHN) – Fears of a massive spill in Alaska from a 738-foot cargo ship carrying oil were eased on Tuesday as the vessel prepared to anchor after being towed by the Coast Guard.

The Golden Seas was expected to reach Dutch Harbor at noon. Its engine failed last Friday, leaving it adrift in the Bering Sea carrying 451,561 gallons of bunker fuel, 11,780 gallons of diesel fuel, and 10,000 gallons of lube oil.

The Liberian-flagged ship also had 20 crew on board and a cargo of rape seed, which is used to make canola oil. At the time of its engine failure, there was a gale warning and forecast of 50-mph winds and 29-foot seas.

The Coast Guard tug, the Tor Viking II has been pulling the vessel since late Saturday through a longer route to avoid rougher seas.

Coast Guard and Alaskan officials have been closely monitoring the trip to Dutch Harbor, where the freighter will undergo repairs.

The Golden Seas was about a mile from Unimak Pass late Monday. The towline at the bow of the ship was inspected before entering the Pass from the southeast of Dutch Harbor, and the line showed no signs of chafing.

No spill has occurred during the emergency undertaking , according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Several islands along the route to Dutch Harbor such as Unalaska and Aukun island are “vulnerable to a potential spill,” the agency said.

The islands contain critical habitat for northern sea otters and Steller sea lions, and are wintering areas for waterfowl such as emperor geese, sea ducks, Steller’s eiders, and others.

Part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge or owned by natives, the land and surronding waters are used for commercial fishing of pacific cod and opilio crab. Residents on the islands are also known to rely on the waters for subsistence hunting and fishing.

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Dallas, TX, United States (AHN) – A Dallas area man claims his Droid 2 phone exploded in his ear. The resulting injuries caused him to be rushed to the hospital and receive four stitches.

30-year-old Aron Embry said he was using his phone making a call when the Motorola device allegedly exploded. He claims he heard a loud pop and then a tingling sensation and something running down his face. It turned out the substance was blood.

Embry had just purchased the phone two days prior to the Thursday incident.

“Once I got to the mirror and saw it, it was only then I kind of looked at my phone and realized that the screen had appeared to burst outward.”

Embry is planning to consult with an attorney, as he has no health insurance. Interestingly he confirms that despite the problems, the exploding phone still works.

Motorola, which manufactures the Droid smartphone said it will investigate and its priority is customer safety.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – NASCAR driver Robby Gordon claims he was used and abused by the people who make Extenze — claiming he put their logo on a car he owned … but instead of paying him, they gave him the shaft, according to TMZ.

Gordon claims the company behind the sex pills agreed to fork over a ton of cash if Robby — who owns a race car team — would splash the logo on a car operated by his driver Kevin Conway at NASCAR events in October and November.

But when Kevin was in danger of falling out of the prestigious top 35 ranked cars — Robby asked the Extenze people if he could personally drive the Extenze car instead.

In his lawsuit, filed Friday in L.A. County Superior Court, Gordon claims the Extenze people initially agreed to the deal … so he made the switch.

It was only after the races, Gordon claims, that Extenze refused to pay him citing breach of contract because he got in the driver’s seat instead of Kevin.

Now, Gordon wants Extenze to pay him at least $690,000 to, ahem, straighten things out.

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Manhattan, New York, United States (AHN) – A lawyer appointed as a trustee by a New York bankruptcy court filed a $6.4 billion lawsuit Thursday against JPMorgan Chase.

Irving Picard said he filed the case because JPMorgan is the primary banker of Bernard Madoff and must carry some responsibility for the losses of the imprisoned con man’s victims.

Picard maintains JPMorgan continued to be Madoff’s main bank even if there was growing evidence that Madoff was running a large fraud. Picard’s attorney, David Sheehan, said Madoff would not have pulled off with the massive Ponzi scheme without the bank’s complicity.

Picard filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The $6.4 billion is broken down into $1 billion legal fees and $5.4 billion in damages.

Sheehan said the bank disregarded “clear, documented suspicions” about Madoff, particularly large amounts of cash movement which are indicators of a Ponzi scheme.

JPMorgan denied Sheehan’s accusation. The bank maintained it had no advance knowledge that there was something wrong going on at Madoff’s company. The bank stressed it did not help in any way in the fraud committed by Madoff.

The trustee based his lawsuit on subpoena powers to secure internal bank documents and make depositions with JPMorgan employees.

According to reports that came out in French media, some bank executives have expressed concern about Madoff a few years before his fraudulent operations was exposed in December 2008.

Picard has so far recovered $1.5 billion on behalf of Madoff creditors. Any other money recovered from JPMorgan would be divided among Madoff victims on a pro-rated basis. Picard filed in May 2009 a $7.2 billion claim against Madoff investor Jeffry Picower, who however died in October that year.

Madoff, 72, after he admitted directing the largest Ponzi scheme in history, is serving a 150-yesr sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Officials of American mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac denied Wednesday they caused the foreclosure crisis, instead blaming mortgage services and law firms that they contract.

The executives told Congress that since the two companies do not service loans the responsibility for managing payments by borrowers on home loans or foreclosing mortgages that have defaulted is with the mortgage servicers and loan firms.

Fannie Mae Executive Vice President for Credit Portfolio Terence Edwards said the mortgage servicers are the primary front-line operators who have contact with the borrowers. Fannie Mae pays them service fees to work with borrowers during the duration of the loan.

However, acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh disputed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s explanation, countering that the companies’ policies contributed to the foreclosure problem. In particular, he identified the large number of documents used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their mortgage foreclosure processes.

Walsh said large national bank servicers, namely Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, PNC, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, have similar deficiencies in their foreclosure processes, which the OCC and other banking regulators are reviewing.

The Treasury Department spent in 2008 $135 billion on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the federal government seized the two firms to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans. In mid-November, President Barack Obama nominated North Carolina Banking Commissioner Joseph Smith Jr. to head the agency that has supervisory power over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Smith will replace Edward DeMarco, who headed the Federal Housing Finance Agency since August 2009. The agency is in the midst of preparations to overhaul the two mortgage lending giants.

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Detroit, MI, United States (AHN) – General Motors is looking to fill 1,000 jobs in Michigan. The new hires would develop more electric and hybrid vehicles similar to GM’s Chevrolet Volt, which the auto manufacturer rolled out Tuesday.

GM Chief Executive Daniel Akerson said the new jobs will be in engineering and research as the company attempts to have more offerings in its lineup of energy-efficient vehicles. Akerson added the concentration of new jobs in Michigan seeks to help ease unemployment in the state, which has the second highest unemployment rate in the country next to Nevada.

About 800,000 jobs were lost in Michigan in the last 10 years as demand for new cars slumped, leading the state to suffer from a 12.8 percent unemployment rate.

Akerson said the electric car would be one key to help revive the global automotive industry, which suffered a decline at the height of the financial crisis and had to be bailed out by the government to the tune of $50 billion.

The Volt was named by Green Car Journal the Green Car of the Year. It is the first electric vehicle to be given the award. Chevrolet Vote runs purely on electricity for 25 to 50 miles on a single charge.

The manufacture of electric cars has led to a boom in production of batteries and other auto parts needed by electric cars. So far 17 firms are manufacturing batteries or battery parts, which is expected to create 63,000 new jobs in Michigan over the next decade.

On Tuesday also, Chryler said it would hire 1,000 new engineers and technicians in early 2011 to work on next-generation small and midsize vehicles.

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New York, NY, United States (NewsBahn) – On Nov. 29, Emperial Americas announced Tequila Distinguido will launch a marketing partnership with VH1 “Basketball Wives” cast member Ashley Walker. Tequila Distinguido has already won high marks at the San Francisco World Spirits competition among critics and the public. The tequila is positioned as “authentic and all natural.”

Walker might not be known to the public quite yet as a “Basketball” wife – she joins the show in its second season, which will premiere December 13 on VH1. She also isn’t technically a wife – while she is a mother of two, she is just the girlfriend of Houston Rockets’ point guard Rafer Alston.

However, despite her fame as a new reality personality, the tequila company chose Walker to be a brand ambassador because she is philanthropic and demonstrates responsibility in addition to her glamorous life; she has her own organization, The Mission of Love, that helps students in Kenya, and also finds time to mentor teenage girls.

“The partnership between Tequila Distinguido and Ashley Walker creates the perfect synergy to market Tequila Distinguido’s luxury product,” Alonzo Pierce, National Brand Manager for Tequila Distinguido, said in a statement.

“Ashley Walker is distinguished and epitomizes positivity, confidence, originality and exudes class, making her the ideal choice to partner with Tequila Distinguido – a brand that emulates these characteristics. Ashley is philanthropic, responsible and beautiful, a lifestyle that Tequila Distinguido represents, and is sure to resonate with our consumers.”

Walker told Vibe magazine she was nervous to join the “Basketball Wives” cast, but does not get involved in drama.

“I talk about my foundation and I try to stay out of all the drama going on. There wasn’t a point where I had to fight back at all because nothing was really said to me to my face. So I didn’t have to go there at all. I’m not confrontational but I’m not going to let anybody disrespect me either.”

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – A survey of 4,300 Americans by the National Retail Federation showed that average spending for the Thanksgiving weekend was $365, a 6 percent increase from a year ago.

The higher spending was caused by more Americans shopping, from 195 million in 2009 to 212 million from Thursday to Sunday this year. It is the highest number of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers since the NRF conducted the first survey in 2004.

Total sales hit $45 billion, up from $41.2 billion in the last two years. A large part of the sales were done online.

However, the NRF cautioned industry from using this year’s data as an indicator of the forthcoming yearend holiday spending. The federation cited 2008 when average Thanksgiving weekend spending reached $373, but the Christmas holiday spending was one of the worst on record.

The NRF explained that on Black Friday, buyers are focused on bargain hunts, while during better economic times people shop even for regularly priced items.

ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based research company, estimated Black Friday sales alone at $10.7 billion, which is just a 0.3 percent rise from last year’s figure.

To bring back shoppers to stores after two years of weak Thanksgiving sales, retailers such as Sears Holdings and Toys “R” Us begun their Black Friday sales a day ahead. Sears opened at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and offered huge discounts, such as 55 percent off on a high-definition plasma TV.

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