Finland

Mobile-phone giant Nokia plans to slash 700 more jobs worldwide in the next few months amid weakening demand for its products. The announcement Monday by Espoo, Finland-based Nokia comes just two months after the company first said it would shrink its handset unit and cut 1,000 jobs.

Last month, Nokia continued cost-cutting measures by starting its global Voluntary Resignation Package, which offered the first 1,000 employees who volunteered to leave severance packages. The company also encouraged employees to take holidays as time off instead of taking cash compensation.

Krzysztof Kotarski
 

The Finnish Parliament approved controversial legislation Wednesday that allows employers to track workers' e-mails.

Lawmakers approved the government proposal in a 96-56 vote. Forty-eight were absent or abstained.

The new law, which is subject to the president's approval, does not allow employers to read employees' e-mails. But it gives them the right to track workers' e-mails by retaining information about such messages, including the recipients, senders and the time when e-mails have been sent or received.

The broadband race is on.

As policy makers the world over haggle over how to revive ailing economies, one strategy has found widespread support everywhere from Washington and Berlin to Sydney and Seoul: Investing in high-speed Internet access.

If you had to sum up the mood at this year's Mobile World Congress in a Twitter message, it might be: The struggle continues. Yes, the mobile communications industry, in Barcelona for its biggest annual networking and dealmaking extravaganza, is fretting about the global downturn. At the same time, though, major players such as Nokia, Microsoft, and Ericsson continue to invest big in businesses where they see an opportunity to steal a march on competitors -- or the need to defend their turf.

Social-networking company Facebook is hoping to connect with more mobile-service providers.

Facebook already has deals in place with BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion, as well as the iPhone's creator, Apple. Now, Facebook is hoping to seal a deal with Nokia, a Finland-based mobile-phone giant.

The deal would include embedding features of Facebook into specific Nokia phone models or integrating Facebook contact information with Nokia phones' address books, someone familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.

Nokia on Thursday reported a 69 percent drop in profit for the fourth quarter and said it will cut 1,000 jobs. The Helsinki, Finland-based mobile-phone maker blamed the plummeting profit on a lack of demand for its mobile handsets.

Samsung Electronics Co. announced a major restructuring Friday, consolidating business operations into two divisions as South Korea's most powerful and iconic corporation deals with the slowing global economy and expectations of looming red ink.

The new organization was included in an announcement of personnel changes at the company as well as at the broader Samsung Group of which it serves as flagship.

It's been a grim month for Nuclear Power, always a contentious issue for greens, power from the atom has taken two steps back as South African utility Eskom announce plans to cancel their tendering process for new nuclear plant in South Africa.