The reported third quarter operating losses – nearly $7.2 billion combined - for General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co are worse than what were being feared. This, according to an events expert, raises the possibility that one or both will run out of cash within the next year, thereby giving the shuddering economy yet another blow.

While GM posted a $4.2-billion operating loss, Ford reported loss of $2.98 billion. The two companies said their rate of cash burn had accelerated, as an extended slump in car sales raised questions about the future of the US auto industry.

With shares of Yahoo Inc. plunging on Friday, Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft Corp. said at a business lunch in Sydney that Microsoft is no longer interested in “revisiting a possible acquisition” of the struggling Yahoo. Still, he did suggest a partnership in the search engine market is possible.

Ballmer’s latest remarks follow Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s statement earlier this week that he remained “very open minded” about a full or partial merger with Microsoft.

In the still-to-be-decided race for a US Senate seat in Minnesota, an Associated Press analysis of votes indicates that most ballots lacking a Senate vote were cast in counties won by Democrat Barack Obama.

The 25,000-vote difference in presidential and Senate race tallies could be due to different reasons - either some of the voters might have intentionally bypassed the Senate race, or others might have mismarked their ballot, or optical scanning machines might have misread them.

As such, a recount of the votes will begin November 19, and will use manual inspection to detect such ballots.

At his first news conference in Chicago, since his victory over Senator John McCain on Tuesday, President-elect Barack Obama said that the economic hardships many Americans are suffering are an “urgent reminder” that swift action is needed to stabilize the financial industry.

Surrounded by a large group of economic advisers, Obama pledged to confront the country’s economic crisis “head on” the moment he is sworn in on January 20. He asked his transition team to work on ideas to help the auto industry in particular.

Speaking to reporters from several news organizations, including the Anchorage Daily News, the Sarah Palin defended herself from a slew of criticisms that have been aimed at her from unnamed McCain aides.

The Alaska governor, having resumed work at her office in Anchorage on Friday, called her critics “jerks”, and said it was “immature” and “cowardly” for McCain staffers to be making sly allegations about her.

The movie ‘EMI’ dealing with the theme of credit cards and bank loans couldn’t have had more apposite release timing during global recession. In spite of that it fails to create interest for its juvenile attitude towards the subject.