North America

The vegetarian movement among Jews is spread throughou North America. Membership includes people in all walks of life. The group advocates a philosophy that goes beyond simply not eating meat.The stated purpose of Jewish Vegetarians of North America "is to promote the practice of vegetarianism within the Judaic tradition, and to explore the relationship between Judaism, dietary laws, and vegetarianism."They oppose hurting animals for any reason, whether for food or research. If you are interested in knowing more about membership and local events of Jewish Vegetarians of North America, which was founded in Baltimore about 10 years ago, contact Israel Mossman, (410)

Monster Worldwide Inc. Shares climbed $1.97 to $29.82. Even though growth slowed in North America, the operator of job site Monster.com posted a 15 percent higher quarterly profit on sales abroad.

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. will cut about 10 percent, or 4,000, of its white-collar jobs in North America next year, mostly through layoffs, as part of a sweeping cost-cutting plan to be unveiled in January, the company told workers via e-mail yesterday. The cutbacks are the latest blow to Michigan's suffering economy and deal another setback to an auto industry reeling from the October bankruptcy filing of Delphi Corp., the state's fourth-largest company, and huge losses at General Motors Corp.

M ike Shriver in Linthicum wonders what became of a 2002 project called Enlighten Maryland. Participants had maps of the constellation Orion and circled the stars they could see on a clear February night. A total of 1,100 reports were processed into a map of Maryland light pollution. That map proved disappointing. But there's a good, zoomable dark-sky map for North America at baltimoresun.com/pollution

Michelin, renowned publisher of travel maps and travel guides throughout Europe, has declared a commitment to the greening of America.A step toward that goal was the introduction last month of a Green Guide to Washington, D.C. The guide, which retails for $14.95, is the first Michelin guide to be published in America.A Michelin Travel Publications team was established in 1989 in Greenville, S.C., home of Michelin North America's corporate headquarters, to produce travel guides for North America.

Baltimore orioles -- the songbirds, not the ballplayers in orange and black -- are flying north to Maryland each April in ever-decreasing numbers.Researchers say Maryland's state bird is suffering the same steady decline being experienced by many of its colorful cousins that also nest in North America and spend winters in the tropics.Reasons for the bird's decline -- roughly 30 percent -- in recent years are not entirely clear, said M. Kathleen Klimkiewicz, a biologist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel.

They play like the Red Army team that dominated international hockey for two decades. They use a quick-passing, attacking-from-transition style taken right out of any respected European hockey manual. Their record against teams from North America -- 102-5 in the past year -- and the scores they regularly inflict on their opponents would impress Mario Lemieux.Yet the record and methodical fashion in which they pick apart their opponents' weaknesses are not the most intriguing features to this Ukrainian hockey team.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- Lear Corp., the world's biggest maker of car seats, announced yesterday that it will cut about 2,800 jobs, or nearly 5 percent of its 60,000 workers, as it closes 18 plants in a previously disclosed plan to reduce costs in North America and Europe.Lear will take a pretax charge of about $133 million, or $1.37 a share, in the fourth quarter, which is expected to result in a loss for the quarter, analysts said. About $85 million of the charge will be in cash.The charge is greater than Lear's initial estimate of about $125 million.

Virgil Gheorghiu, 75, writer of 60 novels whose 1949 international best seller, "The 25th Hour," described the horrors of peasant life in Communist Romania, died June 22 in Paris after a long illness.Yoshiko Uchida, 70, a writer of children's books about the Japanese-American experience, died June 21 in Berkeley, Calif., following a stroke. Among 29 books she wrote from 1949 to 1991 were 27 for children, including the autobiographical "Desert Exile: the Uprooting of a Japanese-American Family," and "The Invisible Thread."

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co. executives were set to present a restructuring plan to the company's board of directors today that calls for closing at least 10 assembly and component plants and eliminating 25,000 to 30,000 blue-collar jobs in North America within five years, according to people familiar with it. The cuts would be deeper than many expected, signaling the urgency of Chairman and CEO William Clay Ford Jr.'s push to restore the automaker's ailing...