Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida Targets To Recover From A Profit Slump

Nissan’s new CEO Makoto Uchida on Monday vowed to turn around the auto giant and regain customer trust, as the company tries to recover from its fall after the arrest of former chief Carlos Ghosn last year.

Uchida, who formally took over the reins at Nissan on December 1, held his first news conference as CEO on Monday at Nissan’s Yokohama headquarters.

Uchida faces a huge mountain-like challenges before him, including profit slump, damaged relations with French alliance partner Renault SA and corporate governance.

“I say this honestly. Nissan is in a very difficult situation,” said Uchida.

Besides Uchida, Nissan has two other new leaders. Former Mitsubishi Motors Corp. COO Ashwani Gupta has been appointed COO, and Jun Seki, who was senior vice president at Nissan, is now vice COO.

Renault holds a 43.4% stake in Nissan after it helped the Japanese automaker from bankruptcy two decades ago.

“Closer capital ties with Renault are not a focus in the short term,” Uchida told reporters.

“The alliance has to benefit each of its partners in terms of revenue and profit,” he said. “We need to re-evaluate what has worked and what hasn’t worked in the alliance in the past few years.”

Ghosn was arrested last year on various financial misconduct charges. Ghosn has denied all wrongdoing.

Patriots waive kicker Kai Forbath after one game

Kai Forbath's stint with the New England Patriots lasted just one game.

The team waived the veteran kicker on Monday, just one day after Forbath missed an extra point attempt in the Patriots' 28-22 loss to the Houston Texans. Forbath also converted his lone field goal attempt and another extra point.

With the move, the Patriots are now slated to find their fifth different kicker this season.

Forbath was signed last Friday after Nick Folk underwent an appendectomy and was released. Mike Nugent also kicked for New England earlier this season after Stephen Gostkowski was placed on injured reserve with a hip injury, but he converted just five of eight field goal attempts.

The Patriots do not have another kicker on their active roster.

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Blast at Indonesia's National Monument park in central Jakarta: Media

JAKARTA (REUTERS) – An explosion has occurred at Indonesia’s National Monument park, near the presidential palace in central Jakarta, according to media reports citing police on Tuesday (Dec 3).

Central Jakarta police chief Harry Kurniawan told Detik.com that there was an explosion and an investigation is under way.

Local media reported that one person was injured in the incident.

Showtime Ups Austin O’Malia To VP Of Awards And Corporate Affairs

Showtime Networks executive Austin O’Malia has been promoted to vice president of awards and corporate affairs.

The announcement was made today that O’Malia will oversee the company’s marketing and communications awards efforts across all original series, and serve as the main liaison between the network, guilds and awards organizations worldwide.

As part of Showtime’s awards push, O’Malia will lead a team that manages its For Your Consideration events, submissions, filmmaker, producer and award talent relations, along with ad campaigns. O’Malia will also manage corporate giving initiatives.

Over the past few years, he has played a key role in the network’s film festival efforts as Showtime continued its expansion into the unscripted and documentary space with theatrical launches, film campaigns and appearances at Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, Toronto and Tribeca, just to name a few.

Lawmakers will quiz new FAA chief over review of Boeing jet

Without FAA approval, Boeing planes cannot fly come January: Pilot

Delancey Strategies chief strategist and pilot Jared Levy comments on Boeing announcing the return of the 737 MAX to commercial service in January 2020.

WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Aviation Administration will face questions next week from a congressional panel about the agency’s review of the Boeing 737 Max, which has been grounded since two crashes that killed 346 people.

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The House Transportation Committee said Monday that FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson will testify at a hearing Dec. 11.

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It is taking much longer than Boeing expected to update the Max’s flight software and computers and put together a pilot-training course. It’s not clear whether the company can meet its goal of resuming deliveries of the plane this month.

Dickson said last week that the FAA will handle the review of all Max jets built since the grounding — estimated to be more than 300 planes — rather than delegating some of that work to Boeing employees.

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Halliburton lays off 800 in Oklahoma, plant closure expected

Oil prices to remain stagnant for remainder of year: Andy Lipow

Lipow Oil Associates President Andy Lipow discusses oil prices and demand in a

EL RENO, Okla. — Halliburton is laying off more than 800 employees in El Reno, Oklahoma, and says it expects to close its office in the Oklahoma City suburb.

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Oklahoma Office of Workforce Development spokesman David Crow says the agency was notified of the layoffs and apparent closure of the office, effective Monday.

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A Halliburton Energy Services Inc. spokeswoman tells The Associated Press the company will provide additional information “by midday” Tuesday.

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Crow provided a letter from Houston-based Halliburton, dated Monday, that says the “mass layoff” of 808 employees is expected to be permanent and that “at this time it is expected that the facility will not remain open.”

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He says the letter was the first the agency had heard of the pending layoffs and office closure.