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The Two-Way
1:03 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

PepsiCo Says It Will Cut 8,700 Jobs Worldwide

Credit Mark Lennihan / AP
Kandral McKenzie delivers Pepsi products in New York on Thursday.

Originally published on Thu February 9, 2012 1:08 pm

PepsiCo, the maker of Pepsi soda and Doritos chips, said it will cut 8,700 jobs worldwide. That represents about 3 percent of its 300,000 person global work workforce.

The announcement also comes just after the company announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. The Financial Times reports that net income for the company rose 3 percent to $1.4 billion and revenues were up 11 percent to $20.1 billion.

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Winter Songs
1:01 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Winter Songs: Paul Simon, The Bard Of Bad Weather

Credit Mark Seliger
Paul Simon.
Around the Nation
12:46 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Over Bowls Of Soup, Donors Find Recipe For Change

Credit Linton Weeks / NPR
Jon Landau serves others at PhilaSoup, a soup group based in Philadelphia.

The Soup Movement in America is based on a simple recipe: Bring a bunch of people together to eat soup. Ask each person for a modest donation — say $5. Listen to a few proposals about how people might use that pool of money for a worthwhile project. Vote on the best proposal, and give all the money to the top vote-getter. Go home full and fulfilled.

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Latin America
12:30 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Fighting Fit, Venezuela's Chavez Roars Back

Credit Ariana Cubillos / AP
President Hugo Chavez waves during a military parade in Caracas, Venezuela, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a failed coup attempt he led. After battling cancer last year, Chavez has returned to his high-profile, fiery ways.

Last year was a tough one for Venezuela's firebrand leftist president, Hugo Chavez, who has frequently taunted the United States during his 13 years in power.

In June, a cancerous tumor was discovered in Chavez's abdomen, forcing him to dramatically scale back public appearances as he sought treatment in Cuba. Some predicted that the end was near.

But this year, Chavez has returned to his outspoken ways — just in time for his re-election campaign.

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The Two-Way
12:19 pm
Thu February 9, 2012

Steve Jobs' FBI File Reveals People Who Knew Him Had A Mixed Opinion Of Him

Credit Jeff Chiu / AP
Steve Jobs.

The FBI has released the files it kept on Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. The 191-pages are part of a background search the FBI undertook in order to clear him for an appointment made to the President's Export Council by George W. Bush in 1991.

For the background check, the FBI conducted 30 interviews with friends, family, neighbors and former colleagues. What emerged was a portrait of a man admired for his brilliance but whose personal life and character are often questioned. It's not unlike the picture painted in Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography "Steve Jobs."

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