Wikinews Shorts: December 25, 2008

A compilation of brief news reports for Thursday, December 25, 2008.

The Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota has reported a sharp decrease in the number of global vehicle sales in November. The firm sold 618 000 cars in that month, a decrease of almost 22% from the same time last year.

This comes several days after Toyota’ prediction that it would have its first annual loss in 71 years.

Sources

  • “Toyota sales plunge in November” — BBC News Online, December 24, 2008
  • “Toyota’s global sales mark worst drop in 8 years” — Miami Herald, December 24, 2008

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the fund manager of an investment fund that lost US$1.4 billion to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, was found dead on Tuesday, having committed suicide.

De la Villehuchet was found by a security guard in his Madison Avenue office in New York City on December 23. A bottle of sleeping pills and a box cutter were discovered on the floor near his person, and his wrists were slashed.

Sources

  • “Suicide Madoff investor was ‘honorable man'” — MSNBC, December 24, 2008
  • Ignatius Reilly. “Madoff Suicide: Rene-Thierry Magon De La Villehuchet” — rightpundits.com, December 24, 2008

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