AOL to cut 2,000 jobs
NEW YORK (AP) -- AOL is cutting its global work force by an additional 2,000 jobs as it continues a transition from Internet access provider to online advertising company.
The elimination of 20 percent of its work force comes on top of 5,000 positions cut last fall, after AOL said it would try to boost traffic to its ad-supported Web sites by giving away AOL.com e-mail accounts, software and other features once reserved for paying subscribers.
"This realignment will allow us to increase investment in high-growth areas of the company -- as an example, we added hundreds of people this year through acquisitions -- while scaling back in areas with less growth potential or those that aren't core to our business," AOL Chief Executive Randy Falco told employees Monday.
The cuts affect about 1,200 positions in the United States, including 750 in northern Virginia, which has long been AOL's headquarters. AOL recently announced it was moving its headquarters to New York to be closer to the media advertising industry.
Most of the U.S. employees affected were to be informed and terminated Tuesday, while reductions abroad were expected by year's end. Severance packages are to include at least four months' pay.
Most complete new giant dinosaur found in Patagonia
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian and Argentine paleontologists have discovered the largely complete fossil of a new species of giant dinosaur that roamed what is now northern Patagonia about 80 million years ago.
The herbivorous Futalognkosaurus dukei measured an estimated 105 feet to 112 feet from head to tail and was as high as a four-storey building. It is one of the three biggest dinosaurs yet found in the world.
"It's a new species, it's a new group," Argentine paleontologist Juan Porfiri told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
The find pointed to a new lineage of titanosaurs, with particularly bulky necks, he said.
"Its neck was very big in diameter, strong and huge."
Fossilized remains of an ecosystem from the same Late Cretaceous age, including well-preserved leaves and fish, were also found. The description was published in the latest issue of the annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
Futalognkosaurus dukei's name is derived from the indigenous Mapuche language meaning "giant chief of the lizards", and the name of U.S. power company Duke Energy Corp, which financed a large part of the excavation in Argentina.
The fossil was 70 percent preserved, which compares to about 10 percent for other giant dinosaur finds in the world.