DETROIT -- Toyota Motor Corp. is tapping the brakes on production of big pickups and sport-utility vehicles in its Texas and Indiana plants as part of a response to slowing demand for those types of trucks in the U.S. market.

As a first step, the Japanese company over the past several weeks has cut the pace of production of full-size Tundra pickup trucks and Sequoia SUVs at the Texas and Indiana plants, Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said Thursday. He declined to elaborate on the reduction in output. The move stems from increasingly sluggish demand for those vehicles in the face of record gasoline prices, among other reasons.

The U.S. has finally slid into recession, according to the majority of economists in the latest Wall Street Journal economic-forecasting survey, a view that was reinforced by new data showing a sharp drop in retail sales last month.

"The evidence is now beyond a reasonable doubt," said Scott Anderson of Wells Fargo & Co., who was among the 71% of 51 respondents to say that the economy is now in a recession.

Switzerland-based AgieCharmilles to Invest Precision Machine Tool Project in Changzhou Hi-Tech District, China

2004年的雅典奥运会上，像成百上千万印度体育迷一样，钢铁大亨拉克希米•米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)也为几乎没有什么印度选手值得他去欢呼喝彩而深感沮丧。

虽然印度具备成为超级大国的潜力，并且是仅次于中国的世界第二人口大国，但它的奥运会参赛纪录却惨不忍睹。政府在培养未来奥运选手方面几乎没作过什么努 力。印度在雅典奥运会上仅获得一枚射击银牌，奖牌数还赶不上津巴布韦和朝鲜。而被印度视为竞争对手的中国却在这届奥运会上赢得了32枚金牌，数量仅次于美 国。米塔尔说：“这真令我失望。”