Seattle, Jan 07: A newly discovered giant ring of stars on the outskirts of the Milky Way could be evidence of our galaxy`s violent birth, astronomers said on Monday. The company said it expects the charge to lower earnings by about 20 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2002.
More than half of the job cuts will come from management, and most of those executives will leave the company in the first half of 2003, the company said. AT&T attributed the job cuts to improved processes and automation in provisioning and maintenance of services for business customers.

The company, which recently sold its cable television unit to Comcast, faces increased competition as its offspring, the Baby Bell companies created by the 1984 breakup of AT&T, enter the long-distance market. At the same time, the long-distance market suffers from a glut of network capacity and slack demand from corporate customers in the weak economy.
Bureau Report