U.S. Army Captain Michael Kelvington, commander of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, bows next to remains of Gulam Dostager, a member of Afghan Local Police who was killed in the blast of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) during the joint Tor Janda (Black Flag in Pashtu) operation, in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 25, 2012.  REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov  (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York, May 23, 2012.  REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: MILITARY ANNIVERSARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Fleet Week

The U.S. Navy takes Manhattan for a week.  Slideshow 

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The SpaceX mission

A privately owned unmanned rocket blasts off on a mission to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.  Slideshow 

FACTBOX: Berkshire Hathaway at a glance

Sat May 2, 2009 3:30pm EDT

(Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the insurance and investment company run by billionaire Warren Buffett, will hold its annual shareholder meeting on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.

The meeting attracted 32,000 people last year. Along with the annual meeting for Wal-Mart Stores Inc, it is perhaps one of the most heavily anticipated shareholder galas.

Buffett, 78, took over Berkshire in 1965 when it was a struggling textile mill. Berkshire now owns close to 80 companies and has a market value of roughly $145 billion.

The following information about Berkshire and its investments is drawn from the company's 2008 annual report and its website:

FINANCIAL INFORMATION:

2008 net income: $4.99 billion

Change from prior year: down 62 pct

2008 net income per share: $3,224

2008 revenue: $107.786 billion

Cash and equivalents at year-end: $25.54 billion

Common stock investments at year-end: $49.07 billion

DERIVATIVES HOLDINGS (dollar amounts in millions):

Notional

Assets Liabilities Value

Equity index put options -- $10,022 $37,134

Credit default

obligations: --

High-yield indexes -- 3,031 7,892

Individual corporate -- 105 3,900

States/municipalities -- 958 18,364

Other 503 528

Counterparty netting and

funds held as collateral (295) (32)

Totals 208 $14,612

SELECTED COMPANIES OWNED:

Benjamin Moore Iscar Metalworking

Borsheim's Fine Jewellery Marmon Holdings

Clayton Homes MidAmerican Energy

Fruit of the Loom National Indemnity

Geico Nebraska Furniture Mart

General Re NetJets

International Dairy Queen See's Candies

MAJOR STOCK INVESTMENTS AS OF DEC. 31, 2008:

Market

Shares Pct Cost Value

Owned * Company Owned (mlns) (mlns)

151,610,700 American Express 13.1 $ 1,287 $ 2,812

200,000,000 Coca-Cola Co 8.6 1,299 9,054

84,896,273 ConocoPhillips 5.7 7,008 4,398

30,009,591 Johnson & Johnson 1.1 1,847 1,795

130,272,500 Kraft Foods Inc 8.9 4,330 3,498

3,947,554 POSCO 5.2 768 1,191

91,941,010 Procter & Gamble 3.1 643 5,684

22,111,966 Sanofi-Aventis 1.7 1,827 1,404

227,307,000 Tesco PLC 2.9 1,326 1,193

75,145,426 US Bancorp 4.3 2,337 1,879

19,944,300 Wal-Mart Stores Inc 0.5 942 1,118

1,727,765 Washington Post 18.4 11 674

304,392,068 Wells Fargo & Co 7.2 6,702 8,973

Others 6,035 4,870

Total Common Stocks $37,135 $49,073

* Also has holdings in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp and Moody's Corp carried at "equity value," equal to cost plus retained earnings since purchase, minus taxes that would be paid if the earnings were paid as dividends. Accounting treatment usually required when ownership tops 20 percent.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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