BAE jobs lost as US organisation General Dynamics wins tank stipulate

Hopes of saving hundreds of in jeopardy jobs at BAE Systems collapsed right away when US counterclaim hulk General Dynamics won a remunerative stipulate to set up a new light tank for the British Army.

The US organisation kick the UK opposition for the multibillion-pound order, nonetheless it has affianced to set up majority of the new car in the UK, observant it will guarantee thousands of jobs here.

BAE Systems had pronounced that 500 previously-announced pursuit waste in the vehicles commercial operation competence be saved if it won the contract.

Bob Murphy, boss of BAE Systems" Land and Armaments handling group, said: BAE Systems records the preference by the UK MoD to endowment elite bidder standing to General Dynamics UK for the proof proviso of the Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) Specialist Vehicles programme.

While disappointing, todays proclamation does not stroke the formerly settled opinion for the land and armaments business.

The association will go on to await the UK Ministry of Defence in the land zone through, for example, the long-term partnering agreement with them on ammunition supply and on the sustainment and ascent of the existent armoured car fleet.

We sojourn committed to the tellurian land plan and are focusing on a series of long-term, tolerable programmes in the universe markets.

The preference will especially strike a BAE Systems bureau in Newcastle on Tyne, where around 400 jobs would have been combined or postulated if the British organisation had won the contract.

The Ministry of Defence pronounced the primary tranche of the programme should broach around 600 vehicles to the front line, with the probability of serve purchases in the future.

The sequence includes growth of Scout, the principal reconnoitering car that will reinstate the Scimitar car right away deployed in Afghanistan.

The MoD pronounced the Specialist Vehicle swift will yield softened insurance opposite a far-reaching range of threats and move poignant benefits to the Army, together with larger firepower, longer range sensors and sighting systems and a higher turn of reliability.

Under the announcement, around 70% of the work will take place in the UK, ensuring the origination or sustainment of over 10,000 British jobs inside of the armoured car sector.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said: I am gratified to have known the successful result of the Specialist Vehicle competition. This represents a really critical miracle towards replacing the ageing CVR-T and is one of the top apparatus priorities for the Army.

In addition, the growth of the Common Base Platform will capacitate the smoothness of serve vehicles to encounter mandate sensitive by the result of the Strategic Defence Review.

We are dynamic to yield the armed forces with the capabilities they require, and the Specialist Vehicle preference follows the proclamation of the joining to sequence an primary collection of 200 Light Protected Patrol Vehicles that we will get to Afghanistan as fast as possible.

Chief of Defence Materiel General Sir Kevin O"Donoghue said: Todays proclamation outlines an critical step in the Specialist Vehicle Programme. The Scout is one of the Armys top apparatus priorities and will be the cornerstone of the reconnoitering capability. To have reached this point in a formidable programme so shortly after the comment proviso began in summer 2008 reflects rarely on the counterclaim apparatus and await staff involved.

Further announcements about counterclaim contracts with UK industry for new and one more capabilities for the armed forces will be done over the entrance days.

Shadow counterclaim cabinet member Liam Fox said: It is utterly wrong for the Government to pointer multibillion-pound contracts, unless they are obligatory operational mandate for Afghanistan, only weeks prior to a ubiquitous choosing and forward of a vital counterclaim examination that all parties are committed to.

Whatever the merits of the programme, it does not have clarity to dedicate to it so close to a examination that will see at each aspect of Britains counterclaim and inhabitant security.

Labour is right away similar to a broke shopaholic on one last spending binge prior to jail, spending taxpayers" income that they goal not to be obliged for.

Could a new UN fortitude finish doctors appearance in torture?

The resolution, upheld in Mar 2009, goes offer than prior rulings, contend the authors and spells out that states contingency never ask or need anyone, together with healing or alternative health personnel, to dedicate any action of woe or alternative cruel, evil or spiritless diagnosis or punishment.

Lead author, Dr Peter Polatin from the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims in Denmark, says there is estimable justification that health professionals have been concerned in woe around the world, for e.g. in Saddam Husseinregime in Iraq in the mid-1990s, in Israel and in Guantanamo Bay.

Polatin argues that doctors" impasse could possibly meant without delay participating in woe or assessing detainees to safeguard that they will not die from the woe practices they are being subjected to. He adds that doctors operative for the state, military, jail or military use might be thankful to offer the interests of their employer, to the wreckage of healing ethics.

The new UN fortitude could assistance the quarrel opposite woe since it targets states, propelling them to action to forestall health workers from apropos concerned in woe and to strengthen those who mount out opposite it says the paper. In further to this, the fortitude calls on the UN special rapporteur on woe to give special courtesy to healing complicity.

In conclusion, the authors emphasize the need to make the powers of the resolution. This could be by strengthening the inquisitive duty of the rapporteur to safeguard that some-more cases of healing complicity will be theme to the open inspection and that violators will face disciplinary action, together with cessation of their veteran licence.

TV Takes Toll on Parent-Teen Relationships

When teenagers outlay as well most time on the computer or in front ofthe TV, their relations suffer, a new investigate suggests. The formula show thatthe some-more "screen time" teenagers clock, the some-more expected they are to have difficultyforming a attribute with their relatives and friends.

Conversely, spending some-more time celebration of the mass and you do homeworkwas related to a improved attribute with parents.

However, the commentary hinge on teenager self-reports, that canbe skewed, so some-more investigate is indispensable to endorse the results.

Studying shade time

More and some-more technologies these days appear to keep usstaring at screens, from cell phones to portablecomputers to gaming consoles. But prior investigate on how these activitiesaffect the relations have had churned results.

The new formula are formed on dual studies on New Zealand teens,one conducted in in in between 1987 and 1988 and the alternative in 2004, that involvedmore than 4,000 sum participants. In the 2004 study, 3,043 students elderly 14to fifteen answered consult questions about how most hours they outlayed enchanting in screen-timeactivities, together with examination TV,playing video games and utilizing a computer. The immature teenagers were additionally assessed onthe peculiarity of their relations with relatives and peers.

For each hour outlayed examination TV, the teenagers risk for havinga low peculiarity tie to their relatives increasing by 4 percent. And forcomputer use, the risk increasing 5 percent per hour. Low peculiarity attachmentmeans the teenagers had worry combining relations and romantic holds withothers.

However, the researchers didnt find a tie betweenincreased TV time and a bad attribute with friends.

The 1987-1988 investigate enclosed 976 15-year-olds who were askedabout their TV day to day and parent/peer relationships.

For each one some-more hour outlayed examination TV, the teenagers were 13percent some-more expected to have a low peculiarity attribute with parents, and 24percent some-more expected to have bad relations with peers.

Why TV time hurtsrelationships

While a little people have argued that teenagers who watch lessTV competence humour socially, given they arent means to plead renouned TVshows with their friends, the stream commentary indicate this isnt regularly thecase, the researchers say.

The researchers still arent certain just because some-more TV andcomputer time equals bad relationships, generally with parents. One thought isthat tube-time could keep teenagers hibernating afar in their bedrooms, blank outon pity dishes and alternative activities with family members. Or, those with poorattachments to their relatives and friends competence instead find out biased relationshipswith TV characters, or spin to online for relationships. �

Future studies should additionally see in to because there was such adifferent in in between the dual generations in conditions of how shade time affectedtheir relationships, quite with peers, the researchers say.

The investigate was conducted by researchers at the University of Otagoand University of Auckland, both in New Zealand. The formula are published inthe Mar issue of Archives ofPediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. �

Americans Are Info-Junkies Unhappy People Watch Lots More TV Out There: People Who Live Without TV

TV movie on Amish propagandize sharpened draws criticism

March 24, 2010, 2:32 PM EST

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) -- The authors of a book about the mass sharpened at an Amish propagandize in Pennsylvania are enmity themselves from a movie instrumentation airing on the Lifetime Movie Network.

The authors of "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy," contend they declined to work with the producers of a likewise declared movie out of apply oneself for the village influenced by the sharpened in Nickel Mines.

Five girls died and five others were really bad bleeding when Charles Carl Roberts IV barricaded himself inside the West Nickel Mines Amish School and non-stop glow in Oct 2006.

Elizabethtown College highbrow Donald B. Kraybill and dual co-authors contend their publisher, Jossey-Bass, sole the movie rights to the book. They contend they"ll present their deduction to charity.

"Amish Grace" is airing Sunday.

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Information from: Intelligencer Journal, http://www.lancasteronline.com

,,,

UPDATE 1-EU operative on resource to assistance Greece if indispensable

Tue Mar 9, 2010 10:26am EST Related News EU says doing everything for euro zone stabilityTue, Mar 9 2010UPDATE 1-EU backs new Greek deficit cuts, pledges solidarityWed, Mar 3 2010Eurogroup welcomes Greek steps, implementation keyWed, Mar 3 2010HIGHLIGHTS-EU finmins discuss fiscal crisis in GreeceTue, Feb 16 2010Snap Analysis: EU political support for Greece falls shortThu, Feb 11 2010

(Adds quotes, details, previous dateline BRUSSELS)

Currencies&&&&Bonds

STRASBOURG, France, March 9 (Reuters) - The European Unionexecutive is working with euro zone member states on a mechanismto help Greece if necessary, European Commission President JoseManuel Barroso said on Tuesday.

"The Commission has been actively working with euro areamember states to design a mechanism which Greece could use incase of need," Barroso told the European Parliament.

"Such a mechanism would be in conformity with the currentLisbon Treaty, in particular with the "no bailout" clause. Itwould include stringent conditionality."

At the same time he said Greece was taking the necessarysteps to reduce its budget deficit this year and appeareddetermined to tackle its structural problems, both actions thatshould help prevent the need for financial aid.

"We are doing what is necessary to secure the financialstability of the euro area as a whole," Barroso said.

He indicated that the Commission would soon set outproposals for the creation of a European monetary fund orsimilar institution that could be used to support euro zonemembers experiencing financial difficulty.

"The Commission is ready to propose a European framework forcoordinated assistance, which would require the support of euroarea member states," he said.

"In parallel, the Commission is preparing a communication onreinforced economic policy coordination and countrysurveillance." (Writing by Luke Baker, editing by Dale Hudson)

Currencies Bonds

Hedge account cooking celebration sparks U.S. euro examine

Matthew Goldstein and Svea Herbst-Bayliss NEW YORK Thu Mar 4, 2010 8:51am EST Related News U.S. probes bets against euro - sourceWed, Mar 3 2010U.S. probes hedge fund bets against euro: reportTue, Mar 2 2010Hedge funds post small gains in FebTue, Mar 2 2010Hedge funds post small gains in FebruaryMon, Mar 1 2010Hedge funds post small gains in February-BoA analystsMon, Mar 1 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Little-known brokerage firm Monness, Crespi, Hardt Co has long toiled in the shadows of Wall Street, but the boutique suddenly has been thrust into the limelight because of an "ideas dinner" it sponsored last month for a group of about 18 hedge fund traders.

Deals

Monness Crespi sponsors unscripted dinners from time to time, said people familiar with the get-togethers. They provide a chance for managers to swap trading ideas, network with their peers and meet some of Monness Crespi"s largely equity-focused analysts.

A February 8 dinner is sparking controversy because one of the nearly two dozen topics discussed during the program was how hedge funds could profit from a decline in the euro, one of the world"s most heavily traded currencies.

The portion of the program, at the Park Avenue Townhouse restaurant on Manhattan"s Upper East Side, devoted to trading the euro took up no more than five minutes, according to people familiar with the event.

But ever since the Wall Street Journal wrote about the dinner and the discussion about the euro in a February 25 article, a shadow has been cast over much of the $1.5 trillion hedge fund industry.

The dinner adds to the growing perception among the general public and some political leaders that many hedge funds prosper by making money off misery -- whether it is betting on the decline of a stock, a bond, a currency or even a country"s debt.

The U.S. Department of Justice"s antitrust division has sent letters to a number of hedge funds that attended the February 8 dinner, asking the funds not to destroy any trading records involving market bets on the euro, said people familiar with the situation.

Prominent short seller Jim Chanos said he did not attend the dinner and did not receive a letter from the Justice Department.

CNBC and Bloomberg first reported on the letters from the Justice Department. The Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that the Justice Department sent out those letters on the same day that its story about the dinner was published. ID:nN03198738

"I don"t believe that it is illegal to discuss in conceptual terms whether the euro should be trading lower," said Paul Roth, a founding partner of law firm Schulte Roth Zabel, which represents some prominent hedge funds.

"But given the crisis in Europe and considering the view many Europeans have of hedge funds and private equity funds, there may well be a political component to all of this."

The Justice Department"s interest in euro trading comes amid widespread criticism of hedge funds for betting on a decline in Greece"s sovereign debt.

During the depths of the financial crisis, hedge funds also came under fire for betting against shares of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns as those investment firms were collapsing.

But it is not clear just how central the discussion of the euro was to the February 8 dinner now drawing so much scrutiny.

Neil Crespi, president of Monness Crespi, said as a general rule his firm doesn"t talk to reporters. But before he ended a brief phone conversation, Crespi said the dinner has been mischaracterized in the media.

"Everything is wrong," he said. "We trade only equities. I am not saying we didn"t have an ideas dinner, but we aren"t a macro firm."

In fact, people familiar with the dinner said much of the discussion focused on stocks. The dinner was tape recorded and transcribed into a research report that was circulated by Monness Crespi after the event.

The suggestion to bet against the euro was raised by Aaron Cowen, a portfolio manager with Steven A. Cohen"s SAC Capital Advisors LP. People familiar with the dinner said there was little discussion about the euro after Cowen raised it.

A SAC spokesman declined to comment.

"If only the poor fellow had couched it in terms of going long the dollar instead of shorting the euro, I dare say he would have been called patriotic," Chanos said.

Other guests at the dinner, according to the Journal and sources, included David Einhorn, head of Greenlight Capital LLC, and a representative from Soros Fund Management LLC, the firm founded by George Soros.

A Greenlight spokesman declined to comment.

Soros" fund is still well known for having made $1 billion in a day by betting against the British pound in 1992.

A spokesman for Soros said that is has become commonplace to direct attention toward George Soros whenever currency markets are in the news. "Any suggestion of wrongdoing by Soros Fund Management LLC implied in those articles is without merit," the spokesman said, adding that the firm intends to cooperate fully with any governmental requests.

It is not clear exactly why the Justice Department has asked the hedge fund to save trading records.

Some lawyers pointed out that federal authorities might never actually request the documents and all of this could be a preliminary measure.

In an antitrust investigation, regulators generally look for a pattern of collusion by a group of traders, or a common agreement to make the same trades to manipulate a market.

However, there is nothing to suggest any of that occurred at the February 8 dinner.

Indeed, investment managers have long talked shop over steaks and wine or during a round of golf, and industry insiders are puzzled at why this long-standing practice is suddenly drawing such scrutiny.

The focus by the news media on whether hedge funds got together to jointly bet against the euro strikes some managers and lawyers as particularly odd considering that the currency markets are among the world"s largest and most liquid.

Ron Resnick, co-founder of regulatory consulting firm CounselWorks and a former managing partner at hedge fund firm Highbridge Capital Management, said: "Not even God alone could move the euro market."

Still, the dinner investigation could result in some changed behavior, at least in the short-term. Some managers said social gatherings will continue, but the venues for meeting may be different and more structured.

"Since the line of what you can and can"t do is so unclear right now, people are going to try to stay further away from it," CounselWorks" Resnick said.

(Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Steve Orlofsky)

Deals

HSBC ready to cavern in on chiefs reward

Chief executives at HSBC and Standard Chartered are preparing to forgo big cash bonuses for last year, after a backlash from politicians and consumers.

Though the two firms have emerged from the financial crisis in better shape than most of their peers, sources say executives realise that they cant fly in the face of public sentiment.

They may however, accept deferred awards. The stirrings came as the government approved the Royal Bank of Scotlands plan to pay out more than 1.3billion in bonuses for 2009, despite it preparing to reveal a pre-tax loss of at least 5billion today.

HSBC boss Michael Geoghegan earns a basic salary of 1.07million a year, and is entitled to a maximum annual bonus of 4.3million.

HSBC chief executive Michael Geoghegan and his Standard Chartered counterpart Peter Sands both announce annual results next week.

Sources say they have accepted that they need to water down their bonuses and defer them until later years, or forgo them altogether.

A final decision on the exact format has not been made. Chief executives at Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays have already waived their bonuses.

More...RBS given green light to hand out 1.3bn in bonuses ALEX BRUMMER: Bernanke sounds the sirens

City Minister Lord Myners piled the pressure on HSBC and Standard Chartered (up 19p to 1547.82p) by saying yesterday: ;I think the onus will now fall on [Michael Geoghegan, chief executive of] HSBC and Mr Peter Sands of Standard Chartered to see whether they conclude that they should waive any bonus entitlement which they might be granted.

HSBC (up 17.20p to 708p) has already shelved plans to give Geoghegan a bumper pay rise after pressure from investors.

Geoghegan earns a basic salary of 1.07million a year, and is entitled to a maximum annual bonus of 4.3million.

However, he is by no means the best paid banker at HSBC. Accounts for 2008 revealed that the top five earners between them took home 32.4million that year.

Sands enjoys 850,000 in basic pay, a maximum annual bonus of 2.125million.

Meanwhile RBS, which is 84pc owned by the taxpayer, was forced by the government to reduce its bonus pool to 1.32billion.

It had initially hoped to pay 1.6billion in bonuses, claiming that the market rate would have been 2.1billion. It will pay around 225million to the Treasury in bonus tax.

A senior RBS source said the ratio of compensation to revenue would be around 27pc to 28pc, at the lowest end of the industry scale. RBS will also say today that it has drastically undershot a government target of providing 16billion worth of extra lending to small businesses.