The 47% of the European engine. Maybe I understood what a “partner” is feeling, even when no words are spoken. Maybe this is my occult feeling about the word “patriotism” are more sub lined today. I don’t know. But watching the FT’s report from Würzburg, give the impression that the “relationship” could get back to its best. The Champion in World exports, the germs pluming 25%. And this indicator represents 47% of theirs, European engine (i.e. GDP). Every part of report wasn’t some kind of discovery for me. But make an opening in the Europe’s cord spine. That she is poor in working hands, etc. That the big slice of society – is the old people. However, the experience of this slice is important benefit. Plus, to don’t forget, the Old Continent leadership in technology. Well, so what? In many occasions I was insisting that where I’m tired, upset and sick, I have a clue that the “origins” of credit crunch crisis is still “unknown”. And this video was, задним числом, telling me that the classical and traditional investments of the “Leader in technology and know-how” was in the Financial Assets. And now, with the wishes of the Wizard from the Lord of the Rings, should be canalized to the real assets. Because, after the two thousands years, the Germany with the rest of the Europe, have only a 44% of houses and apartments in the hands of Martians from Brussels and Strasburg. And that now is the correct time to make deviation from financial to the real assets. I almost feel how my “partner” tossed stone in my direction… Of course, it’s allegorically. (More yet, after ArcelorMittalKrivorijstal.) Like that “If you love me, you wouldn’t” thing. I hate it, and I’ve tried to make it clear that I’m not going to fall for it never again. This words seems bring back all the , a many centuries ago quilt I was I’d sworn off for good. Now, as soon as I hear the words (i.e. заткни, have a girl, make the Ust’-Zajopinsk Royalties and Concessions, etc.), I tell you what: I’ll got my Monday and I am allergic to quilt”
The Top 100 in the military hardware sales. Firms Seek Strategies for Riding Out Downturn. This year's Defense News Top 100 list reflects the continuing boom enjoyed by the defense business in 2008. Next year's list will reflect the Obama administration's efforts to limit the growth of U.S. defense spending. Cuts in the 2010 spending request hit major programs, including Lockheed Martin's F-22 fighter and VH-71 presidential helicopter, Boeing's C-17 transport, the DDG 1000 destroyer, the Transformational Communications Satellite, and the Boeing and SAIC Future Combat Systems effort. With few exceptions, the top 20 defense, aerospace and services contractors posted strong revenue growth based on their 2008 financial results, propelled by record defense spending and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lockheed Martin continued to reign supreme, topping the list for the 14th consecutive year by besting its 2007 record with nearly $40 billion in defense sales. BAE Systems rose to No. 2 with a nearly 10 percent gain in defense sales to $32.7 billion. The British giant bumped Boeing, which slipped to No. 3 with defense sales of $31.1 billion, down slightly from 2007. The growth vindicates BAE's strategy: expand the U.S.-based business that makes tanks, infantry vehicles, electronics, munitions and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. The most striking jump belongs to Navistar, which shot from No. 89 to No. 19 as revenues soared from $429 million to $4 billion. Big sellers were MRAPs and medium-duty tactical transports, water and fuel tankers and cargo trucks. ITT (No. 13) saw defense revenues rise 50 percent to $6.3 billion, propelled by sales of night vision goggles, radios and other battlefield electronics. Textron (No. 23) and URS (No. 24) moved up a few notches with defense revenue growth of about $1 billion each. EADS' (No. 7) defense revenue grew 32 percent in 2008 to $16.2 billion. Although General Atomics, a privately held company, does not disclose its financial results, according to Pentagon records the company received $1.14 billion in defense contracts in 2008 to snag the No. 57 slot on the list. Major programs include Predator and Reaper UAVs as well as work on the Navy's Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). For almost a decade, industry has ridden U.S. defense spending to record highs. This year, with the backdrop of a depressed global economy has produced a growing consensus that 2008 may have been the peak. "Up until very recently, defense companies have been pretty much in denial that defense spending is going to go down," said Ron Epstein, the defense and aerospace equity analyst for Bank of America. "Going into 2009, all the defense companies were saying, 'It won't be so bad.' And now they're all starting to admit, one by one, sort of begrudgingly, that yes, it's getting tougher. There's less money to spend." Epstein predicts defense companies will start earning less money in 2011, as they finish up backlogged orders. "The outlays always lag the authorization by 18 months or so. So if you see authorization peak this year, next year, then outlays are going to peak right after it," he said. CHANGING BUYING HABITS. Several industry observers noted the U.S. and other militaries are seeking to "do more with less" and industry is trying to answer that demand - by extending the life of military equipment with upgrades and maintenance and focusing on alternative energy and fuel-saving technologies, for example. Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Robert Stevens is more optimistic. He sees the core U.S. defense budget continuing to increase, though at a lesser rate than in past years, perhaps at 2 to 3 percent. He believes that the global economic recession increases national-security threats and boosts demand for defense goods. "Security is one of those fundamental, cornerstone, foundational principles that the nation needs to have in place to build a strong economy, to build trade with confidence, to allow for the mobility of citizens. We are quite confident that security is an essential cornerstone," Stevens said. "When we do step back and look at the global security environment, we see a great deal of uncertainty that still has to be addressed." Michael Strianese, chief executive of L-3 Communications (No. 8), said he expects the base U.S. defense budget to increase no more than inflation, but that if U.S. plans to withdraw from Iraq by 2011 hold up, overall defense spending will shrink. "The extent to which that decrease translates to contractors in terms of products and services that are being sold is another topic altogether, because of course a lot of the money was going to sustainment, consumables, fuel, ammunition," Strianese said. Everyone is anticipating slower growth, he said. "What we've seen is platforms cancelled," he said, "and shifts into areas that are more relevant to today's conflicts such as ISR, rapid prototyping, state-of-the-art sensor packages, commercial-off-the-shelf prop aircraft, training, simulation, rotary-wing capability." With platforms being delayed or cancelled, he said, "I think it will be more company-specific as to who's taking the hits and who's not." Other industry observers were less optimistic. "Are we headed toward a downturn? … Probably," said Paul Meyer, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Advanced Programs and Technology Division. "Competitions will be more fierce, teaming will be more prevalent early on." Ongoing combat operations have led the U.S. military to buy more existing products and launch fewer development efforts. That's allowed many new entrants into the market, but their long-term prospects depend on how long U.S. troops stay in Iraq and Afghanistan, Meyer said. "If we pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq, we will have a significant impact. People will be buying less immediate capability and we will probably go back into a reversal of acquisition that's less about [filling urgent requirements] and just in time capability to more" conventional acquisitions. He said future success will depend on reducing risk for the customer. "Will we be able to influence the requirements more so than we have in the past? Yes, because we will invest in technology, software, interoperability and product demonstrations so you can bring them to the customer, so they can to some extent see it before they buy it," Meyer said. He said key markets include new generations of manned aircraft, bridging air and space capabilities, systems that make UAVs more autonomous and capable, and better small spacecraft. CIVIL SALES NO PANACEA? But when the defense downturn hits, firms will basically have two paths to growth: seek non-defense government work, something Lockheed has been especially adept at, or diversify into commercial work. Unfortunately, the latter may not be much of an option. When U.S. spending on defense procurement, research and development was falling or flat from 1996 to 1999, the civil aircraft market was on an upswing, giving defense companies opportunities to diversify into that market. The situation reversed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the U.S.-led invasions of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the civil aircraft market is trending downward, as worries mount about the future of acquisition spending. As a result, defense companies are looking at markets farther afield, such as renewable energy, said Steve Grundman, a defense and aerospace analyst with CRA International. Conglomerate ITT's strategy is to diversify in both defense and commercial markets. The company's defense sales breached the 50 percent mark of its total sales in 2008, but the company's strategy for defense and non-defense markets work in tandem, according to Chief Executive Steven Loranger. "We do know that defense budgets long term are going to be under some pressure," Loranger said. "We all agree with that, and as a consequence what we are doing is diversifying, maintaining our core in classic DoD [products], in electronic warfare, night vision, communications, and also diversifying outside pure DoD." ITT looks to grow its international footprint as it expands into adjacent markets like the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ITT, like a lot of big and small defense companies, is also viewing operations and maintenance as a growing market. That aligns with what many observers see as militaries' desire to do more with less in a tough budget environment.
"Any way you can do more with less is going to be important, especially as energy costs keep rising," said Mark Newman, DRS Technologies' chief executive, which is now part of Italian firm Finmeccanica (No. 9). "The military is a big consumer of fuel.Anything that has to do with fuel and energy efficiency is going to be a growth area." DRS is developing hybrid energy technology for the military. Other companies, including Lockheed Martin, also see alternative energy as a growth market. Consulting firm Booz & Co. predicts that by 2013, maintenance and operations costs will outstrip spending on procurement and RDT&E (research, development, testing and evaluation) in the U.S. defense budget, making the U.S. defense market primarily a services market. Many companies are taking note of that shift by offering services and technologies that upgrade and extend older equipment. Engine maker Pratt & Whitney has developed an "Engine Enhancement Package," a kit that will extend the major service intervals of the company's popular F100 engines that power F-15 and F-16 fighters. "We took fifth-generation technology into the hot section … and instead of increasing the thrust, we extended reliability," said Tom Farmer, the president of Pratt & Whitney's military engines business. "We took it from 4,200 cycles or depot every eight years of service to 6,000 cycles or depot every 12 years of good happy flying. It's extraordinary, a 40 percent improvement." Increasingly, customers are looking for less brute power and more affordable and reliable engines that are also more fuel-efficient. "It costs a lot of money to redesign an airplane, but if you can adjust the capabilities of air systems with engine technology, it's a pretty good return," Farmer said. Where once the demand was for more powerful military engines, now "you want [military engines] to be reliable and you want them to have low fuel burn. It's kind of like the commercial business and the military have come together" with the same goals, he added. LOOKING FOR U.S. NICHES. Saab, which sells the Gripen fighter, is offering that plane as a lower-cost alternative to other more expensive fighters for countries like Brazil and India. At the same time, it's targeting the U.S. market in precise ways as a smaller player, said Chief Executive Åke Svensson. "We have had some successes in the U.S.," such as with training systems and shoulder-launched anti-armor weapons, Svensson said. "We would be looking into how we could expand on some of those niche-oriented high-tech products where we think we could be a supplier to the U.S. But we also realize that we could not compete for systems like the fighter aircraft in the U.S. It is not open for external competition like that. The competitors are the major, major industries and we are a small player in that comparison. "For the U.S. market, everybody has an interest in that market because of the pure size of that market and the high-tech characteristics of that market. We have shown that when we have products that are in niche oriented areas meeting some of the requirements, we can certainly do business there." Boeing took a few hits this year with decisions to limit F-22 production and the breakup of the Future Combat Systems effort, but Jim Albaugh, chief executive of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, said there are still growing opportunities for defense sales for the company. "We looked at the April 6 announcement and there were certainly some impacts to us but also plenty of opportunities," Albaugh said at the Paris Air Show in June. Growing military personnel costs could pressure acquisition spending, Albaugh said. As a result, Boeing is trying to move into markets it believes will grow faster than DoD spending, such as international markets for aircraft. "I would say that right now today there are more international opportunities than I think I've ever seen in my career," Albaugh said at the Paris Air Show in June. Albaugh has been predicting a downturn in U.S. defense spending for several years. "I knew I'd be right at some point, and I think I am," he said in Paris. "Last year or this year coming up could be the high water mark for defense spending in the United States." Vago contributed to this report.
(Smolensky and Medvedev) Рекламе показали нож. http://www.vz.ru/society/2009/7/28/311978.html. Директор одного из столичных рекламных агентств найден мертвым, он скончался от множественных ножевых ранений. Тело мужчины нашли утром во вторник в его квартире на улице Бутырский вал. Источник, близкий к следствию, заявил, что против фирмы, которую возглавлял убитый, в 2007 году было возбуждено уголовное дело за размещение заказных материалов в СМИ. Единственным громким эпизодом за указанный период было дело о вымогательстве против сотрудника ООО «Паблик медиа». Однако там газете ВЗГЛЯД информацию об убийстве комментировать отказались. «27 июля в 10.20 в своей квартире на улице Бутырский вал с множественными ножевыми ранениями был обнаружен труп 50-летнего генерального директора одного из рекламных агентств», – приводит «Интерфакс» слова источника в правоохранительных органах города. Эксперты установили, что смерть мужчины наступила за девять часов до обнаружения тела. С места преступления был изъят кухонный нож. Имя жертвы официально не называется, но источник сообщил, что, по данным оперативников, в отношении фирмы, которую возглавлял убитый мужчина, в 2007 году было возбуждено уголовное дело за размещение заказных материалов в СМИ, однако в ходе разбирательства генеральный директор агентства остался на свободе, к нему не было применено уголовное наказание. Напомним, самое громкое дело 2007 года, связанное с вымогательством, в котором фигурировал сотрудник рекламного агентства, было возбуждено в отношении исполнительного продюсера ООО «Паблик медиа» Алексея Осипова. Он предлагал генеральному директору ФГУП «Почта России» Игорю Сырцову снять с эфира федерального канала несуществующий сюжет, компрометирующий чиновника. За это он требовал с Сырцова 20 тыс. долларов. Алексей Осипов был задержан 4 апреля 2007 года в момент получения требуемой суммы в ресторане. Прокуратура предъявила подозреваемому обвинение в вымогательстве и нарушении неприкосновенности частной жизни. В качестве меры пресечения Останкинский суд Москвы избрал для него содержание под стражей. 9 августа 2007 года Останкинский суд Москвы приговорил Осипова к двум годам заключения. Газета ВЗГЛЯД обратилась в агентство «Паблик медиа», однако не пожелавший представиться мужчина ответил, что не уполномочен комментировать информацию об убийстве, подтвердить или опровергнуть он ее не может, и бросил трубку. Следствие уже рассматривает несколько версий убийства директора рекламного агентства. «Одна из них – это убийство на бытовой почве, другая – убийство, связанное с профессиональной деятельностью погибшего. В настоящий момент приоритетная версия расследования пока не определена», – сообщил источник в правоохранительных органах.
Suspeita de sabotagem nos casos de cegueira em Santa Maria. Uma chamada anónima feita no sábado coloca a hipótese de sabotagem nos casos de cegueira no Hospital de Santa Maria . A Inspecção-geral das Actividades em Saúde já está a investigar. 9:51 Terça-feira, 28 de Jul de 2009 A hipótese de sabotagem está a ser investigada no caso dos doentes do Hospital de Santa Maria , em Lisboa, que ficaram cegos. Segundo a edição de hoje do jornal "Público", a Inspecção-geral das Actividades em Saúde está a analisar a hipótese que foi colocada sábado através de uma chamada anónima para Santa Maria. O telefonema indicava que com o fármaco Avastin foi colocada uma substância tóxica para os olhos, tendo sido isso que provocou a perda de visão. No entanto, há outras hipóteses em cima da mesa, como a adulteração do medicamento por ter estado exposto ao calor ou mal guardado. Colocada de parte está a possibilidade de infecção. O director do Serviço de Oftalmologia do Hospital de Santa Maria, Monteiro Grilo, adianta ao mesmo diário que: "O que foi injectado no dia 17 de Julho a seis doentes era Avastin que estava contaminado ou estava adulterado ou era outro medicamento".
