Russian customs officials detained a train conductor who tried to smuggle equipment for a supersonic strategic bomber across the border with Ukraine, the customs service said Wednesday.

Customs officers doing a check in western Russia's Bryansk customs check point found a box in the conductor's train compartment on the train going from Moscow to Ukraine's Odessa."According to the train conductor, the box contained a car battery charger which was given to him by an unknown man who asked to take it to a friend in Kiev," customs spokeswoman Faina Svedovaya told Interfax.However, a weapons expert concluced that the device was a "combined airspeed indicator used on military aircraft Tu-22M and Tu-160," she said.Both are Soviet-designed supersonic bombers that are presently used in the Russian and Ukrainian milita...

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Posted in: Russian customs officials detained a train conductor who tried to smuggle equipment for a supersonic strategic bomber across the border with Ukraine,the customs service said Wednesday.

Big Spanish banks will demand some kind of government-backed insurance against losses before buying into troubled savings banks

Big Spanish banks will demand some kind of government-backed insurance against losses before buying into troubled savings banks that have failed to capture interest from private investors, market players say.The Bank of Spain is testing interest from larger banks in Caja Mediterraneo (CAM) (CAHM.MC), Spanish media reported on Friday, after the troubled savings bank failed to go through with a state-driven merger with three other regional banks.CAM said later in the day it would seek 2.8 billion euros ($3.96 billion) state funds via the state-backed bank restructuring fund, or FROB, to boost its capital. It added that it would encourage new partners if they could help with its future plans.Spain's mainly unlisted regional savings banks are scrabbling to find ways to raise capital by stock market...

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Posted in: Big Spanish banks will demand some kind of government-backed insurance against losses before buying into troubled savings banks

Head of bailout fund Klaus Regling says Ireland’s debts are sustainable and default would be ‘unwise’

IRELAND’S EXPANDING bank rescue just got bigger, Portugal’s plight worsens by the day and Greece seems as far away as ever from salvation. But Klaus Regling, chief of the euro zone bailout fund, insists EU leaders have finally turned the corner in their titanic battle against the sovereign debt crisis.“In the summer of last year, the majority of market people in New York thought the euro would have disappeared in three years. This was not the situation east of here. In Asia, people had a different view. But in London, New York, that perception that existed last summer, has turned around,” he says in his sparse Luxembourg office.“My conclusion from that very clearly is that the strategy that was adopted to preserve financial stability in the euro area is working. It doesn’t mean that all problems...

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Posted in: IRELAND’S EXPANDING bank rescue just got bigger

European Union immigration commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem warned France Friday it is on a collision course with the law by returning Tunisian migrants to Italy.

European Union immigration commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem warned France Friday it is on a collision course with the law by returning Tunisian migrants to Italy."The French authorities cannot send them back to Italy," Cecilia Malmstroem said, as a row grows over how a treaty governing frontier management throughout the borderless Schengen area on mainland Europe is implemented.The emergence of the spat came as Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi threatened to "grant temporary permits" to migrants saying they wanted to join family in France, Germany and other EU nations.The papers "would allow them to circulate freely in Europe," Berlusconi underlined of a move his government says is designed to "put pressure" on partners in the face of "an utter refusal to collaborate."Italian Foreign Minister...

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Posted in: returning Tunisian migrants to Italy.

Two women have been hurt in a suspected letter bomb explosion at offices belonging to lobby group Swissnuclear in the northern Swiss city of Olten.

Both women have been taken to hospital for treatment but are not thought to be seriously hurt.The lobby group represents a number of Swiss power companies. The building also contains a branch of UBS bank.Switzerland responded to Japan's nuclear crisis this month by halting a decision on new power stations.Six people were working in the sixth floor offices apparently targeted by blast, Swiss media report.Police said the lives of the two women caught up in the explosion were not in danger.The UBS bank branch in the same building was said to have been unaffect...

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Posted in: Swissnuclear in the northern Swiss city of Olten.

A shop will open on the Champs-Elysees later this year and a French website will open too. M&S will also open a chain of Simply Food stores.

A shop will open on the  later this year and a French website will open too. M&S will also open a chain of Simply Food stores. This is a huge move. But also a huge risk.M&S lost an incredible amount of goodwill when it closed the shops in 2001, including 18 stores in France.On the day that the closures were announced, Agence France-Presse ran the following snippet: "Employees of Marks and Spencer's 18 stores in France react with shock and indignation to news that the company's entire operation on continental Europe is shutting down."There followed noisy protests, and books of condolence were placed in stores.It was not only the fact that M&S was pulling out that shocked customers, it was the manner in which M&S did it. The move took its staff by surprise and they accused...

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Posted in: Champs-Elysees

Sources close to BP deny that its strategic alliance with Rosneft will be jeopardised by Kremlin moves to force the resignation of the Russian energy group's chairman, Igor Sechin.

Sources close to BP deny that its strategic alliance with Rosneft will be jeopardised by Kremlin moves to force the resignation of the Russian energy group's chairman, Igor Sechin.Russia wants to remove government representatives from the helm of state-run companies to improve corporate governance and the country's investment climate, president Dmitry Medvedev said in a speech in the Urals.Sechin, Russia's deputy prime minister, was one of the architects of a $16bn (£10bn) share swap deal signed in January that involves BP and Rosneft teaming up to explore the Arctic seabed for oil. That venture is already facing obstacles after BP's current Russian partners, TNK-BP, won a temporary court blocking order last month. The oligarchs behind the joint venture argued that under the terms of a shareholder...

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Posted in: Igor Sechin.,Sources close to BP deny that its strategic alliance with Rosneft will be jeopardised by Kremlin moves to force the resignation of the Russian energy group's chairman

US is preparing to pull its attack planes out of the coalition airstrikes in Libya

US is preparing to pull its attack planes out of the coalition airstrikes in Libya - as rebel fighters are pushed back to the eastern town of Brega by Colonel Gaddafi's advancing troops.US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen said American combat missions would end on Saturday, with Nato partners and other coalition nations picking up the slack.Mr Gates said no-one should be surprised by the move, but he called the timing "unfortunate".After coalition airstrikes began on March 19, the rebels raced forward to recapture the towns of Ajdabiyah, Brega and Ras Lanuf.Mr Mullen said 25% of Libyan military hardware had been destroy...

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Posted in: US is preparing to pull its attack planes out of the coalition airstrikes in Libya

Italy has transferred 1,716 North African migrants - most of them Tunisian - to a temporary camp site in its south-eastern Puglia region.

Italy has transferred 1,716 North African migrants - most of them Tunisian - to a temporary camp site in its south-eastern Puglia region.The migrants arrived by ship on Thursday from Lampedusa, a tiny island packed with thousands fleeing poverty and unrest in Tunisia.A "tent city" has been set up to accommodate them in Manduria, a town in the southern heel of Italy.Overcrowding has created unhygienic conditions on Lampedusa, officials say.Italy's Il Giornale newspaper says Rome is planning to repatriate 100 Tunisians every day.Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will visit Tunis on Monday to discuss the migrant influx with the authoriti...

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Posted in: 716 North African migrants - most of them Tunisian - to a temporary camp site in its south-eastern Puglia region.,Italy has transferred 1

Hundreds of thousands of websites appear to have been compromised by a massive cyber attack.

The hi-tech criminals used a well-known attack vector that exploits security loopholes on other sites to insert a link to their website.Those visiting the criminals' webpage were told that their machines were infected with many different viruses.Swift action by security researchers has managed to get the sites offering the sham software shut down.Code controlSecurity firm Websense has been tracking the attack since it started on 29 March. The initial count of compromised sites was 28,000 sites but this has grown to encompass many times this number as the attack has rolled on.Websense dubbed it the Lizamoon attack because that was the name of the first domain to which victims were re-directed. The fake software is called the Windows Stability Center.The re-directions were carried out by what...

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Posted in: Hundreds of thousands of websites appear to have been compromised by a massive cyber attack.

Irish bank shares hit after stress tests show another €24bn needed

Irish bank shares hit after stress tests show another €24bn neededIreland's banks received widely different reactions from the market to the news they need to raise another €24bn (£21bn), with Bank of Ireland's shares jumping more than 30pc while Irish Life & Permanent suffered a 60pc slu...

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Posted in: Irish bank shares hit after stress tests show another €24bn needed