PARIS Airbus on Tuesday increased pressure on European governments to give it more money for the troubled A400M military transport plane

A400M military plane

PARIS Airbus on Tuesday increased pressure on European governments to give it more money for the troubled A400M military transport plane, saying it is considering scrapping the project just weeks after its maiden flight.The plane is running at least three years late and over budget.The seven customer governments agreed to re-negotiate the original contract, which Airbus CEO Tom Enders has slammed for being badly drawn up and making the planemaker shoulder too much of the cost overruns.EADS, Airbus’ parent, hopes governments will either pay more for the planes or reduce the number of planes on order. Other options include reducing the specifications, or spreading increased payments out over time.Negotiations have so far failed to find a compromise – notably over EADS’ demand for more money.Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said that ending the program “is a scenario” if the military plane project “continues to contribute to a loss.””We are suffering from a stagnation, he said. “The loss-making is serious. This needs to be urgently resolved.”He urged the governments involved in the program to reach a decision on whether to continue financing it by the end of this month.

Engineers working on the project could be better deployed on Airbus’ A350 or A380 airliner programs, he said.The A400M had its maiden flight last month in Spain – with first delivery scheduled in three years.The program was launched six years ago with an order for 180 planes from seven governments – Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. The original price was euro20 billion ($29.5 billion), but a preliminary report by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers said parent company EADS might need an extra euro5 billion – inflating the final bill by 25 percent.

Abandoning the project would cost EADS euro5.7 billion ($8.4 billion) in advance payments it would have to return to governments – and would dent its credibility. It has already put aside euro2.4 billion in provisions against losses related to the plane.

South Africa recently pulled out of an order for eight A400Ms, leaving Malaysia as the only export customer.A German defense ministry spokesman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that the decision on the A400 was due by the end of January. A meeting of high ranking defense officials is tentatively scheduled for next week, he said.For governments, canceling the project would also have consequences in terms of jobs and also military needs.Britain and France – who have Europe’s largest air forces – need the airlift capacity for military and humanitarian missions in rugged areas.

There are other planes, such as the U.S.-built Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules and the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. But neither fulfills the requirements set out by European air staffs. The C-130J turboprop carries only half the payload of the A400M, and the much more expensive C-17 jet is considered too large and lacks the tactical versatility of the Airbus design.While waiting for the A400M, Britain’s Royal Air Force acquired six C-17s and has flown them out of its air base at Brize Norton in central England in support of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.They have also been used for humanitarian purposes after tsunamis in Southeast Asia and earthquakes in Pakistan.Last month Boeing said the RAF would acquire a seventh C-17.Defense ministers from the seven countries agreed in July to re-negotiate the contract after EADS missed a March 31 contract deadline for the first flight.Sandy Morris, an analyst with Royal Bank of Scotland, said uncertainty on the outcome was weighing on EADS’ the share price. On Tuesday, EADS shares were trading down 1.2 percent at euro13.82.”Does EADS want clarity on this? Absolutely because the A400M is dominating sentiment toward a the company,” he said.The company reports its full year results on March 10.Union leaders expressed concern about possible job losses if the project ends – a possibility they say has already been raised by Airbus CEO Tom Enders.”Mr. Enders told me himself that he seriously considers backing out of the A400M,” said Bernhard Stiedl, a spokesman for Germany’s powerful IG Metall union. “He said the project cannot be realized cost-effectively and is therefore not profitable for Airbus,” Steidl said.Enders has said that he would prefer to end the project than let it continue hurting the company.”Better an end with horror than a horror without end,” he was quoted as saying in German media last year.(AP)

Grand Theft Auto 5 release date expected in fall 2010

Multi-annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) to be a platform for industry players to show off games their products, both of which would come and that was published. Well, at E3, the upcoming new series of Grand Theft Auto is estimated to be

GTA v

exhibited.Next E3, which will be held in June 2010, believed to be showing some new games. One of the great game that arises is believed to be Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V). If true, GTA V will be one major newspaper in the carpet.Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) said that, the presence of the latest GTA series can be seen in the upcoming E3 show.”I think we’ll be hearing about the other GTA series on the upcoming E3. But it is not in the form of a playable demo, but sebuat teaser that will display the latest GTA series,” Divnich said, as quoted from Gameinformer, Monday, (28/12 / 2009).GTA IV was released in December 2008. Game with a fictional character named Niko Bellic fly proved increasingly Rockstar name in the gaming industry arena. So what is ‘GTA V’ would be present at E3? Wait for it later.

"mentally disturbed" woman tried to attack Pope Benedict XVI

"mentally disturbed" woman tried to attack Pope Benedict XVI

The woman who dragged the Pope down Thursday night during Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica is the same woman who tried to attack the Pope at the same function last year, the Vatican said.The woman, described by a Vatican spokesman as “mentally disturbed” jumped a barrier at the start of the event and toppled Pope Benedict XVI as onlookers gasped.Screams erupted from worshippers when the woman ran toward Pope Benedict XVI and grabbed onto his vestments as he walked down the main aisle of the Rome church, video footage showed.

He was quickly helped to his feet by his aides — prompting cheers from the crowd — and the service was resumed, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told CNN.The Pope was not hurt in the incident, Lombardi said.

“Unfortunately that is not the same for Cardinal [Roger Etchegaray] who was nearby; he fell and broke his femur,” said Lomabardi.The woman was being detained, Lombardi said. Lombardi did not release the name of the woman but she had been named in Italian news outlets.He confirmed that the woman was same person who unsuccessfully tried to rush at the Pope at the event last year.

Lombardi defended the Vatican’s security saying authorities were sure that the woman did not have any weapons because she had gone through security screening.

John Allen, senior Vatican analyst for CNN, said such security breaches aren’t uncommon.”As compared to say, the president of the United States, the security membrane around the pope is pretty thin and fairly permeable,” he said, citing similar past incidents, including one that happened last Christmas Eve.

Allen said that generally, these disruptions are caused by people who aren’t seeking real harm, but who want to be close to the pope.Benedict began what has traditionally been a midnight Mass at the Vatican at 10 p.m. as officials sought to keep the 82-year-old pontiff from a late night.

Celebrants in Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank, however, joined the Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal for a midnight Mass attended by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian officials.

Outside the Church of the Nativity, erected over the site Christian tradition says was the place of Jesus’ birth, the faithful gathered under the watchful eyes of heavily armed Palestinian police.

But Palestinian shopkeeper Nadia Hazboun said the security situation in the West Bank has improved in the time since the militant Hamas group took over Gaza and Abbas’ Fatah movement abandoned the narrow strip of land between Israel and the Mediterranean for the West Bank.

“It was bad, now it is good,” he told Voice of America radio. “I told you, before anybody take the law in his [own] hands. But now the law [is] with the police. We have security, we have calm, we have now the best situation in Bethlehem.”Were you there? Share pictures, video

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem is a popular destination for American Christians, including Iowan Paul Edelman.”Just the festivities, the idea that this is the birthplace of Christ, and you get to see all the historic places and share it with people from around the world; it’s a very nice experience,” he told Voice of America radio.

antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.'s

Google

SAN FRANCISCO  U.S. antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.’s proposed $750 million purchase of mobile phone marketer AdMob, the latest sign of greater government vigilance as Google tries to expand its advertising empire.The Federal Trade Commission sought more information about the deal this week, according to a Wednesday post on Google’s blog.This so-called “second request” doesn’t mean regulators intend to block Google’s AdMob deal. Most other acquisitions that go through this stage end up getting approved.But the FTC’s action shows regulators are watching Google more carefully as the company tries to build upon its dominance of the Internet’s lucrative search advertising market. Google is expected to pull in more than $22 billion in revenue this year, mostly from ads shown alongside search results and other Web content.

“We know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google’s success,” Paul Feng, a Google product manager, wrote in Wednesday’s blog posting. Echoing previous management comments, Feng said the company remains confident its AdMob purchase, announced last month, will be approved.Google’s huge lead in Internet search triggered a 2008 government investigation that scuttled its plans to enter into an advertising partnership with rival Yahoo Inc., which runs the second most-popular search engine. Yahoo plans to work with Microsoft Corp. instead, beginning next year if those two companies can gain regulatory approval.

Since its inception nearly four years ago, AdMob has built a thriving network that sells and delivers ads on applications and Web sites designed for the iPhone and other mobile devices. It’s still relatively small with estimated annual revenue of $45 million to $60 million, but regulators apparently want to understand whether its technology and advertising contacts would give Google an unfair advantage in its quest to sell more mobile phone ads.

Google management has indicated that it believes mobile marketing eventually may become bigger than advertising on Internet-connected computers. That tipping point still appears to be many years away, with U.S. mobile advertising expected to total $416 million this year, about 2 percent of overall Internet ad spending in the country.

The FTC’s decision to take more time digging into the AdMob deal means Google probably won’t be able to take over the company for several more months, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast wrote in a Wednesday research note. It took a year for the FTC to approve Google’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Internet ad service DoubleClick Inc., which was completed in March 2008.

Google’s first big deal, a $1.76 billion acquisition of the video site YouTube, was cleared by regulators in a month in 2006.
Separately, Google ran into another potential roadblock Wednesday after another takeover target, On2 Technologies Inc., said that it still hadn’t collected enough shareholder support to close its deal. On2, based in Clifton, N.J., adjourned a shareholder meeting to approve its $106 million sale to Google until Feb. 17 in hopes of getting the necessary support.Google, which is based in Mountain View, agreed to buy On2 in August to help improve YouTube’s video technology.