Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) announced that it received a new framework to deliver a range of professional engineering services to the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) in the United Kingdom. MAG owns and operates four regional airports - Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside - making it the second largest airport operator in the U.K.

Jacobs will provide airfield civil engineering, and mechanical and electrical engineering for MAG's building stock, including both airport facilities and non airport-related developments. Jacobs is the exclusive provider of these services.

The company also received a contract from the City and County of San Francisco, California, to provide construction management services for the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center Rebuild Program.

The rebuild was approved by San Francisco voters in November 2008. They authorized the City and County to finance the project with $887.4 million general obligation bonds.

The San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center

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TODAY: Russia pushes for recogition of breakaway regions; Ukraine denies allegations of involvement in war; USSR plan to invade Manchester revealed; Russia's silent monuments to nuclear victims; Arctic Sea, dark spots. Russia's Foreign Ministry has reiterated a request that the sovereignty of breakaway Georgian regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia be internationally recognized.  Traditional partners Belarus and Kazakhstan have been silent on the matter; only Nicaragua has joined Russia's call.  Georgia's minister for refugees and accommodation has granted refugee status to a Russian soldier who deserted on July 1.  According to Bloomberg, Ukraine has denied claims that its soldiers fought alongside Georgian troops in last year's war.   ...

Gold price action on Monday looked similar to Friday’s. The bottom for gold in the Far East came shortly after 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong…rose until shortly after London opened, declined a couple of bucks…but once the London a.m. gold fix was in [10:30 a.m. in London...5:30 a.m. in New York], gold rose to its high of the day shortly after 11:00 a.m. This high [once again over $940] lasted until 9:00 a.m. in New York, shortly after the Comex opened…then it got taken down eight bucks to its low of the day at 10:00 a.m. in New York…which just happens to be the London p.m. fix…3:00 p.m. over there.

From that point it rose right into the Comex close…and was taken down and closed below $940 once again in the electronic market.

Silver’s chart pattern was virtually identical to gold’s.

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FFW Corporation, parent corporation of Crossroads Bank, announced today that it has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.22 per share of common stock. Payable June 30, 2009 to shareholders of record on June 15, 2009, the dividend represents a 4.76% increase over the cash dividend of $0.21 paid the prior year’s same quarter.

According to the press release, the book value of FFW Corporation stock was $18.24 per share as of April 30, 2009. Yesterday the stock’s trading price closed at $11.10 and the number of outstanding shares was 1,112,260 as of the same date. At the end of last month, the corporation had assets of $320.2 million and shareholders’ equity of $27.6 million.

Crossroads Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of FFW Corporation, provides a broad range of banking services and a wide array of investments and securities products through its main office in Wabash and four banking centers

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Gold tacked on about $10 in early Wednesday morning trading in the Far East. But shortly before London began trading, all the those gains began to disappeared. The low for the day was shortly after Comex floor trading started. From there, a spirited rally began, which went vertical right after London closed for the day…but [as always] there was someone standing there with a hammer to make sure that the rally went no further.

click to enlarge

Silver was up a dime by 3 p.m. in Hong Kong in their afternoon yesterday…when it, too, began the long decline…with the bottom coming at 9:30 during Comex trading. The rally in silver ran into the same seller as gold…and at precisely the same time…and that was it for the day.

Initially, the precious metals shares held up well despite the onslaught…but the

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Sector 10 Inc. has developed a unique product line that is allowing them to shine in the marketplace. Two of Sector 10’s showcase products are the Stationary Response Unit (SRU) and Stationary Response Media Unit (SRU-Media). SRU and SRU-Media provide pre-deployed resources as a way to save lives, avert injuries and reduce liability. These systems provide first responders and building occupants with first aid supplies, life saving equipment, occupant tracking through a real-time 3D interface, and emergency communications. This unique product line and success is a result of the strong leadership of the company’s Board of Directors, all of which have a track record of success in various fields.

Leading the way at Sector 10 is their Chairman Pericles DeAvila. DeAvila is responsible for all strategic, financial and operational aspects of Sector 10, Inc. and its associated businesses. DeAvila has

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To be fair to the good burghers of Dunedin (though I’m not feeling very charitable at this moment), they are not the only people in the world doing stupid things right now with other people’s money.

Sports stadiums seem to hypnotise local politicians. All around the world they lose their senses whenever a much-loved sports team asks for subsidies or grants for a fancy concrete and glass monument. In America the pressure is even greater because sports franchises there are mobile and threaten to jump to other cities if they don’t get their big toy. It happens too in Australia (the Telstra Dome in Melbourne and the ANZ Stadium in Sydney are both bankrupt) and Britain (Google “Wembley Stadium” and “delay” to find 44,800 links in 0.33 seconds for a laugh).

Dunedin City Council doesn’t even have the imminent threat of the Highlanders departing as an excuse. The Highlanders are unlikely to

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IMAX Corporation (NASDAQ:IMAX, TSX:IMX), the popular giant screen entertainment company based in New York and Toronto, has scored a second big win in Europe, this time with ODEON Cinimas, Europe’s largest exhibitor. IMAX announced today that ODEON has agreed to install two IMAX® theaters in the London area, less than two weeks after announcing a deal with Austria’s largest exhibitor, Cineplexx Kinobetriebe Gmbh, to install three IMAX theatres in Austria.

The ODEON deal also represents another major step in IMAX’s global expansion with its new digital projection system. IMAX has already secured contracts for more than 180 of the advanced digital systems, even though the product was only officially launched a few months ago. The system is able to recreate the unparalleled image and sound experience that IMAX is famous for, but in a 100% digital format. The new digital system bypasses the expense and reliability issues associated with the

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Most popular investment books are published for the already rich and famous, by an industry that has become just too good at the business of selling books. Rarely will a publisher take a chance with the work of an unknown author. Certainly, it’s a no brainer to sell a Jim Cramer, Peter Lynch, Robert Kiyosaki, or Maria Bartiromo effort while a uniquely new approach to solving the puzzles of Wall Street, presented by an unknown writer or commentator, requires some major financial risk.

Big publishers want to sell already big names; discovering new ones is not in their wheelhouse. Are they responsible for the problems in the financial markets? Of course not, but they do have a perverse, if indirect, impact. By constantly publishing the same Wall Street friendly message, they contribute to the brainwashing.
Without a wider distribution of new …