UK

BAE SYSTEMS was up 0.15 to 4.79… To supply 10,000 trucks to US army - - The Times writes that Armor Holdings, bought by the company two months ago for US$4 billion, has won an order to build 10,000 trucks for the US army. Armor has, according to the paper, been named sole supplier to build a range of cargo and troop transport trucks in a program worth US$3.5 billion.

ITV was down 0.02 to 1.11… third quarter advertising continues to improve The company says third quarter advertising revenues continue to improve. The company says ITV1 NAR rose 2.0% in third quarter (-6.0% Jan-Oct); ITV NAR rose +5.0% (-2.1% Jan-Oct); total market NAR +6.5% (+1.7% Jan-Oct). New growth plan sets four key targets for the business: 3%-5% CAGR topline growth over the next three years; reaffirming the target of a 38.5% SOCI for the ITV family of channels in 2012; doubling ITV’s content revenues by 2012 to 1.2 billion; 150 million in online revenues by 2010. The company says the plan allows to sustain investment in original programs and content through self-funding. To dispose of remaining non-core assets. Targets dividend cover of 2 to 2.5x.

HOME RETAIL was up 0.04 to 4.05… Argos like-for-like up 1.8% in second quarter, cautious fiscal outlook Announces third quarter Argos sales of 942 million, +1.8% like-for-like; Homebase 391 million, -8% like-for-like. The company says weather conditions impacted Homebase seasonal categories. The company says for first half, further progress on gross margins and continued cost control is expected to see profits at Homebase ahead of last year and strong growth at Argos. Expects good first half profit result across the group, but the uncertain consumer outlook means the company remains cautious at this stage in the financial year. Homebase numbers worse than forecast. France

BOUYGUES was up €2.40 to €59.45… Orascom interest in Telecom/Nuclear update - Citing an interview with Naguib Sawiris, CEO of Egypt’s Orascom, Les Echos says that the Egyptian telecom group is ‘interested’ if the company decides to sell Bouygues Telecom. In further news, satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine (famed for its political gossip) has outlined what it dubs President Sarkozy’s ‘favored scheme’ for restructuring France’s nuclear industry, reports Reuters. According to the paper, Areva and Alstom would be merged and a holding company created in which the company would hold a 35% stake (having disposed of its Telecom business). The state would retain 18% in the new entity.

AIR FRANCE-KLM was down €0.93 to €26.80… Morgan Stanley downgrades to equal-weight from overweight and cuts target to by 13% to €35 as broker believes the European network airlines will face increasing revenue headwinds in 2008. The company says revenue trends are softening on long-haul routes relative to 2005-06, while capacity growth is increasing and business cycle demand is peaking. Adds that fiscal 2008-09 forecasts now generally sit 5-10% below consensus, and notes that history shows that negative EPS revisions are very damaging to airline share price performance.

CLARINS was up €4.58 to €60.00… ‘No comment’ from L’Oreal on bid rumor - Market rumor does the rounds this morning that L’Oreal could bid for the company L’Oreal declines to comment. Germany

FMC was up €1.16 to €37.36… Epogen concerns removed - A panel of expert advisers to the FDA cast two 14-to-5 votes yesterday, finding that the drugs should continue to be given to boost haemoglobin to 12 grammes a decilitre of blood both for kidney patients on dialysis and for those who don’t receive the treatment.

CONTINENTAL was up €1.34 to €91.66… On VDO effect - the company expects anti-trust approval for VDO in fourth quarter. Sees cashflow from the acquisition of more than €1 billion starting in 2009. Forecasts the unit achieving an operating margin of more than 10% by 2010 at the latest.

Pasta, the national dish of Italy, comes in more than 600 different types and shapes. Yet from linguine to spaghetti, farfelle to orecchiette, they will go unbought today.

Italian consumer groups have called a one-day strike against buying pasta in protest at the increasing costs that have seen its price rise by almost 20%.

The groups are angry that, while the price of ingredients such as wheat is rising in the shops, the earnings of the farmers who produce them remain flat.

“Prices increase by five times between production and consumption,” Toni De Amicis, a leader of the Italian farm lobby Coldiretti, said during the protest in Rome. “The right recipe is to reduce the gap between production and consumption.”

Economists say the price of pasta is being driven by rising worldwide wheat prices.

The demand for wheat is the result of several trends - chiefly an increasing demand for biofuels, which can be made from it - and improved diets in emerging countries where putting more meat on the table is raising the demand for feed for livestock.

However, separating Italians from their pasta is not something to be done lightly. The groups organising the strike promised to distribute free pasta, bread and milk in piazzas today, including in front of the Italian parliament.

The average Italian eats pasta at least once a day, munching their way through 28kg (61lb) of pasta a year - ten times more than the English. According to a recent survey, half of Italians would rather tuck into a plate of pasta than have sex.

The Italian sex symbol Sophia Loren once said of her famous curves: “Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti.”

It is about twice the size, half the cost and planned and built in almost a third of the time. When Beijing’s new airport terminal opens in February, comparisons with Heathrow’s Terminal 5 will be inevitable and not entirely flattering to London.

The Chinese capital’s new gateway to the skies was given its first international airing today after a three-and-a-half-year sprint to construct the world’s biggest airport complex for next year’s Olympics.

With 245 acres (99 hectares) of floor space, Terminal 3 of Capital Airport is bigger than all five Heathrow terminals combined. Once it comes into operation, Beijing expects to strengthen its position as a transport hub. With 66 million passengers forecast next year, it will jump from the ninth to third busiest airport.

Airport managers estimate the building costs of the Norman Foster-designed terminal at 21bn yuan (1.6bn), compared with the 3.5bn price tag of its equivalent designed by Richard Rogers in London.

The main building is reminiscent of Lord Foster’s other airports, though even more spectacular. It has the same light and airy glass wall entrance and high ceiling as Stansted and Hong Kong’s Chep Lap Kok. The double-skinned aluminium canopy -silver slats under a russet roof - shimmer for half a mile.

Airport authorities reportedly asked Lord Foster to incorporate the bright tones found in the Forbidden City. They are evident in the tapering red pillars and the brown-gold roof shaped like the back of a dragon.

But the darker colours - and cost-cutting that reduced the number of skylights - make parts of the interior gloomier than usual for Lord Foster.

Guides reel off statistics on an epic Chinese scale. The three buildings of Terminal 3 are home to 445 lifts, 1,800 miles of cables and a car park for 7,000 vehicles. There is a road network and a light railway under construction which ends at a terminus shaped like a giant glass turtle. At its peak the workforce numbered 50,000.

The pace of construction is unimaginable in most other countries. Building work started on August 7 2004 and is expected to be finished by the end of this year. The public consultation alone on Heathrow’s Terminal 5 took longer.

Why so quick? Jeff Martin, deputy project manager for Siemens, one of the main contractors, said it was simple: “There is so much available labour. If I say we need 500 extra workers tomorrow, then I will get them. In the US, you would have to go through unions and it would take much, much longer.”

Mr Martin said construction was on track for a February opening. The buildings are completed and fitting-out the interior is proceeding rapidly. The workforce has been trimmed to 8,000 and trials began this week on the state-of-the-art baggage handling system. Its designers boast that its 20-mile network of conveyor belts can handle 20,000 bags per hour and shift suitcases at a speed of 10 metres per second, more than double the rate at Heathrow.

Another reason for the speed of construction is the power of the authorities to relocate residents. Managers say 10,000 people have been resettled. A promotional video boasts that there have been no appeals over land acquisition, although the Guardian has learned that those who tried to protest could not file official complaints.

One family who lived in Gangshan village say they were cheated into signing a deal for low compensation.

“Whenever I think about it, I feel bitter and full of pain,” said the daughter, a teacher who gave only her English name, Cindy. “With the compensation they gave, we can only afford one apartment that I have to share with my parents, my brother and his wife. It is as though we have gone from rich to poor overnight.” However, the airport’s general manager, Zhang Zhizhong, said the resettlement had been well received.

Even with the mass resettlement and the huge new terminal, Beijing does not believe it has enough capacity. A working group is now searching for a second site.

In numbers

50,000
Number of workers employed at the site during peak construction

445 The number of passenger lifts to be fitted at the new Terminal 3 building

1,800 The number of miles of electric cabling throughout the site

20,000 The number of suitcases and bags that can be processed each hour