Air France and other airlines today moved to replace speed monitors suspected of feeding false information to the computers of Flight 447 and leading to a series of failures that broke the plane apart over the Atlantic Ocean.

Airline bosses today dismissed safety fears regarding the Airbus A330, saying they were confident despite last week’s Air France jet crash.

AER LINGUS is replacing air speed sensors on some of its jets amid mounting speculation that the wrong flying speed in thunderstorm conditions caused the recent loss of an Air France plane with 228 people on board.

Missile manufacturer Thales today launched a recruitment drive for 40 skilled engineers.

A computer failure which caused air traffic chaos at Dublin Airport this summer could happen again, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) admitted today.

Internet security specialist nCipher is to be bought by defence electronics firm Thales under a £50.7m (€63.4m) deal announced today.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has apologised to customers for the continuing disruption arising from technical difficulties with its radar system at Dublin Airport.

SOUTH AFRICA’S ruling party leader Jacob Zuma launched a final bid in the country’s highest court yesterday to block evidence seen as crucial to his pending corruption trial.

TWO European scientists won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics yesterday for a discovery that allowed the iPod to become reality.

THE €15 billion National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) is to review its policy on ethical investments.

Saudi police arrested a militant after an overnight car chase and shootout in the streets of Riyadh, an Interior Ministry spokesman said today.

A FRENCHMAN was shot dead in the Red Sea city of Jeddah yesterday in what Saudi officials said was a “terrorist attack”, the second shooting of a Westerner in the oil-rich kingdom in 10 days.

A Northern Ireland-based missile company has won a British Ministry of Defence contract which will secure more than 80 jobs, it was announced today.

Chancellor Gordon Brown’s long-awaited statement on euro entry drew little response from City investors today.

London’s FTSE 100 Index was under pressure today as traders stayed on the sidelines ahead of Chancellor Gordon Brown’s statement on the euro.

A Belfast-based air defence company has won a multi-million euro contract to supply missiles to South Africa, it was announced today.

Share prices were up sharply across a range of blue chips in afternoon trading, rallying from opening lows as investors covered short positions made ahead of this morning's string of discouraging European corporate earnings, dealers said.

A rescue package to save troubled Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff from closure today appeared to be edging towards government approval.