The FINANCIAL -- NASA's Space Technology Program has awarded Space System/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., a $3 million contract to initiate the process of hosting a space laser communications relay demonstration terminal payload aboard a Loral commercial satellite, which launches in 2016.

The FINANCIAL -- Ambassador Erwan Fouéré, the Special Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office for the Transdniestrian settlement process, welcomed today’s agreement on the principles and procedures for the conduct of formal negotiations as well as the agenda for the process.

The FINANCIAL -- Prosecutors pressed mass killer Anders Breivik for details about the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to on the third day of his trial for the massacre of 77 people.

The FINANCIAL -- EUROCHAMBRES and BUSINESSEUROPE addressed a letter to the President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, expressing their utmost concern over the recent adoption of trade restrictive measures and the sudden expropriation of YPF, owned by one of the largest European investors in Argentina.

The FINANCIAL -- NASA successfully conducted a drop test of the Orion crew vehicle's entry, descent and landing parachutes high above the Arizona desert in preparation for the vehicle's orbital flight test, Exploration Flight Test -1, in 2014.