Joe "Turkey" Jones carries a few extra pounds and a healthy sprinkling of gray hair nearly 30 years after his NFL career.

Still, the strapping 59-year-old Jones is an athlete who swims every day, lifts weights twice a week and knows his body is no longer the well-tuned machine it was when he played defensive end for the Cleveland Browns in the 1970s.

That's why he decided to spend Saturday undergoing a series of medical tests offered through The Living Heart Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides health screenings for retired NFL players.

He was just about the oldest among nearly 50 former players who were poked and prodded, hooked up to electrodes, studied with ultrasound technology and examined for aches, pains and joint problems at The Methodist Hospital of Houston.

Players were as young as their 30s, some newly retired, and some played for teams that no longer exist — the Houston Oilers and Baltimore Colts, for example.

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (EMPOWER) has signed a contract with Dubai Properties to supply 44,000 tons of district cooling to Culture Village. District cooling is claimed as the most eco-friendly technology in meeting carbon emission reduction targets.

The Power and Finance Week conference which takes place today, 28 Oct to 1 Nov in Bahrain will discuss the future of alternative fuels to include nuclear safety management and nuclear licensing. ESR Technology Group CEO David Weaver will present the overview. There are 114 active power generation projects of all types in the GCC countries worth a combined total of over $160bn.

Sharjah Investment Center announced that it has signed a contract of over half a billion dirhams with Darwish Engineering Emirates, for the infrastructure works of its 32 million square feet flagship project located near Sharjah International Airport, Hamriyah Free Zone.

Landmark Properties has announced in its recent participation to Bahrain's Property Arabia and the Worldwide Property Show 2007 that it will invest about BD120 million in various real estate projects, reported Bahrain Tribune. The company is currently developing the Marvida Tower and plans to launch another 22-storey property in Juffair with total number 96 units.

Astronauts swung open the door to their new space station addition Saturday and floated into the spacious and sparkling white room, formally christening it Harmony.

Even though it looked immaculate inside, international space station commander Peggy Whitson and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli — the first to enter — wore surgical masks and goggles to protect themselves from any dirty stowaways, like dust, lint or crumbs. The air inside the school bus-size chamber was immediately tested.

Harmony was named by schoolchildren in America but made in Italy, and Nespoli proudly noted that as he bobbed up and down in the 24-foot-long, 14-foot-diameter chamber that was delivered by shuttle Discovery.

"It's a pleasure to be here in this very beautiful piece of hardware," he said.

Germany's fractious coalition government has an issue both sides agree on -- the need to protect key industries, the country's crown jewels, from hostile foreign takeovers.

Several initiatives were floated last week that aimed to head off investors seen to be out only for their own interests, to the point where industrialists have warned against starting a protectionist backlash.

On Monday, leaders of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) approved a proposal aimed at shielding sectors essential to national security and "strategic infrastructure" from foreign investment funds.

The conservative party's plan was quickly hailed by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) as a step in the right direction.

It's hard to determine what's more surprising about Microsoft Corp.'s investment in Facebook Inc. — the appraisal that valued a 3 1/2-year-old Internet hangout at $15 billion or the rare snub of online search leader Google Inc.

The $240 million price Microsoft paid for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook demonstrates just how badly the world's largest software maker wanted to deepen its relationship with a startup that doesn't even have $200 million in annual revenue.

By sealing the deal Wednesday, Microsoft finally trumped Google after losing previous high-stakes bidding battles involving a stake in AOL and ownership of online video sharing pioneer YouTube and Internet ad service DoubleClick Inc.