South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries Co said on Thursday it had won $220 million in orders˙from Italian, German and Norwegian˙shipping companies. Samsung Heavy, a shipbuilding unit of the Samsung Group, said in a statement that the company had received an order for one vessel from Italy's Saibos Construcoes Maritimas Lda at $65 million. The statement said it had received an order for one 5,500-TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) container ship at $60 million from Nordcapital Shipping Corp of Germany. It had also received orders for two 150,000-tonne oil carriers from Viken Shipping Co of Norway at a combined $95 million, the statement said.

BOE ready for trouble in early euro days:

Bank of England Deputy Governor David Clementi said on Friday some trades may go wrong and firms could lose money due to the birth of the euro but that London's financial district looked well prepared to handle the new currency. "It would be surprising if it was entirelytrouble-free," he told BBC radio. "But most of the major firms have carried out dress rehearsals. They know the work that needs to be done." Banks are working round-the-clock to get their systems and data ready for Monday when the euro will go live in the international markets. But while attention has been focused on Monday's debut, Clementi said any hick-ups could start to be seen later. "I think that it is possible, not that we shall have problems on Monday but that later in the week we will find some failed trades, some payments that were sent to the wrong banks, what we call misdirected payments," he said.

Court ruling lifts restrictions on Playboy cable:

A US federal court has handed down a ruling which could pave the way for the soft-core pornography Playboy Channel to be carried round-the-clock on US cable networks. A Chicago district court declared Section 505 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which placed restrictions on the distribution of audlt channels, "unconstitutional". Thechannel,˙ which broadcasts adult programming, hailed the decision as a victory. "We are extremely pleased that the court agreed with ourposition that Section 505 is unconstitutional and unnecessary," said Christie Heffer, chairman and˙chief executive of Playboy Enterprises Inc. The Section 505 was˙drawn˙up˙ to ensure that certain programming did not "bleed" ˙through on premium or pay-per-view channels on some cable systems.