was armed." He added that he had inspected the "completely smashed" body of the man in the graveyard after shooting at it to "confirm the kill" and that it was of "a guy in his mid-50s or 60s, very old." The accounts were originally given to the "Breaking the Silence" group of young former soldiers which is critical of methods used by the army in the occupied territories. One of the group's spokesmen, Avichai Sharon, a former member of the crack Golani Brigade, claimed the operations on 20 February 2002 were ordered "from high"­ including the Ministry of Defence­ and added: "In my eyes, this is a very harsh example of crossing the moral and human boundaries." He said it indicated that "we are not a defence force any more but a tribe which avenges in blood. As an Israeli, I fear this." He said the soldiers, whose testimony appears in today's Maariv, had not been named "for legal reasons".Describing another attack on the same day at the Beit Ha Mitbachayim checkpoint on the eastern edge of Nablus ­ in which fire was returned by Palestinian police ­ the other soldier, from the Tzanchanim Paratroop Reconnaissance Unit, said that the order to shoot at Palestinians had given by the unit commander and the brigade commander, a Brigadier Cochavi, had been present at the time.He said the policemen were ones who normally would have been warned by Israeli liaison officers about any military operations due to take place in their area. "We work very hard to cross pollinate for shareholders, management and workers."In Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, people are very well educated but unemployment is 10 per cent. When you look at the ownership and structure of German industry it is puzzling that a lot of it is conglomerates owning things they don't need to own. An attitude to target proper returns on capital has been absent.

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Germany is the fastest growing private equity market in Europe and it will continue to grow as private equity continues to finance the acquisition of non-core businesses."Michael R?er, the chief executive of Addison, praised the role of private equity yesterday. "We're not locusts, we are more like bees," said Mr Armitage yesterday. The British private equity firm HgCapital declared that Anglo-Saxon investors were not the "locusts" described by politicians in Germany, as it snapped up another business in the country yesterday. The acquisition of Addison Software and Service group for €78m (£52.7m) is likely to anger left-wing politicians there who have condemned UK and US financial investors as asset-stripping "locusts".Ian Armitage, the chief executive of HgCapital, said far from doing fewer deals, private equity firms saw Germany as their fastest growing market because of the huge restructuring of German industry that still needed to be carried out. It has 27 stores across the UK, France, Spain and Portugal and a wholesaling deal in Italy.Hackett scraped into the black with a pre-tax profit of £131,000 in the year to March 2004 on sales of £21.6m, the most recent figures available.. Richemont said the transaction would have "no material impact" on its balance sheet, cash flow or results for the year to March 2006.

It declined to comment further until it reports results next week.Jeremy Hackett, the label's chairman and founder, said: "They [Torreal] have seen the possibilities for Hackett in Spain." He will remain as the group's chairman.Mr Hackett created Hackett 21 years ago in partnership with Ashley Lloyd-Jennings as an outlet for the treasures the pair unearthed in house clearances and antiques markets. Mr Hackett changed tack and started selling new clothing and accessories designed to reflect a strong British heritage. Richemont is best known for its vast portfolio of luxury watch brands such as Cartier, Dunhill and Piaget.Torreal, a Spanish investment company, acquired Hackett for an undisclosed sum. Hackett, the archetypal gentleman's outfitter, was sold to a Spanish investment bank yesterday by Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods giant. Profits before tax, amortisation and exceptional items in the year to the end of March climbed 12 per cent to £255m. A large exceptional charge of £55m was booked after the group settled US litigation over corn syrup price-fixing allegations.Splenda is used in 4,000 products and has just been launched in the US in Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi and Diet Dr Pepper.. A warning from the sugar and starch group Tate & Lyle that changes to the European Union's sugar regime will drag down profits, drove its shares sharply lower yesterday. Sir David Lees, the chairman, said: "Reform will adversely affect the future performance of our European sugar and food and industrial ingredients businesses, although we cannot quantify the consequences at this stage." The shares posted their biggest one-day fall since last July, and were down 19.5p at 465.5p.Vishnu Gopal, at Goldman Sachs, said his research indicated that EU sugar refining profits - 23 per cent of group profits - could tumble more than 40 per cent on the back of the EU reforms.The World Trade Organisation is forcing the EU to open up its sugar regime to bring down prices.