Failure is a blow to the company and to David Cameron, who intervened personally to try to secure the order

BAE Systems has missed out on a £6bn contract to supply fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, in a blow to British export hopes and David Cameron's own attempts to secure a deal.

The UK arms manufacturer revealed on Thursday that more than a year of talks to supply 60 Typhoon aircraft to the UAE had failed. It also said vital negotiations with the Saudi government over the pricing of an existing Typhoon contract, keenly anticipated by shareholders, will drag into next year.

The news is a serious setback for BAE as it seeks to reduce its reliance on US and British defence markets that have been hit by government spending cuts. BAE's search for new sources of revenue has seen it pursue a failed merger with the Airbus owner Eads and launch a major push into emerging defence markets such as the UAE and India.

In its statement, BAE said: "BAE Systems and the UK Government have been in discussions with the Government of the United Arab Emirates regarding a range of defence and security capabilities including the potential supply of Typhoon aircraft. The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time."

The news is a blow not only to BAE but also to the prime minister, who intervened personally last month to try to secure a deal that would have represented a significant boost for British exports. During a visit to the UAE, Cameron urged Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, to opt for the Typhoon over a rival fighter produced by France's Dassault Systemes. Analysts thought the prime minister's move could have swung the deal for BAE, raising hopes that the UK will meet George Osborne's target of doubling exports to £1tn by 2020.

US lawmakers are considering a compromise five-year farm bill that would cut the food stamp program by $8 billion over the next 10 years.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told Reuters on Thursday that changing eligibility rules and disqualifying up to 4 million Americans who depend on food stamps would also help the US government save $40 billion over a decade.

As part of the new US farm bill, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives proposed to cut nearly $40 billion from nutrition programs, the largest cuts in a generation. However, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted to reduce food-stamp funding by $4.5 billion.

Food stamp benefits are the most politically contentious component of the first US farm bill since 2008.

"From everything I've seen, we are now within a few items of having this agreed to," said Harkin who is a member of the select committee responsible for reconciling the bills passed by the two chambers of the US Congress.

A federal appeals court in New York City has revived litigation against Saudi Arabia on behalf of families of victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

More than twelve years after the 9/11 attacks and eight years after a lower federal court ruled Saudi Arabia had immunity from prosecution, a three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled on Thursday that families of 9/11 victims can get their day in court against Saudi Arabia.

According to the families of 9/11 victims, the kingdom provided support to al-Qaeda prior to the attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people.

"This opinion is eminently correct and will give 9/11 victims their day in court," said Stephen Cozen, a partner at the Pennsylvania-based law firm Cozen O'Connor representing the plaintiffs.

"The parties will start over, and we are very, very satisfied that we will meet any defenses, both legal and factual, that are raised," Cozen added.

It's time for our annual round-up of the biggest Pinocchios of the year. This was not a presidential election year, so in some ways the subjects that needed to be fact checked were more substantive. In reviewing The Fact Checker's more than 200 columns in the past year, we found an interesting evolution from statistics about gun violence to claims about President Obama's health-care law. Our general rule of thumb held: the more complex a subject is, the more tempted politicians are to make misleading claims.

President Obama ended up with three of the most misleading claims of the year. But, despite the urging of some readers, his statement that "I didn't set a red line" on Syria is not among them. We had looked closely at that claim and had determined that, in context, it was a bungled talking point, so that statement actually earned no rating.

As always, that and other rulings were met with vehement objections from some readers. The Fact Checker thanks the readers who have offered thoughtful rebuttals to our conclusions. In some cases, in light of new information, we adjusted Pinocchio ratings.

In compiling this list, we primarily focused on claims that had earned four Pinocchios during the year. We also tried to focus on issues of broad interest, such as gun control, health care and the size of government. To keep it simple, we have shortened the quotes in the headlines. To read the full column, click on the link embedded in the quote.

"If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it."

This memorable promise by President Obama backfired on him when the Affordable Care Act went into effect and millions of Americans started receiving cancellation notices. As we explained, part of the reason for so many cancellations is because of an unusually early (March 23, 2010) cut-off date for grandfathering plans - and because of tight regulations written by the administration. This was our most popular fact check of the year - and Obama's pledge also was also named PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year."

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) wants kids to learn early in life that there's no such thing as a free lunch. To make sure they absorb that lesson, he's proposing that low-income children do some manual labor in exchange for their subsidized meals.

On Saturday, Kingston, who is vying to be his party's nominee in Georgia's Senate race next year, spoke at a meeting of the Jackson County Republican Party about the federal school lunch program.

Under that program, children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty line are eligible for free meals. Students from families with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level can receive lunches at reduced prices.

But on Saturday, Kingston came out against free lunches, saying that children should have to pay at least a nominal amount or do some work like sweeping cafeteria floors.

The White House has announced that US President Barack Obama would veto a new Iran sanctions bill introduced in the Senate.

"Passing new sanctions legislation now will undermine our efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution," White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Thursday.

"We don't believe this proposal is necessary, as I think we've made clear and we have been discussing with members of Congress for quite some time. We don't believe it will be enacted. We certainly know it's not necessary. If it were to pass, the president would veto it," he added.

Earlier on Thursday, a group of Democrat and Republican senators introduced new legislation to impose further sanctions against Iran if the country breaches the terms of the nuclear deal reached last month in Geneva. The Senate bill also calls for "diplomatic, military and economic support" to Israel in case Tel Aviv decides to launch an attack against Iran's nuclear energy program.

Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Britain Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz al Saud has criticized the West for its policies vis-à-vis Syria and Iran.

In a commentary in the New York Times on Tuesday, Prince Nawaf, who is a member of Saudi Arabia's ruling family, said the West's approaches towards Iran and Syria "risk the stability and security of the Middle East."

"We believe that many of the West's policies on both Iran and Syria risk the stability and security of the Middle East," the Saudi diplomat said.

Nawaf stressed that Saudi Arabia is prepared to act on its own to safeguard security in the region.

"This is a dangerous gamble, about which we cannot remain silent, and will not stand idly by," he wrote.

The criticism is the latest in a series of public statements by senior Saudi officials expressing displeasure with U.S. and Western diplomatic initiatives toward Syria and Iran.

32-year NSA Veteran Who Created Mass Surveillance System Says Government Use of Data Gathered Through Spying "Is a Totalitarian Process"

Bill Binney is the high-level NSA executive who created the agency's mass surveillance program for digital information. A 32-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a "legend" within the agency, Binney was the senior technical director within the agency and managed thousands of NSA employees.

Binney has been interviewed by virtually all of the mainstream media, including CBS, ABC, CNN, New York Times, USA Today, Fox News, PBS and many others.

Last year, Binney held his thumb and forefinger close together, and said:

We are, like, that far from a turnkey totalitarian state.

But today, Binney told Washington's Blog that the U.S. has already become a police state.

Western officials have reacted with alarm at Russia's deployment of tactical missiles on areas bordering NATO members states, describing it as a potentially destabilizing move.

Russian officials have confirmed that missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads have been moved to the Western Military District - a territory that abuts all three Baltic States and Poland - in a measure that marks an escalation in Moscow's campaign to dissuade a U.S.-backed missile shield program in Central Europe.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a briefing on Monday that Washington "urged Moscow to take no steps to destabilize the region."

Russian's Defense Ministry has defended the deployment, saying that it violated no international agreements. Russia has not revealed the number and exact location of the missiles, and it remains unclear how long they have been in the region.

"Acting on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Center for Effective Government, U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle concluded that the presidential order is not properly within the bounds of the so-called 'presidential communications privilege,'" Politico's Josh Gerstein reports.

In her opinion, Huvelle wrote there is "no evidence that the [directive] was intended to be, or has been treated as, a confidential presidential communication."

The Obama administration has maintained that the document was only intended for those who "need to know," but the judge argued the order was "distributed far beyond the president's close advisers and its substance was widely discussed by the president in the media."