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EU under pressure from retailers over Chinese textile imports
Brussels: Retailers across the European Union are demanding swift action from the European Union in order to release a backlog of Chinese clothes imports, which are currently piling up unsold in EU warehouses.

With a busy autumn-winter season approaching, millions of imported Chinese finished textile goods are being held back from Europe's shoppers because quotas set for this year have already been breached.

The 25-nation bloc is split on how to deal with the problem, with EU trade chief Peter Mandelson caught in the middle of demands for protection to home-grown textiles industries from Chinese competition, and those of retailers wanting access to hotly-demanded Chinese imports.

EU retail lobby group Eurocommerce said the bloc's leading retail associations were meeting in Brussels to work out the demands to be made to Mandelson before an EU team of experts travel to Beijing on Wednesday to discuss the matter with Chinese authorities.

The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland have warned there was a risk of job losses and bankruptcies among retailers unless the EU eases the curbs on Chinese clothing imports.
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Rolls-Royce and GE win US$1bn deal for the US F-35 stealth fighter
London: The US government has awarded the British engineering firm, Rolls Royce, a seven-year contract to develop the engines of the next generation of stealth jet fighters, the F-35.

The aero-engine maker has formed a joint venture with rival GE to launch a full development and testing programme that will run until September 2013. The US$2.4bn contract will be worth about US$1bn to Rolls, which is the junior partner with a 40 per cent stake.

Pratt & Whitney engines will power the F-35 until 2012. After that, the GE/Rolls-Royce joint venture will compete with P&W. Batch buyers will be able to choose either engine.

The contract also includes the production and qualification of 14 engines - seven for ground tests, six for flight tests and one spare. The first engine is expected to test in mid-2008. Some 85pc of the work will be done in the US and 15pc at Bristol.

At $245bn, the F-35 is the US Department of Defence's most expensive arms programme. About 6,000 fighters are due to be built over 30 years. Lockheed Martin is designing the plane to replace several aircraft, including the F-16 and F/A-18 and the UK's Harriers.

The F-35 programme is being led by the US but the UK, Holland and Italy are also involved. Lockheed has already produced a prototype of the plane, expected to cost between $28mn and $40mn each. The first is expected to go into US service in two years' time, using the P&W engine.

Rolls is already working on a short take-off/vertical landing, or jump jet, facility for the F-35. That contract is also worth around $1bn to the UK engineer.
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