PHNOM PENH, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Cambodian garment exports rose 14.3 percent in the first half of 2007, compared to the same period last year, a senior commerce ministry official said Thursday.

Exports to July totalled nearly 1.7 billion dollars, said the official, who did not want to be named, adding that the sector will remain the driving force behind impoverished Cambodia's economy despite jitters over greater regional competition.

LONDON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - British supermarket giant Tesco will discuss the causes of protests by 25,000 textile workers in Bangladesh over the weekend with its suppliers, The Independent reported on Monday.

'We have recently audited all of our suppliers' sites in Bangladesh and do not believe the workers' grievances are related to these locations,' a Tesco spokesman was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

DHAKA, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - At least 25,000 textile workers defied a ban on protests in emergency-ruled Bangladesh on Saturday to demand back-pay and bonuses in one of the country's biggest industrial zones, police said.

The workers walked off the job in the Tejgaon Industrial Area in Dhaka and held protests in the streets, forcing the shutdown of most factories in the area, assistant police commissioner Moshiur Rahman said.

BRUSSELS, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission on Wednesday hit a group of zip and other fastener makers with a fine of 328.6 million euros (458 million dollars) for running an illegal cartel.

The European Union's competition watchdog accused six companies and a German trade group of fixing price hikes together, setting price floors, sharing customers, carving up markets and exchanging sensitive information.

PARIS, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - With textile quotas about to expire, dozens of Chinese fashion firms are strutting their stuff jointly for the first time on Paris catwalks this week as Beijing attacks the high-end European market.

Making a debut appearance in the world's fashion capital, 82 clothes-makers from China descended on Paris for a four-day stint at a top trade fair, bringing their top models, including Miss Chinas 2003 and 2006, as well as the country's 'most handsome man several years running', Zhang Xinghe.

PHNOM PENH, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - Keenly aware of the damage caused by the 'sweatshop' label, Cambodia has worked hard for the last eight years creating a niche textile market for socially-conscious consumers.

The garment industry, which accounts for 80 percent of the impoverished country's export earnings, continues to thrive, due in part to Cambodia successfully branding itself as one of the region's most labour-friendly manufacturing environments.

'We needed to be competitive, so we needed to be special,' Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh told AFP.

PHNOM PENH, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - Safeguards protecting Cambodia's garment sector expire by year's end, and the country hopes the United States, its biggest market, will help stave off a disastrous downturn in the industry which accounts 80 percent of all exports.

Trade officials, led by Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh, were in Washington in July urging US Congress to pass legislation that would slash tariffs on goods from 14 of Asia's least developed countries, or LDCs, including Cambodia.

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Around 40 South African designers will unveil their spring and summer collections on Wednesday at the start of the country's annual fashion week which is being staged in Johannesburg.

Organisers said this year's event would showcase collections which had both a local flavour but would also suit the international market.

MADRID, Aug 19, 2007 (AFP) - Spain's Inditex, Europe's largest clothing retailer by sales, is looking to expand in China, attracted by the rising spending power of consumers in the fast-growing Asian country.

The firm, whose chains include Zara and Bershka, will focus its growth in Beijing, Hong Kong and the coastal city of Shanghai, Inditex chief executive officer Pablo Isla told an annual shareholders' meeting last month.

FRANKFURT, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - German sportswear giant Adidas reported a slight increase in first-half net profit on Wednesday, but its results revealed weakness in North America and sluggish sales by US unit Reebok.

The group's net profit rose 3.0 percent to 232 million euros (319 million dollars) in the first half of the year compared with the same period of 2006, while sales grew 1.0 percent.

Sales at Reebok, a running shoe specialist bought last year for 3.1 billion euros, fell by 6.0 percent in the first half of the year on a like-for-like basis, Adidas said.

FRANKFURT, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - German sportswear giant Adidas on Wednesday reported a 27-percent rise in second-quarter profit as costs linked to the acquisition of Reebok fell.

Net profit rose to 104 million euros (143 million dollars) in the second quarter from 82 million euros during the same period last year.

Analysts polled by the Thomson Financial agency had forecast net profit of 95.6 million euros and sales of 2.37 billion euros.

Turnover declined to 2.400 billion euros from 2.428 billion as Reebok sales continued to disappoint.

BEIJING, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Archaeologists in China have made a crucial textile discovery in a 2,500-year-old tomb that could rewrite the Asian nation's long history with cloth, state press reported Tuesday.

'Chinese anthropologists suspect the textile industry burgeoned in distant periods of history and this is the first piece of concrete evidence to support their hypothesis,' Xinhua news quoted Wang Yarong, a Beijing archaeologist, as saying.

BEIJING, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Archaeologists in China have made a crucial textile discovery in a 2,500-year-old tomb that could rewrite the Asian nation's long history with cloth, state press reported Tuesday.

'Chinese anthropologists suspect the textile industry burgeoned in distant periods of history and this is the first piece of concrete evidence to support their hypothesis,' Xinhua news quoted Wang Yarong, a Beijing archaeologist, as saying.