DHAKA, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - Bangladesh's garment exports are booming thanks to a new, stable business climate under the country's state of emergency, officials said Wednesday.

The nation's exports of knitted and woven items rose by nearly 17 percent to a record 10.7 billion dollars in the financial year to June 2008.

BEIJING, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - China on Tuesday launched its first environmental exchange in Beijing, aiming to eventually provide a platform for emission quota trading, the parent company and state media said.

BUDAPEST, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - Hungary switched into a trade surplus of 27.5 million euros (42.6 million dollars) in May, the central statistics bureau KSH said on Tuesday.

In May 2007, it had run up a deficit of 44.1 million euros.

BUENOS AIRES, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - World trade talks have not failed and can still be revived, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insisted as he embarked Monday on efforts to bring the United States, India and China back to the table.

'I don't believe that the Doha Round is yet a failure,' Lula said in his weekly radio address broadcast Monday.

LONDON, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Brazil is prepared to hit the United States with court action over its farm subsidies following the collapse of world trade talks, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told the Financial Times newspaper.

HANOI, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Vietnam's appetite for illegal wildlife meat and demand for traditional medicine is devastating animal and plant species within and beyond its borders, experts warn in two new reports.

COLOMBO, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - South Asian leaders wrapping up a summit in Colombo have called for joint action against terrorism and more regional trade, according to a draft declaration to be released Sunday.

PARIS, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Any new attempt to grasp the grail of a world trade pact will probably have to wait until next year, after elections in the United States and India, despite some calls for more talks now, economists say.

SAO PAULO, August 2, 2008 (AFP) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced Saturday that he has launched consultations with the United States, China and India to salvage world trade talks that recently collapsed.

GENEVA, August 1, 2008 (AFP) - Talks at a technical level are under way at the World Trade Organization on safeguard issues that ended marathon negotiations on a global trade deal this week, WTO head Pascal Lamy revealed on Friday.

He told journalists it was necessary to overcome the safeguard technical issue that had caused the negotiations to break down.