Business secretary, Lord Mandelson's promise to provide European plane-manufacturer, Airbus with a loan worth £340 million to develop its new wide body A350 XWB plane, has raised the hackles of America.

However, the promised amount is just the half of what the Airbus had asked for. Airbus' sites in England specialize in wing-manufacturing.

Lord Mandelson said the financial assistance would safeguard as many as 1,200 jobs at Airbus' plants in Filton and Broughton. It will also protect additional 5,000 at Airbus suppliers.

The Boeing Company has encountered new technical problems in the production of its 787 Dreamliner plane, raising fresh concerns regarding the future of the fuel-efficient aircraft.

The company found a structural flaw where the plane's wings meet the body. Another flaw was discovered in the 787 Dreamliner's composite fuselage.

Although Boeing knew about the problem at fuselage plant as earlier as on June 23, when the company ordered Alenia Aeronautica, Italian subcontractor to stop the work, yet the company officials never made it public.

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, and luxury auto manufacturer Porsche have finally approved a plan to merge by 2011.

The move will create an automotive giant, which includes ten major brands - including Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi and Skoda.

Under the terms of the agreement, Volkswagen will pay up to 3.3 billion euros for the stake by the end of 2009 and issue new preferred shares sometime in the first half of
2010 to finance the deal.

Man Industries India Limited, part of the well-diversified UK-based Man Group, has secured two new orders worth Rs 750 crore from different firms for supplying pipes.

The company has bagged first orders worth Rs 200 crore from GAIL, while the second order worth Rs 550 crore has been secured from the Middle East and African continent.

With the latest order the company's total order book stands about Rs 2,500 crore.