The Bush administration said today it would bring a trade case alleging the European Unionis providing illegal subsidies to Airbus, the major competitor to US-based Boeing Co.

The European Union has made a new offer to the US to cut government aid to Airbus in a bid to resolve the simmering dispute over subsidies to the European aeroplane maker and its US rival Boeing, an EU official said today.

THE EU yesterday demanded to know whether Washington is still interested in talks to resolve a decades-old trade dispute over subsidies given to aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing.

Britain's European Union commissioner Peter Mandelson may be questioned by South African police over his knowledge of an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, it was claimed today.