Oil and gas-rich Trinidad will launch its own entertainment company in an effort to diversify its economy, a government minister said Thursday. Trade Minister Kenneth Valley said the government has earmarked $5.3 million (€4.1 million) for the Trinidad and Tobago Entertainment Co. for the next three years. The company will give loans and grants to artists and offer classes on music, video production, marketing and touring, he said.

Airbus asked a US court on Friday to remove Boeing´s law firm from a case before the World Trade Organization because of alleged ethics violations. “We have found that one of the partners in that law firm, in their trade practice in Brussels, is a lawyer who used to work for Airbus developing our strategic legal case for potential trade disputes,” Clay McConnell, a spokesman for Airbus´ North American unit said.

The U.S. Office of the United States Trade Representative has confirmed that it requires changes to several laws as a condition for the Dominican Republic to implement DR-CAFTA. This was revealed by Everett Eisenstat, deputy secretary for the Americas, who spoke via an online conference and stated that U.S. requirements for change pertain specifically to Law 173 regarding the representation of foreign companies, law 65-01 on copyrights, and law 20-01 on industrial property.

Spanish construction firm Grupo Ferrovial raised its bid for UK airports operator BAA to £9.73 billion ($18.26 billion) on Tuesday, but BAA said it was still too low. Ferrovial, which raised its offer to 900 pence a share in cash for the owner of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports from the previous proposal of 810 pence, said BAA´s claim last week to be worth more than 940 pence a share was “not credible”.

Continental Airlines reported a May consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 81.0 percent, 1.9 points above last year´s May consolidated load factor. The carrier reported a mainline load factor of 81.0 percent, 1.2 points above the May 2005 mainline load factor, and a domestic mainline load factor of 83.9 percent, 2.7 points above May 2005. All three were records for May.

The year 2005 marked the most profitable year ever (in absolute dollars) for the US Hotel Industry. Based on statistics compiled by Smith Travel Research (STR), the industry generated some $122.7 billion in revenues and $22.6 billion in profits last year. This profit number is slightly above the $22.5 billion that the industry generated in the year 2000, the highest level achieved prior to 2005.