Heather Mills, wife of Sir Paul McCartney, wants to return to the catwalk. The 37-year-old was at the height of her modeling career in 1993 when she was struck by a car and had her leg amputated from her knee down. She has since gone on to be an advocate for a number of causes and was nominated for the Noble Prize for her work to ban landmines. Mills has signed with the Zone agency. A company spokesperson said that; "She is likely to continue to make an impact on the fashion and beauty scene."

Now that Kimora and Russell Simmons have decided to divorce they have cleared the way to move onto greater things. They are set to become a modern day Cleopatra and Marc Anthony by conquering the Middle East. Phat Fashions announced that 17 Phat Farm and Baby Phat boutiques are slated to open across the Middle East in the next 3 years. They already have locations in Dubai.

Austrians will soon have the chance to lick Naomi Campbell’s backside when she appears on a special Austrian postage stamp created to raise funds for Elton John's Aids charities. The supermodel will host the Life Ball at Vienna's City Hall and will wear designs by Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano. The event takes place on May 20.

Chanel announced that 21 year-old Oscar nominated actress Keira Knightley has been named the new face of Coco Mademoiselle. She will replace Kate Moss 32, who is now considered too old for the job. It is believed that Knightley will receive 1 million dollars.The Pride and Prejudice actress has just been voted the Sexiest Woman of the Year by British publication FHM magazine.

CITA Issues Procedures for Considering Textile and Apparel Safeguards on Imports from Dominican Republic, Central America, Australia and Morocco under free trade agreements (FTAs) with these countries.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued notices outlining the special procedures for considering public requests for textile and apparel safeguard action on imports from these countries. CITA notes that the safeguard mechanisms apply when, as a result of the elimination of a customs duty under these agreements, a textile or apparel article from any of these countries is being imported into the U.S. in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause serious damage or actual threat thereof to a U.S. industry producing a like or directly competitive article. Under these circumstances, the U.S. is allowed to increase duties on the imported article to a level that does not exceed the lesser of the prevailing U.S. normal trade relations (NTR)/most favored nation (MFN) duty rate for the article or the U.S. NTR/MFN duty rate in effect on the day before the specific FTA enters into force. If the U.S. provides relief to a domestic industry under the textile and apparel safeguard, it must provide the affected country with "mutually agreed trade liberalizing compensation in the form of concessions having substantially equivalent trade effects or equivalent to the value of the additional customs duties expected to result from the emergency [safeguard] action." Such concessions will be limited to textile and apparel products unless the United States and its trading partner agree otherwise. If the two sides are unable to agree on compensation, the other country may increase customs duties equivalently on U.S. products. The obligation to provide compensation terminates upon termination of the safeguard relief.

EU to Re-Impose ETI Retaliatory Sanctions as of May 16
The European Union (EU) has announced its intention to re-impose retaliatory sanctions of 14% on $2.4 billion worth of U.S. exports beginning on May 16. In March, the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) formally adopted a February 13 Appellate Body ruling that backed the EU in its ongoing dispute with the U.S. over the Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act (ETI) tax regime. The WTO ruled against the transitional provisions of the ETI repeal law last fall, and the U.S. has until May 13 to bring its legislation into line with its WTO obligations.

Senate Committee Approves Cargo Security Bill with Scanning Provision
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee amended and passed the GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act (S. 2459) this week. This bill would implement security reforms at U.S. seaports, including establishing improved cargo screening standards, providing incentives to importers to enhance their security measures and ensuring the successful resumption of shipping in the event of a terrorist attack. The legislation, which was introduced by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Patty Murray (D-WA), will now move to the full Senate.

CITA Adjusts Import Limits for Vietnam
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a directive, effective May 3, adjusting the import limits for certain cotton, wool and manmade fiber textiles and textile products produced or manufactured in Vietnam and exported during the period January 1 through December 31, 2006. The current limits for certain categories are being adjusted for swing, carryover and the re-crediting of unused carryforward.

USTR Names Tiffany Moore as Assistant USTR for Intergovernmental Affairs
On May 1, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that Tiffany Moore has been hired as assistant USTR for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison. In her new capacity, Moore will lead domestic outreach efforts to state and local governments, the business and agricultural communities, and labor, environmental and consumer groups. She will also be responsible for improving the public's understanding of U.S. trade policies through education and strategic communications initiatives. In addition, her office manages the U.S. trade advisory committee system. Since April 2005, Moore has served as director of government relations for Kellogg Company. She joined the government relations team at Kellogg in January 2003 as a manager and was promoted to associate director in September 2004. Before joining Kellogg, she served as legislative director to Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI).

U.S., UAE to Hold FTA Talks in May
The U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to resume talks on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) May 9-11 in Abu Dhabi. The talks were postponed in March following congressional uproar over the Dubai Ports World (DPW) deal, although both sides said the delay was because they needed additional time to prepare and had nothing to do with DPW’s proposed purchase of terminal operations at various U.S. ports.

DOT Reports Increase in February Surface Trade with Mexico and Canada
On April 28, the Department of Transportation (DOT) reported that U.S. surface transportation trade in goods with NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico was valued at $59.8 billion in February 2006. From February 2005 to February 2006, surface transportation rose 11.6%. Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline and accounts for about 90% of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico. According to the DOT, total surface transportation trade value in February was up 33.4% compared to February 2001 and 82.1% compared to February 1996. Exports were up 62.8% compared to February 1996, while imports were up 99.4%. Surface trade between the U.S. and Canada totaled $39.5 billion in February, up 11.6% from February 2005; exports by truck increased 9.4 % by value, while imports by truck rose 3.0%. U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $20.3 billion in February, up 11.5% from a year before; exports by truck rose 12.2% by value, while imports by truck increased 10.7%.

CIT Dismisses Challenge to Constitutionality of Cotton Fees
The Court of International Trade (CIT) has dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of the fees collected on imports of cotton and cotton-containing products, including apparel. Fee revenues are used to fund cotton promotional activities such as advertisements. Because Cricket Hosiery v. United States is a “test case,” it will very likely determine the outcome of several hundred pending cotton fee lawsuits.

USTR Authorizes AGOA Textile and Apparel Benefits for Chad
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has determined that, effective April 26, imports of eligible products from Chad qualify for the textile and apparel benefits provided under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA provides preferential tariff treatment for imports of certain textile and apparel products of designated beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, provided that they (1) have adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent unlawful transshipment and the use of counterfeit documents, and (2) have implemented and follow, or are making substantial progress toward implementing and following, certain customs procedures to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in verifying the origin of the products.

U.S. Wants Ecuador to Address Concerns Before Resuming FTA Talks.
According to Reuters, the U.S. recently warned Ecuador that it needs to address various concerns before talks on a bilateral FTA can resume. “A number of difficult issues remain in the U.S.-Ecuador free trade negotiations, particularly but not exclusively in the area of agriculture,” the article quoted U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) spokeswoman Neena Moorjani as saying. “Meanwhile, the number of investment problems has grown rather than decreased, and Ecuador still needs to take a number of steps to update its labor code. Ecuador needs to address these issues to create the basis for a credible free-trade agreement capable of garnering political support.” In response, Ecuador’s chief negotiator, Manuel Chiriboga, said he “will not allow problems not related to the trade negotiations to interfere with the excellent development of the trade pact so far.” Chiriboga said he wants the negotiations to resume by May 15, but the U.S. has not committed to that date.

Venezuela Follows Andean Community Pullout with Trade Barrier Threats.
Bloomberg News recently reported that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has followed up with an announcement that his country will withdraw from the Community of Andean Nations (CAN) with a pledge to impose new trade barriers against fellow CAN members Colombia and Peru. Chavez said Venezuela, which is in the process of becoming a full member of the Mercosur trade bloc, would pull out of the CAN because those two countries have negotiated FTAs with the United States.