The Pentagon on Friday dismissed suggestions of protectionism in a massive contract for aerial refueling tankers and said US officials "value the contribution" of the European defense industry. Ashton Carter, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, spoke after French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others made harsh comments about bidding rules for the tanker contract that prompted the withdrawal of Airbus maker EADS.

Air France's insurance company Axa on Friday said it will appeal a Brazilian court ruling ordering the French carrier to pay compensation to the family of a victim in a major jet crash in 2009. "We will appeal this decision. This ruling cannot constitute a precedent," French insurer Axa said in a statement, adding that the Brazilian judgment did not meet certain criteria for receiving compensation.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy criticised the United States on Friday over bidding rules for a tanker jet contract, saying it was "not the way" for Washington to treat its European allies. British premier Gordon Brown added he was "disappointed" at the changing of rules in favour of US aerospace giant Boeing, expected to win a multi-billion dollar contract to build an aerial refueling tanker plane for the US air force.

The Danish cabin crew of Scandinavian airline SAS accepted on Friday an eight percent pay cut during negotiations held as part of the company's cost-cutting measures, the CAU union said. The agreement allows the airline to save 500 million Swedish kronor (51 million euros, 70. 8 million dollars) per year, SAS said in a separate statement.

British Airways cabin crew will strike for seven days later this month after failing to reach agreement in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions, union officials said on Friday. The Unite union said in a statement that staff would spread the stoppages between March 20 and March 30 and warned that further walkouts may occur after mid-April.

British Airways cabin crew will strike for seven days later this month after failing to reach agreement in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions, union officials said on Friday. The Unite trade union said staff would spread the stoppages over a ten-day period between March 20 and March 30 and warned that further walkouts may occur after mid-April.

A group of US lawmakers Thursday urged the US administration to save NASA's Constellation project aimed at returning Americans to the moon in the next generation of space travel. "Space exploration has been the guiding star of American innovation," the lawmakers -- 10 Republicans and five Democrats -- said in a letter to the NASA administrator Charles Bolden.

The consortium of agencies building the International Space Station (ISS) wants to see if the orbital outpost can operate until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday. "There are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020," it said in a press release after a meeting of ISS partners in Tokyo.

The Portuguese pilots' union on Thursday announced a six-day strike of its members at the TAP Portugal airline over a pay dispute. "The offers made by the management do not match the aims, the compromises and the legitimate expectations of the pilots," the SPAC union said in a statement. Formal notice of the strike, to be held from March 26 to 31, will be given within three days, the union said.

A Rio de Janeiro state judge Thursday ordered Air France to pay 1. 15 million dollars in compensation to the family of a state official who died in the 2009 crash of an Air France passenger jet into the Atlantic. Former state attorney general Marcelle Valpacos Fonseca perished along with 227 other passengers and crew of the Airbus A330 that crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1.