News In Brief

VoiceStream Wireless Corp. has agreed to be acquired by German communications giant Deutsche Telekom AG for $50.7 billion, the latter announced. But the deal, which also calls for the assumption of $5 billion in debt from the Bellevue, Wash.-based mobile-phone company, is expected to meet stiff resistance from US regulators and members of Congress. Deutsche Telekom is 58-percent owned by the German government, and the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission already has told 29 senators in a letter that he'd scrutinize closely such a takeover attempt because of its national-security implications.

Boeing Co. and arch-rival Airbus Industrie were roughly even in their battle for civil-aviation supremacy after Day 1 of the annual Farnborough Air Show in England. Boeing announced a $1.02 billion order for six of its new 777-300X jets by Japan's All Nippon Airways. Airbus, the European consortium, said Dubai's Emirates Airlines had ordered the first A3XX superjumbo passenger jet and two cargo versions, plus options for five more in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. Canada's Bombardier Inc., which builds jets for regional carriers, also said it had $1 billion worth of new orders.

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