The apparel and textile industry in Vietnam has overtaken crude oil as that country's No. 1 export.

During the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam shipped $7.5 billion in apparel and textiles to primarily the United States and Europe, according to the Vietnamese General Statistics Office.

Vietnam's apparel manufacturing sector has grown rapidly ever since the U.S. government early this year stopped monitoring Vietnamese apparel coming into the United States. The Bush administration feared that Vietnam would dump apparel goods on the U.S. market and started closely watching import prices in 2007 to determine whether anti-dumping duties should be imposed.

The Department of Commerce held six-month reviews of five different apparel products-trousers, shirts, underwear, caps, swimwear and sweaters-but found no signs of dumping.

But better sourcing is not simply about buying at a lower price, according to Sue Butler, senior manager at Kurt Salmon Associates (KSA), the global consultancy specialising in retail and consumer goods.

Speaking at a seminar in London last week on 'Global Sourcing Skills and Supply Chains,' Butler said: "Quite often sourcing just looks at how we get products at the lowest price possible, but a sourcing strategy looks at how you get product at the right price and quality and in a balanced way.

By developing the right sourcing strategy it is possible to maintain margins and not get drawn into an increased level of markdown towards the end of the season.

Butler also points out that shoppers also have higher expectations too, not only for newness but in the use of technology such as the internet to make price comparisons.

New Orleans and New England rank at the top of the NFL in total offense heading into their matchup. Both have averaged more than 400 yards per game; the Patriots are averaging 29.0 points per game while the Saints are scoring 36.9 points per game. Both have 20 or more passing touchdowns and 11 or more rushing touchdowns.

Cowell said the pair planned to stage two shows a week which fans could watch online on a pay-per-view basis. Cowell and Sir Philip told the magazine that, if the project was successful in Las Vegas, they planned to stage similar X Factor competitions in other countries.

While senators had discussed expanding Medicaid eligibility to cover those with incomes at up to 150% of the federal poverty level, Schumer suggested Tuesday that "there are different things you can do on the Medicaid end of things" besides expanding eligibility.A number of Democrats cited Tuesday as a critical day for the bill, as they seek to send legislation to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in time to receive a cost estimate and schedule a final vote before Christmas.

Hot Hardware tests the HP Mini 311, Ion-based netbook. Shawn seems to have taken a liking to it, as it widely improves on just about everything that the feeble GMA500 graphics did. Win 7, 2GB of RAM and all sorts of nice little details that make you feel happy about your spending.
Tom's Hardware rounded up five high-end P55 motherboards, not too difficult considering LGA1156 pricing these days. There isn't much room for differences up in the clouds.