Britain has promised the United States that it will keep its nuclear deterrent as it makes plans for deep military spending cuts as part of an austerity drive, a report said Friday.

Britain's Defence Secretary Liam Fox made the pledge in talks this week with US counterpart Robert Gates after the Pentagon expressed concern at the scale of cuts planned by Britain's coalition government, The Times reported.

Fox has been ordered to cut his budget by up to 20 percent as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, formed in May, battles to wipe out a record deficit of more than 150 billion pounds (230 billion dollars, 180 billion euros).

The Conservative minister is undertaking a defence review to decide where the axe should fall, which is due to report before Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announces wide-ranging cuts to public spending on October 20.

Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrat armed forces minister, this week suggested a decision on whether to replace Britain's Trident nuclear submarines could be delayed until after the next general election in 2015.

Fox reassured Gates on Wednesday that Britain would keep the deterrent and other capabilities valued by Washington, said The Times.

Gates reportedly said the US wanted Britain to keep its deterrent as he did not want "sole responsibility" for providing a nuclear umbrella for military alliance NATO.

The British minister also pledged that Britain would retain the ability to mount medium-scale operations overseas, but not at the level of the 10,000-strong deployment in Afghanistan, said the paper.

Japan trading firms say China blocked rare earths exports
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 24, 2010 - China blocked rare earth exports to Japan days before Tokyo's decision Friday to free a Chinese boat captain whose detention sparked the worst diplomatic row between the sides in years, traders said. Beijing denied reports it had prevented shipments of the rare minerals that many of Japan's top exporters, such as the world's biggest automaker Toyota, rely on to make cutting-edge products ranging from car batteries to computers. But traders in Tokyo said China had blocked exports to Japan of key minerals by slowing down administrative procedures in ports in Shanghai and Guangzhou to prevent materials being loaded on ships. "We heard from our officials in China that the shipping of rare earths (to Japan) was suspended on September 21," a spokesman for Japanese trading house Sojitz in Tokyo told AFP.

Japan on Friday said it would release a Chinese fishing boat captain arrested earlier this month after a collision between his trawler and two Japanese coastguard vessels in a disputed area of the East China Sea. The move was hoped to help ease tensions that had dramatically risen in recent days, with Chinese leaders threatening "further measures" against Tokyo if the captain was not immediately released. But China reiterated Friday that Japan's detention of the captain had been "illegal and invalid". Another trader from a different trading house who wished to remain anonymous also said Beijing was blocking exports to Japan of rare minerals, underlining China's control of a market crucial to some of the world's biggest companies. "We heard from our Chinese trading partners that exports of rare earths to Japan are being stopped," the trader said, adding that Beijing had directly encouraged firms to slow or stop exports.

"On September 22, Chinese companies who have licences for exporting to Japan were gathered in Beijing by China's commerce ministry. There were discussions of stopping (rare earth) exports to Japan," he said. Japan's minister for economy, trade and industry Akihiro Ohata said Friday that the government was aware trading houses had reported a suspension of rare earth exports, adding it was still confirming the information. Separately, Japan's economy minister said Friday that tensions with China pose "serious" risks to Japan's economy. "There has been a very sudden slowdown in areas such as trade with China and tourism," said Banri Kaieda. China's commerce ministry on Thursday denied a report in the New York Times that cited industry sources as saying Beijing had blocked exports of rare earth minerals to Japan.

China supplies at least 95 percent of the world's rare earths. It had previously placed restrictions on exports of the minerals, sending market prices soaring and sparking concern among foreign governments and companies. Previous reports said the country was considering banning the export of certain elements and closing mines. Foreign companies and governments fear Chinese control will deny them access to the metals used to make everything from hybrid vehicles to energy-saving lightbulbs, missiles and wind turbines, forcing manufacturers to shift their plants to China. Market prices of some types of rare earth metals have soared more than 20 percent since China announced in July that it planned to reduce global shipments. Last month, before the row erupted, Japan had urged China to expand rare earths exports.