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World Business Quick Take

■ FOOD
Kellogg avoids lawsuit
Kellogg Co, the world's largest cereal maker, has agreed to raise the nutritional value of cereals and snacks it markets to children. The company avoided a lawsuit threatened by parents and nutrition advocacy groups worried about increasing child obesity. Kellogg was intending to formally announce its decision yesterday. The company said it will not promote foods in TV, radio, print or Web site ads that reach audiences at least half of whom are under age 12 unless a single serving of the product meets several new nutritional standards.

■ MARKETS
Creative quits NASDAQ
Singapore-based portable music player maker Creative Technology said yesterday it intends to delist voluntarily from the NASDAQ Global Market to save on costs. Creative will maintain its listing in Singapore, the company said in a statement posted on its Web site. The company, a maker of MP3 players that compete against the iPods of market leader Apple Inc, said its last trading day on NASDAQ will be Aug. 1. The company cited its low trading volume in the US and its higher volume in Singapore as reasons for the delisting.

■ GAMING
Casual games funding boost
Singapore said yesterday it is providing up to S$350,000 (US$227,000) in funds to boost development in the city-state of casual computer games for the global market. Major casual game publishers such as Seattle-based Big Fish Games Inc and PlayFirst Inc of San Francisco will advise local teams on their concepts, the Media Development Authority said in a statement. Up to 10 computer development teams with winning proposals will receive S$35,000 each in funding for projects, the statement said. The teams are each expected to produce a playable demo by January. Casual games are simple, one-player puzzles that can be played on desktop computers, gaming consoles, mobile phones or hand-held computers.

■ PHARMACEUTICALS
Sanofi-Aventis stock slumps
Investors wiped 6 billion euros (US$7.97 billion) off the market value of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis yesterday after US federal health advisers rejected its Accomplia weight-loss drug. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) advisory panel rejected the drug, also known as Rimonabant and Ziumlti, after hearing testimony that it increases the risk of suicidal thoughts, even in patients without a history of depression. Shares were trading down 6.8 percent at 62.67 euros after the opening yesterday. Sanofi-Aventis failed to show the drug is safe, the FDA said on Wednesday.

■ AVIATION
Indian strike continues
Thousands of passengers were stranded across the country as the ground crew of state-owned Indian Airlines continued their strike, forcing more than 100 flights to be canceled yesterday, officials said. About 12,000 ground crew went on strike on Tuesday night after talks broke down over their concerns that they may lose benefits following a planned merger with the other state-owned carrier, Air India, that operates only on international routes. At least 103 flights were canceled yesterday, said Ashok Sharma, a spokesman of Indian Airlines. Sharma said the talks won't resume unless the workers call off their strike.

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