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World Business Quick Take

■ INTERNET
Samsung battles food chain
Samsung Electronics Co is embroiled in a court battle with a local food supply chain over an Internet domain name, media reports in Seoul said yesterday. The small chain, whose identity was withheld, has filed a lawsuit appealing an earlier decision that the company should hand over the "sens.co.kr" domain name to Samsung, Internet news provider Moneytoday said. In May 1996, Samsung registered "SENS" as a trademark for its computers and monitors. But the chain registered "sens.co.kr" as its domain name two years later with South Korea's National Internet Development Agency.

■ AVIATION
US approves China flights
US authorities on Tuesday approved six new flights between the US and China, including two ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games, under a civil aviation deal signed earlier this year. The US Department of Transportation said it made a final decision to award Delta Airlines a new direct route from Atlanta to Shanghai, making the carrier the first to fly that route, and approved a United Airlines direct route from San Francisco to Guangzhou. Delta said its flights would start on March 30 next year. The United flights will begin in the first half of next year.

■ ELECTRONICS
NEC trades suspended
Japan's NEC Corp said yesterday that the New York-based NASDAQ stock exchange will suspend trading in NEC shares after it failed to meet a deadline to restate its past financial results. The NASDAQ will halt trading in NEC's American Depositary Receipts beginning today, the company said in a brief statement. The exchange had asked NEC, which makes semiconductors, high-end computers and other electronics, to complete a restatement of results for the year to March last year by Sept. 25. The restatement was needed for the company to comply with tighter accounting rules on revenues from software and maintenance and support services.

■ GERMANY
Consumer confidence drops
Rising milk prices and subprime fears have sapped the morale of consumers in the eurozone's biggest economy this month, a survey by the nation's GfK institute found. The leading barometer of household confidence fell to an indexed 6.8 points from a revised level last month of 7.4, its second drop in as many months, a GfK statement said yesterday. "The credit crisis in the United States and rising food prices are primarily responsible for the decreased tendency to spend" by consumers, the institute added. Other factors cited in the GfK study were debates about the euro's current strength against the US dollar and its potential effect on the German economy.

■ TELECOMS
Sprint, Virgin announce IPO
Virgin Mobile USA, a joint telecom venture between US firm Sprint Nextel and Virgin Group of Britain, said on Tuesday it planned to raise about US$400 million in its market debut. In a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the mobile phone operator said it was putting up for sale 25.6 million shares, representing 55 percent of the firm's total, at a price between US$15 and US$17 per share. The initial public offering (IPO) would generate around US$375.6 million, based on an share price of US$16, the company said.


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