■ 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.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
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