Jun 26--PRNewswire/AsiaNetBOGUS ANTI-WHALING CLAIMS... TOKYO: Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) today criticised the anti-whaling fundraising group, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and labeled its U.S polling data, to be released tomorrow, as "self-serving and bogus".GLOBAL GOLD ALLIANCE... TORONTO: A global gold mining company has been formed today, following a US$900 million merger between Barrick Gold Corporation and Homestake Mining Company, which will combine the operational, financial and human resources of the two companies.ADVERTISER OF THE YEAR... CANNES: Advertiser of the Year has been awarded to August A Busch IV, praised as the "driving force" behind the Budweiser ad campaign from marketing organisation, Anheuser-Busch Inc.SOY REDUCES CHOLESTOROL... TOKYO: Japanese pharmaceutical and food product company, Kyowa Hakko, today promoted the cholestorol-reducing properties of soy at the International Food Technologists Expo, the industry's largest.COST-CUTS FLUSH PLAN... BURLINGAME: Internet hosting services provider, iAsiaWorks, has shed staff and cut operational costs to flush funding into its business plan, the company said today.HDD THRESHOLD RAISED... TOKYO: Toshiba Corporation today raised the capacity threshold for the hard disk drive market, launching its latest lineup of the 35.1gigabits disk which support portable information devices.SOFTWARE TENDER WON... DETROIT: Covisint has today said that web platform company, webMethods, is its candidate of choice to provide its software licensing and professional services.AUSTRALIAN GAS PROJECT... TULSA: Design changes have delayed progress with the Australian gas-to-liquid Sweetwater project, the contract's caretakers, Syntroleum Corporation and Tessag INA announced today.PERSONALISED GOLF CLUBS... CARLSBAD: Golfers everywhere will have clubs customised to their exact specifications, as a result of a technology platform announced today between Callaway Golf Company and IBM.GLOBAL AUTO FORECASTING... DETROIT: Automotive suppliers would benefit from advance intelligence on developing global markets, the company responsible for a new international forecasting service, CSM Worldwide said today.NEXT-GENERATION TECHNOLOGY... MAHWAH: RADVISION today said its technology seminar series targeting "Tools and Solutions for Next-Generation Networks", designed for communication product executives and engineers will tour Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan. STRATEGIC PRODUCT DEAL... LOS ALTOS: Information manager, ScImage, and medical technology developer, Goodman Co Ltd, have signed a deal involving product development and reselling, according to a news release. COMPETITION LEFT BEHIND... CARLSBAD: Callaway Golf Company said today that its "Rule 35" ball led the competition outright in terms of usage at last week's Senior PGA Tour. (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated press releases for worldwide clients. Contact: www.asianet.com.au for full-text versions).