Jul 24--PRNewswire/AsiaNetICELAND FORBIDDEN TO WHALE... LONDON: Iceland has had its controversial request to resume whaling rejected at the opening of the International Whaling Commission's 53rd annual meeting today, despite support from adamant whalers, Norway and Japan. "It is increasingly clear that countries like Japan, Norway, Iceland and their followers would rather throw the IWC into disarray than abide by its decisions," said Karen Steuer, Director of IFAW's Commercial Exploitation and Trade Program, in response to the episode.PEPSI SNACKS ON SAUDI... PURCHASE: PepsiCo Inc has bought Tasali Snack Foods, a Saudi Arabian salty snack company, from Savola Snack Foods for an undisclosed sum. The move will give the company a 45 per cent hold on the $US 100 million-plus Saudi market, combining Tasali's assets with PepsiCo's existing joint-venture, Saudi Snack Foods, it was announced today.FINANCIAL CONTENT DEAL... NEW YORK: Screaming Media, the content provider, will buy out financial application, investment and market information company, Stockpoint Inc, to consolidate its position in the financial services market, the company has announced.ELECTRONICS CO. SHARPENS COLLABORATION... SAN JOSE: Sharp Corporation has chosen Agile Software to provide its manufacturing infrastructure to manage content and communicate with suppliers, citing the rigours of "shrinking product lifecycles" in the high-tech electronics sector as part of its impetus, according to a company statement.MORE CAPACITY IN KOREA... HONG KONG: DACOM today said that it has committed more data capacity to its joint venture partner, Asia Global Crossing, ahead of installing the Korean leg of the companies' pan-Asian system to ensure its customers "city-to-city connectivity, not just shore-to-shore reach".NEW JAPANESE CORPORATE NETWORK... TOKYO: Japanese Internet access provider, Internet Initiative Japan, has launched a new corporate-geared connection service, "IIJ FiberAccess/F", for medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The service would differ from conventional broadband counterparts in guaranteeing "round-trip" network times and using the regional optical fiber lines known as "BFLET'S", the company said.DEXTEROUS TRADING SYSTEM... SYDNEY: The first online trading system for Australian Electricity has been launched today by online market creator, GFInet, dedicated to servicing the full market spectrum from quick-fix electronic traders to those doing complex trades requiring value-added broker services.GM LOOKS TO ALTERNATIVE FUEL SYSTEM... IRVINE: QUANTUM Technologies Worldwide has scored several contracts to develop and implement advanced fuel storage systems as an alternative propulsion technology for General Motors' vehicles, a company news release has announced.HARD DRIVE FOR MEDIA... SAN JOSE: Media hard drive producer, Komag Inc, has announced that its latest 40 GB per platter media is compatible with Maxtor Corporation's top-of-the-line DiamondMax hard drive products and the company has started to ship disks in high volumes for these programs.AUTOMOTIVE E-BUSINESS PLATFORM... NARRABEEN: Automotive industry IT developer, Infomedia Ltd, today said it has previewed its online Dealership Management System (DMS), "AutoLedgers", designed to deliver car dealerships an effective, efficient means of managing their business and the platform would "..break the mould of what people are used to for DMS functions and costs."ONLINE LANGUAGE SOFTWARE... HURST: Japanese language applications and top English software would be available from a new online store developed by Handango, a publisher of handheld and wireless software, and Miyavix, Japan's leading handheld site, the companies reported today.CHINESE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP... SINGAPORE: Edgematrix, the communications infrastrucure company, will partner with China's leading Linux software developer, Red Flag Software, to market technology for wireless and multichannel infrastructure to government, military and enterprise sections like banks and securities houses, the companies have said.AUTOMOTIVE JOINT-VENTURE... ANDERSON: Delco Remy International Inc and Hitachi Inc will team in a joint-venture to develop and market automotive starting motors and alternators, combining their worldwide manufacturing and sales operations to reach global markets, the companies announced today.WORLD CHESS CHAMPION... BEIJING: Forty rounds of intense manoeuvring has landed Mr Xu Yinchuan, 27, the title of the BGN World Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) Challenge, the championship's joint organisers, the London-based Brain Games Network plc, and Internet games site, the China Chess Academy announced today.GOLFING PROWESS... CARLSBAD: Callaway Golf Company has claimed another couple of wins with Staff pro Rosie Jones winning the Sybase Big Apple Classic yesterday and Dana Quigley winning the SBC Senior Open today, using the company's balls and clubs.FINANCIAL RESULTS: HAMILTON: Senior executives from Asia Global Crossing Ltd would discuss the company's second quarter 2001 results, following their announcement on Wednesday 1 August, according to a news release circulated today.BEIJING: SOHU.COM, the Chinese online media company, today reported its second quarter 2001 results, bringing in record revenues up 116 per cent year-on-year at $US 2.9 million.EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS: WELLINGTON: Mr David Pilkington has been named Managing Director of New Zealand Milk, Global Dairy Company, Mr Craig Norgate announced today. (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).