Nov 1--PRNewswire/AsiaNet MARKETING PARTNERSHIP... HONG KONG: Yahoo! and Hong Kong's Trade Development Council have struck a marketing and technology alliance to create a webcast channel promoting Hong Kong's competitiveness globally, according to a council media release.DRUGS ONLINE... AUCKLAND: Drugs.com would re-launch with a catalogue of 24,000 prescription and over-the-counter drugs this week, its two backers, Micromedex and Multum Information Services said today. "Already rated one of the five most valuable domain names on the Internet, www.drugs.com is now positioning itself as the definitive online drug information resource", a news release stated. HEPATITIS DISTRIBUTION... PLANTATION: A $250 million deal to distribute a hepatitis C treatment in Taiwan has been clinched between Viragen Inc and Tradeway Inc, the companies said today.TELCO TEAM... HONG KONG: Satellite broadband company, Speedcast Ltd, will team with Korea Telecom to provide live streamed video and audio content for the telco's subscribers, the company said today.FASTER INTERNET... TOKYO: Internet Initiative Japan will offer faster services over its regional lines from December 25 that existing subscribers will be able to upgrade to, according to a company media release.MAILING ACQUISITION... STAMFORD: Pitney Bowes Inc has acquired the French mailing systems subsidiary, Fimalac, for euros 220 million. "This strategic acquisition strengthens our geographic coverage, expands our distribution capabilities and significantly increases our market presence in Europe, particularly in France, the third largest mailing market in the world," chairman and CEO, Michael J. Critelli said.DIGITAL DATA... PIRMASENS: German company Convar Systeme today announced the sole data retrieval program for digital cameras, its PC Inspector Smart Recovery product, which "supports all known memory cards currently available for digital cameras and reconstructs images in .jpg, .tif and .crw format, audio files in .wav format and video files in .avi format".FINANCIAL RESULTS: WALNUT CREEK: Homestake Mining today reported a third quarter income of $3.2 million, up from last year's net loss of $77.4 million. NEW YORK: Internet Initiative Japan today said it will release its second quarter financial results on November 13. (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)