Accounting firm Arthur Andersen, fighting to survive the damage wrought by the Enron scandal, is discussing selling out to rival Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Similar talks are going on also with Ernst and Young, another international accounting firm, say reports. Meanwhile, Geneva-based Andersen Worldwide, the umbrella body of Andersen, has announced that it was in merger talks with KPMG, another international accounting firm.

Many employees and clients of Adersen, the world’s fifth biggest accountant with 85,000 employees and revenues of 9.34 billion dollars in the year to August 31, 2001, have defected since Enron’s collapse.

Arthur Andersen also faces a likely criminal indictment following revelations that company officials ordered the wide-scale destruction of Enron documents last fall in its Houston offices.

Arthur Anderson’s proposed merger is sending tremors across the regulators in Europe and America, who may step in to block the process as the merger would mean less of competition.

Meanwhile, Andersen’s branches in UK, Chile, Spain, Canada and Italy are reportedly preparing to break away from the endangered principal.

Cost of HP-Compaq merger

After Compaq Computer Corp’s shareholders gave their approval late March, for the proposal the merger of this 20-year old computer manufacturer with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), seems quite close.

But it may yet take several weeks, say observers because the outcome of the voting by shareholders of HP is yet to be confirmed.

HP investors are sharply divided over the proposal for their company to acquire Compaq. The new company is proposed to be headed by HP’s Carly Fiorina as CEO and Compaq’s Michael Capellas as the number two.

HP is estimated to have spent US$ 150 million to override the opposition from a group of shareholders led by Walter Hewlett, son of one of the company's founder. Hewlett himself is estimated to have spent US$ 32 million to convince the shareholders to vote against the merger.

Yak revolution

With its low-fat meat and hardy disposition, the yaks of Nepali highlands are getting popular in US cattle industry, say reports.

Yak meat is featured on menus in some restaurants and is available from ranchers in several western states. However, the yak industry is still tiny in USA, with fewer than 2,000 head nationally and valued at about dlrs 6 million. The US cattle industry, with 96 million head of cattle, generates US$ 30 billion each year, say reports.

Some ranchers have experimented with yak-cattle crossbreeds that retain many of the yak’s traits.

Accustomed to living at 14,000 feet (4,200 meters), yaks tolerate cold better than cattle and consume less food. Unlike cattle, they don’t stray as much, don’t need helping in giving birth and don’t need feed supplements like corn.

All those traits come through when yak and cattle are bred together, ranchers say.

Internet spoils travel agency biz

The move to the Internet for many travel reservations is putting the squeeze on travel agents as ailing airlines try to cut out the middle man.

That became apparent as Delta Air Lines, followed by most major US carriers, announced an end to a longstanding policy of paying standard "base" commission to US-based travel agents for airline tickets.

Delta said the move was a response not only to the industry’s financial straits, but to the growing movement by travellers to go online and make reservations – a much cheaper way of selling tickets. "Technology has fundamentally changed airline ticket distribution practices, "Delta said in a statement.

Financial concerns are paramount for the airlines, which saw record losses last year in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Travel analysts say that with this new practice by airlines the so called "mom and pop" travel agencies will be hurt the most, while the big corporate travel agencies will find ways to negotiate fees from airlines.

Global trade war likely

The US government has imposed 30% tariff on import of a wide range of steel items to protect the ailing US steel industry. This is feared to trigger a series of retaliation from major trading powers in the world which may result into a global trade war.

The US steel industry has been hamstrung by huge social security liability to the workers making it impossible for the industry to restructure.

Thailand as ‘Detroit of ASEAN’

With Asia’s auto market in full expansion mode, Thailand is cementing its status as the "Detroit of Southeast Asia" – an export-focused manufacturing platform for the world’s top car makers, said analysts as the Thai capital hosted the 23rd Bangkok International Motor Show, Asia’s second-largest auto fair after the Tokyo show.

Some 1.5 million people are expected to flood through the doors of Bangkok’s International Trade and Exhibition Centre for the March 25 - April 7 event involving 130 companies from 11 countries.

Despite the aftereffects of the 1997 economic crisis, car sales are showing impressive growth in Southeast Asia, rising eight percent in 2001 in its four main markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Some 1.07 million units were sold in the four countries last year, according to the Bangkok-based Automotive Resources Asia institute. In Thailand, domestic sales leapt an astonishing 40 percent over the first two months of 2002 compared to the same period in 2001.

With 297,000 units sold last year, the industry is tipping a 15 percent increase in 2002, with Japanese manufacturers’ models continuing to maintain their stranglehold and a 90-plus percent market share.

Ansett grounded

Australia’s oldest domestic airline, Ansett, has been finally grounded after losing in competition with cut-price airlines Impulse and Virgin Blue. Impulse is owned by Qantas, the international airline of Australia.

Ansett was founded in 1936. To overcome laws at that time forbidding competition with the state’s railways, it had to offer flights for free, but charged for the piece of fruit that passengers received on board.

Lanka cuts cigarette taxes

Sri Lanka has lost the dubious distinction of being the country with the highest tobacco tax.

Effecting a drastic cut in the taxes which reduces cigarette price 42%, the Sri Lankan government has tried to encourage the smokers to smoke legitimately produced brands of Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC), a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT).

The gradual tax hikes over several years had reached as much as 85% of the retail price. Due to the resultant price hike, the smokers were forced to switch over to cheaper, bootleg cigarettes.

CTC sources are quoted as saying that about 30% of the cigarette market was held by illicit cigarettes thanks to the heavy duty.

Philip Morris fined

US tobacco giant Philip Morris has been ordered to pay more than 15 million dollars to the family of a deceased smoker who mistakenly believed that low-tar cigarettes would be less addictive and help her avoid cancer, reports AFP. The verdict, returned by a jury in Portland, Oregon, dealt another blow to the world’s largest tobacco product manufacturer, which is already beset by multiple legal claims.

The jury found that the company was negligent and fraudulent in pitching so-called "light" cigarettes to consumers as a safer product and an alternative to dropping the bad habit. Philip Morris promised to appeal, saying the decision was "inconsistent with the law and with the facts of the case".

Gandhi brand

CMG Worldwide Inc., a US based company, has acquired rights over the commercial use of the image of Mahatma Gandhi, the prophet of nonviolence.

According to reports quoting Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of the Mahatma and the managing trustee of the Gandhi Foundation, the name however will not be allowed to be used irreverently, such as on a meat product or lingerie. He is also quoted as saying that no charges will be made for non-commercial use of Gandhi name.

CMG has rights also over the names of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Princes Diana and Malcolm X.

Pakistan’s war dividend

Pakistan is seen as reaping benefits now for backing the US led war in Afghanistan against terrorists.

International creditors have revised the debt terms favourably for Pakistan while USA has written off one billion dollars of loan.

The Pakistani stock market has hit a two-year high of 1930.47 points and market capitalization has reached nearly seven billion dollars, slightly short of what starts attracting international investment institutes, say reports. Such investors consider US$ 8 million market capitalization as the minimum to start investing.