Intel co-founder donates for biodiversity center: Intel Corp co-founder Gordon Moore and his wife, Betty, announced the gift of $35 million to sponsor an "early warning system" for imminent threats to global biological diversity. Moore, chairman emeritus of the world's largest maker of computer chips, said their gift was to spur action as plant and animal species vanish into extinction faster than ever."The rapid and irreversible loss of the Earth's living resources is today's most serious environmental challenge," Moore said in a news release. The Moores' bequest will fund the new centre for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, a non-profit environmental group in Washington DC.

Daimler shares fall as S&P says no listing: Shares in German industrial group Daimler-Benz AG fell strongly in early electronic trade on Friday after S&P said it would not put Daimler Chrysler into its S&P-500-Index. The share fell as low as 119 marks, but did recover slightly to stand at 121.40 marks, down 4.46 per cent or 5.45 points. The overall Xetra DAX index was up 2.53 per cent at 4,198.34 points. Standard & Poor's said the new company resulting from the merger of Daimler and Chrysler, will be considered German and thus cannot be listed in the Index once it starts trading under the symbol "DCX". The car makers expect to complete their merger in November.

Alcatel buys 2 German energyfirms: Alcatel has acquired two German companies specialised in emergency power supply, AEG SVS Power Supply Systems GmbH and AEG SVS Power Supply Systems Soernewitz GmbH which had 1997 sales of 350 million francs. The acquisition will reinforce the German market position of Alcatel's Saft battery unit. The two units had been bought by their management from Daimler-Benz in 1997 and employ 460 people.

JVC bags DirecTV order: Victor Co of Japan Ltd (JVC) said on Friday it had won an order from DirecTV Japan Management Inc to supply digital broadcasting encoder systems for an undisclosed sum. The encoder systems were developed by California-based DiviCom Inc, a 100 per cent unit of C-Cube Microsystems , a JVC spokesman said. Under the agreement, JVC will provide DirecTV Japan with the Media View MV40 encoder and a Multiplexer system that increases the number of transmission channels per transponder, he said. Industry sources said they estimated the value of the order at less than one billionyen.

Bulgaria Chimko plant fails to attract bids: Bulgaria's offer to sell 57 per cent in its biggest chemical fertiliser producer Chimko failed to attract buyers despite a three-fold cut in the minimum price, the Privatisation Agency said on Friday. "No bids were submitted during the one-month bidding period that expired late on Thursday," an agency official said. The agency had lowered its minimum asking price for the stake to $36.1 million in September from the initial price of $100.2 million.