Women a new

Women a new
spending powerhouse

SINGAPORE: Women travellers are expected to emerge as Asia's new
spending powerhouse, a survey said on Saturday.

The number of female travellers in the region is forecast to
equal their male counterparts by 2011 and exceed them in the long
run, according to MasterCard's Asian Lifestyles report.

Covering travellers in 13 Asia-Pacific markets, the survey
estimates that US$13.4 billion will be spent by women travelling
in six years in four shopping destinations -- Bangkok, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Seoul.

Men are likely to spend half that amount based on current
trends.

While shopping lists for U.S. and European women consist of
momentos, souvenirs and locally produced crafts, Asian women
prefer to stock up on branded goods, such as apparel, shoes,
handbags, accessories, perfumes and other toiletries, the survey
found. -- DPA

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Money-US-economy
Yuan peg 'difficult' for world economy: US official
JP/16/money

Yuan peg difficult
for world economy

WASHINGTON: China's fixed currency exchange rate "makes things
more difficult" for the global economy and for China, a top U.S.
Treasury official said in an interview over the weekend.

The comments from John Taylor, the Treasury's undersecretary
for international affairs, were consistent with earlier remarks
from top U.S. officials who have been urging China to revalue to
yuan or allow it to float freely.

"The peg makes things more difficult for the world economy, it
makes more things difficult for the Chinese economy," Taylor told
the financial news channel CNBC.

"And so we have advocated, therefore, a move to a flexible
exchange rate and we think it should occur as soon as the Chinese
are ready, but we understand they're taking steps." -- AFP

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Money-S'pore-Fingerprints
Breakthrough scored in fingerprint technology
JP/16/Money

New method to track
fingerprints found

SINGAPORE: A device that captures elusive fingerprints where
current methods fail has been developed at Nanyang Technological
University (NTU), researchers said on Saturday.

Using a patented optical and signal processing technique, the
device has scored a first in fingerprint technology by
reconstructing prints that were previously considered too faint,
old, overlapping or left on oily surfaces, NTU said.

The research team behind the innovation is from NTU's School
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, led by Associate
Professor Seah Leong Keey.

The system reconstructs a fingerprint by measuring differing
wavelengths of light bounced off it under lenses. -- DPA

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Money-US-Merck
Federal court invalidates patent for key Merck drug
JP/16/money

Court invalidates
Merck drug patent

TRENTON, New Jersey: A federal court invalidated the patent for a
blockbuster osteoporosis drug made by Merck & Co. over the
weekend, sending Merck shares plunging but offering patients with
the brittle-bone disease the possibility of cheaper pills in a
few years.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in
Washington, D.C., invalidated the patent for the once-a-week
version of Merck's Fosamax, which dominates the market for
osteoporosis drugs.

Fosamax is the No. 2 drug for Whitehouse Station-based Merck.
The company already is beleaguered by its voluntary withdrawal of
arthritis blockbuster Vioxx, which is expected to cost the
company billions of dollars to settle lawsuits by patients
claiming it caused heart attacks, strokes and other serious
medical problems. -- AP