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Star golfers raise funds for diabetes programs

A total of $55,000 raised at the 10th annual benefit golf tournament sponsored by Star Markets Ltd. and the Fujieki Family Foundation will go to support three local non-profits.

Kuakini Foundation will receive $25,000, the American Diabetes Association 2004 Youth Camp will receive $20,000 and the American Diabetes Association Research Foundation will receive $10,000.

Survey finds corporate travel drop

WASHINGTON >> Business travel spending will remain the same or decline at 73 percent of North American companies, suggesting major U.S. airlines must deepen cost cuts, the Business Travel Coalition said.

The survey found 55 percent of 110 corporations expect spending to be unchanged next year, and 18 percent plan travel cost cuts, said Chairman Kevin Mitchell. The spending will fall 7 percent to $1.05 billion this year from $1.13 billion in 2002, and two-thirds expect to buy more tickets from low-fare carriers such as JetBlue Airways Corp. next year, the survey found.

"The evidence is mounting that the business traveler is price sensitive," Mitchell said at a Washington news conference. Major carriers must "go deeper and further" in cuts to offer cheap tickets and compete with low-fare carriers, he said.

British pubs sell for $4.2 billion

LONDON >> After weeks of frenzied deal-making, Scottish & Newcastle, Britain's biggest brewer, agreed yesterday to sell its chain of 1,400 pubs and lodges to the privately held Spirit Amber group for $4.2 billion in cash, becoming one of the last big brewers to shed its traditional retail outlets.

Scottish & Newcastle is expected to use the money from the sale to cut its debt by half to about $3 billion, or 1.8 billion pounds, and to extend recent acquisitions to compete with rivals like Heineken and SABMiller for the European beer market. But the purchases could be relatively modest.

Britain's brewers have been selling their pubs for a decade since the government introduced the so-called Beer Orders, obliging brewers with more than 2,000 pubs to dispose of them. The aim was to break the grip of big brewers on beer distribution.

Motorola to spin off unit

Motorola said yesterday that it planned to divest its struggling semiconductor operations from its cell phone and communications equipment businesses, a divorce that had long been favored by Wall Street and opposed by top management.

The announcement came less than two weeks after Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Ill., said that Christopher Galvin, its chairman and chief executive, planned to retire as soon as a successor could be selected. Many investors and analysts have speculated that disagreements with the board over the future of the chip making operations played a crucial role in Galvin's decision to retire from the company his grandfather, Paul Galvin, founded. But Galvin said yesterday that the recommendation to shed the semiconductor unit he had so often described as a core business for Motorola came from him.

ConocoPhillips to sell Circle K

HOUSTON >> ConocoPhillips is selling its convenience store chain Circle K Corp. to Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. for about $821 million, advancing the big oil company's plan to shed retail marketing sites and cutting its work force by 31 percent.

The agreement disclosed yesterday would create a retailer with more than 4,500 owned or franchised convenience stores in the U.S. and Canada. Alimentation is also assuming $9.1 million in debt in the deal.

Martha Stewart wants charges dismissed

Martha Stewart, the homemaking mogul indicted for obstructing a U.S. investigation into insider trading, asked a federal judge in New York yesterday to throw out some charges against her.

Stewart, the former chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., asked dismissal of charges that she conspired to obstruct a criminal investigation into her 2001 sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock, that she committed securities fraud in making public statements about the sale and that she lied to U.S. investigators. Stewart did not seek to dismiss conspiracy and other false-statement charges.

Microsoft, Sun will extend Java support

REDMOND, Wash. >> Microsoft Corp. will offer technical support for its version of Sun Microsystem's Java programming language through September 2004, nine months longer than previously planned, under an agreement being announced today.

In the past, Microsoft has provided security fixes and other support for its version of Java, but Microsoft agreed to stop using the language as part of a 2001 court settlement.

Sun chief regrets calling SEC 'wacko'

Sun Microsystems Inc. Chief Executive Officer Scott McNealy apologized to the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for remarks that included calling the regulatory agency's actions "absolutely wacko."

In a letter to SEC Chairman William Donaldson, McNealy expressed his "sincerest apologies" for remarks made last week in a televised address.