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Mera must file certification form

Mera Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Big Island producer of nutritional supplements, has been given 30 calendar days to correct a shortcoming in its recent annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The NASD said Mera Pharmaceuticals' Jan. 31 filing was incomplete because it was missing one of the two certification forms required by the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The certification that accompanied the filing certified that the financial information was accurate.

Mera Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Daniel Beharry, who said he hadn't received any notification from the NASD, said any shortcoming in the filing was either a mixup or oversight because he thought the company was in compliance with regulations.

As a result of the incomplete 10-K, the company's ticker symbol has been changed to MRPIE from MRPI on the Over The Counter Bulletin Board. The change became effective on Thursday. If Mera Pharmaceuticals doesn't rectify the situation within the 30-day period, its stock would be removed from the OTCBB.

Postal entrance exam will be held

The U.S. Postal Service is inviting people to take its entrance examination for jobs it has open in the Honolulu area, the first time since 1998 that the agency has conducted its exam in Honolulu.

The test will be administered about two months after the end of the registration period, which runs Monday, Feb. 14, through Friday, Feb. 18.

Potential postal workers can register for the test online at www.usps.com/employment or by telephone at (800) 601-8953. In either case, registrants must use the reference Announcement Number 118361.

Positions open on Oahu include city carriers, mail processing clerks, mail handlers and sales, services and distribution associates. Salaries range from $14.52 to $21.62 an hour for mail handlers to $17.69 to $23.23 an hour for city carriers.

A Postal Service spokesman said people from Kauai, Molokai, the Big Island, Guam, Samoa and Saipan will have an opportunity to take the exam later this spring.

Waikiki Marriott gets Energy Star

After investing more than $1 million in 2000 in four new chillers and energy-efficient lighting, the 1,310-room Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa has become one of seven properties in Hawaii to earn the Energy Star from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The chillers, installed by Carrier Corp., and the lighting improvements, installed in-house by the resort, together are saving the Marriott $350,000 a year in energy costs, plus it earned $153,000 in rebates from Hawaiian Electric Co., a Marriott spokesman said.

Earning the Energy Star means the company is in the top 25 percent nationwide of energy-efficient buildings, the spokesman added.

Other Hawaii properties that have earned the award (and the year they earned them) are the Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building/Courthouse (2000), Alii Place (2002), Pacific Guardian Center (2003), the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel (2003), the Ambulatory Care Clinic (2004), and Central Pacific Plaza (2004).

Asian, Pacific Islander businesses get boost

Asian American- and Pacific Islander-owned small businesses can look forward to better service from the SCORE Association after it signed a pact last week with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

SCORE is a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration that since 1964 has assisted more than 7 million aspiring entrepreneurs with its counseling and business workshops. SCORE has more than 10,500 volunteers who provide educational services. The pact was signed Friday in Missouri at an event sponsored by the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City. It is intended to increase awareness of SCORE's counseling and training services among Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.score.org or call (800) 634-0245.

Google weighs appeal after losing Vuitton suit

Internet search engine Google Inc. said yesterday it was weighing a possible appeal after a Paris court ordered it to pay $260,000 plus costs to luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton for breach of trademark.

The high court in central Paris awarded the damages in a decision late Friday and ordered Google to stop displaying advertisements for Vuitton's rivals whenever Internet users typed Vuitton's name or other trademarks into the search engine. The court ruled that Google was guilty of false publicity and counterfeiting, upholding complaints by Vuitton that Internet users searching for the Paris-based maker of luxury bags, accessories and apparel were also shown ads for companies selling forgeries.