<p><b> TOKYO</b><br> Japanese shares opened higher on Friday, with the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei index adding 35.57 points or 0.39 per cent to 9,098.41 points in the first minute of trading. -- AFP <br/></p>

Nikkei opens higher

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<p>NEW YORK - SHARES of Orexigen Therapeutics Inc surged on Thursday after the drugmaker said it signed a US$1 billion (S$1.34 billion) co-development agreement for its experimental obesity drug Contrave with Takeda Pharmaceuticals.</p><p>Under the deal, Orexigen will receive US$50 million upfront from Takeda, Japan's largest drugmaker. </p>

$1.3b obesity drug deal signed

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<p>LONDON - BRITAIN'S state-rescued lender Royal Bank of Scotland said on Thursday it was cutting another 3,500 jobs, sparking anger from trade union bosses. </p> <p>An RBS spokesman told AFP that '3,500 job losses have been announced in the business services division' - which comprises back-office functions such as IT and payment operations. </p>

RBS axes 3,500 more jobs

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<p>WASHINGTON - PENDING sales of previously owned US homes rebounded unexpectedly in July and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, helping quell fears the economy could face a double-dip recession.</p><p>The data released on Thursday, including sturdy sales from US retailers last month, followed a report on Wednesday showing a surprising gain in manufacturing and suggested the economy retained some underlying strength.</p>

US data quell recesssion fears

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<p> LOS ANGELES - BURGER King Holdings Inc agreed to sell itself to investment firm 3G Capital for $3.26 billion (S$4.39 bliion), giving the No. 2 US fast-food chain breathing room to fix its business and close the gap with leader McDonald's Corp. </p><p>At US$24 per share, the offer represents a 46 per cent premium to Burger King's price before news of the negotiations emerged on Wednesday. </p>

Burger King agrees to $4.39b

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<p>LONDON - THE International Cricket Council said on Thursday it has charged Pakistan's Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif with various offences under its anti-corruption code.</p><p>The players 'have been officially notified of the offences they are alleged to have committed and have been provisionally suspended pending a decision on those charges', the ICC said in a statement on its website.</p>

Butt, Asif, Aamer charged

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<p>NEW YORK - SWISS second seed Roger Federer, bidding for a seventh consecutive US Open final, advanced to the third round on Thursday by defeating Germany's 104th-ranked Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.</p><p>Federer, who has won a record 16 Grand Slam titles, will face the winner of a later match between Frenchmen Guillaume Rufin and Paul-Henri Mathieu to decide a berth in the last 16 on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts.</p>

Federer advances to 3rd round

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<p>NEW YORK - US COMPUTER giant Hewlett-Packard emerged the winner on Thursday in a bidding war with Dell for 3PAR after raising its offer for the data storage company to US$33 (S$44) per share or US$2.4 billion.</p><p>Dave Johnson, Dell's senior vice-president for corporate strategy, announced the Round Rock, Texas-based company's decision to pull out of the bidding which began on Aug 16 with a US$18 per share offer for 3PAR by Dell.</p>

HP outlasts Dell in 3PAR war

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<p>DETROIT - GENERAL Motors plans to start trading shares again on Nov 18, timing that allows the company one more quarter of earnings to build its case to investors, a firm that researches initial public offerings said on Thursday.</p><p>Scott Sweet, the managing partner of IPO Boutique, said GM plans to price the shares on Nov 17 and begin selling them the next day. </p>

GM to sell shares Nov 18

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<p>NEW YORK - TOP seed Caroline Wozniacki powered her way into the third round of the US Open on Thursday, handing out a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash to Taiwan's Chang Kai-Chen. </p> <p>It was an impressive performance by the 20-year-old Dane, a surprise finalist here last year who, in the space of the last 12 months, has established herself among the elite in the sport. </p>

Wozniacki storms through

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<p>MONZA (Italy) - LEWIS Hamilton and Jenson Button may be friends and team-mates, but both are close rivals for the world championship and each has his own goals as he enters the run-in to the end of the season. </p> <p>Yet while Red Bull's oft-warring pairing of impetuous German Sebastian Vettel and Australian Mark Webber scrap for any advantage between them in their own battle for the title, the McLaren pair appear to have no tensions. </p>

McLaren ready for fair fight

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<p>NEW YORK - WALL Street stocks advanced on Thursday as better-than-expected jobs and housing data helped sustain the previous day's boom ahead of a key monthly employment report.</p><p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 50.63 points (0.49 per cent) to 10,320.10 while the broader S&P 500 index gained 9.81 points (0.91 per cent) to 1,090.10.</p>

Wall Street jumps

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<p> KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN prosecutors charged a newspaper editor on Thursday with publishing false information in a satirical blog post that poked fun at the national electricity company.</p><p>Irwan Abdul Rahman, editor of the Malay Mail newspaper's lifestyle section, pleaded innocent in a district court near Kuala Lumpur to a charge of transmitting content that is 'obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with malicious intent,' said the newspaper's editor, Ahirudin Attan. Irwan faces up to a year in prison and a fine if convicted.</p>

M'sian editor charged

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<p>FINANCIAL institutions are flocking back to Singapore's Formula One (F1) night race.</p><p>Bouncing back from the global economic crisis last year, big players like HSBC, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and OCBC Bank have snapped up corporate packages for the Sept 24-26 event.</p>

Banks zoom back to F1

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<p>IN 15 YEARS, eight in 10 Singaporeans will aim to catch at least one arts and cultural show a year if a new committee that has been formed has its way.</p> <p>The 19-member group wants to make arts and culture an integral part of life for Singaporeans and get twice as many Singaporeans - from the current 40 per cent - to attend at least one arts and cultural event annually by 2025.</p>

Panel to jazz up arts

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<p>POLICE have uncovered a new cyber extortion scam.</p><p> The scammers would proposition Internet users into performing sexual acts in front of a webcam, and extort from the victims by threatening to circulate their compromising photos and videos.</p>

Beware cyber 'love traps'

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<p>FACTORY output is showing signs of faltering with a key indicator suggesting that Singapore's manufacturing sector has shrunk for the first time in 16 months.</p><p>The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a barometer of factory production, fell to 49.4 in August, an early warning sign of slowing output given that a reading of less than 50 indicates contraction.</p>

S'pore factory output down

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<p>RELIEF from overcrowded trains will come no later than next May, when the first five of 22 new trains are added to the rail system.</p><p>They will cut waiting time by a minute on average for commuters using the North-South and East-West line during the peak period, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Thursday.</p>

New trains to ease crush

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<p>ARTS sponsors gave $22.1 million to the arts last year, a sharp drop from the $34.2 million given in 2008.</p><p>Ninety-two sponsors were honoured for their giving at the annual Patron of the Arts Awards ceremony organised by the National Arts Council (NAC) on Thursday night. The recipients gave a total of $19.4 million to the arts last year. Comparatively, in 2008, the 128 sponsors gave $30.5 million.</p>

$22.1m donated to arts

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A UN human rights inquiry into Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla started on Monday a probe in Jordan where investigators interviewed four Jordanian activists.

UN investigators to probe Gaza flotilla raid

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