Nestle SA, the world’s biggest food and drink company, said Thursday it will buy Gerber Products Co. from pharmaceutical maker Novartis SA for $5.5 billion, giving it the largest share of the global baby food market. The acquisition helps further Nestle’s recent focus on health and nutrition, following its purchases of the U.S. weight control company Jenny Craig and Novartis Medical Nutrition.
North Korea appeared increasingly unlikely to meet a weekend deadline to shut down its nuclear reactor, staying silent Thursday about whether it was satisfied with a U.S. solution to a financial dispute that has stalled the disarmament process. The U.S., South Korea and China said the North has not withdrawn some $25 million that was unfrozen this week in a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau. Washington had blacklisted the Banco Delta Asia in September 2005 for allegedly helping the North launder money and pass counterfeit $100 bills.
A Norwegian oil rig support vessel carrying 14 people capsized off northern Scotland on Thursday, and four crew members were missing, the coast guard said. Ten crew members were rescued after the Bourbon Dolphin capsized off the Shetland Islands, said Mark Clark, a coast guard spokesman.
