• Western mining companies are rushing towards a new eldorado: Cuba. This year, Joutel Resources of Canada became the first western firm to sign an exploration agreement with the Cuban mining agency Geominera. And, with a mining analyst calling Cuba a "genuinely under-explored area", Joutel is being followed by Australia's BHP, the UK's RTZ and Canada's Inco. Joutel will be looking mainly for gold and base metals. Says Joutel chairperson Hugh Harbinson, "Our ambition is to find three deposits in three years."

• A drug produced by the New Jersey-based Bristol-Myers Squibb has been found to reduce deaths from diabetes by 50 per cent, according to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine. The company believes the drug, Capoten, could reduce the need for expensive kidney transplants and dialysis. Capoten appears to improve circulation in the kidney, improving its ability to process impurities.

• The Swedish pharmaceutical group Astra is in the final stages of developing Turbuhaler, which contains a generic version of Glaxo's Ventolin that is used to treat asthma. Astra claims the Turbuhaler is more effective than traditional inhalers in delivering the drug into the lungs. Astra is also developing a drug to fight a bacterium that causes peptic ulcers, for which it is launching a trial involving 4,000 patients.

• Japan's Honda Motor Co is preparing to produce zero-emission cars by 1998, to meet strict pollution regulations that will come into effect that year in California. Under the new standards, 2 per cent of each car manufacturer's fleet should be zero-emission cars. The solar-assisted car will bear little resemblance to the Honda Dream, which set a world record in a race across the Australian outback. The company says solar energy will most likely be used to assist an electric car powered by a rechargeable battery.

• The Japanese company Kyocera is asking consumers to buy a laser printer, which it claims is environmentally more sound than others. Conventional printers use a replaceable cartridge that contains the toner and drum, which is thrown away when the toner runs out. Kyocera's printer, Ecosys, uses a longer lasting drum that is separate from the toner -- the only part that has to be replaced regularly. Ecosys is the first of a whole range of greener products from Japan -- such as energy saving devices and industrial environment protection products -- according to Yasuo Nishiguchi, managing director of the company.