Visiting Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei and Thai prime minister Chuan Leekpai on Saturday expressed concerns about violence in Indonesia and hoped that the problem could be resolved soon. Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan told reporters the sultan and the Thai premier also agreed during talks that the two countries would refrain from interfering in Indonesia's internal affairs. The two leaders hoped that problems in the riot-torn country could be solved and peace return there soon, Surin said. Brunei and Thailand are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) which groups them with Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

US, Canada end salmon talks with no pact:

US and Canadian salmon negotiators ended a week of talks with no signs of progress toward an interim agreement to cover the upcoming Pacific fishing season. The third round of talks in two months on the contentious issueended with no new negotiations scheduled, although the two sides left open the possibility for future discussions, officials said. Chief US negotiator Roberts Owen told reporters the United States offered a number of proposals for a new agreement and said he was "frustrated that we didn't reach that goal."

Nissan to consolidate distributors:

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co is planning to restructure its domestic sales network by fiscal 2000 in order to cut costs, a Japanese financial daily reported on Saturday. Nissan will consolidate its four dealership networks into two by fiscal 2000 and also consolidate its regional sales head offices as part of the company's restructuring, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing company sources. Nissan, Japan's number two automaker, decided that restructuring its dealership channels was necessary to boost domestic sales and cut costs.

Prosecutor Hino to head new finance watchdog:

Prosecutor Masaharu Hino will be appointed the first head of anew Japanese financial regulatory agency, government officials said on Saturday. Hino, 62, will head the Financial Supervisory Agency, which is scheduled to be set up in June, they said. The agency will be under the Prime Minister's Office and inherit inspection and supervising functions from the finance ministry's Financial Inspection Department, Banking Bureau and Securities Bureau. Hino is a supervising prosecutor at the Nagoya public prosecutors office and his appointment will be made official early next week after prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto returns from a summit meeting in Birmingham, they said.

Malaysia Air to use larger plane for Jakarta:

Malaysian Airlines (MAS) said on Saturday it was switching to a larger plane for one of its regular flights out of strife-torn Jakarta and may lay on extra flights to meet a surge in demand for seats. MAS said in a statement it was also willing to lay on extra flights if needed. "Malaysia Airlines today upgraded one of its three Jakarta-bound flightsto B747-400 to cope up with heavy passenger demand ex-Jakarta," the national carrier said in a statement. MAS normally uses Boeing 737 aircraft for its twice-daily flights between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.