IN BRIEF

ATLANTIC CITY,

Tough anti-smoking law goes into effect

The air inside Atlantic City's casinos was notably cleaner Sunday, as a restrictive new smoking law took effect.

Well-placed signs let gamblers determine which areas were OK to smoke in, and only a few patrons had to be reminded not to light up in no-smoking areas.

The new law restricts smoking to no more than 25 percent of a casino's floor. It went into effect Sunday, exactly a year after New Jersey's Smoke-Free Air Act prohibited cigar, cigarette and pipe smoking in restaurants, bars, private office buildings and other indoor places.

"You could tell the difference," said Ida Valentin of Brooklyn, N.Y., as she played slots in a no-smoking section of Bally's.

The new law is a compromise proposal reached after Atlantic City proposed banning smoking completely in all its 11 casinos. The casino industry protested, fearing the loss of 20 percent of its revenue, and as many as 3,400 jobs.

SAN JOSE, Calif.

Toshiba to offer hard-drive products

Toshiba Corp. -- known among consumers for its televisions, laptops and DVD players -- will begin selling portable hard-drive products as well, becoming the latest company seeking to capitalize on people's expanding collections of digital data.

The Toshiba USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive will be available today in capacities ranging from 100 gigabytes to 200 gigabytes -- the largest capacity yet in a portable, compact form.

Prices start at $130 for the 100 GB version and go to $230 for the 200 GB model.

India steelmaker plans to buy Canadian outfit

Essar Global Ltd., India's fourth-biggest steelmaker, agreed to buy Canada's Algoma Steel for $1.63 billion to set up a base for North American operations as it expands internationally.

Algoma investors will receive C$56 a share in cash, the companies said in a statement Sunday. The price is 3.5 percent higher than Algoma's closing stock price on April 13, and 48 percent more than the 20-day average ending Feb. 14, when Algoma said it was in talks that may lead to a takeover.

The purchase ends Algoma's two-year search for a buyer and helps continue an overseas expansion by Essar.