News Briefs

DIET COKE: and Jazz at Lincoln Center will hold a jazz festival at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in Lincoln Center. The nightly events, featuring influential women in jazz, begin Sept. 6.

PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. AND GILLETTE CO.: plan to divest some of their smaller toothpaste, dental floss and toothbrush product lines as the companies await antitrust approval for their merger, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

AVP PRO BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOUR, INC. AND MCDONALD’S CORP.: have inked a two-year renewal agreement that makes the burger maker the official sponsor of the AVP Nissan Series through 2006. McDonald’s began its sponsorship of the event in 2002. It is a national touring series where 150 of the nation’s top male and female professional beach volleyball players square off against one another.