Aug 20--PRNewswire/AsiaNetBIOTECH BAN... ALABAMA: In a weekend press statement, the AgBioWorld Foundation called upon the Sri Lankan government to rethink its ban on biotechnology food imports imposed earlier this month. "This was a reckless decision," said C.S. Prakash, professor of plant genetics and president of the Foundation. "And it will prevent the Sri Lankan people from benefiting from this safe and promising technology," he added.MESSAGING SERVICE... GUANGDONG: Black Octopus, provider of Wireless Instant Messaging services, has announced the launch of "mParty" in Guangdong, China. A company release said Guangdong Mobile Communications Corporation now offered the "mParty" service to more than 16 million subscribers in Guangzhou,Shenzhen, Zhuhai and throughout Guangdong province. EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENT... HONG KONG: chinadotcom corporation has announced the signing of an e-mail list management agreement with South East Asian portal, Catcha.com. The company would "use its new, proprietary e-mail marketing application expresso and its sales force in nine countries across the region, to manage and broker the 900,000 permission-based e-mail addresses from Catcha.com's community portal."WIRING INITIATIVE... NEW YORK: A weekend press statement said the Chairman of the International Aviation Safety Association (IASA), Lyn Romano, had described the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority, US) new training and maintenance programmes to address "the problem of aircraft wiring as a step in the right direction." (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated press releases for worldwide clients. Contact: www.asianet.com.au for full-text versions).