Nov.7--AsiaNet/PRNewswireFINANCIAL CRISES... OTTAWA:Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin today announced that the third meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will be held on November 16 and 17.They will discuss the role of the G20 in the fight against terrorism and "continue to examine ways to make the world less vulnerable to financial crises."ARMS EXPORTER... MOSCOW: A press statement from Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said today the company was "celebrating its first anniversary established exactly a year ago when President Vladimir Putin's November 4, 2000, decree consolidated several Russian arms traders to avoid unnecessary competition." MANUFACTURING VENTURE... ILLINOIS: A media release said today Caterpillar Inc. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) have signed an agreement to expand and strengthen their long-standing joint venture, Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd. (SCM). Over the next few years, MHI will transfer its construction equipment production, excluding motor graders, to SCM's manufacturing facility in Sagamihara, Japan. SECURITY SERVICES... FRANKFURT: A media release said today Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide is now "indirectly involved in providing security services at the Euro Tunnel that links England with continental Europe." The Dutch-based security company ICTS Europe B.V. - 45-percent owned by Fraport's CIVAS GmbH (Neu-Isenburg, Germany) subsidiary - "will ensure security at the British end of the Euro Tunnel in the future." In a separate Fraport release the company said in co-operation with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Frankfurt Airport (FRA) has implemented class-differentiated security control points as a service enhancement for first and business class passengers. VACCINES AGREEMENT... PENNSYLVANIA: Wyeth Lederle Vaccines, a business unit of Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, a division of American Home Products Corporation and the Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM), the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in The Netherlands, today announced that they have entered into an Exclusive Development and Licence Agreement in the field of Meningitis. CONNECTION OPTIONS... COPENHAGEN: In a press statement today, publicly listed company, Danware, announced the release of NetOp Remote Control v7.0 "designed for IT professionals looking for heightened security, speed and multiple connection options."LASER ORDER... PORTLAND: Electro Scientific Industries today announced an order for a Model 5385 CO2 laser drill from Samsung Electro-Mechanics. The company said it is a follow-on to systems shipped in August to Samsung's Kiheung facility in Korea, where they will be used in the production of printed circuit boards for the cell phone and IC packaging market. SURVEY RESULTS... HONG KONG: Global Sources Ltd. today announced that Electronic Engineering Times-Asia has published the results of its 2001 Embedded Systems Development Survey. Conducted in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean, the survey "provides a detailed study of the Asian engineering community's level of involvement in embedded systems design and the sectors where it is applied most. Analysis is based on responses from 2,443 design engineers from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, India and other countries in the region." CONTENT DISTRIBUTION... HONG KONG: SpeedCast Ltd., a satellite broadband enabler based in Hong Kong, today announced a partnership with ET Network Services Limited (ETNS), an Internet Service Provider in Greater China, to "deliver its Content Distribution Service to enterprise users." SUBSIDIARY SOLD... HONG KONG: First Ecom.com, with interests in gas and oil exploitation and electronic payment solutions, today announced the sale of First Ecommerce Data Services Limited (FEDS), its wholly owned subsidiary and payment processing division for the Americas and Caribbean region, to Transworld Payment Solutions N.V., of Curacao.GUEST RATES... HONG KONG: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group today announced that is "offering exclusive rates for China residents with its Business and Pleasure package."CHEMICAL FACILITIES... NORTH CAROLINA: PharmaCore, Inc. announced today the opening of its GMP facilities for manufacture of custom synthetic organic chemicals and to scale-up to multi-kilogram levels, lead compounds and active pharmaceutical intermediates. In a separate announcement, PharmaCore said it has appointed Edward Chait to the position of President and CEO.BROKEN RECORDS... CALIFORNIA: Callaway Golf said today "in a huge global week records were broken and landmarks were established." Among them, staff professional Annika Sorenstam establsihed a new LPGA money record ($US1,990,868) with her eighth win of 2001. FASHION AWARDS... TORONTO: A press statement said today top young designers from around the world will compete in Toronto on November 29 for the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards title and a grand prize worth over $115,000 (Canadian dollars). SPACE HISTORY... KANSAS: A media release said today The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Centre "is selling small items that remained following the restoration of Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury spacecraft and the famous Apollo 13 command module Odyssey, available at http://www.cosmo.org ." (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated press releases for worldwide clients. Contact: www.asianet.aap.com.au for full-text versions).