SYDNEY, April 16 -- AsiaNet INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS... TAIPEI: As requested by AMEX, Kid Castle Educational Corporation has established its independent directors along with the application file and will send its name list for AMEX's review. MICROSOFT AWARD... HONG KONG: CDC Software, a wholly-owned subsidiary and software unit of chinadotcom corporation, a leading integrated enterprise software and mobile applications company in China and internationally, Friday announced it is a winner of Microsoft's Asia Pacific-based Microsoft Office System Solution Builder Program 2004 award. http://www.corp.china.com HISTORIC AGREEMENT... WELLESLEY, Mass.: On April 15th, President Brian M. Barefoot of Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, U.S.A., the top ranked business school worldwide for entrepreneurship (U.S. News & World Report), signed an historic agreement with Tsinghua University, Beijing, China to deliver exclusive, custom Executive Education programs to global managers at multinational corporations throughout China. http://www.babson.edu PREMIERE CUSTOMER... ATLANTA, Ga.: Noble Systems Corporation (NSC), a global leader in customer contact technology solutions, announces the signing of their premiere customer in the Resort and Vacation Ownership industry. http://www.noblesys.com KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS... SANTA CLARA, Calif.: NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, Friday announced its ongoing participation in the Intel Channel Conference (ICC) series, a targeted training road show designed to educate Intel Product Dealers on the latest Intel product launches and technology announcements. http://www.nvidia.com EQUITY CAPITAL... ORLANDO, Fla.: Emic Networks Thursday announced that it has raised US$7.5 million of new equity capital in a preferred stock financing. http://www.tridentcap.com http://www.nordicvc.com http://www.emicnetworks.com 20TH ANNIVERSARY... LOS ANGELES, Calif.: Investor's Business Daily (IBD) Thursday announced it will celebrate 20 years of publishing with an April 19th Commemorative Issue. http://www.investors.com PEPSICO DELIVERS... PURCHASE, N.Y.: PepsiCo delivered a strong start to 2004 with another quarter of double-digit earnings growth, as earnings per share for the first quarter of 2004 were up 15% to $0.46, on a fully diluted basis. http://www.pepsico.com CONFERENCE CALL... HAMILTON: W.P. Stewart & Co., Ltd. will hold a conference call on Thursday, 29 April 2004 in conjunction with its first quarter 2004 earnings release. http://www.wpstewart.com COLOR QUALITY... LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.: Datacolor, a world leader in color technology, is proud to announce the addition of two new members to its global marketing team. http://www.datacolor.com http://www.colorvision.com STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP... PERTH: eBooks Corporation, global supplier of electronic books, and Dawson Books, a leading academic library supplier, Thursday announced a strategic partnership. http://www.ebooks.com http://www.library.ebooks.com AWARD WINNERS... SHANGHAI: Global Sources Ltd. Thursday announced 20 winners of the China Exporter of the Year Awards in the DVD players, LCD monitors and TVs and mobile phones and accessories categories. http://www.globalsources.com Q1 RESULTS... SHANGHAI: Ctrip.com International, Ltd., a leading consolidator of hotel accommodation and airline tickets in China, will announce its first quarter 2004 results on Wednesday, 28 April 2004 after the close of the U.S. market. http://www.ctrip.com RADIO COPYWRITING... SYDNEY: People keen to develop a successful career in radio advertising or improve their radio copywriting skills can apply now for a new international correspondence course. http://www.commercialradio.com.au (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)