SYDNEY, June 7 -- AsiaNet DIABETES DRUGS... BASEL: Research presented today showed that the investigational drug, LAF237, the first in a new class, improved glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. http://www.novartis.com SANDOZ ACQUISITION... VIENNA: Sandoz, a Novartis company, today announced plans to acquire Sabex Holdings Ltd. in a USD 565 million cash transaction that will provide strong growth opportunities in injectable generics and new entry into the Canadian generics sector. http://www.sandoz.com http://www.novartis.com XINHUA ACQUISITION... HONG KONG: Xinhua Finance, Chinas premier financial services and media company,has reached an agreement to acquire Mergent, Inc., a leading provider of global business and financial information on publicly traded equity and debt, a statement said today. www.xinhuafinance.com. www.mergent.com ANALYST APPOINTMENT... HONG KONG: ING Financial Markets today announced the appointment of Philip Wickham as Director, Debt Market Research, Asia, effective 7th June 2004. PERSONAL DATA... TAIPEI: Taiwanese prosecutors recently broke up a syndicate that allegedly illicitly obtained the personal data from several telecommunication companies and law enforcement units, Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd announced today. MICRODISPLAY TEAM... SAN PABLO: MicroDisplay Corporation, technology leader in Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) components, announced today that it has appointed three new industry leaders to its executive Sales, Engineering and Operations staff. www.microdisplay.com GOVERNANCE REPORT... ROLLING MEADOWS: While more than 91 percent of executives recognize that information technology (IT) is vital to the success of their businesses, more than two-thirds of CEOs are not comfortable answering questions about governance and control over their IT processes, a news release said. http://www.itgi.org SURVIVAL RATE... BASEL: New MabThera/Rituxan data announced at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting reveal extremely positive survival benefits for younger patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). www.roche.com BREAKTHROUGH DRUG... BASEL: Roche OSI Pharmaceuticals and Genentech today announced that their investigational drug Tarceva (erlotinib) achieved a significant 42.5% improvement in median survival compared to placebo in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). www.roche.com COMPETITION CASE... SAO PAULO: The Brazilian government has cleared Microsoft under the accusation of preventing competition in the software sector, a news release said. http://www.microsoft.com/brasil MESZAROS SPEECH... BEIJING: Steve Meszaros, managing director of Visteon Corporation's China operations, will speak at the China Business Update 9th Annual International Conference on June 8, 2004, at the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing, China. http://www.visteon.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON D.C.: Fannie Mae announced details of a redemption, a statement said. http://www.fanniemae.com OFFER SERVICE... HERNDON: Network Solutions, the first and largest registrar of domain names, today announced the launch of its patent-pending Certified Offer Service, an innovative approach to helping Internet users quickly obtain already-registered domain names. http://www.networksolutions.com THUNDERBIRD PRESIDENT... GLENDALE: In a special report on the "Stars of Europe," BusinessWeek magazine has named Dr. Angel Cabrera, the incoming president of Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, one of Europe's most outstanding "Agenda Setters." www.t-bird.edu GLUCOSE CONTROL... LONDON: Control to Goal, a new integrated diabetes education and support initiative for healthcare professionals, has been launched today by the Global Partnership for Effective Diabetes Management - a taskforce of internationally respected diabetes experts from leading institutions and diabetes organisations. MICROSOFT WISEKEY... GENEVA: WISeKey has launched its new service to enable users of Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 to issue globally trusted digital signatures using Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 inbuilt PKI technology that allows use of digital signatures with Microsoft applications. http://www.wisekey.com GIZMONDO GAME... LONDON: Gizmondo Europe Ltd, subsidiary of Jacksonville, FL based Tiger Telematics Inc (TIGR) announced today that it's strategic partner, game designer Indie Studios, will produce the second of a unique series of games for the exciting Gizmondo device. (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)