SYDNEY, June 15 -- AsiaNet ING FINANCIALS... HONG KONG: ING Financial Markets (ING) announced that due to a string of recent data surprises in growth across Asia, that it had upgraded its GDP forecasts for Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. NOVARTIS ANNOUNCEMENT... PARIS: Novartis announced today at the European Society of Hypertension meeting and simultaneously published online in The Lancet, the results of VALUE (Valsartan Antihypertensive Long-term Use Evaluation Trial) a prospective, double-blind, randomised, active-controlled study conducted at 934 clinical sites in 31 countries. www.novartis.com ECREDIT ANNOUNCEMENT... DEDHAM, Mass: eCredit announced that Hagemeyer has broadened its relationship with eCredit by committing to implement eCredit nFusion to automate its collections processes. www.ecredit.com MANGROVE SYSTEMS... WALLINGFORD, Conn: Mangrove Systems, developer of the industry's first end-to-end MPLS solution, will unveil its Piranha and Barracuda MetroMPLS platforms at SUPERCOMM 2004 in Chicago, June 21-24. www.mangrovesystems.com MOTOROLA CANOPY... BEIJING: Motorola, Inc. announced that Daqing Yushulin Oilfield Development Limited selected its Canopy wireless broadband solution to provide high-speed data connectivity between its oil drilling sites and data center 18 kilometers away in the Heilongjiang Province in northern China. www.motorola.com HUNGER STRIKE... TAIPEI: Five hunger strikers and members of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers (PACE) International Union were threatened today by police of the Taiwan Foreign Ministry with arrest and deportation if they did not call off their hunger strike in Taipei. www.fightbackonline.org ICONIX PHARMACEUTICALS... MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif: Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will engage Iconix to perform a preliminary chemogenomics profiling and analytical study for a compound in its drug discovery pipeline. www.iconixpharm.com CELLSTAR PACIFIC... SINGAPORE: Motorola, Inc. announced today that it has named CellStar Pacific as a distributor to sell Motorola Canopy wireless broadband products into most countries in Asia. www.motorola.com OMA ANNOUNCEMENT... SINGAPORE: The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) announced at CommunicAsia the public availability of new and up-leveled mobile specifications. www.openmobilealliance.org VENTURE CAPITALISTS... SANTA CLARA, Calif: Silicon Valley Bank, an American financial services company serving the technology, life science and private equity industries, announced it will lead its first delegation of U.S.-based venture capitalists on an educational and networking trip to Shanghai and Beijing. www.svb.com PANAMSAT CORP... SINGAPORE: PanAmSat Corporation celebrates its tenth year in the Asia-Pacific market at CommunicAsia 2004, being held from June 15 to June 18, 2004 at the Singapore Convention Center in Singapore. www.panamsat.com ST TELEPORT... SINGAPORE: PanAmSat Corporation announced the signing of a fiber interconnectivity agreement with ST Teleport, a full-service satellite communications solution provider based in Singapore. www.STTeleport.com SPORT FEST... WILTON, Conn: PanAmSat Corporation announced that it had signed an agreement with Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) to deliver live sporting events and breaking news in high-definition (HD) format via the company's worldwide satellite and fiber network. www.panamsat.com BOOK RELEASE... MELBOURNE: In his new book `What I Didn't Learn At School But Wish I Had,' author Jamie McIntyre poses the question why isn't this type of education taught at school? CLEARHEART ANNOUNCEMENT... AUSTIN, Texas: Responding to the success of the launch of PhotoGia and requests to integrate the PhotoGia technology into digital cameras and printers, ClearHeart announced that new extensibility and portability has been added to PhotoGia's core technology that makes the software available for embedding into digital cameras, scanners, printers, image setters, monitors and other image capture devices. www.photogia.com FTS DEAL... SINGAPORE: Formula Telecom Solutions, Ltd., (FTS), a developer and a global provider of postpaid Billing and CRM solutions for the telecom industry, announced its cooperation with Comverse, by enhancing Comverse's Real-Time Converged Billing solution, with FTS postpaid billing and CRM software. www.fts-soft.com HARRIS CORP... SINGAPORE: Harris Corporation, a global provider of wireless equipment and services, announced that it has qualified to supply broadband wireless access communications to China Network Communications Group Corporation (CNC), a broadband wireless access (BWA) provider in China. www.harris.com TRUEPOINT 5000... SINGAPORE: Harris Corporation announced that its next-generation microwave radio, TRuepoint 5000, has been selected as the communications backbone for a project underway by Centralink, a wireless systems integrator in Indonesia. www.harris.com DIALOG SCHOLARSHIPS... SINGAPORE: Dialog, a Thomson business and worldwide provider of online-based information services and integrated information solutions, said that it has awarded its annual Roger K. Summit Scholarship for the Asia Pacific region to four students from Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore. www.dialog.com ING APPOINTMENT... SEOUL: ING today announced the appointment of Erik Versavel as Country Manager for South Korea. He will assume his new responsibilities on 15th August 2004 and reports to David Hudson, CEO of ING Bank, Asia. (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)