SYDNEY, Aug. 10 -- AsiaNet IPRA AWARDS... KUALA LUMPUR: Twenty-seven campaigns from 11 different countries have won top prizes in the 2004 Golden World Awards for excellence in public relations awarded by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). http://www.ipra.org HSINCHU OFFICE HSINCHU: Inapac Technology, Inc., the leading semiconductor company exclusively focused on DRAM for system-in-package (SiP) applications, Tuesday announced the newest addition to its global locations with a new office in Hsinchu, Taiwan. http://www.inapac.com MEMBERSHIP JUMPS... ASCOT: A recent audit of Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) membership by region showed that mainland China has the fastest membership growth rate of any country outside of the UK, more than doubling its figures from the previous year. http://www.ciob.org.cn http://www.ciobinternational.org CHINA JV... TROY, Mich.: ArvinMeritor, Inc. Tuesday announced the formation of a 50-50 joint venture between its Light Vehicle Systems (LVS) business group and Shanghai SIIC Transportation Electronic Company, Ltd. (STEC). http://www.arvinmeritor.com http://www.stec-cn.com Q2 RESULTS... BEIJING: KongZhong Corporation, leading provider of advanced second generation (2.5G) wireless value added services in China, Tuesday announced its second quarter diluted earnings of $0.19 per ADS under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, up from a diluted earnings of $0.01 per ADS in the same period of the previous year and diluted earnings of $0.11 per ADS in the first quarter of 2004. http://www.kongzhong.com BENCHMARK NOTES... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae, the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, will not issue a Callable Benchmark Note this month. http://www.fanniemae.com PEACE MESSAGE... LOS ANGELES, Calif.: Prem Rawat, also known as Maharaji, has addressed faculty, community leaders, guests, and students at Sanders Theater, Harvard University, at an event sponsored by The Prem Rawat Foundation. http://www.tprf.org/Harvard2004 http://www.tprf.org FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principal amount of 11 securities issues amounting to a total of US$582.325 million on Aug 19, 2004 at a redemption price equal to 100 percent of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued interest. http://www.fanniemae.com ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT... LOS GATOS, Calif.: Firetide Inc., a leader in wireless mesh networking, Monday announced an additional investment of $2 million for its Series B Preferred Stock financing round, bringing the total Series B round to $15.6 million. http://www.firetide.com PROFESSIONAL GRAPHICS... LOS ANGELES, SIGGRAPH: NVIDIA Corporation Monday introduced the fastest performing graphics solution in the industry with the new NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400 model. http://www.nvidia.com LDO CONTROLLERS... SAN JOSE, Calif.: Micrel Inc., an industry leader in Power, Connect and Protect IC solutions, Monday announced two new high-speed, high-current low-dropout (LDO) regulator controllers aimed a wide variety of point-of-load and digital IC power applications. http://www.micrel.com SHARE BUYBACK... BASEL: Novartis AG Monday announced that its Board of Directors has decided to launch a new share repurchase program for up to CHF 3 billion following the completion of a program initiated in 2002. http://www.novartis.com COMPLAINTS HANDLING... TOKYO: In a world first, Mitsue-Links Co., Ltd. self-declared on August 8, 2004, compliance of its complaint processing activities with ISO10002 "Quality management -- Customer satisfaction -- Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations". http://www.mitsue.co.jp/english/ FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae Saturday said it will redeem the principal amount of six securities issues amounting to a total of US$445 million between Aug 16 to 19, 2004 at a redemption price equal to 100 percent of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued interest. http://www.fanniemae.com (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)--InfoQuest (PP)--