SYDNEY, Oct. 28 --AsiaNet/InfoQuest EURAIL PASSES... UTRECHT: Eurail will up the ante on the range of its popular Selectpasses in 2005. http://www.Eurail.com AGREEMENT SIGNED... SUNSHINE COAST: Nasdaq-list Blackboard Inc. Thursday announced at its annual Asia Pacific Users Conference that it has signed an agreement with the City University of Hong Kong to provide the Blackboard Academic Suite, hosted by Blackboard ASP and Blackboard Professional Services. http://www.blackboard.com http://cityu.edu.hk DEBT TECHNOLOGY... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae Thursday announced a new Internet-based technology that will enhance the company's short-term debt securities issuance process and provide additional, more-timely information to the market. http://www.fanniemae.com ASIA-PACIFIC ALLIANCE... SYDNEY & RYE, N.Y.: Mobius Management Systems, Inc., the leading provider of software for total content management (TCM), and Speedscan Inc., a worldwide provider of outsourced and in-house document archive and retrieval solutions, Wednesday announced an alliance that will deliver a comprehensive range of innovative, flexible software and services to the Asia Pacific region. http://www.speedscan.com http://www.mobius.com MBS DISCLOSURES... WASHINGTON: Fannie Mae, the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, Wednesday announced that the company has taken additional steps toward enhancing disclosures for its mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and structured transactions. http://www.fanniemae.com PEPSICO PRESENTATION... PURCHASE, N.Y.: PepsiCo, Inc. Wednesday announced that its president and chief financial officer, Indra Nooyi, will make a presentation at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer Conference in New York City at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 3. http://www.pepsico.com KOMAG RESULTS... SAN JOSE, Calif.: Komag, Incorporated, a leading independent supplier of thin film media for disk drives, Wednesday announced earnings of US$9.3 million, and diluted earnings per share of $0.33 on $102.4 million of revenue for the third quarter of 2004. http://www.komag.com LAST BROADCAST... BERN: swissinfo/Swiss Radio International (SRI) is to broadcast its last shortwave and satellite radio programmes on October 30, 2004. MGM CHANNEL... LOS ANGELES, Calif.: MGM Networks, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., has launched The MGM Channel in Taiwan and signed an agreement to launch the channel in Malaysia in coming months. http://www.mgm.com PSORIASIS SURVEY... PRAGUE, Czech Republic: People with psoriasis are still being treated as social outcasts, according to the results of a new international survey announced on World Psoriasis Day. http://www.worldpsoriasisday.com CONTROLLER IC... SAN JOSE, Calif.: Micrel Inc., an industry leader in Power, Connect and Protect IC solutions, Wednesday announced two new +48V Hot-Swap Power Controller products. http://www.micrel.com MPLS VPN... OVERLAND PARK, Kan.: New York-listed Sprint has a new MPLS VPN solution that makes it easier and more cost-effective for U.S.-based and other multinational corporations to provision global networks and consolidate wide-ranging applications onto a single, unified network. http://www.sprint.com INDIAN CONTRACTS... CHARLOTTE, N.C.: New York-listed SPX Corporation Wednesday announced that its Process Equipment business and its joint venture company in India have been awarded contracts worth US$5 million by Vedanta Alumina Group. http://www.spx.com CURTIN CEREMONY... PERTH: Curtin University of Technology's Chancellor Dr Eric Tan will reflect on some of his childhood experiences growing up in Malaysia and moving to Australia when he delivers the occasional address at the University's Kuala Lumpur graduation ceremony from 7 pm Thursday October 28 in the Istana Hotel. http://www.curtin.edu.au INTENTIA RESULTS... STOCKHOLM: Intentia International AB, the global enterprise solutions provider for the manufacturing, distribution and maintenance industries, Wednesday announced that it booked a 3 per cent on-year fall in net revenue in the third quarter of 2004. http://hugin.info/1103/R/965854/140251.pdf HIGHER PRODUCTION... ADELAIDE: Santos Limited Wednesday reported that production continued to improve in the latest September quarter, following the full recommissioning of the Moomba plant during the period and new production from Bayu-Undan. DISTRIBUTION DEAL... PERTH: Ebooks Corporation Wednesday announced it has entered into a five-year distribution agreement with Nokia Corporation of Finland to distribute a growing range of popular books via a new generation of Nokia smart phones. SMALLPOX INFORMATION... AMSTERDAM: Information published in this month's International Journal of Infectious Diseases discusses the potential return of smallpox - one of the deadliest viruses known to man - and whether we would be equipped to deal with a bioterrorist outbreak. http://www.reedelsevier.com http://www.elsevier.com http://www.news.scopus.com http://www.mdconsult.com http://www.sciencedirect.com http://www.isid.org ACCESS SYSTEMS... AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Teledata Networks, a leading provider of wireline access products and Next Generation Network (NGN) solutions for telecom operators and service providers worldwide, Wednesday announced the successful participation of its access systems, BroadAccess and HighPGate, in the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) Global MSF Interoperability (GMI) 2004 event. http://www.teledata-networks.com http://www.msforum.org SUMMIT PRESENTATION... SINGAPORE & FREMONT, Calif.: STATS ChipPAC Ltd., a leading independent semiconductor test and advanced packaging service provider, Wednesday announced that the company is scheduled to present at the Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Summit on November 2, 2004 in Singapore at 2:30 PM. http://www.statsus.com BLADDER TREATMENT... BASEL: Novartis Pharma AG Wednesday announced that Emselex (darifenacin hydrobromide), 7.5 mg and 15 mg, has been granted Marketing Authorization by the European Commission for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) in all 25 European member states as well as Norway and Iceland. http://www.novartis.com GEMPLUS RESULTS... LUXEMBOURG: Gemplus Gemplus International S.A. has posted strong third quarter 2004 results, with group revenue rising 13.0 per cent on-year to 190.0 million euros. http://www.gemplus.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.)