SYDNEY, Feb 3--AsiaNet/InfoQuest BLOOMBERG TELEVISION... NEW YORK: Expanding its presence in Asia, BloombergTelevision launched its 24-hour business and financial newsnetwork in Thailand, bringing Bloomberg's award-winningprogramming to Thai investors for the first time. http://www.bloomberg.com FOOD CONFERENCE... SHANGHAI: The Chinese food industry is rapidly maturing andthe gap between the quality level of the Chinese industry andthe global average is rapidly decreasing. This is just one ofthe fast developments in China that play a role at theinternational trade show Food ingredients Asia-China. From 1-3March 2005 over 600 international and Chinese ingredientssuppliers do business with over 12.000 Chinese foodmanufacturers. http://www.fi-events.com PRODUCT LAUNCH... HONG KONG: Hong Kong-based Artificial Life, Inc., a leadingglobal provider of award winning mobile technology andapplications, today announced that it has signed a contractwith Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte Ltd ("SingTel Mobile"), aleading regional telecom operator, to launch its innovative andaward winning 3G product "V-Girl-- your virtual girlfriend" inSingapore. The launch makes SingTel Mobile the first operatorto introduce the 3G V-Girl game to that market. http://www.artificial-life.com http://www.v-girl.com http://www.singtel.com http://www.optus.com.au NEW ADDITIONS... RESTON: PRA International, Inc., one of the world's leadingclinical research organizations, announced several seniormanagement appointments and the election of a new member of theboard of directors. http://www.sec.gov http://www.prainternational.com RECORD SHIPMENTS... SAN JOSE: Komag, Incorporated, a leading independentsupplier of thin-film media for disk drives, announced recordfinished disk shipments of 19.8 million units, net income of$15.8 million, and diluted earnings per share of $0.51 on$131.2 million of revenue for the fourth quarter of 2004. http://www.komag.com EXECUTIVE TRANSITION... LAKE FOREST,III: CNH Global N.V. announced that Presidentand Chief Executive Officer Paolo Monferino will leave CNHeffective February 28, 2005. He will become Chief Executive ofIveco S.p.a., the lead company of Fiat Group's CommercialVehicle Sector. http://www.cnh.com DECISION ANNOUNCED... SOUTHPOINT: Federal-Mogul Corporation announced that JoseMaria Alapont has been chosen to be the President and ChiefExecutive Officer of Federal-Mogul, and that this decision hasbeen authorized by the Court presiding over the Federal-MogulChapter 11 proceedings. Mr. Alapont also will join the boardof directors of Federal-Mogul. http://www.federal-mogul.com PRESENCE EXPANDED... COLUMBUS: Assurex Global -- the world's largest privatelyheld risk management and commercial insurance brokerage group-- has expanded its worldwide presence with the addition ofinternational broker Partners in Cork, Ireland; Mumbai, India;Lima, Peru; Caracas, Venezuela; and North American Partners inChicago, Illinois; Birmingham, Alabama; and Greensboro, NorthCarolina. http://www.assurexglobal.com NON-STOP SERVICE... FRANKFURT: Effective February 3, Etihad Airways willcommence non-stop freighter services twice per week betweenFrankfurt Airport and the carrier's home base in Abu Dhabi, thecapital city of the United Arab Emirates. Etihad will be usingan Airbus A300-600F on the new AUH-FRA cargo route. This summerEtihad also plans to add daily non-stop passenger servicesbetween Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi, using Airbus A330-200s jets. http://www.etihadairways.com http://www.fraport.de LCD TVS... SEOUL: MagnaChip Semiconductor announced that it is nowoffering source driver ICs and timing controllers for large LCDTVs. These products include a 10-bit driver IC with superiorcolor expression, designed to drive both 384 and 420 channelsto support the wide resolution common in large LCD TVs. http://www.magnachip.com BUCK REGULATOR... MILPITAS: Sipex Corporation, a leading supplier of highperformance, analog integrated circuits, today introduced theSP6656, a 400mA synchronous buck regulator with logiccontrolled output voltage selection. http://www.sipex.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principalamount of MTN securities issues amounting to a total of US$130million on February 12, 2005 at a redemption price equal to 100percent of the principal amount redeemed plus accruedinterest. http://www.fanniemae.com CONTRACTS AWARDED... FARMINGTON: Otis has been awarded contracts totaling morethan U.S. $23 million to supply and install 169 elevators,escalators, moving walkways and one central monitoring systemfor Phase 2 of the Incheon International Airport in SouthKorea. http://www.otis.com ZURICH OFFICE... LOWELL: Fideris Inc., formerly Lynntech Industries, Inc., aleading developer of innovative test solutions, announced theopening of a new office in Zurich, Switzerland under the nameFideris Test Solutions. The office will serve the company'sEurope, Middle East and Asia customers. The company alsoannounced the appointment of Dr. Pankaj Agarwal as ManagingDirector in charge of its EMEA operations. http://www.fideris.com AVENTAIL EXPANDS... SEATTLE: Leading SSL VPN technology company Aventail isaggressively expanding its direct and channel presence in theAsia Pacific region. The company has opened four new salessupport offices since the start of 2005 in Australia, HongKong, Japan and India. These Aventail offices are providingsales and technical support to the company's growing channelbase in Asia, which now numbers more than 50 partners acrossthe region. (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)