SYDNEY, May 3--AsiaNet/InfoQuest INCREASED OFFER... ASHSURN Va.: MCI, Inc. Tuesday announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously determined that a revised offer from Verizon Communications Inc. is superior to the offer received from Qwest Communications International Inc. on April 21. http://www.mci.com CATARACT SURGERY... AUCKLAND: Dr Stephen Best, Chair of the New Zealand Branch of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO), Tuesday said the initiative announced by the the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Helen Clark, and the Minister of Health, the Hon Annette King, would be a major step in addressing the inequitable distribution of access to cataract surgery within New Zealand. NRSC APPROVES... COLUMBIA, Md.: iBiquity Digital Corporation, developers of the HD Radio In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) system, has congratulated the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) for unanimously voting to implement the technical standard for digital AM and FM broadcasting in the United States based on the HD Radio system. http://www.ibiquity.com DISTRIBUTOR APPOINTED... HOUSTON, Texas & SYDNEY: Idera, a leading provider of management and administration solutions for Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Tools ANZ (SQL Tools), Tuesday announced a strategic partnership that enables SQL Tools to distribute, market and support Idera's award winning line of SQL Server management and administration products. http://www.idera.com http://www.sqltools.com.au SETTLEMENT APPROVED... NEW YORK: A settlement has been preliminarily approved by U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz in a class-action lawsuit brought by Jewish Hungarian victims of Nazism and heirs of Hungarian Nazi victims against the United States government regarding the handling of property contained on the "Hungarian Gold Train," in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. http://www.HungarianGoldTrain.org ASTHMA BURDEN... HAMILTON, Ontario: The burden of asthma on individuals, families, and economies around the world is far greater than it should be, according to international experts on the respiratory illness that affects more than 300 million people across the globe. http://www.rcipr.com http://www.efanet.org http://www.ginasthma.org SGI TECHNOLOGY... MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.: Silicon Graphics Monday announced that its SGI Altix 350 midrange server and SGI InfiniteStorage Shared Filesystem CXFS will serve as the foundation of new products from IPEX Information Technology Group, one of Australia's leading Information Technology (IT) solution providers. http://www.sgi.com FIRST ADVANTAGE... ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.: First Advantage Corporation, a leading US-based risk mitigation and business solutions provider, Monday announced that it has acquired Quest Research Ltd., the premier provider of employment screening services in India and East Asia. http://www.fadv.com http://www.firstam.com RECONFIGURABLE SYSTEMS-ON-CHIPS... SAN JOSE, Calif.: Atmel Corporation, a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, Monday announced the introduction of its AVR-based FPSLIC II, the industry's first family of dynamically reconfigurable systems-on-chips (SoCs) allowing multiple interfaces, peripherals and/or operators to share the same silicon at different times. http://www.atmel.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.)