SYDNEY, Sept. 16--AsiaNet/InfoQuest QUALITY CERTIFICATION... SINGAPORE: Avnet Electronics Marketing, the largest operating group of Avnet Inc, Friday announced that the company's Programming Centre in Singapore has been awarded ISO/TS 16949 certification by the Lloyds Register of Quality Assurance (LRQA). http://www.em.avnet.com BETTING FAVOURITE... SYDNEY: National's Don Brash is firming as Centrebet's favourite to become New Zealand prime minister. http://www.centrebet.com FLCOS MICRODISPLAY... LONGMONT, Colo.: Displaytech Inc., the world leader in liquid-crystal-on-silicon microdisplays, Friday announced that it has shipped its 10 millionth ferroelectric liquid-crystal-on-silicon (FLCOS) display. http://www.displaytech.com AVIATION MAINTENANCE... NEW YORK: Aircraft safety and management strategies for maintaining aircraft in an evolving aviation market -- issues that affect airlines, OEMs, suppliers, service providers and the military -- will be the focus of discussions and displays during Aviation Week Group's MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition, November 9 & 10 in Singapore. http://www.aviationnow.com/conferences http://www.aviationnow.com http://www.aviationweek.com/awin http://www.mcgraw-hill.com GLOBAL INITIATIVE... NEW YORK: Former President William J. Clinton on Friday opened the Clinton Global Initiative, discussing the importance of the conference and introducing the topics of the event: poverty, religious strife, climate change, and governance. http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org ONLINE GAMES... TOKYO: PeerMe, Inc., a peer-to-peer voice communications technology company, and Boonty, the world leader in downloadable digital games, Friday announced a strategic alliance to introduce a series of PeerMe Games channels. http://www.PeerMe.com http://www.boonty.com NEW PARTNERSHIP... NEW YORK: Luxury apparel label St. John Friday announced a partnership with Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie. ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION... NGEE ANN CITY: At the one-year anniversary mark, management consulting and engineering firm R. W. Beck Inc. has secured four independent engineering projects in Southeast Asia -- with several more project possibilities in the works. http://www.rwbeck.com STUDY RESULTS... PARIS: The results of the VITAE (VTE Impact Assessment Group in Europe) study, announced at the 5th annual congress of the European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM) on September 3rd, reported that the annual burden of fatal and non-fatal symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE), which includes pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), exceeds 1.5 million events annually in the European Union. ASSETS INCREASE... NEW YORK: The assets of the Asia 100, Institutional Investor magazine's annual ranking of the region's biggest money managers, increased from $7.4 trillion at the end of 2003 to $7.7 trillion at the end of 2004, a 4 percent gain. http://www.institutionalinvestor.com CVRD OFFERS... RIO DE JANEIRO: Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) Thursday announced that it intends to make an offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Canico Resource Corp. at a price of CAD$17.50 in cash per Canico common share. http://www.cvrd.com.br BATTERY CHIP... SAN JOSE, Calif.: Atmel Corporation, a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, Thursday announced the availability of the ATAVRSB100, a smart battery development kit. 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.)