SYDNEY--3 Jul--AsiaNet/InfoQuest AVNET ELECTRONICS... SINGAPORE: Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia, an operatinggroup of Avnet, Inc., has added another award to its list ofindustry accolades. The organization received the Gold RegionalResale Award for 2005 from Texas Instruments, the world leaderin digital signal processing and analog semiconductorsolutions. http://www.em.avnet.com PROGNOSIS NAMED... SYDNEY: Nemertes Research's release of a major benchmarkstudy on Convergence & Next-Generation WAN Technologiesconcludes that successful voice-over-IP deployments requirespecific VoIP monitoring, management and reporting tools andcites PROGNOSIS IP Telephony Manager as the product of choicefor larger-scale deployments. www.prognosis.com/benchmark www.prognosis.com COMFORT HOTEL... GIFU: CEO Kiyoshi Matsui and COO Takeya Muraki of ChoiceHotels Japan Co., LTD left the Music City on a high note whenthe Comfort Hotel Gifu brought home the International Hotel ofthe Year award from Choice Hotels International, Inc.,franchisor of the Comfort Hotel brand. http://www.choicehotels.com HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES... CHICAGO: Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., theworld's premier executive search and leadership consultingfirm, announced that Chia Tek-Yew has joined the firm'sSingapore office as a Partner in the Financial ServicesPractice. http://www.heidrick.com LOUIS VUITTON... PARIS: The house of Louis Vuitton, with Marc Jacobs asArtistic Director, opened fashion week in Paris with its SpringSummer 2007 collection in the prestigious halls of the PetitPalais. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060630/VUITTON-a http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060630/VUITTON-b http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060630/VUITTON-c DEMPSEYS ENTERTAIN... MEMPHIS, Tennessee: The Dempseys put on a rockin' good timefor President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush andJapanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday. http://www.regmemphis.com http://www.thedempseys.net http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060630/CLF047 LOCKHEED MARTIN... MOORESTOWN, N.J.: The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed MartinUS$85 million for long-lead material items and critical workcenter efforts to support the production of three Aegis WeaponSystems for Australia's Air Warfare Destroyer program. Thecontract immediately authorizes US$64.5 million for thiseffort. http://www.lockheedmartin.com http://www.prnewswire.com/gh/cnoc/comp/534163.html/ ITALY WINS... HAMBURG: Luca Toni struck twice in the second half as Italybeat Ukraine 3-0 to set up a World Cup semi-final against hostsGermany. PLAYERS CLASH... BERLIN: Players and officials from both teams clashed on thepitch after Germany beat Argentina 4-2 on penalties to reachthe semi-finals of the World Cup. GERMANY WINS... BERLIN: Jens Lehmann was the hero for Germany as the hostnation beat Argentina 4-2 on penalties on Friday to advance tothe World Cup semifinals after normal time ended 1-1. ASIAN FOOTBALL... KUALA LUMPUR: Asian Football Confederation head Mohamed binHammam has blamed the miserable showing of the Asian teams atthe World Cup on the continent's weak domestic leagues. TALKS INCONCLUSIVE... CHIBA: JEF United Chiba manager Ivica Osim, who has receivedan offer for the job of Japan national coach, met withofficials of the J-League club but talks about his future endedon an inconclusive note on Thursday. ASTHMA PATIENTS... LUND: New data on the attitudes and behaviours of asthmapatients just published in BMC Pulmonary Medicine highlight theneed for a new strategy in asthma management. http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpulmmed/ LABOUR AGREEMENT... SAGUENAY: Alcan Inc. announced that its Quebec employeesrepresented by the Canadian Auto Workers union have ratified anew collective labour agreement by a 91.4 per cent majority. www.alcan.com TRAVELPORT SALE... PARSIPPANY, N.J.: An announcement by Cendant Corporationthat it has agreed to sell its travel distribution servicessubsidiary, Travelport, to an affiliate of The BlackstoneGroup, marked Travelport's prominence as one of the world'slargest and most geographically dispersed competitors in theUS$6 trillion global travel industry. http://www.cendant.com http://www.blackstone.com PRICE INCREASE... WILMINGTON, Delaware: DuPont Titanium Technologies hasannounced a price increase in Europe for all DuPont titaniumdioxide grades. Effective July 1, 2006, or as permitted bycontract, prices for all titanium dioxide grades will increase130 Euros (US$166) per tonne in Europe. http://www.titanium.dupont.com CENDANT AGREES... NEW YORK: Cendant Corporation announced that it has enteredinto a definitive agreement to sell Travelport, the Company'stravel distribution services subsidiary, to an affiliate of TheBlackstone Group for approximately US$4.3 billion in cash. http://www.cendant.com http://www.blackstone.com BRADY ACQUIRES... MILWAUKEE: Brady Corporation, a world leader inidentification solutions and specialty materials, announcedthat it has acquired Carroll Australasia Pty. Ltd., Sydney, NewSouth Wales, Australia. Terms of the transaction were notdisclosed. http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/952350.html/ http://www.bradycorp.com http://www.carroll.com.au (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited,translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net forfull-text versions.)