SYDNEY--27 Oct--AsiaNet/InfoQuest CentrebetSYDNEY: Centrebet punters are betting that Indira Moala willbe crowned the new NZ Idol on Sunday night. www.centrebet.com SUCCESSFUL QUARTER... SYDNEY: Emerging Australian nickel producer, AllegianceMining NL, is pleased to release its September quarterly. www.allegiance-mining.com.au CVRD ACQUIRES... RIO DE JANEIRO: Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) made thepayment of US$13.3 billion to the depositary agent,Computershare Investor Services Inc., for the acquisition of174,623,019 shares of Inco Limited (Inco), representing 75.66per cent of its outstanding shares on a fully-diluted basis. www.cvrd.com.br AMERICAN GREETINGS... CLEVELAND, Ohio: American Greetings Corporation hasannounced the resignation of Chief Financial Officer, MichaelJ. Merriman, Jr., effective November 14, 2006. http://corporate.americangreetings.com BUSINESS RULES... AUCKLAND: At the 9th International Business Rules Forum inWashington, DC, executives from PowerHealth Solutions and IdiomSoftware will present the advantages of employing businessrules to develop flexible applications for markets withcontinually changing requirements and complex workflows. www.idiomsoftware.com www.idiomsoftware.com/overview.pdf www.powerhealthsolutions.com www.businessrulesforum.com PILOT PROGRAM... SAN FRANCISCO, California: Bank of America and ChinaConstruction Bank have announced a joint pilot program to offerfree consumer account wire transfer service to and from Chinaby eliminating all fees on transfers. www.bankofamerica.com www.ccb.com www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720 CLW086LOGO-b WIRELESS BROADBAND... RICHARDSON, Texas and ESKILSTUNA: SB Broadband AB hasannounced the launch of high-speed wireless broadband servicein Sweden using pre-WiMAX 802.16e equipment from NaviniNetworks, the global leader in providing plug-n-play broadbandwireless access solutions with the most experience incommercial deployments. www.navini.com www.simplybroadband.se W.P. STEWART... HAMILTON: W.P. Stewart & Co., Ltd. has reported net incomeof US$3.5 million, or US$0.08 per share (diluted) and US$0.08per share (basic), for the third quarter ended 30 September2006. This compares with net income in the third quarter of2005 of US$12.2 million, or US$0.27 per share (diluted) andUS$0.27 per share (basic). www.wpstewart.com SMA TECHNOLOGIE... NIESTETAL: In the illustrious Alte Oper in Frankfurt,Germany, SMA Technologie AG received the renowned "Entrepreneurof the Year" prize. STROKE PATIENTS... BRUSSELS: Preliminary results from the world's mostcomprehensive global stroke survey were announced by the StrokeAlliance for Europe and AstraZeneca. The initial survey resultspoint to a widespread lack of awareness of stroke. www.safestroke.org www.astrazenecapressoffice.com www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/resources/atlas/en QUARTERLY REPORT... LONDON: British American Tobacco's reported Group profitfrom operations was 2 per cent higher. However, profit fromoperations would have been 8 per cent higher, or 6 per cent atcomparable rates of exchange, if exceptional items and theimpact arising from the change in terms of trade following thesale of Etinera are excluded, with all regions except Europecontributing to this good growth. GEMALTO REPORTS... AMSTERDAM: Gemalto has reported third quarter revenue of 390million euros (US$495.5 million), down 8 per cent at constantexchange rates, as market environment remains difficult inmobile communication. www.gemalto.com www.gemplus.com KONE INTRODUCES... ESPOO: KONE has developed the world's flattest autowalktechnology, which makes designing locations for and installingautowalks considerably easier. www.kone.com www.kone.com/innotrack AIRPLUS PARTNER... SINGAPORE and FRANKFURT: AirPlus International, a leadingprovider of global business travel payment solutions, hasentered into a partnership with Singapore Airlines in the fieldof business travel management. www.airplus.com AIRCRAFT LEASING... BEIJING, AMSTERDAM and SHANNON: China Aviation SuppliesImport & Export Group Corporation, AerCap, and CalyonAirfinance, are pleased to announce that they have agreed tojointly invest in a new aircraft operating lease ventureinitially dedicated to the China market. (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited,translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net forfull-text versions.)