SYDNEY--17 Nov--AsiaNet/InfoQuestL.L. BEAN OPENS... FREEPORT: L.L.Bean, Inc., the nation's leading developer andretailer of outdoor gear and apparel, announced the opening oftwo new retail stores in Japan, along with plans to exploreexpansion in other international markets. http://www.llbean.com INTERNET SECURITY... COPENHAGEN: BullGuard has announced the release of InternetSecurity 7.0 which is available immediately from www.bullguard.com . MOBILES VULNERABLE... MUNICH: SecurStar, offering the PhoneCrypt mobile phonesecurity system, has released a study on cell phonevulnerability. http://www.securstar.com BIOTECH CONFERENCE... WASHINGTON: The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)will host its fourth annual BIO-Asia Partnering Conference inTokyo at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Jan. 29-30, 2007. http://www.bio.org http://www.bio.org/bioasia MINING MILESTONE... VANCOUVER: La Mancha announces that a milestone has been metwith respect to recommencing mining operations at the Company's100 per cent owned White Foil Project in Western Australia. http://www.lamancharesources.com FANNIE MAY... WASHINGTON: Fannie Mae has announced that it priced $1.1billion of Benchmark REMIC Trust 2006-B2, Class AB, CUSIP31396LYT1, a Guaranteed Maturity Class with a class coupon of5.50 per cent and a final maturity date of May 27, 2014. http://www.fanniemae.com POWER SAVING... SAN JOSE: Micrel Inc., an industry leader in analog, highbandwidth communications and Ethernet IC solutions, haslaunched the MIC5232, a new 10mA LDO, offering power savingfeatures for extending battery life. http://www.micrel.com MCDONALD'S ANNIVERSARY... OAK BROOK: World Children's Day at McDonald's, the company'slargest annual fundraiser for children, turned five years oldon Thursday. http://www.mcdonalds.com http://www.rmhc.org VENEZUELA ELECTIONS... CARACAS: A nationwide tracking poll conducted among the mostlikely Venezuela voters in advance of the December 3rdPresidential Election shows the race tightening betweenincumbent President Hugo Chavez and opposition candidate,Governor Manuel Rosales, with Chavez losing support and Rosalespicking up considerable support in recent weeks. FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principalamount of two securities issues amounting to a total ofUS$47.919 million on May 26, 2009 and November 25, 2011 at aredemption price equal to 100 per cent of the principal amountredeemed plus accrued interest. http://www.fanniemae.com CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT... IRVINE: Trussnet USA Development Co. Inc., a member of theTrussnet family of companies, a global leader in architecturaland engineering services, telecommunication networks, high-techfacilities, turn-key development projects and business hotelsannounced on Thursday that it has signed a US$250 millionstrategic development agreement with the AdministrationCommission of the Dalian High Tech Industrial Zone Commissionto develop a service residence, office towers and conventioncenter in the Chinese city of Dalian. http://www.trussgroup.com http://www.dlhitech.gov.cn BUONGIORNO SIGNS... HONG KONG: Buongiorno, a leading multinational operating inthe digital entertainment market, has announced that itssubsidiary Buongiorno Hong Kong Ltd has signed a new, largerand more comprehensive agreement with Times Internet Limited -the Internet venture of India's largest media house, the TimesGroup. DECISION AFFIRMED... LOS GATOS: Monolithic Power Systems, a leading fablessmanufacturer of high-performance analog and mixed-signalsemiconductors, announced on Thursday that the United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed thedistrict court's grant of summary judgment that the accused MPSinverter controllers do not infringe O2 Micro's '615 patent ontechnology for CCFL inverter. http://www.monolithicpower.com PLAYSTATION MASTERPIECE... EL SEGUNDO: iSuppli Corp.'s dissection reveals thePlayStation 3 is an engineering masterpiece that sets a newhigh mark for computing price/performance -- even whenconsidering it is more expensive than its nearest rival, theXbox 360 from Microsoft Corp. http://www.isuppli.com VISA RUGBY... PARIS: Visa International on Thursday announced that five ofthe world's greatest rugby players - Zinzan Brooke (NewZealand), John Eales (Australia), Martin Johnson (England),Philippe Sella (France) and Joel Stransky (South Africa) - willbe the "Visa Rugby Legends" and official spokespersons forVisa's global sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup 2007. http://www.corporate.visa.com X-SERIES LAUNCHED... LONDON: Hutchison Whampoa Limited on Thursday announced theglobal launch of the X-Series from 3. http://xseries.three.com/webcast http://www.cantos.com http://www.three.com http://xseries.three.com MUSLIM COMMUNITY... MELBOURNE: The Muslim Community Cooperative (Australia) Ltd,MCCA, is proud to be a winner in two categories of the 2006Australian Business Awards (ABA). PROGRAM LAUNCHED... BRISBANE: FabulousDomains.com, a leading aftermarket domainssite, announced on Thursday that they have officially launchedtheir first outsourced affiliate marketing program withCommission Junction, the leading affiliate network forpublishers and advertisers. www.fabulousdomains.com/partnership/cj . (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agenciesdistributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwideclients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)