SYDNEY--14 Dec--AsiaNet/InfoQuest AUGMENTUM SPONSORS... SHANGHAI and FOSTER CITY, Calif.: Augmentum, a value-added softwaredevelopment outsourcing services provider operating in Asia and the US, will besponsoring Gartner's China Outsourcing Summit, a Gartner Vision Event, inShenzhen, China, December 13-15th. http://www.augmentum.com http://www.chinaoutsourcingsummit.com AUSTRALIAN OPERATIONS... MELBOURNE: Bruker Biosciences Corporation announced that it has completedthe renaming of Bruker Daltonics Pty Ltd company, to Bruker Biosciences Pty Ltd. http://www.bruker-biosciences.com VISTA LAUNCH... SHANGHAI and FOSTER CITY, Calif.: Augmentum, a value-added softwaredevelopment outsourcing services provider operating in Asia and the US,Wednesday announced that Wayne Hom, Augmentum CTO, will demonstrate aVista-based interactive application for Hong Kong's booming real estateindustry, developed in conjunction with Centaline, a leading local estateagency company in Hong Kong, at Microsoft's Hong Kong business launch of the2007 Windows Vista, Microsoft Office system, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. http://www.augmentum.com SUPPORT CENTRE... MELBOURNE: Bruker Daltonics, a business unit of Bruker Biosciences Pty Ltd,Thursday announced that it has established a mass spectrometry demonstrationand application support centre for the Australian and New Zealand markets atthe Bio21 Institute Business Centre, University of Melbourne. DBM APPOINTS... PHILADELPHIA: DBM, a leading global outplacement, coaching, and careermanagement firm, Wednesday announced the appointment of Robert Gasparini asChairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2007. http://www.dbm.com BEST RESTAURANTS... NEW YORK: DininginFrance.com, the premier online guide of the greatrestaurants of France, has released its 2007 list of the 10 best Frenchrestaurants in the world located outside of France. http://www.dininginfrance.com ACTIVIDENTITY EXPANDS... CANBERRA: Following its recent success in winning contracts with the USDepartment of Defense and armed forces for its smart access cardinfrastructure, ActivIdentity Corporation, a leading provider of digitalidentity assurance solutions, Thursday announced that it is expanding itsregional research and development centre in Canberra. http://www.actividentity.com BENCHMARK NOTES... WASHINGTON: Fannie Mae will issue $3 billion of 3-year Benchmark Notes thatwill be priced on Dec 15, 2006. http://www.fanniemae.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principal amount of US$400million of one securities issue on Dec 27, 2006 at a redemption price equal to100 percent of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued interest. http://www.fanniemae.com SECOND-GENERATION IP... GERMANTOWN, Md.: Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the world's leadingprovider of broadband satellite network solutions and services, Wednesdayannounced that the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) hasapproved the Internet Protocol over Satellite.v2 (IPoS.v2) air interfacestandard, which incorporates the DVB-S2 industry standard with ACM (AdaptiveCoding and Modulation). http://www.hughes.com ONLINE GAMING... BEIJING: Beijing Perfect World Co., Ltd. announced that on Nov. 24, 2006,the CEO of the Company, Mr. Chi Yufeng, stated the Chinese online gamingindustry faces fierce competition, while talking and talent spotting at QingHua University. AGREEMENT SIGNED... BEIJING and ATLANTA: The Home Depot, the world's largest home improvementretailer, Wednesday joined with U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez andVice Minister Yi Xiaozhun of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce to announce ithas signed a definitive agreement to acquire The Home Way, China's first homeimprovement retailer. AWARD WINNERS... SAN ANTONIO, TX.: The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the world'slargest source of non-profit funding for breast cancer research and communityoutreach programs behind the U.S. government, has announced the 2006 winners ofits most prestigious honor, the Komen Foundation Brinker Award for ScientificDistinction. http://www.komen.org http://www.sabcs.org LIVER CANCER... BRISBANE: Progen Industries Wednesday announced positive preliminary resultsfrom its Phase II clinical trial of PI-88 for the treatment of patients withprimary liver cancer following surgical resection of the tumour. (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited,translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net forfull-text versions.)