SYDNEY--6 Jul--AsiaNet/InfoQuest POTTER MANIA... MELBOURNE: Preorders for Harry Potter and the DeathlyHallows already exceed total sales of the last bookAnticipation is reaching fever pitch with the upcomingworldwide launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows onSaturday July 21 and Borders has revealed that preordersalready exceed its total sales of the last book in theseries. www.unlockthegold.co.nz OFFICIAL CONTEST... SAN FRANCISCO: Red Herring has announced its officialcontest for the esteemed Red Herring 100 Asia 2007 award. http://www.redherring.com http://www.redherringasia.com ZHONGDE TRADED... SHANGHAI: As of Thursday, ZhongDe Waste Technology AG willbe traded on the Prime Standard at the Frankfurt Stock Exchangeas the holding company of a company which operates solely inChina. http://www.cmslegal.com WEIGHT-LOSS TEST... HILLSBORO: Consumer Reports magazine recently reviewed theSoloflex Whole Body Vibration Platform and, in a five minutetest of oxygen uptake, concluded that it does not work forweight-loss and should not be used to replace regularexercise. http://www.soloflex.com http://www.medscape.com PEROT APPOINTS... PLANO: Perot Systems Corporation has announced theappointment of Atul Vohra as Chief Marketing Officer. http://www.perotsystems.com http://www.sec.gov ALERIS BUYS... BEACHWOOD: Aleris International, Inc. announced on Thursdaythat it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquireWabash Alloys from Connell Limited Partnership. http://www.aleris.com SHIP RIGHTED... HONG KONG: In a statement from the technical managers of the145,842 dwt bulk carrier the MV Taharoa Express, anchored inTasman Bay, it was confirmed that the ship has now been fullyrighted. PAN PACIFIC ASSIMILATED... SINGAPORE: Following the announcement by UOL Group Limitedon the completion of the acquisition of Pan Pacific Hotels andResorts Pte Ltd from Tokyu Corporation, Pan Pacific Hotels andResorts is now fully assimilated into the hotel division ofUOLG. AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agenciesdistributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwideclients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.