SYDNEY--18 Jan--AsiaNet/InfoQuest ALLEGIANCE CONFIDENT... SYDNEY: Allegiance confident of shareholder support forboard recommendation to reject Zinifex offer. KAREL APPEL... AMSTERDAM: Born in Amsterdam in 1921, Karel Appel was one ofthe most important Dutch expressionist painters during thesecond half of the twentieth century. This year variousexhibitions of Karel Appel's work are on view in Europe, whileThe Karel Appel Foundation has launched its website for thepublic this week. Every question any art dealer, collector ormuseum might have regarding the authenticity of a work of theartist can now contact the absolute authority, the foundationof the artist, directly. www.delaive.com/index.php?page=press www.gallerydelaive.com www.cobra-museum.nl www.albertina.at www.tefaf.com www.karelappel.org NRMA INVESTS... AUCKLAND: NRMA Motoring & Services, Australia's largestmotoring group, announces an investment in New Zealand'stourism and travel industry with the purchase of Thrifty NewZealand, an 85-room hotel in Palmerston North andAdventureworld Travel. NEC NO. 1... TOKYO: NEC Corporation announces that it has been named theworld's leading microwave communication-system company byindustry analysts. www.nec.com STARTECH ENVIRONMENTAL... WILTON, Connecticut: Startech Environmental Corp., a fullyreporting and the internationally recognized Award-winningEnvironment and Energy Company announces that it has beenselected by the Disposal Services Authority, of the UnitedKingdom's Ministry of Defence, for its Waste Disposal andSustainability presentations throughout UK. www.startech.net www.edisposals.com www.perasgroup.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principalamount of MTN, MTNR and FINP securities issues on January 27and 28, 2008 at a redemption price equal to 100 per cent of theprincipal amount redeemed plus accrued interest. www.fanniemae.com SOKA GAKKAI... TOKYO: The New Komeito party and the Soka Gakkai Buddhistassociation, its main endorsing body, held an official liaisonmeeting on January 17 at the party's headquarters inShinjuku. www.sgi.org MICREL ANNOUNCES... SAN JOSE, California: Micrel Inc., an industry leader inanalog, high bandwidth communications and Ethernet ICsolutions, launches the MIC2341 and MIC2342. The devices areDual Channel Hot-Plug Power Controllers that support the powerrequirements for PCI Express Specification v2.0. www.micrel.com SHIRE COMPLETES... BASINGSTOKE: Shire plc announces that with the launch inSpain of FOSRENOL (lanthanum carbonate), a non-calciumphosphate binder, Shire is celebrating the completion of thelaunch roll-out in the major European markets. FOSRENOL is thefirst of the company's medicines developed in-house fromresearch molecule to market. www.shire.com www.worldkidneyday.org THOMSON SCIENTIFIC... PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, and LONDON: Thomson Scientific,part of The Thomson Corporation and leading provider ofinformation solutions to the worldwide research and businesscommunities, announces that Century of Science has beenpurchased by Peking University in China. www.scientific.thomson.com www.thomson.com www.pku.edu.cn JUST GROUP... MELBOURNE: Jays Jays, the youth fashion retailer, respondsto continuing public criticism of its highly popular LittleLosers range of tee-shirts. LAUREATES NAMED... TOKYO: The Science and Technology Foundation of Japanannounces the names of three laureates for the 2008 (24th)Japan Prize. All three laureates this year are Americanscientists. www.japanprize.jp/English.htm AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agenciesdistributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwideclients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.