SYDNEY--4 Apr--AsiaNet/InfoQuest RISK RANKING... LONDON: World-Check, the leading global provider of structured riskintelligence, Friday announced the beta-launch of Country-Check BETA, a premierrisk ranking index for overall country risk.http://www.country-check.com ESCALON ANNOUNCES... WAYNE, Pa.: Escalon Medical Corp. Friday announced that its Sonomed, Inc.subsidiary received approval from the State Food and Drug Administration withinthe People's Republic of China to market the PacScan and E/Z-Scan series ofproducts in that country.http://www.escalonmed.com EVENT SERIES... MUNICH: Eighteen years after its first publication, 'The Pillars of theEarth', considered by most to be Ken Follett's masterpiece, is once againNumber #1 on the New York Times trade paperback list and has been optioned byTandem Communications to be made into a limited television series.http://www.tandemcom.de GOLF ACADEMY... HILTON HEAD, S.C.: Asian junior golfers now have a new opportunity toimprove their games and increase their exposure to U.S. colleges at Hank HaneyInternational Junior Golf Academy with its planned opening of a second campuson the U.S. West Coast this fall.http://www.IJGA.com WINNERS ANNOUNCED... LAS VEGAS, NV.: NAVTEQ, a leading global provider of digital map data forlocation-based solutions and vehicle navigation, announced Thursday during anawards ceremony at CTIA WIRELESS 2008 that Ten 23 is the Grand Prize Winner ofthis year's NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge - Americas.http://www.navteq.comhttp://www.LBSChallenge.com FIX8 SECURES... NEW YORK: VIRTUAL WORLDS -- FIX8, a division of Mobinex, Inc., a leader invirtual communications technology, Friday announced the company has secured anadditional $2 million in Series A financing from SK Telecom, the top wirelesscommunication provider in Korea, with revenue of KRW 11.28 trillion (US$11.4billion).http://www.fix8.comhttp://www.sktelecom.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principal amount of sixsecurities issues amounting to a total of US$335 million on April 13 and 17,2008 at a redemption price equal to 100 per cent of the principal amountredeemed plus accrued interest.http://www.fanniemae.com ASIA OFFICE... MIDDLETON, Wis.: SoftSwitching Technologies(R) (SST), a growing globalleader in the power quality industry, Thursday announced the opening of itsfirst international office in Singapore.http://www.SoftSwitch.com ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN... HARTFORD, Conn.: United Technologies Corp. Thursday announced an extensionof its corporate advertising campaign, known as "Cross Section," with a newlong-copy, small-space format designed initially to run exclusively oppositethe editorial page in targeted financial, business and thought leaderpublications.http://www.utc.com/curious/cnhttp://www.utc.com/leadership AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited,translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net forfull-text versions.