SYDNEY--25 Apr--AsiaNet/InfoQuest IMPORTANT PROGRESS... MILAN - Scientists presenting at Friday's sessions of the43rd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Studyof the Liver (EASL) reported encouraging findings regarding thepotential efficacy of treatment strategies using new drugsdesigned to combat hepatitis B and C. AGREEMENT EXECUTED... PATERSON - Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC is pleased toannounce the execution of an Asset Purchase Agreement forAmneal's wholly-owned subsidiary, Amneal Pharmaceuticals of NewYork, LLC, to acquire the assets, facilities and business ofInterpharm.http://www.amneal.com SEMINAR OFFER... SINGAPORE - Luminary Micro, creators of the award-winningStellaris family of ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers(MCUs), Friday announced that it will co-host a free seminar inSingapore with MaxMega Electronics, Luminary Micro'sdistribution partner in South East Asia.http://www.LuminaryMicro.com SEMINAR OFFER... SINGAPORE - Luminary Micro, creators of the award-winningStellaris family of ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers,Friday announced that it will co-host a free seminar inMalaysia with MaxMega Electronics, Luminary Micro'sdistribution partner in South East Asia.http://www.LuminaryMicro.com VALE PERFORMS... RIO DE JANEIRO - Companhia Vale do Rio Doce showed a solidperformance in the first quarter of 2008 in spite of thenegative effects of currency volatility and the pressures oncosts generated by the price increases for inputs.http://www.cvrd.com.brhttp://www.vale.com SEG OPENS... TULSA - The Society of Exploration Geophysicists officiallyopened its first international office in Beijing China on 3April 2008.http://www.seg.org AERCAP ANNOUNCES... AMSTERDAM - AerCap Holdings N.V. Thursday announced thecompletion of the following transactions during the firstquarter 2008: signed new lease agreements for 23 aircraft,delivered seven aircraft and ten engines under leaseagreements, purchased 19 aircraft, sold eight aircraft, anddisassembled three older aircraft. MATRIX UTILIZES... YOKNE'AM - Surf Communication Solutions, a leading providerof multimedia embedded processing solutions, announced Thursdaythat Matrix Telecom Pvt. Limited, an India-based company thatdesigns, develops, manufactures and deploys telecom solutions,has selected Surf's DSP chip-level multimedia processingsolution, the Surf DSP-24, for inclusion in two new products: aVoIP gateway and an IP PBX solution.http://www.surf-com.comhttp://www.matrixtelesol.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principalamount of MTN securities issues amounting to a total of US$65million on May 4, 2008 at a redemption price equal to 100 percent of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued interest.http://www.fanniemae.com PEPSICO REPORTS... PURCHASE - PepsiCo reported Thursday first-quarter earningsper share of $0.70, strong worldwide net revenue growth with 13per cent net revenue and 10 per cent division operating profitgrowth.http://www.pepsico.com JAPANICAN.COM DELIVERS... TOKYO - JTB Group will distribute real-time informationabout the rice-farming process of one farmer in Tome City,Miyagi, from April 25 on the JTB-operated site,"JAPANiCAN.com", which is the English travel website designedfor foreigners visiting Japan.www.japanican.com AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agenciesdistributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwideclients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.