Business: SAVVIS extends agreement with Thomson Reuters

SAVVIS extends agreement with Thomson Reuters agreement provides comprehensive managed network and hosting services, including strategic expansion activities in Asia

New York & London - SAVVIS, Inc. (NASDAQ:SVVS), a global leader in IT infrastructure services for business applications, today announced a one-year extension of its master services agreement with Thomson Reuters that includes the deployment of IT infrastructure services in Asia.

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals with a significant portion of its revenue derived from electronic products, software and services.

Since The Thomson Corporation and Reuters Group PLC combined to form Thomson Reuters early this year, Thomson Reuters now has 50,000 global employees and serves customers in 93 countries.

Under terms of the agreement, SAVVIS will continue to serve as an approved vendor to provide managed hosting and managed network solutions to support a wide range of Thomson Reuters products and services.

This includes the management of IT infrastructure solutions required for the collection of exchange data for Thomson Reuters market data services worldwide, as well as managed hosting services that underpin the flagship ThomsonReuters.com website.

In addition, under the agreement, SAVVIS will provide managed hosting services delivered from SAVVIS' Singapore data center supporting Thomson Reuters expansion activities in Asia.

SAVVIS currently provides network and hosting services for Thomson Reuters. The extension of the agreement creates new opportunities for the companies to work and grow together.

"Reuters has been a valued partner of SAVVIS for many years and the recent merger with Thomson is an exciting development," said Phil Koen, SAVVIS Chief Executive Officer.

"Its combined heritage makes Thomson Reuters one of the worlds' most respected and recognized information companies for the financial services, media, and corporate markets.

"Their premier market data and web content services continue to expand globally and we look forward to providing next generation managed IT infrastructure services to support their continued growth."

"The combined Thomson Reuters organization is now able to benefit from buying both network and hosting services under a single Master Services Agreement with SAVVIS," said Richard Warley, International Managing Director at SAVVIS.

"We will continue to provide both of these services in the main geographies in Europe, North America and Asia. As Thomson Reuters continues through its integration plan we anticipate being able to deliver further cost and operational benefits through use of our virtualized hosting and global VPN services."

About SAVVIS

SAVVIS, Inc. (NASDAQ:SVVS) is a global leader in IT infrastructure services for business applications. With an IT services platform spanning North America, Europe, and Asia, SAVVIS is an industry leader in delivering secure, reliable, and scalable hosting, network, and application services.

These solutions enable customers to focus on their core business while SAVVIS ensures the quality of their IT systems and operations.

SAVVIS' strategic approach combines virtualization technology, a global network and multiple data centers, and automated management and provisioning systems.

For more information about SAVVIS, visit: http://www.savvis.net or savvis.co.uk.

SAVVIS Forward-Looking Statements
This document may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from SAVVIS' expectations.

Certain factors that could affect actual results are set forth as risk factors in SAVVIS' SEC reports and filings, including its annual report on Form 10-K and all subsequent filings as well as the risk that potential product cost and performance benefits may not be realized for any particular customer.

SAVVIS assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements.

SAVVIS, Inc.Carter Cromley, 703-667-6110
carter.cromley@savvis.netorOgilvyPR WorldwideDavid Friedman,
303-634-2674 david.friedman@ogilvypr.com

Technology: Movial announces toolkit for rapid mobile device user interface

Movial Announces Toolkit for Rapid Mobile Device User Interface Development on TI OMAP(TM) High-Performance Platform Movial IXS Toolkit Allows Web Developers and Designers to Leverage Existing Web Technology Skills Removing Barriers to Fast and Superior User Interfaces

Taipei, Taiwan (BUSINESS WIRE) - Movial, the company that inspires rich, intuitive Internet experiences, today unveiled its Movial IXS Toolkit based on TI's OMAP3430 processor. Movial IXS Toolkit is an innovative Linux solution designed to allow Web developers and designers to rapidly create mobile device user interfaces using common Web-based technologies. By leveraging TI's high performance OMAP platform and its advanced Graphics Accelerator, Movial IXS Toolkit enables Web developers and designers to create extremely capable user interfaces that provide new, value added and differentiated services and superior user experiences. The TI OMAP3430 processor's power efficiency enables high-speed response times, making rapid deployment of next generation devices even faster than before.

With handset vendors coming out with new smartphones every three to six months and operators looking to differentiate themselves and provide subscribers with new offerings to grow revenue, reduce churn and increase customer loyalty, the demand for minimizing the user interface development cycle is high. Application developers are struggling not only with complex
programming requirements and the steep learning curve associated with developing for mobile device environments, but also with the amount of time required to develop exceptional quality and robust user interfaces such as touchscreens and touchpads. With Movial IXS Toolkit and the TI OMAP3430 processor, development of device user interfaces becomes easy, fast and cost-efficient. Web developers and designers can now leverage familiar Web publishing tools and the latest Web 2.0, Ajax JavaScript and XML technologies to deliver exciting user interfaces in dramatically shorter timeframes.

As consumer demand for compelling Internet experiences and greater ease of use from their mobile devices continues to grow, the mobile landscape is set to change significantly and rapidly over the next few years.

Movial IXS Toolkit based on TI's OMAP3430 processor provides manufacturers with a healthy ecosystem and platform needed for new innovations by empowering millions of Web developers and designers to leverage their existing skills to quickly and easily deliver rich and compelling Internet user experiences.

Operators and device manufacturers can now rapidly create branded user interface variations for their customers and even easily integrate new, innovative Internet services like Google Maps and GPS location information, as well as IMS based Web APIs for advanced IP communications services such as presence and server based address books.

Movial IXS Toolkit allows for seamless integration of the device user interface with Internet services, delivering a solution that is a part of the Web, not just merely an access point. User interfaces developed with Movial IXS Toolkit leave no border in between online and on-device content and resources. The Toolkit's highly task oriented interface provides web developers and designers with the right content in the right context enabling them to do service mashups, combining features from different applications to deliver totally new use cases allowing on-device contextual information and online content to be easily merged. Using Movial IXS Toolkit, Web developers or designers can easily combine an operator's IMS Web API for presence, with a Google Maps API, putting those locations on a map and then share it on the Web using Twitter's API.

By adding Movial IXS toolkit to their portfolio, operators now have the ability to differentiate services on existing devices. Versatile branding and variation capabilities facilitate flexible re-use of existing user interfaces. The Toolkit provides the kind of freedom in mobile device user interface design that takes the user experience to a new level, by making it possible to flawlessly merge new value added services with the user interface.

"The Movial IXS Toolkit removes all the complexity associated with device user interface development, thus enabling operator services, Internet content and contextual information from the device to be smoothly combined into an integrated user experience," said Markus Tremmel, worldwide wireless ecosystem manager, Texas Instruments. "The Toolkit, based on TI's OMAP platform, helps designers create highly desirable mobile device user interfaces in record time without having to have advanced programming skills.""The efficient TI OMAP3430 processor and its Graphics Accelerator are among the key components required for delivering state-of-the-art user experiences on high-end mobile devices", said Tomi Rauste, president of Movial Creative Technologies. "Movial IXS Toolkit enables extremely fast and cost-efficient user interface development based on the TI OMAP3430 solution."

Device manufacturers and operators rely on Movial's creative and custom consulting services to help increase ROI and streamline and speed product development utilizing open Linux platforms and ready-to-use applications. A pioneer in mobile Linux-based solutions, Movial harnesses its extensive understanding of mobile user behavior to design personalized user experiences, from device concept and interface design, to systems integration, third-party application integration, and product maintenance and support. The company's rich and robust Internet Experience Suite, Movial IXS, is available as a white-label service to device manufacturers and operators worldwide.

Movial IXS Toolkit on the TI OMAP high performance platform will be demonstrated at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan June 3-7, 2008 at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Halls. To schedule a media or analyst briefing with Tomi Rauste, president of Movial Creative Technologies or for further inquiries, please contact Ilona Mohacsi at (631) 764-3729, or via e-mail at ilona@abelsongroup.com.

About OMAP Developer Network

Movial is a member of the TI Developer Network, a community of respected, well-established companies offering products and services based on TI analog and digital technology. The Network provides a broad range of end-equipment solutions, embedded software, engineering services and development tools that help customers accelerate innovation to make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. For more information, please visit www.ti.com/omap.

About Movial Corporation

Movial inspires rich, intuitive Internet experiences for companies embracing transformational technologies. Leveraging its deep expertise in Internet, Linux, and mobile devices, Movial seamlessly enables its customers to deliver richer user experiences to millions of people on PCs and on mobile devices.
Movial's device creation, Internet communications applications, and design for digital services are generating revenue for industry leaders such as ARM, Ericsson, Nokia, Telef?nica, and Orange. By delivering highly-intuitive and compelling user experiences, Movial has become the trusted source for enriching the way people interact every day. For more information, visit http://www.movial.com.

Media:Abelson Group For MovialIlona Mohacsi, +1 631-764-3729
ilona@abelsongroup.com or Patrick Farrell, +1 917-331-2166
patrick@abelsongroup.com

Health/Medical: Ending Cervical Cancer featured at Summit

Ending Cervical Cancer featured at Summit; QIAGEN CEO issues a call to global women leaders

Hanoi (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - QIAGEN was featured this week for its efforts to eliminate cervical cancer at the 14th annual Global Summit of Women in Hanoi, Vietnam. CEO Peer Schatz came to this prominent international platform to issue a call to other leaders in business, NGOs and governments to join him and campaign to create a cervical-cancer-free world.

"Nearly 500,000 women around the world are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year - a shocking number considering that it's a highly preventable disease," Mr. Schatz told ministers from more than 60 countries at a roundtable on the opening day.
"However, QIAGEN and partners such as the summit's Global Consortium of Women to End Cervical Cancer are showing that where there is a will there is a way. I urge you to join us. The tools are there; they just need desire and commitment to put them to work."

The Global Summit of Women annually brings together more than 1,000 senior-level women in business, government and advocacy, and is often called the "Davos for Women." It celebrates women's leadership by bringing together business and governmental professionals to work together to improve the economic power and well-being of females throughout the world. At last year's summit, President Irene Natividad announced the launch of an international "consortium to end cervical cancer."

The consortium "aims to educate women about cervical cancer prevention and encouraging governments to provide easy access to the latest methods of prevention and detection, including HPV testing and vaccination." Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary cause of cervical cancer, and QIAGEN has developed the only FDA- and EU-approved test for high-risk types of the virus.

"We are delighted to have corporate leaders such as QIAGEN partner with us. Together we can leave the legacy of a cervical-cancer-free world to the next generations of women," said Ms Natividad. "We have made huge strides with women's empowerment. Yet, too often, an obstacle prevents millions of women from living healthy, productive lives: cancer. Cervical cancer kills more than a quarter million women each year, and nearly all of these deaths are preventable. New vaccines and a highly accurate test for HPV have the power to eliminate this devastating disease. But we need help in assuring access to these medical advances for all women, and we welcome QIAGEN's commitment and leadership."

In addition to its digene HPV Test, which QIAGEN distributes widely in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, the company is partnering with the non-profit organization PATH to develop a specially designed version of the screening test for low-resource countries. This new test is sensitive enough to identify the largest number of women at risk - a critical characteristic when a woman may be able to get to a medical clinic just once or twice in her lifetime. Yet at the same time, the new HPV test can be run without electricity or running water, and can be administered by workers with minimal training.

"Public-private partnerships are essential to advancing the health agenda for women, and QIAGEN is committed to leading the way," Mr. Schatz told the audience at a panel discussion on corporate social responsibility at the summit. "We look forward to working in tandem with the many partners we have found at this summit and elsewhere."

About HPV and cervical cancer (http://www.theHPVtest.com)

Worldwide, cervical cancer affects nearly 500,000 women annually and, after breast cancer, is the second most common malignancy found in women.
Cervical cancer is caused by "high-risk" types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which are sexually transmitted. It's estimated that 80 percent of women will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. However, in most cases, the infection goes away or is suppressed by the body without causing problems. It is only infections that persist that can cause abnormal cells to form that may develop into cervical cancer if not detected and treated early. One report from the World Health Organization estimates that only about 5 percent of women had been screened for cervical disease in the previous five years, compared to 40-50 percent in the developed world.

About QIAGEN (http://www.qiagen.com)

QIAGEN NV, headquartered in the Netherlands, is the leading global provider of sample and assay technologies. Sample technologies are used to isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from biological samples such as blood or tissue, and assays make these isolated molecules visible to facilitate such vital activities as biological research and detection of disease. QIAGEN has developed and markets more than 500 products as well as instruments that make their use more efficient and accurate. The company provides its products to molecular diagnostics laboratories, academic researchers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and applied testing customers for purposes such as forensics, animal or food testing and pharmaceutical process control. QIAGEN's assay technologies include one of the broadest panels of molecular diagnostic tests available worldwide, including the only FDA-approved test for human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer. QIAGEN employs more than 2,600 people in over 30 locations worldwide.

Pam Rasmussen
QIAGEN
+1-240-686-7616
Pamela.Rasmussen@qiagen.com
Dr. Thomas Theuringer
QIAGEN
+49-2103-29-1826
Thomas.Theuringer@qiagen.com
Source: QIAGEN NV

Technology: Morodo Launches MO-Call in Hong Kong

Hong Kong (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Morodo (Hong Kong) Ltd ("Morodo") is pleased to announce the launch of MO-Call in Hong Kong. MO-Call offers low-cost international calling direct from a mobile phone, without the need to change mobile number, SIM or network. Used when traveling overseas, MO-Call also helps avoid roaming charges. Providing seamless connection of a low-cost call from a mobile phone, MO-Call offers savings of up to 90% over existing Mobile Network International Tariffs.

MO-Call works through a plug-in software application that can be installed on most mobile phones. Customers can download the plug-in, free of charge, from the MO-Call websites http://www.mo-call.hk. A Special Offer of HKD 10.00 trial credit is available, for a limited time, to allow new customers to experience the benefits of MO-Call.

Morodo's Managing Director, Andrew Reid, said, "Hong Kong is a truly international city, attracting visitors from all over the world; Hong Kong people are cosmopolitan and connected. MO-Call is a perfect service for locals, expats and holidaymakers alike. MO-Call works on your existing mobile phone, you can use it on holiday and when you get back home. There's no need to change your handset or mobile number and there are no subscription charges or minimum usage fees."

The MO-Call application was developed at Morodo's Research and Development Centre in Beijing, China. Technical Director, James Barnes, said, "The mo-call.hk website is a great example of MO-Call localisation. Under a License Agreement with Morodo, we offer traditional telecoms carriers, mobile networks and brand name owners the opportunity to grow new revenue streams in markets great and small."

About Morodo

Morodo Group offers mobile services to a global customer base under the MO-Call brand. The company also offers software services (under license) to traditional telecoms carriers, mobile networks and brand name owners.

Headquartered in London UK, Morodo Group owns and operates Beijing Morodo Technology Development Co., Ltd. (Beijing Morodo), a Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise in the People's Republic of China. Beijing Morodo's Research and Development facility focuses on innovation in the wireless world.

Morodo news is available at the company website: http://www.morodogroup.com

CONTACT: Media Contact:
Andrew Reid - e-mail: areid@morodo.co.uk
+44(0)20-7096-4880
Morodo Limited
Level 7
80 Cannon Street
London EC4N 6HL
United Kingdom
SOURCE: Morodo Limited

Technology: .NU Domain Launches Numeric Domain Names

Boston (BUSINESS WIRE) - .NU Domain manager the .nu top level domain name will begin accepting registration of Numeric Domain Names on June 10, for the first time allowing registration of numbers-only .nu domain names such as 247.nu, 123.nu and 3663.nu (the English word "food" on a phone keypad.) Initial registration - the "Landrush" - for .NU Domain's numbers-only domain names will start at 12:01 UTC on June 10, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Numeric Names Service will have two price-classes for numbers-only domain names: A Premium Numeric Name consisting of just 3 characters (like 212.nu) and a Standard Numeric Name consisting of any combination of numbers and hyphens up to 63 characters long.

On June 10, customers can start applying to register numeric names using any of several authorized .NU domain name registrars throughout the world or at the .NU Domain Ltd website at www.nunames.nu.

"Demand for numbers-only domain names has really taken off in the past year across several top level domains," said J. William Semich, CEO of .NU Domain. "We expect to see a lot of activity as customers compete to get the combination of numbers they want the most."

In February, when SIDN, manager of the .NL top level domain in The Netherlands, first began accepting registration of numbers-only domain names, the rush of hopeful registrants almost shut down SIDN's email-based registration servers.
During the first day of open registration of numeric .nl domains (known as the "Landrush"), SIDN received 511,274 competing registrations for just 14,409 unique numeric .nl domain names during the first 24 hours of the Landrush period.
See: http://www.sidn.nl/ The cost of .NU Domain's newly available 3-character Premium Numeric domain names is 100 EU per year and the cost of registering a Standard Numeric .nu domain name for one year is 30 EU.

Names that are five numeric characters long, and certain other numeric names of high public or private interest, including 411.nu, 888.nu and others, will not be released for registration during the June 10 Landrush period. .NU Domain will make them available for registration at a later time.

.NU Domain Ltd.
J. William Semich, +1 508-359-5600 ext 104bill@nic.nu http://www.nunames.nu

Business in Asia Today - June 09, 2008

AUSTRALIA'S CHALLENGER, MITSUI TEAM UP ON SINGAPORE JV
Melbourne (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - The Challenger Financial Services Group (ASX:CGF) has entered into a joint venture with Mitsui & Co. Ltd (TSE: 8031) to establish a Singaporean-based investment management business focusing on emerging market infrastructure.
The joint venture's first initiative will be the Challenger Mitsui emerging markets infrastructure fund, with a target size of $US1.2 billion ($A1.25 billion).
It would be a closed-end wholesale fund investing in infrastructure assets in emerging market economies, Challenger said in a statement today.

CHINA POST OBTAINS APPROVAL TO SET UP LIFE INSURANCE FIRM
Tianjin (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - The China Post Group, the business entity in charge of mail, delivery services and postal saving banks, has been approved by the country's insurance regulator to set up a life insurance company.
Feng Xinsheng, executive deputy general manager of the group, said here on Saturday that the company to-be, named the China Post Life Insurance Company Limited, would be launched within a year.
The insurance company would be registered in Beijing with a register capital of 500 million yuan ($US72.46 million), Feng said.
The new company would mainly target farmers, low-income urban residents and migrant workers in cities.

JAPANESE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TALLY UP US SUB-PRIME LOSSES
Tokyo (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Japanese domestic financial institutions were saddled with Y2.43 trillion ($US22.95 billion) in securitized-product losses as of March 31 because of the subprime loan crisis in the U.S. and the resulting market turmoil, data released Friday by the Financial Services Agency shows.
With these institutions holding a total of 22.79 trillion yen in securitized products, including collateralized debt obligations not directly tied to subprimes, this equates to an erosion of roughly 10 per cent in their value.
Red ink on subprime-backed securitized products totaled 850 billion yen.

SINGAPORE TECHNOLOGIES TO SELL PT INDOSAT STAKE TO QATAR TELECOM
Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) Pte Ltd has announced it will sell a 40.8 per cent stake in Indonesia's major cellular firm PT Indosat (JSX:ISAT) to Qatar Telecom (Qtel),local press said today.
STT and Qtel have earlier established a joint subsidiary, Asia Mobile Holdings (AMH), which controls the Indosat stake. However, the Indonesian Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) said that the deal could violate a Jakarta district court ruling which required a buyer to acquire no more than 10 per cent, reported English-language daily The Jakarta Post.

ACCOR BUILDING US$40 MLN NOVOTEL HOTEL IN HANOI
Hanoi (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Construction of a US$40 million hotel started in Hanoi on June 6.
The Novotel Hanoi hotel is being jointly built by Accor world leading hotel management corporation, the Hanoi Tourism Corporation and SIH Investment Group from Singapore.
The five-storey hotel will house 376 rooms, a restaurant, a 500 square metre conference room and entertainment facilities.
Construction of the hotel, the fifth invested so far by Accor in Hanoi, is expected for completion on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Hanoi (2010).

KOREA'S SUNGWON CORP WINS US$468 MLN WORTH OF UAE ORDERS
Seoul (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Sungwon Corp. (KSE:012090), a South Korean mid-sized builder, said today it had signed a 480-billion-won (US$468 million) deal to build roads in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The roads are to link Business Bay, an area being developed into a main business town of Dubai, with an area where Burj Dubai, which will be the world's tallest building, is under construction, Sungwon said.
The South Korean builder plans to complete construction of the roads by 2010, it added.

JAPAN'S OKUWA TO BUY MIDSIZED SUPERMARKET CHAIN
Tokyo (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Japan's Okuwa Co. (TSE:8217), a supermarket operator based in Wakayama Prefecture, plans to expand its operations by acquiring Nagoya-based supermarket chain Pare Corp.
The move was made in light of growing signs of a slide in consumption due to rising food prices.
Okuwa will purchase more than 90 per cent of Pare shares from nine major shareholders, including corporate turnaround fund Phoenix Capital Co. and Nagoya Railroad Co. (TSE:9048).
The acquisition is estimated to be worth several billion yen, as Okuwa currently runs about 140 stores, mostly in the greater Osaka region.

DOOSAN HEAVY WINS NEW SINGAPORE PORT CRANE DEAL
Seoul (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - The Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., (KSE:034020), South Korea's largest power-equipment maker, said Monday it had received a 103-billion-won (US$100 million) order for 13 port cranes from Singapore's PSA Corp. Ltd.
The cranes will be delivered by July 2010, the company said in a regulatory filing. Doosan Heavy has won orders for 250 port cranes from Singapore since 1993.
In April this year, the company also won a deal to supply 79 cranes to PSA Corp.

CHINA AIRLINES CUTS PASSENGER, CARGO FLIGHTS FROM JUNE
Taipei (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - China Airlines (CAL) (TAIEX:2610), Taiwan's largest carrier, has decided to cut its transport capacity by 10 per cent from June to cope with high oil prices, a CAL spokesman said Saturday.
CAL will drop 100 passenger flights and 50 cargo flights each month on its routes to the United States and Asia, despite the approaching peak summer tourism season, CAL spokesman Bruce Chen said, adding that European flights will be unaffected.
The new measures will save the company an estimated NT$200 million (US$6.6 million) per month, according to Chen.
To fight surging oil prices, CAL has already reduced the weight of its planes and lowered luggage allowances, as well as lowering its operational costs.

INDONESIAN BANK TO OFFER $US330 MLN IN LOANS TO PT TELKOM
Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (JSX:BBRI) has said it will offer Rp3 trillion (US$330 million) in loans to support state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom (JSX:TLKM).
PT Telkom is seeking additional funds of Rp9.3 trillion to finance its capital expenditure.
PT Telkom plans to spend US$2.5 billion this year to build 3,000 more base transceiver station units and to acquire a telecommunications company in the Middle East.
The loan is expected to come mainly from BRI and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), both owned by the state.

Source:
Business in Asia Today - JUNE 09, 2008
published by Asia Pulse
COPYRIGHT © 2008

Education: Ahmadiyya students expelled from Punjab Medical College

Faisalabad, Pakistan (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Arbitrary persecution of Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan continues.

All 23 Ahmadiyya Muslim students studying at the Punjab Medical College in Faisalabad, Pakistan have been expelled for no other reason than their membership of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a Community based upon teachings of peace, equality and tolerance.

Following pressure from members of the Islami-Jamiat-e-Tulaba, a nationwide extremist religious student body in Pakistan a wing of Jamat-e-Islami, Dr. Asghar Ali Randhawa, the Principal of the Punjab Medical College issued office Order No. /PMC/08 dated June 2008 confirming All 23 Ahmadiyya students (5 freshmen, 6 sophomore, 7 third year, 1 fourth year and 4 final (5th year) had been rusticated from college as well as hostels.

The justification for the expulsions was totally baseless and spurious. It is yet another example of the cruelty that Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan have to contend with. The twenty-three students included eight males and fifteen females.
Four of the students, all female, were in their final (5th) year of college and thus were only months away from qualification.

Recently the Government of Pakistan made a submission to the UN Human Rights Council Geneva during UPR in May 2008 which it stated its commitment to investing and supporting the education of its citizens, as well as safeguarding the rights of all minority groups. It is thus most unfortunate that less than one month later, this violation of basic human rights has been allowed. It is hoped that this wholly unjust decision is revoked immediately.

Contact: Zinda M Bajwa, M.A.(Pol.Scie),LL.B.
Secretary Public Affairs, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA
www.alislam.org, zmbajwa@yahoo.com , 646-498-8960
SOURCE: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA
CONTACT: Zinda M Bajwa, M.A.(Pol.Scie),LL.B., Secretary Public Affairs,
of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, +1-646-498-8960,
zmbajwa@yahoo.com/
WEB SITE: http://www.alislam.org/

Environment: Netafim joins UN-established int'l water forum

Netafim announces joining the UN-established International Water Forum: CEO Water Mandate

Tel Aviv (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Netafim - the world's largest company providing smart water solutions for agricultural industries - has announced that it has joined the CEO Water Mandate organization. This move comes at a time when the entire world must deal with serious water shortages which affect, among other things, food production and sanitation.

Netafim President and CEO, Ofer Bloch was among the chief executive officers of 19 corporations to call on G8 leaders to actively address the issue of water use and shortages during their upcoming Hokkaido Toyako Summit on 7-9 July in Japan. The business leaders all support the UN Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate, launched by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in July 2007.

According to Bloch: "Netafim has championed the conservation and saving of water for more than 40 years. We applaud the growing consciousness of international companies and organizations and their joining in the preservation of this precious resource."

Netafim joins giant international corporations such as Coca-Cola, Siemens, Dow Chemicals, PepsiCo, Levy-Strauss, and Nestle.

To read the full CEO letter go to: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/news_events/9.1_news_archives2008_05_07/G8_ letter_070508.pdf

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.)

About the CEO Water Mandate organization

CEO Water Mandate is a joint initiative of United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon, the government of Sweden, and a group of organizations committed to or specializing in confronting the shortage of water and improving its quality.
The organization was established in July 2007 as a private-public initiative for the purpose of creating international strategies and solutions that would help relieve the worsening water crisis. CEO Water Mandate has set itself the objective of enlisting companies and organizations throughout the world that would agree to undertake a joint effort for this purpose alongside key international elements.
Members of the organization have committed themselves to cooperate whenever possible in sharing proposals together with regional and global plans that already exist today in various countries.

About Netafim

Netafim is the world's largest and leading company in the field of smart water solutions for agriculture. Most of the company's activity focuses today on medium to large irrigation projects, greenhouses, and bio-fuel energy crops. The company's sales in 2007 amounted to about half a billion dollars.

Netafim operates in more than 110 countries via 32 subsidiaries, with 13 factories throughout the world. The company employs some 2,400 workers.

For details:
Yaniv Rosenberg,
Netafim P.R,
+972-50-4488962,
yaniv@rcspr.co.il
SOURCE: Netafim Ltd.

Business: PepsiCo to present at Deutsche Bank Consumer & Food Conference

Purchase, N.Y. (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) today announced that its Chief Financial Officer, Richard Goodman, will present at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer & Food Retail Conference in Paris, France on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 8:00 am Eastern Time.

A live audio webcast of the presentation will be accessible through PepsiCo's website at http://www.pepsico.com under Investors/PepsiCo Financial Press Releases. The webcast will be available for replay at the same site for a period of 14 days.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) is one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, with 2007 annual revenues of more than $39 billion. The Company employs approximately 185,000 people worldwide, and its products are sold in approximately 200 countries. Its principal businesses include: Frito-Lay snacks, Pepsi-Cola beverages, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana juices and Quaker foods. The PepsiCo portfolio includes 18 brands that generate $1 billion or more each in annual retail sales.
PepsiCo's commitment to sustainable growth, defined as Performance with Purpose, is focused on generating healthy financial returns while giving back to communities the Company serves. This includes meeting consumer needs for a spectrum of convenient foods and beverages, reducing the Company's impact on the environment through water, energy and packaging initiatives, and supporting its employees through a diverse and inclusive culture that recruits and retains world-class talent.
PepsiCo is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com

SOURCE: PepsiCo, Inc.
CONTACT: Jenny Schiavone,
Director of Public Information,
+1-914-253-3941, or
Jane Nielsen,
Vice President,
Investor Relations,
+1-914-253-3035
both of PepsiCo, Inc.
Web site: http://www.pepsico.com

Technology: Appro first to demonstrate 40Gb/s infiniBand supercomputing clusters

Milpitas, Calif. (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Appro (http://www.appro.com), a leading provider of high-performance computing systems will showcase a 40Gb/s InfiniBand Xtreme-X1 Supercomputer powered by Quad-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors utilizing high density computing, new industry-leading Mellanox ConnectX(R) 40Gb/s InfiniBand adapters and InfiniScale(R) IV-based 40Gb/s InfiniBand switch running an ANSYS- Fluent airplane structure application. This demonstration features a powerful and balanced open supercomputer architecture managed by Appro Cluster Engine(TM) software that combines high performance capacity computing with superior fault-tolerant capability. The Appro live supercomputing demonstrations will take place at the International Supercomputing Conference, ISC/08 in Dresden, Germany, June 17-19, 2008, booth D36.

"Appro offers best-in-class open supercomputers that improve performance bandwidth, scalability, reliability, manageability and availability packaged with outstanding cluster solution integration," said Jim Ballew, CTO of Appro. "By integrating Intel multi-core processor technologies and the latest Mellanox 40 Gb/s Infiniband ConnectX adapters into Appro Xtreme-X1 Supercomputers, customers can now build a powerful, easy to manage cluster architecture that can dramatically reduce latency while accelerating I/O performance for a variety of enterprise and high performance computing applications."

"Appro Xtreme-X1 offers an optimal combination of Intel multi-core technology to enable unprecedented cluster performance and energy-efficiency packaged with Intel advanced cluster tools and Intel(R) Cluster Ready certification," said Richard Dracott, General Manager, HPC Organization, Digital Enterprise Group, Intel Corporation. "Intel multi-core processors help Appro deploy high performance computer clusters that provide faster time to results and time to computing."

Appro will participate in the Birds of a Feather presentation at the ISC/08. Jim Ballew, CTO of Appro will present the value of balanced supercomputing providing a reliable and scalable architecture that combines high performance with high availability in a redundant and manageable framework. Jim Ballew will discuss Appro's experiences in building the first Intel(R) Cluster Ready certified 40Gb/s InfiniBand cluster based on Quad-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors. Richard Dracott -- General Manager of Intel's HPC unit, Gilad Shainer, Technical Marketing Director of Mellanox -- will be on hand for questions. The BoF presentation will take place on Wed, 6/18 at the ISC conference room # 5, level 4 from 5:15 to 6:00pm.

"Mellanox's 40Gb/s InfiniBand adapters and switch silicon deliver unparalleled I/O connectivity for latency-sensitive clusters, grids and virtualized environments," said Thad Omura, vice president of product marketing at Mellanox Technologies.
"The Appro Xtreme-X1 Supercomputer unified scale cluster platform with Mellanox 40Gb/s InfiniBand connectivity enables applications to achieve unsurpassed efficiency and performance from multi-core processors."

About Appro

Appro is a leading developer of innovative workstations, density-managed servers, clusters and supercomputers. Appro is uniquely positioned to support High-Performance Computing markets focusing on medium to large-scale deployments where lowest total cost of ownership is a primary consideration. Appro unlocks the value of IT through outstanding price performance, balanced architecture, open standards and engineering expertise. Appro headquarters is in Milpitas, CA, with an R&D/manufacturing center in Asia and a sales and service office in Houston, TX. To learn more go to http://www.appro.com.

SOURCE: Appro International, Inc.
ONTACT: Maria McLaughlin of Appro International, Inc.,
+1-408-888-6661, mmclaughlin@appro.com
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010301SFTH064LOGO-a
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Web site: http://www.appro.com /

Software: THAI transforms I.T. organization with BMC software

THAI transforms I.T. organization with BMC software reduces service variability, improves customer service with BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite

Bangkok, Thailand (BUSINESS WIRE) - BMC Software (NYSE:BMC) today announced that Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI), Thailand's national air carrier, has selected BMC's Software's leading IT Service Management solutions to transform its IT organization.
By aligning IT with business priorities, THAI has enhanced IT operations, efficiency, and most importantly, improved the customer experience and service.

Continuous service quality improvement helps to maintain THAI's market leadership, but also places heavy demands on IT.
"Continuous service improvements, high availability and lower costs is a tough combination," said Captain Sopit Pokasoowan, THAI's Vice President, Aviation Resources Development Department, and Acting Vice President, Information Technology Services Department.

With growing demands on the IT organization to improve service and reduce costs, THAI looked to BMC Software to streamline its customer services workflow, as well as change and incident management to ensure its systems and infrastructure are aligned with business needs and objectives.
To do this, THAI required an IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL?)-based solution that could pull theory into action, standardizing and controlling processes while providing greater visibility and measurement of service level agreements and performance.

By selecting the BMC Remedy ITSM suite, THAI IT Services department, which manages customer enquiries, incident reporting and resolution and service requests, has: Closed the loop between customer services technology, people and processes; Created a single repository of IT assets and a clear picture of their interrelationships and business service sensitivities; Instituted an ITSM system and practices compliant with ITIL; and Lowered cost of IT management, despite rampant customer growth.

Previously, the IT organization had difficulty managing the volume of enquiries and required hours of manual, staggered follow-up and unstructured troubleshooting to address service incidents and problems.

"It was costly and made managing the incident lifecycle unwieldy," Captain Sopit said. "Automation is the answer to managing these underlying processes. We love people, but in these environments the speed and accuracy of automated management is unrivalled."

Working with BMC Premier partner DataPro Computer Systems Thailand on the implementation, THAI is leveraging four industry-leading BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications including BMC Remedy Service Desk, BMC Remedy Asset Management, BMC Remedy Change Management and BMC Service Level Management.
The solution also includes shared data repository BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB), to map dependencies between business processes, users, and IT infrastructure for the asset management.

"This is the start of a strategic IT re-orientation to link hands with business service priorities, using systems management to detect root causes and fix them before they impact our customers," Captain Sopit said. "The ultimate measure of our team's performance is from the outside in ? from the customer's point of view. We now have the framework to outperform customer expectations, which will help keep them flying with THAI."

Mike Davies, BMC's general manager for South Asia, said: "The cost efficiencies that Business Service Management and Service Automation solutions offers to a business are significant, but the quality of the contribution and improvements it offers to a business's overall customer services is paramount, particularly for businesses that are distinguished by superior services. As the leading provider of Business Service Management and Service Automation solutions, we are committed to ensuring our customers' IT organizations, like THAI, not only supports the business, but is a strategic advantage delivering the highest levels of service quality and cost savings."

About Thai Airways International Public Company Limited

Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI) is the designated flag-carrier of the Kingdom of Thailand. THAI's philosophy is to provide full service to premium passengers, while maintaining its standard of service to leisure travelers.
THAI aims to be the "First Choice Carrier with Touches of Thai". THAI is one of the five founding member airlines of Star Alliance. More information on THAI is available at www.thaiairways.com.

About BMC Software

BMC Software is a leading global provider of enterprise management solutions that empower companies to automate their IT and prove its business value. Delivering Business Service Management and Service Automation, BMC solutions span enterprise systems, applications, databases and service management. For the four fiscal quarters ended March 31, 2008, BMC revenue was approximately $1.73 billion. For more information, visit www.bmc.com.
Copyright 2008 BMC Software, Inc.

BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries.

All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

ITIL is a registered trademark, and a registered community trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

BMC Software
Jessica Walker-McFarland, +61 488 314
059jessica.walker@bmc.com www.bmc.com
or PC & Associates Consulting Co. Ltd.
Pranee Chalermtanasak, +668 1826 4121 pranee@pc-a.co.thor
THAI
Komkanok Wongpanicha, +668 1555 6565 kornkanok.w@thaiairways.com

Business: RTS to Offer Access to ULLINK

Chicago and Frankfurt, Germany (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - RTS Realtime Systems Group, a leading trading solutions provider, announced that it is now connected to ULLINK, a leading provider of transactional connectivity for the financial community.

Thanks to the new RTS-to-UL BRIDGE plug-in, RTS users can now access more than 300 buy- and sell-side counterparties worldwide.

"The UL BRIDGE is a complete connectivity platform offering smart order routing and monitoring functions, in addition to direct access to multiple execution venues in any message format," said Laurent Useldinger, CEO of ULLINK. "We developed a truly innovative and business-oriented solution, and we are pleased that RTS users can now benefit from ULLINK functionalities."

"The integration and deployment is remarkably simple," said Alex Lamb, Senior Vice President, Business Development at RTS.

"If a customer using any one of RTS' solutions wants to deliver orders to new sell side brokers, exchanges or ECNs, it can be done without the extensive integration work required with other platforms. This means that traders can include additional markets to their trading strategies for an extremely attractive cost and within a very short timeframe."

About RTS Realtime Systems Group

RTS is a leading solutions provider with offices in Amsterdam, Chicago, Frankfurt, London, New York, Paris, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, and distribution partners in Greece, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan. Founded in 1992, RTS is a pioneer in the design and creation of high performance, functionally rich, multi-asset electronic trading software, with thousands of user connections to nearly 100 exchanges.
For more information, please visit www.rtsgroup.net

About ULLINK

ULLINK is a leading provider of global connectivity and trading solutions for large, medium and niche financial institutions, both on the Buy Side and the Sell Side. With over 300 ready-to-trade connections to favourite destinations (buy-side clients, brokers, exchanges, order routing networks, order management systems and trading applications, in all formats and all asset classes), we help our customers build vendor-neutral environments: connect your existing applications to our platform (the UL BRIDGE), select your destinations and start trading.

For further information, please visit www.ullink.com

SOURCE RTS Realtime Systems Group
CONTACT: Ellen G. Resnick,
Crystal Clear Communications,
+1-773-929-9292 (o)
+1-312-399-9295 (c),
eresnick@crystalclearPR.com,
for RTS Realtime Systems Group
Web site: http://www.rtsgroup.net
http://www.ullink.com

Business: PGG Wrightson increases presence in Real Estate sector

Wellington - NZPA-AsiaNet - Prominent agricultural services provider PGG Wrightson has purchased Trans Tasman Rural Marketing, the leading company in the sale of dairy farms in North Eastern Victoria.

Nigel Thorpe, general manager of PGG Wrightson Australia, said the acquisition would increase real estate marketing options for local dairy and pastoral farmers.

"Geographical boundaries in dairy farming are coming down, particularly in our part of the world, where dairying is fast becoming a trans-Tasman market. For farmers to own property or hold investments in both Australia and New Zealand is becoming more common, and a trend we believe will only accelerate, particularly assuming dairy commodity prices remain high for the next few seasons, as most forecasts suggest.

"Trans Tasman Rural Marketing has a strong presence in the Finley and Cobram areas. With the international connections that PGG Wrightson brings, we can now offer clients a much broader service.

"PGG Wrightson began real estate and livestock operations in Australia in August 2006. This acquisition complements our offices in Melbourne, Gippsland and Western Districts, meaning PGG Wrightson now has branches in the four main dairying regions of Victoria. We are also active in dairying regions in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania," he said.

Formerly principal of Trans Tasman Rural Marketing, Tim McCurdy will join PGG Wrightson as the licensed estate agent and sales manager for Northern Victoria and Southern New South Wales. Nigel Thorpe says Tim McCurdy, is well known to dairy farmers in that market and also enjoys a high profile across the Tasman.

"For many years Trans Tasman Rural Marketing had successfully marketed Victorian rural properties, particularly specialising in selling to kiwi dairy farmers. It recently expanded into NSW with the purchase of Gil Silby & Co in Finley, which has also become part of this purchase," he said.

Nigel Thorpe says upwards of 40 New Zealand dairy farmers have purchased Australian farms in the past 18 months, with an estimated value of $140 million.

All other current staff of Trans Tasman Rural Marketing will also join PGG Wrightson.

PGG Wrightson Australia is part of an international group that includes New Zealands only nationwide provider to the agricultural sector and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay Ltd, which has expanding operations in South America. The companys assets and annual turnover each exceed $1 billion dollars. Listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, the company traces its history
back to 1841.

For further information:
Nigel Thorpe
General Manager
PGG Wrightson Ltd, Australia
Telephone
Work: +61 38335 0300
Mobile: +61 447 390253
Source: PGG Wrightson Ltd

Business: IMERYS pigments for paper to increase global kaolin prices

Belgium (BUSINESS WIRE) - IMERYS Pigments for Paper raises prices for all kaolin products effective immediately.

Kaolin manufactured in the USA, Brazil, Australia and the UK, including calcined products, will increase in price by 10 to 15 %. In addition to this announced increase, energy & transportation surcharges will apply, around the world, for kaolin products in all forms.

Unprecedented cost increases in logistics, chemicals, mining, fuel, and power are key factors in this decision.
Despite Imerys' continual improvement programs to mitigate these effects, price increases and surcharges are necessary to achieve a sustainable pigment business.

Notes to editors:IMERYS Pigments for Paper is a world leading producer of white pigments, manufacturing kaolin, ground calcium carbonate (GCC) and precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC). The business group serves the needs of the international paper industry and employs 2,403 people, operates 46 industrial sites in 19 countries and represents 22% of Imerys' overall revenue.

IMERYS Pigments for Paper
Media Contact:Spencer Farmer, +44 (0)776 664 1967
Global Marketing Director
spencer.farmer@imerys.com
or
Commercial Contact:Dave Bakshi, 770-645-3463
North America Director of Marketing
or
Mikael Breitenstein, +358 207 577 704
Europe Commercial Director
or
Tony Noon, +65 67 99 60 60
Asia Director of Business Development
or
Paper Mercosul
Mario Seixas, +55 11 2133 0135 General Manager