JAKARTA, Indonesia - Tuesday, December 4th 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A unique public-private partnership to conserve the highly endangered Javan rhino will continue for the second year following a signing ceremony in Jakarta. Asia Pulp & Paper Group(APP) has made the agreement with Ujung Kulon National Park (TNUK) to extend the Javan rhino conservation partnership with Ujung Kulon National Park(TNUK) for another twelve months.

The partnership is in support of the Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia’s target to increase the population of Javan rhino in TNUK. This is in accordance with the Indonesian Rhino Conservation Action Plan and Strategy 2007 - 2017.

In the coming year, the Javan Rhino Conservation Working Group (CWG) will expand the Javan rhino habitat revitalization initiatives and continue Javan rhino population monitoring. The CWG will fund a field team that will monitor the rhino population via sixty video cameras already installed in the nati ... Read more »

Gidsy, ticketscript and De Bijenkorf join Adyen at Events in Berlin, London and Amsterdam to Launch Shuttle – a Fully EMV Compliant MPOS Solution

LONDON & AMSTERDAM & BERLIN - Tuesday, December 4th 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Adyen, the global payment company, has today announced at simultaneous events in London, Amsterdam and Berlin, the European availability of Shuttle, an innovative payment solution that enables merchants to accept Chip & PIN payments from a mobile device at the point-of-sale (MPOS). The solution, which is available to purchase from today, is fully EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) compliant meaning that it accepts all credit and debit cards that are widely used across Europe.

A natural extension of its online and mobile payment solution, Adyen now provides infrastructure for point-of-sale payments, with all three channels directly connected to the Adyen back office, requiring only a single point of administration. Shutt ... Read more »

CHARLEROI, Belgium - Tuesday, December 4th 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- During the inauguration of its new building, the Belgian Biotech Company Delphi Genetics SA announced that the first antibiotic-free DNA vaccine using the Staby® technology was efficiently tested in vivo. Together with academic and Biotech key-players, Delphi Genetics is participating to the DNAVAC project funded by the Walloon Region (BioWin project). The aim of the project is to develop and produce antibiotic-free DNA vaccines targeting veterinary diseases. As a model, the consortium developed a DNA vaccine against the Aujezsky virus the causative agent of pseudo-rabies.

"This virus was selected as it causes systematically an acute and lethal disease in susceptible species, thereby providing an excellent model to test the efficacy of a vaccine candidate. The results of the challenge performed by Dr Anca Reschner are very clear: all vaccinated animals using the Staby® vectors were res ... Read more »

LONDON - Tuesday, December 4th 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In line with its focus on offering innovative exchange traded fund (ETF) administration solutions, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) has acted as administrator and custodian for National Bank of Abu Dhabi as it made a series of enhancements to the region’s first ETF, including moving from swap based replication to physical replication.

The ETF, which also shifted from index provider Dow Jones UAE 25 Total Return Index (Local) to the MSCI UAE IMI 10/40, is now named NBAD OneShare MSCI UAE ETF and is the first physically replicated fund in the Emirate.

"We have enhanced our ETF following consultations with a number of international authorized participants and in response to a strong demand for physical replication,” said Saleem Khokhar, head of equities at National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s asset management group. "We believe physical replication will increase scalability and remove restrictive collateral requ ... Read more »

SHENZHEN, Chine & BLOOMFIELD, Connecticut - Mardi 4 Décembre 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cigna & CMC Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (« Cigna & CMC »), une entreprise commune entre Cigna et une filiale de China Merchants Group, a annoncé aujourd’hui que l’entreprise a vendu sa millionième police d’assurance en Chine. Cigna & CMC connaît une croissance rapide sur le marché chinois de l’assurance vie et maladie depuis sa constitution il y a près de 10 ans.

Aux dires de M. Ma Weihua, président de Cigna & CMC : « Il s’agit d’une étape importante et historique dans le mouvement de croissance positive de Cigna & CMC. Cette réalisation reflète l’attention et l’engagement collectifs de l’équipe de la coentreprise. Elle illustre également la puissance des valeurs et de la vision communes de Cigna & CMC qui permettent à la société d’exploiter les ressources entraînant ces résul ... Read more »

ME Newswire / Business Wire

FORT COLLINS, Colo - Monday, December 3rd 2012

Ventria Bioscience announces the completion of an agreement under which Ventria Bioscience will wholly acquire portions of the intellectual property portfolio relating to Recombinant Lactoferrin developed by the French biotechnology company, Meristem Therapeutics. The agreement transfers to Ventria Bioscience exclusive royalty-free ownership rights for the specific patents in the United States, France, and Canada, including those related to recombinant human lactoferrin, in exchange for a one-time payment.

"The patents acquired today cover important components of our product pipeline,” said Scott Deeter, president and CEO of Ventria Bioscience. "The decision to purchase this intellectual property is significant because it removes the encumbrance of ongoing royalty and milestone payments, thereby enhancing the future economics of our products that use recombinant human lactoferrin.”

Re ... Read more »

ST. JOHN, Jersey dans les îles Anglo-Normandes et Madagascar - Mardi 4 Décembre 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)--O3b Networks a annoncé aujourd'hui que le fournisseur de services de télécommunications de premier plan, Gulfsat Madagascar, a signé un contrat de capacité à long terme pour fournir des services de connexion et de téléphonie satellite haut débit à travers la nation insulaire de Madagascar.

S'appuyant sur les avantages concurrentiels uniques de la flotte satellite en orbite terrestre moyenne d'O3b, Gulfsat Madagascar peut offrir aux résidents et aux entreprises sur la quatrième île la plus grande au monde un nouveau niveau de solutions de connexion haut débit avec la vitesse de la fibre et la portée et la fiabilité de la technologie satellite. La connectivité fournie par O3b permet aux communautés de bénéficier de latences d'une faiblesse in& ... Read more »

SHENZHEN, China & BLOOMFIELD, Conn - Monday, December 3rd 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cigna & CMC Life Insurance Co., Ltd. ("Cigna & CMC”), a joint venture company between Cigna and a China Merchants Group affiliate, announced today that the company has sold its one millionth policy in force in China. Cigna & CMC has been growing rapidly in the Chinese health and life insurance market since it was established nearly 10 years ago.

Mr. Ma Weihua, chairman of Cigna & CMC said: "This is a key historical milestone in Cigna & CMC’s successful growth story. The achievement reflects the collective focus and commitment of the joint venture team. It also illustrates the power of Cigna & CMC’s shared values and vision enabling the company to leverage resources to drive these results. This milestone will inspire Cigna & CMC to achieve even greater success in the next decade and beyond.”

As one of the most successful life insurance joint ... Read more »

ST. JOHN, Jersey, Channel Islands & Madagascar - Monday, December 3rd 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- O3b Networks today announced leading Telecom Service Provider Gulfsat Madagascar has signed a long-term capacity deal to provide satellite-delivered high-speed broadband and telephony services across the island nation of Madagascar.

Tapping the unique competitive advantages of O3b’s Medium Earth Orbit satellite fleet, Gulfsat Madagascar can offer residents and businesses on the world’s fourth-largest island a new level of broadband solutions with the speed of fiber and the reach and reliability of satellite. O3b-delivered connectivity empowers communities with unprecedented low latencies (under 150 milliseconds), unlimited, affordable bandwidth and unrivaled operational savings.

The island of Madagascar, off the Southeastern coast of Africa, is served by submarine fiber-optic cables, but Gulfsat sees significant benefits in the affordability and resiliency ... Read more »

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Monday, December 3rd 2012 [ME NewsWire]

eHosting DataFort(eHDF), the region’s leading managed IT services provider and a member of TECOM Investments, has been appointed to host VoiceTrust’s Digital Payment Platform in Dubai to provide 24/7 service availability and facilitate the management of a large volume of transactions on a regional and global level.

VoiceTrust is a global provider of digital payments and voice biometric solutions and technologies operating across the Americas, Europe and South Asia, Middle East and Africa.

The Middle East operation was established in 2009 with Dubai serving as a software development, sales and professional service centre. The company’s disinclination to invest in huge capital and human resources to host its service in the region served as a key influencer to opt for a managed service provider such as eHDF. Additionally, VoiceTrust was looking for an entity that brings the right infrastructure and ... Read more »