Web Business Banking

THE Scottish Government suffered a major and embarrassing setback yesterday when Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, admitted his long-awaited plan to put an additional 1,000 police on Scotland's streets might not deliver a single extra officer.

(AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-21 10:17 GMT: Greater China economic and corporate news summary

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - A summary of Greater China economic and corporate news at 1000 GMT

HONG KONG:

Regulator clears way for city's first Islamic fund

Airport Authority of Hong Kong H1 to Sept net profit 1.14 bln hkd, up 14.4 pct

Lee & Man Paper Mfng H1 to Sept net profit 718 mln hkd vs 410 mln

Lee & Man Paper H1 net profit surges 75 pct on strong sales growth

COSCO Pacific units sell container boxes worth 241.2 mln usd

Sinotruk HK IPO retail tranche 310 times oversubscribed; priced top end - source

Value Partners says Hong Kong IPO retail tranche 109 times oversubscribed

China Sci-Tech acquires 13 mainland mining projects for 3.03 bln yuan

AV Concept H1 to Sept net profit 16.84 mln hkd vs 867,000

CHINA:

China should apply brakes to HK direct investment - former central banker

China bubble poised to burst on next negative development - Morgan Stanley

Chinese oil producers vow to ease shortages - state media

China levies anti-dumping tax on methyl ethyl ketone from Japan/Taiwan/Singapore

China, EU launch joint carbon capture project

Central govt urges stronger control over new building projects

China prepares new measures to protect Three Gorges

Shanghai insurers' Jan-Oct premium income up 16.77 pct yr-on-yr

Dalian RINO Q3 net profit up 773 pct on strong gas system sales

China Finance Online Q3 net profit up 241 pct on prepaid subscriptions

Home Inns Q3 net profit up 220 pct on hotel expansion

China Water and Drinks Q3 net profit up 80 pct on bottled water sales

Kinghing Trust & Investment to sell 48 pct stake in Bosera Asset

China Medical Technologies Q3 net profit up 38.8 pct on diagnostic systems sales

Linkwell swings to Q3 net loss on higher selling expenses

Eurizon Penghua Fund Management JV to apply for overseas investment license

Manulife, Skandia insurance JVs win approval for new China branches

China Biopharma eyes buyout of Tianyuan Biotech JV, move away from vaccines

China Metallurgical, Jiangxi Copper win tender to develop Afghan copper mine

Shanghai zinc oxide plant to shift to Peruvian firm's control

AMDL's Jade Pharmaceutical plans 200 new stores in China

China Holdings announces third biomass power project

China Guangdong Nuclear, Huaneng Group to build nuclear plant in Shandong

Sinopec refineries raise output, plan record crude processing runs

US ITC says China coated paper imports not hurting domestic industry

Baosteel says senior management not in talks with BHP Billiton chief

Union Life to offer three investment-linked insurance products

Shenzhen banks confirm removal of tight limits on cash withdrawals

Nasdaq-listed AsiaInfo wins China Mobile loyalty program order

GE Capital planning to open China bank in 2008

China Development Bank issues 45 bln yuan in 10-yr fixed-rate bonds

China Development Bank to issue 30 bln yuan in fixed-rate bonds

Agricultural Devt Bank of China to issue 10 bln yuan in 5-yr fixed-rate bonds

Haitong Securities issues 724.64 mln A-shares at 35.88 yuan per share

Tianjin Teda issues 300 mln yuan in 9-mth discount bills; yield 7.35 pct

Beijing Urban Construction to issue 500 mln yuan in 7-yr fixed-rate bonds

CATT to sell 13 pct stake in Datang Mobile

Panda Electronics' PDP project gets 20 mln yuan from NDRC

BOCHK, Bank of E Asia ratings unchanged by acquisition-S&P

CITIC Ka Wah Bank ratings downgraded on risk concerns - Moody's

TAIWAN:

Taiwan approves 5 China-bound investment proposals worth 88 mln usd

Powerchip says it has not violated Richtek patents

TSMC buys back 11.02 mln shares at avg 59.47 twd

Oct China-bound investment approvals 806.95 mln usd vs 566.47 mln

Listed cos remit home 7.84 pct of cumulative China investments as of Q3

fran.wang@xinhuafinance.com

xfnfwang/xfnkm

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007.

Pfizer continues advancement into vaccines business. Now gathering technologies but will soon need antigens. Pfizer ...

LONDON, UK----19 November 2007----ExpertREACT. VacZine Analytics, a new strategic research agency focused on vaccine market analysis discusses the continued advancement of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer into the vaccines business.

On the 16th November pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that it made steps to acquire Massachusetts�s based Coley Pharmaceutical Group (CPG). CPG, founded in 1997, is focused on immune enhancing molecules, which stimulate Toll-like receptors (TLRs). The company has previously been in partnership with Pfizer relating to TLR9 agonists in cancer and through its adjuvant Vaximmune, has product development research and license agreements with the majority of the major vaccine players.

CPG was valued at $164 million where Pfizer would pay cash for all of the outstanding common stock for $8 per share.

Study: 1 out of 4 homeless are veterans

Washington_Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau.

S. Korea Fully Recovered From 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis- Report

(RTTNews) - South Korean economy has fully recovered from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and the government is well equipped to overcome similar calamities in the future, the Ministry of Finance and Economy said Tuesday.

The constant restructuring efforts, introduction of global business standards and liberalization, all paid off, the Ministry said. The country's foreign reserves once touched a low ebb of US$20.4 million in December 1997, multiplied 13 times to US$260.1 billion in October 2007.

Future Tax Professionals Grab Honors at the Deloitte Foundation's Tax Case Study Competition Finals

At a time when the future talent shortage within the tax profession is an issue of critical concern, the sixth annual Deloitte Tax Case Study National Competition put the spotlight on the skills of future tax professionals who will fill the pipeline and help to solve the tax challenges of the future. At the Deloitte Foundation's national competition awards ceremony held yesterday in Orlando, the University of Denver took top honors in the Graduate Division, and Brigham Young University in the Undergraduate Division.

"Every team competing in the finals made us proud to again host this competition," said Shaun Budnik, president of the Deloitte Foundation. "Each of the national teams participating offered insightful responses to the complex case study and earned our confidence about the caliber of professionals that will be working within our industry in the future."

As the first place winners, Brigham Young University and the University of Denver will each receive a $10,000 award.

London afternoon: Footsie fights to stay ahead

LONDON (SHARECAST) - The leading index has seen gains trimmed as the banking sector relinquishes a little of its advantage, while Wall Street�s start looks like being less spectacular than initially expected. Investors continue to shrug off credit crunch fears, which had resurfaced after buy-to-let mortgage specialist Paragon revealed it has run into funding difficulties. The troubled firm saw its shares almost halve after it put in place facilities for an underwritten rights issue to raise �280m because terms offered to renew a debt facility were "not attractive." Dividends have been suspended until the funding issue is settled. Paragon�s problems pale into virtual insignificance compared with the scale of Northern Rock's difficulties, so it was little surprise when Paragon�s announcement sparked more selling of Northern Rock.