SHENZHEN, China - Wednesday, October 16th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) ZTE Corporation ("ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment, network solutions and mobile devices, today announced it had won nearly 50 percent of China Telecom’s tender to provide evolved packet core (EPC) equipment for an LTE network across 15 provinces in China. The win makes ZTE No.1 among equipment building vendors in China Telecom’s LTE network.

As part the contract, ZTE also will provide a 2G/3G/TDD/FDD/WiFi multi-network collaboration solution with its EPC equipment. This solution ensures smooth network evolution of the entire network and also reduces bandwidth costs while improving user experience. In addition, its innovative ePCC traffic management scheme provides flexible service packages as well as closed-loop control and open collaboration capabilities, helping carriers expand profit margins ... Read more »

To tweet this news, copy and paste: NEWS: #MasterCard & @WFP launch e-cards for Syrian refugees in Lebanon http://bit.ly/1g2IsOh #digitalfood #zerohunger

LONDON & BEIRUT, Lebanon - Friday, October 11th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As part of its massive humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is rolling out an innovative electronic voucher programme in Lebanon that will allow hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to meet their food needs and help boost the local economy.

By the year’s end, some 800,000 refugees will be using these electronic cards – or "e-cards” – at participating shops in Lebanon under an initiative realized with the technical support of WFP’s private sector partner, MasterCard (NYSE:MA).

Besides Lebanon, WFP will be introducing a similar e-card programme for Syrian refugees in Jordan, again with MasterCard’s support, in a phased rollout for an initial 300,000 refugees by ... Read more »

Contract Expansion to Europe and Middle East Follows Recent Expansion to Greater China

CHICAGO - Saturday, October 12th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- InnerWorkings (NASDAQ: INWK), a leading global marketing supply chain company, today announced a contract expansion with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to include Europe and the Middle East regions. The expansion creates a global partnership and follows a recent renewal and services extension in the Americas, Greater China and Asia Pacific.

"InnerWorkings has been an excellent partner and we hope to more fully leverage their global capabilities with this expansion of their service offering,” said John Muehlbauer, director of IHG® Rewards Club.

Beginning in October 2013, InnerWorkings will support IHG by sourcing and procuring all categories of print and promotional materials throughout all of IHG’s global regions and across the following hotel brands: InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, ... Read more »

Natera Improves Turnaround Time to 7-10 Calendar Days

SAN CARLOS, Calif - Monday, October 14th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) Natera, a leading innovator in prenatal genetic testing, today announced that, following publication of validation data in Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy, its non-invasive prenatal test Panorama™ is being expanded to offer detection of triploidy. Natera launched Panorama in March 2013 for the detection of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) and monosomy X (Turner syndrome). Additionally, Natera is now offering improved turnaround time of 7 to 10 calendar days.

The data, from a study by Professor Kypros Nicolaides of the Fetal Medicine Foundation, showed that Panorama differentiated between triploid and euploid cases in 56 blinded samples with 100 percent accuracy. Triploidy occurs when a fetus has three copies of every chromosome, resulting in 69 total chromosomes instead of 46. The condit ... Read more »

NEW YORK & FRANKFURT - Tuesday, October 15th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE) 21st Century Fox and the Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL) today announced a series of multi-year agreements to deliver Bundesliga football to hundreds of millions of fans across North and South America, Europe and Asia via 21st Century Fox’s global portfolio of television assets.

The agreements call for a five-year term in Asia and the Americas, and a two-year term in Europe. Financial details were not disclosed.

The agreements will leverage 21st Century Fox’s global distribution footprint in territories such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, China (in English), Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands and many more.

In total, the agreements cover 80 countries or territories on four continents and will span three units of 21st Century Fox: Fox International Channels, Fox Sports and Sky Italia. Under the terms of the agreements, 21st Century Fox will be granted exclusi ... Read more »

DOHA, Qatar - Thursday, October 10th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

Al Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) Q.S.C., rated A- by Fitch with stable outlook, announced the successful pricing of its debut U.S.$ 500 million Senior Unsecured issuance under its newly established U.S.$ 750 million Euro Medium Term Note Programme. The transaction was issued at 99.575% with a coupon of 3.250% and a yield of 3.343%. BNP Paribas, HSBC, QNB Capital and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Arrangers and Joint Lead Managers on the transaction.

The benchmark RegS transaction, which effectively re-opened the conventional Financial Institution credit markets in the GCC region, came on the back of an effective marketing strategy which was undertaken by the Bank’s senior management and Joint Lead Managers. The global roadshow targeted fixed income investor meetings in the key Regulation S financial centers (London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and Abu Dhabi).

After the Asia and Middle East roadsh ... Read more »

ME Newswire / Businesswire

TOKYO - Friday, October 11th 2013

Masaaki Shirakawa, the former governor of the Bank of Japan, has joined Promontory Financial Group, a premier strategy, risk-management, regulatory, and compliance consulting firm for financial services firms worldwide, as a senior adviser and a member of the firm’s global advisory board.

Mr. Shirakawa is highly regarded globally as a policy leader in economics and finance. As head of the Bank of Japan and chairman of its policy board from April 2008 to March 2013, Mr. Shirakawa had principal responsibility for guiding the monetary policy of the world’s third-largest economy. He also served as director and later vice-chairman of the Bank for International Settlements. These roles capped a four-decade career with the Japanese central bank, where his responsibilities encompassed monetary policy and financial stability and domestic and international operations.

"Shirakawa-san is a true public servant, ... Read more »