Leading Education Experts From Singapore & Hong Kong to Speak at Global Conference in Bahrain

September 27th, 2009 MANAMA, Bahrain - - More Than 200 Education Professionals From Around the World Will Share Insights, Best Practices and Game-changing Ideas at October Conference Leaders of European industry will join ministerial representatives and non-profit organisations at The Education Project, a global education conference in the Kingdom of Bahrain on October 15-17. Among the strong European speaker contingent are: Francois Barrault, former CEO, BT Global Services and BT Group board member; Kari Pitkänen, Director of Administration, Finnish National Board of Education; Bahram Bekhradnia, Director, Higher Education Policy Institute UK; Helen Pinnock, Education Advisor, Save the Children UK; Dan Shine, President, 50x15 Foundation and Senior Advisor, Corporate Global Citizenship, World Economic Forum, and Professor Ralph Tabberer, former Director General of Schools for England, will speak at the conference.

September 27th, 2009 ABU DHABI, UAE - In an exclusive Bridges Middle East 2009 focus day, the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation, for the first time, will officially discuss the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Project. The focus day, on Sunday November 22, will be an essential stage for all key stakeholders involved in the Project.

September 15th, 2009 JERSEY CITY, New Jersey - - IPC and 2Connect Collaboration Enables Direct Connectivity Between Leading Financial Centers in Manama, Dubai, Europe and Asia Pacific IPC Systems, the leading provider of indispensable communications solutions to financial services firms, today announced that it has expanded its global network coverage through a partnership with 2Connect Bahrain. This partnership dramatically reduces the installation time to connect Bahrain with trading venues across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

September 13th, 2009 LONDON - VocaLink, the international payments specialist, announced today that it will be supporting the Oxfam Unwrapped campaign at this year's Sibos conference in Hong Kong. VocaLink aims to donate GBP10,000 (HK $130,000) to Oxfam Hong Kong, an Oxfam International affiliate, to support the work of the office local to the conference.

August 3rd, 2009 MANAMA, Bahrain - A new annual event designed to improve the quality of education across the world, from pre-school to higher education, will launch this October in Bahrain. The Education Project aims to identify practical solutions and gain commitment from educational professionals to put them in place.

May 31st, 2009 HONG KONG - Foundation Specialists Must Work Together With Authorities to Optimise Designs Optimisation of foundation designs is the surest way to dramatically reduce material usage and guarantee that new developments are delivered in a shorter timeframe at minimal cost. But it can be difficult to employ innovative foundation designs or alternatives to standard piling techniques.

May 6th, 2009 LONDON - Top Asian universities have been evaluated in the first regional ranking from QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd, the compilers of the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings. Five countries dominate the top 10 places in the QS.com Asian University Rankings: Rank Institution Country 1 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 2 The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 3 University of Tokyo Japan 4 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong 5 Kyoto University Japan 6 Osaka University Japan 7 KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & South Korea Technology 8 Seoul National University South Korea 9 Tokyo Institute of Technology Japan 10= National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore 10= Peking University China Top Asian universities in the remaining six countries featured in the QS.com Asian University Rankings: Rank Institution Country 22 National Taiwan University Taiwan 30= Indian Institute of Technology Bombay India 30= Mahidol University Thailand 39 Universiti Malaya Malaysia 50 University of Indonesia Indonesia 63= University of the Philippines Philippines Nunzio Quacquarelli, Managing Director of QS explains: "The results of the QS.com Asian University Rankings focus on regionally relevant measures of excellence, with the top performing universities distinguished not only by quality, but also by high productivity of research, compared to their regional peers." Ben Sowter, Head of Research at QS adds, "The advantage of these regional rankings is in the richer picture we can create when comparing universities at a regional rather than global level, through the inclusion of additional factors.

April 21st, 2009 LONDON - Sheffield United has today confirmed a groundbreaking sponsorship deal with the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) that will see the 2008/2009 Hong Kong FA Cup titled 'the Sheffield United FA Cup'. Sheffield United's agreement with the HKFA has been announced in partnership with the Chengdu Blades Football Club in China.

March 17th, 2009 SINGAPORE - Walkers, the global offshore law firm of choice for leading financial market participants and international law firms announced today it has expanded its new Singapore office. Amid expectations of an increase in offshore legal work in Singapore, particularly with regard to distressed hedge funds, debt restructuring, and public-to-private deals, Walkers has transferred senior funds attorney Laura Rogers from its Hong Kong office to build on the team already in place in Singapore.

March 11th, 2009 LONDON - "As designers we must see the current financial challenges and increasing scrutiny of public spending as an opportunity to demonstrate our ability to deliver truly affordable and sustainable spaces for learning and research. It is therefore invaluable to bring together leading experts in the field at conferences such as Designing and Constructing Colleges and Universities to gather practical advice and skills." Colin Moses, Global Design Director of RMJM's Global Education Studio.

August 24th, 2009 MUMBAI - Jet Airways will launch a New Delhi-Hong Kong daily service from Sep 30, a top airline official announced here Monday. "The return Hong Kong-New Delhi flight would be launched Oct 1 to mark China's national day," said Jet chief executive Wolfgang Prock-Schauer.

January 12th, 2009 HONG KONG - Hong Kong Tuesday was ranked the world's freest economy for the 15th consecutive year in a survey by the US think-tank the Heritage Foundation. Singapore was again ranked second in the annual study, followed by Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.

April 29th, 2009 HONG KONG - English football premier league team Liverpool was Wednesday accused of pricing itself out of the market making 'outrageous' demands to play in Hong Kong. A Hong Kong Football Association source told the South China Morning Post the team's planned exhibition at the Hong Kong Stadium in July had been scrapped because of the financial demands.

January 20th, 2009 HONG KONG - Hong Kong shares fell by almost three percent Wednesday as overnight losses on Wall Street and profit warnings from Chinese companies listed in the city deepened market gloom. The blue-chip Hang Seng Index ended the day down 376.14 points, or 2.9 percent, at 12,583.63.

January 30th, 2009 HONG KONG - Cigarette consumption in Hong Kong is up almost 14 percent since a smoking ban was introduced in the city two years ago, a news report said Saturday. Government figures quoted by the South China Morning Post show that 3.79 billion cigarettes were bought in 2008, compared to 3.33 billion the previous year.

March 29th, 2009 HONG KONG - A bottle of rare champagne fetched 164,560 Hong Kong dollars ($21,097) at a wine auction here, setting a new world record for the price of any bottle of champagne sold at an auction. The auction collected an impressive 35 million Hong Kong dollars ($4.5 million), with 96 percent of the stocks sold to buyers from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia, among others.

April 22nd, 2009 Hong Kong appeals court blocks PCCW dealHONG KONG — A Hong Kong appeals court has blocked a controversial $2 billion deal for leading telecom firm PCCW. PCCW says in a statement Wednesday the territory's Court of Appeal overturned a lower court's decision approving a buyout led by company Chairman Richard Li.

September 7th, 2009 HONG KONG - Eleven people were injured when a man threw acid during an altercation Sunday in a bustling market district, the fourth such attack in Hong Kong this year. Local television reports said victims had to be carried on gurneys to ambulances, their heads covered in bandages.

September 9th, 2009 HONG KONG - Hong Kong, once one of the world's suicide hot spots, has in the past six years seen a steady decline in the number of people taking their own lives, figures released Thursday showed. More than 1,200 people in the high-rise city of seven million killed themselves in 2003, a rate of almost four a day.

December 30th, 2008 HONG KONG - Hong Kong residents have emerged as some of the most pessimistic in the world concerning their expectations for the coming year, according to an online survey published Wednesday. Around seven out of 10 citizens - or 67 percent - of the former British colony expect 2009 to be worse than this year - almost twice the global figure of 35 percent.