Micro Imaging Technology, Inc. announced today that Biotek Sdn Bhd has purchased its first MIT 1000 System. Biotek Sdn Bhd was recently signed as the company’s distributor for Malaysia and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which includes Indonesia, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia, in addition to others.

Recognized as a premier distributor in the food protection market, Biotek distributes products that are complementary to the MIT 1000 Rapid Microbial Identification System. “Our sales strategy is to demonstrate the features and benefits of this System in typical applications, enabling prospective clients to immediately understand its value. We have found this approach produces much faster sales than other traditional methods,” commented Biotek’s Director, W.C. Fong. “We are pleased to add the MIT 1000 System to our product portfolio. Its rapid test time coupled with its low operating cost will be attractive to many of our customers.”

Biotek has been scheduled

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 14, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights VimpelCom (VIP) as the Bull of the Day and Rite Aid Corporation (RAD) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Elan Pharmaceuticals (ELN) and Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We reaffirm our Outperform recommendation for VimpelCom (VIP), Russia's second largest cellular carrier with over 25% market share. Reported earnings in the last quarter outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven by foreign exchange gains.

We continue to be intrigued by VimpelCom's successful sales growth trend and its ability to retain subscribers on a recurring basis, even as overall economic factors remain weak. The company is also progressing

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We reaffirm our Outperform recommendation for VimpelCom (VIP), Russia's second largest cellular carrier with over 25% market share. Reported earnings in the last quarter outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven by foreign exchange gains.

We continue to be intrigued by VimpelCom's successful sales growth trend and its ability to retain subscribers on a recurring basis, even as overall economic factors remain weak. The company is also progressing well in expanding its 3G wireless and residential broadband network deployments, as reflected by healthy subscriber accretion in the last quarter.

Additionally, the ongoing expansion initiatives into emerging Asian markets (including Cambodia and Vietnam) are expected to boost opportunity in wireless, given the lower mobile penetration levels in these regions.Zacks Investment Research

Asian economies are recovering faster than previously thought and will lead the charge out of the worst global downturn since the 1930s, according to new forecasts by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – a Manila-based institution that promotes economic and social progress in the Asia-Pacific region.

After slashing its forecast for the region in March, the ADB reversed course in its updated Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2009. The bank said developing economies in Asia would grow by 3.9% this year, up from its previous forecast of 3.4%.

“Despite worsening conditions in the global economic environment, developing Asia is poised to lead the recovery from the worldwide slowdown,” said ADB Chief Economist Jong-Wha Lee.

However, the growth will not be evenly distributed. Economic growth in East Asia will be driven largely by China’s dynamic economy. But economic growth in Southeast Asia will be sluggish, because the recoveries of Vietnam and

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Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited (EXXI) Gulf Coast, Inc. (the “Company”) today September 4, 2009 announced it has commenced an exchange offer and consent solicitation in respect of its 10% Senior Notes due 2013 (the “Senior Notes”).

The Company has commenced an offer to exchange up to $360 million principal amount outstanding Senior Notes properly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) and accepted by the Company for its newly issued 16% Second Lien Junior Secured Notes due 2014 (the “Second Lien Notes”), subject to proration and reduction to $311 million principal amount of Senior Notes, depending on the aggregate principal amount of Second Lien Notes sold in a concurrent private placement.

About Energy XXI

Energy XXI is a Houston-based independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, development, exploration and production of oil and natural gas reserves in the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The Company an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the

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Yesterday, VimpelCom (VIP) posted second-quarter profit of 69 cents per ADR (based on an average exchange rate 32.21 RUR/US$) that outpaced both the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 42 cents and the year-ago earnings of 46 cents.

The company reported quarterly net income of RUR22.6 billion ($701.5 million), more than double the net income of RUR11.1 ($345 million) reported in the year-ago period. This significant year-over-year growth was largely attributable to the RUR10.6 billion ($329 million) in foreign exchange gains from a strong ruble versus the US dollar.

VimpelCom’s net operating revenue in the quarter was RUR69.0 billion ($2.1 billion), reflecting 12% and 3.3% increase over the year-ago and the previous quarter, respectively. While sales from its wireless operation came in at RUR58.2 billion ($1.8 billion), the fixed-line business generated revenue of RUR14.6 billion ($453 million). The reported OIBDA of RUR35 billion ($1.1 billion) reflects a year-over-year growth of

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WABCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE: WBC) (www.wabco-auto.com), a global technology leader and tier-one supplier to the commercial vehicle industry, today announced that WABCO and Ashok Leyland, the Indian flagship of the Hinduja Group, have completed an agreement for development of transmission automation technology and the long term supply of automated manual transmission (AMT) systems from 2010 through 2015.

Millicom International Cellular S.A. (”Millicom”) (NASDAQ:MICC) (STO:MIC) today announces that it has signed an agreement for the sale of its Cambodian operations to The Royal Group, its partner in Cambodia, for $346m in cash, payable on completion. This transaction comprises Millicom’s 58.4% holdings in CamGSM, Royal Telecam International and Cambodia Broadcasting Services.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a leading microRNA therapeutics company, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has awarded a notice of allowance for the Manoharan patent (application number

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Phnom Penh-based private equity firm Leopard Capital completed its second and third deals last month, including a $1 million investment in a consortium group whose implementation of a transmission and distribution system 120km in length, which includes medium and low voltage networks, will provide grid power to 7,700 residential customers and 375 commercial and industrial customers (per reports, the electrification rate in Cambodia is currently one of the lowest in Asia and such there is pressing demand for more power generation and transmission). Herein linked is an interesting interview with Douglas Clayton (pictured left), Leopard’s founder who made headlines in March 2008 for launching the first-ever Cambodia-dedicated investment fund with $27 million in capital that he raised through vigorous pitching of the country’s fundamentals, a coup in and of itself given the times and particularly for a

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Millicom is Consolidating its Balance Sheet Millicom International Cellular S.A. (MICC), a Luxemburg-based leading global wireless service provider in various emerging markets, is exploring all options to improve its highly leveraged balance sheet.

The company had approximately $2.2 billion of total debt and $729 million of cash & cash equivalent at the end of the first quarter 2009. Management has taken several decisions, the first of which is to reduce its capital expenditure.

Historically, Millicom has benefited from the huge capital expenditure it had undertaken to expand and upgrade networks, which resulted in significant subscriber growth and record revenue. Since a major part of fiscal 2008 capital spending was earmarked to improve network coverage, it is expected that the company will now benefit from service expansion.

Management has stated that capital spending will decrease to $850 million in 2009, compared to $1.43 billion in the previous year, improving the company’s ability

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Today’s Notes reads more like a John le Carre novel than an investment newsletter. But bear with us. It tracks one of the most fascinating news stories you’ve never heard of.  The news reports are maddeningly sketchy. And the mainstream media is doing a damn good job of not reporting the story.

But it’s clear the arrests by Italian authorities of two “Japanese-looking” men allegedly attempting to smuggle $134.5 billion worth of US bearer bonds across the Swiss border is the biggest financial crime in history. And one with major implications for America’s economic security.

For those of you who don’t know, a report surfaced on Monday, June 8, on an obscure Vatican-sponsored news website, AsiaNews.it, that Italy’s financial police (Guardia Italiana di Finanza) had “seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland.”

According to the report, these

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