LONDON, January 16 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Rate and Inventory Management Certification Program Provides Enhanced Benefits to Partner Hotels

Expedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE), the world's leading online travel company, today announced the launch of the Expedia(R) Rate and Inventory Channel Management Certification Program, making it easier for hoteliers to manage their rates and inventory across Expedia's global network of leading travel brands. The new program is the latest example of Expedia's technology leadership and continued commitment to streamlining hoteliers' access to its sites.

Loneliness is commonly regarded as a social phenomenon in which individual personality differences contribute to its severity. Some people enjoy solitude, for example, because they never feel lonely, while people with high degrees of loneliness have shorter life expectancies than people who never feel lonely.

There may be more to it than that. Recent research shows that the gene expression in the immune cells of people with chronically high levels of loneliness is different than people who do not feel lonely. Even more telling, some genes were underexpressed in the same subjects, including those in antibody production.

In an PLoS ONE article, Joan B. Company and colleagues at the Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) in Spain describe a mechanism of interaction across ecosystems showing how a climate-driven phenomenon originated in shelf environments controls the biological processes of a deep-sea living resource.

The progressive depletion of world fisheries is one of the key socio-economical issues of the forthcoming century. However, amid this worrying scenario, Company’s study demonstrates how a climate-induced phenomenon occurring at a decadal time-scale, such as the formation of dense shelf waters and its subsequent downslope cascading can repeatedly reverse the general trend of overexploitation of a deep-sea living resource.

NEW YORK, January 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Carbon Credit Trading Comes of Age in the United States With Increased Fuel Standard

Belzberg Technologies Inc. (TSX:BLZ).

Answering the Nation's call for dramatic increases in renewable fuel use over the next 10 years, Renewable Trading Services, LLC announced today the development of an Internet based exchange platform for the purpose of trading RIN credits in the United States. The RINMARK(TM) exchange addresses each of the trading requirements established in EPA's final rule for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), first implemented on September 1, 2007 and since expanded with the passage of the 2007 Energy Bill.

HOUSTON, January 15 /PRNewswire/ --

IDM Group, designers and manufacturers of world-class drilling systems for the international energy industry, today announces that it has named Byron Dunn as Chief Executive Officer of the company. Mr. Dunn brings to the company broad and unique experience in the global energy sector, most recently at Harvest Natural Resources and National Oilwell, and he will use that experience to further expand IDM's global operations. IDM Group provides complete land rig packages and rig equipment to the oil and gas industry from its primary facilities in Houston and Stryi, Ukraine. Mr. Dunn will initially be based in Houston.

Members of the National Science Board today delivered to the President and the Congress Science and Engineering Indicators 2008 (SEI'08), the Board's biennial report on the state of science and engineering research and education in the United States. Called the "gold standard," it is the most comprehensive source of information on research and development conducted by universities, industry, the federal government and the international science and engineering enterprise.

The highlights; we spend a lot overall but not enough on basic research, the public supports science and spending, and researchers are perhaps a little too reliant on federal funding.

In addition to SEI'08, the Board, concerned that the data revealed disturbing trends with serious policy implications, published a companion piece, Research and Development: Essential Foundation for U.S. Competitiveness in a Global Economy. In this policy statement and in presentations in the U.S. House of Representatives, National Science Board Chairman Steven Beering, Subcommittee Chairman on SEI'08 Louis Lanzerotti and SEI'08 Subcommittee Member Arthur Reilly stressed the need for increased government and industry sharing of funding for basic research.

"These indicators come at an important time," said Chairman Beering. "The confluence of a range of indicators raises key questions about future U.S. high-technology industry's competitiveness in international markets and implications for highly skilled jobs at home."

The Board made three major recommendations:

NEW YORK, January 15 /PRNewswire/ --

Up to 40% of domestic pet dogs in Europe could be overweight or clinically obese, according to veterinarians; some US vets say the figures are very much higher.

(See video from Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) at: http://media.medialink.com/WebNR.aspx?story=34324)

It is a hidden problem for many owners -- they simply do not realise that their dog is heavier than it should be. UK practitioner Andy Green from the Pennard Veterinary Practice in Kent says: "They are not aware of gradual weight gain until they bring their dogs in for check-ups and see over time how much their dog has gained weight."

PARIS, January 15 /PRNewswire/ --

(EURO Millions) 2007 2006 07/06 % % % Sales Sales Change Southern Europe(1) 31.99 74.3 27.97 74.7 14 Other EU Countries (2) 9.66 22.4 8.22 22.0 17 Other Markets 1.40 3.3 1.27 3.3 10 SLIT 34.55 80.3 28.75 76.8 20 SCIT 7.12 16.5 6.86 18.3 4 Other Products 1.38 3.2 1.85 4.9 (25) Total Q4 Sales 43.05 100.0 37.46 100.0 15 Southern Europe (1) 109.15 74.2 93.68 74.0 17 Other EU Countries (2) 32.49 22.1 28.00 22.1 16 Other Markets 5.42 3.7 4.87 3.9 11 FY Sales 147.06 100.0 126.55 100.0 16 SLIT 116.43 79.2 96.30 76.1 21 SCIT 24.90 16.9 24.09 19.0 3 Other Products 5.73 3.9 6.16 4.9 (7) FY Cumulated Sales 147.06 100.0 126.55 100.0 16 (1) Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece; (2) including Switzerland

CURITIBA, Brazil, January 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Revenue in 4Q07 increased by 29%, EBITDA grew by 41%, EBITDA margin reached 40% and Net Income reached R$ 35.1 million