CATHAY'S CHINESE NEW YEAR NIGHT PARADE TO DAZZLE HONG KONG WITH SPECTACULAR FLOATS

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 (Bernama) -- The highly anticipated Cathay International Chinese New Year Night Parade is set to make a grand return in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, on Jan 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake with vibrant celebrations.

Organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and sponsored by Cathay for the 23rd year, the parade will feature a vibrant mix of global performances and dazzling floats with a distinct Hong Kong touch.

This year's theme, "Unfold a Year of Good Fortune", reflects the city's status as a top destination for unique global festivities, according to HKTB in a statement.

HKTB Chairman, Dr Pang Yiu-kai said the parade would be broadcast worldwide, showcasing performances from various countries, promises to be an unforgettable celebration.

This year's parade will feature 55 performances from 14 countries and regions, including newcomers France, Argentina, Austria, India, Indonesia, and Thailand, surpassing last year’s edition, and include stars like the V.UNBEATABLE Dance Group, the Zurcaroh acrobatic troupe, and BRAVERY DANCERS who will take centre stage alongside local acts such as the Chestroll Dance Crew and Hong Kong Rope Skipping Association.

The procession will begin at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza and travel along major roads before finishing at the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers. Prior to the main event, 18 local talents will ring in the festivities with juggling, magic shows, dance, and music to get the crowd in the festive mood.

This year’s parade will showcase nine floats, many serving as Hong Kong Tourism Ambassadors by highlighting the city’s charm. The floats will feature famous Hong Kong icons, such as the beloved giant pandas, paired with Hong Kong-style milk tea.

The parade will also feature floats that draw inspiration from the city's breathtaking skyline, specifically the snake motif. Other floats will celebrate the city’s distinctive Chinese New Year culture, with designs that incorporate festive elements like windmills, lyrical couplets, and blooming flowers, all conveying joyful Chinese New Year greetings.

To further extend the celebration, HKTB is collaborating with the Hong Kong Well-wishing Festival, where selected parade floats and performances will be relocated to Lam Tsuen in Tai Po from Jan 30 to Feb 13.

Additionally, HKTB has launched a dedicated Chinese New Year webpage, providing locals and visitors with a guide to all the city’s seasonal events, including fireworks and Chinese New Year fairs, offering a comprehensive experience of Hong Kong’s festive culture.

-- BERNAMA

TRANSFORMING TRAVEL: AIRASIA MOVE PARTNERS WITH ANTOM FOR SEAMLESS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS

^{From left to right: Nadia Omer, CEO of AirAsia MOVE, Anderson Yong, Head of Enterprise Payments AirAsia MOVE, Agnes Chua, Managing Director, Business and Product Development of 2C2P and Leiming Chen, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International (Photo: Business Wire)}


KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 8 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- AirAsia MOVE (MOVE), Asean’s leading travel booking app and the OTA (online travel agency) platform business of Capital A has signed a partnership agreement with Ant International’s Antom as part of its continuous efforts to transform travel, including seamless payment experiences on the app. Under the agreement, AirAsia MOVE will work closely with Antom, Ant International’s merchant payment and digitisation services provider, and 2C2P, a full-suite global payments platform and a subsidiary of Antom.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250107206299/en/

This collaboration is set to integrate Antom and 2C2P’s advanced payment solutions, including payment orchestration and acquiring for both cards and local payment methods (LPMs), into AirAsia MOVE’s platform. These cutting-edge technologies will empower AirAsia MOVE to streamline payment methods, reduce cross-border transaction costs and operational expenses, and broaden its consumer base, while providing customers with a wider range of preferred payment options.

Nadia Omer, CEO of AirAsia MOVE and Agnes Chua, Managing Director, Business and Product Development of 2C2P, commemorated the partnership with a signing ceremony today, with Leiming Chen, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International in attendance alongside Lim Ben Jie , Chief People Officer and Partnerships of AirAsia MOVE, Anderson Yong, Head of Enterprise Payments AirAsia MOVE, Aaron Wang, Vice President of Strategic Partnership, Ant International and Reggie Weston, Executive Director of Business and Product Development of 2C2P.

Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, lauded the partnership as a significant step forward for the broader Capital A ecosystem. He added: “This collaboration with Antom and 2C2P not only benefits AirAsia MOVE but also strengthens our ecosystem by enhancing payment capabilities across our businesses. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Ant International as we continue to innovate and deliver exceptional value to our customers.”

Nadia Omer, CEO of AirAsia MOVE said: “We are thrilled to join forces with Antom to redefine the way our customers experience travel payments. By integrating Antom and 2C2P’s advanced solutions, we’re enhancing efficiency, improving customer satisfaction, and delivering significant cost savings. This partnership underscores our commitment to innovation and delivering value to our customers across the region.

We aim to simplify the complexities of cross-border transactions through this partnership and it also aligns with AirAsia MOVE’s vision of providing seamless travel experiences. By leveraging Antom and 2C2P’s robust payment infrastructure, we can offer greater flexibility and convenience, addressing the diverse needs of our growing customer base in Southeast Asia and beyond.”

Gary Liu, General Manager of Antom, Ant International commented: “We are proud to deepen our partnership with AirAsia MOVE in our joint journey to continuously drive innovation and elevate the payment experience for customers. Our advanced solutions, including payment orchestration and acquiring for both cards and LPMs, enable AirAsia MOVE to expand its reach to more consumers across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. By combining our expertise and AI-driven payment technologies, we are committed to improving operational efficiency, enhancing customer satisfaction, and unlocking long-term value together.”

Reggie Weston, Executive Director of Business and Product Development of 2C2P said: “We are excited to deepen our longstanding partnership with AirAsia MOVE together with Antom, and bring the latest advanced payment features to empower AirAsia MOVE to meet the needs of their customers everywhere in an optimal and seamless way.”

This partnership agreement between MOVE, Antom and 2C2P is part of a strategic partnership announced last March between Capital A and Ant International which covers various areas, exploring to integrate more payment methods and providing acquiring services to Capital A’s platforms, work on digital marketing and sponsorship opportunities to drive business growth, and to cooperate in enhancing access to sustainable finance while transitioning to a low carbon economy for the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME) community.

Antom manages an acquiring network spanning over 40 countries and regions, enabling the integration of hundreds of payment methods and supporting transactions in more than 100 currencies. Its unified API provides businesses with seamless access to global payment options, including credit cards, e-wallets, and local payment solutions. Leveraging AI technology, Antom helps businesses ensure transaction security, streamlines foreign exchange risk management, lowers costs, and enhances operational efficiency through real-time payments and blockchain solutions. Additionally, Antom empowers merchants to customise operations and refine customer targeting with AI-driven and privacy-computing tools.

Operating across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, 2C2P’s extensive network provides a single point of integration to over 400 regional and local payment methods and 600,000 alternative payment locations, enabling businesses to reach their customers anywhere across online, mobile or offline channels. Its payment orchestration product, Payment Air Controller (PACO), is designed to resolve common pain points experienced by airlines such as managing transaction and currency conversion fees across different acquirers, offices and markets, synchronizing online and offline booking channels, managing fraud risk, optimizing costs as well as catering to diverse customer payment preferences.

About AirAsia MOVE
AirAsia MOVE, formerly known as airasia Superapp is the newest online travel agent+ (OTA+) in town, providing a seamless and personalised experience for travellers at the best value in Asean and beyond. It envisions a comprehensive travel ecosystem, providing various travel offerings, such as flights and hotel bookings from over 700 airlines, including AirAsia, and over 900,000 hotels world-wide, plus ride-hailing, insurance, duty-free shopping and much more. The services are complemented by a community-led experience through features such as airasia chat, games, gifting, and a strong loyalty program that rewards users across its expansive ecosystem. It has been voted by World Travel Awards as ‘Asia’s Leading Online Travel Agency’ for two consecutive years since its first nomination in 2023.

About Ant International
Headquartered in Singapore, Ant International powers the future of global commerce with digital innovation for everyone and every business to thrive. In close collaboration with partners, we support merchants of all sizes worldwide to realize their growth aspirations through a comprehensive range of tech-driven digital payment and financial services solutions.

About Antom
Ant International’s Antom is the leading payment and digitisation services provider for merchants around the world. It offers one-stop, vertical-specific digital payment solutions to meet the payment needs of merchants of all sizes. Antom has established local acquiring capabilities in over 40 markets, with the flexibility to accept payments in more than 100 currencies. It also provides digital marketing solutions and merchant digitization services to help merchant in digital operations and to better engage with their customers. To learn more, please visit https://www.antom.com/.

About 2C2P
2C2P is a full-suite payments platform that empowers the world's leading enterprises to securely accept and make payments through one point of integration. Its extensive network spans across online, mobile and offline channels including over 600,000 alternative payment locations, enabling enterprises to reach their customers or recipients anywhere. 2C2P also provides value-added services such as issuing, 3D Secure, bill payments and digital goods to meet every business need.

Headquartered in Singapore with operations across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, 2C2P is the preferred payments partner for airlines, online marketplaces, retailers and other enterprises.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250107206299/en/

Contact

Media Inquiries:
AirAsia MOVE
Daphne Cheah / Ryan Chan
movecomms@airasia.com

Ant International
Kahmun Leong / Janice Chen
kahmun.leong@antgroup.com / janicechen.cyh@antgroup.com

2C2P
media@2c2p.com

Source : Ant International

LG UPLUS KIDSTOPIA BAGS MSIT AWARD AT 2024 METAVERSE ALLIANCE CONFERENCE

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- LG Uplus, one of South Korea's leading telecom carriers, has been awarded the Science and ICT Minister’s Award at the 2024 Metaverse Alliance and Self-Regulation Achievement Sharing Conference for its children's platform, ‘KidsTopia’.

LG Uplus’s Metaverse Project head, Kim Min-gu, expressed pride in the platform’s achievements, affirming the company’s commitment to advancing KidsTopia as a leading global platform that prioritises education, entertainment, and safety.

Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of the Republic of Korea, the conference recognises outstanding contributions to the growth of the metaverse ecosystem, bringing together experts from various sectors. This year’s event took place on Dec 11 at the Seoul Dragon City Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

In a statement, LG Uplus said KidsTopia earned the Minister’s Award in recognition of its exceptional performance in such areas as User Protection, User-to-User Interaction and Collaboration, and Authenticity for Users.

KidsTopia was praised for its innovative approach in offering children educational experiences through engaging 3D virtual environments, powered by LG Uplus’s proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology, ixi.

The platform allows children to learn about diverse subjects, including foreign languages, animals, dinosaurs, and space, all while interacting with AI-powered characters.

KidsTopia’s child-friendly design and multilingual capabilities have driven its success, reaching over 900,000 global subscribers in just one year and seven months since its launch, gaining widespread popularity at home and abroad.

In addition to the MSIT recognition, KidsTopia was recently awarded the ‘Gold Medal’—the highest honour in the application category at the ‘2024 Mom’s Choice Awards’, a globally renowned certification programme for child-appropriate products, on Dec 4.

'Mom’s Choice', an international certification organisation, evaluates and recognises outstanding products based on the overall assessment of their quality, educational value, and originality, with input from educators and parents, as well as children.

-- BERNAMA

JIANGSU COMPLETES KEY WINTER PEAK LOAD PROJECTS, BOOSTING 2024 POWER SUPPLY

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- The capacity expansion project of the main transformer at the 500-kilovolt (kV) Shangdang Substation in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, was officially put into operation on Dec 16.

This marks the completion of all major projects aimed at addressing the 2024 winter peak load in Jiangsu Power Grid, according to a statement.

State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co Ltd Planning Division of the Construction Department Head, Chen Songtao stated that the full operation of 10 key winter peak load projects has significantly enhanced the province's grid network structure.

He explained that these upgrades meet the growing demand for large-scale grid connections for new energy in northern Jiangsu and strengthen the power supply in southern Jiangsu.

“It will effectively ensure the safe and reliable electricity use of enterprises and residents in Jiangsu during the winter," said Chen.

The company has also intensified control over crucial grid project nodes and refined its management to ensure these projects were operational before the peak of winter electricity demand.

From January to November, Jiangsu's social electricity consumption reached 773.949 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), a year-on-year increase of 8.99 per cent. For instance, in Zhenjiang, electricity consumption increased by 7.58 per cent, reaching 29.838 billion kWh.

To support this rise in demand, the Shangdang Substation project, which began in May, expanded the capacity of the number one main transformer from 750 to 1,000 megavolt-amperes. This increase in capacity is expected to meet the electricity needs of 3.3 million households, ensuring a steady power supply for Zhenjiang this winter.

Additionally, the 500-kV Haiyang Transmission and Transformation Project in Taizhou was the first major winter peak load project to be completed this year. As part of Jiangsu  Power Grid’s "14th Five-Year Plan", this substation will provide reliable electricity for about 4.38 million households annually.

-- BERNAMA

LUMI GLOBAL ACQUIRES ASSEMBLY VOTING TO STRENGTHEN PRODUCT LEADERSHIP AND ACCELERATE INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION

LIPHOOK, United Kingdom, Dec 20 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lumi Global, a global leader in technology-driven meeting solutions across Annual General Meetings, Investor Relations, and Member meetings, proudly announces the acquisition of Assembly Voting, a technology company specializing in end-to-end verifiable, cloud-based elections and voting solutions via its proprietary platform, Electa. This strategic acquisition reinforces Lumi Global’s commitment to innovation while expanding its capabilities beyond the live meeting environment to new market opportunities.

Key Highlights of the Acquisition

1. Enhancing Product Leadership
   • Assembly Voting introduces advanced end-to-end verifiability to Lumi’s portfolio, ensuring secure, transparent, and verifiable election and voting processes for clients worldwide.
   • While Lumi Global has long offered anonymous voting solutions, Assembly Voting further elevates this capability with its advanced features, solidifying Lumi Global’s position as a leader in meeting technology and election solutions.
2. Strengthening Product Portfolio
   • The Electa platform is purpose-built for scheduled elections and asynchronous voting, complementing Lumi Global’s existing solutions designed for live meetings and synchronous voting.
   • With a focus on verifiability, security, and scalability, the Electa platform broadens Lumi’s ability to support organizations at every stage of their decision-making processes, both before and during key meetings.
3. Catalyzing International Expansion
   • This acquisition establishes Lumi Global’s presence in Denmark and Spain, opening new opportunities in these strategically significant markets.
   • Lumi Global is strategically positioned to deploy the Electa platform across its key markets in North America, EMEA, and APAC.
4. Driving Innovation with Expertise
   • The inclusion of Assembly Voting’s experienced development team enriches Lumi Global’s innovation pipeline, bringing new opportunities for collaboration and growth.
   • The Electa platform’s excellence is further validated by an independent study conducted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which ranked it among the top electronic voting solutions globally out of 82 tools analyzed. KIT’s SECUSO (Security, Usability, Society) research group, renowned for its work in cybersecurity and usability, has emphasized Electa’s robust focus on these areas, reinforcing its credibility and leadership in the field. The full study is available here.

Leadership Perspectives

“This acquisition marks a bold step forward for Lumi Global, as we extend our product capabilities beyond the meeting day and into the wider elections market,” said Richard Taylor, CEO of Lumi Global. “The integration of Assembly Voting’s innovative technologies with Lumi’s Global platform will unlock new opportunities, ensuring we remain at the forefront of technology-driven meeting, election and voting solutions in Annual General Meetings, Investor Relations, and Member organization worldwide.”

“We are thrilled to join Lumi Global, a company whose vision and innovative approach align perfectly with ours,” said Jacob Gyldenkaerne, CEO of Assembly Voting. “This partnership not only expands the reach of our technology but also enhances our ability to serve an even more diverse, global client base with end-to-end verifiable election solutions.”

Supporting Lumi Global’s Strategic Goals

Lumi Global’s acquisition of Assembly Voting underscores its dedication to powering the meetings and elections that matter for trusted decisions worldwide. As live meetings and general assemblies transition to increasingly digital formats, elections have similarly evolved from traditional paper ballots to more secure and reliable digital platforms. This digital transformation creates the opportunity for a unified platform that seamlessly serves both needs. Lumi Global’s clients are increasingly seeking a comprehensive solution that delivers this integration.

About Lumi Global

Lumi Global powers the meetings and elections that matter for the world’s most trusted decisions, ensuring seamless, engaging experiences for in-room and online participants. Lumi Global’s cutting-edge technology and unique global presence empower informed decision-making across annual meetings, elections, member meetings, legislative meetings, IR meetings, and earnings calls. For over 30 years, Lumi has driven industry innovation, co-creating solutions with customers to simplify the complex and deliver stress-free, flawless meetings that foster accountability and meaningful engagement.

For more information, please contact:

Sylvie Harton
Chief Business Strategy Officer

sylvie.harton@lumiglobal.com

A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8b52aaa2-db1a-4f84-b5a9-de6d0e1e94b3 


SOURCE : Lumi Global

QIANHAI EMBRACES A BRIGHTER FUTURE ON FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF QIANHAI PLAN

AsiaNet 0200632

SHENZHEN, China, Dec. 19, 2024 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--

The Overall Development Plan for the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone (hereinafter referred to as the "Qianhai Plan") has marked its first anniversary since its release. Over the past year, Qianhai has stepped up efforts to build a pilot platform for comprehensive reform and innovation, a high-level portal for international openness, a leading area for deep integration between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and a hub for the high-quality development of modern service industries, driven by a more dynamic momentum of growth.
 
Deepening reform and expanding opening-up are both Qianhai's unique advantages and important missions. Statistics released by the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone shown that, for three consecutive years, Qianhai has been ranked No.1 in terms of the institutional innovation index of China's free trade pilot zones. Since the beginning of this year, Qianhai has launched 47 new institutional innovations, bringing the total to 882.
 
Speaking of institutional innovation, Kevin Qian, Chinese Principal of Harrow Shenzhen, shared his insights. "Since the Qianhai branch of Harrow International School was established, we have enjoyed numerous support policies, such as approval for land use, access to hardware facilities, and permission to expand enrollment. These policies enable us to better meet the education demands of high-caliber talent families. With the preferential policies and convenient services, the school can attract more excellent foreign managers and teachers," he said.
 
Qianhai has emerged as one of the fastest-growing and most open regions in China in the new era. In the first 10 months of 2024, the import and export value of the Qianhai-Shekou area of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone reached 448.1 billion yuan, representing a 58.3% year-on-year increase and a record high.
 
The Qianhai Plan has endowed Qianhai with a new strategic role as a "leading area for deep integration between Shenzhen and Hong Kong". When viewed from above, the building of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub (E-hub) resembles the traditional Chinese character for "dream", symbolizing the dream-chasing journey of youth from places such as Shenzhen and Hong Kong. As of early December 2024, the E-hub has incubated a total of 1,374 startup teams, including 955 from Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and overseas countries. Today, more than 9,000 Hong Kong-funded enterprises are registered here.
 
"As the forefront of Shenzhen's reform, Qianhai has become a land of opportunity for strengthening financial cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong and supporting Hong Kong in consolidating its status as an international financial center," an executive of East Asia Qianhai Securities Co., Ltd. said in an interview.
 
Sun Jinjun, Chief Representative of the Holman Fenwick Willan LLP Shenzhen Representative Office, was impressed by the professional services that he received when setting up the office. "I often have colleagues from other countries and both Chinese and foreign clients attending meetings at our Qianhai office, and they often praise the office environment," he said. He also spoke highly of the increasingly convenient transportation here. "Many of my colleagues travel between Hong Kong and Qianhai on the same day, and the commute is quite convenient," he added.
 
Acting as a hub for the high-quality development of modern service industries is Qianhai's strategic positioning and source of competitiveness. Over the past year, Qianhai has delivered remarkable achievements and a promising future is expected.
 
Source: The Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone

SIMA.AI TEAMS UP WITH SYNOPSYS TO ACCELERATE AI-DRIVEN AUTOMOTIVE SOLUTIONS

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- SiMa.ai has collaborated with Synopsys to jointly deliver a new solution for automotive companies to accelerate the development of workload-specific silicon and software needed to power artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled features in next-generation automobiles.

“Collaborating closely with Synopsys allows us to provide automotive manufacturers with complete, optimised solutions that accelerate their development cycles.

“When combined with Synopsys' industry-leading IP and software, we will deliver a powerful foundation for innovation across auto OEMs in autonomous driving and in-vehicle experiences,” said SiMa.ai Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Krishna Rangasayee in a statement.

Meanwhile, Head of the Synopsys Product Management and Markets Group, Ravi Subramanian said: “Our leadership in architecture exploration, IP, and hardware-assisted verification, combined with SiMa.ai’s innovative performance and power-optimised ML capabilities, will enable customers to differentiate while continuing to meet stringent cost considerations and industry standards.”

The solution will combine Synopsys' best-in-class Electronic Design Automation (EDA), automotive-grade IP, and hardware-assisted verification solutions with SiMa.ai’s leading machine learning accelerator (MLA) IP and a complete ML software stack application development environment for maximum customisation of IP, subsystems, chiplets, and System-on-Chips (SoCs).

The integrated Synopsys and SiMa.ai solution will be designed to enable early architecture exploration, shift-left software development, cost-effective and differentiated in-vehicle experiences, and continuous upgradeability of automotive edge AI solutions.

SiMa.ai is the software-centric company that specialises in developing high-performance, power-efficient MLSoC solutions for the embedded edge, while Synopsys is a trusted partner to the worldwide automotive ecosystem.

The SiMa.ai tech stack emphasises flexibility, offering support for the widest number of models, sensors, and applications possible, and automatically optimises them for peak performance.

-- BERNAMA