New international summit and expo will unite the global DALI ecosystem and celebrate excellence through the 2027 DALI Lighting Awards

PISCATAWAY, N.J. and UTRECHT, The Netherlands, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The DALI Alliance will host the first-ever Global DALI Summit + Expo, DALI 27, on February 23 and 24, 2027, at the Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, the Netherlands. DALI 27 will connect experts from across the lighting, smart buildings, and smart cities sectors to shape the future of digital lighting control.

The event will establish a new international forum for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation, bringing together the global DALI ecosystem. DALI 27 will conclude in a gala dinner featuring the 2027 DALI Lighting Awards, which recognize outstanding projects and achievements in DALI-based lighting control.

DALI 27 combines the DALI Alliance General Assembly with a conference and expo for lighting designers, manufacturers, system integrators, and technology providers. The program will feature keynote presentations, panel discussions, technical sessions, case studies, and an expo showcasing the latest DALI technologies and solutions. Networking events throughout DALI 27 will provide opportunities for professionals to connect and exchange ideas.

"DALI 27 brings together experts from across the lighting, smart buildings, and smart cities value chains to advance interoperable digital lighting control," says Paul Drosihn, General Manager of the DALI Alliance. "For the first time, we are bringing the global DALI ecosystem together for a dedicated summit and expo to share knowledge, strengthen partnerships, and inspire innovation."

DALI 27 will open on Tuesday morning, February 23, 2027, at the centrally located venue in Utrecht. Throughout the two-day event, sponsors and partner companies will showcase their latest technologies and solutions in the Expo. The full conference program will be announced in fall 2026, with registration details, ticket options, and participation fees to follow. Companies and industry experts interested in presenting, exhibiting, or sponsoring DALI 27 are encouraged to contact the DALI Alliance.

The stage is set for the DALI Lighting Awards

The 2027 DALI Lighting Awards will be presented during a gala dinner on Wednesday evening. With these awards, the DALI Alliance honors outstanding projects, innovations, and achievements that exemplify the use and further development of DALI-based lighting control in professional lighting.

DALI 27 at a Glance

Event: DALI 27 Global Summit + Expo

Date: February 23-24, 2027

Venue: Supernova in Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs

Address: Jaarbeursplein 6, 3521 AL Utrecht, Netherlands

Organizer: DALI Alliance

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Pakar M&A lintas negara memperluas jangkauan layanan konsultasinya di Malaysia, Singapura, dan Asia Tenggara

WINA dan KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lukas Naujack sebagai Associate Partner. Langkah ini semakin memperkuat kapabilitasnya dalam merger dan akuisisi (M&A) lintas negara serta layanan konsultasi strategis di Asia Tenggara.

Venionaire, yang didirikan di Wina pada tahun 2012, bergerak di bidang modal ventura, ekuitas swasta, dan keuangan perusahaan, dengan transaksi dan proyek investasi yang memiliki volume agregat lebih dari EUR1 miliar. Jaringan internasionalnya mencakup London, Luksemburg, New York, San Francisco, dan berbagai pasar lainnya.

Naujack, yang berbasis di Kuala Lumpur dan aktif di Singapura, akan mendukung perusahaan-perusahaan Eropa yang ingin melakukan akuisisi, investasi strategis, dan ekspansi pasar di Asia Tenggara dengan menyediakan keahlian lokal serta akses ke jaringan regional.

"Asia Tenggara menghadirkan peluang signifikan bagi perusahaan-perusahaan Eropa untuk mengembangkan bisnis dan melakukan diversifikasi. Namun, keberhasilan transaksi membutuhkan pengetahuan lokal, jaringan yang sudah terbentuk, serta pemahaman mendalam mengenai praktik bisnis regional," ujar Berthold Baurek-Karlic, Pendiri dan CEO Venionaire Capital. "Lukas memiliki keahlian yang dibutuhkan untuk memperkuat jembatan yang menghubungkan peluang bisnis di Asia Tenggara dengan ekosistem investasi kami di Eropa."

Naujack mendirikan FalkensteinAsia pada tahun 2026 untuk memberikan layanan konsultasi kepada perusahaan-perusahaan Eropa terkait ekspansi regional, investasi strategis, serta M&A. Sebelumnya, beliau berkarier selama lebih dari lima tahun di Evonik Industries di Jerman dan Asia Tenggara, dan pernah menduduki berbagai posisi di bidang Keuangan dan Analisis Bisnis, Kepala Strategi Divisi APAC untuk Nutrition & Care, serta Direktur Proyek Strategis untuk Care Solutions & Animal Nutrition. Selama itu pula, beliau memimpin berbagai proyek investasi di kawasan Asia Pasifik.

Pengalamannya juga mencakup karier di Accenture serta penulisan artikel di M&A REVIEW pada tahun 2026 yang mengulas peluang akuisisi regional, khususnya di Malaysia. Beliau memiliki gelar Magister Teknik Industri dan Manajemen dari Karlsruhe Institute of Technology serta telah menyelesaikan program Emerging Leaders di IMD.

"Perusahaan-perusahaan Eropa mengakui potensi Asia Tenggara, tetapi keberhasilan investasi bergantung pada hubungan yang kuat antara kedua kawasan," ujar Naujack. "Dengan memadukan keahlian Venionaire dalam transaksi dan jaringan internasionalnya dengan pengalaman regional saya, kami dapat mendukung klien mulai dari penyusunan strategi hingga pelaksanaannya."

Tentang Venionaire Capital

Venionaire Capital AG adalah perusahaan independen yang bergerak di bidang investasi dan keuangan perusahaan, dengan kantor pusat di Wina. Perusahaan, yang didirikan pada tahun 2012 ini, menyediakan layanan konsultasi bagi investor, perusahaan, dan lembaga publik di bidang modal ventura, ekuitas swasta, M&A, serta investasi strategis.

Layanan yang tersedia mencakup uji tuntas, valuasi, penyusunan struktur transaksi, negosiasi, penggalangan dana, serta pengelolaan dana investasi alternatif. Jaringan internasionalnya mencakup Eropa, Amerika Serikat, dan Asia Tenggara.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

*High- performance AI chips announced at Apsara Conference

*Next-generation Qwen 4 Model in training with future model's scale to 10 trillion parameters

HANGZHOU, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 22 September 2026 - Alibaba today announced comprehensive updates with a roadmap for its full-stack AI strategy to fully unleash the value of AI at scale to customers through its latest innovations.

At this year's Apsara Conference, Alibaba Cloud's annual flagship technology conference, the technology innovator announced a series of updates featuring Qwen foundation models and multimodal models, new proprietary AI chips, a purpose-built agentic cloud, and an AI agent platform for mobile phones reinforcing Alibaba Cloud's leading global position in the new AI era.

"The theme of this year's Apsara Conference is 'Intelligence Goes Beyond'. Over the past few years, AI has continuously expanded our imagination of technological capabilities. AI possesses vast potential for development-it can be deployed and scaled in real-world scenarios, boosting productivity across thousands of industries," said Joe Tsai, Chairman of Alibaba Group. "This is the true meaning of 'Intelligence Goes Beyond': guiding AI from technological breakthroughs toward value creation."

"Today, the total volume of Machine Thinking is less than 3% of all Human Thinking. If that volume eventually scales to 1,000x human capacity, the simple math tells us: Machine Thinking still has an enormous growth runway. As machines are becoming the primary force behind Thinking, turning intelligence into a commodity supplied at scale, the truly groundbreaking products of the Machine Intelligence era have not yet arrived," said Eddie Wu, CEO of Alibaba Group. "With this in mind, our target is that by 2032, the global data center capacity operated by Alibaba Cloud will surpass 20GW, fueling the industry's exponentially rising demand for AI."

Qwen 4 in training

At the conference, Alibaba revealed that its next-generation model, Qwen 4, is currently in training. The company further announced its roadmap for the upcoming Qwen 4.5 and Qwen 5 model series, projected to scale up to 5 to 10 trillion parameters.

Alibaba has revealed progress in RSI (Recursive Self-Improvement) driven by empirical feedback. Over a month of fully automated runs - spanning pipeline design, data validation, iterative experimentation, and error diagnosis - Qwen3.8-Max completed 33 iterative cycles. Through autonomous training optimisation and post-training techniques, the updated Qwen3.8-Max boosted its Artificial Analysis score from 40 to 45.

In a chip design experiment, the model underwent over 60 hours of self-improvement across the entire design lifecycle, making more than 10,000 EDA tool calls to produce production-grade chip bus modules. This reduced chip area by 42% with zero compromise in performance.

Multimodal Model Family Upgrades

Alibaba introduced multimodal model updates spanning speech, audio, and vision.

The company debuted Qwen3.8-LiveTranslate, a simultaneous interpretation model that enhances translation fidelity, fluency, and brevity, reduces latency (LAAL) nearly 20% from 2.8 to 2.3 seconds for a smoother, more responsive real-time translation experience.

It also unveiled Qwen-Audio-3.1-TTS-Next, a next-generation audio generation model capable of creating complete cinematic soundscapes by blending dialogue and ambient sounds all at once from a text script, designed for professional creative needs such as audiobooks, film and television, podcasts and games.

The updated speech suite also includes Qwen-Audio-3.1-ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition), Qwen-Audio-3.1-TTS (Text-to-Speech), and Qwen-Audio-3.1-Realtime, offering enhanced voice AI capabilities for understanding, generation, and real-time interaction.

Qwen-Image 3.1, an image-generation model optimized for creative design and e-commerce marketing, is set to launch later this year. It cuts visual design turnaround from hours to seconds while offering advanced generative tools, including native transparent-background generation and versatile image-editing capabilities.

To standardize world model evaluation, Alibaba Token Hub, alongside leading academic and industry partners, has introduced a six-tier capability framework and launched Happyworld Arena benchmarking platform, spanning video generation, embodied AI, and spatial reconstruction.

Bringing the models closer to general users, Alibaba has launched Qwen Intelligence, a business-facing full-stack agentic solution optimized for smartphones. It provides phone makers with access to a Qwen-powered agent platform to support next-generation AI phones that can handle complex, cross-app tasks reliably.

T-Head Unveils Zhenwu V900 and Yitian CPU Roadmap

T-Head, Alibaba's chip design unit, has unveiled the Zhenwu V900, its latest AI training and inference processor featuring high-capacity memory and robust inter-chip bandwidth.

The Zhenwu V900 delivers three times the performance of its predecessor, the Zhenwu M890 (released in May). Featuring 216 GB of GPU memory and 1,200 GB/s of inter-chip bandwidth, the new accelerator is built to power demanding AI workloads with native support across multiple data precisions, including FP8 and FP4. By significantly reducing inference costs while increasing compute density, it seamlessly handles both high-precision model training and ultra-low-precision inference. It is scheduled for mass production and commercial release in Q1 2027.

T-Head's Zhenwu AI chips have been serving over 650 customers across different industries including automobile, finance, large language models, embodied intelligence, energy, and manufacturing.

Alibaba also unveiled its upgraded supernode server, which integrates the Zhenwu V900 processor, ICN Switch, Panmai SmartNIC, and Zhenyue SSD controller chip. Optimized for full-stack system-level synergy across compute, storage, and networking, the server can support a supernode cluster comprising up to 500,000 cards.

Additionally, Alibaba unveiled its roadmap for next-generation proprietary CPUs tailored for agentic AI tasks, scheduled for launch in 2027. The Yitian 720 features enhanced single-core performance, higher core density, and increased energy efficiency compared to its predecessor, the Yitian 710; The Yitian 730, the first CPU built on T-Head's proprietary microarchitecture, boasts up to a 40% increase in SPECint2017/GHz performance over Yitian 710's.

Agentic Cloud

Alibaba Cloud unveiled a comprehensive suite of upgrades centered on its agentic cloud strategy, built around three core scenarios ? model, harness and context. The upgrades span three corresponding layers: AI Native Cloud for model, powering large-scale model training and inference; Agent Native Cloud for harness, enabling enterprise-grade agent deployment, operation and security; and Context Engine for context, providing real-time data and long-term memory, helping customers create real-world value with AI at scale.

AI Native Cloud

Alibaba Cloud's Platform for AI (PAI) has integrated synergistic optimizations integrating inferencing, caching, sample replay and training services. In real-world post-training of Qwen models, PAI completed state-of-the-art model training in just five days, advancing from pre-training toward Agentic RL.

Cloud Parallel File Storage (CPFS) system is a new-generation system optimized to better support AI model training, delivering hundred-terabyte-per-second throughput and hundred-million input/output operations per second (IOPS), helping cut enterprise AI storage costs by 69%.

HPN 8.0 Pro, Alibaba Cloud's latest proprietary AI networking architecture, delivers 100 petabits bandwidth with ultra-low latency. A single cluster can support over 130,000 network ports at 800G speeds, with built-in redundancy ensuring that neither optical transceiver nor link failures cause service interruptions, while reducing the impact of network upgrades and failures from 50% to 25% compared to previous generation.

Agent Native Cloud

AgentCore, is a new enterprise platform to build, run and manage AI agents throughout their entire lifecycle. It enables businesses to easily build and run their AI tools, safely control human-agent collaboration, and monitor performance for continuous improvements. With enterprise-grade security embedded at the operating layer, AgentCore provides organizations with a single, controlled foundation to deploy diverse AI agents and seamlessly integrate them into critical business systems at scale.

The Agent Security Center delivers full-lifecycle security and compliance management for enterprise AI agent applications. The platform provides a multi-layered defense system powered by real-time threat detection, ensuring agents operate securely within controllable boundaries at scale.

Context Engine

Agent Context is an enterprise-grade context data service that gives AI agents real-time context and long-term memory. By connecting a company's documents, business systems, chat records and multimodal data into a single foundation, it enables agents to remember past tasks, share knowledge across teams, and learn continuously. In knowledge-intensive scenarios such as customer service, AI coding and data analytics, it cuts token usage by up to 67%.

OpenLake has been upgraded into a unified, multi-modality data lakehouse, where a single copy of data-structured, semi-structured, unstructured, vector, and streaming formats-serves multiple compute engines for processing, search, analysis, and model training. Compared with traditional architectures, OpenLake reduces total costs by 38% and cuts query response times by 40%.

About Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group is a global technology company focused on AI + Cloud and commerce. We empower consumers and enterprises with our full-stack AI capabilities and services, from applications to compute infrastructure. Our AI technology based on the Qwen family of large language and multimodal models powers the intelligence behind our services across enterprise solutions and consumer platforms. Our commerce business puts consumers first and provides the technology and marketing reach to help merchants, brands, retailers and small businesses to engage with customers and operate efficiently.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Hashtags: #Alibaba

SINGAPORE, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Valeura Energy Inc. (TSX:VLE, OTCQX:VLERF) ("Valeura" or the "Company") announces that along with its partner, PTTEP Energy Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company limited ("PTTEP"), it has taken a Final Investment Decision ("FID") to proceed with an initial gas development at the Bussabong gas field (Block G3/65, 40% non-operated working interest) in the offshore Gulf of Thailand ("Phase 1"). 

The project will be Valeura's first organic gas development in its Thailand portfolio.  Phase 1 of the Bussabong development establishes a repeatable development template for the eventual full development of the field.

Highlights

Efficient design: Two gas wellhead platforms with 24 well slots each, tied in to processing infrastructure with a nine km sub-sea pipeline;

Fully funded: Approximately US$35 million capex for facilities, installation, and pipelines spread over approximately two years, plus capex associated with drilling 25 development wells, estimated at approximately US$20-25 million (net to Valeura 40% share);

Rapid development: Phase 1 entails deployment of two wellhead facilities with first production approximately year-end 2028;

Economically resilient: Robust economics, in keeping with Valeura's strategy to pursue value-accretive growth; and

Substantial running room: Valeura's first gas production in Thailand, opening the way to  further phases of development in the future.

Dr. Sean Guest, President and CEO commented:

"I am pleased to have rapidly turned our strategic farm-in with PTTEP into tangible development action.  Within 14 months of entering into this arrangement, we are taking our first gas FID, which we believe sets us on a course to broaden and diversify our business in the Gulf of Thailand.

Phase 1 is set to unfold quickly, with first gas planned for approximately the end of 2028.  This quick action reflects PTTEP's customary streamlined approach and underscores the importance of establishing this strategic relationship.

Moreover, the capital outlay associated with the project is modest, in part reflecting the resource synergies available through the operator PTTEP, but also reflecting the initial nature of this development.  The Bussabong field production area is expected to offer significant appraisal and exploration upside already identified on 3D seismic data, with the potential for further phased development in the future.  As such, we see this as just the beginning - an exciting first step in what will be a methodical, phased approach to build production materiality and longevity, both from the Bussabong gas field, and also from the various other oil and gas focus areas we have identified on Block G3/65."

Bussabong

Bussabong is a gas field in the eastern part of Block G3/65, with geological similarities to many other gas fields in the offshore Gulf of Thailand.  The field's reservoirs are divided into multiple fault-block compartments, which lend themselves to a phased, repeatable development model. 

The Bussabong area was fully covered in pre-existing 3D seismic data and contained several historic gas discoveries prior to Valeura entering into the farm-in agreement with PTTEP (the "Farm-in").  An additional exploration well in 2025 was also successful which led PTTEP and Valeura to immediately engage in development planning once the partnership began. 

Thailand's upstream regulator has already approved a defined production area for the Bussabong field, for which full field development could ultimately entail further phased development to fully commercialise the field and identified prospects.  Valeura envisages further final investment decisions in the coming years, subject to favourable definition of resources through step-out exploration and appraisal drilling. 

Initial Development

Phase 1 entails two wellhead platforms of 24 well slots each, to be deployed toward the northern end of the Bussabong field, in water depths of between 75 and 90 metres, and tied in by way of a short 12" seabed pipeline to gas processing infrastructure at the Bongkot gas field, nine km east in the neighbouring Block G2/61.  Bongkot is operated by PTTEP and no new processing capacity is required to accommodate the Bussabong production.

The platforms' design specifications are consistent with a large number of other facilities in the Gulf of Thailand.  Valeura anticipates that both construction and maintenance thereafter will benefit from PTTEP's optimised supply chain, owing to its position as the dominant gas operator in Thailand. 

Capital Investment and Timeline

Phase 1 capital spending associated with the facilities, installation, and  pipelines, net to Valeura's 40% working interest, is expected to be approximately US$35 million, and will be spent in 2027 and 2028.  In addition, the Company anticipates drilling capex associated with the currently planned 25 development wells, in the range of US$20-25 million (Valeura 40% working interest share).  No material spending is planned for 2026 in connection with the development. 

The Company anticipates first gas production at approximately the end of 2028.

Economics and Production Profile

The operator has indicated to Valeura that the facilities and wells planned as part of Phase 1 are intended to deliver sales gas production of approximately 30 mmcf/d (12 mmcf/d Valeura share(2)) in 2029, and then increase to approximately 40 mmcf/d (16 mmcf/d Valeura share(1)) in 2030.  Based on samples collected during exploration drilling, the gas is expected to be relatively dry (approximately 20 bbls of condensate per mmcf gas).

In accordance with standard practice in Thailand, the operator will now work with regulators and the gas customer to formalise a gas sales agreement.  The gas sales price is expected to reflect established pricing arrangements in the Gulf of Thailand and details will be subject to confidentiality obligations owed to the government, regulators and gas customer.  

Thai domestic gas is typically sold under long-term, take-or-pay contracts priced against a basket of commodities including fuel oil and is adjusted for inflation indices.  The Company expects that the customary pricing framework will yield terms that support robust project economics for the development, subject to successful negotiation of a gas sales agreement on anticipated terms.

Valeura's reserves will next be evaluated as of 31 December 2026, at which time the Company expects its external reserves evaluator will, providing a gas sales agreement has been executed, add these volumes to the Company's reserves. 

(1)   Once in operation, Valeura intends to report production as its 40% working interest share of gross sales gas, before government take (including royalties).  Valeura and PTTEP entitlement to production revenue is defined by the terms of a production sharing contract which provides a mechanism for cost recovery and for the sharing of profits, as more fully described in the Company's 25 July 2025 announcement.

Farm-in Status

Valeura's interest in Bussabong arises through the Farm-in, under which the Company earns a 40% non-operated working interest in each of Blocks G1/65 and G3/65.  The cabinet of the government of Thailand has granted executive approval for the transfer of this working interest from PTTEP to Valeura, which is anticipated to occur as an administrative step later in September or early October 2026.  The Company does not intend to make a further announcement on the transfer of interest. 

Contact details for the Company's advisors, covering research analysts and joint brokers, including Auctus Advisors LLP, Beacon Securities Limited, Canaccord Genuity Ltd (UK), Cormark Securities Inc., Research Capital Corporation, Roth Canada Inc., and Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited, are listed on the Company's website at www.valeuraenergy.com/investor-information/analysts/.

About the Company

Valeura Energy Inc. is a Canadian public company engaged in the exploration, development and production of petroleum and natural gas in Thailand and T?rkiye.  The Company is executing a growth-oriented strategy, reinvesting into its producing asset portfolio while deploying capital toward further organic and inorganic growth across Southeast Asia.  Valeura is committed to delivering value-accretive growth for all stakeholders, underpinned by high standards of environmental, social and governance responsibility.

Additional information relating to Valeura is also available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Advisory and Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information included in this news release constitutes forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation.  Such forward-looking information is for the purpose of explaining management's current expectations and plans relating to the future.  Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions.  Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project", "target" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook.  Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to: completion of administrative steps to constitute closing of the Farm-in and anticipated timing thereof; the anticipated timing for first gas production at Bussabong; estimated capital expenditures for Phase 1 and the anticipated allocation thereof across 2027 and 2028; anticipated production rates and production profiles, including plateau gross sales gas rates; the expectation that the gas sales price will reflect established pricing arrangements in the Gulf of Thailand; the expectation that Phase 1 will support robust project economics; expectations regarding the addition of reserves following execution of a gas sales agreement and year-end evaluation; the anticipated timing and completion of regulatory and government approvals, including formalisation of a gas sales agreement; the potential for subsequent development phases and further final investment decisions fully commercialise the Bussabong field and exploit identified prospects; the Company's strategy to broaden and diversify its business in the Gulf of Thailand; the Company's growth-oriented strategy, including further organic and inorganic growth across Southeast Asia; expectations regarding the benefits of PTTEP's supply chain and operational efficiencies; and management's belief that the development meets the Company's investment criteria for value-accretive growth.   

Forward-looking information is based on management's current expectations and assumptions regarding, among other things: political stability of the areas in which the Company is operating and the continuity of existing fiscal and regulatory regimes; continued safety of operations and ability to proceed in a timely manner; continued operations of and approvals forthcoming from governments and regulators in a manner consistent with past conduct, including approval of gas pricing and formalization of gas sales agreements; future drilling activity on the required/expected timelines; the prospectivity of the Company's lands; the continued favourable pricing and operating netbacks across its business; future production rates and associated operating netbacks and cash flow; decline rates; future sources of funding; future economic conditions; the impact of inflation on future costs; future currency exchange rates; interest rates; the ability to meet drilling deadlines and fulfil commitments under licences and leases; future commodity prices; the impact of geopolitical conflicts, including conflicts in the Middle East, and between Russia and Ukraine; royalty rates and taxes; future capital and other expenditures; the success obtained in drilling new wells and working over existing wellbores; the performance of wells and facilities; the availability of the required capital to fund its exploration, development and other operations, and the ability of the Company to meet its commitments and financial obligations; the ability of the Company to secure adequate processing, transportation, fractionation and storage capacity on acceptable terms, including access to processing facilities; the capacity and reliability of facilities; the application of regulatory requirements respecting abandonment and reclamation; the recoverability of the Company's reserves and contingent resources; future growth; the sufficiency of budgeted capital expenditures in carrying out planned activities; the impact of increasing competition; the ability to efficiently integrate assets and employees acquired through acquisitions; global energy policies going forward; future debt levels; the Company's continued ability to obtain and retain qualified staff and equipment in a timely and cost efficient manner; PTTEP's continued participation as operator and joint venture partner in accordance with expectations; the timely completion of construction and deployment of wellhead platforms; and the continued applicability of customary Thai domestic gas pricing frameworks. In addition, the Company's work programmes and budgets are in part based upon expected agreement among joint venture partners and associated exploration, development and marketing plans and anticipated costs and sales prices, which are subject to change based on, among other things, the actual results of drilling and related activity, availability of drilling, offshore storage and offloading facilities and other specialised oilfield equipment and service providers, changes in partners' plans and unexpected delays and changes in market conditions. Although the Company believes the expectations and assumptions reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect.

Forward-looking information involves significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties.  Exploration, appraisal, and development of oil and natural gas reserves and resources are speculative activities and involve a degree of risk.  A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company including, but not limited to: the ability of management to execute its business plan or realise anticipated benefits from the Farm-in and the Bussabong development, including the risk that actual capital expenditures exceed estimates or that development timelines are delayed; the risk of disruptions from public health emergencies and/or pandemics; competition for specialised equipment and human resources; the Company's ability to manage growth; the Company's ability to manage the costs related to inflation; disruption in supply chains; the risk of currency fluctuations; changes in interest rates, oil and gas prices and netbacks; potential changes in joint venture partner strategies and participation in work programmes; uncertainty regarding the contemplated timelines and costs for work programme execution; the risks of disruption to operations and access to worksites; potential changes in laws and regulations, the uncertainty regarding government and other approvals; counterparty risk; the risk that financing may not be available; risks associated with weather delays and natural disasters; geopolitical risks and instability; and the risk associated with international activity. See the Company's most recent annual information form and the MD&A for a detailed discussion of the risk factors.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release is made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws.  The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction, including where such offer would be unlawful.  This news release is not for distribution or release, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Ireland, the Republic of South Africa or Japan or any other jurisdiction in which its publication or distribution would be unlawful.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This information is provided by Reach, the non-regulatory press release distribution service of RNS, part of the London Stock Exchange. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

LONDON, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SASE OpsLab Ltd, the software-driven SASE automation marketplace, today announced its latest platform release, designed to tackle long-term SASE infrastructure lifecycle management.

Moving beyond the vendor "deploy and forget" approach, the solution provides Enterprise IT teams with a scalable lifecycle oriented platform to handle infrastructure changes and related remediation in hybrid IT environments.

The SASE OpsLab Enterprise edition delivers the following:

1. Simple and Vendor and domain agnostic Change Management

The platform's signature OpsKits make infrastructure changes simple and low-risk. IT professionals can execute complex modifications across network and security architectures, without specialized, vendor-specific expertise.

2. Self-Designed, Automated Auto-Remediation

The platform introduces Self-Designed Auto-Remediation OpsKits, empowering IT professionals to build custom, automated remediation scenarios. Response scenario can extend beyond the original SASE technology, orchestrating connected actions across enterprise domains, including cloud asset migrations and broader infrastructure layers.

3. Continuous Infrastructure Drift Detection and RollBack

A continuous, real-time infrastructure drift detection capability is integrated as part as the SASE OpsLab interface with users given the option to automatically rollback to a prior infrastructure state in case of unauthorized changes.

"For too long, the SASE channel and vendors have focused on initial rollout, leaving enterprise IT teams with the operational burden of complex hybrid infrastructure Day-2 management," said Nabil Lawrence Souli, CEO of SASE OpsLab Ltd. "This new release offers the Ops lifecycle tool meant to ease SASE migrations and future evolutions"

About SASE OpsLab Ltd

SASE OpsLab Ltd is an automation marketplace for prepackaged deployment, migration, and lifecycle management use cases, purpose-built to simplify and scale SASE operations. Headquartered in London, UK, the company provides ready-to-use "Ops Kits" that enable customers, resellers, and vendors to accelerate rollouts, automate operations, and eliminate operational risk.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

LONDON, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SASE OpsLab Ltd, marketplace otomatisasi SASE yang berbasis perangkat lunak, hari ini mengumumkan perilisan versi terbaru platformnya yang dirancang untuk mengatasi tantangan pengelolaan siklus hidup infrastruktur SASE dalam jangka panjang. Solusi ini melampaui pendekatan vendor yang sekadar "menerapkan lalu melupakan".

Platform yang skalabel dan berorientasi pada siklus hidup ini memungkinkan tim TI Perusahaan menangani perubahan infrastruktur serta tindakan perbaikan terkait di lingkungan TI hibrida.

Edisi SASE OpsLab Enterprise menghadirkan kemampuan sebagai berikut:

1. Manajemen Perubahan yang Sederhana serta Tidak Terikat pada Vendor atau Domain Tertentu

Fitur unggulan platform ini, OpsKits, menjadikan perubahan infrastruktur sederhana dan berisiko rendah. Tenaga TI profesional dapat melakukan modifikasi kompleks pada arsitektur jaringan dan keamanan tanpa memerlukan keahlian khusus yang spesifik untuk vendor tertentu.

2. Perbaikan Otomatis yang Dirancang Sendiri dan Berjalan Secara Otomatis

Platform ini memperkenalkan Self-Designed Auto-Remediation OpsKits, yang memungkinkan tenaga TI profesional merancang skenario perbaikan kustom yang otomatis. Skenario respons dapat melampaui teknologi SASE awal dengan mengoordinasikan berbagai tindakan yang saling terkait di seluruh domain perusahaan, termasuk migrasi aset cloud dan pengelolaan berbagai lapisan infrastruktur lainnya.

3. Deteksi Penyimpangan Infrastruktur Secara Berkelanjutan dan Pembatalan Perubahan (RollBack)

Antarmuka SASE OpsLab dilengkapi kemampuan untuk mendeteksi penyimpangan infrastruktur secara berkelanjutan dan real-time. Jika terjadi perubahan yang tidak sah, pengguna dapat memilih untuk secara otomatis membatalkan perubahan tersebut (rollback) agar infrastruktur kembali ke kondisi sebelumnya.

"Selama ini, saluran distribusi dan vendor SASE terlalu berfokus pada penerapan awal sehingga tim TI perusahaan harus menanggung beban operasional pengelolaan infrastruktur hibrida yang kompleks setelah tahap implementasi (Day-2)," ujar Nabil Lawrence Souli, CEO SASE OpsLab Ltd. "Perilisan terbaru ini menghadirkan perangkat pengelolaan siklus hidup Ops yang dirancang untuk mempermudah migrasi SASE dan evolusinya di masa mendatang."

Tentang SASE OpsLab Ltd

SASE OpsLab Ltd merupakan marketplace otomatisasi yang menyediakan solusi terpaket untuk kasus penggunaan, seperti penerapan, migrasi, dan pengelolaan siklus hidup, yang dirancang khusus untuk menyederhanakan dan meningkatkan skala operasional SASE.

Perusahaan, yang berbasis di London, Inggris Raya ini, menyediakan "Ops Kits" siap pakai yang memungkinkan pelanggan, reseller, dan vendor mempercepat penerapan, mengotomatiskan operasional, serta menghilangkan risiko operasional.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Singapore focuses on infrastructure readiness, Australia advances on AI returns, Japan prioritizes compliance, and South Korea highlights interconnection as markets take different paths to value

SINGAPORE, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), the world's largest cloud- and carrier-neutral data center platform, recently released its 2026 Global Data Insights Survey (GDIS), showing strong AI investment momentum across the region alongside significant differences in how individual markets are turning that investment into business value.

Based on the Asia Pacific (APAC) findings, nearly six in ten (59%) of the region's respondents expect their organizations to increase AI investment by more than 25% in 2026 compared with 2025, versus 55% globally. More than one-third (36%) have already identified repeatable, high-impact AI use cases, while a similar proportion reports measurable business outcomes from AI.

Beneath the regional picture, the findings show that enterprises are progressing at different stages and prioritizing different requirements as they move AI into wider deployment.

APAC markets are taking different routes from AI investment to value

In Australia, enterprises appear further along in converting AI deployment into financial returns. One-third (33%) of organizations say they are currently realizing AI ROI, more than double the APAC average of 16%. Nearly half (47%) also have real-time AI in deployment, compared with 36% across the region.

In Japan, compliance features prominently in how respondents assess AI strategy and infrastructure decisions. 30% of respondents rank ensuring compliance with AI and data privacy regulations as the top requirement for a successful AI strategy, compared with 18% across APAC. When deciding where to host AI workloads, 22% rank regulatory compliance as their top consideration, compared with 12% regionally.

In Singapore, infrastructure readiness is becoming an important consideration as enterprises advance their AI plans. Half (50%) of respondents cite a lack of specialized AI infrastructure as a challenge, compared with 40% across APAC, while 39% are already reporting measurable business outcomes from AI.

In South Korea, enterprises emphasize connecting distributed data sources to support AI execution. Nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents rank reliable interconnection first among requirements for AI strategy success, compared with 14% across APAC. Almost half (46%) report integrated interconnection across key cloud and infrastructure platforms or architecture centered on dynamic, on-demand interconnection.

"AI investment is accelerating across APAC, and enterprises are entering the next phase with different priorities. As they scale AI, organizations are balancing priorities that range from demonstrating returns and preparing infrastructure to meeting compliance requirements and connecting distributed environments," said Serene Nah, Managing Director and Head of APAC at Digital Realty.

"These differences matter for enterprises operating across the region. Infrastructure decisions need to reflect the requirements of each market and workload, while giving organizations the flexibility to connect and grow across APAC."

Different AI paths are shaping infrastructure decisions

As enterprises put more investment behind AI, the survey indicates that decisions around infrastructure and data location are becoming more closely tied to how AI is deployed.

Across APAC, 92% of respondents tie their data-location strategy to their AI plans. At the same time, 88% already follow a distributed data approach, meaning enterprise data, applications and workloads increasingly sit across multiple locations and environments.

Connecting those environments remains a challenge. Only 22% of APAC respondents describe their hybrid infrastructure as fully integrated, even as enterprises increasingly need to bring together data, compute, clouds and partners across markets.

This creates a more complex infrastructure requirement for organizations operating regionally. The location of AI workloads needs to account for factors such as infrastructure availability, performance and local operating requirements, while remaining connected to the wider enterprise architecture.

As AI moves further into production, enterprises will need to make increasingly deliberate choices about where workloads and data reside and how those environments connect. The priority is giving organizations the flexibility to deploy according to local requirements without creating disconnected infrastructure across the region.

Through PlatformDIGITAL, Digital Realty provides AI-ready infrastructure and connectivity across markets, helping customers bring together the data, applications, clouds and ecosystems they need as their AI strategies evolve.

The research surveyed 2,131 IT decision-makers across 19 countries, including 707 respondents across seven APAC markets: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

The full report is available at Global Data Insights Survey 2026.

Methodology

The 2026 Global Data Insights Survey surveyed 2,131 IT decision-makers across 19 countries and eleven industries, including financial services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, travel, transportation and logistics, business and professional services, energy and utilities, and media and entertainment. Respondents represented organizations with between 500 and more than 10,000 employees.

About Digital Realty

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation, from cloud and digital transformation to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges.

Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 55+ metros across 30+ countries on six continents.

To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to the APAC market, emerging technologies including AI, expected growth in digital transformation, adoption of AI infrastructure, company strategy and capabilities and customer demand.

For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

CGTN published an article on Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to the United States. Highlighting the new positioning of China-US relations set out by the two heads of state in May, the article stressed that head-of-state diplomacy has always served as the "anchor" of the relationship, playing an irreplaceable strategic guiding role and providing important strategic safeguards for the improvement and development of bilateral ties.

BEIJING, Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United States from September 23 to 25 at the invitation of US President Donald Trump.

It will be the second meeting between the two heads of state within half a year, following Trump's state visit to China in May.

Detailing Xi's upcoming visit on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the exchange of visits marks a historic milestone.

A review of bilateral relations, which have maintained overall stability despite ups and downs, demonstrates that head-of-state diplomacy has always served as the "anchor" of the relationship, playing an irreplaceable strategic guiding role and providing important strategic safeguards for the improvement and development of bilateral ties.

New positioning

Over the years, Xi and Trump have maintained communication through face-to-face meetings, phone calls and other exchanges. Bilateral relations have moved forward along the track charted by the two leaders.

When they met in May, the two presidents agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability over the next three years and beyond. Xi defined the nature of "constructive strategic stability" as a positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, a sound stability with moderate competition, a constant stability with manageable differences and an enduring stability with promises of peace.

It was more than a new phrase. At a time of mounting global uncertainty and accelerating changes unseen in a century, the consensus sends an important message: China and the US should choose dialogue over confrontation, cooperation over conflict, and stability over turbulence.

Describing the new positioning of ties as "accurate," Wang Honggang, director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told CGTN that "constructive strategic stability" is the long-term direction for the development of China-US relations.

Elaborating on the new positioning, Zhang Tengjun, associate research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is a new calibration of the logic of China-US relations, adding that "constructive" implies an action-oriented approach, signifying that competition is by no means a zero-sum game, and pragmatic cooperation should be used to offset differences.

Guided by the consensus reached by the heads of state, the two countries' economic and trade teams have held multiple rounds of consultations, aiming to continuously build consensus, manage differences and strengthen cooperation to promote the stable, sound and sustainable development of China-US economic and trade relations.

The strategic guidance provided by head-of-state diplomacy steers the course of bilateral relations ? a role that is irreplaceable, Zhang told CGTN.

Stable China-US relations good for the world

China's 15th Five-Year Plan started this year, and the country is comprehensively advancing Chinese modernization through high-quality development. Meanwhile, 2026 also marks the 250th anniversary of US Independence.

"Success in one is an opportunity for the other, and a stable bilateral relationship is good for the world," Xi stressed.

Despite differences, economic and trade cooperation continues to serve as the stabilizer and ballast of China-US relations. According to a 2026 survey of 175 US companies by the US-China Business Council, a resounding 95% of US firms operating in China consider the Chinese market to be "somewhat to very important" for staying globally competitive.

Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, has said more US companies are looking to partner with Chinese businesses, aiming to learn from their strengths and leverage developments in China to stay competitive globally. "China is an important part of their global competitiveness," Stein told CGTN.

Beyond business, since 2026, law enforcement agencies of the two countries have engaged in practical cooperation in areas including counternarcotics, combating telecom and online fraud, and fugitive repatriation, achieving tangible results. A growing number of young Americans travel to China to experience the country through cultural activities, building a bridge to carry forward the friendship between the two peoples.

The two countries will respectively host major global gatherings this year, the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen and the G20 Leaders' Summit in Miami, which will place them at the center of the international agenda.

Just as the Chinese leader has noted on many occasions, China and the United States, as two major countries, can shoulder their responsibilities and work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of both countries and the whole world.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

BAZHONG, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 21 September 2026 - The 24th Sichuan Guangwu Mountain International Red Leaf Festival will run from October 1 to November 18 at the Guangwu Mountain Tourism Area in Bazhong, Sichuan Province, China.

Located in southwest China, Guangwu Mountain boasts a forest coverage rate of 97%, earning its reputation as a "natural oxygen bar." Each autumn, 680 square kilometers of mountain forests burst into a dazzling palette. Over 40 tree species, including Fagus pashanica, maples and lindens, weave the mountains into a stunning autumn landscape.

Known as "Asia's longest natural red carpet," the Mountain has become a top autumn destination for backpackers, photographers and travelers seeking immersive cultural and nature experiences, and is widely recognized as one of western China's signature autumn attractions.

The tourism area caters to international visitors who prefer slower-paced, in-depth, off-the-beaten-path travel. The new Yanziling Loop Boardwalk, launched in May 2026, winds along mountain cliffs, with a sea of clouds rolling beneath visitors' feet and brilliant foliage unfolding alongside the trail, creating the feeling of "stepping into a painting."

Guangwu Mountain offers a wealth of outdoor attractions. Highlights include the 1,888-meter Red Leaf Coaster and a glass water slide certified by Guinness World Record, combining thrilling experiences with stunning natural scenery.

The large-scale immersive production "New Dream of Guangwu Mountain" integrates cutting-edge light and visual technology with Bashan folklore and traditions, transforming the forest into an atmospheric nighttime experience. Visitors can also enjoy welcome performances and interactive robot activities, which offer more ways to discover the mountain's late-autumn charm.

A major highlight of this year's festival is the newly completed Micang Avenue. Stretching 85 kilometers, the route connects seven core scenic spots, including Guangwu Mountain, Micang Mountain, and Nuoshui River, reducing a four-hour drive to just one hour. Lined with continuous stretches of colorful forest and layered peaks, the avenue brings brand-new travel experiences for autumn foliage enthusiasts.

The festival will also feature cultural, sports and international exchange activities, including the third season of the "Sending You a Red Leaf" campaign, the China Micang Avenue International Road Cycling Race, and the "World Red Leaf Landmark" global collection campaign.

In addition, 31 scenic attractions and 18 museums and cultural venues across Bazhong will provide special ticket offers and visitor benefits during the festival.

Across mountains and seas, Guangwu Mountain invites visitors from around the world to witness one of China's most vibrant red-and-gold autumn displays.

Source: Bazhong Culture and Tourism Development Group

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Azerion publishes bond prospectus and applies for admission to trading of its bonds on Nasdaq Stockholm 

Amsterdam 21 September 2026 - Azerion Group N.V. (the "Company" or "Azerion") has on 2 October 2025, following the settlement of the Bond Issue, successfully placed a senior secured callable bond issue (the "Bond Issue" or the "Bonds") in an amount of EUR 225 million under a framework of EUR 350 million with ISIN NO0013660357 (the "Bonds").

The Bonds carry floating rate interest of 3m EURIBOR plus a margin of 5.5 per cent. and have a tenor of four (4) years. 

The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financi?le Markten (the "AFM")) has on 21 September 2026 approved the prospectus in relation to the admission to trading of the Bonds (the "Prospectus"). The approval of the Prospectus has been notified to the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Sw. Finansinspektionen). The Prospectus will be available on the AFM's website (https://www.afm.nl/en/sector/registers/meldingenregisters/goedgekeurde-prospectussen) and, together with a Swedish translation of the summary of the Prospectus, on the Company's website (https://www.azerion.com/reports/.

The Company will apply for listing of the Bonds on the Corporate Bond List of Nasdaq Stockholm. The are Bonds expected to be admitted to trading at Nasdaq Stockholm on or about 28 September 2026.

About Azerion 

Founded in 2014, Azerion (EURONEXT: AZRN) is one of Europe's largest digital advertising and entertainment media platforms. Azerion brings global scaled audiences to advertisers in an easy and cost-effective way, delivered through our proprietary technology, in a safe, engaging, and high quality environment, utilising our strategic portfolio of owned and operated content with entertainment and other digital publishing partners.

Having its roots in Europe and with its headquarters in Amsterdam, Azerion has commercial teams based in over 25 cities around the world to closely support our clients and partners to find and execute creative ways to make a real impact through advertising. 

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities or any other financial instruments.

Disclaimer

REGULATORY

This announcement is released by the Company and contains information that qualified or may have qualified as inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 ("MAR"), encompassing information relating to the issuance and future listing of the Bonds and redemption of the Bonds described above. For the purposes of MAR and Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055, this document is released, on behalf of the Company by the contact team set out above, at 18:00 CEST on 21 September 2026.

This communication does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for any Bonds or any other securities nor shall it (or any part of it) or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with or act as an inducement to enter into, any contract or commitment whatsoever.

In particular, this communication does not contain or constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation to purchase, securities to any person located or resident in the United States or to any U.S. Person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act). The securities referred to herein have not been, and will not be, registered pursuant to U.S. Securities Act or any securities laws in any state or other jurisdiction in the United States and may not be offered, sold, accepted, exercised, re-sold, renounced, transferred or delivered, whether directly or indirectly, in the United States, except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. No public offering of securities is being, has been, or will be made in the United States.

This communication is made accessible on the basis that any offers of securities referred to herein in any Member State of the EEA will be made pursuant to an exemption under the Prospectus Regulation from the requirement to publish a prospectus for offers of such securities. The Bonds have, with respect to persons in Member States of EEA, only been offered to persons who are qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Regulation and Section 1:1 of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act. The expression "Prospectus Regulation" means Regulation No. 1129/2017.

In the United Kingdom, the material is made accessible on the basis that any offers of securities referred to herein will be made pursuant to an exemption under the UK Prospectus Regulation from the requirement to publish a prospectus for offers of such securities. The Bonds have, with respect to persons in the United Kingdom, only been offered to persons who are qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the UK Prospectus Regulation. The expression "UK Prospectus Regulation" means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of retained EU law as defined in the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

The release, publication or distribution of the material may be restricted by law and persons in such jurisdictions in which a release, publication or distribution of the material should therefore inform themselves about, and observe, any such restrictions.

This press release may include projections and other "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Any such projections or statements reflect the current views of the Company about future events and financial performance. No assurances can be given that such events or performance will occur as projected and actual results may differ materially from these projections.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

EHS+ platform extends its Verdantix leadership, earning Leader status across three 2026 Green Quadrant reports spanning EHS, process safety and carbon management

TORONTO, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cority, the intelligent EHS+ platform to see and prevent risks across operations, today announced it has been named a Leader in the 2026 Verdantix Green Quadrant (GQ) for EHS Software. Cority earned the highest score of all vendors in 15 categories and above-average scores in all 37 assessed.

This marks the seventh consecutive time Cority has been named a Leader in the report, where it was recognized for its breadth of capabilities and "accelerated innovation over the past two years." This year's EHS recognition adds to Cority's Leader positions in two other 2026 Verdantix Green Quadrant categories: Process Safety Management Software and Enterprise Carbon Management Software.

"Buyers aren't choosing features anymore - they're choosing a platform they can trust for the next decade. Years ago we made the investment in modern architecture rather than chasing short-term gains, and that's now allowing us to help our customers adopt AI agents without loosening controls," said Cority CEO Ryan Magee. "I'm proud to see Verdantix recognize Cority as a Leader and label our AI Control Center a differentiator in the EHS software market. That's the standard we've held ourselves to for decades, and we're committed to continuing to raise the bar."

Cority's Cortex AI Control Center recognized as "a differentiator in the EHS market"

While the early days of AI in EHS focused on speed to market, the report notes that capabilities alone have become somewhat commoditized while "explainable AI" has quickly become a requirement. This year's report increases its emphasis on "AI integration, governance, and security," something Cority has prioritized in its platform.

Verdantix recognized Cority for its "continued AI innovation embedded across EHS and sustainability use cases." Most notably, the report names the Cortex AI control center as a point of market differentiation, giving customers "centralized visibility into deployed agents, such as usage statistics, credit consumption, configuration settings and audit logs."

Cority has a range of agents embedded in EHS workflows across its CorityOne platform, including the Compliance Permit Analysis Agent, CAPA Recommendations Agent, and Medical Scribe Agent.

CorityOne platform breadth stands out as buyers seek "scalable, connected platforms"

More organizations are aiming to consolidate their tech stacks, and IT is taking a bigger role in EHS software decisions, with buyers increasingly prioritizing "platform architecture and long-term scalability," according to the report. In line with that trend, Verdantix recognized Cority for its "broad capability depth" and the scalability and interoperability of the CorityOne platform.

Cority earned above-average scores across every category assessed, with the highest marks among all vendors in product strategy, deployment model and partnerships, including a perfect 3.0 score in partnerships that reflects an expanding ecosystem spanning Corti for healthcare-focused AI, Inseer, and collaborations with Google Gemini and OpenAI. "The CorityOne platform's broad functional depth and high level of configurability make it particularly well-suited to large enterprise deployments," said Brittany Sayers, Senior Analyst, Verdantix, in the report.

Expertise and proprietary data increasingly valuable in the age of AI

Verdantix notes that while AI is removing barriers to bring new products to market, buyers in EHS continue to prioritize industry-specific expertise, allowing established vendors like Cority to build a competitive differentiation with "deep domain expertise, industry-specific workflows and decades of proprietary data."

Cority spans the full breadth of EHS+ - environmental, safety, health, and sustainability - earning the highest scores of any vendor in categories from Air & GHG Emissions and Hazardous Waste to Incident Management.

That depth traces back more than 40 years, to roots in occupational health and industrial hygiene, where Cority posted perfect 3.0 scores in this year's assessment, the highest of any vendor. More than 40% of Cority employees come from industry, something the company prioritizes across product, engineering, and customer-facing roles.

The 2026 Green Quadrant evaluated 23 of the world's leading EHS software vendors across 37 categories, spanning 19 functional areas, eight technical capabilities, and 10 market momentum categories, including product strategy, innovation, organizational resources, deployment model, and partnerships.

The full report, Verdantix Green Quadrant: EHS Software (2026), is available at here.

About Cority

Cority is the intelligent EHS+ platform that helps customers see and prevent risks across their operations. By uniting people, data, and AI agents, Cority automates administrative and compliance work and provides real-time insights that keep operations running, costs contained, and workforces healthy and productive.

More than 1,500 companies in the most complex, hazardous industries trust Cority with the health, safety, and sustainability of their people and operations. Learn more at our homepage.

About Verdantix

Verdantix is a trusted intelligence provider for software and services markets. Through its AI-enabled Voyager platform, Verdantix delivers insights and analysis that constitute the most granular intelligence available across the marketplaces it serves. This allows the firm to make highly accurate far-reaching forecasts and big-picture predictions.

With more than 3,000 subscribing organizations relying on Verdantix intelligence to make technology and market decisions, Verdantix's work has a major influence on decision-making across Climate and Energy, EHS and Quality, Facilities and Real Estate, Industrial Transformation, Sustainability and Risk functions worldwide. verdantix.com

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Workforce Blueprint for AI, jointly authored by JA Asia Pacific, the JA Institute, and Ecosystm, finds that young people entering the workforce risk falling behind in AI adoption and outlines a roadmap for governments, educators, employers, and youth to prepare for the future of work

NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JA (Junior Achievement) Asia Pacific, JA Institute, and Ecosystm today launched Workforce Blueprint for AI, a position paper calling for coordinated action to ensure Asia Pacific's workforce is prepared for an AI-enabled future.

The report cautions that, although AI adoption is accelerating across the region, work readiness is not keeping pace, creating a growing gap likely to widen inequality and constrain economic opportunity for youth.

Developed under the guidance of the JA Asia Pacific AI Council, the paper introduces a "three horizons" framework that examines how work is likely to evolve in phases through 2035, from AI-assisted productivity and role redesign to AI-orchestrated operations and, ultimately, interconnected human-AI ecosystems. It argues that work readiness cannot be defined solely by AI literacy or via proficiency with individual tools.

Instead, long-term success will depend on building durable skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, judgment, adaptability, collaboration, and problem solving. The report identifies four strategic challenges facing the region's workforce transition: the growing AI readiness divide between countries, communities, and businesses; the need to build the workforce capabilities required to support AI infrastructure; the challenge of translating AI investment into productivity and innovation; and the transformation of entry-level work as AI takes on more routine tasks.

"AI adoption is likely to advance more rapidly than workforce readiness. With the largest youth population in history, Asia Pacific has a unique opportunity to connect today's classrooms to tomorrow's workplaces. This Blueprint is designed to help governments, employers, educators and young people turn AI driven change into an economic and social dividend rather than a source of disruption," said Dr. Vivek Kumar, President and CEO, JA Asia Pacific.

Asia Pacific will play a defining role in the future of AI and work. Home to 700 million young people, along with many of the world's largest economies and fastest-growing digital markets, the region may appear to have significant advantages in the AI transition. Yet countries are entering this transformation from vastly different starting points, with varying levels of digital maturity, infrastructure, education capacity, and workforce readiness. Without deliberate action from government and non-governmental agencies, educational institutes, and employers, these differences risk becoming a new source of economic inequality.

"The future of work will not change at one speed or in one direction," said Amit Gupta, Group CEO of Ecosystm and a member of the JA APAC AI Council. "As it becomes increasingly difficult to train for specific jobs and technologies, organizations and educational systems need practical frameworks that help them build capabilities that remain valuable as work evolves. The "three horizons" framework provides a way to do exactly that."

The paper highlights how AI's impact will vary significantly across industries. Ecosystm research found that 43% of financial services organizations have incorporated AI into their business strategies compared with 20% of manufacturing organizations, while 41% report live AI initiatives compared with 17% in manufacturing. The findings illustrate that there is no single pathway to AI adoption and that workforce planning must reflect industry-specific realities.

The report recommends that education systems continue to shift from developing static skills to building durable skills, enduring capabilities and lifelong learning pathways. It calls for adaptive curricula, stronger educator preparedness, AI literacy and capability across disciplines, expanded industry partnerships, work-integrated learning opportunities, and more flexible pathways for continuous workforce development.

"Every young person deserves the chance to build a successful future, and that means preparing them for a world of work being reshaped by AI," said Caroline Jenner, Chief Operating Officer of JA Worldwide. "Across Asia Pacific, young people are already imagining careers, developing skills, and making decisions that will shape their lives for decades to come. Workforce Blueprint for AI helps educators, policymakers, and employers understand the durable skills young people will need to navigate that changing landscape with confidence."

The competitive advantages found across Asia Pacific will depend on its ability to continuously develop work readiness throughout the evolution of technologies, industries, and jobs. The report also calls on governments, employers, education providers, and learners to work together to close the gap between AI adoption and workforce readiness and ensure the benefits of AI are broadly shared.

Workforce Blueprint for AI launches during UN General Assembly High-Level Week, and kicks off with a panel today that features young people, AI experts, and educators, an affiliate event of the ITU-UNDP Digital@UNGA initiative. Download the report at ja.institute/ideas-papers.

About JA Asia Pacific, JA Worldwide, and the JA Institute

JA Worldwide is one of the world's largest and most impactful youth-serving nonprofits, delivering more than 23 million hands-on, immersive student learning experiences each year across more than 120 countries.

Through six regional operations-including JA Asia Pacific-the organization connects global scale with deep local expertise to equip young people with the skillset and mindset to build thriving communities.

The JA Institute, an initiative of JA Worldwide, extends this work through research, thought leadership, and youth advocacy, generating and sharing insights that can strengthen opportunities for young people around the world. Visit jaasiapacific.org, jaworldwide.org, and ja.institute.

About Ecosystm

Ecosystm is a leading technology market analyst and advisory firm that helps stakeholders navigate innovation in the digital economy through data, insights, and expertise. We connect enterprises, technology companies, digital native founders, investors, and policymakers to enable informed decision-making. With ongoing research and access to top analysts and strategic advisors, we empower business planning, go-to-market activities, thought leadership, and innovation strategy consulting. Visit ecosystm.io.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Leadership transition positions SoftServe for continued growth and accelerated leadership in AI and digital transformation

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SoftServe, a global AI and technology services company, today announced Andriy Stytsyuk will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer, effective Oct. 1. Harry Propper, who has served as CEO since 2023, will remain actively involved through the end of the year to support a seamless leadership transition before retiring Dec. 31, 2026.

Over his 16-year tenure with SoftServe, Stytsyuk has played a pivotal role in shaping the company's strategy, strengthening its operational foundation, guiding strategic investments and acquisitions, and helping position the organization for long-term growth. Following a year-long selection and deliberation process, the company's Board of Directors chose Stytsyuk to lead SoftServe through its next phase of growth for his prominent work as current Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), noting his efforts have been instrumental to defining and executing SoftServe's vision for the future.

"SoftServe has always helped clients navigate periods of technological change, and today we are at the forefront of one of the most transformative shifts our industry has ever seen," said Taras Kytsmey, SoftServe Co-Founder and Board Member.

"As AI continues to reshape every sector, SoftServe is uniquely positioned to help organizations accelerate ingenuity and generate more business value. Andriy brings the strategic leadership, transformational experience, client focus, and dedication to our values needed to lead SoftServe into this exciting next chapter. The Board has great confidence in his leadership and in the opportunities ahead."

During a period marked by significant global and industry disruption, SoftServe continued to strengthen relationships with clients, expand its capabilities, and invest in future growth. The company's resilience, innovative mindset, and mission to enable talented people to change the world has allowed the organization to better capitalize on the growing demand for AI, physical AI, agentic engineering, cloud, data, and more technology solutions.

"As we enter the next era of innovation, our focus remains clear: helping clients unlock new advantages by deploying emerging technologies, such as AI, with exceptional engineering and deep technical expertise," said Andriy Stytsyuk, incoming CEO at SoftServe. "I am honored to lead SoftServe and build on the strong foundation established by our leadership team. Together, we will continue investing in our people, strengthening client and partner relationships, and delivering exceptional outcomes for enterprises around the world."

Under Stytsyuk's leadership, SoftServe will continue executing its strategy to accelerate growth, deepen its AI and digital transformation capabilities, expand strategic partnerships, and help clients navigate increasingly complex business and technology challenges.

"Leading SoftServe through this period has been one of the greatest privileges of my career," said Harry Propper, current CEO of SoftServe. "Our success has always been rooted in our people, our culture, and our unwavering commitment to delivering the very best solutions and services to our clients. I have tremendous confidence in Andriy and the leadership team as they guide SoftServe into a future filled with opportunity."

ABOUT SOFTSERVE

SoftServe is a global AI and technology services company specializing in autonomous enterprises with capabilities in AI-native applications, as well as physical and agentic AI, cloud, and data solutions. We believe technology should do more than work?it can elevate anything. We decode complexity to unlock its full potential, combining creative thinking, deep sector expertise, and precision engineering to imagine and build what's next. From strategy to execution, we turn technology into a force for growth and lasting impact.

Our global reputation is gained from more than 30 years of experience delivering superior digital solutions at exceptional speed by top-tier engineering talent to enterprise industries, including high tech, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, retail, energy, manufacturing, and more. Visit SoftServe's website, blog, and LinkedIn pages for more information.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

*Research finds AI in buildings can cut whole-building energy use by up to 22% against traditional controls

*Annual utility savings of $13,600 to $49,300 per building at current commercial rates, with savings recurring year after year

*Carbon avoided is more than 100 times the AI system's own footprint

NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, today published new research at Climate Week NYC 2026 finding that AI-enabled buildings can cut whole-building energy use by up to 22% against traditional controls.

The research highlights annual utility savings as $13,600 to $49,300 per building at current commercial rates, helping organizations reduce operating costs every year with the potential to scale across larger portfolios. The research also finds the carbon avoided is more than 100 times greater than the AI system's footprint.

As concerns grow over AI's environmental impact, buildings remain one of the world's largest sources of emissions, accounting for approximately 37% of global energy-related carbon emissions. Schneider Electric's new research, AI for Climate: Quantifying the Energy and Carbon Impact of Building Optimization, found that AI-driven HVAC optimization deployed through a smart building management system can contribute 7.2-12.7% of additional building energy savings. This shows how AI manages energy more intelligently, easing pressure on building systems and the wider electric grid.

Other key findings include:

*Up to 60 metric tons of carbon emissions avoided annually per building (59,869kg CO₂e), comparable to the environmental benefit of planting 2,700 mature trees1

*More than 200 MWh of annual energy savings in some building scenarios, enough electricity to power dozens of average homes for a year

*AI can more than double the energy savings achieved by smart building controls alone

*Both cloud and edge AI deployments can deliver significant energy and carbon benefits

"The future of building management will be defined by how effectively organizations connect and contextualize data that was previously trapped in silos. An AI layer on top of existing business systems can turn complexity into intelligence and intelligence into action, reducing emissions, lowering costs and improving performance simultaneously," said Pankaj Sharma, EVP, Software & Services at Schneider Electric.

"As energy demand continues to rise, the ability to deliver these outcomes together, rather than forcing organizations to choose between them, will be critical to achieving both business and sustainability goals."

The research uses building energy modeling validated against real-world pilot deployments to assess how AI-enabled HVAC control impacts energy consumption, carbon emissions and operating costs across Australia, India and the U.S in differing building scenarios.

The study examined how an AI layer deployed on top of digital building management systems can connect previously siloed data sources, continuously analyze building conditions, and automate HVAC optimization in real time. By incorporating data from occupancy patterns, weather forecasts, equipment performance, and other operational inputs, AI can enable buildings to operate more efficiently while reducing the burden on facility management teams.

The research also found that small and mid-sized buildings (less than 100,000 sqft) stand to benefit significantly from AI-enabled optimization. Historically, energy management systems have been considered too complex or costly for smaller facilities, where dedicated facilities expertise is often limited. By helping automate and simplify optimization, AI can make sophisticated building management more accessible, enabling smaller buildings to reduce energy consumption, lower operating costs and cut emissions.

"AI is putting the power of energy intelligence into the hands of smaller building owners and operators. What once required significant expertise and investment can now be achieved more simply and at greater scale, helping organizations reduce energy waste, lower costs, improve performance, and make smarter decisions with confidence," added Sharma.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is a global energy technology leader, driving efficiency and sustainability by electrifying, automating, and digitalizing industries, businesses, and homes. Its technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and grids to operate as open, interconnected ecosystems, enhancing performance, resilience, and sustainability.

The portfolio includes intelligent devices, software-defined architectures, AI-powered systems, digital services, and expert advisory. With 160,000 employees and 1 million partners in over 100 countries, Schneider Electric is consistently ranked among the world's most sustainable companies. 

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

NANNING, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 21 September 2026 - During the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, China Southern Power Grid showcased a range of innovations designed to support energy cooperation between China and ASEAN.

These included the DaWatt - Lao Language Large Language Model (LLM) for the Energy and Power Sector V2.0 and the Flexible Grayscale Intelligent Monitoring & Analysis Platform for power system cybersecurity, highlighting expanding opportunities for cooperation in digitalization, intelligent technologies and green energy.

The Lao-language LLM has been deployed at Electricit? du Laos Transmission Company Limited (EDL-T), where it can automatically analyze thousands of inspection images within a short period of time. After its algorithms were optimized for Laos' mountainous and rainforest terrain, the model completed intelligent inspection analysis for four transmission lines, processing 26,000 drone inspection images and identifying more than 3,600 equipment defects.

Liu Ying, general manager of the Digitalization Department at Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd., said the company has been building multilingual professional corpora for the power sector, covering ASEAN countries including Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. Drawing on the capabilities of the DaWatt foundation model, the company is developing energy and power models tailored to ASEAN languages and real-world power industry applications.

Talent development is another focus of the cooperation. The China-ASEAN Institute of Energy, jointly established by Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. and Guangxi University, is exploring an industry-university training model with a strong emphasis on practical experience. So far, two cohorts totaling 53 students from ASEAN countries have enrolled.

Cooperation is also evolving from one-way training toward joint innovation. Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. and the Royal Academy of Cambodia have jointly established a laboratory for artificial intelligence and safety equipment, while the company has also launched peer-to-peer exchanges with Electricit? du Laos on improving power supply reliability.

To address language barriers in cross-border technical exchanges, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. has developed an AI-powered translation platform backed by a specialized database containing terminology for more than 1,800 types of power equipment. The platform supports accurate translation between Chinese and English, Chinese and Lao, and Chinese and Vietnamese.

At a recent training program for Chinese and overseas engineers, the system supported one-click generation of bilingual course materials and real-time speech translation, helping participants navigate highly specialized power-sector terminology.

To support regular international exchanges, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. has also established an international talent pool covering management, technical and skilled personnel. It has developed 24 hours of courses on international affairs as well as 20 short-form video courses.

"This year, we will also explore joint postgraduate programs with universities in ASEAN countries," said Sun Xiaohua, deputy director of the Human Resources Department at Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd.

Looking ahead, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. plans to further advance a development model featuring "R&D in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, integration in Guangxi, and application in ASEAN."

The company will continue expanding its multilingual power-sector corpora and explore a "Token Goes Global" model for power-sector AI, with computing resources and models based in Guangxi while knowledge services are delivered overseas. The effort is aimed at creating new forms of China-ASEAN energy cooperation and supporting the green development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Hashtags: #GuangxiPowerGridCo.,Ltd. #ChinaSouthernPowerGrid #ChinaASEAN #EnergyCooperation

FREMONT, Calif., Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In response to the September 16, 2026 Gartner forecast projecting worldwide AI spending to reach $2.7 trillion while warning that corporate buyers could face acute risks around runaway costs and vendor lock-in, Dmitry Shubov Consulting has issued a strategic Q4 enterprise procurement checklist to guide commercial software providers through accelerated year-end legal and financial contract reviews.

As organizations enter the final quarter of the fiscal year, corporate legal departments and enterprise Chief Information Officers are intensifying diligence to prevent unbudgeted software sprawl, leaving emerging vendors exposed to protracted sales cycles and stalled procurement approvals. Following these corporate spending reviews, Dmitry Shubov Consulting has outlined four operational priorities technology providers should try to establish before fourth-quarter budget deadlines:

Standardized Compliance Packs Ahead of IT Freezes: Corporate IT departments routinely implement infrastructure freezes by mid-November. Technology providers must deliver complete, audit-ready compliance dossiers, including third-party security certifications and data architecture maps, in early October to prevent evaluations from rolling into next year's budget cycle.

Proactive Usage-Tracking and True-Up Transparency: In line with enterprise efforts to eliminate unmonitored spending surges, software vendors should offer transparent consumption tracking and structured true-up schedules rather than open-ended variable invoices.

Pre-Cleared Master Services Agreement (MSA) Terms: Corporate legal counsel faces acute bandwidth constraints heading into December. Providing pre-vetted, balanced terms on high-friction clauses, such as mutual liability caps and defined service level commitments, expedites procurement clearance.

Structured Pilot-to-Production Conversion Schedules: With departments evaluating remaining annual budgets, vendors conducting active pilots must establish clear criteria and capped pricing tiers to convert proofs-of-concept into multi-year production agreements.

"December is a pure numbers game for corporate counsel. They have thirty agreements to review before the holidays and zero time to spare. If a vendor sends over open-ended compute pricing or non-standard indemnity language, legal sends back heavy redlines. Two rounds of revisions later, the fiscal year is over, and the budget could be affected," says Dmitry Shubov, Founder and CEO of Dmitry Shubov Consulting.

Navigating fourth-quarter procurement requires strict alignment with enterprise governance and fiscal timelines. Dmitry Shubov Consulting can help advise growing technology companies on commercial contract readiness, enterprise procurement alignment, and strategic cross-border market expansion. For more information, visit the Dmitry Shubov Consulting website.

About Dmitry Shubov Consulting

At Dmitry Shubov Consulting, our mission is to connect accredited investors with groundbreaking legal technology startups, fostering innovation and growth across Southeast Asia and helping Asian businesses enter the U.S. market. For more information, please visit our website or contact us directly.

Media Contact:

Support@dmitryshubovconsulting.com

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

26 September - 4 October

MONACO, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fresh from her campaign on the United States East Coast, including taking part in the 250th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence celebrations, Yacht Club de Monaco's flagship Tuiga (1909) returns to the Mediterranean race circuit.

The centenarian 15M IR yacht will be competing in the 28th Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez (28 September to 4 October), organised by the Soci?t? Nautique de Saint-Tropez, where 253 boats are expected, including 80 classic sailing yachts.

On the initiative of YCM Vice-President Pierre Casiraghi, the Monegasque crew brings together sailors from diverse competitive sailing backgrounds, all sharing a commitment to the highest standards of performance.

Complementary skill-sets on Tuiga

From Eric Tabarly to Paul Cayard and Dennis Connor, Tuiga has been helmed by some of the biggest names in international sailing, a long tradition perpetuated by this crew for the 2026 Voiles.

Skipper and tactician, Pierre will share the helm with two-time America's Cup winner Jimmy Spithill and Boris Herrmann, skipper of Malizia 4, both members of YCM, as is Baron Schroder who is returning to the crew.

Joining them as part of the crew are Dutch sailor Rosalin Kuiper, member of Team Malizia in The Ocean Race, British sailor Tom Dawson (from the Extreme Sailing Series) with whom Pierre Casiraghi won the Admiral's Cup in 2025, as well as Italian Moth and foiling specialist Lorenzo De Felice.

Arnaud Jerald, holder in 2025 for the constant weight with bi-fins freediving world record, after a dive to 126 metres, will be sailing on Tuiga for the first time. Also on board is 19-year-old YCM coached sailor Louise Debeaumont, who competes in ILCA 6, and is taking part in her first regatta on the gaff cutter.

This is a crew put together by Pierre Casiraghi to unite different sporting worlds and share the pleasures of traditional sailing with a new generation.

Reflexes honed on IMOCAs, dinghies or F50s do not directly translate to a 1909 Fife design, but it is precisely this diversity of experience that Pierre Casiraghi sought when assembling his crew. "The backgrounds are diverse yet complementary, involving different ways of reading the wind, trimming the boat and anticipating manoeuvres," explains YCM's Vice-President. "On Tuiga, all of that needs to be harnessed for a heavy powerful boat with a lot of inertia. For every manoeuvre, preparation and timing between the helm, rig management and crew movement is critical. It is this collective effort that interests me and which I believe can lead us to victory".

An agenda embracing heritage and competition

The classic yachts begin racing on Tuesday 29 September with the Rolex Trophy, partner of Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez and YCM. A day will be dedicated to the Centenary Trophy for boats over a hundred years old on Thursday 1st October.

Tuiga will be returning to waters she knows well and to a fleet where century-old vessels are highly respected and valued. More than 20 of these historic sailing boats are expected this year.

This edition also coincides with 100 years of the International Committee for the Mediterranean (CIM), whose international rating system for classic boats, developed at YCM's instigation, provides the framework for classic regattas. This is a form of living maritime heritage that the Yacht Club de Monaco has been celebrating every two years since 1994 with Monaco Classic Week-La Belle Classe (18th edition: 8-11 September 2027).

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Cross-border M&A expert expands advisory reach across Malaysia, Singapore and Southeast Asia

VIENNA and KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sept. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Venionaire Capital AG has appointed Lukas Naujack as Associate Partner, further strengthening its cross-border M&A and strategic advisory capabilities in Southeast Asia.

Founded in Vienna in 2012, Venionaire specialises in venture capital, private equity and corporate finance, with transactions and investment projects exceeding ?1 billion in aggregate volume. Its international network spans London, Luxembourg, New York, San Francisco and other markets.

Based in Kuala Lumpur and active in Singapore, Naujack will support European companies pursuing acquisitions, strategic investments and market expansion across Southeast Asia by providing local expertise and access to regional networks.

"Southeast Asia presents significant opportunities for growth and diversification for European companies. Successful transactions, however, require local knowledge, established networks and a strong understanding of regional business practices," says Berthold Baurek-Karlic, Founder and CEO of Venionaire Capital. "Lukas brings precisely this expertise, reinforcing the bridge between Southeast Asian opportunities and our European investment ecosystem."

Naujack founded FalkensteinAsia in 2026 to advise European companies on regional expansion, strategic investments and M&A. Previously, he spent over five years at Evonik Industries in Germany and Southeast Asia, holding positions in Finance and Business Analytics, Head of Division Strategy APAC for Nutrition & Care, and Director Strategic Projects for Care Solutions & Animal Nutrition, spearheading investment projects across Asia-Pacific.

His experience also includes work at Accenture and a 2026 M&A REVIEW article examining regional acquisition opportunities, particularly in Malaysia. He holds an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and completed IMD's Emerging Leaders programme.

"European companies recognise Southeast Asia's potential, but successful investments depend on strong connections between both regions," says Naujack. "Combining Venionaire's transaction expertise and international network with my regional experience enables us to support clients from strategy through execution."

About Venionaire Capital

Venionaire Capital AG is an independent investment and corporate finance firm headquartered in Vienna. Founded in 2012, it advises investors, companies and public institutions across venture capital, private equity, M&A and strategic investments. Services include due diligence, valuation, deal structuring, negotiations, fundraising and managing alternative investment funds. Its international network spans Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 21 September 2026 - Enhancing the city's appeal as a destination for tourism and major sports and cultural events was a strong focus of the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) (2026-2030) and the 2026 Policy Address, announced by Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee last week (September 16).

Mr Lee unveiled measures to support the integrated development of culture, sports and tourism which will help develop Hong Kong as an East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchange. These included enriching the supply of high-quality tourism products, while bolstering infrastructure and ancillary facilities as well as deepening engagement with markets in the Chinese Mainland and around the world.

"Hong Kong is blessed with a unique cultural vision, shaped by both Chinese and foreign influences," Mr Lee said. "We will continue to engage and collaborate with Mainland and overseas culture, arts and creative sectors to consolidate Hong Kong's role as a hub for the exchange, collaboration and promotion of culture, arts and creativity. We will also host international cultural and arts exhibitions and performances to attract visitors to Hong Kong."

To support Hong Kong's film industry and promote "Film + Tourism", the Support Unit for Non‑local Film Productions will be set up to provide one‑stop services for Mainland and overseas film crews filming in Hong Kong, attracting the production of more quality films to promote Hong Kong.

Mr Lee noted that the Kai Tak Sports Park has substantially expanded Hong Kong's capacity to host international mega events, with more than 170 sessions of international and local sports and cultural entertainment mega events having been held there so far, attracting over 2.6 million spectators.

Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government will explore the redevelopment of Victoria Park Centre Court and other ancillary facilities into an iconic all‑weather, multi‑purpose venue for holding larger‑scale and higher‑level sports events, as well as performance activities.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Rosanna Law, highlighted the growing trend of multi-destination tourism. Ms Law said that Hong Kong welcomed around 36.67 million visitor arrivals in the first eight months of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of about 11 per cent.

"The proportion of overseas visitors travelling onwards to the Chinese Mainland via Hong Kong has continued to rise, exceeding 20% in the first half of 2026," Ms Law said.

The HKSAR Government will continue to capitalise on measures introduced by the Central Government to facilitate visits by foreign travellers to the Chinese Mainland, deepen collaboration with Mainland provinces and municipalities, and explore with the country additional immigration facilitation arrangements for international visitors. The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) will promote multi destination travel itineraries to overseas visitors, partner with airlines to roll out relevant tourism products and promotional offers, and intensify publicity overseas.

It will take forward "+ Tourism" joint initiatives, integrating various events with tourism to raise their appeal, aiming to extend visitor stays in Hong Kong and generate value‑adding momentum. Such joint initiatives would integrate tourism with mega events, ecology, heritage, finance and industrial brands.

On developing the yacht economy, Mr Lee said that a variety of new yacht berth projects are now moving ahead, including the tender for the composite development project in Aberdeen comprising a marina, recreational facilities and residential development scheduled for the first half of 2027, and the yacht bay project under the Airport City "SKYTOPIA".

"In addition, starting from May, Hong Kong and Macao yachts may navigate in nine Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities, with the requirement for guarantee exempted and under temporary ship nationality registration," Mr Lee said. "The first northbound travel of yachts from Hong Kong set sail in June. The Marine Department will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration for the implementation of southbound travel for yachts from Guangdong, adding impetus to cross‑boundary leisure consumption."

To further enhance the city's appeal as a Muslim‑friendly destination, the HKTB will extend the Hong Kong Restaurants Halal Certification Funding Scheme to the end of 2027, encouraging the industry to provide more Muslim‑friendly food options.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Hashtags: #HongKong #PolicyAddress #First5YearPlan #Tourism #Sports #Culture

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