Between July and September, Laos was hit by heavy rains, storms, and two tropical typhoons, impacting fifteen provinces, 100 districts, and 1,144 villages.
Increasing credit limit to $100 million, HDBank and Proparco promote climate finance and 2X Challenge initiative

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – The Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank – HOSE: HDB) and Proparco, the private sector financing arm of Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), have signed a credit facility worth US$50 million.

The new agreement brings the total credit facility for HDBank to $100 million, showcasing Proparco’s trust and commitment to HDBank.
The proceeds will be used to finance/refinance climate projects and support women owned/ women-led enterprises that meet the criteria of the 2X Challenge programme, a global initiative to promote gender equality and sustainable development.
HDBank and Proparco have made significant strides in cooperation in the past few years.
In August 2021, for the first time, Proparco granted a five-year credit facility worth $50 million to HDBank to help it finance renewable energy projects in Vietnam.
HDBank now serves as a bridge between Vietnamese enterprises and Proparco to explore potential collaborations for the purpose of boosting sustainable development globally.
Along with other international financial institutions, Proparco has had a great contribution to help HDBank establish and perfect its environmental and social risk management policy and system.
Strengthening support from Proparco for renewable energy projects, climate finance and promoting gender equality is crucial and essential for HDBank to further expand its partnerships with major financial institutions globally.
This credit agreement not only provides funding to HDBank but also affirms HDBank’s strong commitment to effectively implementing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards according to international norms.
HDBank became the first commercial bank to publish a Sustainability Report in 2024 in Vietnam and also pioneered the establishment of the ESG Committee under its board of directors to directly lead and supervise implementation of sustainable development goals and initiatives.
HDBank has been recognised and honoured by many international organisations in recent years for its positive contributions to green credit and sustainable development.
It was the first partner bank of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to receive the Green Deal Award.
Most recently ADB recognised HDBank for a second consecutive time as the “Leading Partner Bank in Vietnam” in its Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program.
Hashtag: #HDBank
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Global broker Octa offers some tips to spot and avoid scams and fraud as a trader

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – In the last few years, financial scams and fraud have been rampant across various sectors in Southeast Asia. Traders and investors, in particular, are being exposed to financial malpractices like never before. Kar Yong Ang, a financial analyst from Octa, a global broker with extensive experience in the financial markets, offers some actionable tips that can help traders avoid scams and fraud.

This August, about 400 Malaysian investors lost roughly 100 million RM collectively to a supposed investment scam scheme. Victims started putting their funds in the scheme as early as 2016 through a site posing as a legitimate investment platform and even received due payments until 2022. However, following 2022, they received no more revenue on their investments, with the alleged operators giving various excuses.
Victims were promised profits on their investments, and some even signed contracts specifying monthly returns. However, they lost control over or access to their funds after transferring their capital. It is worth noting that scammers used fake e-brokerage licenses to gain the victims’ trust.
This case reflects a broad trend: cybercrime in general and financial scams and fraud in particular are on the rise both worldwide and in Southeast Asia. Given that, both seasoned and aspiring investors and traders should look out for potential signs of scams and fraud and do everything they can to protect themselves from malefactors.
Below are some of the most popular schemes targeting traders.
3. Fake trading platforms
While the variety of tactics used by fraudsters in the financial sector constantly grows, there are solid and time-proven methods that will help you significantly reduce the risk, if not render yourself immune to it. By applying the approaches listed in this article, you will be able to become more aware of the malefactors’ arsenal and avoid many of their tricks altogether.
Hashtag: #Octa
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Octa
Octa is an international broker that has been providing online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers commission-free access to financial markets and various services used by clients from 180 countries who have opened more than 52 million trading accounts. To help its clients reach their investment goals, Octa offers free educational webinars, articles, and analytical tools.
The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charitable and humanitarian initiatives, including the improvement of educational infrastructure and short-notice relief projects supporting local communities.
In the APAC region, Octa received the ‘Best Trading Platform Malaysia 2024’ and the ‘Most Reliable Broker Asia 2023’ awards from Brands and Business Magazine and International Global Forex Awards, respectively.
Alibaba Cloud Unveils New AI Models and Revamped Infrastructure for AI Computing

- Cloud Leader Unveils 100 Open-sourced Qwen 2.5 Multimodal Models and New Text-to-Video AI Model to Bring Visual Creations to a Higher Level
- Revamped Cloud Infrastructure is Introduced to Maximize Values for Customers
HANGZHOU, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today announced it has released over 100 of its newly-launched large language models, Qwen 2.5, to the global open-source community. This significant contribution was revealed at the Apsara Conference, its annual flagship event.
In addition, Alibaba Cloud has unveiled a revamped full-stack infrastructure designed to meet the growing demands for robust AI computing. This new infrastructure includes innovative cloud products and services that enhance computing, networking, and data center architecture, all aimed at supporting the thriving development and wide-range applications of AI models.
“Alibaba Cloud is investing, with unprecedented intensity, in the research and development of AI technology and the building of its global infrastructure. We aim to establish an AI infrastructure of the future to serve our global customers and unlock their business potential,” said Eddie Wu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
100 Open-sourced Models Unveiled
The newly released open-source Qwen 2.5 models, ranging from 0.5 to 72 billion parameters in size, feature enhanced knowledge and stronger capabilities in math and coding and are able to support over 29 languages, catering to a wide array of AI applications both at the edge or in the cloud across various sectors from automobile, gaming to science research.
The Qwen model series, Alibaba Cloud’s portfolio of proprietary large language models, has achieved remarkable traction since its debut in April 2023. To date, the Qwen models have surpassed 40 million downloads across platforms such as Hugging Face and ModelScope, an open-source community initiative by Alibaba. Furthermore, these models have inspired the creation of over 50,000 models on Hugging Face.
The Qwen 2.5 release will see over 100 models being made open-source. This extensive range includes base models, instruct models, and quantized models of various precision levels and methods, spanning different modalities such as language, audio, and vision, along with specialized code and mathematical models.
“Today marks a significant milestone as we launch our most expansive open-source initiative to date,” said Jingren Zhou, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “This initiative is set to empower developers and corporations of all sizes, enhancing their ability to leverage AI technologies and further stimulating the growth of the open-source community. We remain committed to investing in advanced AI infrastructure to foster the widespread adoption of generative AI technologies across different industries.”
Alibaba Cloud also announced an upgrade to its proprietary flagship model Qwen-Max. The enhanced Qwen-Max model demonstrates performance on par with other state-of-the-art models in areas such as language comprehension and reasoning, math, and coding.
Expanding the Frontier in Multimodal
In addition to its extensive suite of large language models, Alibaba Cloud also unveiled a new text-to-video model as part of its image generator, Tongyi Wanxiang large model family. The new model is capable of generating high-quality videos in a wide variety of visual styles from realistic scenes to 3D animation. The model can generate videos based on Chinese and English text instruction and transform static images into dynamic videos. The model features advanced diffusion transformer (DiT) architecture to enhance video reconstruction quality.
The cloud leader is also deploying a significant update to its vision language model with the introduction of Qwen2-VL, capable of comprehending videos lasting over 20 minutes and support video-based question-answering. Equipped with sophisticated reasoning and decision-making capabilities, Qwen2-VL is designed for integration into mobile phones, automobiles and robots, facilitating the automation of specific operations.
For computer programming, Alibaba Cloud has also launched an AI Developer, a Qwen-powered AI assistant designed to support programmers automate tasks such as requirement analysis, code programming and identifying and fixing software bugs. This enables developers to concentrate more on essential duties and further their skills.
A Full-Stack AI Infrastructure Upgrade
The cloud pioneer has also announced a slew of innovative updates to its full-stack AI infrastructure covering green datacenter architecture, data management, model training and inferencing:
- Next-Gen Data Center Architecture for Surging AI Development: To meet the increasing and diverse demand for high-performance computing power driven by the global AI boom, Alibaba Cloud has revealed its next-generation data center architecture, CUBE DC 5.0. The new CUBE architecture increases energy and operational efficiency with a set of advanced and proprietary technologies such as wind-liquid hybrid cooling system, all-direct current power distribution architecture and smart management system and reduces deployment times by up to 50% compared to traditional data center builds through prefabricated modular designs.
- Open Lake Solution to Maximize Data Utility: As organizations face challenges in managing vast amounts of data amidst the growing demand for generative AI, Alibaba Cloud introduces Alibaba Cloud Open Lake which can seamlessly integrate big data engines into a unified solution, maximizing data utility especially for generative AI applications. By integrating workflows, performance optimization, and robust governance in a single platform, it achieves efficient resource usage through compute-storage separation, clear data governance, and significant cost and time savings.
- AI Scheduler with Integrated Model Training and Inference: Alibaba Cloud has launched PAI AI Scheduler with integrated model training and inference, a proprietary cloud-native scheduling engine designed to enhance computing resource management. Through utilizing intelligent integration of diverse computing resources, flexible resource scheduling, real-time tasks adjustments, and automatic fault recovery, it can achieve over 90% of effective compute utilization rate.
- DMS for Unified Management of Metadata: To help organizations efficiently manage their data and unleash values, Alibaba Cloud introduced DMS: OneMeta+OneOps, a platform that enables a unified management of over 40 types of data sources in database, data warehouse, and data lake across multiple cloud environments. The platform will boost data utilization rate by 10 times, significantly enhancing the efficiency of transforming data into valuable intelligence.
- More Powerful Elastic Compute Service: Alibaba Cloud also introduced the 9th Generation Enterprise Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance during the conference. The latest generation of ECS instances has notable performance enhancements, including a 30% increase in search recommendation speed and a 17% improvement in the effectiveness of reading and writing Queries Per Second (QPS) when applying to database products compared to the previous generation.
These updates are designed to provide more comprehensive support for customers and partners to maximize the benefits of the latest technology has to offer for building even more efficient, sustainable and inclusive AI applications.
Hashtag: #AlibabaCloud
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Alibaba Cloud
Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com) is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) services. Alibaba has been named the leading IaaS provider in Asia Pacific by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner. It has also maintained its position as one of the world’s leading public cloud IaaS service providers since 2018, according to IDC.
K11 MUSEA Defies Market Trends, Doubling 7 Luxury Brands’ Footprint with Expansion to More Than 30,000 Square Feet

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – Victoria Dockside, K11 Art and Cultural District ushers in a new era of luxury. Several of the world’s most prestigious luxury brands plan to significantly expand their footprint at K11 MUSEA, underscoring their confidence in K11 Group’s pioneering “Cultural Commerce” business model which seamlessly integrates culture and retail. Over the next 4 years, brands such as Audemars Piguet, Balenciaga, Brunello Cucinelli, Loewe, Saint Laurent and Van Cleef & Arpels will give their stores a facelift, while Prada is set to unveil their inaugural store at K11 MUSEA, collectively doubling the luxury footprint of these 7 brands at K11 MUSEA.

Taking advantage of K11 MUSEA’s prime location, high visitor sales, and growing foot traffic, the latest stores by some of the world’s most renowned luxury brands add to the allure of this unique art and cultural destination while expanding their footprint to more than 30,000 square feet. This underscores K11 MUSEA’s enduring appeal as a destination for luxury shoppers seeking an unparalleled shopping experience with new featured duplexes and new concept stores.
“We are excited that many leading luxury brands are expanding at K11 MUSEA, especially in the context of current Hong Kong retail sector,” said Richard Cheung, Executive Vice President of K11 Group. “This is largely the result of the strong performance and very high sales productivity at their current stores at K11 MUSEA. This reinforces our commitment to the cultural commerce model which benefits both customers and brand partners at the K11 Art and Cultural District.”
Victoria Dockside is known for collaborating with esteemed luxury brands to create show-stopping events in the city. Over the past year, visitors were treated to the first ever Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Pre-Fall 2024 Show, the magical Dior Carousel of Christmas Dreams, and Gucci’s first collection under the helm of new creative director Sabato De Sarno, Gucci Ancora. Time and time again, luxury brands choose to leverage K11 Group’s unique cultural retail concept while taking advantage of the breathtaking Victoria Harbour backdrop to launch large-scale events. These brands can also choose to tap into K11 Group’s database of high-end customers known as KLUB 11 Black Card members, inviting them to exclusive trunk shows and jewelry events that are supported by K11 Group’s VIP facilities.
Throughout the year, Victoria Dockside stands out as a must-visit destination as it successfully hosts mega events that bring in international tourists and day visitors. Most recently this summer, “100% DORAEMON & FRIENDS” Tour (Hong Kong) exhibition presented by AllRightsReserved (ARR) and Fujiko Pro, led K11 MUSEA to report food and beverage and retail sales up by nearly 30% and tourists’ sales increased by 10%.
Hashtag: #K11
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About K11 Group
K11 Group is a global cultural brand founded in 2008 by renowned entrepreneur Dr Adrian Cheng. The company’s unique and original business model, “Cultural Commerce”, blends culture, art, and commerce to create an ecosystem that caters to all walks of life. With its headquarters in Hong Kong, the Group has expanded its reach and influence, achieving a significant presence across Greater China. Upholding its core values of Art, People, and Nature, the Group aims to democratise art, incubate cultural talents, advocate sustainable development, and inspire the new generations. In addition to its groundbreaking multi-development project in Hong Kong, Victoria Dockside, K11 Art and Cultural District, the Group operates a wide range of businesses, including retail, workplace, hospitality, and luxury residence.
Looking ahead to the future, K11 Group is expected to attain a footprint of 38 projects with an approximate GFA of 3 million square meters in 12 cities across Greater China upon completion, and it continues setting new standards in “Cultural Commerce”.
AIA Hong Kong Proudly Partners with Coldplay for the Music Of The Spheres World Tour

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – AIA is excited to announce its partnership with Coldplay for the highly anticipated Music Of The Spheres World Tour in Hong Kong, set to take place in early April 2025 at the Kai Tak Sports Park.

Recognised as the most highly attended tour by a group of all time, Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres World Tour has been captivating audiences globally, having sold over 10 million tickets since its kickoff in March 2022.
Coldplay’s live performances are renowned for their visual, emotional, and melodic impact and compelling energy. This World Tour has received rave reviews from fans and critics alike, with The Times recognising it as “the greatest live music show ever”.

Mr. Alger Fung, Chief Executive Officer of AIA Hong Kong & Macau, said, “AIA is dedicated to creating memorable and delightful experiences that encourage individuals to live ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Lives.’ We are honoured to be in this partnership to bring extraordinary world-class musicians like Coldplay to Hong Kong. With their performance taking place at the brand-new Kai Tak Sports Park, we believe it will create a refreshing experience for all participants, appealing to both locals and tourists, supporting the mega-event economy, and benefiting Hong Kong in multifaceted ways.
“Our sponsorship of the Music Of The Spheres World Tour in Hong Kong, which serves as a role model for sustainable events, also aligns with AIA’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitment, emphasising sustainability and community well-being. By promoting sustainability through inspiring events like the Music Of The Spheres World Tour in Hong Kong, we aim to enhance the overall experience for concert-goers while contributing positively to society.”
AIA Hong Kong has been playing an active role in supporting Hong Kong’s mega-event economy. Besides hosting the signature AIA Carnival, AIA Hong Kong was the main sponsor of BLACKPINK’s BORN PINK World Tour Hong Kong in 2023, creating priceless moments and delights for customers and the community.
Hashtag: #AIAHongKong
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About AIA Hong Kong & Macau
AIA Group Limited established its operations in Hong Kong in 1931. To date, AIA Hong Kong and AIA Macau have nearly 17,000 financial planners1, as well as an extensive network of brokerage and bancassurance partners. We serve over 3.6 million customers2, offering them a wide selection of professional services and products ranging from individual life, group life, accident, medical and health, pension and personal lines insurance to investment-linked assurance schemes with numerous investment options. We are also dedicated to providing superb product solutions to meet the financial needs of high-net-worth customers.
1 As at 30 June 2024
2 Including AIA Hong Kong and AIA Macau’s individual life, group insurance and pension customers (as at 30 June 2024)
ASEAN-Mekong Water Security Dialogue Kicks Off in Vientiane
On 18 September, 250 participants, including ministerial delegations and high-ranking officials from ASEAN member states, along with representatives and technical experts from dialogue and development partners, gathered in Vientiane, Laos, for the 2nd ASEAN-MRC Water Security Dialogue. Under the theme ‘Sustainable Investment for a Connected, Resilient, and Water-Secure Southeast Asia,’ the dialogue reflected the shared commitment to addressing critical water security challenges across the Mekong and ASEAN regions
Co-convened by the Mekong River Commission (MCR) and ASEAN Secretariats, this Dialogue has evolved into an important mechanism for fostering regional cooperation, enhancing resilience, and advancing sustainable development in the Mekong and ASEAN region.
“The ASEAN-MRC Water Security Dialogue has the potential to become a cornerstone—a cornerstone of our regional efforts, fostering collaboration not just among the Mekong countries, but across all ASEAN Member States,” said Saleumxay Kommasith, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Laos, on behalf ASEAN Chair 2024.

The Dialogue recognized the numerous pressing challenges facing ASEAN and the Mekong region, including the impacts of climate change, disaster-related events such as floods, droughts and landslides, human-induced changes, water scarcity, and food security concerns. The ongoing impacts of these challenges demand urgent action, and opportunity to chart a common vision for cooperation.
“This dialogue provides a platform for policymakers and stakeholders to exchange innovative ideas, identify possible areas for enhancing cooperation toward sustainability, and reaffirm our dedication to tackling water security challenges in the Mekong and ASEAN,” said Lao Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Bounkham Vorachit.
The need for increased investment in water infrastructure, climate adaptation, and sustainable management and conservation of natural resources was emphasized, along with the importance of enhanced cooperation among ASEAN Member States and their institutions to address these interconnected issues effectively. It was acknowledged that only through a concerted and unified regional, multilateral and transboundary effort can we ensure resilience and water security for the people and ecosystems of Southeast Asia.
Anoulak Kittikhoun, the CEO of the Mekong River Commission Secretariat, highlighted, “Investments in MRC – ASEAN institutional cooperation, disaster monitoring, forecasting and management, and joint infrastructure projects will make the Mekong and broader region more connected, resilient and water secured.”
ASEAN and the MRC were commended for their leadership roles in addressing water security and promoting regional cooperation. ASEAN has been instrumental in fostering political dialogue and connectivity, while the MRC continues to serve as a trusted “regional knowledge hub”, a mature “water diplomacy platform” and a successful model of transboundary water cooperation in the Mekong region.
ASEAN Member States are committed to deepening partnerships towards a more connected and resilient Mekong and ASEAN region. The Dialogue reinforced a forward-looking and optimistic vision where regional cooperation, mutual understanding, and shared investments and joint projects will drive progress toward water security and sustainable development for all.