—Set Against the Night Sky of Ishigaki Island, 500 Drones and Fireworks Spectacularly Celebrate the New Year—

TOKYO, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Kasumigaseki Capital Group’s fav hospitality group Co., Ltd. (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Hidekazu Ogata; hereinafter “FHG”) held the special New Year event, “2026 New Year DRONE SHOW Origins” at Hotel seven x seven Ishigaki over three days from Thursday, January 1, to Saturday, January 3, 2026. The grand spectacle combined a light display featuring 500 drones with fireworks, offering hotel guests a New Year’s-exclusive experience set against the night sky of Ishigaki Island.

The show was realized through a collaboration between VISIONOID, which produces drone performances for major domestic theme parks and renowned artists, and MARUGO, an award-winning fireworks company with a strong record at major fireworks competitions. Through meticulous synchronization of cutting-edge drone choreography and fireworks, the production delivered a powerful, immersive experience in which light and sound merged seamlessly, creating a dazzling moment befitting the opening of the New Year.

The program, “Origins,” is an original production themed around “the quest for energy,” symbolizing a “beginning” that connects the universe to the future. In the finale, fireworks were launched alongside a drone countdown display. The interplay of light and flame spreading across the night sky became a symbolic moment celebrating the New Year’s arrival and was etched into the memories of many guests. Throughout the event period, numerous guests captured the show in photos and videos, generating strong interest and positive engagement across social media platforms.

FHG will continue to enhance the value of the guest experience at each of its properties by creating experiential content that highlights regional appeal and the natural environment.

Event Overview

Program Name: 2026 New Year DRONE SHOW “Origins”

Event Period: January 1 (Thu) – January 3 (Sat), 2026

Start Time: 21:00 each day (approx. 10 minutes per show)
During the event period, the show content was adjusted based on weather conditions, and on the final day, a combined drone and fireworks performance was presented.

Venue: seven x seven Ishigaki

Audience: Hotel guests

Official Website: https://sevenxseven.com/hotels/ishigaki/

SINGAPORE, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Digital travel platform Agoda today announced the open-source release of its API Agent, a universal Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to help developers connect MCP clients to GraphQL and REST services using natural language, without building separate integrations for each service. 

Operating a large-scale travel platform requires coordinating hundreds of internal services, each with its own schema and interface. While MCP has made it easier to connect language models to external systems, Agoda teams have made it even simpler to manage dozens of services without individual MCP servers for each initiative with its new, open-source API Agent.

API Agent enables developers to configure a target service, ask questions in natural language, and receive structured results. The server automatically inspects schemas, generates the required queries, and executes them without custom integration code or manual mapping.

To support more advanced queries, API Agent includes SQL-based post-processing using DuckDB, enabling sorting, aggregation, and joins even when underlying services do not natively support these operations.

Idan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer at Agoda, said, “Many teams want to unlock internal tools for AI, but writing MCPs for each one is a major effort. API Agent takes a novel, zero-effort approach to that transformation, and to our knowledge, is the first of its kind. We’ve open-sourced it in the hope that others can benefit from the same value we’ve seen.”

The API Agent is available now as open source at github.com/agoda-com/api-agent. API Agent joins Agoda’s growing portfolio of open-source projects, including macOS virtualization kubelet, a tool for managing macOS infrastructure at scale.

SHENZHEN, China, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On January 5, 2026, The dsm-firmenich Running Team, home to marathon icon Eliud Kipchoge, announced a revolutionary partnership with Huawei. As their official technology partner, Huawei joins forces with this unparalleled squad—known as the world’s most formidable running team—to elevate the spirit of running, inspire widespread passion for the sport, and advocate for smarter training methods. Alex Huang, CMO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, commented: “By combining Huawei’s expertise in smart wearable technology with the team’s deep performance knowledge, we aim to deliver meaningful insights that benefit not only elite athletes, but runners of all levels around the world.”

Widely regarded as a living legend among runners worldwide, Kipchoge’s career is nothing short of iconic. His groundbreaking achievement of completing a marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 40 seconds shattered the elusive two-hour barrier—a historic milestone that redefined the limits of human capabilities and embodied his belief that “No Human Is Limited.” For him, running transcends elitism; it’s a universal pursuit open to all, regardless of age or distance goals. To run, is to be free. To run is to be healthy. To run together is to be united. That is why the next chapter of Eliud’s career is about creating a global movement of runners.

To champion a universal passion for running, Kipchoge seeks a globally influential partner with cutting-edge technology and a vast user network—Huawei stands out as the perfect match. For over 12 years, Huawei has been at the forefront of the health and fitness sector shipping over 200 million wearable devices worldwide by June 2025^[1] and leading global shipments in the first three quarters of that year. Thanks to its commitment to innovation and massive user community, Huawei embodies the essence of running excellence. Its state-of-the-art solutions offer Kipchoge and his team invaluable insights like precise training data and scientific load evaluations, empowering elite runners to break through boundaries and redefine what’s possible.

This collaboration comes with a striking revelation—Huawei is set to unveil a cutting-edge professional running watch, marking their return to this arena five years after the debut of the first-gen HUAWEI WATCH GT Runner in 2021. In this time, Huawei has meticulously honed its technological edge: the TruSense system delivers unparalleled precision, responsiveness, and comprehensiveness in health and fitness tracking; the Sunflower positioning system represents a quantum leap in positioning accuracy; rigorous testing involving over 100 runners ensures race performance predictions exceed 97% in accuracy^[2], while a fatigue assessment machine learning model empowers athletes to train smarter. Adding further credibility, elite runners like Kipchoge and Joshua Cheptegei will contribute real-world insights from training and race days, driving iterative improvements in algorithms and features to craft devices that genuinely resonate with the needs of runners.

This cutting-edge running watch arrives to address a longstanding challenge in the market—bridging the gap between high-end functionality and user-friendly design. While most existing models cater exclusively to elite runners with intricate features that overwhelm casual users, Huawei leverages its extensive 3C technology expertise to create a versatile solution. Designed to satisfy the rigorous demands of seasoned runners while remaining accessible to beginners, it also doubles as a comprehensive health management tool for the general population. By eliminating barriers and seamlessly blending professional athletic performance with accessible health tracking, Huawei empowers everyone passionate about living fully to embrace the joy and vitality of running.

^[1] Data comes from IDC report.
^[2] Data comes from Huawei labs.

SHANGHAI, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Following a rigorous external evaluation, Concordia International School Shanghai is proud to announce that it has become the first school in Asia to receive the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) Quality Program Award at the Exemplary Level. This is a rare distinction recognizing excellence in school athletics programs.

Assessed across 10 accreditation-style categories, Concordia achieved an outstanding 97% overall score, well above the required benchmark. This distinction places Concordia among fewer than 1% of schools in the U.S. and only three international schools worldwide to receive this honor!

As the first school in Asia to receive the NIAAA award, this recognition is a powerful testament to the quality of Concordia’s athletic coaches and their unwavering commitment to providing an exceptional experience for every student athlete.

Beyond trophies and wins, the award celebrates the school’s deeper commitment to culture, character, and community. Concordia’s athletic program is designed not merely to develop skilled competitors, but to cultivate resilience, self-management, teamwork and leadership—qualities that will help students later in life.

In another landmark achievement, Concordia has recently become the first school in China to achieve NFHS Level 1 School certification from the National Federation of State High School Associations. All of the school’s JV and Varsity coaches have completed certifications in four essential courses: Concussion in Sports, Protecting Students from Abuse, Sudden Cardiac Arrest, and Fundamentals of Coaching. This ensures that all student athletes train and compete in a safe, supportive, and professionally guided environment.

These accolades reflect the dedicated investment of time, energy, and expertise in growing students, supporting coaches, and continuously elevating athletic programs to meet the students’ needs. Together, they underscore Concordia’s vision of becoming a preeminent school in Asia.

About Concordia International School Shanghai

Founded in 1998, Concordia International School Shanghai is a co-educational day school that offers a comprehensive American-style education to students from Preschool through High School. Located in Jinqiao, an international community in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, Concordia is dedicated to cultivating the unique gifts and passions of its students. Concordia’s approach focuses on nurturing every student through a journey of personal and academic growth, offering innovative academic programs, enriching extracurricular activities, and instilling strong character and values. The school is dedicated to helping each student achieve a bright and prosperous future of personal excellence.