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Alibaba Cloud’s Energy Expert Helps Analyze Carbon Footprint for The First Olympic Esports Week

AI-driven carbon measurement and fan engagement tools trialed at Olympic Esports Week

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 22 June 2023 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today announced that its AI-driven sustainability solution – Energy Expert – has been trialed to measure and analyze carbon emissions from temporary construction built to host the first Olympic Esports Week, generating data-driven insights on the choice of materials and equipment. The tool has been deployed through Alibaba Cloud’s partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Alibaba Cloud deployed its proven carbon measurement tool, Energy Expert, to measure and analyze the carbon emissions of the event’s temporary construction. A series of metrics including the impact of energy consumption, waste management, signage and decoration were assessed. This software-as-a-service tool was used by the Local Organizing Committee to compare the relative impacts of several types of materials and equipment.

Leveraging the latest tech-driven sustainability solution, Energy Expert allows event organizers to identify the sources of the carbon emissions from venue construction and operation, quantify the carbon footprint generated by a venue and visualize a venue’s sustainability performance via an integrated dashboard and online reports.

According to Alibaba Cloud’s Energy Expert, the carbon footprint of temporary construction for the Olympic Esports Week 2023 is estimated at 274 tons CO2e, after replacing 60% of printed signage with digital alternatives which led to 14 tons CO2e of carbon dioxide emissions reductions, as well as reusing 50% of carpets after the event that would slash emissions further by 10 tons CO2e.

“We are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment, and we’re pleased to work with Alibaba Cloud to apply cutting-edge technologies to measure carbon emissions so we can continue to make a difference,” said Vincent Pereira, Head of Virtual Sport of IOC Sports Department.

“We have been supporting the IOC’s digital transformation of the Olympics since Tokyo 2020, and it has been an honour to be part of this latest, historic milestone for virtual sport. Sustainability is one of the priorities for our sports innovation roadmap. As the sports industry continues to evolve, we’re passionate about providing organizations with timely data, actionable insights and energy-saving recommendations that make positive and tangible impacts,” said Selina Yuan, President of International Business, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

The first Olympic Esports Week marks the latest step in the collaboration between the IOC and Alibaba on digital transformation – following the success of developing sports innovations for Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 – and is Alibaba’s first large-scale international project to tackle carbon emissions within the esports industry.

The esports industry has a growing environmental impact as the sport becomes more mainstream. Industry analysis estimates that in 2022 a single esports team could create as much as 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions [1]. Individual consumption is also growing as 40% of the global population (three billion people) now play video games, according to industry analyst firm DFC Intelligence, meaning that there’s a significant impact to be addressed.

Besides the carbon measurement of temporary construction, to draw public attention on the importance of reducing carbon footprints, Alibaba Cloud’s web application for Olympic Esports Week, invites the public to take photos of items around them (such as keyboards and headsets) to help understand the carbon footprint of each item and actions that can be taken to reduce this footprint, such as increasing the lifetime of digital equipment or buying second hand equipment. This is achieved through integrating Alibaba Cloud’s AI technologies with traditional emission datasets. Participants can also pledge to take carbon reduction actions in their daily life, such as bringing their e-waste to dedicated collection points for recycling. Participants agreeing to the pledge can earn points on the app, with an aim to earn a Sustainability Champion badge, as part of the web application.

The inaugural Olympic Esports Week, taking place at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, features the best of virtual sports, including esports competitions, exhibition matches, exhibitions of the latest innovations, as well as a series of panel discussions and education sessions organized by IOC. The festival also played host to the Olympic Esports Series finals, which was the culmination of this year’s Olympic Esports Series which saw top Olympic Esports athletes from around the world competing in ten disciplines for a gold medal.

As a global leading cloud infrastructure provider, Alibaba Cloud is committed to helping organizations slash carbon emissions with emerging technologies such as intelligence computing and AI technologies. Leading the forefront of this notion, Alibaba Cloud strives to achieve Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon neutrality and commits to powering its cloud computing with 100% clean energy by 2030.

Hashtag: #AlibabaCloud #esports #olympicesportsweek #ioc

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, management and application services, big data analytics, a machine learning platform and IoT services. Alibaba maintained its position as the third leading public cloud IaaS service provider globally since 2018, according to IDC. Alibaba is the world’s third leading and Asia Pacific’s leading IaaS provider by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner.

Xapo Bank expands global footprint in South Asia, ushering in a new era of hybrid banking

With high-interest USD and BTC accounts now accessible to more regions in Asia, Xapo Bank opens the doors to untapped financial opportunities for the region’s young tech-savvy professionals

GIBRALTAR – Media OutReach – 22 June 2023 – Xapo Bank, a fully licensed private bank that combines traditional banking with the utility of Bitcoin and stablecoins, today announced that it will begin accepting members across South Asia, including India, making its full suite of hybrid banking services and the financial opportunities they present accessible to the world’s largest population and one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

Xapo Bank’s latest announcement heralds a significant shift in South Asia’s banking landscape. Through Xapo Bank’s mobile application, users can now securely access a USD offshore savings account and Bitcoin wallet, enjoying competitive annual interest rates of 4.1% on USD deposits and 1% on Bitcoin deposits, paid out daily in satoshis, while having instant and unrestricted access to their funds, all managed with the security of a fully-regulated bank.

Users will further benefit from Xapo Bank’s seamless, swift, and secure crypto-to-fiat conversions, enabling them to deposit or transfer USDT and USDC directly to their USD account, where the stablecoins are instantly converted to USD. Users also gain access to Xapo Bank’s global payments infrastructure, allowing them to send and receive British Pounds or Euros via the Fast Payment System (FPS) and Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) network almost instantaneously. Across withdrawals and deposits, members will enjoy competitive exchange rates managed by Xapo Bank.

Seamus Rocca, CEO of Xapo Bank, said: “Xapo Bank’s decision to accept members across South Asia, including India, represents an opportunity to provide our hybrid banking and investment solutions to its large underserved populations, bridging an important gap in the region’s financial systems and allowing its savvy savers, investors, and professionals the freedom to explore their financial potential with a single mobile application. This is in line with the positive shifts we are witnessing in Asia’s evolving crypto landscape, as well as our mission to make transacting transparently and securely from anywhere in the world as simple as it can be for our members. We’re very excited about this opportunity and hope to add significant value to the region’s rapidly growing banking landscape.”

With its unique payment rails and comprehensive suite of private banking services, Xapo Bank offers its members a robust, efficient, and cost-effective pathway to cross-border banking services and wealth-building opportunities. With this momentous move, Xapo Bank remains committed to empowering its members with faster and cheaper options for cross-border transactions, contributing to the industry’s growth and wider adoption.

To learn more about Xapo Bank’s services, visit: https://www.xapo.com/

Hashtag: #xapobank #cryptobanking #india #stablecoins #SEPA #BTC

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

About Xapo Bank

is a fully licensed private bank that combines traditional banking with access to Bitcoin and stablecoins. Founded in 2013, Xapo became one of the most trusted Bitcoin custodians in the industry, providing users with a secure platform to store and transact with their cryptocurrency. Coinbase’s custody arm purchased Xapo’s institutional custody business in 2019. Pivoting to service solely retail customers, it evolved into Xapo Bank, the first crypto company in the world to obtain a banking license, issued and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. It has since expanded its offerings to include a full suite of private banking services. With this expansion, Xapo Bank is poised to become one of the leading private banks in the world, offering clients a level of security, privacy, and flexibility that is unmatched in the traditional banking industry.

Vientiane Car Crash Leads to Discovery of Over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills

A vehicle that transported over 5 million amphetamine pills crashed and flipped over during an accident in Vientiane Capital.

Vientiane Capital police have discovered over 5 million amphetamine pills in an SUV that flipped in the center of Vientiane Capital’s Chanthabouly district.

K-Melon Summer Chill: 5 Korean Melons in Season

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 22 June 2023 – It’s the beginning of June, the season of Korean watermelon, honeydew melon and cantaloupe. This year, K-Orchard has launched five new selections of Korean melons, which are now available in all retail outlets. Just in time for Father’s Day, there is also a limited-time “Father’s Day Special Offer” starting June 10, where you can get a Korean watermelon and mini watermelon set for only $188. Whether it’s a cool and thirst-quenching watermelon, a sweet and tasty honeydew melon or a fragrant melon, K-Orchard is ready for you.

Caption

K-Orchard’s melons are grown in the fertile soil of Korea, receiving plenty of sunlight and perfect local ripening, so that each melon is full and juicy with the highest level of sweetness and aroma. Fresh and delicious fruits are hard to come by, so visit one of the designated retail outlets to get your hands on them.

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Five selected K-Orchard melons:

1、Korean Watermelon

Korean watermelon grows in a sunny and fertile environment, with a more rounded appearance than watermelons from other countries, each one is sweet and juicy. And because of the huge proportion of flesh, one watermelon is enough to share with many people. The taste is refreshing and sweet, and it is a very popular fruit in Korea, very suitable for enjoying in the hot summer.

2、Korean mini watermelon

This cute little watermelon is a new variety of watermelon produced in Gyeongbuk Moon Kyung, Korea. It is rich in vitamin C and potassium, and is smaller and thinner than regular watermelons, so it can be peeled and eaten like an apple. It is fresh, sweet and juicy, so when it is hot in summer, you can eat it along the way to relieve the heat effectively. The sweetness of watermelon is higher than normal watermelon, up to 13 sugar level. The taste is crisp and juicy, is a must-have summer heat.

3、Korean golden melon

With the aroma of honeydew melon is a Korean specialty fruit, can be said to be “low-calorie version” of honeydew melon. As a “weight loss boon”, only about 27 calories per 100 grams of cucumber, loved by local health people in Korea. It is rich in vitamins A, C and potassium, which help to reduce edema and diuresis. It is definitely a savior for those who love to taste sweetness but are afraid of gaining weight. For cough relief and digestion, you can also eat it with the seeds. Perfectly ripe yellow gold melon will give off a tempting fruit aroma, white flesh sweet and juicy.

4、Korean melon

Korean netted melon is a rich fragrance, very JUICY summer Korean fruit representative. When ripe, it exudes a unique sweet aroma. The flesh is delicate and soft, with a high moisture content. It is also high in nutritional value, rich in calcium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C. It contains four times more vitamins than watermelon and six times more than apples. Local people prefer to use it to make ice, juice and salads and other kinds of food.

5、Korean emerald white honeydew melon (meteor shower honeydew melon)

This special name is derived from the fact that its rind sometimes appears like a meteor shower of green spots. Meteor shower melon is very popular in Korea, and is also known as the best of the melons. The thin skin and thick flesh of the Meteor Shower Honeydew melon are delicate and silky, with a soft white color like ice-cream, and the sweetness is about 5% higher than other melons, up to 24 degrees.

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“K-Melon Chill Summer
5 seasonal selections of melons are now available:
Hopewell Centre TASTE:
G/F, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai

Island Place PARKnSHOP: Shop B05, Basement, Hong Kong City Shopping Centre, 500 King’s Road, North Point

Whampoa AEON: Ground floor and basement of Whampoa New World, Phases 5 and 6, Hung Hom, Kowloon

K-Orchard
Goldman Sachs Limited Top WeaL Limited
Business Cooperation/Order
Tel: 2407 9319 Email: sales@topweal.com

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

Laos Sees Fourth Consecutive Fuel Price Hike in June Amid Inflation and LAK Depreciation

Laos Faces Fourth Consecutive Fuel Price Hike in June Amidst Inflation and KIP Depreciation
FILE: Residents gather up at a gas station amidst fuel price hike in Laos (photo: Khaosod)

Laos experienced its fourth consecutive fuel price hike in June due to inflation, the depreciation of the Laotian Kip (LAK), and the war in Ukraine, affecting businesses and consumers alike, with no clear solution in sight.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres and Firmus Technologies Forge Partnership to Build a Global Network of Sustainable AI Factories

Collaborative venture aims to provide cost-effective, large-scale and sustainable GPU and AI cloud services for the AI & visual computing era

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 22 June 2023 – ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), a leading Singapore-based data centre provider, has announced a significant investment into a global venture with Firmus Technologies (Firmus), a leader in highly scaled immersion cooled computing platforms.

The HyperCube will be hosted within STT GDC locations globally, to deliver Sustainable AI Factories that are all at once sustainable, scalable, high performance and cost effective.
The HyperCube will be hosted within STT GDC locations globally, to deliver Sustainable AI Factories that are all at once sustainable, scalable, high performance and cost effective.

The venture is to be based in Singapore and will see the launch of a GPU-centric Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering focused on deep learning AI and visual computing workloads, to be known as Sustainable Metal Cloud (SMC). SMC will deliver bare-metal-service access to high-performance AI clusters, which include some of the world’s most advanced workload accelerators including GPUs and high-speed networking from NVIDIA for energy-efficient computing.

SMC will leverage Firmus’ proprietary, scaled, immersion-cooled platform – the ‘HyperCube’ – hosted within global STT GDC locations, to deliver Sustainable AI Factories that are all at once sustainable, scalable, high performance and cost effective[1].

Within the HyperCube is a fleet of high-performance servers in an immersion-cooled environment. The combination of Firmus’ immersion-cooled computing platform paired with STT GDC’s highly efficient data centre infrastructure will result in AI workloads running with a lower PUE, lower CO2 emissions and higher petaflops per watt.
Within the HyperCube is a fleet of high-performance servers in an immersion-cooled environment. The combination of Firmus’ immersion-cooled computing platform paired with STT GDC’s highly efficient data centre infrastructure will result in AI workloads running with a lower PUE, lower CO2 emissions and higher petaflops per watt.

Within the HyperCube, Firmus will operate a fleet of high-performance servers in its immersion-cooled environment, provided by OEM partners including Supermicro. Firmus’ unlocks access to world-class AI tools and hardware in a highly available way, thanks to industry-standard uptime SLAs, provided and warranted directly by SMC to each customer.

Firmus & STT GDC are launching SMC in Singapore, India and Australia in 2023, with the Singapore AZ (SIN01) expected to be live in H2 2023.

The combination of Firmus’ immersion-cooled computing platform, paired with STT GDC’s highly efficient data centre infrastructure, will result in AI workloads running with a lower PUE[2], lower CO2 emissions and higher petaflops[3] per watt.

“We are delighted to have STT GDC as our partner. This venture is a world first and brings together Firmus’ world-class scaled immersion-cooled computing platform with STT GDC’s global footprint, based on NVIDIA’s deep learning and visual computing architecture that is driving the exponential growth in AI. This offering will be underpinned by STT GDC’s globally recognised and award-winning data centres,” said Ted Pretty, Firmus Technologies Chairman. “The vision of Firmus’ founders was to invest in a long-term solution that will break the mould of the traditional data centre model. They imagined the data centre as an entire computing platform – a ‘Sustainable AI Factory’ – and ensuring that this computing platform is best-in-class in terms of sustainability, operating and capital cost effectiveness. The vision of this venture is to combine STT GDC’s strength – being one of the world’s largest data centre infrastructure groups – with that of our HyperCube platform to deliver what we believe is a wholly unique proposition in delivering AI & visual computing at scale not seen before in Asia or Europe.”

“The compound growth in forecasted energy consumption is an existential threat to the data centre sector. Data centre operators and their customers must be prepared to embrace and support new cooling solutions and expand the services they offer beyond traditional air-cooled colocation if they are to host AI GPU platforms in a sustainable manner. The evolution of the data centre into AI

factories of the future will fundamentally change the way that all infrastructure operators are thinking about the design and operation of their facilities. STT GDC’s foresight and long-term vision made them the ideal global partner for Firmus’ highly developed solution,” said Pretty.

“The future of data centres will rely on the ability to provide both exceptional performance and highly sustainable services at scale. From our beginnings in Singapore almost 10 years ago, we now have scaled the business to cover 10 geographies. We are immensely pleased to enhance our core co-location offering to include the latest GPU-based bare-metal services, empowering our customers with access to the next generation of high-performance computing which will be so critical in the AI revolution. These high-performance services are a key component of the critical infrastructure needed to support the plethora of AI use cases that will be critical to business, governments and society in years to come,” said Bruno Lopez, President and Group Chief Executive, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres.

He continued, “STT GDC, in partnership with Firmus, is committed to providing sustainable and foundational compute infrastructure. Singapore was the location of choice for our first flagship installation given the city’s leadership in AI and sustainability. Through our new bare-metal service, customers will have early access to cost-effective and large-scale GPU compute through Firmus’ embedded AI compute platform with leading-edge liquid immersion technology. We believe that data centres are critical building blocks of computing, and our investment in Firmus’ technology and computing platform will transform our assets into sustainable AI factories, enabling our customers to process demanding workloads efficiently.”

After the first deployment in Singapore, the subsequent expansion will be into the India market in 2023. In 2024 and beyond, the deployment of Sustainable Metal Cloud availability zones (AZs) will be expanded across the STT GDC portfolio.Hashtag: #STTelemediaGlobalDataCentres

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

About Firmus Technologies

Firmus Technologies was founded by a young and entrepreneurial Australian team supported by leading local investment funds. Its research facility was established in Australia, where access to renewable-based energy assisted in the development and commercialisation of its scaled immersion cooled computing platform.

From this facility Firmus developed the highly scalable system of multiple modularised 1MW HyperCubes that will now be deployed within STT GDC’s data centre locations for cloud AZs, or at edge locations that enable high performance AI to exist anywhere the workload is needed.

Stand-alone, the HyperCube technology operates within a sub 1.05 PUE envelope, and thanks to its advanced cooling features, extracts up to 30% further efficiency from the compute itself. By Total Usage Effectiveness (TUE) – a modern data centre metric that measures both facility and compute efficiency – HyperCube is amongst the most efficient compute platform in the world, with an engineered and expected TUE of less than 1.15 in Singapore.

For more information, visit or

About ST Telemedia Global Data Centres

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) is one of the fastest-growing data centre providers with a global platform serving as a cornerstone of the digital ecosystem that helps the world to connect. Powering a sustainable digital future, STT GDC operates across Singapore, the UK, Germany, India, Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, providing businesses an exceptional foundation that is built for their growth anywhere. For more information, visit

Winners of Thailand FX Awards 2023

BANGKOK, THAILAND – Media OutReach – 22 June 2023 – The winners of the Thailand FX Awards 2023 have been announced, celebrating the achievements of Thailand’s trading community. The awards promote transparency and liquidity in the Thailand foreign exchange market.

The 2023 Thailand FX Award Winners are as follows:

· Best THB Spot Contributor – CIMB Thai Bank PCL

· Best THB Local Cross Currency Contributor – CIMB Thai Bank PCL

· Best THB Interest Rates Swap Contributor – Bangkok Bank PCL

· Best THB Interest Rates Contributor (Money Market) – Bank of Ayudhya PCL

· Best Bank – FXall Maker – Bangkok Bank PCL

· Best Bank – FXall Taker – Krungthai Bank PCL

· Best Bank – USD/THB – HSBC

· Best Corporate – FXall Taker – Toyota Motor Thailand Co. Ltd.

LSEG FX offers market-leading FX capabilities across pre-trade, at-trade, and post-trade activities. LSEG FX provides the FX community with a comprehensive suite of trading venues, workflows, platforms, market insights, data, and compliance tools. LSEG FX assists market participants in adapting to technological and regulatory changes through innovative solutions. For further information on LSEG FX solutions, visit LSEG FX | Institutional FX Solutions | LSEG

Hashtag: #LSEG #FXAwards #Thailand

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

About LSEG

LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) is a leading global financial markets infrastructure and data provider, playing a vital social and economic role in the world’s financial system. With our open approach, trusted expertise and global scale, we enable the sustainable growth and stability of our customers and their communities. We are dedicated partners with extensive experience, deep knowledge and a worldwide presence in data and analytics; indices; capital formation; and trade execution, clearing and risk management across multiple asset classes. LSEG is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with significant operations in 70 countries across EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. We employ 23,000 people globally, more than half located in Asia Pacific. LSEG’s ticker symbol is LSEG.

Luang Prabang Plans to Attract 4 Million Tourists by 2025

Tourists visiting street market in Luang Prabang (Photo: Nouthaphone Simmavong)

The province’s five-year tourism plan hopes to attract 4 million tourists by 2025. Currently, at its midway point, Luang Prabang has seen 1.1 million tourists spending over USD 500 million.