BRISBANE, Australia, March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Allianz Partners Australia‘s 2025 State of Student Healthcare (SOSH) Report, released today, continues to track the health, wellbeing and experiences of international students in Australia. While the latest data reveals cost of living pressures and other challenges remain, it also highlights international students’ grit to succeed with 60% expressing excitement for the future.  

The third annual report surveyed students from 88 nations and found a significant discrepancy in cost-of-living expectations. It showed that 85% agree that the cost of living is higher than anticipated, with 61% citing cost of living as a key source of stress. Additionally, 62% of students do not maintain a balanced diet, and of that group 82% regularly skip meals to reduce costs. Furthermore, 82% indicated major concerns about healthcare affordability.

As one of the sector’s few comprehensive health and wellbeing studies, the SOSH report highlights persistent healthcare literacy gaps among students. A small proportion – 17% – reported strongly agreeing they understand the local healthcare system, heightening fears of unexpected costs and limited understanding of available services. This finding was reinforced when testing students’ practical understanding of navigating the healthcare system. When presented with basic healthcare scenarios encompassing both physical and mental health, 58% were able to correctly select an optimal care pathway. This disconnect between understanding and practical application is further evidenced by the 66% who said structured pre-arrival healthcare education would have improved their experience.

The report also noted mental health and social integration remain crucial to their adjustment to life in Australia. While 34% reported a decline in mental health, 39% saw an improvement since arrival, suggesting a correlation between arrival stressors and personal growth. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds (62%) reported difficulty in making friends with Australians, however forming friendships with other international students appears somewhat easier, with 58% reporting little or no difficulty.  Language proficiency also defines these experiences. Over 80% are confident in speaking English, yet of those reporting lower confidence, 62% face difficulties securing a job.

“What the data consistently shows is that student outcomes do not exist in isolation. Financial security, social connection and English language confidence all interact to shape the student experience. The goal of SOSH is not just to measure the experience, but to help improve it,” added Miranda Fennell, Executive Head of Health, Allianz Partners Australia.

“At Allianz Partners Australia, we are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of international students beyond claims. To ease cost of living pressures, we have invested in partnerships that provide fresh food and pantry staples at no cost. In addition, we simplify access to health and wellbeing services by offering Sonder – a health and wellbeing app – to all primary Overseas Student Health Cover policyholders at no additional cost”.

By providing a clear roadmap of the student experience, this research enables a unified response from policymakers, educators, and insurers to better support the wellbeing and long-term success of international students. This third edition offers further insight into how financial security, mental wellbeing and social connection intersect to shape student outcomes and highlights pain points.

– Ends –

Methodology

The third annual State of Student Healthcare Report (2025) has been prepared by QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), who have conducted market research on behalf of Allianz Partners Australia. This report presents insights into the needs, concerns, attitudes and behaviours of international students in Australia, with a focus on their everyday life, health and wellbeing. The report findings are general in nature and based on information available at the time of publication. QS is a data-driven, independent, global provider of analytics and insights for the higher education sector.

Read the full report here: 2025 State of Student Healthcare (SOSH) Report

Read the summary report here: 2025 SOSH Summary Report.

A short video of the report’s key findings is available here

About Allianz Partners

Allianz Partners is a world leader in B2B2C insurance and assistance, offering global solutions that span international health and life, travel insurance, automotive and assistance. Customer driven, our innovative experts are redefining insurance services by delivering future-ready, high-tech high-touch products and solutions that go beyond traditional insurance. Our products are embedded seamlessly into our partners’ businesses or sold directly to customers, and are available through two commercial brands in Australia: Allianz Global Assistance and Allianz Care. Present in over 75 countries, our 19,400 employees speak 70 languages, handle over 58 million cases each year, and are motivated to go the extra mile to offer assistance to our customers around the world. Visit: Allianz Partners Australia

TOKYO, March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TIER IV, the pioneering force behind open-source software for autonomous driving, is deepening its strategic collaboration with NVIDIA to redefine the future of Level 4 autonomous driving. Key highlights of this collaboration include the integration of NVIDIA Alpamayo, an open portfolio of AI models, simulation frameworks and physical AI datasets, and NVIDIA Cosmos, a platform with open world foundation models, guardrails and data processing libraries. These technologies will be integrated into Autoware*, open-source software for autonomous driving, and TIER IV’s Co-MLOps platform, a collaborative data platform for AI development. Together with the autonomous bus deployment initiative with Isuzu and NVIDIA, TIER IV remains committed to advancing safe and scalable autonomous driving.

Enhancing Level 4 autonomous driving with NVIDIA Alpamayo

As a leading contributor to Autoware, TIER IV is integrating cutting-edge technologies through the development of software stacks for AI-based Level 4 autonomous driving. The company was an early adopter of NVIDIA Alpamayo 1, integrating it into Autoware to address complex scenarios with advanced reasoning processes and enhance explainability through language understanding.

This 10-billion-parameter vision-language-action model introduces a reasoning layer into the driving stack, leveraging chain-of-thought processing to interpret complex scene dynamics. These capabilities allow TIER IV to enhance transparency and traceability in AI decision-making while achieving the human-like judgment required to navigate increasingly unstructured and complex environments. TIER IV will test the new models unveiled at NVIDIA GTC 2026, integrating them into Autoware to accelerate safe and scalable commercial deployments.

Example of NVIDIA Alpamayo 1 applied to real-world vehicle data

Supercharging Co-MLOps platform with NVIDIA Cosmos

Since launching the Co-MLOps platform in 2024, TIER IV has led global initiatives to share large-scale data from around the world to develop and scale autonomous driving AI. By integrating NVIDIA Cosmos with the Co-MLOps platform, the company aims to expand the open-source software’s capabilities to address the long tail of autonomous driving – rare, unpredictable edge cases that fall beyond predefined rules and conventional training scenarios.

The core functions of NVIDIA Cosmos include:

• Cosmos-Predict: Generates edge cases from multimodal prompts, creating the high-fidelity synthetic data needed to solve detection challenges that are difficult to capture in the real world.
• Cosmos-Transfer: Provides advanced data augmentation by transforming labeled data into various environmental conditions, such as heavy rain, snow, or different times of day, based on images generated by the automated labeling infrastructure.
• Cosmos-Reason: Rapidly searches, validates and summarizes vast amounts of driving data, using a vision-language model that captures the essence of the physical world.

Synthetic data generation for edge cases using NVIDIA Cosmos-Predict

Synthetic data generation for varying weather using NVIDIA Cosmos-Transfer

“To advance autonomous driving to the next generation, it is necessary to move toward reasoning-based systems capable of navigating the unpredictability of the real world,” said Shinpei Kato, founder and CEO of TIER IV. “By being among the first to adopt NVIDIA Alpamayo and integrate NVIDIA Cosmos into our Co-MLOps platform, we are empowering the global Autoware community to realize safe and scalable autonomous driving.”

“Physical AI represents the next frontier of the AI revolution, and TIER IV is among the pioneers leveraging NVIDIA Alpamayo and NVIDIA Cosmos to push the boundaries of what’s possible,” said Marco Pavone, Director of Autonomous Vehicle Research at NVIDIA. “By integrating NVIDIA Alpamayo into Autoware and utilizing NVIDIA Cosmos within their Co-MLOps platform, TIER IV is establishing a powerful blueprint for the ecosystem to build safer, more transparent autonomous driving systems.”

NVIDIA GTC 2026 session

TIER IV will showcase the role of NVIDIA Cosmos in its Co-MLOps platform at NVIDIA GTC 2026.

• Title: Deployment of a dataset platform for autonomous driving using NVIDIA Cosmos
• Speaker: Dan Umeda
• Language: Japanese
• Session number: S81897
• Session page: https://www.nvidia.com/ja-jp/gtc/session-catalog/sessions/gtc26-s81897/

*Autoware is a registered trademark of the Autoware Foundation.

About TIER IV

TIER IV stands at the forefront of deep tech innovation, pioneering Autoware, open-source software for autonomous driving. With a comprehensive suite of platforms and services built around Autoware, TIER IV provides everything from software development and vehicle procurement to operational support. Through the Autoware ecosystem, TIER IV works with partners worldwide to shape the future of intelligent vehicles with open-source software, aiming to create mobility that is safer, more sustainable, and accessible to all.

Media contact
pr@tier4.jp

Australia’s leading wholesaler teams with Coveo and SAP to elevate product discovery, personalization and conversion, helping independent retailers make informed procurement decisions, speeding ordering, invoicing, and receiving products

MONTREAL and SYDNEY, March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Coveo, the leader in AI‑Relevance, today announced that Metcash, Australia’s leading wholesale distribution and marketing company, has selected the Coveo AI‑Relevance™ Platform to power its next‑generation e-commerce experience. In partnership with SAP, the global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, Coveo enables Metcash to deliver hyper-personalized search results and a more streamlined, intelligent e-commerce experience.

“Sorted, Metcash’s B2B e-commerce marketplace, is leveraging Coveo’s commerce-tuned AI models and their SAP partnership to support thousands of proudly independent businesses across Australia, accessing and procuring the products and services they need to run their businesses in a simpler, better and more efficient way than ever before,” said Simon Williams, General Manager B2B e-commerce at Metcash.

“Metcash plays a vital role in supporting independent retailers across Australia, and we’re proud to support that mission,” said Peter Curran, general manager, commerce, Coveo. “By bringing Coveo’s AI‑Relevance technology into their SAP environment, Metcash can deliver meaningful, personalized product discovery at scale, strengthening local businesses and improving the experience for retailers.”

“Independent retailers depend on Metcash for easy access to the products and insights they need every day,” said Touraj Vaziri, Account Director SAP. “By integrating SAP Commerce Cloud with Coveo’s advanced AI, Metcash will be able to elevate how retailers search, discover, and source products, ultimately improving efficiency and strengthening their competitive edge.”

“Metcash plays a vital role in keeping communities connected and independent retailers competitive. With the Coveo AI-Relevance Platform, Metcash will be able to transform how it connects products, insights, and customers to drive measurable results,” said Alexander Mahr, managing director, Coveo APAC. “This enables their entire network to move at the speed of possible with AI-powered discovery.”

About Metcash
Metcash is Australia’s leading wholesale distribution and marketing company to the independent retail network. Serving retail and wholesale customers across the Food, Liquor and Hardware sectors, Metcash is committed to winning with independents. Sorted, powered by Metcash, is a B2B e-commerce marketplace used by thousands of independent businesses across Australia to trade more efficiently and stay connected to trusted suppliers.
For more information, visit www.metcash.com.

About Coveo
Coveo brings superior AI-Relevance to every point-of-experience, transforming how enterprises connect with their customers and employees to maximize business outcomes.
Relevance is about moving from persona to person, the degree to which the enterprise-wide content, products, recommendations, and advice presented to a person online aligns easily with their context, needs, preferences, behavior and intent, setting the competitive experience gold standard. Every person’s journey is unique, and only AI can solve the complexity of tailoring experiences across massive, diverse audiences and large volumes and variety of content and products.

Stay up to date on the latest Coveo news and content by subscribing to the Coveo blog, and following Coveo on LinkedIn and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, “forward-looking information”). This forward-looking information is identified by the use of terms and phrases such as “may”, “would”, “should”, “could”, “might”, “will”, “achieve”, “occur”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “foresee”, “believe”, “continue”, “target”, “opportunity”, “strategy”, “scheduled”, “outlook”, “forecast”, “projection”, or “prospect”, the negative of these terms and similar terminology, including references to assumptions, although not all forward-looking information contains these terms and phrases. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management’s expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events or circumstances.

Logo – https://laotiantimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/coveo_solutions_inc__metcash_selects_coveo_ai_as_an_e_commerce_p.jpg

SINGAPORE, March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Zenlayer, the distributed cloud for AI, today announced the launch of its Fabric Port service in Singapore, expanding its platform to simplify how enterprises connect and scale digital infrastructure globally. The Fabric Port serves as a single entry point that enables organizations to provision unlimited virtual connections to public cloud platforms, IP transit providers, internet exchanges, and data centers. From a single port in Singapore, customers gain on-demand access to Zenlayer’s ecosystem of connectivity partners, powered by a global backbone spanning six continents. 

“Our goal is to remove the barriers that slow down global digital expansion,” said Joe Zhu, Founder & CEO of Zenlayer. “By including metro connectivity in Singapore at no additional charge, we are giving our customers a simpler, more cost-effective way to scale their infrastructure. Singapore is the starting point for this vision, as we continue to expand this streamlined architecture to other major interconnection hubs.” 

Fabric Port also serves as a foundational component of Zenlayer’s Fabric for AI, a connectivity architecture built for distributed AI infrastructure. As organizations deploy AI agents across regions and compute environments, they require high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnection to coordinate inference traffic and minimize token transit times between compute nodes and model endpoints. Fabric Port supports port speeds of up to 400 Gbps to meet these demands and enable efficient data movement across global AI infrastructure. 

Singapore ranks among the world’s most vital interconnection hubs, linking major networks across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas. As the inaugural market for Fabric Port, Singapore serves as the foundation for Zenlayer’s broader strategy to deploy this scalable entry point across major hubs worldwide. 

DeskIn is not a replacement for AI assistants — it is the execution layer they lack. For remote workers, growing businesses, and global teams, DeskIn delivers what AI-integrated remote control cannot.

SINGAPORE, March 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — DeskIn, the remote desktop software trusted by 40 million+ users across 180 million devices, today positioned itself as the dedicated high-performance remote control platform as AI tools begin introducing basic remote control features into their ecosystems.

With AI assistants expanding beyond advice, tools like Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and Google Gemini now interact with on-screen elements and simulate remote control actions. For everyday use, this could be adequate. For professionals with demanding workloads, the constraints are clear: limited latency thresholds, no high-frame-rate support, and single-device access.

Where DeskIn outperforms AI-integrated remote control:

• Streaming performance: 4K at 60 FPS or 2K at 240 FPS, with latency below 40ms – giving users a direct, real-time view of their full desktop rather than a compressed screenshot. A video editor remotely rendering a 4K project from a mobile device, or a developer running a full build on a home machine while travelling, gets a comparable experience as sitting at the workstation.
• Security: AES-256 encryption, ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certification, and precise access controls, designed for compliance-sensitive organisations and individuals. Security is built directly into the remote desktop architecture, rather than added as a secondary feature within a broader platform.
• Cross-platform access: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and web, with simultaneous multi-device access for remote workers and distributed teams across time zones.
• Flexible scaling: From a solo freelancer to a team managing dozens of devices, DeskIn scales to the requirement without additional overhead.

AI tools advise and automate. DeskIn provides direct, real-time remote control over the exact machine where their files, applications, and full development or creative environments live. Learn more or start a free trial at deskin.io.

Promotional offer: Subscribe to an annual personal plan and receive 20% off with promo code REMOTE20, valid until 30 April 2026.

About DeskIn

DeskIn by Zuler Technology is a remote desktop application trusted by 40 million+ users across 180 million devices worldwide, delivering fast, secure remote access across every major platform, backed by over a decade of software expertise.

Media Contact

Jimmy Chon
Marketing Lead, Zuler Technology Pte. Ltd.
support@deskin.io

With 20 million crypto investors, more than double its stock traders, Indonesia mandates stock-market-style infrastructure for digital assets. ICEx Group raised $70 million to build it.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ICEx Group has secured comprehensive licenses from Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) to operate an integrated digital asset exchange, clearing house, and custody provider, completing a regulatory structure that makes Indonesia among a small number of jurisdictions applying traditional capital-markets architecture to cryptocurrency.

Indonesia’s registered crypto investor base has grown from roughly 4 million in 2020 to 20.19 million as of December 2025 — a fivefold increase that now exceeds the country’s entire capital market investor base of 20.13 million SID. What took Indonesia’s capital markets decades to build, crypto achieved in five years. The country ranks third globally on the Chainalysis Crypto Adoption Index and leads the Central, Southern Asia & Oceania region in on-chain transaction value at approximately $157.1 billion.

Under Indonesia’s framework, overseen by OJK, every crypto transaction must pass through three distinct licensed layers: a regulated exchange (Bursa), a central clearinghouse, and an independent custodian—mirroring the architecture of conventional stock and derivatives markets.

ICEx Group was built to fill all three roles. The group comprises International Crypto Exchange (ICEx), Crypto Asset Clearing International (CACI), and International Crypto Custody (ICC), each independently licensed by OJK.

Eleven of Indonesia’s largest exchanges—including Ajaib, Floq, Indodax, Mobee, Nanovest, OSL Indonesia, Reku, Samuel Kripto Indonesia, Tokocrypto, Triv, and Upbit Indonesia—are founding shareholders, with participation from some of Indonesia’s biggest conglomerates and global exchanges as strategic investors. The consortium raised approximately Rp 1 trillion ($70 million).

“Indonesia’s regulation requires this three-layer infrastructure to exist. The 11 exchanges chose to own it collectively rather than depend on a third party,” said Pang Xue Kai, CEO of ICEx Group.

The mandated structure reduces counterparty risk and capital inefficiency. As the founding exchanges route through ICEx clearing and custody, the infrastructure reaches its combined 20-million-strong user base immediately.

Indonesia presents a rare convergence: massive retail adoption, regulatory openness, and now institutional plumbing to match. ICEx Group is also exploring regulated real-world asset tokenization and national stablecoin initiatives. The company will host its Grand Launch on April 2 2026, in Jakarta.

About ICEx

PT Fortuna Integritas Mandiri, operating under the brand International Crypto Exchange (ICEx), is an OJK-licensed digital asset exchange that officially commenced operations on 5 January 2026, following the issuance of its crypto exchange business license by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) under Decision No. KEP-2/D.07/2026.

About ICEx Group

ICEx Group is Indonesia’s leading digital asset market infrastructure developer, establishing the nation’s first integrated SRO ecosystem under OJK supervision. The group comprises three licensed entities: ICEx (digital asset exchange, KEP-2/D.07/2026), CACI (clearing services, KEP-12/D.07/2026), and ICC (institutional custody, KEP-11/D.07/2026). ICEx Group is dedicated to strengthening investor protection and enabling sustainable growth in Indonesia’s regulated digital economy.

ICEx Group
Brand & Communication Division
Equity Tower, Sudirman Central Business District, Jl. Jend. Sudirman kav 52-53 No.Lot 9, Senayan, Kec. Kby. Baru, Kota Jakarta Selatan, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta 12190
Email: info@icex.id
Website: www.icex.id

The Sandbox opens pre-registration for playtesting The Sandbox NEXT, new mobile game

LOS ANGELES, March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Sandbox, an immersive gaming platform and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, today opened pre-registration for the playtest of The Sandbox NEXT, marking for the franchise a going back to its roots after 40 million historical downloads on mobile. The Sandbox NEXT is built by Unreal Engine, a significant technical shift for The Sandbox, which has historically run on Unity. Register for free at sandbox.game/next.

The Sandbox NEXT offers a multiplayer extraction and survival mobile gameplay in which players carry over their identity, progression, and all the voxel assets from The Sandbox game platform, including UGC and branded ones. The Sandbox NEXT provides players with a fast-paced, replayable PvP experience that connects intense and skill-demanding gameplay with the broader player-driven ecosystem of The Sandbox, where player avatars from over 56 collections of branded Avatars (Snoop Dogg, Attack on Titan, Smiley, Steve Aoki, Paris Hilton, Smurf, etc) extend beyond a single match.

Players of The Sandbox NEXT are dropped into the Desert, an open-terrain environment built around sightlines and long-range combat, or the City, a vertical, close-quarters map that rewards adaptability. Matches support solo play or multiplayer groups of up to 20 players per instance.

The Sandbox NEXT will serve as a new entry point into The Sandbox, where playing, collecting, and expressing identity all converge. The mobile launch represents a major step for one of web3’s most established entertainment brands, with more than 400 brand and IP partners spanning gaming, music, fashion and culture, including Warner Music Group, Gucci, Ubisoft, Snoop Dogg and Lacoste.

Season 7 of The Sandbox, which is currently ongoing, introduced three browser-based games as a frictionless entry point to The Sandbox ecosystem. Now, with The Sandbox NEXT playtest, The Sandbox is taking steps to integrate additional experiences via mobile.

“Like our recent launch of WebGL games, The Sandbox NEXT is part of our plan to increase the reach of The Sandbox so players can discover, play and come back more often, whether they’re on desktop or on their phone,” said Robby Yung, CEO of The Sandbox. “The goal is to meet people where they spend their time. A native mobile experience in addition to the desktop version makes that possible in a way browser access alone can’t.”

Registration for The Sandbox NEXT playtest is now open until 25 March 2026 at 2 p.m. (UTC), with limited spots assigned on a first-come first-served basis. The playtest begins on 26 March, with additional features rolling out as The Sandbox NEXT evolves. Register now at sandbox.game/next.

For more information about The Sandbox NEXT mobile app playtest, visit sandbox.game/blog and follow The Sandbox on X, Discord, and Instagram for regular updates.

About The Sandbox
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is an immersive metaverse platform in which users play, create, and monetize unique experiences alongside their favorite brands, IPs, and celebrities across gaming, entertainment, music, art, and more. The Sandbox leverages web3 technologies to fully enable end-user creation and creator economies, disrupting existing platforms by providing both Players and Creators with true ownership of their assets, creations, and rewards as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Over 400 partners have joined The Sandbox, including Warner Music Group, Gucci, Ubisoft, Paris Hilton, Attack on Titan, Snoop Dogg, Lacoste, Steve Aoki, The Smurfs, and many more. For more information, please visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on X, Medium, and Discord.

About Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands Corporation Limited (ACN: 122 921 813) is a global digital assets leader building and investing in impactful technologies and ecosystems to reimagine future economies. It has received broad industry and market recognition including Fortune Crypto 40, Top 50 Blockchain Game Companies 2025, Financial Times’ High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific, and Deloitte Tech Fast. Animoca Brands is recognized for building digital asset platforms such as the Moca Network, Open Campus, Anichess, and The Sandbox, as well as institutional-grade platforms; providing digital asset services to help Web3 companies launch and grow; and investing in frontier Web3 technology, with a portfolio of over 600 companies and digital assets. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on X, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and TikTok.

The Sandbox NEXT