• Speedpost Direct International (Retail) offers a Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) solution that helps retail senders comply with the latest regulations, providing transparency and simplicity at every step
• Businesses including corporations, SMEs, marketplace sellers, encouraged to use corporate Speedpost Direct International for more flexibility and dedicated account management

SINGAPORE, Sept. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) will be launching Speedpost Direct International (Retail) for retail customers on 15 September 2025. This is a new solution designed in direct response to recent changes in the United States (U.S.) import regulations which removed de minimis exemptions for shipments.

The new service builds on the corporate-only launch of Speedpost Direct International, ensuring retail, walk-in customers to SingPost’s post offices now have access to a compliant shipping channel under the new U.S. customs regulations.

Fixed shipping rates for packages up to 2kg

Speedpost Direct International (Retail) enables retail customers to conveniently send parcels to the U.S. using one of two standard packaging options: an envelope or a box, both provided by SingPost at a flat shipping rate.

Customers with existing packaging will still have their items repacked into the standard envelope or box to ensure compliance and facilitate efficient handling.

Speedpost Direct International (Retail) has a flat shipping rate of:

• S$29 for items up to 0.5kg that fit into the standard envelope (16.2 x 22.9cm) or
• S$69 for the standard box (31 x 23 x 9cm) for items up to 2kg
• Each shipment’s value must not exceed more than US$100

“The core benefit of this service is its transparency for retail customers,” said Neo Su Yin, Group Chief Operating Officer, SingPost. “Our post office staff will assist customers in calculating and collecting all necessary duties and taxes upfront, eliminating the surprise of unexpected fees for the recipient. This provides a hassle-free experience from start to finish.”

The two standard packaging options provided by SingPost at a flat shipping rate covers over 80 per cent of the typical size of SingPost’s shipments to the U.S. For customers with more frequent or varied shipping needs, SingPost recommends setting up a corporate account where dedicated account managers can support customers with shipments of different sizes using Speedpost Direct International.

At the post office, for packages above 2kg or valued more than US$100, customers may use the premium Speedpost Express International service instead. Speedpost Express International is a premium service which has express delivery services for delivery to the U.S. within 3-6 days, compared to the more economical, but slightly longer delivery within 8 days for Speedpost Direct International.

Key Steps for Senders @ Post Offices 

To ensure a smooth and efficient process at the post office, customers using the new service must have the following prepared:

• Item(s) for Shipment: Bring your item(s) to be shipped. To ensure compliance, all items will be repackaged into either the standard envelope or small box, regardless of any existing packaging materials
• Country of Origin: Know the country where your item was manufactured. This is a new mandatory requirement for U.S. customs
• HS Code: Have the Harmonised System (HS) Code for your item ready. This 10-digit code is a universal classification for products and is now mandatory for customs clearance. If you do not know the HS Code, our staff will assist you in finding the correct one
• Recipient Information: Provide the full and correct name, address, and contact number of the recipient in the U.S. to ensure accurate delivery

Background to the U.S. Regulatory Changes

This launch follows a significant shift in U.S. customs policy, which on 29 August 2025, suspended the “de minimis” exemption. This exemption previously allowed most international shipments valued under US$800 to enter the U.S. without duties or taxes. The change now subjects all commercial items to duties, taxes, and enhanced scrutiny, which the traditional postal system is not equipped to handle.

To protect customers from potential delays or parcel seizure, SingPost made the proactive decision to suspend standard postal services for commercial items to the U.S. This new suite of Speedpost Direct International services provides a compliant and reliable alternative while the postal networks continue to adapt to the new requirements.

About Singapore Post Limited (SingPost)

Singapore Post (SingPost) is a leading postal and eCommerce logistics provider in Asia Pacific. The portfolio of businesses spans from national and international postal services to warehousing and fulfilment, international freight forwarding and last mile delivery, serving customers in more than 220 global destinations. Headquartered in Singapore, SingPost has approximately 3,000 employees, with presence in 14 markets worldwide. Since its inception in 1858, the Group has evolved and innovated to bring about best-in-class integrated logistics solutions and services, making every delivery count for people and planet. www.singpost.com

KAMPAR, Malaysia, Sept. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — HIKSEMI, a global innovator in storage solutions for industrial control, video surveillance, data centers, and consumer electronics, recently energized the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Kampar campus with a dynamic series of events under the theme “Glow. Grow. Store It All”. More than a reference to the vibrant RGB lighting of its high-performance storage products, the campaign symbolizes HIKSEMI’s deeper mission: to illuminate the inner glow of personal growth, learning, and memory, empowering students not just as users, but as individuals on a journey.

Held from September 10 to 14, the initiative began with a technical seminar demystifying smart storage technologies, real-world industry applications, and future career opportunities in the digital infrastructure sector. The event included a visit to UTAR’s Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, where HIKSEMI explored potential collaborations on network research and data center storage upgrades, reinforcing its commitment to academic-industry synergy.

From September 13 to 14, HIKSEMI took center stage at the university’s charity carnival, donating storage products worth RM50,000 to support students and faculty. The interactive booth showcased HIKSEMI’s full portfolio, including the award-winning D300 SSD, recognized as the 2025 Global Flash Memory Summit’s “SSD Product of the Year,” the rugged Guard series for surveillance, and popular consumer lines such as the gaming-focused FUTURE PCIe 5.0 SSD with speeds up to 14,800MB/s, more than double that of PCIe 4.0. Also on display were the CAPTURE series for photography enthusiasts and the sleek, student-friendly WAVE Series. Through on-site challenges and a short video contest, students shared their personal “glow moments,” highlighting how HIKSEMI preserves the key milestones of their academic and personal journeys.

This outreach reflects HIKSEMI’s strategic focus on Southeast Asia, where it ranks among the top three storage brands in Thailand and partners with icons like esports legend Mushi and Malaysia’s elite Boom Esports team to connect with Gen Z audiences.

“Glow. Grow. Store It All” is more than a slogan. It is a promise to innovate relentlessly, empower youth, and ensure every moment of brilliance is captured and cherished.

SINGAPORE, Sept. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — On the afternoon of August 17, 2025, the “Witnessing the Present” International Youth Photography Competition Award Ceremony was held at the prestigious Inter Art Center/Gallery located in the landmark 798 Art District in Beijing. Jointly organized by the Singapore Good Soil Foundation and Inter Art Center/Gallery, the competition invited middle school to university students aged 15 to 22 from around the world to capture through photography, their perspectives on contemporary life, their dreams for the future, and their reflections on youth and growth.

Event Highlights

The event was co-hosted by Project Initiators Ms. Faye Lo and Mr. Na Risong. At the opening, Mr. Na,  Artistic Director and Curator of Inter Art Center/Gallery, explained the intention behind launching the competition and emphasized the importance of providing a platform for young photography enthusiasts globally. Subsequently, Project Initiator Ms Faye Lo, Founder of Singapore Good Soil Foundation, and Project Co-Initiator Mr. Zack Cao also took the stage to deliver their speeches, sharing their hopes for young people to express themselves through photography and the Foundation’s commitment to promoting the development of the arts for youths.

The event brought together leading figures from the worlds of photography and culture, including renowned photographers Zhu Xianmin, Wang Wenlan, He Yanguang, Xie Hailong, Ren Shulin, Guo Jianshe, Shang Junyi, Hei Ming, Zhang Xulong, Liu Li, Jia Yong, and Zhang Chunyu; Media professional Yang Lang; Professors Zhu Jiong and Jiating from the Beijing Film Academy School of Image Media and Communication; Deputy Editor-in-Chief of China Photography Journal Chai Xuan; Editor-in-Chief of ImageChina Net Cao Xu; Editorial Director of Popular Photography Li Xin; Editor-in-Chief of Photo Friend Liu Dong; China Photography editor Chen Qiushi; prominent blogger Luo Dawei; young photographer and Inter Art Center New Documentaries Prize winner Yang Wenbin; and Witnessing the Present award recipients Huang Anni, Qu Shizhe, and Cao Xuan. In addition, Liu Wenkui, Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, Zhang Boju, Head of the Ginkgo Foundation, Wang Dong, Director of Beijing Stars and Rain Education Institute for Autism, Zheng Yanjun, Partner of KIP Capital and Ren Tao, CEO of Beijing Zhide Lingcheng Cultural Development Co. Ltd also attended the press conference.

Global Participation
Since its launch, the competition has attracted widespread attention and enthusiastic participation from young people across China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, France, the United States, and beyond. Contestants ranged in age from 15 to 22, with the youngest participant just 15 years old.

The judging panel consisted of judges from all around the world, comprising of Mr. Edmund Clark (Renowned British video artist and Postgraduate Tutor of Journalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London (UAL) ), Mr. James Ramer (A Famous American Photographer, Curator and Professor at Parsons School of Design based in New York and Founding Director of the MFA Photography Program), Mr. JY (Jiang Yi) (Renowned Japanese Artist, Doctor of Physics and Representative of the Tokyo School of Painting), Ms. Faye Lo (Founder of the Singapore Good Soil Foundation) and Mr. Na Risong (Artistic Director and Curator of the Inter Art Center/Gallery).

Award Winners
After final deliberation by the five judges, the top three awards went to:

• First Prize: Traces of Light by Chen Beiting (Guilin University of Technology)
• Second Prize: Where the Light Ends by Chen Yumeng (Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts)
• Third Prize (tie): Butterfly Prison by Huang Anni (Beijing City University) and Winter Veins by Li Yuxiang (Guangxi Arts University)

Selected Award-Winning Works
The following showcase selected pieces from the winning works.
For the full showcase of winning works, please click here

Chen Beiting – Traces of Light (First Prize)

Since moving to Guilin for university, I’ve only been able to return home once every six months. As I grow older, memories of the past gradually resurface in my mind, but they come back in fragments. Certain scenes that once moved me continue to stir something within me. The distance of a thousand miles has made me reflect more deeply on the meaning of home and family in my life.

My photographic series Traces of Light uses memory as its vessel. I revisit places that once held those memories, seeking traces of time, layering remembered fragments over present-day scenes. In my recollections, those magical objects often glow, like little time machines guiding us against the current of time’s flow, carrying us back to the hometowns of our memory.

Chen Yumeng – Where the Light Ends (Second Prize)

My visual notebook stitches together the folds of life through fractured perspectives, bringing back everyday fragments, weathered by time, into focus. Within these small, wayward stages, the disorder of objects and the poetics of living merge in a dance of entanglement. As existence itself becomes the developing fluid, each fleeting moment expands in the darkroom, branching into nebula-like roots of narrative.

Huang Anni – Butterfly Prison (Third Prize) [Tie]

I am a person with delicate emotions and strong empathy, yet also lively and cheerful by nature. Growing up immersed in Lingnan culture, however, my life has been shaped by the constant pull between tradition and modernity. In Guangdong’s clan-based culture—like the sprawling roots of a towering tree—tradition permeates daily life: women’s names are rarely recorded in ancestral tablets, my mother busied herself in the kitchen during festivals while men performed the rituals, and conversations about granddaughters inevitably circled back to marriage. Though my own family is relatively egalitarian, I still feel the weight of these unspoken rules during each holiday gathering. Many of my female friends continue to be shaped by such norms, often lacking self-confidence, or developing a people-pleasing disposition. Through my photography, I hope to inspire and encourage them to break free from these constraints, to build confidence, and to live beyond the limits imposed by tradition.

The creative process itself has also been a journey of self-growth. In shaping female figures within my work, I sought to convey a core idea: womanhood is not simply a gender, but a condition. It is a refusal to live under the gaze of gender, to reject objectification, and to resist the shame and expectations imposed on women’s bodies today. In the age of social media, the female body has become a consumable image—what should be healthy and natural is instead distorted into a “perfect figure.”

The butterfly, a creature often symbolizing rebirth and freedom, became a central motif throughout my series. Beyond being a striking visual element, it serves as a symbol carrying my deep yearning for liberation and renewal.

Li Yuxiang – Yu Hui (Third Prize)

Yu Hui is a photo series I created in 2024, documenting my nephew. Living with him day in and day out gave me the chance to observe him closely and truly get to know him.

He is a mischievous and energetic seven-year-old boy, well cared for and protected by his parents. Each day after waking, his greatest priority is to play—free of worries, free of concerns. He finds endless fascination in things I might otherwise dismiss as meaningless: a piece of cardboard, or a pile of pesticide bottles, can keep him happily engaged for hours.

From the outside, I watched him through my lens, capturing the precious qualities of childhood that shine so clearly in him. In his world there are no narrow confines, no constraints, only openness and freedom.

To know more about the Singapore Good Soil Foundation, you can follow them on :

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/nextgenprogram/
Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/@nextgenphilanthropist
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569021872399
Tiktok : https://www.tiktok.com/@nextgen.program?_t=ZS-8v4w5nTX5Kq&_r=1

For further information, please reach out to contact@goodsoilfoundationsg.com

Research uncovers serious vulnerabilities across multiple devices from two major smart home vendors, underscoring the urgent need for stronger IoT and OT security standards.

ALPBACH, Austria, Sept. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — AV-Comparatives has been nominated for the prestigious Euregio Innovation Award at the European Forum Alpbach (EFA). The nomination recognizes AV-Comparatives’ pioneering IoT research and development of an automated test system for the certification of smart home and IoT devices as well as smart city and grid infrastructure.

European Forum Alpbach – Jan Brilke – AV-Comparatives, Pascal Schöttle – MCI, Peter Stelzhammer – AV-Comparatives

Smart home devices such as connected cameras, voice assistants, lighting systems, and thermostats are increasingly common in households. While they bring convenience, they also pose risks if security is not properly implemented. Unsecured devices can be exploited by cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access, steal sensitive information, or even take control of household systems. Vulnerable IoT devices can also be hijacked and used in large-scale botnet attacks, threatening not only individual users but also critical infrastructures.

In collaboration with MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®, AV-Comparatives developed an advanced, automated system for testing and certifying IoT devices. This innovative platform evaluates how well devices protect user data and resist cyberattacks. During the research, the team uncovered serious vulnerabilities in devices from two major smart home vendors — highlighting the urgent need for stronger standards and independent certification. The full research findings will be published later this year.

“Our nomination for the Euregio Innovation Award is a strong validation of our mission: ensuring that connected technologies are tested to the highest standards,” said Jan Brilke, COO of AV-Comparatives. “With smart home devices becoming part of daily life, the risks of poor security are no longer theoretical. Our new IoT test system helps protect consumers while giving manufacturers a clear path to deliver safer, more trustworthy products.”

“The collaboration between MCI and AV-Comparatives shows how applied research and industry expertise can come together to solve pressing societal challenges,” added Pascal Schöttle, MCI. “With billions of IoT devices entering households and businesses worldwide, rigorous testing and certification are essential to safeguard both users and infrastructures.”

The Euregio Innovation Award is presented annually at the European Forum Alpbach to honor groundbreaking projects that combine research excellence, cross-border collaboration, and societal impact.

Call to Action

AV-Comparatives invites IoT manufacturers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to engage with its upcoming research and certification framework. By working together, the industry can ensure that innovation in smart home technology goes hand in hand with consumer safety and data protection.

Interested manufacturers can also contact AV-Comparatives to have their products undergo a free basic assessment.

Contact us via iot@av-comparatives.org for an overview of the certification program

About AV-Comparatives

AV-Comparatives is an internationally recognized independent testing laboratory, providing systematic testing to check whether security software, such as PC/Mac-based antivirus products, live up to their promises. Founded in Innsbruck, Austria, the organization is a globally trusted authority in IT security evaluation.

About MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®

MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® brings together academia, business, and consulting in a unique concept that bridges theory and practice, science and industry. As one of Austria’s leading universities of applied sciences, MCI has a strong track record in fostering innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives.

Mediacontact: Peter Stelzhammer, media@av-comparatives.org, +43512287788