Turn pointless meetings, nightmare coworkers, and corporate clich?s against your friends in a fast, brutal party game for 2-5 players

MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pleiades Interactive announced that Employee Disposal Program, the party game HR definitely did not approve, is available through the Pleiades Interactive online store and hobby stores worldwide for $44.99 / ?34.99.

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign that attracted more than 3,500 employees-in-training and raised over $200,000, Employee Disposal Program turns the shared misery of working life into a fast-paced tabletop battle. Pointless meetings. Passive-aggressive coworkers. Corporate bootlickers. Karen from HR. The colleague who refuses to end the video call. They're all here.

Watch the Employee Disposal Program trailer here:

YouTube | Download

Designed for 2?5 players, Employee Disposal Program takes less than five minutes to learn, with games typically lasting 5?30 minutes. Every employee begins with five cards and two precious Sanity Cards. Draw a card, take an action, and try to destroy your coworkers' Sanity before they destroy yours.

Lose both Sanity Cards and congratulations: you're fired. No severance provided.

With more than 130 illustrated cards, players can attack colleagues with recognizable workplace horrors, protect themselves with questionable corporate defenses, redirect the blame, or use abilities to send the entire office into chaos.

One moment, a Credit Vampire may be making somebody else's job miserable. The next, a Corporate Bootlicker could save an employee from disaster. Other cards turn familiar workplace stereotypes and frustrations into increasingly absurd ways to make sure everyone else has a worse day than you.

Every card is illustrated by artist Zayane, bringing exaggerated coworkers, corporate jargon, and everyday work frustrations to life. Because apparently suffering through them once at work wasn't enough.

Management Has Approved Additional Workplace Misery

The Deluxe Edition includes the Work From Home and Retail & Hospitality Workers expansions, each adding 30 new cards inspired by their own special brands of professional suffering, from endless video calls to impossible customers. It also includes all three bonus mini-packs unlocked during the Kickstarter campaign.

Those optional packs introduce even more ways to make the workplace unstable. Corporate Politics cards can impose new rules across the entire game, while secret Job Role cards give each employee a unique one-time power to deploy when they need it most.

And getting fired doesn't necessarily mean your work here is done.

With the Redundant Employee Pack, the first player eliminated can return as a vengeful former employee, drawing from a separate deck to continue causing pain and misery for everyone fortunate enough to still have a job.

Employee Disposal Program Key Features

Survive the Corporate Ladder: Every employee has two Sanity Cards. Destroy your coworkers' Sanity before they destroy yours, or prepare for immediate termination.

Weaponize the Workplace: Attack colleagues with corporate nightmares, block incoming attacks with ridiculous defenses, redirect the blame, and use abilities to derail the entire workday.

Get Onboarded in Under Five Minutes: Simple rules get new employees playing quickly, with matches typically lasting 5?30 minutes.

130+ Illustrated Cards: Workplace stereotypes, pointless corporate behavior, and professional misery are brought to life by artist Zayane.

Stir Up Office Politics: Optional Corporate Politics cards can introduce new rules that affect everyone at the table.

Everyone Has an Agenda: Secret Job Roles give employees special one-time powers to deploy when office politics get particularly ugly.

Getting Fired Isn't the End: The Redundant Employee Pack lets the first eliminated player come back and continue tormenting their former colleagues.

Two More Departments to Suffer Through: The Deluxe Edition includes both the Work From Home and Retail & Hospitality Workers expansions.

Perfect for Team Building*: Bring it to the next office party and discover exactly how much your coworkers have been holding against you. *HR approval not guaranteed.

"After years of watching corporate life unfold around us, we decided the healthiest response was obviously to turn it into a game," said Raj Singh, Director at Pleiades Interactive. "Employee Disposal Program takes the frustrations almost everyone recognizes from work and lets players weaponize them against their friends. It's fast, chaotic, ridiculous, and hopefully more enjoyable than another meeting that should have been an email."

Employee Disposal Program is available now for $44.99 / ?34.99 through the Pleiades Interactive online store and hobby stores worldwide.

Assets for Employee Disposal Program are available here: https://uberstrategist.link/Employee-Disposal-Program-Press-Kit

About Employee Disposal Program

Employee Disposal Program is a fast, brutal party game for anyone who has ever suffered through office politics, pointless meetings, or nightmarish coworkers. Players weaponize workplace frustrations against their friends, defend themselves with ridiculous corporate solutions, and stir up office politics while trying to protect their Sanity and avoid getting fired. Think of it as group therapy for people with jobs, except destroying your coworkers' careers is encouraged.

About Pleiades Interactive

Pleiades Interactive creates visually distinctive, irreverent games for adult audiences, turning the shared miseries of modern life into experiences people can laugh about together. Rather than sanding down adult themes, profanity, or aggressive humor to appeal to everyone, the studio creates games that know exactly who they are for.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Source: CGTN

BEIJING, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - In Rongjiang, a county in Guizhou, southwest China, soccer is bringing communities together and creating new opportunities for local businesses.

From packed stadiums to traditional music and dance, the Village Super League is about much more than the game; it's a celebration of local culture, community spirit and hometown pride.

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

Hashtags: #CGTN

The company introduces a suite of AI products to close the conversation gap across Zoom Workplace, customer experience, developer tools, and events

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today at its annual Zoomtopia customer conference, Zoom Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM), a leading AI-first platform for human connection, introduced a new Unified Context Layer and several new products with AI-powered capabilities.

The new offerings are designed to help businesses transform rich meeting context into meaningful deliverables that help accelerate work outcomes.

Business conversations drive critical decisions and build customer history every day. A customer interaction might start in a meeting, continue by phone, and carry on in chat threads. But when that context is scattered across applications, people and AI agents lose the thread and teams spend significant time piecing together what happened, when it happened, and what they should do about it.

Zoom's new Unified Context Layer helps close that gap by linking conversation history with relevant documents and data. Together, these sources give people and AI agents a fuller picture of the work and what needs to happen next.

This new layer brings together conversations with near real-time activity across Zoom and connected third-party applications, giving people and AI agents access to business context that might otherwise be lost or siloed. Configurable settings and controls help manage access, while coordination among AI agents turns business context into actionable insights.

Zoom is increasingly becoming a system of action as organizations, large and small, put the company's AI tools to work at scale.

Zoom Virtual Agent customer count has surged by 256%1, and users who leverage Zoom's various AI tools report completing tasks twice as fast, with 72% citing high or extremely high business impact, compared with a market average of 63%2. Zoom is expecting to surpass $5 billion in annual revenue this year.

With a growing enterprise footprint across industries from healthcare to financial services, retail, and education, the company is advancing its vision for workplace productivity, one where the line between conversation and execution shrinks.

"AI models are only as powerful as their understanding of your business, and that context makes all the difference," said Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom. "Fragmented product experiences isolate conversations, stall decisions, and drag businesses down. Today, with the Unified Context Layer, we're laying the groundwork for a system of action designed to turn conversations into completed work."

"Our teams have the information they need, but it's often dispersed across meetings, notes, and different systems," said Christine Sarros, senior vice president of Enterprise Engineering, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. "Zoom's new solutions could help bring that context together, so teams can enter customer conversations with a clearer understanding of what's been discussed, what's been decided, and what needs to happen next. We see an opportunity to spend less time reconstructing history and more time helping our customers move forward."

At Zoomtopia, Zoom is bringing this vision to life with innovations across collaboration, AI, customer experience, and events. The announcements below show how it all connects business context to the tools and workflows people actually use to get work done.

Give people and AI agents context to turn conversations into action

Every meeting, chat, and document leaves a trail of discussion, decisions, and action items. Zoom's Unified Context Layer accesses this information to help people and AI agents quickly move from context to clarity to action.

The Unified Context Layer makes work even more efficient when used with the newly introduced capabilities that include:

Follow the meeting: Delivers personalized transcripts and summaries for users who miss all or parts of a meeting. (Expected December 2026.)

Enriched notes: Links shared screens, slides, charts, and in-meeting chat to relevant moments in a searchable transcript. (Expected November 2026.)

My Notes hardware integrations: Extends My Notes to in-person conversations through new devices from DTEN and Bota. (Expected November 2026 and Q1 2027, respectively.)

My Notes Workflows: Turn meeting summaries into follow-up work in everyday tools like Zoom Chat and Salesforce, with ready-made workflows for sales, marketing, and IT, or custom ones created by describing what to automate in natural language, no separate workflow builder needed to get started. (Expected October 2026.)

New Zoom Chat experience: A refreshed chat experience designed to help surface relevant conversations and bring AI agents directly into discussions to take actions based on administrator-defined controls. (Expected December 2026.)

ZoomMate Agent Teams: Specialized AI agents that work together in an AI team to support faster execution of work. (Available now.)

Bring Zoom capabilities into the AI tools businesses already use

Developers and AI agents can now access Zoom capabilities outside the Zoom app. Through APIs and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, teams can connect scheduling, transcription, search, administration, and contact center actions to other AI environments and workflows. Highlights include:

MCP Servers: With new MCP servers across the portfolio, developers and AI agents can coordinate actions outside the Zoom UI. (Available now.)

Connections to AI Assistants: Use supported Zoom capabilities within AI environments, including Claude, Codex, Copilot, and Muse. (Expected October 2026.)

Search & Ask APIs: Query Zoom's Unified Context Layer directly from Claude, GPT, Codex, Muse, MS Copilot, Gemini, and Slackbot, as well as MCP-compatible agents. (Available now.)

Zoom Admin MCP Server: Perform admin tasks conversationally. (Expected October 2026.)

Reduce barriers to natural, engaging conversation

To help users show up as their best in meetings, Zoom is making conversations clearer, more natural, and more inclusive, with AI driving more meaningful outcomes. These new enhancements strengthen the foundation for the unified context layer with:

Voice Translator: "Translate Me" enables a speaker to translate their audio for all participants using a synthesized version of their own voice, designed to preserve a natural feel. (Expected October 2026.)

Pose Correction: Subtly adjusts a user's video when they glance away from the camera, helping maintain a camera-forward appearance. (Expected December 2026.)

Touch up my Voice: Users can use this feature to alter their own voice with real-time accent smoothing so speakers come through more clearly and naturally. (Expected December 2026.)

High-quality screen sharing: Enhanced media support for 60 frames per second screen sharing. (Available now.)

Live Meeting AI Agent: Proactive meeting assistance that helps find answers, keep meetings on track, and nudge engagement. (Expected Q1 2027.)

Carry customer history from one interaction to the next

Customer service breaks down when customers have to constantly repeat themselves, and agents have to reconstruct past interactions Zoom CX extends shared customer context across a variety of channels, including live and AI agents, providing a broader view of the past and present to help inform future outcomes. Highlights include:

Customer Profiles: Brings dynamic customer profiles into Zoom CX with real-time context across channels and interactions. (Expected November 2026.)

CX Insights Transcript Intelligence: Automatically classifies voice, chat, and email transcripts and makes them queryable in natural language, joined with operational data, such as handle time, queue, and outcome. (Expected November 2026.)

Zoom Virtual Agent - Kiosk: Brings AI-powered self-service to physical retail locations via branded kiosk agents, resolving customer requests on the spot without relying on

in-store staff. (Expected November 2026.)

Give businesses control as AI takes on more work

Zoom is adding new management controls that enable administrators to manage AI activity across the account while supporting customers' existing guardrails and data-classification policies. Highlights include:

Centralized AI Management: Provides administrators with greater control over how AI features are configured and used across the organization. (Expected December 2026.)

Sensitivity Labels: Seamlessly sync with Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels or create native labels in Zoom, then automatically enforce policies based on the sensitivity of meetings and content. (Available now for select Zoom Workplace customers.)

AI Guardrails: Set account-level rules governing what AI can generate or use in its responses. (Expected Q1 2027.)

Deepfake Risk Detection: Introduce deepfake risk detection tools designed to help flag potential synthetic media across hiring, customer experience, and meeting scenarios. (Expected December 2026.)

Zoom Compliance Manager support for My Notes and Zoom Canvas: Archives and monitors AI-generated summaries, notes, and documents to help address organization's own retention and supervision requirements3. (Expected January 2027.)

Extend the business value of events beyond the closing session

Most of what happens at a live event disappears the moment it ends. Zoom Events now brings powerful AI functionality to event planning, content creation, and analytics. These capabilities help reduce the amount of heavy setup work involved and extend the value of event content long after sessions end. Highlights include:

Content Studio: Turn one recording into a multi-language, multi-format asset library. (Expected October 2026.)

Agentic Event Setup: Use AI to help configure event details, from sessions to registration, before launch. (Expected November 2026.)

AI Analytics for Events: Query event data in plain language, score engagement, and generate shareable reports, cutting post-event analysis time significantly. (Available now.)

Taken together, today's launches represent a significant step for Zoom toward becoming a system of action for modern work by connecting conversations to the work that follows, across roles and industries. For more information on announcements from Zoomtopia 2026, visit the Zoom newsroom.

About Zoom

Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) is a system of action for modern work, turning live collaboration into completed results. From entrepreneurs to global enterprises, customers choose Zoom to seamlessly collaborate, communicate, and drive outcomes across meetings, phone, contact center, and more - all with the built-in assistance of Zoom AI. Founded in 2011, Zoom is headquartered in San Jose, CA. For more information, visit zoom.com.

_____________________

1 2QFY27 Earnings Report

2 According to Zoom's 2026 GenAI ROI Study (a quantitative survey of 500 U.S.-based knowledge workers).

3 Zoom Compliance Manager is not a substitute for independent legal or compliance review.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denodo, the AI data layer company, announced the findings of a comprehensive independent study conducted by research firm Veqtor8.

The research report, titled "The ROI of an AI Data Layer for Agentic AI," reveals that enterprise deployment of a governed AI Data Layer delivers a 290% return on investment (ROI) over three years, enables 3x faster agent deployment velocity, and achieves a 68% reduction in AI operating costs.

As enterprises transition from experimental generative AI pilots to running populations of autonomous and semi-autonomous agents in production, reliable access to live, governed, and semantically consistent enterprise data has emerged as a primary bottleneck.

Based on in-depth interviews with enterprise practitioners, hyperscalers, and technology partners across global banks, telecommunications groups, chemical manufacturers, and logistics leaders, Veqtor8's research quantifies the economic and operational advantages of implementing Denodo's AI Data Layer compared to fragmented, custom-built architectures.

Key Findings and Economic Impact

The research constructs a composite enterprise financial model, representing the average size of all enterprises interviewed. This model scaled from 100 agents in Year 1 to 900 agents in Year 3 across 100 distributed enterprise data sources. Key quantitative outcomes over a three-year period include:

2.9X More Business Value Generated from AI Initiatives: Comprising both net cost avoidance and total business value added.

3X Faster Agent Deployment: Agents reach production three times faster by leveraging pre-built, reusable data products instead of building custom integrations for each deployment.

68% Lower AI Operating Costs: By delegating queries directly to the AI Data Layer and filtering data prior to model ingestion, context payloads per task drop from -18,000 tokens to -5,760 tokens, and compute costs drop by a similar amount.

>75% Integration & Governance Cost Avoidance: Eliminates connector proliferation and MCP server sprawl, reducing maintenance costs by 79% and policy administration effort by 76%.

Overcoming the "MCP Server Sprawl" Challenge

Without a unified logical data layer, enterprise agents require custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, RAG pipelines, and per-agent security controls for every underlying data source. In regulated industries where a single production agent may touch 30 to 50 disparate cloud, SaaS, legacy, and operational systems, this approach causes severe integration drag and governance vulnerabilities.

"Agents are only as effective as the data they can reach," said Andrew Milroy, Chief Analyst at Veqtor8 and author of the report. "Connecting an individual system is straightforward, but orchestrating dozens of systems into a coherent, reliable workflow under consistent security policies is extraordinarily complex. Denodo's AI Data Layer abstracts this complexity, allowing enterprises to profile data once and reuse governed data products across every agent entitled to access them."

"Enterprises cannot afford to choose between speed, governance, and cost efficiency when scaling AI," said Alberto Pan, Chief Technology Officer at Denodo. "By unifying access, semantics, and centralized policy enforcement across distributed data estates without requiring massive data relocation, the Denodo Platform provides the essential foundation for trusted, enterprise-grade AI agents."

Research Report Availability

To download a complimentary copy of the full Veqtor8 research report, "The ROI of an AI Data Layer for Agentic AI," please visit denodo.com.

About Denodo

Denodo is the AI data layer company. The award-winning Denodo Platform powers trustworthy agents and applications, transforming enterprise data into reliable insights for analytics and self-service. For more information, visit denodo.com.

About Veqtor8

Veqtor8 is an independent advisory and insights platform focused on AI, data management, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure. Veqtor8 helps organisations become AI-ready, optimize their data strategies and strengthen digital resilience through practical, independent research, executive workshops, reports and presentations.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

DUBAI, Uni Emirat Arab, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GTCFX dengan bangga mengumumkan pengangkatan Charbel Raffoul sebagai Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Pengangkatan ini menandai pencapaian penting dalam perkembangan perusahaan yang berkelanjutan serta komitmennya terhadap keunggulan operasional, kepemimpinan yang kuat, dan pertumbuhan internasional.

Berbekal pengalaman hampir dua dekade di industri jasa keuangan, Charbel memiliki keahlian yang luas dalam tata kelola perusahaan, kepatuhan terhadap regulasi, operasional keuangan, dan manajemen strategis. Pengangkatan ini semakin memperkuat tim pimpinan eksekutif GTCFX dalam mendukung upaya perusahaan mencapai tujuan strategis jangka panjang dan memperluas kapabilitasnya di pasar keuangan global.

Pengalaman Luas di Berbagai Lembaga Keuangan Terkemuka

Sebelum bergabung dengan GTCFX, Charbel menjabat sebagai Chief Compliance Officer & Financial Crime di Equiti. Selama lebih dari delapan tahun berkarier di perusahaan tersebut, beliau berkontribusi dalam pengembangan kerangka kerja kepatuhan, manajemen risiko kepatuhan, serta praktik regulasi.

Karier profesionalnya juga mencakup sejumlah posisi senior di berbagai lembaga keuangan ternama, termasuk sebagai Director di ADS Securities, Head of Compliance di Alpari ME, dan Back Office Manager di Swissquote.

Sepanjang kariernya, Charbel telah mengembangkan keahlian yang bernilai dalam operasional jasa keuangan, pengawasan regulasi, manajemen risiko, dan tata kelola organisasi. Pengalamannya di berbagai bidang dalam industri ini memberikan fondasi yang kuat untuk memimpin GTCFX dan mendukung perkembangan perusahaan yang berkelanjutan.

Mendorong Pencapaian Visi Global GTCFX

Sebagai Chief Executive Officer, Charbel akan mengarahkan strategi GTCFX dengan berfokus pada penguatan kapabilitas operasional, pengembangan inovasi, peningkatan tata kelola perusahaan, serta dukungan terhadap pengembangan bisnis internasional.

Kepemimpinannya akan berkontribusi pada upaya berkelanjutan perusahaan untuk meningkatkan efisiensi operasional, memperkuat hubungan dengan klien dan mitra, serta memberikan nilai jangka panjang melalui layanan profesional dan praktik bisnis yang bertanggung jawab.

Dengan memadukan pengetahuan luas di industri ini dan pemahaman yang kuat tentang standar regulasi serta operasional, Charbel menghadirkan perspektif berharga untuk mendukung perkembangan GTCFX yang berkelanjutan di sektor jasa keuangan global.

Pengangkatan ini mencerminkan komitmen GTCFX untuk membangun tim pemimpin yang berpengalaman dan mampu mendukung ambisi strategis perusahaan sekaligus mempertahankan standar profesionalisme, integritas, dan transparansi yang tinggi.

Berbekal Pengalaman, Melangkah Maju dengan Percaya Diri

GTCFX terus berupaya memperluas kehadirannya di pasar internasional dan memperkuat kapabilitas organisasi. Dalam upaya tersebut, perusahaan tetap menempatkan kepemimpinan eksekutif yang berpengalaman sebagai elemen penting untuk mencapai visi jangka panjangnya.

Latar belakang profesional, pengetahuan industri, dan pengalaman manajemen Charbel akan berperan penting dalam mendukung tahap perkembangan perusahaan selanjutnya.

GTCFX menyambut hangat Charbel Raffoul sebagai Chief Executive Officer dan menantikan kontribusi kepemimpinannya dalam membentuk babak baru yang ditandai dengan inovasi, kemajuan, dan pertumbuhan global yang berkelanjutan.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Inaugural Year Marked by Significant Progress in Case Administration, Capacity Building and International Engagement

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - The International Organization for Mediation (IOMed) today hosted the IOMed 1st Anniversary Celebration at its headquarters in Hong Kong. The Hon John KC Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour.

Professor Teresa Cheng, Secretary-General of IOMed, Mr Cui Jianchun, Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the HKSAR, the Hon Andrew Cheung, Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and more than 140 guests from Contracting States and Signatory States to the IOMed Convention, diplomatic missions, government agencies, the legal and dispute resolution community, and the business sector, celebrated the first anniversary of IOMed together, reflecting on its achievements in the inaugural year, and reaffirming their shared commitment to advancing peace, cooperation and common development through dialogue.

Celebrating an Important Milestone

Professor Teresa Cheng, the Hon John KC Lee, and Mr Cui Jianchun delivered remarks celebrating this memorable moment.

Chief Executive remarked that, "The IOMed is a vital platform for promoting global peace and prosperity. And the HKSAR Government will continue to support the IOMed, in keeping with the National 15th Five-Year Plan and Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan. Hong Kong, after all, is the world's only Chinese‑English, bilingual common law jurisdiction. And our status as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre is internationally recognised."

Professor Cheng stated, "IOMed will continue to provide accessible, efficient, and effective mediation services, strengthen international partnerships, and promote mediation through capacity building and the exchange of experiences."

Commissioner Cui Jianchun said in his speech that "Over the past year, we have witnessed the International Organization for Mediation transition from vision to reality through the 'ACE' framework-Accession, Cases, and Ecosystem. As the host country, China remains fully committed to supporting IOMed's long-term goals, injecting positive legal energy into peaceful dispute settlement and contributing to a shared community for humanity."

Since its inauguration one year ago, IOMed has continued to promote the peaceful settlement of international disputes through mediation. In an increasingly complex and evolving international environment, mediation plays an important role as an amicable, effective and flexible means of dispute resolution. By promoting dialogue and mutually beneficial solutions, mediation can help bridge differences, build trust, and strengthen international cooperation.

Successful Stories in IOMed-Administered Mediation

IOMed is the world's first intergovernmental legal organization dedicated to resolving international disputes through mediation. Since commencing operations, IOMed has received multiple cases and facilitated the successful settlement of more than one case, including its first case of international maritime dispute. The case involved enterprises from China, a Contracting State of IOMed, and Singapore, a non-signatory State. With the assistance of the mediator, the parties reached an amicable settlement efficiently through mediation, demonstrating the effectiveness of mediation as a means of resolving complex cross-border commercial disputes.

The case also reflects the openness and inclusiveness of IOMed as an independent international organization. Subject to the consent of the parties concerned, disputes involving non-Contracting States and their nationals may also be submitted to IOMed for mediation. A growing number of cases have since been submitted to IOMed, reflecting increasing confidence in its mediation mechanism and professional services.

Expanding Global Cooperation Network

Growing confidence in IOMed is also reflected in the continued expansion of its international cooperation network. To date, the number of Signatory and Acceding States has increased to 48, while the number of Contracting States has reached 18, spanning Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Europe.

The Global Mediation Summit, hosted by IOMed in May 2026, brought together participants from more than 60 countries and regions, demonstrating broad international recognition of and support for mediation. In addition, IOMed delegations conducted outreach visits to 15 countries, attending international conferences and engaging government officials, local business community and legal professionals. At the same time, its Headquarters welcomed more than 2,500 visitors from around the world.

Through cooperation with other international organizations and partners, IOMed has delivered a range of training programmes on inter-State mediation and investor-State mediation for its member States. It has also launched platforms for intellectual exchanges, such as Dialogue with Mediators and the IOMed Global Dialogue Series, supporting sharing of knowledge and best practices with a view to promoting the use of mediation.

Contributing to Hong Kong's Development as the "Global Capital of Mediation"

As the first intergovernmental organization headquartered in Hong Kong, IOMed's achievements during its inaugural year also underscore the unique strengths of Hong Kong, the host city of the Organization, as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre and a bridge connecting different legal systems and cultures.

Based on the 2026 Policy Address and Hong Kong's first Five-Year Plan, the Hong Kong SAR will continue to render full support to the work of the IOMed headquartered in Hong Kong, building a Global Capital of Mediation. IOMed welcomes this strategic direction and is confident that IOMed and Hong Kong will continue to make significant contribution to each other's development and success.

Fostering a Global Mediation Ecosystem

Looking ahead, IOMed will continue its efforts to foster a global mediation ecosystem. Through international exchanges and cooperation, as well as training and capacity-building initiatives, IOMed will continue to promote the use of mediation among governments, the business community, the legal profession and other stakeholders, with a view to enhancing global awareness and understanding of mediation.

IOMed is preparing to launch the IOMed Moot, a mediation moot competition, to promote the culture of mediation among the youth and cultivate next-generation professionals. In addition, IOMed will continue to organize events under IOMed Global Series and Dialogue with Mediators, providing platforms for professional exchange and collaboration, and contributing to a more effective and inclusive framework for the resolution of international disputes.

Hosting IOMed Forum in December 2026

On 8 December 2026 (Tuesday), IOMed will host the inauguraledition of its signature event IOMed Forum under the theme "Mediation for Peace and Prosperity - The New Frontier" in Hong Kong. The Forum will bring together government officials, legal experts, business leaders and international stakeholders to exchange insights on the future of international mediation. Interested participants are invited to save the date and register via the link: https://bit.ly/IOMedForum.

*Five-year research project unites 42 public and private partners across 17 countries to conduct 22 clinical studies involving 14,000+ patients; first patients will be enrolled this month

*Project aims to help cardiac patients avoid deterioration through early, personalized interventions delivered across the cardiac care journey

Interventions will be co-created with patients and designed to systematically address socioeconomic, sex- and gender-related and digital access gaps

*With a total budget of EUR 27.6 million, the project is co-funded by the European Union Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) and industry partners

*Circle CVI brings expertise in AI-enabled cardiovascular MR and CT image analysis, supporting the consortium's focus on earlier diagnosis, personalized risk assessment and imaging-guided care.

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Circle Cardiovascular Imaging (Circle CVI), a provider of AI-enabled cardiovascular imaging software, today announced its participation in EXIT-CVD, a five-year research project bringing together 42 public and private partners across 17 countries.

Co-funded by the European Union's Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) and industry partners, the consortium is led by University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and Philips and aims to transform how cardiovascular disease is detected, monitored and treated.

The project will conduct 22 clinical studies involving more than 14,000 patients, investigating opportunities to prevent disease before it develops, reverse disease progression or halt deterioration in advanced disease. Patient enrollment for the first studies is scheduled to begin in October 2026.

Cardiovascular health is fundamental to overall health and well-being, yet more than 60 million people in the European Union are living with cardiovascular disease. For many, the condition significantly reduces quality of life and well-being. Without early detection, timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment, cardiovascular disease can progress silently from early risk factors to established disease and ultimately, cardiac events that may lead to premature death.

"Our vision is a future where heart disease is no longer an irreversible pathway," said Professor Pim van der Harst, Project Coordinator of EXIT-CVD and Head of Cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen. "By understanding both the biological and social drivers of cardiovascular disease, and deploying integrated innovations across diagnostics, monitoring, and care, we can empower patients and clinicians to exit the disease continuum before it's too late."

"For more than 30 years, we have viewed cardiovascular disease as a continuous journey, from risk factors such as hypertension, to atherosclerosis, a first cardiac event and ultimately, for many patients, heart failure," said Robin Nijveldt, Chief of Cardiology at UMC Utrecht. "Yet most of us improve care within our own specialty and rarely have a complete view of the patient's experience. EXIT-CVD is an ambitious effort to build that holistic view together, helping transform cardiac care for millions of patients across Europe."

The EXIT-CVD clinical studies will focus on the three key exit points along the cardiac care journey: early detection through digital monitoring (early exit), personalized risk assessment and targeted interventions (mid exit), and advanced therapies to support recovery in later-stage disease (late exit). By combining diagnostics, digital tools and advanced therapeutic approaches, EXIT-CVD aims to deliver actionable, evidence-based strategies that can be implemented across diverse healthcare systems in Europe.

Innovation that reaches everyone

New diagnostics and digital tools often reach well-resourced populations first, widening gaps in access and outcomes. The project will therefore embed implementation science and equity-by-design principles to ensure that the solutions are scalable, sustainable, and accessible to all relevant populations, including those historically underserved. A digitally enabled, FAIR-compliant data platform aligned with the European Health Data Space (EHDS) will support the integration, evaluation, and real-world scalability of the project's innovations.

"Advanced cardiovascular imaging can help clinicians understand not only what disease looks like today, but how it may progress and where intervention could make a difference," said Erkan Akyuz, CEO at Circle Cardiovascular Imaging. "EXIT-CVD brings together the clinical, technology and patient perspectives needed to explore those opportunities across the care journey. We are proud to join this collaboration and bring our expertise in AI-enabled image analysis to its ambition of earlier, more personalized cardiovascular care."

Circle CVI brings expertise in AI-enabled cardiovascular image analysis through its cvi42 platform, which combines cardiac MR and CT analysis, coronary plaque quantification, and tools for structural heart and electrophysiology procedure planning within a unified environment. Its capabilities include assessment of cardiac function, blood flow, myocardial tissue characteristics and coronary artery disease, helping clinicians translate complex imaging data into quantitative findings. This expertise aligns EXIT-CVD's emphasis on imaging-guided disease stratification and personalized clinical decision-making.

Clinical studies

The EXIT-CVD research consortium will conduct a total of 22 clinical studies involving more than 14,000 patients across Europe, including:

Camera-Based In-Hospital Monitoring (CARDIO-CAM study): Deployment and evaluation of an unobtrusive, video-based patient monitoring system that continuously captures cardiorespiratory signals and relevant clinical context.

Spectral CT for Early Detection, Risk Stratification and Personalized Patient Care Pathways (LEADER-PAD study): Development and validation of new approaches for the early detection of cardiovascular disease in asymptomatic and low risk symptomatic patients using spectral CT.

Nurse/HCP-Led Remote Heart Failure Monitoring (REMODEL-HF study): Multinational randomized study evaluating the Heart Failure Management System (HFMS), a non-invasive remote monitoring technology, in patients recently hospitalized for heart failure, with the objective of improving outcomes and optimizing guideline-directed medical therapy.

Imaging-Guided PCI Randomized Trial (GUIDANCE-PCCT study): Evaluation of clinical and procedural outcomes of PCI guided by photon counting CT versus standard angiography-guided PCI.

Advanced Imaging in Infiltrative Cardiomyopathies (NOTIFY-2 study): Validation of AI-driven image and ECG analysis algorithms to improve early diagnosis of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) and underlying disease risk stratification.

Consortium partners

The IHI EXIT-CVD public-private partnership comprises 42 partner organizations from 17 countries:

Clinical and academic partners: Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Spain), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), University of Pavia (Italy), Centro Cardiologico Monzino (Italy), EOC (Switzerland), KU Leuven (Belgium), NIKARD (Poland), UMC Utrecht (Netherlands), UMC Groningen (Netherlands), Technical University Eindhoven (Netherlands), Universit?tsklinikum K?ln (Germany), King's College London (UK), London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), and Varsinais-Suomen Hyvinvointialue (Finland).

Industry partners: Philips, Circle CVI, GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, HeartBeam, Medtronic, Huawei, XVIVO Perfusion, AstraZeneca, Cardiomed, Megi Health, Viatris, Cordys, Novartis, Corbotics, ZOLL, Sanofi, Repairon, Johnson & Johnson MedTech Heart Recovery, Onsentia, and CogStack

Healthcare consultancy: Bridg Ou and IQVIA Solutions

Patient organization: Stichting VrouwenHart

Medical association: European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

More information can be viewed on the EXIT-CVD website.

This project is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) under grant agreement No 101253160. The JU receives support from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program and COCIR, EFPIA, Europa B?o, MedTech Europe, and Vaccines Europe. Funded by the European Union, the private members, and those contributing partners of the IHI JU. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the aforementioned parties. Neither of the aforementioned parties can be held responsible for them.

Circle Cardiovascular Imaging (Circle CVI) develops AI-enabled software for cardiovascular image analysis, visualization and reporting. Its flagship platform, cvi42, brings together cardiac MR, cardiac CT, vascular CT, structural heart planning and electrophysiology planning tools in a unified, vendor-neutral environment. Designed for clinical and research workflows, Circle's solutions combine automated analysis, quantitative assessment and integrated reporting to support efficient, reproducible cardiovascular imaging. For more information, visit www.circlecvi.com.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

TORONTO, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carlyle Coutinho, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of Enwave Energy Corporation (Enwave), has been named the 2026 Ontario Energy Association (OEA) Leader of the Year, becoming the first CEO of a dedicated district energy company to receive the honour.

The recognition reflects Coutinho's leadership in advancing innovative, large-scale energy solutions and in elevating the role district energy can play in meeting Ontario's and Canada's energy needs.

The OEA Leader of the Year award, one of the highest honours in Canada's energy sector, recognizes individuals who demonstrate vision, innovation, collaboration and a strong commitment to customers.

Under Coutinho's leadership, Enwave has recently delivered several major projects that highlight the value of district energy in Ontario's energy system:

Expanded Enwave's Deep Lake Water Cooling (DLWC) system through the construction of a fourth intake pipe, increasing the system's cooling capacity by approximately 60%. The DLWC system eliminates approximately 50 MW of electrical demand relative to a business-as-usual commercial office chiller plant.

Commissioned the Enwave Green Heat Plant at Pearl Street Energy Centre, where large-scale heat pumps recover waste heat from district cooling customers and reuse it to provide low-carbon heat to other district-connected buildings. The facility can also reduce its grid electricity draw by up to approximately 6 MW during peak demand periods by dispatching non-electrical, on-site energy sources, without interrupting hot water service.

Developed a large-scale thermal battery at The Well, a mixed-use development in downtown Toronto, which stores heating and cooling energy for use when it delivers the greatest benefit to customers and the electricity system.

"I'm honoured to receive this recognition from the OEA, and proud to share it with the Enwave team. Their expertise and commitment, together with the collaboration of our customers and partners, make these achievements possible," said Carlyle Coutinho, CEO of Enwave and past Chair of the International District Energy Association. "District energy has an important role to play as the need for reliable, affordable and secure clean energy grows in Ontario and around the world. By recovering heat, storing energy and sharing it across buildings, we can deliver cost-effective heating and cooling while helping ease demand on the electricity grid."

As electricity demand and building electrification grow, Ontario will need solutions that make more efficient use of existing and new energy infrastructure. By serving multiple buildings through shared equipment, recovering otherwise wasted heat from hospitals, data centres and other district cooling customers, and shifting electricity use away from peak periods, district energy offers a practical path to electrifying heating and cooling.

Looking ahead, Enwave is bringing its district energy model to more communities. In 2027, the company plans to commission two new systems in Ontario, at Lakeview Village in Mississauga and the Etobicoke Civic Centre in Toronto, extending district heating and cooling to new customers while supporting grid reliability. Enwave is also constructing an upgraded energy-from-waste facility in Prince Edward Island, intended to double the waste processing capacity of its existing district energy system there.

About Enwave

Enwave is one of the largest commercial owners and operators of community-based district energy systems in North America. The company develops reliable energy solutions at scale, tailored to the unique needs of municipalities, commercial developments, universities, hospitals, data centres and residential communities.

Enwave provides thermal energy services to over 100 million square feet of mixed-use space across Canada using technologies including Deep Lake  Water Cooling, waste heat recovery, thermal storage, geoexchange, biomass and energy-from-waste. Enwave is owned by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and IFM Investors, which acquired the company in 2021.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - VinFast VF 3, the best-selling electric mini-SUV of VinFast Philippines, has claimed the top spot in the local BEV segment after recording 2,906 units sold from January to August 2026 according to the CAMPI report.

Dubbed as the "Tiny Titan," the VF 3 asserted its popularity among first-time Filipino EV owners looking for compact and practical vehicles. Already gaining strong traction before recent oil price hikes, the VF 3 saw demand surge during the global energy uncertainty as volatile domestic fuel prices pushed Filipino motorists towards cost-efficient mobility options.

Beyond the impressive specifications of the VF 3, the model's market dominance is credited to VinFast's comprehensive Ownership System that helps address key barriers to EV adoption. The number one BEV brand's first-of-its-kind initiatives such as the Battery Subscription Policy, which lowers upfront costs, and the Residual Value Guarantee Program, which protects long-term asset value, continue to appeal to Filipinos looking for practical mobility solutions.

Coupled with its free charging program until March 31, 2029, the brand's expanding charging networks in the country builds a strong total cost of ownership case for VF 3, attracting Filipinos to make the EV shift amidst fuel price volatility.

Mr. Antonio "Toti" Zara III, CEO of VinFast Philippines, said: "We are deeply grateful and incredibly proud of the warm reception that VF 3 received in the Philippines. Achieving the number one spot is a milestone that demonstrates Filipino drivers' readiness to embrace electric mobility when backed by an ecosystem that supports their entire journey. The incredible reception of the VF 3 proves that eliminating traditional barriers through our comprehensive Ownership System makes going electric a seamless, practical choice. But the Tiny Titan leading the charts is only the beginning of our mission in the country, as we vow to continuously expand and evolve this ecosystem to ensure sustainable EV ownership remains accessible, effortless, and dependable for every Filipino motorist."

The VF 3's success in the Philippine market reflects consumer reception and the model's suitability for local mobility needs. To continue meeting consumer needs and enhancing the ownership experience, VinFast is steadily expanding its vehicle lineup and further developing its comprehensive Ownership System - encompassing growing dealership networks across the Philippines, the Battery Subscription and the Residual Value Guarantee programs, the V-Green network, and dedicated aftersales support. VinFast continues to remove barriers to EV ownership and make electric driving a practical, seamless choice for Filipinos.

VinFast is expected to sustain this momentum by continuing to expand its charging network and dealership footprint across the country. To experience the country's best-selling electric mini-SUV firsthand, customers are invited to book a test drive or visit any authorized VinFast dealership nationwide.

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

Hashtags: #VinFast

*In UC, duvakitug maintained high rates of clinical remission, clinical response, and endoscopic improvement at Week 44

*In CD, duvakitug maintained high rates of endoscopic response, clinical response, and clinical remission at Week 44

*Duvakitug was well tolerated and safety was consistent with the induction study

PARSIPPANY, N.J. and PARIS, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teva Pharmaceuticals, a U.S. affiliate of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA), and Sanofi announced new positive data from the RELIEVE UCCD phase 2b long-term extension (LTE) study (clinical trial identifier: NCT05668013) in patients with moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD), which demonstrated that duvakitug maintained clinically meaningful efficacy improvements across multiple endpoints over 44 weeks.

Duvakitug is an investigational human monoclonal antibody that targets TL1A, a protein that amplifies inflammation and potentially drives fibrosis in UC and CD.

In addition, biomarker findings that advance the understanding of how duvakitug may impact inflammation and tissue remodeling in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were shared. These data were presented today at United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week 2026 in Barcelona.

The RELIEVE UCCD LTE study evaluated the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of duvakitug through 44 weeks of maintenance treatment after induction in patients with UC and CD, the two most common forms of IBD. Patients (n=130, 72 with UC and 58 with CD) who responded to duvakitug treatment in the 14-week induction study were randomized to receive either duvakitug 450 mg or 900 mg subcutaneously every four weeks (Q4W) for up to 58 weeks of total exposure.

UC Results

At Week 44, maintenance treatment with duvakitug demonstrated high rates of clinical remission and clinical response, as measured by the modified Mayo Score (mMS), meaning active UC symptoms such as rectal bleeding, increased stool frequency, and pain have stopped (remission) or improved (response). Duvakitug treatment also achieved high rates of endoscopic improvement, defined by a Mayo Endoscopic Score of 0 (inactive disease in the colon) or 1 (mild disease activity), which measures the presence and degree of intestinal inflammation. Efficacy outcomes were numerically higher at 900 mg compared to 450 mg, consistent with a dose response. 

"Ulcerative colitis can have a significant impact on patients that disrupts even the most basic daily activities. Despite available therapies, some patients continue to experience flares that impact their lives in various ways and may contribute to disease progression," said Walter Reinisch, MD, PhD, Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group at the Medical University of Vienna and a co-lead investigator of the RELIEVE UCCD LTE study. "These results underscore the potential of duvakitug to deliver effective and durable relief from persistent inflammation and symptoms, supporting better long-term disease management in patients with ulcerative colitis."

CD Results

Duvakitug maintenance treatment demonstrated high rates of endoscopic response, defined as a 50% or more decrease from baseline in Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease (SES-CD) at Week 44. SES-CD assesses mucosal ulcers, the ulcerated surface, the endoscopic extension, and the presence of stenosis in the colon as a gauge of disease severity. Additionally, duvakitug maintained high rates of clinical response and clinical remission as measured by the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI), meaning symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and fatigue have stopped (remission) or improved (response). Duvakitug appeared to demonstrate a dose response, with numerically higher efficacy results achieved at the higher dose. 

"Due to the heterogeneous nature of Crohn's disease, many patients either stop responding or never respond to available therapies, leaving them with uncontrolled symptoms that cause physical distress," said Vipul Jairath, MBChB, DPhil, FRCP, FRCPC, Professor of Medicine in the Departments of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University and a co-lead investigator of the RELIEVE UCCD LTE study. "The efficacy rates seen with duvakitug in the maintenance period highlight its potential as a new treatment option that could help more patients achieve sustained remission."

Across both UC and CD, duvakitug was generally well tolerated throughout the maintenance period, with a safety profile consistent with the induction phase and no new safety concerns identified. The most frequently reported adverse events (AEs) occurring in ≥5% of patients across pooled duvakitug dose groups in UC were upper respiratory tract infection and nasopharyngitis, and in CD were upper respiratory tract infection, CD, hypertension, nasopharyngitis, anemia, and influenza. The majority of AEs were mild or moderate in severity. Discontinuation rates due to AEs were low (UC, 4% and 2% in the 450 mg and 900 mg arms, respectively, and in CD were 6% in each arm).

Biomarker Results

Biomarker analyses from the RELIEVE UCCD induction study (clinical trial identifier: NCT05499130) were presented at UEG Week 2026. Duvakitug reduced blood levels of markers connected to multiple inflammatory pathways in UC and to the Th17 and Th1 immune pathways in CD, as well as markers of neutrophilic inflammation in both blood and tissue in CD and UC. In patients with CD, duvakitug also reduced markers of tissue remodeling. These findings provide additional mechanistic evidence that TL1A inhibition may address both inflammation and, potentially, fibrosis.

Additionally, clinical results from the RELIEVE UCCD induction study were recently published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology for UC and CD.

Duvakitug Clinical Development Program

Duvakitug is being investigated in the phase 3 SUNSCAPE-1 (clinical trial identifier: NCT07184996) and SUNSCAPE-2 (clinical trial identifier: NCT07185009) studies in moderately-to-severely active UC, and the phase 3 STARSCAPE-1 (clinical trial identifier: NCT07184931) and STARSCAPE-2 (clinical trial identifier: NCT07184944) studies in moderately-to-severely active CD. Sanofi and Teva have initiated the phase 2 AURALIGHT study (clinical trial identifier: NCT07812116) of duvakitug in moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa and are planning a phase 2 study of duvakitug in fibrostenotic Crohn's disease.

Duvakitug is currently under clinical investigation, and its efficacy and safety have not been evaluated by any regulatory authority.

About IBD

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Globally, approximately 4.9 million cases of IBD have been identified, with incidence rising in several regions. The two main types of IBD are ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), which are characterized by repetitive cycles of relapses and remission. Common symptoms of both conditions include persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, and weight loss.

Prolonged inflammation can lead to damage within the GI tract, including fibrosis, a common complication of IBD characterized by an excessive accumulation of scar tissue in the intestinal wall, which may cause narrowing and obstruction.

Currently, there is no cure for IBD. The goal of current treatment is to induce and maintain remission and prevent flares.

About the RELIEVE UCCD phase 2b program

The RELIEVE UCCD program is comprised of an induction study and a long-term extension (LTE).

RELIEVE UCCD: A 14-week phase 2b, randomized, double-blinded, dose-ranging induction study to evaluate the efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics, and tolerability of duvakitug in adults with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD). The study was an innovative and efficient basket study design allowing the inclusion of patients with either UC or CD. It is the first and only randomized, blinded and placebo-controlled phase 2 study to investigate the impact of TL1A inhibition in CD.

RELIEVE UCCD LTE: An ongoing phase 2b study to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of duvakitug. Patients who received duvakitug, completed the 14-week induction study, and were responders, entered a 44-week double-blind maintenance period and were re-randomized to receive either 450 mg or 900 mg of subcutaneous duvakitug every four weeks. Patients who completed the 44-week maintenance period may continue to receive duvakitug in an open-label extension.

Primary efficacy endpoints for both the 14-week induction study and the 44-week maintenance period are clinical remission (as defined by mMS) in the UC cohort or endoscopic response (as defined by SES-CD) in the CD cohort. The study includes sites in the US, Europe, Israel, and Asia.

About duvakitug 

Duvakitug is a human monoclonal antibody targeting tumor necrosis factor-like ligand 1A (TL1A) being developed to reduce inflammation and potentially fibrosis. Duvakitug is currently in phase 3 clinical studies for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and is also being investigated in hidradenitis suppurativa and fibrostenotic Crohn's disease. The safety and efficacy of duvakitug have not been reviewed by any regulatory authority.

About the Sanofi and Teva collaboration

Sanofi and Teva are collaborating to co-develop and co-commercialize duvakitug for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, as well as fibrostenotic Crohn's disease and hidradenitis suppurativa. Each company will equally share the development costs globally, and the net profits and losses in major markets, with other markets subject to a royalty arrangement. Teva will lead commercialization of the product in Europe, Israel, and specified other countries, and Sanofi will lead commercialization in North America, Japan, other parts of Asia, and the rest of the world.

About Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) is transforming into a leading innovative biopharmaceutical company, enabled by a world-class generics business. For over 120 years, Teva's commitment to bettering health has never wavered. From innovating in the fields of neuroscience and immunology to providing complex generic medicines, biosimilars and pharmacy brands worldwide, Teva is dedicated to addressing patients' needs, now and in the future. At Teva, We Are All In For Better Health. To learn more about how, visit www.tevapharm.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "target," "may," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe" and other words and terms of similar meaning and expression in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to successfully develop duvakitug for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) as well as fibrostenotic Crohn's disease and hidradenitis suppurativa; our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace, including our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products; our ability to successfully execute on our Pivot to Growth strategy, including to expand our innovative and biosimilar medicines pipeline and to profitably commercialize our innovative medicines and biosimilar portfolio, whether organically or through business development; our significant indebtedness; our business and operations in general; compliance, regulatory and litigation matters; financial, economic and other risks; and other factors discussed in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 2026 and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, including in the sections captioned "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements." Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

About Sanofi

Sanofi is an R&D driven, AI-powered biopharma company committed to improving people's lives and delivering compelling growth. We apply our deep understanding of the immune system to invent medicines and vaccines that treat and protect millions of people around the world, with an innovative pipeline that could benefit millions more. Our team is guided by one purpose: we chase the miracles of science to improve people's lives; this inspires us to drive progress and deliver positive impact for our people and the communities we serve, by addressing the most urgent healthcare, environmental, and societal challenges of our time. 

Sanofi is listed on EURONEXT: SAN and NASDAQ: SNY

Sanofi forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions, and expectations with respect to future financial results, events, operations, services, product development and potential, and statements regarding future events and economic performance. Words such as "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "estimate," "plan," "can," "contemplate," "could," "is designed to," "may," "might," "potential," "objective," "attempt," "target," "project," "strategy," "strive," "desire," "predict," "forecast," "ambition," "guideline," "seek," "should," "will," "goal,"  or the negative of these, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although Sanofi's management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Sanofi, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including post marketing, decisions by regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency, regarding whether and when to approve any drug, device or biological application that may be filed for any such product candidates as well as their decisions regarding labelling and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of such product candidates; the fact that product candidates if approved may not be commercially successful; unexpected regulatory actions or delays, or government regulation generally; authorities' decisions regarding whether and when to approve a product candidate; political pressure in the United States to mandate lower drug prices including "most favored nation" pricing for State Medicaid programs; the future approval and commercial success of therapeutic alternatives; Sanofi's ability to benefit from external growth opportunities, to complete related transactions and/or obtain regulatory clearances, including future clinical data and analysis of existing clinical data relating to the product, including post marketing, unexpected safety, quality or manufacturing issues, competition in general; risks associated with intellectual property and any related pending or future litigation and the ultimate outcome of such litigation;  trends in exchange rates and prevailing interest rates, volatile economic and market conditions, cost containment initiatives and subsequent changes thereto, and the impact that global crises may have on us, our customers, suppliers, vendors, and other business partners, and the financial condition of any one of them, as well as on our employees and on the global economy as a whole.  The risks and uncertainties also include the uncertainties discussed or identified in the public filings with the SEC and the French Markets Authority (AMF) made by Sanofi, including those listed under "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in Sanofi's annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2025 or contained in our periodic reports on Form 6-K. Other than as required by applicable law, Sanofi does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements. Considering these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained herein.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

WUHU, China, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From October 19 to 23, the 2026 Chery International User Summit is bringing together users, media representatives and ecosystem partners from around the world in Wuhu. Under the theme "HIGH TECH FOR OUR FUTURE LIFE", the summit will explore the future of intelligent, low-carbon and sustainable mobility and lifestyles.

This is the first image.

During the summit, Chery Auto will showcase advances in green energy manufacturing, intelligent charging and Robotaxi technology, while AiMOGA Robotics will demonstrate intelligent services through live interactions. From charging and autonomous driving to robotics, technology is making everyday life more convenient.

As mobility expectations evolve beyond reaching a destination, comfort and quality of life are gaining importance. Through interactive experiences and global user exchanges, the summit will explore how technology can enrich daily life and connect brands with users.

As Chery Auto's Premium NEV brand, LEPAS responds to users' expectations for distinctive design, intelligent convenience and comfort through its three core pillars: Leopard Aesthetics, Elegant Technology and Exquisite Space. As LEPAS launches and delivers its NEV lineup worldwide, users are experiencing these pillars firsthand. From first impressions of a vehicle's exterior and cabin in the showroom to daily commutes and longer journeys, users are discovering what "Drive Your Elegance" means through everyday driving experiences.

As these experiences reach different markets, local tastes, road conditions and ways of life shape different perspectives on elegance. The summit brings these experiences and personal stories together in Wuhu, giving LEPAS and its global users an opportunity to exchange ideas and collaborate in person.

On October 18, LEPAS launched its inaugural Global Elegant Lifestyle Week. The first LEPAS owners, partners, industry media and Global Elegant Lifestyle Partners from different regions began arriving in Wuhu for the event, held under the theme "TOGETHER IN ELEGANCE."

This is the second image.

During the week, participants will explore elegance through four dimensions: design, technology, driving and lifestyle. They will share driving experiences, exchange cultural perspectives on aesthetics and explore elegant living across cultures with LEPAS. Their feedback will inform LEPAS's product, service and brand development.

Throughout the week, LEPAS will bring elegance to life through shared experiences. The LEPAS Global Journey of Elegant Driving and practical demonstrations will showcase composed driving on real roads and the convenience of intelligent technology in everyday situations. The LEPAS All-New Concept Car will offer a vision of future mobility design, while Global Elegance Night will bring together different cultures and personal stories.

Beyond driving experiences, LEPAS seeks to build deeper connections with users and partners worldwide through shared ideas and collaboration. The relationships formed in Wuhu will extend beyond the event, bringing LEPAS's vision of elegance into everyday life.

About LEPAS

LEPAS is Chery Auto's Premium NEV brand, dedicated to creating elegant mobility experiences for users worldwide. Committed to becoming the Preferred Brand for Elegant Mobility Life, LEPAS brings together Leopard Aesthetics, Elegant Technology, and Exquisite Space - transforming elegance into a driving experience you can see, feel, and trust.

Supported by a growing global dealer network of more than 500 sales and service outlets, LEPAS is expanding its international footprint through localized operations, delivering products and experiences tailored to users across global markets.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

TONGXIANG, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - The 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit will open on Nov. 2, bringing technology leaders, researchers and companies to the historic water town as Tongxiang firms expand AI applications from commercial cleaning and autonomous delivery to industrial control and data-center cooling.

For Tongxiang, long associated with the annual internet conference, the summit is also a chance to demonstrate how local companies are commercializing AI technologies for customers at home and abroad.

Ahead of the event, reporters visited seven Tongxiang-based companies working in robotics, intelligent vehicles, synthetic data, industrial automation, logistics and computing infrastructure.

Singapore Changi Airport earlier this year placed a fourth order for commercial cleaning robots from CenoBots, a Tongxiang-based company whose machines are used in airports, supermarkets, hospitals, factories and warehouses.

CenoBots has sold products in more than 40 countries and regions. Its customers include Changi Airport, British retailer Tesco, the University of Minnesota and pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. This year, the company supplied about 600 autonomous cleaning robots for Tesco Express stores across the United Kingdom.

"Cleaning robots are appearing in more and more settings," said Shen Jizhong, CenoBots' co-founder and vice president. "It is much like electric vehicles becoming a familiar sight on the roads - a trend that is gathering pace."

The company's machines are adapted to different settings. Hospital robots must move through busy corridors without disrupting patient care, while those used in supermarkets navigate around shoppers and carts. Factory robots operate near forklifts, and airport models must handle both fine debris in carpeted areas and small obstacles on smooth floors.

CenoBots continues to refine its robots through real-world testing, focusing on reliable operation and consistent cleaning performance across diverse environments. The company has expanded its research, development and production facilities in Tongxiang from approximately 3,000 square meters in its early years to more than 20,000 square meters. Local malls, hospitals and sports venues have also served as long-term testing sites.

While CenoBots focuses on service robots, TEEMO is developing the vehicle platforms that support autonomous mobility. The company makes drive-by-wire skateboard chassis and core components for autonomous vehicles used in last-mile delivery, patrols and logistics.

Its standardized chassis can be equipped with different vehicle bodies and hardware for specific uses. One of TEEMO's strategic customers, autonomous delivery-vehicle maker Zelos, was selected for all lots in China Post's centralized procurement program for 7,000 autonomous delivery vehicles.

TEEMO's customers already span the United States, the Middle East, India and Russia, said Zhang Yongjian, the company's director of operations.

"In some overseas markets, distances are long, populations are dispersed and last-mile delivery is difficult to staff," Zhang said. "Autonomous delivery vehicles have strong potential there, and overseas business will become an important growth driver for us."

Other Tongxiang companies are concentrating on the data and perception systems that allow machines to function in physical environments.

Dayan Technology, founded in Tongxiang in May 2025, provides synthetic-data and toolchain services for autonomous-driving and humanoid-robotics companies. It combines real-world data collection, digital twins and simulated training environments to help developers train robots before they are deployed.

Its wearable devices record human movement and interactions with objects. A haptic glove uses liquid-metal and pressure sensors to capture hand gestures, finger movements and contact force. A multi-camera headset records a user's visual field, body posture, hand movements and the position of nearby objects.

Dayan said its tactile-perception model can process touch signals in milliseconds. The technology is intended to help robots do more than identify objects visually: They can learn how firmly to grip an item, recognize when it is slipping and apply force without causing damage.

Freetech is applying related sensing and decision-making capabilities to intelligent driving. The company develops intelligent-driving systems and 4D imaging radar for passenger and commercial vehicles, and said its technology has been selected for hundreds of vehicle programs.

Its ODIN AI platform supports products at different levels of driving automation. The radar is designed to complement cameras in heavy rain, fog, darkness and abrupt changes in light, including when vehicles enter or leave tunnels.

At its intelligent-manufacturing base in Wuzhen, Freetech is also using AI in production. An in-house system reads customer orders and calculates the components and materials needed for each production line before manufacturing begins. The company said the system has increased overall efficiency by more than 20%.

"Transportation combined with a specialized function will be an important direction for the future," said Dr. Zhang Lin, Freetech's founder and CEO.

Freetech sees potential applications beyond passenger vehicles, including robots, elder-care vehicles, mining equipment and agricultural machinery.

Beyond mobility, Tongxiang firms are using AI to address the complexity of industrial operations. Founded in 2019, Shuhan Technologies provides on-premises industrial AI for chemical plants, energy facilities and wastewater-treatment systems. Its AI-driven control layer continuously ingests data from central control systems and field sensors, identifies dynamic conditions and autonomously adjusts operating parameters in real time.

"Fundamentally, all industrial process challenges can be framed as control and optimization problems," said Zhai Zhengjun, Shuhan's Chief Technology Officer.

At a coal chemical plant with annual capacity of 1.2 million metric tons, Shuhan said its system reduced raw-material consumption by 6%. The company estimated that the deployment generated more than 176 million yuan, or about $26 million, in annualized economic benefits and reduced carbon emissions by more than 500,000 metric tons.

SENAD is targeting bottlenecks in logistics operations, including loading, unloading, sorting and pallet handling. It develops autonomous loading and unloading robots, as well as a multimodal logistics model called Robot Insight, for sectors including beverages, tobacco, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and logistics.

Tongxiang's AI sector also includes companies addressing the infrastructure needed to run increasingly powerful computing systems. SynthCool is tackling a basic constraint of the AI boom: heat.

SynthCool develops two-phase liquid-cooling systems to address the heat generated by increasingly powerful processors. Inadequate cooling can trigger thermal throttling, reducing performance and energy efficiency.

"Heat dissipation is infrastructure," said Zhu Zhijiang, SynthCool's general manager.

SynthCool's two-phase cooling technology uses the latent heat of vaporization to remove heat from processors. The cooling fluid absorbs heat and boils into vapor, which is then condensed back into liquid and recirculated.

Depending on ambient conditions and system design, two-phase cooling can also support free cooling and reduce reliance on compressor-based refrigeration. Waste heat may be recovered where temperatures and local demand make reuse practical.

According to SynthCool, its technology supports heat dissipation of more than 3,000 watts per chip and heat flux above 250 watts per square centimeter. Under comparable cooling requirements, the system requires approximately one-third of the flow needed by conventional single-phase water-cooled cold plates, helping reduce piping requirements and pumping demand.

SynthCool's portfolio includes two-phase direct-to-chip and immersion cooling solutions, along with distribution units and control systems for AI data centers.

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

Hashtags: #Tongxiang

TONGXIANG, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - The 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit will open on Nov. 2, bringing technology leaders, researchers and companies to the historic water town as Tongxiang firms expand AI applications from commercial cleaning and autonomous delivery to industrial control and data-center cooling.

For Tongxiang, long associated with the annual internet conference, the summit is also a chance to demonstrate how local companies are commercializing AI technologies for customers at home and abroad.

Ahead of the event, reporters visited seven Tongxiang-based companies working in robotics, intelligent vehicles, synthetic data, industrial automation, logistics and computing infrastructure.

Singapore Changi Airport earlier this year placed a fourth order for commercial cleaning robots from CenoBots, a Tongxiang-based company whose machines are used in airports, supermarkets, hospitals, factories and warehouses.

CenoBots has sold products in more than 40 countries and regions. Its customers include Changi Airport, British retailer Tesco, the University of Minnesota and pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. This year, the company supplied about 600 autonomous cleaning robots for Tesco Express stores across the United Kingdom.

"Cleaning robots are appearing in more and more settings," said Shen Jizhong, CenoBots' co-founder and vice president. "It is much like electric vehicles becoming a familiar sight on the roads - a trend that is gathering pace."

The company's machines are adapted to different settings. Hospital robots must move through busy corridors without disrupting patient care, while those used in supermarkets navigate around shoppers and carts. Factory robots operate near forklifts, and airport models must handle both fine debris in carpeted areas and small obstacles on smooth floors.

CenoBots continues to refine its robots through real-world testing, focusing on reliable operation and consistent cleaning performance across diverse environments. The company has expanded its research, development and production facilities in Tongxiang from approximately 3,000 square meters in its early years to more than 20,000 square meters. Local malls, hospitals and sports venues have also served as long-term testing sites.

While CenoBots focuses on service robots, TEEMO is developing the vehicle platforms that support autonomous mobility. The company makes drive-by-wire skateboard chassis and core components for autonomous vehicles used in last-mile delivery, patrols and logistics.

Its standardized chassis can be equipped with different vehicle bodies and hardware for specific uses. One of TEEMO's strategic customers, autonomous delivery-vehicle maker Zelos, was selected for all lots in China Post's centralized procurement program for 7,000 autonomous delivery vehicles.

TEEMO's customers already span the United States, the Middle East, India and Russia, said Zhang Yongjian, the company's director of operations.

"In some overseas markets, distances are long, populations are dispersed and last-mile delivery is difficult to staff," Zhang said. "Autonomous delivery vehicles have strong potential there, and overseas business will become an important growth driver for us."

Other Tongxiang companies are concentrating on the data and perception systems that allow machines to function in physical environments.

Dayan Technology, founded in Tongxiang in May 2025, provides synthetic-data and toolchain services for autonomous-driving and humanoid-robotics companies. It combines real-world data collection, digital twins and simulated training environments to help developers train robots before they are deployed.

Its wearable devices record human movement and interactions with objects. A haptic glove uses liquid-metal and pressure sensors to capture hand gestures, finger movements and contact force. A multi-camera headset records a user's visual field, body posture, hand movements and the position of nearby objects.

Dayan said its tactile-perception model can process touch signals in milliseconds. The technology is intended to help robots do more than identify objects visually: They can learn how firmly to grip an item, recognize when it is slipping and apply force without causing damage.

Freetech is applying related sensing and decision-making capabilities to intelligent driving. The company develops intelligent-driving systems and 4D imaging radar for passenger and commercial vehicles, and said its technology has been selected for hundreds of vehicle programs.

Its ODIN AI platform supports products at different levels of driving automation. The radar is designed to complement cameras in heavy rain, fog, darkness and abrupt changes in light, including when vehicles enter or leave tunnels.

At its intelligent-manufacturing base in Wuzhen, Freetech is also using AI in production. An in-house system reads customer orders and calculates the components and materials needed for each production line before manufacturing begins. The company said the system has increased overall efficiency by more than 20%.

"Transportation combined with a specialized function will be an important direction for the future," said Dr. Zhang Lin, Freetech's founder and CEO.

Freetech sees potential applications beyond passenger vehicles, including robots, elder-care vehicles, mining equipment and agricultural machinery.

Beyond mobility, Tongxiang firms are using AI to address the complexity of industrial operations. Founded in 2019, Shuhan Technologies provides on-premises industrial AI for chemical plants, energy facilities and wastewater-treatment systems. Its AI-driven control layer continuously ingests data from central control systems and field sensors, identifies dynamic conditions and autonomously adjusts operating parameters in real time.

"Fundamentally, all industrial process challenges can be framed as control and optimization problems," said Zhai Zhengjun, Shuhan's Chief Technology Officer.

At a coal chemical plant with annual capacity of 1.2 million metric tons, Shuhan said its system reduced raw-material consumption by 6%. The company estimated that the deployment generated more than 176 million yuan, or about $26 million, in annualized economic benefits and reduced carbon emissions by more than 500,000 metric tons.

SENAD is targeting bottlenecks in logistics operations, including loading, unloading, sorting and pallet handling. It develops autonomous loading and unloading robots, as well as a multimodal logistics model called Robot Insight, for sectors including beverages, tobacco, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and logistics.

Tongxiang's AI sector also includes companies addressing the infrastructure needed to run increasingly powerful computing systems. SynthCool is tackling a basic constraint of the AI boom: heat.

SynthCool develops two-phase liquid-cooling systems to address the heat generated by increasingly powerful processors. Inadequate cooling can trigger thermal throttling, reducing performance and energy efficiency.

"Heat dissipation is infrastructure," said Zhu Zhijiang, SynthCool's general manager.

SynthCool's two-phase cooling technology uses the latent heat of vaporization to remove heat from processors. The cooling fluid absorbs heat and boils into vapor, which is then condensed back into liquid and recirculated.

Depending on ambient conditions and system design, two-phase cooling can also support free cooling and reduce reliance on compressor-based refrigeration. Waste heat may be recovered where temperatures and local demand make reuse practical.

According to SynthCool, its technology supports heat dissipation of more than 3,000 watts per chip and heat flux above 250 watts per square centimeter. Under comparable cooling requirements, the system requires approximately one-third of the flow needed by conventional single-phase water-cooled cold plates, helping reduce piping requirements and pumping demand.

SynthCool's portfolio includes two-phase direct-to-chip and immersion cooling solutions, along with distribution units and control systems for AI data centers.

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

Hashtags: #Tongxiang

Acquires 20 wearable data collection systems to capture real-world housekeeping tasks to support robot learning and development

SINGAPORE, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YYForce Inc. (NASDAQ: YFOR) ("YYForce" or the "Company"), a technology-enabled provider of workforce solutions, integrated facility management and commercial robotics services, today announced the acquisition of 20 wearable data collection systems to support its humanoid robotics development program.

The systems, comprising head-mounted egocentric cameras and synchronized wrist-mounted cameras, are intended to capture first-person views and close-up recordings of human task execution. YYForce plans to deploy the equipment through an initiative with the housekeeping team at Novotel Singapore on Stevens, focusing initially on selected hospitality workflows.

The initiative is designed to build a task-specific dataset documenting how experienced housekeeping personnel perform routine service activities. Following review, annotation and technical processing, the demonstrations are intended to support robot learning research, task development and evaluation, including work involving vision-language-action (VLA) models.

Initial Focus: Housekeeping Demonstrations

Planned data collection will focus on selected tasks, including:

Bed and linen preparation: Bed-making sequences, linen handling and pillow arrangement.

Towel and amenity organization: Towel folding, placement and replenishment of guest-room supplies.

Selected cleaning activities: Surface wiping and handling of cleaning tools and materials.

These demonstrations are intended to capture task sequences, hand-object interactions and variations in real operating environments. Translating human demonstrations into robot capabilities will require additional processing, adaptation to the selected robotic hardware, and controlled testing.

"Access to real operating environments and experienced service teams is an important part of our robotics development strategy," said Mike Fu, Chief Executive Officer of YYForce. "This initiative will help us document how housekeeping tasks are performed in practice and assess how those demonstrations can support humanoid robot learning. Our focus is on building useful datasets, validating individual tasks and progressing toward practical applications in hospitality and facility services."

Supporting YYForce's Workforce and Robotics Strategy

The initiative supports YYForce's broader strategy of combining workforce expertise, facility management operations and robotics to develop technology-enabled service delivery.

The planned development process includes reviewing recordings for quality, annotating selected tasks, preparing suitable training datasets and evaluating whether the demonstrations improve performance on defined robotic tasks. Initial evaluation will focus on task completion, repeatability and safe execution under controlled conditions.

Data collection is planned to follow agreed hotel operating procedures and applicable data protection requirements. The Company expects that collection arrangements will address participant notification and consent where required, guest privacy, access controls and permitted uses of recorded material before recording begins.

The initiative is a development-stage program. The acquisition of the systems and collection of demonstrations do not, by themselves, establish autonomous humanoid capabilities or readiness for commercial deployment.

About YYForce Inc.

YYForce Inc. (NASDAQ: YFOR) is a technology-enabled provider of workforce solutions and integrated facility management and commercial robotics services. The Company is developing AI-enabled workforce platforms and expanding its commercial robotics capabilities to support customers across hospitality, facilities management and other service industries.

For more information, please visit www.yyforce.ai.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company bases these forward-looking statements on its expectations and projections about future events derived from information currently available to it.

You can identify forward-looking statements by those that are not historical in nature, particularly those that use terminology such as "may," "should," "expects," "anticipates," "contemplates," "estimates," "believes," "plans," "projected," "predicts," "potential," or "hopes" or the negative of these or similar terms.

Forward-looking statements include statements regarding planned equipment deployment, data collection, robotics training, technical development and potential commercial applications. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

Such risks include equipment performance, data quality and usability, data rights and privacy requirements, collaboration arrangements, technical challenges in transferring human demonstrations to robotic systems, development costs, safety validation and commercial adoption, together with other risks described in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including under "Risk Factors" in its most recent annual report. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. YYForce undertakes no obligation to update these statements except as required by law.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

Mr Kent Wong, Managing Director of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group (left) welcomes President of Botswana Duma Gideon Boko (right) to the newly opened signature boutique at Beijing SKP, during his State Visit to China, and the President presents a heartfelt message to the Group

President of Botswana Duma Gideon Boko's visit underscores Botswana's longstanding ties with Chow Tai Fook across the natural diamond value chain

BEIJING, CHINA - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - During his State Visit to China, President of the Republic of Botswana Duma Gideon Boko led a delegation to visit the newly opened signature boutique of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited ("Chow Tai Fook Jewellery", the "Group" or the "Company"; SEHK stock code: 1929) at Beijing SKP on 14 October, for an exchange on China-Botswana cooperation across the natural diamond value chain.

Mr Kent Wong, Managing Director of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, welcomed President Boko and the delegation, highlighting the Group's longstanding ties with Botswana's diamond industry and sharing how Chow Tai Fook creates new value to natural diamonds through cultural heritage reinterpretation and contemporary design.

President Boko's visit took place as China and Botswana elevated bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. The two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation in the diamond sector and enhance access for Botswana's diamond products to the Chinese market.

Mr Kent Wong, Managing Director of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, said, " We are deeply honoured to welcome President Boko to Chow Tai Fook in Beijing. Botswana holds an important place in the global natural diamond value chain and in Chow Tai Fook's own journey with natural diamonds.

Our longstanding partnerships with Botswana's diamond industry and De Beers Group reflect a shared commitment to the enduring value of natural diamonds. We look forward to continuing to contribute our expertise in craftsmanship, design and retail to enhance consumer confidence in natural diamonds and support the industry's sustainable development."

Deepening ties across the natural diamond value chain

Botswana is one of the world's leading diamond-producing countries, and diamonds are an important pillar of China-Botswana economic cooperation. The latest China-Botswana Joint Statement identifies the diamond sector as an area for further cooperation, including improved access for Botswana's diamond products to the Chinese market.

Chow Tai Fook has deep roots in the natural diamond industry, underpinned by established global sourcing capabilities. The Group's relationship with De Beers Group dates back to 1973, when Chow Tai Fook became a De Beers Group Sightholder. Since 2011, Chow Tai Fook has operated its own diamond cutting and polishing facility in Botswana, extending the Group's involvement across the value chain from sourcing and craftsmanship to jewellery design and retail.

Chow Tai Fook has also been an early advocate of diamond traceability. Launched in 2016, T?MARK enables customers to trace the journey of selected diamonds from sourcing, cutting and polishing to certification and setting. In FY2026, all newly procured T?MARK diamonds were traceable to their country of origin.

Reimagining natural diamonds through Chinese creativity

Natural diamonds embody both the extraordinary beauty of nature and the emotions and memories that jewellery carries across generations. Through design and craftsmanship, Chow Tai Fook brings Chinese cultural heritage into a contemporary context, creating natural diamond jewellery that resonates with evolving lifestyles and expressions of individuality.

In September 2026, Chow Tai Fook participated in the signing of the Beijing Declaration on Natural Diamonds and Sustainable Development. Convened by The Shanghai Diamond Exchange, the initiative brought together government representatives from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, as well as members of the Chinese and international diamond industry. It supports closer engagement between diamond-producing countries and the Chinese market, while advancing consumer understanding of the enduring value of natural diamonds.

Chow Tai Fook and De Beers Group also recently launched the Desert Rose Collection, inspired by desert rose stone formations and the resilience of plants thriving in arid landscapes. The collaboration builds on the two companies' longstanding relationship and their shared focus on strengthening consumer appreciation and confidence in natural diamonds.

Looking ahead, Chow Tai Fook will continue to invest in design, craftsmanship and consumer engagement, while working with partners across the natural diamond value chain to support the industry's sustainable development and contribute to deeper ties between China and Botswana.

About De Beers Group

Established in 1888, De Beers Group is the world's leading diamond company with expertise in the exploration, mining, marketing and retailing of diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers Group employs more than 20,000 people across the diamond pipeline and is the world's largest diamond producer by value, with diamond mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa.

Innovation sits at the heart of De Beers Group's strategy as it develops a portfolio of offers that span the diamond value chain, including its jewellery houses, De Beers London and Forevermark, and other pioneering solutions such as diamond sourcing and traceability initiatives Tracr and GemFair.

De Beers Group also provides leading services and technology to the diamond industry in the form of education and laboratory services and a wide range of diamond sorting, detection and classification technology services. De Beers Group is committed to 'Building Forever,' a holistic and integrated approach to sustainability that underpins our efforts to create meaningful impact for the people and places where our diamonds are discovered.

Building Forever focuses on three key areas where, through collaborations and partnerships around the globe, we have an enhanced ability to drive positive impact; Livelihoods, Climate and Nature. De Beers Group is a member of the Anglo American plc group. For further information, visit www.debeersgroup.com.

About Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited

Since its founding in 1929, CHOW TAI FOOK, the flagship brand of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, has been celebrated for its bold designs and meticulous attention to detail. Our commitment to innovation and craftsmanship has made us synonymous with excellence, value, and authenticity.

As a global Chinese luxury group, we blend contemporary designs with traditional techniques to create timeless pieces. Each collection reflects our customers' stories and lives, celebrating their special moments. We aspire to inspire and captivate generations to come, weaving the story of CHOW TAI FOOK into their own.

Our brand portfolio includes the iconic CHOW TAI FOOK flagship brand, HEARTS ON FIRE, ENZO, and MONOLOGUE, offering a wide variety of products, including an expanding range of cuttingedge IP collaborations. With over 5,000 stores worldwide, we offer a seamless client journey across all touchpoints through a network spanning China and a growing number of global locations.

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited (SEHK: 1929) has been listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since December 2011. We are committed to delivering sustainable long-term value for our stakeholders by continually enhancing earnings quality and driving higher value growth.

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

Hashtags: #NaturalDiamonds #Diamonds #DeBeersGroup #BuildingForever

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - Sovico Group, one of Vietnam's leading private conglomerates, and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg signed a Partnership Agreement at Saigon Marina IFC to expand cooperation in aviation, railways, finance, logistics, technology and education.

The agreement aims to connect Vietnamese businesses with Hamburg's industrial and commercial ecosystem and its role as a gateway to European markets.

Earlier that day, Hamburg First Mayor and President of the Senate Peter Tschentscher met Sovico Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao at HDBank's headquarters to discuss cooperation opportunities between businesses in the Sovico ecosystem and German partners.

At the Hamburg?Sovico Strategic Business & Partnership Forum 2026 on October 13, Thao proposed exploring direct air links between Vietnam and Germany and advancing discussions on airport infrastructure, logistics, urban rail, maritime transport and supporting industries. Hamburg highlighted its strengths in aviation, maritime transport, railways, technology research, public transport and sustainable urban development.

Potential areas for further discussion include the Long Thanh and Gia Binh airport projects, high-speed rail, urban rail development in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai and Hanoi, smart cities, green industries and technology. The agreement provides a framework for exploring opportunities; participation in individual projects will require further study and subsequent agreements.

Sovico and its partners have maintained ties with Germany for more than three decades, particularly in aviation and finance. Hamburg has hosted the handover of more than 100 Airbus aircraft to Vietjet, alongside aircraft-financing services. In finance, DEG, a member of Germany's KfW Group, has invested in HDBank over the past five years. HDBank's German Desk also helps connect Vietnamese and German businesses and support bilateral trade and investment.

Thao said Sovico was entering a new investment phase, emphasizing the need for long-term vision, practical investment plans and effective coordination. "I hope the ideas exchanged here today will be translated into cooperation programmes, feasible projects and measurable outcomes," she said.

Hamburg State Secretary Liv Assmann said the visit aimed to deepen existing ties and explore new areas of cooperation. Agreements between universities in Hamburg and Vietnam are also expected to create opportunities for training, professional exchange and workforce development.

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

Hashtags: #HDBank

*Water stress is already hitting operating costs, supply chains and infrastructure across European industry

*Water shortages now rank as high as cyber-attacks and supply chain disruption for industrial business continuity

*Nearly 60% of leaders admit to not installing the technology they know could cut water risk

PARIS, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, today released The Water Crunch Report, new research revealing that water is now one of the biggest risks to industrial business continuity across the UK and Europe, ranking as highly as cyber-attacks and supply chain disruption.

This echoes last year's US-focused research from Schneider Electric, where over half (56%) of business leaders said water-related risks will grow faster than other infrastructure risks in the coming years.

The Water Crunch Report surveyed senior leaders at industrial companies and decision-makers at water utilities and municipalities across Europe. In the past two years, industrial leaders say water stress has already pushed up their operating costs (44%), strained infrastructure and maintenance budgets (38%), and disrupted supply chains (30%).

If a serious water supply disruption hits tomorrow, 44% of businesses believe their operations would start to suffer within 24 hours. On average, over half (52%) of industrial leaders expect water quality or availability to become a serious barrier to their organization's growth within the next five years, by 2031, and 1 in 7 (14%) say it already is a barrier to their operations or growth today.

The findings land against the backdrop of Europe's most severe drought conditions in decades, with the knock-on effects on the freight, energy and agriculture sectors providing a stark reminder that these pressures are no longer hypothetical.

"Europe cannot afford to treat water as an environmental issue alone. It is now a competitiveness issue," said Gwenaelle Huet, Executive Vice President, Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric. "Just as the energy transition reshaped industrial strategy over the past decade, water efficiency will shape the next one. AI-powered industrial intelligence gives companies unprecedented visibility into how water is used, wasted and recycled. The challenge is no longer understanding the problem, but acting at the pace required to secure Europe's industrial future."

"It's easy to write off this summer's droughts and impact on industry as a one-off, but this is now a structural feature of operating in Europe," said Sophie Borgne, Water & Environment Segment President of Schneider Electric. "Right now, around half of the EU and UK are under some level of drought, according to the EU's European Drought Observatory. Reusing water can reduce our dependence on rivers and reservoirs already under strain, yet only 2.4% of treated urban wastewater is reused across the EU today. The organizations investing in smart water technology are turning water efficiency into a competitive advantage."

Awareness vs. adoption

Smart water technology is widely recognized as a solution to water management, but implementation is not keeping up with awareness. The gap isn't down to skepticism. Belief in these tools is close to universal: 86% of industrial leaders and 98% of water utilities say smart water technology can cut operating costs, and over 80% say it protects business continuity and strengthens sustainability performance.

Despite this, industrial leaders show particularly high awareness of technologies they haven't yet deployed: 58% are aware of digital twins or network modelling tools but have not installed them, while 57% of water utilities say the same of predictive analytics or AI-enabled water management.

The encouraging news is that industry isn't waiting for the problem to worsen. Nearly all organizations surveyed (100% of water utilities and 98% of industrial leaders) say water availability or quality has already shaped major decisions, from increased investment in water efficiency (47%) to formal board-level reviews of water risk (43%). More than half of industrial leaders surveyed have installed automated controls (56%) and smart meters (55%); smart meter adoption climbs even higher among water utilities, to 76%.

Cybersecurity is climbing up the agenda too, with over half of both industrial leaders and water utilities naming it among the top risks to manage as water systems become more connected and digital.

But there is clear headroom for growth: many leaders are aware of technologies designed to optimize operations but haven't yet installed them, meaning the biggest gains may still be ahead. For European business leaders, the takeaway is straightforward: water risk now needs the same active management as energy or cybersecurity. Closing this gap is likely to matter most for the industries already feeling the cost of water stress.

"For nearly two decades, water has been overlooked in the climate conversation, attracting a fraction of the investment given to energy or carbon. With Europe warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, pressure on water supply is intensifying, and The Water Crunch report confirms the mindset is shifting: 47% of industry leaders have already increased investment in water efficiency, and 43% have taken water risk to board level. Water security is finally being treated as a business priority, not an afterthought," said Tom Freyberg, independent water and environment expert.

Forward-thinking utilities are leveraging existing technologies to minimize impact on their customers. To ensure the supply security of its water network, the Danish utility, Aarhus Vand, relies on the forecasting capabilities of a digital twin. Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Water Advisor - Water Simulation was deployed to help the utility remotely monitor its water supply network to easily and precisely identify potential leaks and supply fluctuations.

Using data from points on the network, Water Simulation anticipates the impact of planned and unplanned events so Aarhus Vand can take the best actions to address them quickly, minimizing waste and providing a reliable supply of high-quality water for its customers. The provider also benefits from lower energy use and costs thanks to improved efficiency.

Notes to Editors:

Schneider Electric is helping cities and businesses digitalize water infrastructure, transforming it from a hidden risk into a strategic advantage. From real-time leak detection to digital twins that simulate and optimize water flow, Schneider's smart water solutions reduce losses, improve reliability, and strengthen operational performance. More information on Schneider Electric's Water and Wastewater solutions can be found here.

Survey Methodology

The research was commissioned by Schneider Electric and conducted by Censuswide, with the survey questions designed in collaboration with independent water industry journalist and analyst Tom Freyberg, Founder of Atlantean Media. It explores how industrial leaders and water system decision-makers across the UK and Europe are experiencing water stress today, the strategic priorities related to water management and infrastructure, and the gap between recognizing water risk and acting on it.

The research was conducted in the UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Nordics (Sweden and Denmark) in June 2026 and surveyed a total of 340 leaders comprised of two key groups:

210 industrial business leaders (Director-level and above) from large enterprises (1,000+ employees) across key industries including Energy & Chemicals, Manufacturing, Life Sciences & Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Machinery & Equipment, Semiconductors & Electronics, Construction and Food & Beverage.

130 water system decision-makers from utilities, municipalities/local government and public water infrastructure providers.

Additional sources:

Closed-loop industrial water recycling systems can recover up to 90% of process water: Envisioning/Stratum research on closed-loop water systems.

Only 2.4% of treated wastewater is currently reused across the EU: Interreg Europe/Europe's Freshwater portal.

Since the 1980s, Europe has warmed at more than twice the global rate, and European land temperatures are now roughly 2.3?2.5?C above pre-industrial levels, versus about 1.3-1.4C (celcius) globally: Copernicus Climate Change Service

Press contact: mediarelations@se.com

About Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is a global energy technology leader, driving efficiency and sustainability by electrifying, automating, and digitalizing industries, businesses, and homes. Its technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and grids to operate as open, interconnected ecosystems, enhancing performance, resilience, and sustainability.

The portfolio includes intelligent devices, software-defined architectures, AI-powered systems, digital services, and expert advisory. With 160,000 employees and 1 million partners in over 100 countries, Schneider Electric is consistently ranked among the world's most sustainable companies. 

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

*Singapore Media Festival 2026 introduces Asia Creator Summit, a new event that brings together Asia's creator ecosystem to explore commercial opportunities in the creator economy

*Asia TV Forum & Market, a leading co-production and entertainment content market and conference in Asia, returns with over 5,000 content industry players from 60 countries and regions

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 October 2026 - The Singapore Media Festival (SMF) will return from 1 to 5 December 2026 for its 13th edition, reaffirming its commitment to connecting Singapore's media industry with opportunities across Asia and the world.

Hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), SMF 2026 will introduce the Asia Creator Summit (ACS), a new flagship event for Asia's creator ecosystem to discover how they can build sustainable businesses, develop intellectual property, and scale effectively across markets.

Alongside the new ACS, Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) returns as a longstanding highlight of SMF and a leading co-production and entertainment content market and conference in Asia. The dual pillars of ACS and ATF demonstrate SMF's focus on supporting Singapore's media industry by creating new jobs through commercial opportunities, building industry skills and capabilities, and championing hyperlocal stories by connecting Singapore's media enterprises and talent to the world.

Ms Yvonne Tang, Assistant Chief Executive of IMDA's Media Industry Group, said: "New technologies and audience behaviours are constantly reshaping how we consume, distribute, and monetise content today. Our latest SMF 2026 programme is designed to help Singapore's media professionals and companies adapt in this evolving media landscape, by strengthening their creative and commercial capabilities through wide ranging partnerships and business opportunities."

Ms Tang added: "We also seek to reinforce Singapore's role as the heart of the world's stories by connecting local talent and stories with global expertise. We encourage our media professionals to take full advantage of the Festival and participate in its programmes, exchange ideas with industry peers and experts, and explore new avenues for collaboration and growth."

Discovering the Future of Asia's Creator Economy

ACS will take place from 4 to 5 December 2026 at Marina Bay Sands under the theme "Create. Monetise. Scale". Bringing together creators, creative entrepreneurs, brands, platforms, technology providers, and industry leaders, the two-day summit will comprise over 20 keynotes, panel discussions, master classes and hands-on sessions, focused on commercial opportunities and capability development to drive global visibility for Singapore's digital media industry.

Curated by Generation Experience (GenXP) together with Monica Khan, Founder and CEO of Creator Revolution, and developed in consultation with industry professionals, ACS will feature leading local and international creators and industry leaders sharing their journeys and the lessons behind their success. These include:

KIMPRO, one of South Korea's leading digital creators with over 130 million subscribers and 154 billion lifetime views;

ISSEI, one of Japan's leading digital creators with over 75 million YouTube subscribers, known for his engaging, non-verbal comedy content that has attracted audiences worldwide;

AJ Eckstein, Founder and CEO of US-based Creator Match that has helped brands such as Anthropic, Fiverr, Notion, Lovable and Zapier build and scale their creator programmes; and

Local personalities such as Johnathan Chua (CEO and Co-Founder, GRVTY Media), Kelvin Tan (CEO, DU Media Holdings), Althea Lim (Group CEO and Co-Founder, Gushcloud International).

Creators can also apply their creativity to real-world campaigns for leading brands. For instance, Mandarin Oriental, Singapore's Creator Pitch Challenge invites creators to develop an original content concept for its 40th Anniversary, while Bloomr.SG's "Creator Lab" pitching initiative will invite participants to pitch innovative, creator-focused ideas, with up to S$100,000 in awards up for grabs. The Call-for-Proposals (CFPs) open in early November 2026.

Ms Michelle Lim, Founder and CEO of GenXP, said: "Creators are playing an increasingly influential role in how audiences discover, engage and connect with content, brands and ideas. We are excited to launch Asia Creator Summit as part of the Singapore Media Festival, creating a platform for creators and the wider industry to learn from one another, share experiences and shape what comes next."

More information on ACS, including ticketing details and how to participate in the "Creator Lab", is available at www.asiacreatorsummit.com.

Building Asia's Stories Together

ATF, organised by RX Global, returns for its 27th edition at Marina Bay Sands from 1 to 4 December 2026 and is expected to bring together over 5,000 Asian and international content players from 60 countries and regions. Under the theme "The Attention Economy", the ATF Leaders' Dialogue on 1 December 2026 will see senior industry representatives from East West Bank, Omdia, TikTok, Unilever, WEBTOON Productions, and YouTube discuss how evolving audience behaviour and fandom are reshaping content distribution, financing, and branded entertainment, and how businesses can turn audience engagement into commercial value.

ATF will introduce "The AI Era | Entertainment Reimagined", a dedicated programme and zone examining implications for content creation, intellectual property rights and regulation, including the protection of creative works. The programme will feature perspectives from Huace Group, Moonmax and Studio Meta K, alongside the Motion Picture Association, Television Academy and World Intellectual Property Organization. ATF will also host the Grand Finals of the AI Hackathon 2026, presented by Yoywow Space and Visify, featuring a live creative challenge and screenings of selected works.

On the market front, two new pavilions from Canada and Indonesia will expand ATF's international representation, offering buyers and potential partners access to a wider range of content and creative talent. Microdramas will receive growing attention at this year's market. ATF will continue to showcase exhibitors' latest drama titles through its drama showcases, alongside accelerator and pitching programmes that spotlight emerging intellectual property and connect content producers with potential development partners.

Ms Yeow Hui Leng, Managing Director, Singapore of RX Global, said: "ATF has evolved beyond a marketplace to become a premier industry platform for strategic commercial announcements, content launches, and thought leadership from some of the entertainment industry's most influential voices. Emerging technology, including AI, will be a key part of this conversation, alongside critical issues such as regulation, financing, distribution, monetisation, and content innovation. This will give participants the insights needed to navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic global industry."

More information on ATF, including registration details, is available at www.asiatvforum.com.

Singapore Media Festival

The Singapore Media Festival, hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), proudly returns for its 13th edition as one of Asia's premier international media industry platforms. From 1 to 5 December 2026, Singapore will be the focal point for Asia's media community, showcasing diverse media innovations, forging industry deals, and presenting Singapore's world-class content. This year's festival, themed "The Heart of the World's Stories", aims to inspire the region's media talent to create, connect, and realise their visions. The event will bring together media professionals, industry leaders, creators, and consumers through the Asia Creator Summit and the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF).

For more information, please visit: www.imda.gov.sg/smf.

Infocomm Media Development Authority

The Infocomm Media Development Authority ("IMDA") leads Singapore's digital transformation by developing a vibrant digital economy and an inclusive digital society. As Architects of Singapore's Digital Future, we foster growth in Infocomm Technology and Media sectors in concert with progressive regulations, harnessing frontier technologies, and developing local talent and digital infrastructure ecosystems to establish Singapore as a digital metropolis.

For more news and information, visit www.imda.gov.sg or follow IMDA on Facebook (IMDAsg) and Twitter (@IMDAsg).

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

Hashtags: #SingaporeMediaFestival #IMDA #AsiaTVForum #AsiaCreatorSummit

https://www.imda.gov.sg/

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Twice-daily supplementation with calcium-rich whey permeate supports the maintenance of bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, according to a 12-month clinical study.[1] Declining oestrogen levels during menopause can accelerate bone loss and reduce bone mineral density, increasing osteoporosis risk.

The findings come from the RENEW project, a research collaboration investigating how calcium-rich permeate from whey production could be used as a bioactive food ingredient to counteract bone loss in postmenopausal women.

A total of 316 women completed the study. Participants received either a placebo or 800mg of calcium per day from calcium carbonate or calcium-rich whey permeate (with or without inulin), divided into two daily doses. All participants also received vitamin D, which contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.

After 12 months, bone mineral density was maintained among women receiving calcium-rich whey permeate (n=78), while the placebo group (n=75) showed a reduction. Blood markers of bone turnover also indicated a noticeable slowing of bone loss by the third month. Adding inulin provided no additional bone health benefits.

The study used Arla Foods Ingredients' Capolac, a calcium-rich milk-based ingredient, and Variolac, a lactose-based ingredient.

Simon B?ge Riis, Nutrition Scientist (PhD) at Arla Foods Ingredients, said: "Approximately one in five older adults globally has osteoporosis. It is especially common among postmenopausal women and across Asia, highlighting the need for effective nutritional strategies and the potential of calcium-rich whey permeate to support bone health."

Valorising calcium-rich whey permeate can support more efficient and sustainable whey production while creating opportunities for innovative food formats.

Arla Foods Ingredients is developing a dried fruit bar high in calcium, providing 265mg of calcium per 10g serving. The convenient format can be adapted to regional flavour preferences and incorporates solutions that help reduce fruit waste, supporting a more circular approach to food production.

Riis added: "Affordable calcium-rich milk-based ingredients could help address calcium deficiency, particularly in developing countries, and support food solutions targeting multiple nutritional deficiencies."

About the project

The RENEW study, conducted in Denmark and funded by Innovation Fund Denmark, is a partnership between Arla Foods Ingredients and leading academic institutions. It aims to develop an ingredient combining milk calcium, lactose-rich whey permeate and inulin, which may support calcium absorption.

View the research at: https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(26)00148-6/abstract

Reference:

[1] Tetens I, et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2026;101339.

Copyright 2026 GlobeNewswire, Inc.