Category: Uncategorized

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) — The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) recently held its annual Tourism Update event online, discussing tourism trends and sharing details of its latest strategic plans.

It involved around 2,700 trade representatives from HK, mainland and overseas travel agencies, attractions, hotels, airlines, retailers, restaurants, meeting and exhibition operators, cruise lines, and other travel sectors. 

HKTB Executive Director, Dane Cheng told the representatives the HKTB was preparing to step up promotions and would launch a new round of the Hong Kong Neighbourhoods campaign.

The HKTB also hopes to relaunch mega events in physical formats to prepare for tourism recovery.

The first event to return in a physical format will be the Hong Kong Cyclothon, and the HKTB is studying the feasibility of extending its route to the HK Section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to add to the event’s appeal. 

For other mega events to be conducted in an ‘Online+Offline’ format, new elements of interest will be added to maintain HK’s global visibility.

The HKTB will also continue to lobby for international large-scale business events and meetings to be hosted in HK.

“The global economy has started to rebound with Asia predicted to recover sooner and the Mainland expected to outperform other markets in economic growth,” said Cheng in a statement. 

“As cross-border travel gradually resumes, the HKTB will launch the Open House Hong Kong platform to conduct large-scale promotions in our source markets.”

There were two forums in the event titled Seize the Business Development Opportunities in the Mainland and Greater Bay Area; and, Global Hong Kong Brands Gear Up for the Recovery.

— BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — FNS Co Ltd has officially launched the app service of FANTOO, a global fandom network platform for Hanryu Fans, in 175 countries.

Developed for 100 million K-Fans globally, FANTOO was created to promote Hanryu (the Korean Wave) culture worldwide and provide users with space for fun and interaction.

The FANTOO app provides a range of services, which include fan club creation, user reward, multi-lingual chatting & translation, a messenger with improved security and FANTOO Karaoke for live concert.

In addition, the app offers artistes’ live streaming, voice call and chat, and AI-based Deepfake and adult content detection.

With the FANTOO Karaoke for live concert, users can enjoy singing songs specially, K-Pops and also show off their singing performances through real-time live streaming.

The singing can be recorded and uploaded as content. This function can also be used for communication and singing contests between fan clubs.

In conjunction with the launching, FNS organised a special event, the ‘Hanryu Best vs. World Best Survey’ with Realmeter, the best public opinion polling service provider in Korea.

The event aims to promote Hanryu culture worldwide and survey public preference and recognition on Hanryu.

“FANTOO, a global fandom platform for K-Fans that pulls down borders between countries and generations as well as language barriers, will be the one-and-only platform in the world that provides a variety of Hanryu-related contents,” said an FNS official in a statement.

— BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Bernama) — XPOP will launch a new NFT marketplace in Southeast Asia, a market with strong K-POP fandom, this June-end.

Comprising Korean gurus in blockchain technology and the entertainment business sectors, XPOP is an NFT blockchain technology company, specialising in utilising content service that has newly come into the limelight.

The new NFT marketplace XPOP Project Team building will bring an innovative outcome to the entertainment market and its digital content industry.

Based on a statement, various content players can make transactions on the smart contract of XPOP blockchain whenever they trade their own content engaged with them.

As of present XPOP has reached an agreement with over 200 teams of K-POP artistes for rare content registration on XPOP NFT Marketplace.

XPOP NFT Marketplace focuses on supporting music sources to assist in the growth of K-POP artistes.

It also supports convenient and fast distribution of webcomics, games, art works, licences, and IP ownerships, which are relatively easier to be developed into digital products, in the global market through blockchain networks.

This is an innovative entertainment platform where content creators, content industry players, and consumers communicate and trade with one another.

Currently listed in Melon Exchange (melonex.io), XPOP Foundation is meeting various investors in domestic and international financial groups now.

At the same time, XPOP is also engaging with general token holders while XPOP is getting listed on crypto exchange services continuously.

— BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) — Tessa Therapeutics Ltd (Tessa), a clinical-stage cell therapy company has announced early clinical results for an allogeneic CD30-CAR EBVST therapy (TT11X), being co-developed by Baylor College Medicine and Tessa.

The data is from an ongoing Phase 1 dose-escalation study (NCT04288726) testing TT11X in patients with CD30+ lymphomas. The results have been presented at the 24th Annual Meeting of American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT 2021).

The presentation at ASGCT 2021 highlighted data from six patients treated with the therapy. The results demonstrated a favourable safety profile with encouraging clinical activity even at lower dose levels in heavily pre-treated relapsed / refractory (R/R) CD30+ lymphoma patients.

Full findings from the trial are expected to be reported by year-end, according to a statement.

“This is early but significant data supporting development of Tessa’s ‘off-the-shelf,’ allogeneic cell therapy,” said Tessa Therapeutics President and Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey H. Buchalter.

“We believe there is an enormous potential for our allogeneic CD30-CAR EBVST platform, and we remain committed to our longer-term plan to develop this platform to tackle both hematologic malignancies and solid tumours where there is significant patient need.”

Tessa is developing a proprietary allogeneic cell therapy platform based on decades-long research and development on unique properties of Virus Specific T-cells (VSTs) by Tessa’s Scientific Co-Founder, Dr Malcolm Brenner, and the team at Baylor College of Medicine. 

VSTs are highly specialised T cells with the ability to recognise and kill infected cells while activating other parts of the immune system for a coordinated response.

With this platform approach, Tessa aims to overcome the current challenges faced by allogeneic cell therapies and create more efficacious, reliable, and scalable therapies capable of targeting a broad range of cancers.

More details at www.tessacell.com.

— BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — Beyond2020, the UAE-driven humanitarian initiative has announced the deployment of critical solar energy lighting solutions at Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, lighting up the lives of 4,500 residents.

The deployment in Bangladesh, aiming to enhance security and create better conditions for social and community activities after dark, marks the second phase of ‘20by2020’, which recently rebranded to ‘Beyond2020’ to serve as a flagship platform for continuous global outreach.

Going ‘beyond generations’, ‘beyond borders’ and ‘beyond limits’, Beyond2020 offers critical, life-transforming solutions to a broader number of beneficiaries worldwide, providing tech for good and fostering development that is inclusive and sustainable, according to a statement.

Electricians Without Borders, a leading France-based non-profit organisation and the Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020 winner under the ‘Energy’ category, was tasked with installing the technology on behalf of Beyond2020, at the world’s largest refugee camp.

The previous Prize winner leveraged its award-winning experience from the highly acclaimed ‘Light for the Rohingyas’ project that improved the lives of thousands of people through renewable energy and entrepreneurial mentoring.

Building on the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan by championing the humanitarian values of the UAE’s founding father, Beyond2020 donates sustainable technologies and solutions to vulnerable communities, with a total of nine countries reached, to date.

Each solution or technology has already transformed other communities worldwide and has been recognised by the Zayed Sustainability Prize as a winner or finalist.

As part of the initiative’s first phase, a total of eight deployments have been rolled out to date, including energy, health, water and food-related solutions in Nepal, Tanzania, Uganda, Jordan, Egypt, Cambodia, Madagascar, and Indonesia. In addition to Bangladesh, another 11 countries have been identified for phase two.

Beyond2020 brings together a leading and growing roster of UAE-based and international partners which include Abu Dhabi Global Market, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Mubadala Petroleum, the Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence, Masdar, and BNP Paribas.

— BERNAMA