King Norodom Sihamoni has reigned over Cambodia since his late father, former King Norodom Sihanouk, abdicated the throne in 2004. A former ballet instructor who spent decades in Europe, the powerless monarch has sought to avoid the limelight. But he recently got ensnared in public mudslinging between Prime Minister Hun Sen and exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy. The king’s acquiescence to Hun Sen’s rule made him a “rubber stamp for the traitor,” said Sam Rainsy, drawing a threat from the prime minister to dissolve Cambodia’s tiny opposition.
British government pledges to curb overseas influence, Chinese infiltration
The British government is planning a slew of measures aimed at curbing infiltration and influence operations by foreign governments, including probing recent attacks inside the Chinese consulate on a Hong Kong protester and the possible closure of the Beijing-funded Confucius Institutes in universities.
Home Office minister for security Tom Tugendhat said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had pledged during his bid for leadership of the ruling Conservative Party that “Confucius Institutes pose a threat to civil liberties in many universities in the United Kingdom and he will be looking to close them.”
He said the government is assessing how to respond to the beating of Hong Kong protester Bob Chan by Chinese consular staff on Oct. 16.
“There is no place for those who abuse their diplomatic privilege or the liberties of this country in order to oppress citizens here,” he told the House of Commons on Tuesday.
“The assessment will be coming forward urgently,” Tugendhat said of the probe into the Manchester attack, and promised a coordinated response.
Speaking amid a global investigation into Chinese police-run “overseas service centers,” some of which have been ordered to shut down by foreign governments for operating outside of diplomatic channels, Tugendhat said a forthcoming national security bill would strengthen the government’s legal powers to deal with agents of foreign governments operating on British soil.
“Coercion, harassment or intimidation linked to a foreign power that interferes with the freedoms of individuals will be criminalized under the new foreign interference offense in the bill,” he said. “Existing criminal offenses against a person, such as assault, may also have sentences increased using the state threats aggravating factor in the Bill where they are undertaken for, on behalf of or with the intention to benefit a foreign power.”
He said the bill would also include a foreign influence registration scheme, in which organizations with close ties to overseas governments would be required to register as agents of a foreign power. Similar measures are already in place in Australia and the United States.
British media have reported the existence of three undeclared “service centers” in the United Kingdom, including Hendon, Croydon and Glasgow.
Chinese dissidents in exile and the Spanish-based rights group Safeguard Defenders have reported that dozens of such “service centers” operate outside of China, and that people associated with them have targeted dissidents for harassment and threats, including coerced repatriations.
Newcastle cuts ties
Meanwhile, councilors in the northeastern city of Newcastle on Wednesday voted unanimously to end the city’s “twinned sister” status with the northern Chinese mining city of Taiyuan.
Moving the motion, Liberal Democrat Cllr. Wendy Taylor said the Chinese government under Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping had ignored international norms and showed scant concern for universal values like human rights, freedom and democracy, according to an account of the meeting on the Newcastle Stands With Hong Kong Facebook page.
Cllr Jane Byrne cited a recent Amnesty International report detailing a deterioration in China’s human rights record, including unfair trials, intimidation and torture, saying she would stand with those fighting for freedom and democracy, the report said.
A Newcastle Stands with Hong Kong spokesperson, who gave the pseudonym K for fear of reprisals targeting loved ones back home, said many British officials are aware of the seriousness of the threat posed by Chinese infiltration.
“Everyone is very concerned right now about infiltration via Confucius Institutes and overseas law enforcement, but they have yet to act on that,” K said.
K said part of the issue was that many countries feel economically dependent on China.
“The fundamental issue is whether other countries are so economically dependent on China that China feels it can ignore international law and human rights law,” K said. “Continuing to allow slow infiltration by China will only expand its ambitions, and sooner or later lead to the same situation as we have seen with Russia.”
“The international community, while reducing Chinese infiltration, must also reduce its dependence on China,” they said.
International Threat
British-based scholar Wang Jianhong said such infiltration is a threat to the international order.
“The United Kingdom was relatively slow to recognize and act on that threat,” Wang said. “But the fall of Hong Kong and the beginnings of the pandemic in Wuhan as well as the human rights crisis in Xinjiang have all prompted the British government to change policy.”
“I hope they actually follow through with shutting down the Confucius Institutes, expelling the Chinese Consul-General in Manchester and thoroughly investigating the Chinese Communist Party’s secret police stations,” Wang said.
Analysts have told RFA they expect China’s “wolf-warrior” diplomacy to become more entrenched now that Xi Jinping has begun an indefinite third term in office, amid growing reports of bullying and physical violence by Chinese diplomats overseas.
Britain’s foreign secretary urgently summoned a top Chinese diplomat in response to the assault on Chan, who was dragged into the Chinese Consulate in Manchester and beaten by a group of unidentified men during an altercation over a ripped protest banner on Oct. 16.
But protesters and MPs have said the response hasn’t gone far enough, calling for the expulsion of those involved, including Consul General Zheng Xiyuan, who admitted to pulling Chan’s hair.
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Björk, Izzy Bizu, and Breland among latest additions to Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival
Presented by Kraken, the second annual Metaverse Music Festival will host 15 stages with 150+ artists across every music genre; Showcasing the next frontier of metaverse experiences
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the world’s largest user-owned and operated metaverse announced that it is expanding the array of musical talent that will be available to global citizens at Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival 2022. Decentraland’s aim for the festival is to demonstrate the evolving ways that musicians and artists can engage with their fans in a communal setting, all while offering something new and additional to IRL concerts and festivals. Presented by digital asset platform Kraken, DCLMVMF22 will be held from November 10-13, and is free for all to attend, no ticket or VR headset required.
“I am beyond excited for the world to witness and enjoy the lineup we have produced with incredible partners this year. It has been my life’s passion to explore the boundaries of music in the 21st century, and we are delighted to share this talented, diverse, authentic group of artists and what they will be introducing the world to. We are working hard to help expand what is possible with music and sound in the metaverse,” said Iara Dias, Producer for Metaverse Music Festival.
Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival 2022: Lineup Additions
- World-renowned music icon, Björk enters the metaverse for the first time during DCLMVMF22, with a performance for the ages. She will host the world premiere of her latest music video, “Sorrowful Soil,” during her time on stage, among other surprises for her fans.“We are honored that Björk has trusted Decentraland as the platform of choice for her metaverse debut. As an international and multi-generational icon, she’s inspired countless humans, and we’re no exception,” said Sam Hamilton, Creative Director of the Decentraland Foundation. “Her exploration of the relationship between nature, technology, and sound heavily influenced Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival. I cannot wait for everyone to see.”
- Soundr is proud to announce it will be adding the English-Ethiopian songwriter, Izzy Bizu, to their stage.
- Platinum-award winning country artist and songwriter, BRELAND, will make his metaverse debut during the festival. His performance for DCLMVMF22 was filmed for a sold-out crowd at The Garage in London.
- Nugs.net will present Grammy winning artist Billy Strings live from The Met in Philadelphia on November 12 and 13 at 8PM ET
In addition to new musical talent joining the festival, Decentraland is also welcoming a new metaverse music experience that will lead the democratization of the music industry.
Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival 2022: New Experiences & Activations
- Celebrating the raw potential NFTs have to offer for artists, the digital asset platform Kraken will release its iconic collection of Wearables during their special afterparty that will feature an infinite NFT gallery.
- Stickmen Toys is bringing exclusive avatars to DCLMVMF22. Stickmen Toys is an audio-visual digital collectibles project by Warner Records and Bose, taking you on a journey to reconnect with your inner child.
- Another activation that is bound to appeal to the masses will be a newly-unveiled, interactive racing game which will feature music produced by Chillpill, who is represented by web3 entertainment company Defient.
- In an effort to create highly immersive experiences for attendees, Berlin-based software startup, doWow, will debut a pioneering technical solution that enables the broadcasting of mixed media and user-generated content in real-time in various destinations within Decentraland. The doWow Media Wall invites attendees to engage with NFTs, Wearables, watch artists’ performances, participate in giveaways, and broadcast their own UGC in real-time.
Join Decentraland at the next installment of Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival by pre-registering at the official Event listing. Follow the event on Twitter at #DCLMVMF22 to learn more about specific experiences and still-unannounced artists that will join us at the festival. See you at the show.
About Decentraland
Launched in 2020, Decentraland is a virtual social world powered by the Ethereum blockchain and the first decentralized metaverse. Within the Decentraland platform, users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications as well as socialize and attend a wide range of daily community-driven events. Decentraland is unique in that it is owned, created, and governed by the people who use it every day. Through the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) users can submit proposals and even apply for grants for the community to vote on.
About Kraken
Kraken is one of the world’s largest digital asset platforms and the leader in euro volume and liquidity. Globally, Kraken’s client base trades more than 200+ digital assets and 8 different fiat currencies. Kraken was founded in 2011 and was one of the first exchanges to offer spot trading with margin, regulated derivatives and index services. Kraken is trusted by well over 10 million clients and institutions around the world and offers professional, around-the-clock online support.
For Media Inquiry: press@decentraland.org
GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8688866
First commercial kit to quantify protein modification in single cells launched by Singleron Biotechnologies
COLOGNE, Germany, Nov. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Singleron Biotechnologies, a pioneer in development and commercialization of innovative single cell sequencing analysis solutions, announces the launch of the first commercially available product that can quantify protein glycosylation at single cell level, ProMoSCOPE
kit. This product uses a unique single-cell multi-omics technology that enables simultaneous quantification of glycosylation levels and gene expression on the single-cell level, making advanced high-throughput single-cell multimodal analysis more accessible.
Previously available single-cell sequencing technologies mainly focused on single-cell gene expression profiles, while proteins are studied to a lesser extent at a single-cell resolution. As post-translational modification of proteins, such as glycosylation, plays important roles in cellular function and diseases, ProMoSCOPE enables researchers to gain further insights to advance their understanding of complex biological systems.
ProMoSCOPE makes it possible to obtain quantitative multimodal information on both glycosylation and gene expression from the same single cells. Along with the rest of Singleron’s single cell multi-omic portfolio, this new product adds to the toolbox to advance translational research. ProMoSCOPE expands Singleron’s unique multi-omics solutions that include FocuSCOPE®, a high-throughput single-cell sequencing solution that can detect both genetic variants and transcriptome from the same single cells, and DynaSCOPE®, a single cell sequencing kit enabling to study RNA dynamics on a single cell level.
About Singleron
Founded in 2018, Singleron develops and commercializes single-cell multi-omics products that can be used in both research and clinical settings. Its current product portfolio includes instruments, microfluidic devices, reagents, software analysis and database solutions that facilitate high-throughput single-cell analysis. The company currently has offices, laboratories, and manufacturing facilities in Germany, Singapore, China, and the US. Its products are used in over 2000 laboratories in hospitals, research institutes, and pharmaceutical companies.
Media Contact
Email: info@singleronbio.com
GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8685337
MessageMedia Announces Integration Into BigCommerce Platform to Streamline Two-Way Customer Engagement for Retailers
EAP Program
Woman with phone
New Early Access Program (EAP) of new direct integration of MessageMedia SMS Marketing helps BigCommerce merchants drive better conversions and enhance marketing efforts
DENVER, CO – November 3, 2022 – MessageMedia, a leading global messaging solution for small and medium-sized businesses, today announced an Early Access Program (EAP) to its direct integration with BigCommerce (NASDAQ: BIG), a leading Open SaaS ecommerce platform for established and fast-growing B2C and B2B brands. The new MessageMedia SMS Marketing integration provides tens of thousands of BigCommerce merchants with an easy-to-use, full-featured turnkey messaging solution to better engage customers at key points in the buyer’s journey and improve efficiency in the online buying process. MessageMedia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinch (NASDAQ Stockholm: XSTO:SINCH).
MessageMedia SMS Marketing harnesses two-way messaging and automation to help online retailers with targeted and personalized campaigns; improve abandoned cart recovery through SMS; and deliver built-in ROI reporting functions and support customers from a centralized inbox to reduce wait times. Businesses can further enhance their customer experience and SMS campaigns by using some of the MessageMedia platform’s more advanced features, like mobile landing pages, and Chatbox to SMS.
“While many online and off-line retailers are aware of SMS’s ubiquity and open rates, it can be difficult — especially for small to medium-sized ecommerce businesses — to maintain responsive, two-way messaging channels despite their best efforts,” said Doug Rubingh, President, U.S. and U.K. at MessageMedia. “Our new direct integration with BigCommerce eliminates the complexity of communicating with consumers by offering automation and seamless omnichannel experiences, enabling organizations to retain strong customer relationships as they grow their business.”
BigCommerce is the most recent addition to a growing list of leading technology partners to have integrated with MessageMedia, joining HubSpot and NetSuite, among others. The MessageMedia solution integrates with best-in-class platforms that provide marketing automation, ecommerce, CRM, and ERP solutions, making it simple for small businesses to enable multichannel, conversational messaging with their customers. Because of the ease of use, security, and quick ramp-up time associated with these integrations, businesses of all sizes can enable their marketing, sales and services teams to send appointment reminders, delivery alerts, abandoned cart notifications, and intelligent messaging without requiring additional resources.
“Our partnership with MessageMedia further illustrates our commitment to providing merchants access to the highest-caliber technologies and service providers available in the industry,” said Russell Klein, chief commercial officer for BigCommerce. “MessageMedia shares our desire to help merchants sell more and grow faster to maximize success, and we look forward to working together to mutually support customers.”
Learn more about MessageMedia SMS Marketing, and join our early access program, here:
https://messagemedia.com/us/
About MessageMedia
MessageMedia helps small to medium sized businesses of all sizes better connect with their customers. With more than 70,000 active customers worldwide across its brands, MessageMedia drives business success by creating engaging mobile experiences that customers love. Messaging solutions such as alerts and notifications, billing and payments, appointment reminders, marketing, and staff scheduling are used by leading brands in healthcare, education, retail, utilities, and dozens of industries. With offices across the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand, MessageMedia is the number one choice for easy and engaging global business messaging. MessageMedia (www.messagemedia.com) is a subsidiary of Sinch (NASDAQ Stockholm: XSTO:SINCH), a leading cloud communications platform that lets businesses reach everyone on the planet, in seconds or less, through mobile messaging, email, voice and video.
About BigCommerce
BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC) is a leading open software-as-a-service (SaaS) ecommerce platform that empowers merchants of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce provides merchants sophisticated enterprise-grade functionality, customization and performance with simplicity and ease-of-use. Tens of thousands of B2C and B2B companies across 150 countries and numerous industries use BigCommerce to create beautiful, engaging online stores, including Ben & Jerry’s, Molton Brown, S.C. Johnson, Skullcandy, Solo Stove, Ted Baker and Vodafone. Headquartered in Austin, BigCommerce has offices in London, Kyiv, San Francisco, and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.bigcommerce.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
BigCommerce® is a registered trademark of BigCommerce Pty. Ltd. Third-party trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
About Sinch
Sinch’s leading cloud communications platform lets businesses reach everyone on the planet, in
seconds or less, through mobile messaging, email, voice and video. More than 150,000
businesses, including many of the world’s largest companies and mobile operators, use Sinch’s
advanced technology platform to engage with their customers. Sinch has been profitable and
fast-growing since its foundation in 2008. It is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and has
local presence in more than 60 countries. Shares are traded at NASDAQ Stockholm:
XSTO:SINCH. Visit us at sinch.com.
For further information, please contact
Beth Houran
Vice President Marketing-US
Beth.houran@messagemedia.com
M: 412-225-4322
Attachment
GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1000754628
Intercultural Innovation Hub: Calling Projects promoting an inclusive and diverse society
Apply now to become the Next Global Changemakers
- The new Intercultural Innovation Hub of UNAOC and the BMW Group connects people and cultures, empowers grassroots organizations and elevates intercultural innovation.
- Selected projects promoting diversity, integration and social inclusion will work towards achieving sustainable growth.
- Participants will benefit from a financial grant of up to 20,000 USD plus a year of capacity-building workshops, customized support, and membership to the “Intercultural Leaders” global networking platform.
- Deadline for Applications: 2nd December 2022 at www.interculturalinnovation.
org.
MUNICH, Germany and NEW YORK, Nov. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Since 2011, UNAOC and the BMW Group have worked with leaders and organizations from around the globe to tackle intercultural challenges through social innovations. With the new Intercultural Innovation Hub, our mission is to connect people and cultures, empower grassroots organizations, as well as elevate and scale up intercultural innovation. To this end, organizations promoting diversity, integration and social inclusion are invited to become part of the hub and benefit from comprehensive support to expand the social impact of their projects.
Participating and increasing impact
The Intercultural Innovation Hub is focused on supporting projects that promote gender equality, counter violent extremism, hatred, and prejudice, and advocate for art, culture and sports as vectors for social cohesion and diversity, through:
Financial support for sustainable growth: To leverage the social impact of the selected projects, up to ten finalists will receive up to 20,000 USD each to help their initiative scale up sustainably.
One-year capacity-building program: UNAOC and BMW Group with the support of Accenture, will provide the recipients a year-long series of capacity-building workshops and customized support.
Membership to the “Intercultural Leaders” community: Participants will be part of a global network of changemakers working in the fields of social inclusion and diversity.
Apply now and become the next global changemaker
Interested organizations should submit their applications by 5:00 p.m. (EST) on Friday, December 2nd, 2022, at www.interculturalinnovation.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Milena Pighi, BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs, Spokesperson CSR
Telephone: +49-89-382-66563, Milena.PA.Pighi@bmw.de
Alessandro Girola, Programming Coordinator, UNAOC
Telephone: +1 (929) 274-6217, alessandrog@unops.org
GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8685593