Events

Hefei, China – September 21, 2026 -- The 2026 World Manufacturing Convention opened in Hefei, Anhui province, on September 20 under the theme "Intelligent Manufacturing for a Better Future," marking the eighth consecutive year the province has hosted the event.

Convention Draws Over 1,000 Guests as UK Serves as Guest Country of Honor

British Ambassador to China Peter Wilson delivered remarks as the UK's designated guest country of honor, while Solange Amicha, representing Côte d'Ivoire's Cabinet Minister of the Presidency, read a congratulatory letter from the Ivorian president. The convention attracted more than 1,000 guests, including over 500 overseas representatives and more than 40 overseas companies, spread across a 70,000-square-meter venue that features an unmanned-systems showcase at Luogang Park alongside China-Europe, China-France and China-UK industrial matchmaking sessions.

Shanghai – September 21, 2026 -- Huawei unveiled its SCALE partner support system at HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, aiming to move enterprise AI deployments beyond pilot projects into full-scale industry adoption.

Huawei's Leo Chen outlines five partner challenges blocking large-scale AI rollout

Leo Chen, Huawei's Senior Vice President and President of Enterprise Sales, said during his keynote that partners face five recurring obstacles when scaling intelligent industry projects: solution development, integration verification, solution delivery, operations and maintenance, and system collaboration. The new SCALE system is structured around five corresponding support pillars: Scenario-based Solutions, Co-innovation, Aligned Marketing, Local Services with Consistent Quality, and Efficient Collaboration.

Bratislava – September 21, 2026 -- EXPO 2027 Belgrade brought its "Visit Serbia" roadshow to Bratislava, convening Serbian and Slovak travel and business representatives to forge partnerships ahead of the Western Balkans' first Specialised Expo, scheduled for 15 May to 15 August 2027 under the theme "Play for Humanity: Sport and Music for All."

More than 135 countries confirm participation in Belgrade Expo

Organizers expect several million visits over the 93-day event, with over 135 countries having already confirmed participation.

Slovakia becomes first country to sign Expo participation contract

"Slovakia was the first country to sign the Participation Contract for EXPO 2027 Belgrade, reflecting the strong ties between our business communities," said Igor Kovačević, Executive Director of EXPO 2027 Belgrade, who invited Slovak travel professionals to develop itineraries and visit Serbia directly.

London – September 21, 2026 -- askelie has launched its Operational AI Platform, giving managed service providers (MSPs), software vendors and business users direct access to the AI capabilities previously reserved for its enterprise deployments.

Platform lets customers configure AI tools instead of building them from scratch

The Operational AI Platform allows organisations to combine existing, reusable askelie capabilities to create AI-powered Assistants and Automations tailored to specific business needs. Askelie says the approach cuts the time, cost and risk typically associated with building an AI foundation internally.

Boston – September 21, 2026 -- Cellular Intelligence, a Boston-based AI company building a universal foundation model of cell signaling, has appointed Turing Award laureate Yann LeCun, Moderna co-founder Robert "Bob" Langer, BioInnovation Institute CEO Jens Nielsen and Helmholtz Munich computational health director Fabian Theis to its Scientific Advisory Board. Langer also joins the company's Board of Directors as an observer.

Gothenburg – September 21, 2026 -- SKF has launched its new Progressive Lubrication Pump (PLP), an automatic lubrication system engineered to reduce unplanned downtime and lower total maintenance costs for industrial and mobile equipment operators.

SKF builds PLP on combined Lincoln and SKF lubrication expertise

The modular pump system targets faster installation and commissioning, improved serviceability, and better visibility into lubricant levels and system status. SKF positions PLP as the first product family built on a new lubrication platform designed to support future functional expansion.

Christophe Laurans says PLP addresses reliability and maintenance simplification

"Every hour of unplanned downtime matters. PLP helps customers improve equipment reliability, simplify maintenance, and keep their operations running efficiently," said Christophe Laurans, Head of Automatic Lubrication Systems at SKF.

Washington – September 21, 2026 -- Arc XP, the media technology platform built inside The Washington Post, launched Arc XP Compass, a personalization engine that rebuilds news home pages and section fronts around each returning reader while leaving editorial priorities in newsroom hands.

Publishers' own sites just lost their lead as the top news source

Social media and video networks now edge out publishers' own websites and apps as the most common way people get news, used by 54% of respondents across 48 markets versus 51% for news organizations' own sites and apps, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism's Digital News Report 2026.

Paris – September 21, 2026 -- Legend Robot previewed its CE-compliant autonomous latex paint and putty spraying robot at BATIMAT 2026, citing a field-validated peak output of 237 square meters per hour during a hotel renovation in Athens, Greece. The system, developed with European partner ROBOSWISS AG, is positioned to address skilled labor shortages across European construction markets while meeting EU CE safety standards.

Athens hotel project validates 237 m2/h spraying speed across 19 room layouts

During a brownfield renovation for Gnosis Investments Group in Athens, Legend Robot's continuous spraying fleet executed 2-coat and 3-coat latex wall finishing across 19 distinct room layouts, compensating for manual substrate imperfections. The robots operated on direct electrical stabilization throughout the project, combining CE safety compliance with a material waste reduction of up to 15%, according to the company.

Stockholm – September 21, 2026 --

Fredrik Rystedt, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Essity, has notified the company of his intention to retire during 2027, triggering an immediate search for his successor.

Rystedt exits after more than nine years steering Essity's finances

Rystedt has served as CFO and Executive Vice President at Essity for over nine years. He will remain in his current role until a successor is appointed and an orderly handover is completed, the company said.

Stockholm – September 21, 2026 -- Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson repurchased Class B shares between September 14 and September 18, 2026, under its ongoing SEK 15,000,000,000 buyback program, lifting the company's treasury stock holding to 108,018,663 Class B shares.

Ericsson's buyback program targets up to SEK 15 billion through March 2027

The repurchase activity forms part of a program Ericsson announced on April 16, 2026, running from April 23, 2026, through March 31, 2027 at the latest. The initiative is structured under the EU's Market Abuse Regulation (No 596/2014) and the accompanying Safe Harbour Regulation (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 of March 8, 2016), ensuring the transactions comply with European market conduct rules.

New York – September 21, 2026 -- Infrastructure Capital Advisors has expanded its SPYC exchange-traded fund into Europe, securing listings on the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Börse Xetra and Borsa Italiana while registering the product across 11 European markets.

SPYC pairs S&P 500 equities with a covered-call overlay to generate monthly income

The fund combines actively selected S&P 500 stocks with a flexible covered-call options strategy, aiming to produce monthly income distributions while preserving upside potential for capital growth. Infrastructure Capital designed the structure to monetize elevated volatility across S&P 500-listed companies through active options management.

Xuzhou – September 21, 2026 -- XCMG's 11th Staff Arts Festival drew more than 3,000 employees on September 19 and reached a global audience exceeding 5.3 million through more than 50 media outlets and social platforms, with overseas views topping 400,000.

Construction machinery becomes the stage itself

The event was staged against the world's first 14,000-ton ring crane. XCMG crawler and wheeled cranes jointly hoisted a large screen, while dozens of aerial work platforms and cranes installed lighting and sound systems, integrating the company's equipment directly into the production rather than using it as static display.

Boston – September 21, 2026 -- Global M&A value climbed 15% year over year in the first eight months of 2026, exceeding the ten-year average by 11%, according to a new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The number of megadeals worth $10 billion or more rose to 37 from 24 a year earlier, surpassing 2021's record of 32.

Megadeal surge masks a narrower recovery below the top of the market

Transactions valued at $1 billion or more are running above longer-term norms, but deal volume for small-cap and midcap transactions remains below historical levels even before inflation adjustments. BCG's M&A Sentiment Index rose to 83 from 79 at the start of the year, still well below its long-term average of 100.

New York – September 21, 2026 -- Africa's push for greater control over its resources and a stronger voice in global governance took center stage as business leaders, heads of state, and investors gathered for the fifth edition of Unstoppable Africa, held alongside the 81st UN General Assembly session at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

Guterres calls for Africa's permanent UN Security Council seat

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told delegates that Africa needs a permanent presence on the UN Security Council to contribute to global dialogue and action. He urged reforms so the continent's critical minerals generate local value and jobs rather than being exported raw.

London and St Helier, Jersey – September 21, 2026 -- Bloomsbury Money Group has appointed Thomas Holst, a former SAP health-technology engineer with more than a decade of experience, as Chief Technology Officer to lead the build-out of its multi-jurisdiction banking platform.

Holst will unify fiat, digital assets and payment rails onto one platform

Holst joins from SAP's health technology ecosystem in Germany, where he spent 13 years building data-intensive, privacy-critical software for hospitals and research institutions and the cloud infrastructure supporting it. At Bloomsbury Money, he will oversee technology strategy, engineering and platform architecture as the group consolidates its multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange, cross-border payments and regulated virtual asset services onto a single infrastructure designed to operate under one standard of control across multiple regulatory regimes.

Singapore – September 21, 2026 -- Seoul has emerged as the top overseas holiday destination worldwide for this year's Golden Week, recording a 91% year-on-year jump in international flight bookings, according to new data from Trip.com Group. Chinese travellers are combining Golden Week with the Mid-Autumn Festival into a 13-day break by taking three additional days off, with outbound departures expected to spike as early as September 25 and average trip lengths exceeding nine days.

Chinese Outbound Departures Shift Earlier to Avoid Holiday Rush

More than half of outbound flight bookings this season are for departures before the official holiday begins on October 1, with daily volume peaking on September 25 and 30. The shift comes as Mid-Autumn Festival lands the Friday before the October holidays, prompting travellers to front-load their trips.

Dallas – September 21, 2026 -- Solidion Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: STI) has combined its Chairman and CEO roles, appointing Jaymes Winters to the dual position effective September 16, 2026, while naming Mark N. Schwartz as Lead Independent Director.

Winters adds Chairman title to CEO role effective September 16

Winters, who brings more than 15 years of chief executive experience across oil and gas, telecommunications and retail, will retain the CEO title while assuming board chairmanship. He previously served as CEO of Nubia Brand International Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, and founded United Energy Inc., which he grew to nearly $100 million in revenue. Winters also taught business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital for more than 9 years as an adjunct professor at Portland State University's School of Business.

New Taipei City – September 21, 2026 -- UD info's DB Series SSD Drives have achieved FIPS 140-3 validation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Cryptographic Module Validation Program, with NIST Certificate No. 5479 issued August 12, 2026, confirming Overall Level 2 status.

Certificate confirms Overall Level 2 validation for DB Series cryptographic module

The validation provides independent third-party assurance that the DB Series meets federal cryptographic security requirements, addressing procurement mandates in government, critical infrastructure, and other regulated sectors. NIST CMVP validation is a common prerequisite for federal and defense-adjacent storage procurement in the United States.

Singapore – September 21, 2026 -- MetaOptics Ltd (Catalist: 9MT) has secured an investment facility of up to US$10 million from White Lion Capital LLC, marking the Singapore-listed metalens maker's first institutional backer from the United States.

White Lion gains rights to up to 40 million new shares under warrant deed

Under the warrant deed, Los Angeles-based White Lion may exercise warrants at its discretion to raise up to US$10 million by issuing up to 40,000,000 new ordinary shares in MetaOptics. The deal arrives one year after MetaOptics listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange, and follows what the company describes as a period of design and evaluation requests from customers alongside shipped sampling units.

Melbourne – September 21, 2026 -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, NASDAQ: TLX) has signed a strategic agreement to merge with ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE in a deal valuing ITM at US$1.65 billion upfront on a cash-free, debt-free basis, with up to US$700 million in additional contingent consideration tied to regulatory and sales milestones.

Deal structures $1.25 billion in Telix stock alongside debt assumption

Under the agreement, ITM shareholders will receive approximately US$1.25 billion in the form of 105.8 million Telix shares priced at US$11.84 per share, released as Nasdaq-listed ADRs following escrow periods of up to 15 months. Telix will additionally assume US$302 million of ITM net debt at closing, with US$96 million allocated to management equity rollover and transaction expenses. Upon completion, existing Telix shareholders will hold roughly 76.3% of the combined company, with ITM shareholders holding approximately 23.7%.