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Enabling Regenerative Agriculture for Independent Smallholders in Indonesia: The BIPOSC Project, in Collaboration with Musim Mas, L3F, SNV Indonesia, and ICRAF

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JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Musim Mas Group, the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (L3F), SNV Indonesia, and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) are collaborating to improve the knowledge and capacity of independent oil palm smallholders through the Biodiverse & Inclusive Palm Oil Supply Chain (BIPOSC) project.

The project began in 2021 and takes a long-term approach to sustain a deforestation-free supply chain, regenerate degraded land, restore local biodiversity, and improve the livelihoods of independent smallholder farmers in Labuhanbatu, North Sumatra. BIPOSC will achieve this through implementing regenerative agriculture, locally adapted agroforestry models, capacity-building for sustainable businesses, and others.

The independent palm smallholders taking part previously received complementary training from Musim Mas. Following the training, these smallholders formed a smallholder’s association, Labuhanbatu Independent Oil Palm Smallholders Association (APSKS LB), North Sumatra. Musim Mas encourages smallholders to form associations to get better access to resources and obtain certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO).

“Musim Mas has long saw that smallholders are key to achieving palm oil sustainability, and that’s why we lead Indonesia’s most extensive smallholder program. We believe that the way forward is to collaborate with more partners to achieve a wider impact. With our BIPOSC partners, we hope to advance the skills and knowledge of smallholders through regenerative agriculture and related techniques. Regenerative agriculture and agroforestry have the potential to help smallholders be part of a sustainable palm oil supply chain. It could help them develop alternative sources of income, especially during the replanting period where their palm oil crops are unproductive, typically for three years,” said Rob Nicholls, General Manager, Projects & Programs, Musim Mas Group.

In the face of climate change and threatened biodiversity, regenerative agriculture can play a role for small farms because it maintains soil health, prevents erosion and water runoff, and can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen leakage.

“As a global development partner organization, SNV aims to support Indonesia in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To achieve this, we need to implement effective and impactful programs to transform agricultural and food systems, energy, and water. In the BIPOSC program, we promote a comprehensive regenerative agriculture and agroforestry model to maintain soil fertility and biodiversity, providing maximum benefits for farmers’ livelihoods and economy,” said Rizki Pandu Permana, Country Director of SNV Indonesia.

The key regenerative agriculture techniques taught include the application of bio-input, mulching to protect topsoil, planting cover crops, integrated pest management that reduces the need for chemical pesticides, and application of compost that reduces the amount of chemical fertilizers needed. To date, 1,032 independent smallholders received training and implement these techniques on their farms, representing a total land with a total area of 1,063.68 hectares. The project trained 25 village facilitators to provide hands-on assistance to smallholders, and seven demo plots established as pilot areas and learning facilities for regenerative agriculture.

“When I visited palm oil smallholders a few years ago in the area, their biggest concern was access to more fertilizers. While fertilizers play a key role in boosting yields, there was a noticeable gap in understanding how to protect the soil from long-term degradation. Smallholders needed more knowledge about maintaining soil health, preserving soil structure, and other critical factors. This is exactly what the BIPOSC project aimed to address, and we’re pleased to see that the farmers involved are now reporting not only higher yields but also healthier soils on their plots,” said Bernard Giraud, President & Co-Founder, Livelihoods.

The projectalso looks into capacity-building. In addition to home composting, the project enabled the local farmer association, APSKS LB, to develop and manage a composting unit with a capacity of 100-150 tons/month. Producing compost at scale with inputs from nearby mills and farmer plots, the unit offers compost to member farmers at half of typical market prices. In 2023, its first year of operation, the unit produced 588 tons of compost, and generated a profit of IDR 421 million. The project partners believe it is a model that can be replicated elsewhere.

“One of the most impactful outcomes of this project for smallholders is the Composting Unit as the business model around it. It enables smallholders to obtain compost affordably, and the profits are shared among member farmers. This is a practical solution to promote the adoption of composting, and all ASPKS-LB smallholders are now using compost in their plots,” said Syahrianto, Chairman of the Labuanbatu Independent Oil Palm Smallholders Association.

As of 2023, independent smallholders manage about 41% of oil palm planted areas in Indonesia, representing 6.94 million hectares. This figure is expected to increase to 60% by 2030, making projects like BIPOSC critical in shaping the future of sustainable palm oil production.

Devane Sharma
media@musimmas.com 

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SOURCE Musim Mas Holdings

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Trip.com Group Sincerely Accepts Administrative Penalty Decision Issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China

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July 25, 2026

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SINGAPORE, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM; HKEX: 9961) today announced that it has received the administrative penalty decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China.

Trip.com Group sincerely accepts the decision and will adopt rectification measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to implement the decision’s requirements. The Company will strengthen its long-term governance mechanisms and strive to contribute to the sustainable development of the travel industry.

Trip.com Group’s management team will host a conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on July 27, 2026 (or 8:00 PM Hong Kong Time on July 27, 2026).

The conference call will be available on Webcast live at: http://investors.trip.com.

All participants must pre-register to join this conference call using the participant registration link below:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIb78e08d8f18340c4882a7e4ab961906b.

Upon registration, each participant will receive details for this conference call, including dial-in numbers and a unique access PIN. To join the conference, please dial the number provided, enter your PIN, and you will join the conference instantly.

For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Trip.com Group Limited
Email: iremail@trip.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripcom-group-sincerely-accepts-administrative-penalty-decision-issued-by-the-state-administration-for-market-regulation-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-302834599.html

SOURCE Trip.com Group Limited

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NAVER Partners with Brookfield and NVIDIA to Expand Korea’s National AI Factory Infrastructure Buildout

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July 25, 2026

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NAVER, Brookfield and NVIDIA announced an expansion of Korea’s sovereign AI factory infrastructure. New investments will increase the initial NVIDIA DSX™ AI factory deployment from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts.

Announced during Korea President Jae Myung Lee’s AI Summit visit to San Francisco, the planned 200-megawatt expansion will be built with the NVIDIA DSX platform at NAVER’s GAK Sejong hyperscale data center in Sejong, South Korea. The expanded infrastructure will provide Korea- and U.S.- based AI innovators with access to production-scale AI compute for building next-generation models, agents and AI-powered services.

Under the terms of the agreements, Brookfield will fund up to $9 billion as the exclusive capital partner, NVIDIA will invest $1 billion and NAVER will fund the remaining amount to finance the $10 billion project.

This builds on NAVER’s June announcement to extend its GAK Sejong data center with NVIDIA DSX, with a long-term path to gigawatt-scale sovereign AI infrastructure serving Korea’s enterprises, industries, government organizations and global AI cloud customers. Combining Brookfield’s capital with NVIDIA’s computing platform, the investment supports NAVER’s AI factory deployment.

“NVIDIA’s strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled NAVER’s vision for the AI Factory business into a robust execution phase,” said Haejin Lee, Founder and Chairman of NAVER. “Leveraging the solid partnerships with our global partners, we will drive technological innovation, foster a sovereign AI ecosystem, and spearhead efforts to strengthen South Korea’s AI competitiveness.” 

AI Factory Expansion and Open Model Collaboration to Fuel AI Innovators

NAVER, as an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, provides deep expertise in operating hyperscale infrastructure powered by the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. The 200-megawatt AI factory, featuring NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, will establish a dedicated resource pool for emerging AI companies, providing the compute, software and support needed to develop and deploy competitive AI models and applications at scale.

This expanded infrastructure also builds on NAVER and NVIDIA’s collaboration on open model development for agentic and physical AI. NAVER is advancing its HyperCLOVA X models to be based on NVIDIA Nemotron™ 3 Ultra open models with its proprietary data and training expertise. NAVER is also the first Korean company to join the NVIDIA Nemotron Coalition, contributing to open model development across pretraining, post-training and reinforcement learning.

NAVER plans to launch an AI agent platform in Korea in the second half of the year, powered by NVIDIA Agent Toolkit software including NVIDIA NemoClaw™ blueprints. NAVER is also developing a Seoul World Model using proprietary urban street-view and spatial modeling data, built on NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models.

About NAVER

Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea’s largest Internet company and one of the world’s top tech companies. Leading cutting-edge technologies, NAVER operates the No.1 search engine in Korea and holds various business portfolios encompassing commerce, fintech, cloud, AI and robotics.

NAVER recorded sales of KRW 12.04 trillion (USD 8.18 billion) in 2025. TEAM NAVER continues to enhance its business portfolio and expand its global presence across Japan, North America, and Europe, while pursuing innovation through continuous research and development in future technologies.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/naver-partners-with-brookfield-and-nvidia-to-expand-koreas-national-ai-factory-infrastructure-buildout-302834577.html

SOURCE NAVER

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Beijing Review: Walking Through Time: China and U.S. Youths Explore Dali’s Past and Future

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July 25, 2026

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BEIJING, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On July 17, a China-U.S. youth delegation came to Dali of Yunnan Province. By examining how Dali’s rich history intersects with modern development, the delegates explored new pathways for rural development.

They visited Dali Old Town, tried their hand at making the Bai people’s Three-Course Tea and also explored the ancient town of Xizhou, where they learned how modern tourism and indigenous life coexist.

In Yunnanyi Village, they explored its history as a stop along the Tea Horse Road and learned about the role it played during the Second World War (WWII).

Tyler James Smith

“I think it’s a very underappreciated part of World War II history. Hearing these stories of different countries working together despite cultural differences is incredibly inspiring.

I also think there are many stories like these that haven’t been widely told, simply because World War II is such a complex period in history. That’s why I think it’s so meaningful to visit museums like this and experience these stories firsthand.”

At Xiangyun Economic and Technological Development Zone, they visited a local new energy company to see how green, low-carbon development is driving regional growth.

Valerie Marie

“I recently started studying energy transitions. I know China has been really big in the renewable energy sector. So actually getting to hear more about [China’s] 2060 [pledge], learning more about carbon neutrality [goals], as well as other zero-carbon goals, was cool.”

During their stay in Dali, they also strolled along the Erhai Lake Ecological Corridor.

Bai Yiwen

“I’d describe this journey as “to be continued,” because my own connection with Yunnan is far from over. For the U.S. delegates, this was only their first visit, so they’ve only had a glimpse of what Yunnan has to offer. I hope they will have more opportunities to come back to China, explore other cities in Yunnan, and discover even more of its people, culture and traditions.”

After Dali, the delegates will visit Beijing for more tours and exchanges. The event was co-hosted by China International Communications Group (CICG) Center for the Americas and the U.S.-based International Student Conferences.

https://x.com/beijingreview/status/2080104404552663067?s=46&t=yfVMVdMyE2zKAFrYaLoV-g

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EtGCCKzy4/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.tiktok.com/@cachinachic/video/7665536913532587294?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7227134149436605995

https://youtu.be/jGONWTqwduc?is=KfL-Zn3HyVYE-KEm

Contact: Jiaweibellapeng@163.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beijing-review-walking-through-time-china-and-us-youths-explore-dalis-past-and-future-302834587.html

SOURCE Beijing Review

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