Asia / Middle East

Atlanta – October 07, 2026 -- Habitat for Humanity International has named 44 volunteers from 21 countries as its 2026 honorees, recognizing their work building homes, mobilizing communities and advocating for affordable housing during the organization's 50th anniversary year.

Twelve volunteers earned global recognition out of more than 300 regional nominations

In Jordan, Fadi Miqdady led efforts to build 78 homes, rehabilitate more than 370 others and improve water access in remote villages. In South Korea, Sean Ro organized public running and walking campaigns that engaged tens of thousands of participants and raised approximately $5.7 million to support housing for descendants of independence patriots and war veterans. In Kenya, Roseline Asena mobilized residents of the Mukuru Informal Settlement to push for adequate housing, helping bring local priorities into national policy discussions.

New York – October 06, 2026 -- Wise has launched a combined eSIM and cross-border QR code payment feature inside its app, aiming to eliminate the mobile data and payment struggles travelers face abroad.

Survey finds travelers hunting for free Wi-Fi in awkward ways

A Wise-commissioned YouGov survey of more than 14,000 travelers across eleven countries found that 62% of international travelers in the past year relied on hotel or accommodation Wi-Fi to stay connected. Away from their hotels, 24% admitted to buying something at a café they did not want just to access free Wi-Fi, 15% have stood outside a museum or attraction to use its Wi-Fi instead of going in, and 7% have asked a stranger to share their phone's personal hotspot.

Cash management was the most commonly reported payment problem abroad, cited by 43% of respondents. Among those who faced payment issues, nearly 40% said they missed out on local experiences such as street food markets.

Singapore – October 01, 2026 -- Gauth, the all-in-one study platform, has launched Unlimited Digital Canvas, a new whiteboard feature inside Gauth AI Course that lets students and an AI Tutor work through lessons on one continuous digital board instead of slides or chat windows. The feature is now live across Gauth's history and math libraries and marks the biggest update to AI Course since the product launched in July.

Students and the AI Tutor now share one continuous board

Rather than flipping between isolated slides, chapters expand side-by-side in real time as narration plays, letting students trace how an early step connects to a later one across a single map. Smooth pan-and-zoom controls let learners move between a big-picture view and a single detail, and sessions resume exactly where a student left off, including the exact zoom level.

Malmö – September 30, 2026 -- Swedish rug company Rugvista has launched Woven Stories, a new collection of 14 designs in 21 colour variations, available now at rugvista.com.

The designs draw on faded colours and worn textures to mimic decades-old craftsmanship.

Developed in-house by Rugvista's design team in Malmö, the collection uses subtle irregularities and tactile surfaces to give new rugs a sense of history. The goal is a look that feels collected over time rather than bought all at once.

Matilda Lundgren, Chief Design Officer at Rugvista, said the team wanted to translate worn surfaces and traditional techniques into rugs that still feel relevant in modern homes.

Los Angeles – September 20, 2026 -- Digital IP entertainment company IPX has launched the third MIGHTEEZ collection, a character line created with K-pop group ATEEZ, exclusively through LINE FRIENDS SQUARE US Online starting September 18.

MIGHTEEZ characters transform into rockstars alongside ATEEZ

The 'MIGHTEEZ Rock The Stage POP-UP' reimagines the superpowered fairy characters as they prepare for a rockstar debut, mirroring ATEEZ's own on-stage transformation. ATEEZ members took part in an exclusive photoshoot built around the 'Rock The Stage' concept, linking the artists directly to their animated counterparts.

The release follows ATEEZ's 14th EP reaching number one on the US Billboard 200.

Dubai – September 17, 2026 -- Gorenje has launched the G600 dishwasher in the UAE and wider Middle East, an appliance the company says uses 10 percent less energy than the A-class industry standard while delivering full cleaning performance.

Smart Dosing cuts refills to once a month

The G600's Smart Dosing feature lets households fill the detergent container once and run up to 20 wash cycles, roughly a month of use, without refilling. The system automatically dispenses the precise detergent amount for each selected programme, aiming to reduce waste.

An optional UV light targets 99.99 percent of bacteria

An optional UV Light Function claims to eliminate 99.99 percent of bacteria and viruses, even during lower-temperature cycles such as Eco at 55°C. The machine offers six programmes: Eco, Auto, Intensive, Daily, Night, and Hygiene.

San Francisco – September 15, 2026 -- Licensed marriage and family therapist Manami Yamamoto has announced a new book, 'Truly Be Well: Nurturing True Wellness from Within,' currently in development, built around a framework she calls Inner Nurturing.

The global wellness industry has crossed $6.8 trillion, yet stress and disconnection persist

Yamamoto points to that gap as the reason she developed her framework. She argues that most wellness products and mental health campaigns focus on symptom relief rather than building lasting inner capacity.

Singapore – September 11, 2026 -- Voiskey has released a new Keyboard Input feature for its AI voice typing app on iOS and Android, combining manual typing with voice recognition in a single tool.

The update merges typing and voice into one workflow

The company calls it the first all-in-one solution covering "Speak, Polish, Type, and Edit" in the AI voice-typing space. Users can now switch between speaking and typing without leaving the app, letting them manually enter specialized terms, acronyms, or rare proper nouns that voice recognition might miss.

Manual corrections are saved to each user's personalized dictionary, which Voiskey says improves the app's speech recognition accuracy over time with continued use.

Singapore – September 11, 2026 -- Trip.Gourmet, the food and dining brand of Trip.com Group, has released its 2027 Fine Dining List, recognising 744 restaurants across 105 cities and 40 countries and regions to mark the brand's tenth anniversary. The list was unveiled in partnership with Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, gathering restaurant partners, culinary experts and media for the launch.

The rankings split restaurants into three tiers: 60 Black Diamond, the top distinction, 160 Diamond and 524 Platinum. This year adds 34 new destinations across Europe, North America, Oceania, Asia, South America and Africa, growing the list from a single-market ranking a decade ago into an index now spanning 66 countries and regions and 462 destinations overall.

Mainz – September 09, 2026 -- A new ZDF documentary examines how the global matcha craze is driving up prices, causing supply shortages, and fueling a market flooded with fake products. "Matcha – Genuss mit Beigeschmack" ("Matcha – A Bitter Aftertaste") streams on the ZDF platform starting Friday, September 11, 2026, at 8:30 a.m., and airs on ZDF television Sunday, October 13, 2026, at 3:30 p.m.

Reporter Victoria Reichelt travels to Japan for the film, directed by Laura Hohmann, to trace matcha from tea field to social media feed.