Cardi B Tackles Inbox Anxiety in Yahoo Mail Push for Its AI-Powered Planner
Yahoo Mail unveiled Planner, an AI‑powered productivity hub that transforms emails into actionable tasks and reminders. The launch is anchored by the "Cardi B Busy" campaign, starring rapper Cardi B, which dramatizes inbox overload and introduces the new feature. Planner also debuts a Sponsored Events ad format, first used by H&R Block to surface tax‑deadline prompts. The campaign will roll out across Yahoo’s social channels, including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Growth Isn’t About Getting Noticed Anymore. Nissan Says It’s About Removing Friction
Nissan is shifting its growth strategy from loud marketing to frictionless customer experiences. Vice President and CMO Allyson Witherspoon says the automaker now focuses on removing obstacles across digital, sales and service touchpoints. The company believes seamless interactions will convert...
Where Your Data Team Sits Matters More than the Code They Write
The article argues that a data team’s position in the org chart shapes incentives, priorities, and ultimately its ROI more than technical skill alone. By aligning the team with the department that controls the purse strings—finance, product, marketing, engineering, or...
Thailand Activates Crisis War Room to Support Overseas Citizens Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Thailand’s Ministry of Labour has opened a 24‑hour war room to monitor escalating Middle East tensions and safeguard the roughly 77,500 Thai workers stationed in Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The facility will coordinate with the Ministry...
Plug-and-Play Cooling: Carnotfleet’s Bid to Democratise the Cold Chain
Carnotfleet, a Singapore‑incorporated startup, offers plug‑and‑play modular refrigeration that retrofits existing dry trucks and containers in minutes, using solid‑state thermoelectric heat pumps and integrated IoT. The company claims up to 80% lower total cost of ownership and 82% fewer carbon...
The Macallan Brings ‘Distil Your World’ Series to Paris
The Macallan has unveiled the fifth “Distil Your World” edition, a limited‑edition single‑malt whisky inspired by Paris. The project pairs the Scotch maker with the Roca brothers of three‑Michelin‑star El Celler de Can Roca and includes a half‑hour documentary. The spirit...
Power Grid Raises FY26 Capex Target to ₹35,000 Crore, Capitalisation Target at ₹25,000 Crore
Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) lifted its FY26 capital expenditure target to ₹35,000 crore, roughly $4.2 billion, and raised its capitalisation goal to ₹25,000 crore (about $3.0 billion). The utility reported that capex to date stands at ₹35,540 crore, 102% of the guidance, while...
Danone Swoops to Buy Meal Replacement Brand Huel
Danone announced plans to acquire UK‑based meal‑replacement brand Huel, a move that bolsters its Renew strategy and expands its foothold in the fast‑growing complete nutrition segment. Huel reported over £200 m in revenue and nearly £14 m of pre‑tax profit for the...
Malaysia’s Economic Outlook Is Expected to Remain Positive yet Measured in 2026: DOSM
Malaysia’s Leading Index rose 0.6% in January 2026 to 113.4 points, buoyed by a 17.5% jump in real semiconductor imports and a 5.7% increase in non‑ferrous metal imports. The index slipped 0.6% month‑on‑month due to weaker money‑supply growth (M1) and a...
Perfect Storm for South African Tech Buyers
South African tech buyers are confronting a perfect storm as the rand weakens to R17.23 per dollar, its lowest level in four months. Simultaneously, global AI‑driven demand is driving DRAM and SSD prices up roughly 130% by year‑end, inflating PC...
War-Induced Interest Rate Shocks Unlikely to Upset Asia’s Property Markets
A war‑induced energy shock in Iran has tightened global oil supplies, prompting bond markets to price a 50% chance of a U.S. rate hike by October and spurring tighter monetary policy in Asia. Central banks such as the Reserve Bank...
Disability | When Duty of Care Fails: Lessons From the BAFTAs Incident
During the BAFTAs, an involuntary tic linked to Tourette syndrome produced a racist slur that aired nationwide, sparking outrage in the Black community and misconceptions about Tourette syndrome. The BBC acknowledged a missed opportunity to intervene, exposing a broader failure...
Bruton Knowles Reaffirms Commitment to People Development Through Investors in People Reaccreditation
Bruton Knowles has renewed its Investors in People accreditation, a benchmark it has held since 2000, confirming its dedication to workforce development. The three‑year reaccreditation evaluates nine people‑management indicators, from leadership to sustainable success, through surveys and confidential interviews with...
Two in Five UK Employers Say They Don’t Have Enough Staff to Get the Work Done
The SD Worx survey of 305 UK employers shows that 43.3% lack enough staff to meet workload demands, highlighting a widening labour shortage. Workforce planning has risen to a top priority, with 59.7% of organisations rating it critical and 30.4%...
From Engagement to Alignment: Closing the Gap Between Activity and Outcomes
Employee engagement has fallen to a historic low of just 21% worldwide, prompting many firms to launch more surveys without addressing the underlying issue. The article argues that the real problem is a breakdown in role clarity and alignment between...
Threats Abound to India’s Traditional Geopolitical Role
India’s multialignment strategy is under strain as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran triggered a domestic LPG shortage, exposing the country’s energy fragility. Simultaneously, New Delhi’s decision to reopen critical sectors to Chinese foreign direct investment deepens its reliance on a...
Why Zalando Built Their Internal Developer Platform | Humanitec
Zalando’s rapid expansion in 2014‑15 exposed fragmented onboarding, disparate tooling, and compliance gaps across its developer teams. To address these pain points, the company launched an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) that unified CI/CD, security, and multi‑language support on a cloud‑native...
Half of Singapore Employees Surveyed Spend at Least an Hour Weekly Reworking AI Outputs, Limiting Productivity Gains
Workday’s survey of 3,200 employees shows that half of Singapore workers spend at least an hour each week reworking AI‑generated content, eroding the expected productivity boost. Despite this friction, 70% say they feel more productive overall and AI tools are...
BlackRock Appoints Dipeeka Walvatkar Pendurkar as VP–HR, Employee Relations (APAC)
BlackRock has appointed Dipeeka Walvatkar Pendurkar as vice president of human resources, employee relations for the APAC region. In this role she will lead complex, high‑risk workplace matters, ensuring alignment with global frameworks and local regulations. Pendurkar brings over 13...
Busalacchi Named as New Director of Sales Americas at Menzies
Mark Busalacchi has been appointed director of sales for the Americas at Menzies Aviation, taking charge of commercial activities across ground handling, cargo, passengers with reduced mobility, and aviation security services. The hire comes as Menzies accelerates investment and growth...
Balderton-Backed Startup Dash0 Bags $110 Million to Expand in US
Dash0, a monitoring platform for software systems, secured $110 million in a Balderton Capital‑led round, valuing the startup at $1 billion. The capital will fund a U.S. market push and accelerate development of AI‑driven agents. CEO Mirko Novakovic confirmed the raise and...
Beyond Batch: Volcano Evolves Into the AI-Native Unified Scheduling Platform
Volcano announced a major upgrade with Volcano v1.14, Kthena v0.3.0 and the new AgentCube, repositioning the project from a batch‑only scheduler to an AI‑native unified platform. The release adds a sharding controller that dynamically partitions resources for batch, inference and agent workloads,...
RyzoBee Plans Q2 Crowdfunding for Modular Electronics Platform
RyzoBee announced that its Root Series modular electronics platform will debut on Kickstarter in Q2 2026 for North America and Europe. The system targets 3D‑printing makers by offering a plug‑and‑play controller, RootMaker, that adds lighting, motion, sensing and networked interaction...
Zilliz Cloud Launches Customer-Managed Encryption Keys for Enterprise Data Sovereignty
Zilliz announced the general availability of Customer‑Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK) on its Zilliz Cloud platform, giving enterprises full control over encryption keys for AI‑scale vector workloads. The feature separates key ownership from data processing, ensuring Zilliz never accesses customer keys...
Liqvd Asia Bags Four New Mandates
Indian agency Liqvd Asia announced four new client mandates—Origami, Kasturi Foods, Sama.live and Woodland—adding roughly ₹35 crore (about $4.2 million) to its future business pipeline. The engagements cover integrated marketing communications, creative and media services, brand narrative building, and digital storytelling across...
Persistent Appoints Hari S. Abhyankar as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Private Equity and Professional Services
Persistent Systems announced the appointment of Hari S. Abhyankar as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Private Equity and Professional Services. Abhyankar will steer the firm’s AI‑led transformation strategy for private‑equity investors and their portfolio companies, from diligence through...
Bain Capital’s Bridge Data Centres Seeks Up to $6 Billion Loan
Bridge Data Centres, owned by Bain Capital, is negotiating a loan of up to $6 billion, which would rank among the largest data‑center financings in Asia. The proposed facility is expected to have a 12‑month tenor. Proceeds are earmarked for expanding...
MPIC Increases 2026 Capex to over ₱200 Billion Due to Investments in Renewables
Metro Pacific Investments Corp (MPIC) raised its 2026 capital expenditure budget to over ₱200 billion, up from roughly ₱190 billion in 2025, driven primarily by large‑scale renewable‑energy projects such as Meralco’s SP New Energy Corp and the Terra Solar farm, slated to...
UAE Central Bank Launches Resilience Package
The Central Bank of the UAE approved a five‑pillar Financial Institution Resilience Package to fortify the banking sector amid heightened geopolitical risk and volatile markets. The framework expands access to reserve balances up to 30% of the cash reserve requirement...
Nebius Group Announces Closing of Private Offering of Convertible Senior Notes, With Aggregate Gross Proceeds of Approximately $4.3 Billion
Nebius Group N.V. closed a private placement of convertible senior notes, raising roughly $4.3 billion. The offering comprised two series: 1.250% notes due 2031 and 2.625% notes due 2033, sold to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A. The capital will fund the...
More Banks Step up ESG Integration Even as Climate Financing Challenges Persist—BSP
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reports that more Philippine banks are integrating ESG into governance and risk management, complying with BSP Circular No. 1085 which mandates environmental and social risk management systems. The rule, issued in 2020, gives banks...
JV Ejercito Pushes for Creation of Inter-Agency Task Force on Middle East Conflict
Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito urged the Philippine government on March 23 to create an inter‑agency task force that would monitor and mitigate the economic and energy fallout from the escalating Middle East conflict. He cited Senate Resolution No. 43, which...
Middle East Oil Shock Hits Home for Smaller Japanese Companies
Smaller Japanese companies across auto parts, plastics, and trucking are feeling the impact of the largest Middle East oil‑supply disruption in decades. Crude prices have jumped to multi‑year highs, driving up fuel and raw‑material costs for firms that typically operate...
Indian Cities' Bond Struggles Weigh on Climate Finance Needs
India’s central government has launched a programme urging municipal authorities to issue climate‑adaptation bonds, aiming to tap private capital for resilient infrastructure. However, most Indian cities have a scant record of accessing bond markets, limiting the scale of financing they...
Thungela Slides Into Full Year Loss After R8.8bn Asset Impairment
Thungela Resources reported a full‑year loss of R7.1 billion (≈$374 million) after taking an R8.8 billion (≈$463 million) asset impairment tied to a steep drop in thermal‑coal prices. South African export coal fell 20% to $89.53 per ton and Australian Ensham prices slipped 17%...
Act Now to Prepare for BiK Changes, Urge Experts
Employers must register with HMRC by 5 April 2026 to test voluntary payrolling of benefits in kind (BiK) ahead of a mandatory rollout in April 2027. The new regime will require real‑time payroll processing of most non‑cash perks, replacing the annual P11D filing...
Cape Town BNPL Start-Up Happy Pay Raises R86-Million in Seed Funding
Cape Town‑based BNPL startup Happy Pay closed a US$5 million (R86 million) seed round led by Partech, with participation from several local investors. The company, which counts more than 600,000 registered users, operates a merchant‑funded, ad‑subsidised payments network that places instalment options...
The Laboratory Vs. Factory Model: Restructuring Marketing for the AI Age
The article advocates replacing traditional channel‑based marketing structures with a dual‑track Laboratory‑Factory model. The Laboratory acts as a sandbox for AI‑driven rapid experimentation, encouraging fast failures and novel concepts. Successful prototypes move to the Factory, where automation and templated workflows...
IWD Voices: Yanyan Froud – ‘Fairness Is Not Just About Effort. It’s Also About Access’
Yanyan Froud argues that fairness in the workplace hinges on both effort and access to opportunities. She notes that two equally diligent employees can achieve different outcomes if one receives greater exposure to leadership or larger projects. The piece emphasizes...
Farmers Sound Alarm over Imminent Food Price Shocks
Australia’s National Farmers’ Federation warns that soaring diesel prices, triggered by the US‑Israel war on Iran, will soon push grocery costs higher. Farmers are struggling to secure fuel for operations, while transport firms face mounting freight expenses. The National Road...
Koovers Reports Rs 36 Cr Loss on Rs 198 Cr Revenue in FY25
Koovers, the Bengaluru‑based B2B automotive spare‑parts marketplace, posted FY25 revenue of Rs 198 crore, a 2.5‑fold increase over the prior year. However, expenses surged 145% to Rs 235 crore, pushing the net loss to Rs 36 crore, more than double FY24’s deficit. Material costs, which represent...
Grab to Acquire Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda Delivery Business in Taiwan
Grab will acquire Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda Taiwan for $600 million in cash, marking its first move beyond Southeast Asia. The deal, cash‑free and debt‑free, is slated to close in the second half of 2026 pending regulatory sign‑off. Foodpanda Taiwan posted roughly...
Mind Robotics Raises $500 Million to Build AI-Powered Industrial Robots for Real-World Deployment
Mind Robotics announced a $500 million Series A round, co‑led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz, to accelerate its AI‑powered industrial robot platform. The financing follows a $115 million seed round and adds Accel partner Sameer Gandhi to the board. Leveraging Rivian’s manufacturing data...
Why Project Management Training Deserves a Seat at the L&D Table
Project management remains one of the most under‑invested areas of L&D, despite PMI reporting that 55% of projects suffer scope creep and waste an average of 11.4% of their budget. The UK talent shortage is deepening, with demand for project...
Igneo: ‘I Don’t Want to Be on the Phone to Clients Explaining Why Our Valuations Dropped’
Niall Mills, global head of Igneo Infrastructure Partners, discussed on the Infrastructure Investor Podcast the firm’s recent exit from its inaugural Euro‑denominated fund. He explained why Igneo now performs quarterly valuations instead of annual updates, citing client expectations and market...
Exclusive: Interloom, a Startup Capturing ‘Tacit Knowledge’ to Power AI Agents, Raises $16.5 Million in Venture Funding
Interloom, a Munich‑based startup, closed a $16.5 million Series A led by DN Capital to commercialise its "context graph" technology that extracts tacit operational knowledge from emails, tickets and call transcripts. The platform maps how experts resolve issues, turning undocumented expertise into...
CPO Crunch: Unleash the Best in Your Team
Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Chief Procurement Officer Connie Walters argues that procurement teams should be treated as business leaders rather than mere support functions. She emphasizes cultivating deep business insight, strategic commercial acumen, execution focus, relational intelligence, and an AI‑first mindset. Walters...
Tier II, III Cities To Drive Next Wave Of Startup Growth: MeitY Startup Hub CEO
At the NextGen Startup Summit in Jaipur, MeitY Startup Hub CEO Panneerselvam Madanagopal announced that tier‑II and tier‑III cities will drive India’s next wave of startup growth, with hundreds of new companies expected from regions such as Jaipur and Udaipur....
BUI: Attractive Valuation And Growth Outlook (Rating Upgrade)
Analyst Cain Lee upgrades BlackRock Utilities Infrastructure & Power Oppty (BUI) to Buy, citing its 2.5% NAV discount and strong sector positioning. The fund is poised to benefit from rising AI‑driven data‑center power demand, with 71% of assets in utilities...