Japan's Economy Barely Grows in Oct-Dec Quarter as Exports Slow
Japan’s economy grew a modest 0.2 percent annualised in the October‑December quarter, just enough to avoid a technical recession after a 0.7 percent contraction in the prior quarter. Private consumption rose 0.4 percent, but a 1.1 percent drop in exports dragged overall growth. The government projects near‑term expansion around 0.6 percent, while Prime Minister‑designate Sanae Takaichi promises fiscal stimulus and a temporary food‑tax suspension. Annual growth for 2025 is forecast at 1.1 percent, the slowest pace since 2022.
Quote of the Day by Sanjeev Bikhchandani: ‘Nobody Being Thrown Out… You Should Just Learn 5-15 Useful AI Tools’
Founder of Info Edge, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, says AI isn’t eliminating jobs but requires workers to upskill. He recommends employees master between five and fifteen practical AI tools to stay relevant. The advice emphasizes reskilling rather than fear of displacement. Bikhchandani’s...
LocalHost Raises $2.5 Mn From InVideo, RedBull India, and Others
LocalHost, a startup launchpad, secured $2.5 million in an angel round led by InVideo, RedBull India, Anthropic and Eros International. The capital will fund expansion of its global founder labs, bolstering hardware infrastructure and scaling operational teams across regions. Existing labs...
Why Media Mix Modeling So Rarely Works for B2B
Media mix modeling (MMM) excels for consumer brands with high transaction volume, stable offers, short purchase cycles, and direct paths, but B2B marketers often encounter wide uncertainty intervals and volatile recommendations. The core issue is statistical: B2B deals are few,...
India's Wholesale Inflation Rises to 1.81% in January
India’s wholesale price index (WPI) accelerated to 1.81% year‑on‑year in January, up sharply from 0.53% in December. The rise was led by higher food prices, while falling fuel costs provided a modest offset. Although the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)...
Apple Privacy Labels Often Don’t Match What Chinese Smart Home Apps Do
A new study of 49 Chinese smart‑home apps on Apple’s App Store reveals systematic gaps in by‑stander privacy and frequent mismatches between privacy policies, user‑interface controls, and App Store privacy labels. All apps require real‑name phone registration and collect a...
IT and Administration Jobs Attract Most UK Applications
UK jobseekers are gravitating toward IT and administration positions, with software engineering roles attracting the most applications per vacancy in Q4 2025. The average salary for software engineers was £61,268, the highest among the top‑ten roles, while receptionists earned £30,805....
Arqiva in Uncertainty over DTT Switch Off
Arqiva, the UK's sole national digital terrestrial TV and radio infrastructure provider, faces financial uncertainty as major shareholders reassess their stakes. Macquarie has divested its 26.5% holding, while Digital 9 Infrastructure (DGI9) is reviewing its 51.8% share and may write off...
Non-Tariff Measures Costing Industry Billions: GA
Grains Australia’s new report quantifies non‑tariff measures (NTMs) as a 20.4% tariff‑equivalent on Australian grain exports, costing the sector about $4.6 billion in forgone revenue each year. The analysis, built on ABARES research and ANU‑led econometric modelling, is the most detailed...
Industrial AI Platform Combines Virtual Twins, Accelerated Computing
Dassault Systèmes and NVIDIA announced a long‑term partnership to build a shared industrial AI architecture that merges Dassault’s virtual twin technology with NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure and accelerated computing libraries. The joint solution aims to deliver physics‑validated Industry World Models that...
A Practical Guide to Completing Identity Verification for Your Clients
In this Accountancy Age episode, the hosts walk listeners through the two‑step Companies House identity verification process that directors and persons with significant control (PSCs) must complete before filing confirmation statements. They explain how ACSPs report verifications, obtain the 11‑character...
EToro Launches Shareholder Engagement Initiative in Partnership with Stockperks
eToro has launched a shareholder engagement initiative in partnership with Stockperks, a loyalty‑rewards marketplace for public companies. The program invites eligible eToro shareholders to receive exclusive educational content, event invitations, and direct access to company leaders and market experts. By...
In GitHub’s Advisory Pipeline, some Advisories Move Faster than Others
A new study of 288,604 GitHub Security Advisories from 2019‑2025 shows that only about 8% (23,563) complete GitHub’s formal review process. Advisories created directly in repositories are reviewed far faster—median under one day—than those imported from the National Vulnerability Database,...
A Blueprint for the Predictive Firm: Moving Beyond Manual Data Reconciliation
The episode explores how leading accountancy firms are shifting from retrospective reporting to predictive, real‑time visibility by consolidating fragmented tech stacks into unified platforms. It highlights the £300k technology investment benchmark needed to eliminate manual data reconciliation, improve margin protection...
Exclusive: UK HealthTech Startup Nul Raises €840k in Seed Funding to Help Nullify Alcohol Dependence
UK‑based health‑tech startup Nul announced a €840,000 seed round led by dmg ventures and BYVP to fund its UK commercial launch and international expansion. The company offers a fully remote, subscription‑based platform that pairs clinical care with the FDA‑approved medication naltrexone...
Lerma Names Its First Chief Strategy Officer as It Builds Out Leadership Team
Dallas‑based agency Lerma has appointed Omar Quiñones as its first Chief Strategy Officer, completing a recent C‑suite expansion. Quiñones joins from Messianu/Edelman/Lerma, where he held the same role, and brings senior strategy experience from Anomaly, CP+B, and YETI. The hire...
IFlytek’s Audio Transcription Tool Reaches 100 Million Users
iFlytek’s iFlyrec audio transcription app has surpassed 100 million users, becoming the company’s second core product to hit nine‑figure adoption. The service relies on a subscription‑based SaaS model rather than advertising or subsidies, delivering over 60% gross‑profit growth for three straight...
EaseMyTrip to Raise Rs 500 Cr to Scale Hotels and Holidays Biz
EaseMyTrip, one of India’s leading online travel platforms, announced plans to raise up to Rs 500 crore through a rights issue, QIP or other approved methods. The capital will be used to deepen its hotel and holiday‑package business, upgrade technology, and pursue...
Genki Forest Calls 2025 a Breakthrough Year, Tightens Ops to Focus on Steady Growth
Genki Forest celebrated its ninth anniversary by declaring 2025 a breakthrough year, achieving its first sustainable profitability and higher‑quality growth. The company credited tighter expense control, disciplined pricing and a trimmed SKU portfolio for the improvement, while deepening channel penetration...
Cisco Set to Release Home-Brew Hypervisor as a VMware Alternative
Cisco is preparing to launch NFVIS‑for‑UC, a purpose‑built hypervisor that runs only its Unified Communications applications, offering a lightweight alternative to VMware. VMware, now owned by Broadcom, has shifted focus to its expensive Cloud Foundation suite, leaving low‑end vSphere customers...
Sagrada Madre Enters Mainland China After Building a Following in Hong Kong
Argentine incense brand Sagrada Madre has opened 15 counter stores in mainland China, moving from a Hong Kong souvenir niche to a structured retail presence. The brand commands roughly 30% of incense‑related searches on Xiaohongshu, signalling strong digital visibility. Leveraging patented...
Qatar Advances Sovereign Cloud Strategy to Strengthen Digital Trust and National Autonomy
Qatar is accelerating a sovereign cloud strategy to keep sensitive data under domestic law, leveraging its Personal Data Privacy Protection Law as a regulatory backbone. Deloitte’s Cloud Centre of Excellence in Lusail is driving the effort, having migrated over 3,000...
Wealthtech Startup Otto Money Raises $1.3 Mn Led by Pravega Ventures
Wealthtech startup Otto Money announced a $1.3 million pre‑seed round led by Pravega Ventures, with participation from several angel investors. The funding will be deployed over the next 12‑18 months to bolster AI models, expand personalization and goal‑based advisory features, and...
Don’t Panic over CISA’s KEV List, Use It Smarter
In a Help Net Security video, Tod Beardsley, VP of Security Research at runZero, explains CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog and clears up common misconceptions. He notes that KEV entries vary in urgency, with some requiring local access and...
Court Throws Out Adverse Action Claim From Employee Sacked "without Just Cause"
The Federal Circuit Court ruled that being subject to an apprehended domestic violence order does not provide protection from adverse action under the Fair Work Act. Judge Lisa Doust dismissed the employee’s claim, finding no reasonable prospect of success. The...
Editorial: Time to Find a Fix for Poaching Suits
The editorial highlights a surge of insurance‑broker poaching lawsuits, ignited by Howden’s aggressive hiring of hundreds of producers from rivals. It exposes a broken industry approach to employee mobility, where firms cling to proprietary data while brokers argue their client...
Insurance Broker M&A Stabilizes After Surge
Insurance brokerage M&A activity has settled into a lower‑than‑peak but sustainable level. Total reported transactions fell 12% in 2025 to 691, aligning with a ten‑year average of 686 when the 2021‑22 surge is excluded. Private‑equity‑backed (PE‑hybrid) firms continue to dominate,...
Suits Arise as Tariff Questions Raise D&O Risk
Securities class-action lawsuits are emerging as tariff uncertainty under the Trump administration creates new D&O exposure. Although overall federal securities filings fell 10.7% in 2025, four suits specifically cited tariff‑related misstatements, targeting companies such as Dow, CarMax and Tronox. Insurers...
BI, Litmus Partner on Composite Insurer Ratings
Business Insurance has partnered with Litmus Analysis to publish a composite rating table for North American commercial‑line insurers. Litmus uses its proprietary Litmus Composite Score (LCS) to blend A.M. Best, Fitch, Moody’s and S&P ratings into a single numerical outcome,...
After 22 Years with TCS, Nitin Naik Joins KISNA as CTO
After more than two decades at Tata Consultancy Services, Nitin Naik has been appointed chief technology officer of KISNA Diamond and Gold Jewellery. In his new role, Naik will oversee the brand’s digital commerce, retail systems, supply‑chain integration and data...
Blushington Co-Founders Discuss 15 Years of Operating in the Beauty Industry
Blushington’s co‑founders Nicki Maron and Stephi Cohen marked 15 years of operating a hybrid beauty‑service franchise, highlighted by the opening of their first Boca Raton franchise. The brand pioneered an affordable, service‑first makeup lounge when experiential retail was nascent, later...
MOS: Open-Source Modular OS for Servers and Homelabs
MOS is an open‑source, modular operating system built on Devuan that targets homelab enthusiasts and small‑scale server operators. It unifies server monitoring, storage pooling, container orchestration, and virtualization behind a browser‑based dashboard and a REST/WebSocket API. The platform leverages mergerfs...
How Checking Accounts Cut Cash Flow Woes in Your Clinic
Medical clinics face chronic cash‑flow volatility due to delayed reimbursements, labor costs, and fragmented financial systems. The article argues that the structure of a clinic’s checking account is a core revenue‑cycle asset, not merely a passive fund holder. By integrating...
Hog’s Breath Ex-CEO Returns to RFG in New Role
Tom Elliott, former CEO of casual dining chain Hog’s Breath, has rejoined Retail Food Group (RFG) as the group strategy and performance manager. Elliott, who spent 14 years at RFG in marketing, brand management, and operations roles, left to lead...
POV: Is Learning Agility a Leadership Essential or Corporate Buzzword?
Learning agility is emerging as a core leadership capability in today’s "never normal" business climate, where disruption, technology shifts, and evolving employee expectations dominate. Executives at Kotak Life, NEC India, and the Aditya Birla Group argue that agility must be operationalised—not...
The End of the Boozy Chinese Banquet Hits Australia’s Largest Winemaker
Treasury Wine Estates’ push back into China has been derailed by a government crackdown on extravagant banquets and tighter grey‑market controls. The winemaker announced it will pull 400,000 cases from China and 500,000 from the United States to regain pricing...
What Keeps Singapore’s Retail Growth Resilient?
Singapore’s retail sector has quietly outperformed expectations, delivering a 12.3% inflation‑adjusted sales increase over the past decade while the population grew 10.4%. Excluding automotive sales, non‑auto retail rose 11.8% since 2019, translating to a healthy 0.7% annual per‑capita gain. Mall...
Australia Exports 2.29Mt Wheat in Dec in New-Crop Surge
Australia’s wheat exports jumped to 2,288,487 tonnes in December 2025, more than double November’s volume and slightly above the 2.13 Mt shipped a year earlier. The surge reflects the arrival of new‑crop wheat from southern ports, marking the start of the...
Myanmar Junta Expels Timor-Leste’s Top Diplomat Over War Crimes Case
Myanmar's military junta expelled Timor‑Leste's top diplomat after Dili opened war‑crimes proceedings. The case, filed by the Chin Human Rights Organization, accuses senior general Min Aung Hlaing of rape, murder and attacks in Chin State. The junta called the move a breach...
Firewall Penetration Testing: Definition, Process and Tools
The episode explains firewall penetration testing, detailing its purpose of validating filtering rules and boundary controls to prevent unwanted traffic. It walks through a 14‑step methodology—from discovery and port scanning to firewalking, NAT testing, and rule‑base analysis—highlighting the tools (Nmap,...
Asian Paints and Kinnect Brings Cricket to Life with New Musical Anthem Across India
Asian Paints, in partnership with creative agency Kinnect, launched the "Rang De India" cricket anthem to celebrate India’s passion for the sport. The high‑energy track, composed by Sameer Uddin and voiced by Sunidhi Chauhan and Vishal Dadlani, is part of Asian Paints’ role as the...
How One Teaspoon Turned Counter‑culture Denim Into a 25‑Year Global Business
One Teaspoon, founded by Liz Roberts in 1999, has evolved from a counter‑culture denim experiment into a globally distributed brand sold in over 40 countries. The label has remained entirely self‑funded, preserving full control over pricing, design, and retail partnerships....
Amova Bets on ‘New Singapore Sectors’ as MAS Expands EQDP
Amova Asset Management has been selected as one of six managers under Singapore’s expanded Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP), which grew to S$6.5 billion in the 2026 budget. The firm will roll out two new funds – the Singapore All Share...
DailyRounds Delivers Rs 363 Cr Profit on Rs 641 Cr Revenue in FY25
DailyRounds posted a Rs 363 crore profit on Rs 641 crore operating revenue for FY25, marking a 13% rise in both profit and revenue from FY24. The company’s flagship subscription platform Marrow contributed 88% of revenue, while non‑operating income added Rs 132 crore....
Edelman Wins Singapore Tourism Board Public Relations Mandate
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has appointed Edelman as its public‑relations agency for a two‑year and two‑month term, with an option to extend for three additional years. The partnership aims to support STB’s Tourism 2040 roadmap by enhancing storytelling, media relations,...
Making Sense of AI’s Role in Cyber Security
Executive interest in AI has flooded the cyber‑security market, prompting CISOs to evaluate a surge of AI‑enhanced tools. While some solutions genuinely reduce analyst workload and improve detection, many are marketing‑driven add‑ons lacking proven risk reduction. Experts warn that AI...
Infosys Announces Generous Average Bonus Payout of 85%
Infosys announced an average performance bonus of 85% for Q3 FY2025-26, the highest payout in recent quarters. Employees received between 75% and 100% of their eligible bonuses, with many seeing a 15% increase over prior payouts. The bonus will be...
Major Capital Raise Seeks $450 Million to “Lead New Zealand’s Renewable Energy Future”
Contact Energy announced a NZ$525 million equity raise to fund its Contact31+ renewable strategy. The capital will back projects including the 200 MW Glenbrook Battery 2.0, the 150 MW Glorit solar farm, and expansion of the Tauhara 2 geothermal plant. In H1 2026 the company...
Narrative Communications Opens Sydney Office to Support National Clients, Sophie Mullen Appointed to Lead
Narrative Communications announced the launch of a new Sydney office, marking its first expansion beyond Melbourne. The office will be led by Sophie Mullen, a communications veteran with over eight years of experience in corporate, reputation and crisis management. The...
Maybank Partners with Alchemy79 and Directors Think Tank for Chinese New Year Campaign
Maybank Malaysia joined forces with creative agency Alchemy79 and the Directors Think Tank, led by filmmaker Sling Ng, to launch the Chinese New Year 2026 film *Blessings All Around*. The cinematic piece reframes traditional CNY wishes by spotlighting love, connection and...