Nexon’s MapleStory Appeals Fine as Seoul High Court Resumes Hearing in April
Nexon is appealing an ₩11.642 billion fine imposed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission for allegedly concealing probability changes in MapleStory’s paid Cube items. The Seoul High Court scheduled a final presentation hearing on April 29, granting each side 20 minutes for oral arguments. Nexon argues the omission does not meet the legal definition of a deceptive transaction and points to a March 2024 disclosure law that was not yet effective when the alleged conduct occurred. The KFTC maintains that the concealment itself violates the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce.
Higher Energy Prices Might Eat Your Tax Refund, Economists Say
Stanford economists estimate that rising gasoline prices could cost the average U.S. household about $740 this year, roughly matching the projected $750 boost from the 2023 tax refund legislation. Their model assumes a brief Strait of Hormuz closure, with gasoline...
Tusk Comes up with a Plan B, After Polish President Vetoes Historic Defence Spending Law
Poland secured the EU's largest SAFE allocation – €44 billion for 139 defence projects – but President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the financing law on 12 March. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s cabinet responded with a “Plan B”, suggesting the use of returns from the nation’s gold...
Labor Updates: LIRR, TTC
The Presidential Emergency Board’s second review of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) contract dispute sided with the five‑union coalition, recommending a 14% wage increase over four years and retroactive pay. The board deemed the union’s final offer more reasonable...
March / April 2026 Digital Issue
Hotelier’s March/April 2026 digital issue spotlights International Women’s Month, featuring profiles of female trailblazers reshaping hospitality. It also highlights the Housekeeping Awards winners, examines solo‑travel trends targeting female guests, and details hotels’ proactive safety and staff‑training initiatives. Additional coverage includes...
More Gold Mining Approvals Have Been Secured by West Wits
West Wits Mining announced that additional gold‑mining permits have been granted for its Qala Shallows project near Johannesburg, reinforcing a 17‑year, $1.15 billion contribution to South Africa’s economy. The company highlighted a clear growth plan, targeting 70,000 ounces of gold per...
Decision on 6G Spectrum to Be Taken by ITU & 3GPP Post Standard Setting
India's communications minister announced that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) will decide on 6G spectrum allocation after the technology's standards are finalized. The Bharat 6G Alliance will represent India across 3GPP's seven working groups to...
FCA, PRA and BoE Issue Policy Statements on Operational Resilience
On 18 March 2026 the FCA, PRA and Bank of England released coordinated policy statements that create a single operational‑incident and third‑party reporting regime for UK financial firms. The new rules define a unified incident definition, standardised thresholds and a...
Municipal Bankruptcy Stays Rare, but Credit Stress Keeps Chapter 9 in Focus
The municipal bond market faces heightened credit stress in 2026, but actual bankruptcies remain uncommon. While the ratio of upgrades to downgrades tightens, sector‑specific risks are emerging in project finance, housing, and healthcare issuances. Chapter 9 remains limited to municipalities, with...
FDA Approves JenaValve TAVR System for Aortic Regurgitation
JenaValve received FDA clearance for its Trilogy Transcatheter Heart Valve System, marking the first TAVR device expressly approved to treat symptomatic, severe aortic regurgitation (AR). The approval follows the ALIGN‑AR trial, which demonstrated the valve’s safety and efficacy in a...
Swapping Batteries for Hydrogen Gives Drones a Whole New Range
Researchers at Norway's SINTEF have built a hydrogen‑fuel‑cell drone that swaps its battery for a lightweight hydrogen tank, delivering multi‑hour flight endurance. The prototype can inspect long stretches of power lines, conduct search‑and‑rescue missions, and map terrain, offering a cheaper,...
Xandres Expands Its Secondhand Service Online
Xandres has launched its second‑hand platform, Xandres Preloved, via a dedicated website covering the Benelux region and Germany. After pilot programs in Ghent and Bruges, the brand is rolling out the service nationwide, allowing customers to buy and sell pre‑owned...
Scandlines Races To Fully Electrify Ferry Services As Fehmarn Tunnel Stalls
Scandlines launched Baltic Whale, an all‑electric freight ferry, on the Puttgarden–Rødby route, increasing freight capacity by 27% and featuring a 10 MWh battery that charges in under 15 seconds. The vessel joins a hybrid fleet, part of a €400 million program to...
Cohere Teases USM Commercialisation with Bell Canada
Cohere Technologies is running a live pilot of its Universal Spectrum Multiplier (USM) on Bell Canada’s existing network, marking a step toward commercial deployment. The USM software previously delivered a 50% spectral efficiency boost in a Vodafone greenfield test in...
Royal Road Eyes Underground Mine as Colombia Drilling Resumes
Royal Road Minerals reported that drilling at its Guintar‑Aleman‑Margaritas project in Colombia intersected significant gold‑silver‑copper mineralization, suggesting the deposit could support a bulk‑tonnage underground mine. Hole GUI‑DD‑028 returned 76 metres grading 2.1 g/t gold, 0.4% copper and 7.9 g/t silver, while other...
Third Circuit Ames to Level Playing Field for Reverse Discrimination Claimants Under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination
On March 6, 2026, the Third Circuit in Massey v. Borough of Bergenfield held that New Jersey’s “background circumstances” rule— which required majority‑group plaintiffs to prove employer intent— is incompatible with the NJ Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). Citing the U.S....
U.S. Army Fields AH-64E Apaches at Fort Bliss
On February 12, 2026, the U.S. Army delivered its first AH‑64E Apache helicopters to the 1st Armored Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Bliss. The aircraft mark the unit’s shift toward a Heavy Combat Aviation Brigade, featuring upgraded sensors, networked...
Can AI Help Healthcare Systems Make Sense of Their Data?
At DevSparks 2026, Partex.AI unveiled a sovereign healthcare foundation model that combines federated learning, knowledge graphs, and agentic AI to analyze fragmented medical data without moving patient records. The architecture keeps data on‑site, sharing only encrypted model updates, while knowledge...
300,000 New EV Chargers Planned For Latin America
ZapCharge, the international arm of China’s Shaanxi Fast Charger, announced a plan to install 300,000 public EV chargers across Latin America by 2030, with an intermediate target of 50,000 stations by 2027. Industry analysts estimate the region will need between...
Coca-Cola Launches FIFA World Cup 2026 Campaign in Canada
Coca‑Cola has launched a nationwide FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign in Canada, featuring limited‑edition collectible cans, QR‑code contests, and Panini sticker‑tied bottles. The brand will also operate fan‑zone experiences in Toronto and Vancouver, offering product sampling, apparel customization, and social‑media‑ready installations....
Toyota's Raptor-Rivaling Tundra Is Reportedly Real and Has a Name
Toyota has filed a trademark for the name “TRD Hammer,” signaling a forthcoming high‑performance version of its Tundra pickup. The trademark, submitted on March 10, follows a owner survey that described a truck with 37‑inch tires, long‑travel suspension, and a powerful engine....
Mariana Says Copper One Set to Be World Pioneer Autonomy-First Mine and Refinery
Mariana Minerals announced that its Copper One site in Utah will become the world’s first autonomy‑first copper mine and refinery. The company will roll out its MarianaOS platform—combining MineOS, PlantOS and CapitalProjectOS—to automate mining, processing and capital project execution, targeting...
Marks & Spencer Becomes ‘Exclusive Digital Wholesale Partner’ for David Gandy Wellwear
Marks & Spencer has launched David Gandy Wellwear on its Brands at M&S platform, becoming the brand’s exclusive digital wholesale partner. The partnership adds the designer’s best‑selling T‑shirts, loungewear, underwear and robes to M&S’s expanding third‑party menswear portfolio. Gandy, who...
What It Takes to Execute a Successful Company Turnaround
Peter Cuneo, former Marvel CEO, outlines a repeatable playbook for rescuing underperforming businesses. He stresses that cultural misalignment is often the hidden cause of failure and that diagnosing problems requires listening to insiders. Successful turnarounds hinge on assembling a decisive...
US Navy’s First MOD 2 DDG Makes Combat Debut in Epic Fury Strikes
The U.S. Navy’s first MOD 2‑upgraded Arleigh Burke‑class destroyer, USS Pinckney (DDG‑91), made its combat debut by launching Tomahawk missiles against Iranian targets in Operation Epic Fury. The ship carries the SEWIP Block III electronic‑warfare suite, new SPY‑6 radars and an Aegis weapons...
Mass General Brigham Health Plan Launches Interactive Wellness Hub
Mass General Brigham Health Plan partnered with mPulse to launch an interactive wellness hub for commercial, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and dual‑eligible members. The platform uses predictive analytics to deliver personalized nutrition, activity, sleep and stress‑management tools through audio, visual and...
Congo Export Curbs to Keep Cobalt Scarce Till 2030
The Democratic Republic of Congo, responsible for over 70% of global cobalt, imposed an export ban in February 2025 and later introduced strict quotas, slashing refined output by roughly 20%. The curbs created an 82,000‑ton deficit in 2025 and drove...
Former Uber CEO Says Waymo ‘Obviously’ Ahead of Tesla in Robotaxi Race
Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said Waymo is clearly ahead of Tesla in the robotaxi race, citing Waymo’s proven sensor suite, lower hardware costs and 400,000 weekly rides across ten U.S. cities. He contrasted this with Tesla’s vision‑only approach, which...
Elon Musk’s X Restores Services Following Outage that Blocked Feeds for Thousands
Elon Musk’s X restored services in India after a widespread outage that prevented thousands of users from loading their feeds. Downdetector logged more than 2,533 reports around 8:19 pm IST, with notifications still arriving while timelines failed. The disruption was also...
Merchants Sound Alarm as Swipe Fees Hit $198B
Swipe fees in the United States surged to a record $198.25 billion in 2025, a 5.9% increase over 2024 and an 80% jump since the pandemic began. Credit‑card fees dominate, with Visa and Mastercard alone accounting for $118.8 billion, while total credit‑card...
ALL.SPACE Achieves Industry-First Multi-Orbit Certification for SES O3b mPOWER
ALL.SPACE announced on March 18, 2026 that its electronically scanned antenna terminal received the industry’s first certification for simultaneous multi‑orbit connectivity on SES’s O3b mPOWER MEO constellation. The ESA can track GEO, MEO and LEO satellites concurrently without mechanical parts, offering...
Arizona National Guard Sharpens Lethality, Boosts Joint Readiness
The Arizona National Guard held its 2026 Adjutant General’s Match at the Florence Training Site, bringing together more than 20 Army and Air Guard teams and civilian partners. The three‑day competition tested individual and team marksmanship across multiple weapons, sharpening...
Plume Lands Deal with Vietnam's FPT Telecom
Plume announced a strategic partnership with Vietnam’s FPT Telecom to bring its AI‑driven Plume Platform to the carrier’s broadband customers. The platform will deliver continuous Wi‑Fi optimization, application‑aware prioritization and cloud‑based security across home networks. Powered by machine‑learning from tens...
FBC: Firebreak's Last Major Update Has Arrived, Bringing New Control Maps, a Price Drop and a Free-for-Friends Version to Help...
Remedy has delivered the final major update for FBC: Firebreak, adding five Control‑inspired endless‑shift maps and visual tweaks. The Open House update also introduces a Friend’s Pass, letting owners invite two non‑owners to join free sessions. Remedy confirmed the servers...
'Claudy Day’ Trio of Flaws Exposes Claude Users to Data Theft
Researchers at Oasis Security uncovered a trio of vulnerabilities in Anthropic's Claude AI that can be chained into a full‑scale attack dubbed “Claudy Day.” The chain combines an invisible prompt‑injection via URL parameters, an open‑redirect flaw, and a data‑exfiltration route through...
GuardDog Telehealth Accesses Sensitive Medical Records Under False Pretenses
GuardDog Telehealth admitted to accessing patient medical records under false pretenses, claiming treatment needs while actually selling the data to law firms. The lawsuit, supported by Epic and Health Gorilla, alleges the use of sham providers to request records from...
STAT+: A Huntington’s Researcher on the UniQure-FDA Fray
UniQure’s experimental gene‑therapy for Huntington’s disease, which previously reported a 75% slowdown in disease progression, has received a third consecutive rejection from the FDA. The trial’s lead investigator, Ed Wild of University College London, praised the early data but warned...
Thrad Extends Its Partnership with Betadine Through iNova Pharmaceuticals
Thrad has extended its partnership with Betadine through iNova Pharmaceuticals to launch digital‑first, AI‑native advertising campaigns for healthcare brands. The first effort is a Betadine Feminine Care initiative that aims to create supportive, informative spaces for women. By combining Betadine’s...
'Ambulance Desert': Ala. Legislators Push Bill to Fix Rural EMS Crisis
Alabama lawmakers are advancing HB 269 and its companion HB 400 to overhaul ambulance reimbursement rates and allow "treat‑in‑place" billing, aiming to keep rural EMS providers financially viable. The measures respond to an "ambulance desert" landscape where response times can exceed an...
Katamari Damacy Rice Appears for 22nd Anniversary
Bandai Namco commemorates the 22nd anniversary of Katamari Damacy with a wave of new merchandise, including a limited‑edition mouse pad and branded rice sold by Japanese retailer Grapht. The rice is offered in single packs for ¥864 or a five‑pack...
Provo Rejects Data Center Rezoning Proposal
The Provo City Council unanimously rejected Timpanogos Tech Center’s request to rezone industrial‑commercial land for a new data center. Council members cited a pending city‑wide economic development study, agreeing to defer the decision until the plan is finalized in late...
'The Pitt' And a Kids' Science Show From Jimmy Kimmel Receive Film Tax Credits
California awarded film‑tax credits to 16 productions, including HBO Max’s drama “The Pitt,” the “Stewie” spin‑off and Jimmy Kimmel’s kids’ science competition “Schooled!”. The projects represent $871 million in qualified in‑state spending and are projected to generate $1.3 billion in economic activity,...
To Strengthen Power Reliability in Extreme Weather, Diversify Grid Resources
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime spotlight on utility poles sparked a conversation about America’s aging grid, highlighting how extreme weather is exposing systemic fragility. Recent storms in Texas, from the 2021 freeze to Winter Storm Fern, illustrate that diversified resources—wind,...
AI Startup Basecamp Research Announces Trillion-Gene Project
Basecamp Research, an AI‑focused biotech startup backed by Microsoft and Nvidia, announced a trillion‑gene sequencing initiative. The company aims to collect genetic sequences for over a trillion proteins within the next two years. Leveraging high‑performance cloud computing and advanced generative‑AI...
Commission to Probe Showmax Closure
The Competition Commission announced a probe into Canal+'s compliance with the merger conditions attached to its takeover of MultiChoice, focusing on the recent shutdown of the Showmax streaming service. Regulators will assess whether Canal+ adhered to voting‑right caps and the...
Mars Canada Invests $180M in Ontario Manufacturing
Mars Canada completed a $180 million multi‑year investment across its Ontario manufacturing network, spanning 2022‑2026. The funding upgrades packaging lines and expands capacity at four sites—Bolton, Newmarket, Guelph—boosting production for snacking, pet nutrition and food brands. Sustainability measures cut water, electricity...
AT&T Launches New App to Simplify Customers’ Digital Experience
AT&T announced the rollout of a new unified mobile app that lets customers manage both wireless and home internet services from a single interface. The app features a generative AI assistant, usage insights, device controls, and an upgraded shopping experience,...
Indonesia Awards Nine Oil, Gas Blocks
Indonesia’s Energy Ministry announced the award of nine oil and gas blocks, committing roughly $85 million in investment. The blocks, located in West Papua, Aceh, East Java and South Sulawesi, include the Bintuni and Drawa fields with combined gas resources exceeding...
DroneShield and Robin Radar Systems Partner to Expand Counter-UAS Sensor Marketplace
DroneShield announced a partnership with Robin Radar Systems to integrate the IRIS 3D radar into its open sensor marketplace. The 360‑degree radar enhances DroneShield’s layered counter‑UAS (CUAS) deployments for defense, critical infrastructure, and public safety. By adding radar‑based detection to its...
Tait Announces Shared-Channel Version of DMR Tier 3
Tait Communications has unveiled the OpenTrunk shared‑control‑channel solution, a DMR Tier 3‑based trunking system that operates on shared spectrum instead of a dedicated control channel. The offering addresses the scarcity and high cost of licensed spectrum in major U.S. metros such...