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Category: 3. Business

  • Kyndryl announces leadership rotations and appointments

    Kyndryl announces leadership rotations and appointments

    Harsh Chugh will take on an expanded role as Global Head of Practices, Corporate Development and Administration. In this new role, he will lead Kyndryl’s Global Practices, effective immediately, and will lead Corporate Development beginning May 1. Country practices will continue to operate with the same reporting structure as they do today. Chugh will integrate the practices and corporate development agenda for future growth with a focus on leveraging the combined and holistic value the practices provide customers, while maintaining a flat structure. As Kyndryl’s Chief Operating Officer, Chugh has transformed the company through the successful transition services agreement (TSA) exit and solved tough commercial challenges. Chugh will continue to own all aspects of operations for Kyndryl.

    Farhaz Thobani will become Chief Administrative Officer, responsible for Kyndryl’s operations, real estate, quote to cash and procurement, effective immediately. As President of Kyndryl Canada, Thobani transformed Kyndryl’s Canadian business while fostering a highly engaged team. Under his leadership, the team has strengthened customer relationships, elevated Kyndryl’s brand presence and laid a robust foundation for sustained growth in Canada.

    Paul Savill will become, effective immediately, Global Practice Leader, Cyber Security and Resiliency, Network and Edge, which is a newly combined Global Practice that reflects the integrated way customers view and purchase network and security offerings. Previously, as Global Practice Leader for Network and Edge, Paul has been a senior leader at Kyndryl since it became an independent company and has transformed the Network and Edge Practice to focus on growth and innovation while building a strong, experienced team. He will bring together these two teams of experts to provide customers with a unified set of capabilities and support.

    Ivan Dopplé has decided to retire following a distinguished career at Kyndryl. After building and leading Kyndryl operations during its transition to an independent company, Dopplé has led its Digital Workplace Services (DWS) Global Practice. Dopplé has been instrumental in establishing Kyndryl’s eminence in the DWS space, driven by a deep passion for customers and keen industry insights. Dopplé has also been an advocate for the company’s culture, including his leadership as the Executive Sponsor for KIN True Ability. He will remain at Kyndryl until July to transition with his successor and work on projects focused on advancing the company’s growth.

    Michael Przytula will join Kyndryl on January 19 as Global Practice Leader, Digital Workplace. Przytula brings almost 30 years of experience leading and delivering Digital Workplace and Service Desk services for global customers at Accenture, Dell and HP. He has spent his career in this space, working across every role in the practice and brings a global perspective shaped by living and working in Australia, Asia and the United States.

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  • Pursuit, Adoption of State-Level OZ Incentives on a Longer Timeline, Say Experts – Novogradac

    1. Pursuit, Adoption of State-Level OZ Incentives on a Longer Timeline, Say Experts  Novogradac
    2. Why 2026 Is a Pivotal Year for Opportunity Zones  OpportunityZones.com
    3. Opportunity Zones are about to matter again, says GTIS Partners’ head of capital markets  InvestmentNews
    4. Help clients take advantage of new opportunity zone tax advantages  Accounting Today

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  • Whataburger launches new ‘Whatadeal’ menu for 2026

    Whataburger launches new ‘Whatadeal’ menu for 2026

    The menu is available for a limited time only at participating locations

    Whataburger launches new deals menu for 2026 (Copyright Whataburger)

    SAN ANTONIO – Whataburger is giving you more to love in 2026 with a new Whatadeal menu.

    You can enjoy options for as low as $3 for a limited time only at participating locations, according to a press release from the popular chain.

    The new menu includes three options, with the ability to add small fries and a small drink for $2.49.

    “We’ve always believed that good, fresh food should be easy to enjoy and easy on the wallet,” said Whataburger Senior Vice President and CMO Scott Hudler. “The Whatadeal menu is our way of giving fans more of what they love at prices that make it easy to come hungry and leave full.”

    You can get a Big Ranch Wrap for $3. Whataburger said this is its Whatachick’n Strip with fresh veggies, ranch and American cheese wrapped in a tortilla.

    For $4, you can chow down on a five-count Whatachick’n Bites. Just like it sounds, these are bite-sized crispy chicken pieces for dipping and snacking.

    The Bacon and Cheese Whataburger Jr. is available for $5. The chain said this features a 100% beef patty topped with bacon and melty cheese.

    You can learn more on Whataburger’s website.

    Read more on KSAT:

    Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.

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  • Insights from three decades of BRCA1/2 modeling in mice

    Insights from three decades of BRCA1/2 modeling in mice

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  • Rice stripe virus utilizes a Laodelphax striatellus salivary carbonic anhydrase to facilitate plant infection by direct molecular interaction

    Rice stripe virus utilizes a Laodelphax striatellus salivary carbonic anhydrase to facilitate plant infection by direct molecular interaction

    During plant virus transmission by piercing-sucking insects, most viruses are inoculated into the plant phloem via the insect’s secreted saliva (Arcà and Ribeiro, 2018; Conway et al., 2016; Wu et al., 2022). Thus, insect saliva acts as an interface for the virus–insect–host tripartite interaction and can directly promote viral transmission to, and infection of, the host plants (Sun et al., 2020; Wu et al., 2022). However, despite the importance of insect salivary proteins in this tripartite interaction, there is still much to learn about how these proteins enable successful viral infection.

    Previous studies have revealed that there are two ways in which insect saliva facilitates viral infection. One is an indirect approach whereby the saliva modulates the host microenvironment at the feeding site, and saliva effectors work together to allow the arthropod to go unnoticed while it feeds on the host plant (Acevedo et al., 2019; Arcà and Ribeiro, 2018; Sun et al., 2020). For example, our work indicated that a Laodelphax striatellus mucin protein, LssaMP, enables the formation of the salivary sheath and facilitates the transmission of rice stripe virus (RSV) into the rice phloem (Huo et al., 2022). The study on leafhoppers revealed that the expression of a saliva calcium-binding protein is inhibited by rice gall dwarf virus (RGDV), thus causing an increase of cytosolic Ca2+ levels in rice and triggering callose deposition and H2O2 production. This increases the frequency of insect probing, thereby enhancing viral horizontal transmission into the rice phloem (Wu et al., 2022). The other mechanism by insect saliva to facilitate virus infection is direct regulation, whereby saliva proteins promote virus transmission through specific molecular interactions (Wen et al., 2019). Direct saliva protein–pathogen interactions have been reported in animal pathogens. For example, during transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi by Ixodes scapularis, the saliva protein Salp15 of I. scapularis binds to the bacterial outer surface protein C, which prevents the bacterium from being recognized by the animal immune system. In this way, the saliva protein enables the pathogen to infect the animal host (Ramamoorthi et al., 2005; Schuijt et al., 2008). Although most plant viruses are heavily dependent on insect vectors for plant-to-plant transmission (Gray, 2008), the direct function of insect saliva proteins in mediating virus transmission remains largely uninvestigated.

    During sap-feeding, arthropods produce two distinct types of saliva at different stages of the feeding process: gel saliva and watery saliva (Bonaventure, 2012; Lou et al., 2019). The former forms a salivary sheath to provide a smooth path for the stylet penetration (Lou et al., 2019). The latter is mainly secreted into the phloem sieve elements to prevent them from plugging up and suppress plant defense responses. Some salivary components may act as herbivore-associated molecular patterns that can trigger pattern-triggered immunity, and certain salivary effectors may be recognized by plant resistance proteins to induce effector-triggered immunity, etc. (Huang et al., 2017; Ji et al., 2017; Yi et al., 2021).

    For phloem-feeding insects, callose deposited on phloem sieve plate and plasmodesmata of sieve elements functions as a defense mechanism by reducing insect feeding and preventing viral movement (Hao et al., 2008; Hipper et al., 2013; Will and Vilcinskas, 2015; Zavaliev et al., 2011; Yue et al., 2022). Callose is a β-(1,3)-D-glucan polysaccharide that is synthesized by callose synthases and degraded by β-(1,3)-glucanases. Plants defend themselves by depositing callose at the sieve plates and plasmodesmata in response to virus infection, whereas viruses counter this defense by activating β-(1,3)-glucanases to degrade callose (Bucher et al., 2001; Hao et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2022; Zavaliev et al., 2011).

    RSV is the causative agent of rice stripe disease, a serious disease of rice crops that has occurred repeatedly in China, Japan, and Korea (Xu et al., 2021). RSV is completely dependent on insect vectors for transmission among its host plants, and L. striatellus is the main vector (Xu et al., 2021; Zhao et al., 2017). L. striatellus transmits RSV in a persistent-propagative manner. The virus initially infects the midgut, then disperses from the hemolymph into the salivary glands and is inoculated into the plant host during L. striatellus feeding (Huo et al., 2022). L. striatellus belongs to the order Hemiptera, whose members mainly feed from sieve tubes through their mouthparts (stylets) that penetrate plant tissues and reach sieve tubes to ingest the phloem sap (Tjallingii, 2006; van Bel and Will, 2016). RSV is mainly secreted into the rice phloem via the watery saliva (Huo et al., 2022; Wang and Blanc, 2021).

    In this study, we identified a molecular interaction among RSV, an L. striatellus saliva protein, and a plant β-1,3-glucanase. The insect saliva protein directly binds to the RSV nucleocapsid protein (NP) and then binds to a rice thaumatin-like protein to activate its β-1,3-glucanase activity. The activation of β-1,3-glucanase helps RSV infection by inhibiting callose deposition in response to viral infection.

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  • the golden thread through textile recycling? – CEPS

    the golden thread through textile recycling? – CEPS


    The European textile sector continues to operate on largely linear production models, with around 73 % of post-consumer textiles in the EU incinerated or landfilled. Transitioning to a system of durable, reusable, repairable, and recyclable textiles is therefore essential to reducing waste, emissions, and virgin resource dependency. This transition relies on high-quality product and material data. Traceability enables the tracking of fibres, processes, and actors across the supply chain, while transparency ensures that information is accessible to the relevant stakeholders. Reliable data underpin circular business models, support verification of environmental claims, and improve sorting, reuse, and recycling efficiency.

    This PESCO-UP policy brief aims to contribute timely evidence to the ongoing debate on traceability and transparency in the textiles sector. This comes at a critical moment when the Delegated Act for Textiles under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is still under preparation. Once adopted, it will define compulsory data to be collected and shared, governance rules, and implementation timelines for the Digital Product Passport (DPP) in the textiles sector. As such, it is essential that the requirements reflect real needs and capacities of actors involved in textile sorting and recycling, while also taking potential challenges for these and other actors in the supply chain (including brands, software providers, manufacturers etc.) into account. Ensuring that the DPP is practical, relevant, and scalable will be crucial to unlocking circular business models in the sector and ultimately achieving the environmental and social outcomes the EU has set for the textile industry.

     

    This policy brief was written in the context of the PESCO-UP project, funded by the European Union under grand agreement No. 101138367. This policy brief was first published on .

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  • EBRD promotes domestic production of pharmaceuticals in Uzbekistan

    EBRD promotes domestic production of pharmaceuticals in Uzbekistan

    • EBRD provides US$ 20 million to Nika Pharm
    • Company to increase its production capacity, achieve GMP certification
    • Project will stimulate local production of medicines

    The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is promoting further growth in domestic production of pharmaceutical products in Uzbekistan by supporting the operations of leading local manufacturer Nika Pharm. 

    Nika Pharm will use the EBRD loan of up to US$ 20 million to restructure its balance sheet and upgrade equipment and facilities in order to increase production capacity, improve product quality and bring the entire manufacturing process into compliance with the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards of the World Health Organisation’s certification scheme.

    The company has been an EBRD client since 2021 and is a well-established producer of tablets, capsules, sachets and nasal sprays for use in the treatment of common colds, as well as in gastroenterology, paediatrics and urology. During this time, Nika Pharm has become a leader in several key segments, including decongestants, and has shown strong and sustainable growth by replacing imports with high-quality local production.

    The project will help to expand Nika Pharm’s manufacturing base, improve its sustainability and efficiency, and lead to an average 140 per cent increase in the company’s production of generic pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs. Together with GMP certification, this will allow Nika Pharm to strengthen its position both domestically and regionally.

    Uzbekistan’s rapidly growing pharmaceuticals market, which is set to expand by a further 10 per cent by 2029, is dominated (around 75 per cent) by imported medicines. The project will help contribute to the government’s plan of eventually bringing the share of locally produced pharmaceuticals to 80 per cent.

    The EBRD has invested over US$ 6.6 billion in Uzbekistan to date through 196 projects, with the majority of those funds supporting private entrepreneurship, contributing to the country’s economic development.

     

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  • Invitation to the 2025 full year results

    Invitation to the 2025 full year results

    Givaudan will announce its 2025 full year results on 29 January 2026.

    A media release, the integrated and financial reports and the full year results presentation will be published on our website at 07:00 CET. Our live webcast for analysts and investors will be broadcasted at 11:00 CET.

     
    The conference call will be hosted by Gilles Andrier, Chief Executive Officer and Stewart Harris, Chief Financial Officer.

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  • Tomorrowland to hold its first-ever Asia festival in Thailand

    Tomorrowland to hold its first-ever Asia festival in Thailand

    Pre-registration for tickets begins on 8 January. A “full madness pass” covering all three days of the festival will cost 12,500 baht ($400; £300) while a single-day pass is going at 5,100 baht.

    More details on the festival’s theme and line-up will follow soon, organisers said.

    Although the Tomorrowland group has held events in some Asian cities, this is the first time it will be holding an entire festival in the continent, and one that is similar to the scale of what it does in Belgium.

    Thailand finalised an agreement with Tomorrowland to host the event for five years and expects it to generate 21bn baht ($673m; £497m) over the period, Thai media reported.

    “Expanding Tomorrowland to a new continent is a milestone we approach with great respect and excitement… This is the beginning of a long-term story,” said Tomorrowland’s chief executive officer Bruno Vanwelsenaers.

    In recent years, Thailand has become a strong contender in the live music scene. Last year, it played host to international music festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival and Creamfields. Bangkok was also a stop on K-pop band Blackpink’s world tour last October.

    And the country’s homegrown music and arts festival Wonderfruit is emerging as a hot destination on the festival circuit, drawing tens of thousands of people each year.

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  • Türkiye: Preliminary Project Preparation Study for Floating Solar PV Plants

    The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”), within its Green Economy Transition (“GET”) approach, is committed to scale up financing of projects that advance the transition to environmentally sustainable, low-carbon economies in its Countries of Operation (“CoO”), including advanced and innovative renewable energy solutions.

    Besides mature ground-mounted applications, floating solar PV power plants are becoming increasingly popular as costs continue to fall and the interest of reducing land use starts to grow. Quite a few floating applications have become operational or are under construction around the world, ranging in size from a few MW to hundreds of MW each (the biggest currently in operation is the 1 GW Dongying Offshore Floating Solar Farm in China). The total cumulative capacity will likely exceed 10 GW by the end of 2025, driven heavily by large projects in the Asia-Pacific region (China, India, Indonesia). The project pipeline exceeds 60 GW, indicating significant planned growth.

    Floating PV has the advantage of performing better in hot and humid ambient conditions in comparison with ground-mounted plants due to the combined effect of water and wind cooling on panels and cables. Additionally, floating PV has been found to contribute to water conservation due to the ability to reduce water evaporation and algae growth.

    The present study specifically focuses on the viability of developing a cumulative floating PV capacity of up to 3,000 MW over the surface of [3] lakes (the “Projects”).

    The ability to rely on the related existing high-voltage grid infrastructure for the Projects would be an obvious technical and economic advantage. The lakes have a vast theoretical potential for floating PV – in this sense, the choice of the location and design capacity of the Projects is expected to be driven by technical, economic, environmental and considerations on other existing uses of the reservoirs, while still being large enough to be potentially meaningful in terms of electricity production and replicability of the concept.

    As an important side benefit, the Projects might help increasing the water available downstream of the lakes for irrigation and civil uses, thanks to its possible contribution to reducing water evaporation losses. At the same time, the study will carefully consider the possible environmental and social risk and impacts associated with of the Projects including impacts to biodiversity and the local ecosystem, as well as lakes users including irrigation, fishing and recreational activities, energy production, etc., and how these can be addressed and mitigated in line with good international practice.

    The Consultant will be guided by the environmental and social issues considered in EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy and its associated Performance Requirements.

    The main objective of the assignment is to study and identify the main technical characteristics of the Projects to ensure they meet best international practice, minimise technical, environmental and social risks.

    The main tasks of the study are to support the EBRD and the relevant stakeholders in Türkiye in defining the main features of the Projects, including the overall size and potential locations in each lake, the anticipated investment costs and electricity production estimates, the identification of the main preliminary technical specifications as well as any regulatory or market issues that need to be addressed for the implementation of the Projects.

    The main Counterparts for the assignment will be the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the Electricity Generation Company (EUAS) and the Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS).

     

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