You don’t have permission to access “http://www.undp.org/arab-states/press-releases/escalation-middle-east-reverses-more-year-economic-growth-arab-states-region-according-new-un-development-programme” on this server.
Reference #18.2c9e645f.1774941861.1755ae9
https://errors.edgesuite.net/18.2c9e645f.1774941861.1755ae9
Professor Renate Kain
Image source: MedUni Wien
At the Digital Pathology & AI Congress in London, Kain outlined how the technology has applications in immunological disease, particularly for patients with vasculitis, where long-term survival is poor. In her presentation, she gave an overview of DSP’s advantages and limitations, while detailing on selection bias and regions of interest (RoI), pre-analytics, and applications in vasculitis research.
DSP, a technology that analyses gene or protein expression in tissue architecture, is increasingly used to interrogate transcriptomic profiles in tissue sections. A method to investigate specific disease pathways and molecular signatures, it is now providing a technology for use in complex auto-immune diseases of the kidney, said Kain, who is Head of the Department of Pathology of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, and a histopathologist with a special focus on inflammatory disorders of the kidney.
She said DSP is particularly beneficial with the significant rise in slides produced due to the evolution of an increasing number of biomarkers and next generation sequencing. ‘We have been waiting for spatial profiling technology for pathology for a long time,’ she said.
Key Facts
BETHESDA, Md., March 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Marriott International (Nasdaq: MAR) and the Leali family, founders of Lefay, today announced their plans to enter into a joint venture to bring the highly awarded luxury wellness hospitality brand Lefay into the Marriott portfolio. This collaboration combines Lefay’s approach to holistic wellbeing with Marriott’s global scale, and the power of its award-winning Marriott Bonvoy loyalty platform. Lefay will be the first brand in Marriott’s portfolio dedicated exclusively to luxury wellness.
Founded in Italy in 2006 by Domenico Alcide and Liliana Leali, Lefay is known for its immersive resorts in natural settings and its proprietary Lefay SPA Method, which blends scientific research with holistic wellness traditions. The brand’s philosophy centers on space, serenity, and sustainability and aims to redefine modern luxury through wellbeing and authenticity.
The Lefay portfolio features two award-winning luxury resorts in Lago di Garda and Dolomiti Italy—both located in nature‑rich leisure destinations. Additionally, the brand’s pipeline includes three properties under development in Tuscany, Southern Italy, and the Swiss Alps. Lefay’s existing and pipeline resorts will operate under long-term hotel management agreements with the new joint venture, to which Lefay will contribute existing brand and intellectual property assets. The Italian real estate assets will continue to be held by the brand’s founders. Together, the parties intend to grow the brand around the world, leveraging Marriott’s powerful development capabilities.
“Marriott is thrilled to collaborate with the Leali family as we grow our luxury wellness portfolio,” said Anthony Capuano, President and CEO, Marriott International. “Luxury is increasingly defined by wellbeing, purpose and meaningful experiences. We are excited to introduce Lefay to our customers around the world and thoughtfully expand Marriott’s presence in the luxury wellness space.”
A Heritage Brand Embracing Global Wellbeing
“Our family founded Lefay nearly twenty years ago with a clear vision: to create destinations where wellbeing, nature and health come together authentically,” said Domenico Alcide and Liliana Leali, founders of Lefay. “We are deeply honored to begin this collaboration with Marriott and to further advance our vision of bringing the Lefay brand to the world.”
Each Lefay property is designed as an eco‑resort, emphasizing architectural harmony with the natural environment, expansive indoor‑outdoor spaces, sustainable materials, and wellness programs that integrate movement, nutrition, and preventative health. Guests may choose from à‑la‑carte treatments or structured multi‑day wellness programs, all rooted in Lefay’s holistic philosophy.
Strengthening Marriott’s Luxury Portfolio and Wellness Offerings
Lefay will complement Marriott’s existing Luxury Group portfolio while appealing to a rapidly expanding global audience seeking transformative travel experiences focused on health and longevity.
“Lefay represents a new expression of luxury, one that is wellness‑first, deeply experiential, and emotionally resonant,” said Tina Edmundson, President of Luxury, Marriott International. “As guest expectations continue to evolve, our collaboration with Lefay will allow us to thoughtfully extend our luxury offerings into a space where wellbeing is not just an amenity, but the heart of the travel experience.”
“Lefay is proud to join Marriott’s Luxury Group, alongside some of the most prestigious hotel brands, such as The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, EDITION and The Luxury Collection,” said Alcide Leali, CEO of Lefay. “Together, we are poised to accelerate the global expansion of the Lefay brand and further reinforce Lefay’s position as a leading name in luxury wellness hospitality.”
The relationship between Marriott and the Leali family reflects a shared vision to preserve Lefay’s distinct identity and Italian heritage while supporting its long‑term growth through carefully selected destinations that align with the brand’s values.
The transaction is subject to customary approvals and closing conditions.
Access the full gallery of high-resolution Lefay property images here.
NOTE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
All statements in this press release are made as of March 31, 2026. Marriott undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of United States federal securities laws, including statements related to Marriott’s expectations regarding closing the transaction; future growth and expansion opportunities, plans and expectations; customer trends and expectations; transaction benefits; and similar statements concerning possible future events or expectations that are not historical facts. Marriott cautions you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to numerous evolving risks and uncertainties that the company may not be able to accurately predict or assess, including failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the transaction, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals; the ability of Marriott and Lefay to successfully grow and operate the brand after the transaction closes; and the other risk factors that Marriott describes in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Any of these factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations Marriott expresses or implies in this press release.
ABOUT MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL
Marriott International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of compelling brands across luxury, premium, select, midscale, extended stay, and all-inclusive, with over 9,800 properties in 145 countries and territories, as of December 31, 2025. Marriott franchises, operates, and licenses hotel, residential, timeshare, yacht, outdoor, and other lodging products all around the world. The company offers Marriott Bonvoy®, its highly awarded travel platform. For more information, please visit our website at www.marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.marriottnewscenter.com. In addition, connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on X and Instagram.
IRPR#1
SOURCE Marriott International, Inc.
Ricoh is a leading provider of integrated digital services and print and imaging solutions designed to support digital transformation of workplaces, workspaces and optimize business performance.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh’s global operation reaches customers in approximately 200 countries and regions, supported by cultivated knowledge, technologies, and organizational capabilities nurtured over its 85-year history. In the financial year ended March 2025, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,527 billion yen (approx. 16.8 billion USD).
It is Ricoh’s mission and vision to empower individuals to find Fulfillment through Work by understanding and transforming how people work so we can unleash their potential and creativity to realize a sustainable future.
For further information, please visit
###
© 2026 RICOH COMPANY, LTD. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on March 30, 2026 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures edged up on Monday night as oil price reversed course to drop in overnight trading.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 177, or 0.4%.
Prices dropped following a Wall Street Journal report that President Donald Trump had told aides he was willing to end military hostilities in the Middle East even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely shut.
Oil had gained in extended trading after Bloomberg reported that Iran struck a Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai waters. The Dubai government’s media office said in a post on X that no injuries were reported and that “the safety of all 24 crew members has been secured.” Brent crude futures climbed 2% and West Texas Intermediate futures advanced 3%, before falling 0.82% and 0.66%, respectively.
In Monday’s regular session, the S&P 500 slipped 0.39%, posting its third losing session in a row, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.73%. The 30-stock Dow bucked the trend with its gain of 49.50 points, or 0.11%.
The S&P 500’s Monday losses put it just over 9% off its closing high and were driven by declines in the technology sector, which slid more than 1%. But Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, said that the recent pullback may reflect a typical market reset rather than anything out of the ordinary.
“There’s a couple of narratives going on, but I think long term investors should keep in mind that 10% corrections are normal. They happen all the time. On average, every two years we have a 10% correction,” he said to CNBC. “It’s also important for investors to understand that the volatility in equities is the price you pay for the higher longer-term returns.”
Hogan added: “We’ve had a smattering of positive days when there’s some whiffs of good news.”
Several different factors on Monday reflected the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, topped 30 during the session, while U.S. oil prices also rose to kick off the week.
On the other hand, markets received some good news that the Middle East war could soon come to a conclusion, with President Donald Trump writing in a Truth Social post that “great progress has been made” regarding the United States’ “serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran.” On Sunday, Trump shared that tensions have eased in the form of Iran accepting most of the U.S.’ 15-point plan to end the war, with the country allowing an additional 20 oil ships to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell also delivered some relief to investors, saying on Monday that he sees the current inflation outlook in check and there is no need at this time for any interest rate hikes.
On Tuesday, traders will watch for March’s consumer confidence index and February’s JOLTS job opening numbers.
Correction: An earlier version said that the three major averages declined in Monday’s session. Only the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite booked losses.
Drug delivery carriers such as lipid nanoparticles (used in mRNA COVID vaccines), viral vectors (used in gene therapy), polymeric nanoparticles (used in long-acting medications and cancer drugs), and liposomes (used in chemotherapy to encapsulate toxic drugs) can improve the effectiveness of many types of treatments and vaccines.
However, delivery carriers are prone to being rapidly cleared by the body after administration, leading to an extremely low drug concentration in target tissues. For instance, the effective delivery dose of existing nanomedicines that reaches tumors is less than 0.7% of the total dose, restricting therapeutic efficacy. Unfortunately, scientists have been unsure how to improve the delivery efficiency of these carriers.
Now, research led by Profs. WANG Yucai, ZHU Shu, and JIANG Wei from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has for the first time uncovered the fundamental mechanism underlying the body’s non-specific clearance of drug delivery carriers by identifying a gut–liver immune regulatory axis maintained by intestinal commensal bacteria and the intestinal endocrine system.
The study was published in Science on March 19.
Using a mouse model, the researchers found that the tumor delivery efficiency of various delivery carriers—including polymeric nanoparticles, lipid nanoparticles, and oncolytic adenoviruses—was significantly improved after clearing intestinal commensal bacteria. Such enhanced delivery efficiency may translate into improved therapeutic effects in tumor chemotherapy, oncolytic virus therapy, and protein replacement therapy.
In addition, researchers found that the efficiency of multi-organ gene delivery and somatic cell editing was also greatly increased, since the number of delivery carriers circulating in the blood increased significantly.
To unravel the underlying mechanism, the researchers developed a quantitative analysis system for single-cell morphology and carrier interaction behavior based on intravital imaging. This system confirmed that intestinal bacteria make Kupffer cells—a type of immune cell in the liver—more aggressive at clearing drug carriers. In contrast, when intestinal bacteria were removed, Kupffer cells became much less active in taking up drug carriers, with their uptake capacity reduced by as much as 70%.
Furthermore, researchers clarified that intestinal epithelial cells were the core hub for sensing bacterial signals and regulating liver immunity, with serotonin secreted by the intestinal endocrine system acting as the key messenger molecule linking intestinal bacteria and the liver immune system.
This study outlines for the first time the complete gut–liver immune regulatory axis: intestinal commensal bacteria activate the intestinal epithelial endocrine system to promote serotonin secretion; serotonin then activates hepatic Kupffer cells, enhancing their phagocytic capacity for delivery carriers, which in turn impairs carrier circulation and reduces delivery efficiency.
Experiments verified that intervening in this serotonin pathway or restricting tryptophan intake through dietary regulation—since tryptophan is the precursor of serotonin—can both significantly inhibit Kupffer cells from clearing drug delivery carriers. This intervention increases tumor delivery efficiency by two to three times and target tissue gene editing efficiency by 10–15 times, achieving remarkable improvements in various therapeutic models.
In summary, this study offers a means of significantly improving the delivery efficiency and therapeutic effectiveness of tumor-targeted therapy, mRNA therapy, gene editing, and other treatments.
TOKYO, March 31, 2026—Canon Inc. today announced the result of a complaint filed with the JD IPR System seeking the removal of the “Wenshiou” product listing from JD.com, an e-commerce platform in China.
Canon’s complaint identified the product listing shown in the table below and alleged that cartridges sold under this listing infringe Canon’s Chinese Pat. No. ZL200880003520.0. Canon’s complaint was accepted by JD.com and ultimately led to the suspension of the product listing on its platform.
At the time of this announcement, the product listing was no longer available on JD.com’s platform.
Canon respects the intellectual property rights of others and will continue to enforce its own intellectual property rights. Canon appreciates the support of JD.com in protecting its intellectual property.
China’s steel industry stands at a critical juncture. As the world’s largest producer and exporter of steel, the sector plays a central role in both China’s domestic decarbonisation pathway and the evolution of global steel markets.
In September 2020, China announced its commitment to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030, marking a major shift in the country’s climate strategy. More recently, the country’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), released in September 2025, pledged that economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions will fall 7–10% below the peak level by 2035. Accounting for roughly 16% of China’s annual total carbon dioxide emissions, the steel sector is widely seen as one of the most important industries for delivering progress toward these climate commitments.
At the same time, the sector is also facing mounting financial pressures and increasing scrutiny from global markets. Persistent overcapacity, volatile profitability and rising leverage are heightening credit risks within parts of the industry, while a recent rebound in exports is reshaping global steel trade and contributing to renewed trade frictions with major importing regions.
Against this backdrop, the industry now faces a growing credibility challenge on multiple fronts. Progress toward the green steel transition has fallen short of policy expectations, financial resilience is under strain, and expanding exports are intensifying trade tensions with key partners.
Together, these trends raise a broader question: whether China’s steel sector can simultaneously deliver on its climate ambitions, maintain financial stability, and sustain constructive engagement with global markets. Restoring credibility will require structural adjustments that align climate commitments with financial discipline and evolving global trade dynamics.
Figure — China’s green steel transition: Policy ambition versus stalled EAF progress, 2019–2030
Figure — China’s steel CO₂ emissions: Historical trends and alternative EAF share scenarios, 2016-2035
China’s steel sector can strengthen its credibility in climate commitments, financial liability, and global trade in the following ways:
The OTC Asia Spotlight on New Technology Awards honor innovative energy technologies that are advancing the industry across the region.
Among the 2026 honorees are two technologies from SLB:
OptiSite™ facility, equipment, and pipeline solutions
OptiSite revolutionizes asset performance by unifying data into a single contextualized environment. Scalable from a single asset to full portfolios, its configurable, modular solutions use AI and digital twins for predictive maintenance, real-time optimization, and reduced downtime — delivering measurable value in reliability, safety, and energy efficiency.
“The ability to leverage AI and generative AI tools across the entire production network is a first,” said Steve Gassen, SLB’s president of Production Systems. “The production landscape is highly fragmented with multiple equipment types and manufacturers, so it has been difficult for our customers to truly visualize their data in real time from equipment and assets across an entire network. OptiSite makes that possible now.”
Tela™ agentic-AI assistant
Tela is SLB’s agentic-AI assistant that learns, reasons, and acts across energy workflows. Powered by the Lumi™ data and AI platform, it combines large language models with domain foundation models to deliver autonomous and collaborative decision making, accelerating offshore operations, improving efficiency, and reducing environmental impact, transforming how the industry works at scale.
“Technology like Tela marks a paradigm shift in how AI supports the energy industry, from subsurface to operations,” said Rakesh Jaggi, president, Digital and Integration, SLB. “Today, the industry faces a dual challenge: a leaner workforce and increased technical complexity, and Tela can address both. Tela doesn’t just automate tasks — it can understand goals, make decisions and take action. It’s the convergence of 100 years of domain science and cutting-edge digital technology, amplifying human ingenuity and redefining how work gets done.”
SLB is showcasing its innovative technologies at its booth at OTC Asia, where attendees can explore how the company is delivering digital at scale. Learn more about SLB at OTC Asia here.
The March jobs report, out Friday, will be the first one to include data collected since president Trump launched a war in Iran.
Data will be from the early days of the war, so it’s unlikely to have had much effect on jobs numbers. But the longer the war drags on, the more likely it is to have an impact on the labor market.
Of course, certain industries are more vulnerable than others.
As soon as the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, the price of oil shot up and gas prices followed. Angela Hanks, chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation, said as gas prices rise, consumers get stretched.
“You have to get to work, you have to pay your electric bill, and so I think we’ll see that show up as reduced demand in other sectors where people have more opportunities to make choices about whether or not they spend,” she said.
The more people have to spend on gas and heat, the less they have to spend at restaurants or on clothes or trips.
Josh Bivens at the Economic Policy Institute said job-wise, he’s most concerned right now about people who work in industries fueled by discretionary spending.
“Obvious ones are like restaurants, arts, entertainment, some travel,” he said. “That’s where people have the most ability to quickly adjust their spending, and those are also industries that are pretty quick to lay people off as soon as that spending dries up a little bit.”
The longer the war goes on, the riskier things get for other industries, too. Especially ones that rely on anything that passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Liz Pancotti, managing director at Groundwork Collaborative, is worried about agriculture.
“About 25% of farmers had not yet purchased their fertilizer for this growing season. So that is one that is quite concerning to me,” she said.
Also concerning? Industries that rely on helium.
“Helium is obviously used for some medical supplies and for the balloons you might blow up for your children’s birthday, but more importantly, it’s used for computer chips. And right now, I am really hoping we are not staring down the chips crisis that we saw in 2021, ‘22 and ‘23,” Pancotti said.
During the height of the pandemic, companies couldn’t get enough chips for computers and cars. A repeat of that would hurt consumers and people who work in those industries.
Angela Hanks at TCF says the war is also coming on top of a lot of other stressors for businesses, including inflation, high interest rates, and tariffs.
“There’s only so many of those kinds of shocks that businesses can absorb before we start to see job loss,” she said, in multiple sectors across the economy.