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New Abu Dhabi Archaeological Discoveries Reveal 8,500 Year Old Buildings

Building structures unearthed off the coast of UAE capital by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi push back date of such remains in the UAE and region by 500 years

New evidence from Ghagha Island indicates that the islands of Abu Dhabi were a focal point for human innovation and settlement during the Neolithic period

ABU DHABI, UAE, Feb. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Archaeologists from the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) have unearthed evidence of the earliest known buildings in the UAE and the broader region dating back more than 8,500 years — at least 500 years earlier than previously thought.

Ghagha Island - New Abu Dhabi archaeological discoveries reveal 8,500-year-old buildings

The discovery on the island of Ghagha, west of Abu Dhabi city, revealed stone structures offering further compelling history of the UAE.

The DCT Abu Dhabi archaeologists have been conducting scientific analysis of the artefacts since the structures and accompanying objects were unearthed. The most extraordinary discovery was revealed by carbon-14 analysis of charcoal fragments, which indicates the structures are at least 8,500 years old – breaking the previous record for the earliest known structures built in the UAE, which were discovered on Marawah Island.

It was previously thought that long-distance maritime trade routes, which developed during the Neolithic period, were the catalyst for settlements in the area, but the latest discoveries prove that Neolithic settlements existed prior to the onset of trade, which means it was local economic and environmental conditions that led to the first settled life in what is now the United Arab Emirates. Rather than being arid and inhospitable, the islands were in a sense a ‘Fertile Coast’. This evidence recasts Abu Dhabi’s islands within the cultural history of the broader region.

HE Mohamed Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “These archaeological finds have shown that people were settling and building homes here 8,500 years ago. The discoveries on Ghagha island highlight that the characteristics of innovation, sustainability and resilience have been part of the DNA of the inhabitants of this region for thousands of years. The finds reinforce an appreciation of history, as well as the deep cultural connections between the people of the UAE and the sea. We are also reminded that there is still much to discover across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and that it is vitally important we continue working to discover, preserve and protect our invaluable heritage for current and future generations to learn more about our ancestral past.” 

Until the excavations of Ghagha, the earliest known structures in the United Arab Emirates were found on the island of Marawah, also off the coast of Abu Dhabi. Taken with the evidence from Marawah, the new evidence from Ghagha indicates that the islands of Abu Dhabi were a focal point for human innovation and settlement during the Neolithic period – a time of fundamental change throughout much of the world.

The structures that have been uncovered are simple round rooms, the walls of which are made from stone and preserved to nearly one metre in height. The rooms were likely houses for a small community who may have lived on the island year-round. Hundreds of artefacts were found in the rooms, including finely worked stone arrowheads that would have been used for hunting. It is likely that the community would also have used the rich resources of the sea. How long the settlement existed is unknown, but after it was abandoned, it apparently remained an important part of the cultural landscape, as nearly 5,000 years ago a person was buried in the ruins of the structures. It is one of the few burials from this period known on the Abu Dhabi islands.

The discoveries on Ghagha Island come as part of DCT Abu Dhabi’s emirate-wide archaeological programme, in line with the organisation’s mandate to preserve, protect and promote the ancient history and cultural heritage of Abu Dhabi. The emirate contains some of the most prized and unique cultural and historical attractions and finds in the region and internationally. In addition to the discoveries on Ghagha and Marawah islands, these include the remains of an ancient monastery on Sir Bani Yas island, as well as the UNESCO-inscribed Cultural Site of Al Ain, comprising a series of oases, historic monuments, archaeological sites and natural areas, which has featured on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites List since 2011.

Abu Dhabi’s archaeological treasures also include Miocene Trackways (footprints of a herd of an extinct form of ancient elephant) which date to 6-8 million years ago; a 3,000 year old falaj in Al Ain (which indicates the earliest known widespread use of this irrigation technology in the world); stone tools dating to over 300,000 years ago, which were found in surveys around Jebel Hafit (indicating that the UAE was an important pathway for the dispersal of humans across the globe); and a well preserved Iron Age fortress dating to 3,000 years ago, which was discovered during excavations at Al Ain’s Hili 14 archaeological site. A series of late pre-Islamic tombs have also been found in various locations in Al Ain.

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Ghagha Island - Structures unearthed off the coast of UAE capital by the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi push back date of such remains in the UAE and region by 500 years

 

Archaeological discoveries - Photo provided by Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi

 

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Firstsource Partners with Typeface to Launch Agentic Marketing Services

New full-stack offering turns content operations into an agentic growth engine

NEW YORK and MUMBAI, India, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Firstsource Solutions Limited (NSE: FSL) (BSE: 532809), an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company, today announced the launch of a new offering — Agentic Marketing Services — in partnership with Typeface, the marketing orchestration engine for the world’s leading enterprises. The offering is designed to help enterprises move from marketing ambition to scale by transforming, implementing, and operating AI-native marketing systems. It transforms marketing operations into a scalable growth engine and delivers measurable top-line revenue growth beyond operational efficiency alone.

 

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Agentic AI is redefining how enterprises think about the customer lifecycle, and marketing content sits at the center of that transformation. Enterprises deploying AI-driven personalization are seeing up to 40% higher revenue compared to their peers. Content operations is both a growth lever and an efficiency play for CMOs: roughly 30% of CMO budgets go to content; approximately 55% of content work is manual — resizing, localization, brand compliance — while 90% of those manual workflows can be AI-enabled.

“At Firstsource, our approach has been about moving beyond traditional boundaries to build adaptive, intelligence-led ecosystems that deliver measurable outcomes. Content operations is now the most disrupted layer of the modern marketing stack, with Large Language Models reshaping the entire value chain — from ideation and production to governance and distribution — making it both the biggest near-term efficiency opportunity and the most exposed surface area in enterprise marketing,” said Ritesh Idnani, MD and Chief Executive Officer of Firstsource.

“CEOs and CMOs are not looking for a consultancy that hands off a roadmap or an agency that operates in silos — they want a partner who can transform, implement, and operate marketing systems end-to-end. By combining micro-segmentation, personalization, and deep industry context, we help clients build acquisition, engagement, and retention engines that are intelligent, compliant, and scalable. Typeface brings the AI technology to generate personalized, on-brand, compliant content at scale, and Firstsource brings deep experience in customer operations, especially in regulated industries like banking, financial services, healthcare, and retail. Together, we enable enterprises to plan, build, and run modern marketing — turning content operations into a compounding growth engine and delivering outcomes, not just effort.”

The partnership extends the capabilities announced with Typeface’s recent Marketing Orchestration Engine launch — bringing governed AI systems into full-stack marketing operations for regulated enterprises.

“AI only transforms marketing when it’s embedded into the workflows that drive real customer outcomes,” said Abhay Parasnis, Founder & CEO of Typeface. “Firstsource brings deep industry expertise and operational rigor in highly regulated environments. Together, we’re helping enterprises turn AI ambition into operational reality, embedding governed intelligence into the systems that power durable growth.” 

While Typeface provides the orchestration layer that unifies brand intelligence, AI agents, and enterprise systems, Firstsource brings the operational expertise and insights to enable effective decision making and implement and run these systems in complex, regulated environments. Together, they redesign how growth is driven — focusing on the moments, segments, and mechanisms that truly move the needle — enabling enterprises to shift from fragmented activity to scalable, revenue-led execution.

Industry view

“In retail, seasonality and micro-segmentation are where revenue is won or lost. Every peak moment demands thousands of personalized variants across marketing, service, and customer operations — and the retailers who get this right see real movement on acquisition, conversion, and retention, not just efficiency. What makes the Firstsource–Typeface offering different is that it is not another tool — it is an operating capability. Pairing agentic AI with embedded marketing operations is exactly what retailers need to move from broad campaigns to true lifecycle-driven engagement. For the industry, this is a meaningful step-change in how growth gets engineered.”

– Dave Kimbell, Ex-CEO Ulta Beauty; Firstsource Advisory Board Member

“Healthcare payers sit on a real paradox: a huge share of member communication is locked inside PHI and claims workflows where the rules are clear and rightly strict — but the biggest lever on affordability lives outside that envelope, in how payers engage members on wellness, prevention, plan literacy, and proactive disease management. That is a white-space opportunity the industry has barely touched. This is where marketing AI services can genuinely move the needle. With micro-segmentation and agentic content, payers can reach the right member with the right nudge at the right moment — entirely within compliant, non-PHI pathways — and shift the engagement model from acquisition and retention to lifelong wellness. That is how you make healthcare more affordable, improve member experience, and strengthen the economics of the plan at the same time. The Firstsource–Typeface offering is one of the few capabilities purpose-built to operate at that intersection of compliance, personalization, and outcomes.”

– Paul Sanford, Ex-EVP Operations, Cigna Group; Firstsource Advisory Board Member

About Firstsource

Firstsource Solutions Limited, an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company (NSE: FSL) (BSE: 532809), is a global intelligence partner to enterprises across healthcare, banking and financial services, communications, media, technology, retail, and utilities. Its inch-wide, mile-deep practitioners work collaboratively to reimagine business process management.

With operations across the US, UK, India, Philippines, Mexico, Romania, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, and Australia, Firstsource combines over twenty-five years of domain expertise with an agent-first delivery model to design, build, and operate intelligent enterprise operations. Through its Intelligence That Operates promise—powered by Kairos, the operating system that makes it real—the company unifies consulting, implementation, and operations into a single full-stack engagement and underwrites outcomes, not effort, turning deep domain intelligence into a compounding operational advantage for firms in the world’s most regulated industries. (www.firstsource.com)

About Typeface

Typeface is a marketing orchestration engine for the world’s leading enterprises, coordinating brand intelligence, AI agents, and enterprise systems across cross-channel marketing operations. Built for large organizations, Typeface combines shared brand intelligence, governed agent workflows, and deep enterprise integration at scale — connecting seamlessly with platforms like Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google — to help teams scale what works without sacrificing quality or control. Trusted by Fortune 500 companies, Typeface enables organizations to operationalize AI inside real marketing workflows, turning brand standards, approvals, and performance signals into coordinated systems that improve over time. Typeface is backed by Lightspeed, GV, Salesforce Ventures, Madrona, Menlo, and M12, and has been recognized by Fast Company, Gartner, TIME, LinkedIn, and Adweek as a leader in AI for marketing. Learn more at www.typeface.ai.

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Shaping Future-Ready School Leaders: Woxsen University Leads Design Thinking Initiative for Principals

HYDERABAD, India, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The School of Arts and Design at Woxsen University, in collaboration with the Public-School Principals’ Association (PSPA), conducted a Principal Leadership Programme on April 27, bringing together 30 principals from leading schools across Hyderabad for an immersive, design-led learning experience focused on rethinking leadership in contemporary education.

Participating institutions included Delhi Public School, Sloka International School (Tukkuguda), Jain Heritage Cambridge School, AVN Vida International School, CMR School (Medchal), and Gitanjali High School, among others. Designed as a hands-on, studio-based workshop, the programme moved beyond traditional formats, enabling participants to engage in collaborative problem-solving, systems thinking, and real-world leadership challenges.

The programme was delivered by Woxsen’s Centre for Learning Design (CLD) and the David Dunne Design Thinking Lab, and was guided by the university’s ERS (Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability) framework, reflecting an integrated and purpose-driven approach to leadership development.

Through guided design thinking exercises, principals explored new approaches to decision-making, innovation in school ecosystems, and building student-centric learning environments. The interactive format encouraged peer exchange and practical application, making the experience directly relevant to institutional leadership.

Rajendra Prasad, President of the PSPA, said, “The School Principals’ Leadership Workshop at Woxsen University was well organized and delivered with great impact. The sessions were highly engaging and insightful, and the programme received overwhelming positive feedback from participants for both its content and overall experience.”

Dr. Ashok Pandey, Member of the PSPA Leadership Team, shared, “An inspiring day at the picturesque Woxsen University campus, engaging with exceptional school leaders committed to designing the schools of tomorrow.” 

Dr. Adity Saxena, Dean, School of Arts & Design, said, “This programme is aligned with Woxsen’s core pillar of Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability, reinforcing our commitment to purpose-driven education. We see our role as bridging ideas, institutions, and impact in education, and we are grateful to PSPA and Rajendra Prasad for this meaningful collaboration.”

The initiative reflects Woxsen University’s commitment to strengthening the school education ecosystem in Telangana by building leadership capacity and fostering future-ready thinking among educators. Following the workshop, the PSPA leadership team engaged in a strategic discussion with Dr. Adity Saxena to explore future collaboration opportunities.

Building on the momentum of the programme, Woxsen University and PSPA are exploring the launch of a structured Principal Leadership Certificate Programme. The proposed initiative aims to institutionalize leadership development for school heads and further strengthen the region’s education ecosystem through sustained, practice-oriented engagement.

About Woxsen University, Hyderabad

Woxsen University, located in Hyderabad, is one of the first private universities in the state of Telangana, India. Renowned for its 200-acre state-of-the-art campus and infrastructure, Woxsen University offers new-age, disruptive programs in the fields of Business, Technology, Arts & Design, Architecture, Law, and Liberal Arts & Humanities. Woxsen also houses Asia’s largest Sports Infrastructure, spread over 60 acres. With 175 Global Partner Universities and a strong industry connect, Woxsen is recognized as one of the top universities for Academic Excellence and Global Edge. Woxsen has also secured the QS Business Masters World Ranking 2025, Rank #9 All India, Top 100 B-Schools by Times B-School Ranking 2025, Rank #6, Asia Pacific, Bloomberg Best B-School, and features in India’s Best B-Schools beyond IIMs by Dalal Street Investment Journal 2025, in 4th consecutive year. Woxsen is ranked as one of the Top Professional Colleges in India by Outlook I-CARE for its undergraduate programs, securing All India Rank 12 among the Top 130 BBA Private Institutes, All India Rank 20 among the Top 160 B.Tech Private Institutes, All India Rank 3 among the Top 25 Design Private Institutes, and All India Rank 3 among the Top 30 B. Arch Private Institutes.

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HarperCollins is proud to announce the publication of The Book of Daily Brilliance: 111 Days to Transformation by Pamela Puja Kirpalani

Published by HarperCollins

Hardback | Non-Fiction/Self-Help | 140 pp | INR 399

Available wherever books are sold | Releasing on 24 April 2026

NEW DELHI, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — HarperCollins Publishers India is thrilled to announce the publication of The Book of Daily Brilliance: 111 Days to Transformation by Pamela Puja Kirpalani, a practical guide towards a spiritual and psychological transformation.

ORDER HERE

ABOUT THE BOOK

Everyone in the world has good days and bad days. But what if there was a way to unleash one’s radiant self every day? Something simple yet profound—something the reader could reach for every day to centre themselves and remember what really matters.

The Book of Daily Brilliance is designed to speak to the heart and the highest self. Meant to be read over 111 days and covering topics that resonate with all—relationships, self-worth, love, pain, abundance, manifestation, surrender and much more—this daily reader will guide the one through a gentle yet powerful spiritual and psychological journey.

There is no fixed start date. No pressure to be perfect. If a day is skipped or there is a pause for a while, that is okay. All that’s needed to do is come back when it feels right. For those who choose to commit to the 111-day journey, the experience reveals the unfolding of a deeper truth within. 

So, take a deep breath. Open the page to Day 1 and let this be an invitation to return to oneself —one day, one page, one insight at a time.

Pamela Puja Kirpalani says, “One page can really just change the way you show up for your life. I wrote The Book of Daily Brilliance to be something you return to, not just read once — a daily pause that brings clarity, perspective and healing. In a fast-paced world, I believe even a single mindful page a day can create powerful inner psychological shifts. This 111 Daily Reader is my way of helping people reconnect with themselves— and if it helps someone feel more present, more grounded, and more like themselves, then it has done exactly what I hoped it would.”

Sachin Sharma, Publisher, HarperCollins India, says, The Book of Daily Brilliance offers a perfect pause amidst the busyness of life. Readers will appreciate how the book gently guides them through a journey of transformation—without any pressure—one step, one day at a time.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pamela Puja Kirpalani is the Founder of Inner High Living and a distinguished thought leader in the world of behavioural psychology and neuro-behaviour. Her vision materialized as she started coaching individuals, couples and parents on achieving their goals initially using Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) as a modality. She is certified by ABNlp (Australian Board of Neuro-Linguistic Programming), IEMT (Integrated Eye Movement Technique) Practitioner, member of the APSS Singapore and the NLP Association of Singapore.

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS INDIA

At HarperCollins Publishers India, we believe in telling the best stories and ensuring they reach the widest readership. We publish around 250 new books every year across 10 imprints, adding to a diverse catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across print and digital formats. Our authors include APJ Abdul Kalam, Agatha Christie, Amish Tripathi, Amitav Ghosh (Erasmus Prize 2024), Jhumpa Lahiri, Paulo Coelho, Raghuram Rajan, Sudha Murty, Ruskin Bond and many more.

HarperCollins India has been honoured with seven Publisher of the Year awards and proudly represents global publishers such as Harvard University Press, Lonely Planet, Oneworld, Nosy Crow, Usborne and National Geographic Children.

We have also been certified as a Great Place to Work for two consecutive years, a testament to our culture, creativity and people.

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