Power Crunch in the Philippines: NGCP issued fresh red and yellow alerts for Luzon/Visayas after heat pushed demand higher than supply, with the Visayas grid short of projected peak needs and outages tied to multiple plant outages—raising the odds of more brownouts. Retail Demand vs. Disruption: Downtown Wyandotte’s construction is squeezing foot traffic and parking for local shops, while Harlem’s Second Avenue Subway phase two is already blamed for a sharp customer drop for some eateries. US Consumer Signal: US retail sales rose for a third straight month in April, but the lift is partly inflation-driven as gas prices stay a major headwind. Global Retail Playbook: A study argues retailers win abroad by using “balanced adaptation”—keeping their core “secret sauce” while tailoring locally. India Ecommerce Surge: India’s ecommerce is projected to hit a $450B market in five years and become about a fifth of total retail GMV by 2031, with D2C capturing most incremental value. Tech & Energy for AI: Japan is launching a low-carbon data-centre programme as EVs top 20M global sales in 2025 and EV battery demand in India is forecast to jump tenfold by 2032.