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World

Qatari PM holds Tehran talks

DUBAI: The prime minister of Qatar visited Tehran on Thursday in a bid to revive diplomatic channels, as the US and Iran traded recriminations over Washington’s latest sanctions drive, described by one Iranian official as “all-out economic war”.

Finance & Markets

Rate cuts shrink SBP profits in 2025-26

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has remitted Rs1,932 billion to the federal government as profit for 2025-26, helping reduce its dependence on large domestic borrowings. With the easing of monetary policy , the central bank’s profitability is also declining.

AI

Judge blocks Pentagon's Anthropic blacklist

A federal judge on Thursday struck down the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk , ruling that the government's actions violated Anthropic's constitutional rights.

AI

The case for hybrid microfinance: Combining AI with social accountability

Earlier this year I reviewed an AI-driven microfinance product being launched in Indonesia by a regional fintech. The model was elegant. It took transaction data from a payments app, layered in mobile usage patterns and a few social signals, and produced a credit score for each individual applicant within seconds.

AI

Language was never the problem: Inside SEA’s real AI adoption gap

Ask most people what is holding back AI adoption in Southeast Asia, and the answer usually circles back to language. Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Thai and Malay are still treated as the great unsolved frontier for global models, the assumption being that once AI speaks the region fluently, enterprises will follow.

Tech

AI, athletes, and Keith Rabois: StrictlyVC is back in New York on September 10

A boutique StrictlyVC evening returns to New York's West Village on September 10 with Keith Rabois, Craig Shapiro, Jason Levien, Tristan Walker, Brynn Putnam, and Deven Parekh — covering AI, sports…

  • StrictlyVC returns to New York on September 10 after two years
  • Keith Rabois to discuss founders' funding and OpenAI's 2019 investment
  • Brynn Putnam and Deven Parekh to speak on AI, craftsmanship, and asset classes

Science

Beyond Cash: How Microloans in India Protect Families from Future Poverty

Research Matters Staff Writer(s) Mumbai 28 Aug 2026 In villages and towns across India, obtaining small, collateral-free loans has long been a vital lifeline for families navigating tight budgets.

  • Microloans in India without collateral support families with limited finances.
  • Microcredit reduces multidimensional poverty risks, especially in rural areas.
  • Group-based SHGs show stronger impact on reducing vulnerability compared to individual loans.
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