Author: admin

  • Fighting rages at Cambodia-Thailand border ahead of expected Trump call

    Fighting rages at Cambodia-Thailand border ahead of expected Trump call

    Renewed fighting raged at the border of Cambodia and Thailand on Thursday, with combat heard near centuries-old temples, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned phone call to the two nations’ leaders.

    At least 15 people, including Thai…

    Continue Reading

  • 2026 Cultural Moments: Can’t-Miss Moments for Brands

    2026 Cultural Moments: Can’t-Miss Moments for Brands

    “The region sits at the intersection of three powerful dynamics,” says Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel chief artistic officer and global director of fairs, noting the emergence of a culturally plugged-in audience among the region’s younger…

    Continue Reading

  • Why Big Tech is doubling down on investing in India

    Why Big Tech is doubling down on investing in India

    A slogan related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is displayed on a screen in Intel pavilion, during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 16, 2024. 

    Denis Balibouse | Reuters

    Big Tech is doubling down on investing billions in India, drawn by its abundance of resources for building data centers, a large talent and digital user pool, and market opportunity.

    In under 24 hours, Microsoft and Amazon pledged more than $50 billion toward India’s cloud and AI infrastructure, while Intel on Monday announced plans to make chips in the country to capitalize on its growing PC demand and speedy AI adoption.

    While India trails the U.S. and China in the race to develop a native AI foundational model, and lacks a large domestic AI infrastructure company, it wants to leverage its expertise in the information technology sector to create and deploy AI applications at enterprise level, also offering Big Tech companies a huge opportunity.

    Having a model or computing is not enough for any enterprise to use AI effectively, and it requires companies making application layer and a large talent pool to deploy them, S. Krishnan, secretary at India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, told CNBC.

    Stanford University ranks India among the top four countries along with the U.S., China and the UK in the global and national AI vibrancy ranking. GitHub, a community of developers, has ranked India at the top with the global share of 24% of all projects.

    India’s opportunity lies more in “developing applications” which will be used to drive revenues for AI companies, Krishnan said.

    On Tuesday, Microsoft announced $17.5 billion in investment in the country, spread over 4 years, aimed at expanding hyperscale infrastructure, embedding AI into national platforms, and advancing workforce readiness.

    “This scale of capex gives Microsoft first‑mover advantage in GPU‑rich data centers while making Azure the preferred platform for India’s AI workloads, as well as deepening alignment with the government’s AI public infrastructure push,” said Tarun Pathak, research Director at Counterpoint Research. 

    Amazon on Wednesday announced plans to invest over $35 billion, on top of the $40 billion it has already invested in the country.

    Over the past few months, AI and tech majors such as OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity have offered their tools for free to millions in India, with Google also firming up its plans to invest $15 billion toward building data center capacity for a new AI hub in southern India.

    “India combines a huge digital user base, rapidly growing cloud and AI demand, and a high-talent IT ecosystem that can build and consume AI at scale, making it more than just a market for users and instead a core engineering and deployment hub,” Pathak said.

    Data center opportunity

    India has several advantages when it comes to building data centers. Markets such as Japan, Australia, China and Singapore in the Asia Pacific region have matured. Singapore, one of the oldest data center hubs in the region, has limited room to deploy large-scale data centers due to land availability issues.

    India has abundant space for large-scale data center developments. When compared with data center hubs in Europe, power costs in India are relatively low. Coupled with India’s growing renewable energy capacity — critical for power-hungry data centers — and the economics begin to look compelling.

    Local demand, fueled by the rise of e-commerce — a major driver of data center growth in recent years — and potential new rules for storing social media data, strengthens the case.

    Put simply: India is entering a sweet spot where global cloud providers, AI players, and domestic digitalization all converge to create one of the world’s hottest data center markets.

    “India is a pivotal market and one of the fastest‑growing regions for AI spending in Asia Pacific,” said Deepika Giri, associate vice president and head of research, big data & AI, at International Data Corporation.

    “A major gap, and therefore a significant opportunity, lies in the shortage of suitable compute infrastructure for running AI models,” she added. Big Tech is looking to capitalize on the infrastructure opportunity in India by investing heavily in the cloud and data center space.

    Global companies are expanding capacities closer to service bases in IT cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune from traditional centers like Mumbai and Chennai which are closer to landing cables, as they build data centers in India for the world, Krishnan said.

    — CNBC’s Dylan Butts, Amitoj Singh contributed to this report. 

    Continue Reading

  • Pakistan says terrorism emanating from Afghan soil poses ‘gravest threat’ to national security, sovereignty – Dawn

    1. Pakistan says terrorism emanating from Afghan soil poses ‘gravest threat’ to national security, sovereignty  Dawn
    2. Pakistan warns Taliban of ‘defensive measures’ if Kabul fails to act against terrorists  Geo News
    3. Pakistan tells UN afghan-based…

    Continue Reading

  • US approves $686 million tech upgrade for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets: Report

    US approves $686 million tech upgrade for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets: Report

    The Trump administration has informed Congress of a USD 686 million proposal to upgrade Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets, triggering a 30-day review period and expected scrutiny from lawmakers, with India keeping a close watch, Pakistani media…

    Continue Reading

  • Stocks Slide as Oracle Spoils Mood After Fed Cut: Markets Wrap

    Stocks Slide as Oracle Spoils Mood After Fed Cut: Markets Wrap

    (Bloomberg) — A global equities rally spurred by the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cut evaporated as disappointing results from Oracle Corp. weighed on tech shares and focus turned to the US central bank’s outlook for further easing next year.

    Futures on Nasdaq 100 slumped more than 1.5%, while a selloff in technology stocks in Asia caused the regional equity gauge to reverse earlier gains. S&P 500 futures were down 0.8%. Shares of Oracle, whose fate is deeply tied to the artificial intelligence boom, plunged more than 10% in extended US trading after second-quarter cloud sales fell just short of analysts’ estimates. In a sign of waning risk appetite, Bitcoin lost more than 2%.

    The moves came after the S&P 500 rose 0.7% on Wednesday, ending just short of all-time highs, as the Fed cut rates for a third consecutive time and Chair Jerome Powell voiced optimism that the economy will strengthen as the inflationary impact from tariffs fades away. The result marked the first time since 2019 that three officials voted against a policy decision, with dissents on both ends of the policy spectrum. Officials maintained their outlook for a single cut in 2026.

    “While most of the focus was on the FOMC, a key risk for markets overnight was Oracle,” said Billy Leung, investment strategist at Global X Management. Its result was a key test for the AI infrastructure trade given Oracle’s role as a bellwether for hyperscale data center spending and has added to broader tech pressure, he said.

    Oracle reported a jump in spending on AI data centers and other equipment, rising outlays that are taking longer to translate into cloud revenue than investors wanted. Powered by an AI-driven rally, MSCI Inc.’s index of global stocks has surged about 20% this year and is on course for its best annual advance since 2019.

    A gauge of Asian technology stocks was down more than 1%, versus a 0.5% decline in the broader regional benchmark. Shares of SoftBank Group lost more than 8% in Tokyo.

    Traders in Asia were also assessing the impact of Mexican lawmakers’ final approval for new tariffs on the region’s imports. Also in focus was Thursday’s interest-rate decision in the Philippines, where the central bank is predicted to cut its key interest rate for a fifth straight meeting.

    In Japan, bonds gained after an auction of 20-year government debt drew its strongest demand since 2020. Yields across the curve have recently climbed to multi-year highs on renewed fiscal concerns as well as rising expectations for a Bank of Japan rate hike at its meeting next week.

    Elsewhere in markets, a gauge of the dollar edged higher after falling 0.4% on Wednesday. In commodities, oil prices were in focus after the US seized a sanctioned tanker off Venezuela, deterring more shipments from the South American producer and raising the risk of a conflict.

    ‘Fairly Choppy’

    US Treasuries rallied on Wednesday, with the policy-sensitive two-year yield sliding eight basis points, as the Fed’s quarter-point rate reduction was accompanied by the authorization of fresh Treasury bill purchases to rebuild bank reserves. The yield fell one more basis point on Thursday.

    The 10-year yield, which dropped around four basis points in the previous session, was two basis points lower on Thursday. The declines have stalled a prior run up in yields that had driven one global gauge to its highest since 2009.

    Powell pushed through the quarter percentage point cut not only over the objection of a few voters. A much larger group of regional Fed bank presidents who participated in the debate but weren’t among this year’s voting roster also signaled they opposed the cut.

    The fractures could foreshadow what’s to come in 2026, when a new chair may struggle even more than Powell to marshal consensus at the Fed.

    The Fed chair suggested the central bank had now acted sufficiently to help stabilize the labor market while leaving rates high enough to continue weighing on price pressures. He also underscored the importance of upcoming economic reports while advising caution on assessing household jobs readouts, given technical distortions after a government shutdown caused a data blackout.

    Nick Twidale, chief analyst at AT Global Markets in Sydney, said he is “hesitant” on how much momentum the Fed’s cut will bring to global markets.

    “The forward guidance was probably less dovish than most investors were hoping for,” he said. “We may see some fairly choppy markets in the sessions ahead as the market digests what Jerome Powell had to say.”

    Corporate News

    Private equity firm TPG Inc. is considering options for APM Monaco, including a possible stake sale or an initial public offering of the jeweler, according to people familiar with the matter. SK Hynix Inc. fell after South Korea’s main bourse issued a higher-level warning on investing in the stock following strong gains sparked by expectations of a listing in New York. Investment banks are on track to take home their smallest slice of underwriting fees from Hong Kong listings in years, even as share sales in the city have staged a blistering rebound. President Donald Trump signaled he’ll oppose a Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. deal that doesn’t include new ownership of CNN, a potential wrinkle for the bid from Netflix Inc. Shares of Jingdong Industrials Inc., the supply-chain unit of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc., fell in their Hong Kong trading debut after a HK$2.98 billion ($383 million) initial public offering. Japan’s stock market is witnessing a record wave of large private transactions known as block trades, stemming from companies reducing cross-shareholdings to improve corporate governance. Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has relied on Nvidia Corp. chips that are banned in the country to develop an upcoming AI model, according to a new report in The Information. Coca-Cola Co. said Chief Executive Officer James Quincey is stepping down and will be replaced at the end of March by Henrique Braun, the company’s chief operating officer. Some of the main moves in markets:

    Stocks

    S&P 500 futures fell 0.8% as of 2:16 p.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix fell 0.7% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed The Shanghai Composite fell 0.6% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1% Currencies

    The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% The euro was little changed at $1.1690 The Japanese yen was little changed at 155.91 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0611 per dollar The Australian dollar fell 0.6% to $0.6637 Cryptocurrencies

    Bitcoin fell 2.4% to $90,140.14 Ether fell 4.3% to $3,197.85 Bonds

    The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.12% Japan’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 1.925% Australia’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 4.72% Commodities

    West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold fell 0.4% to $4,212.65 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

    –With assistance from Richard Henderson.

    ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

    Continue Reading

  • Cancer surgeon says ‘blood in stool isn’t always piles’, warns of these 6 signs of colorectal cancer | Health – Hindustan Times

    1. Cancer surgeon says ‘blood in stool isn’t always piles’, warns of these 6 signs of colorectal cancer | Health  Hindustan Times
    2. Colon cancer skin signs: 5 warning symptoms, prevention tips, and when to seek help  Times of India

    Continue Reading

  • Examining hidden risks of cannabis use among older adults

    Examining hidden risks of cannabis use among older adults

    Jerry H. Gurwitz, MD’83 
    Photo: Faith Ninivaggi

    Cannabis use is rising among older adults, fueled by expanded legalization and people increasingly turning to cannabinoid-containing products to manage pain, sleep problems and…

    Continue Reading

  • Application call 2026 – Announcements

    Application call 2026 – Announcements

    Application call 2026
    December 1, 2025–January 15, 2026, 11:59pm

    De Ateliers

    Stadhouderskade 86
    Amsterdam

    1073 AT

    Netherlands

    Hours: Monday–Friday

    Continue Reading

  • Policy levers to support viability and increase sustainable finance – United Nations Environment – Finance Initiative

    Policy levers to support viability and increase sustainable finance – United Nations Environment – Finance Initiative

    In this new policy brief, UNEP FI and the European Banking Federation (EBF) share seven potential policy levers to help strengthen the investment case for the EU chemical sector and help it attract finance for its sustainable transition.

    The brief discusses the sector’s market and decarbonization challenges and how new policy packages anchored in the European Green Deal—including the 2025 EU Chemicals Industry Package and the 2025 Clean Industrial Deal (CID), supported by the Industrial Decarbonization Bank—present opportunities by aiming to create the policy certainty and financing tools needed for large-scale sectoral transformation.

    This is the first in a new EU sectoral policy brief series developed by UNEP FI and EBF, intended to strengthen the connection between financial institutions, policymakers, and the real economy.

    Continue Reading