Category: 3. Business

  • Air India Seeks $1.1 Billion Lifeline From Tata, SIA After Crash – Bloomberg.com

    Air India Seeks $1.1 Billion Lifeline From Tata, SIA After Crash – Bloomberg.com

    1. Air India Seeks $1.1 Billion Lifeline From Tata, SIA After Crash  Bloomberg.com
    2. Air India Seeks About Rs 10,000 Crore Financial Support From Owners: Report  Zee News
    3. Air India seeks Rs 10,000 crore lifeline from Tata, Singapore Airlines after crash: Report  India Today
    4. Air India in Turbulence: The ‘Maharaja’ Needs Rs 10,000 Crore to Stay in the Sky — Report  Times Now
    5. Ahmedabad crash: Air India seeks Rs 10,000 crore lifeline from shareholders  The New Indian Express

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  • PIA secures EU cargo license renewal

    PIA secures EU cargo license renewal

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    KARACHI:

    The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has successfully passed the European Union’s cargo audit, marking a highly positive development for Pakistan’s aviation industry.

    The audit was carried out by OGADA, the organization responsible for inspecting and validating cargo operations in the European Union.

    The OGADA validation team carried out audits at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports.

    Following the successful completion of the audit, it renewed PIA’s cargo license.

    The EU officially issued the updated license and formally informed PIA CEO Amir Hayat and the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the development.

    With the renewal of this cargo license, PIA can now transport cargo on its passenger flights to the UK and Europe. The CAA’s director of aviation security led coordination efforts and ensured full cooperation with the EU audit team throughout the process.

    PIA had already been granted a cargo license for the UK prior to this, and the EU cargo auditors have now extended PIA’s license until 2028.

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  • Japan Awaits Two-Year Bond Auction After BOJ’s Cautious Tone

    Japan Awaits Two-Year Bond Auction After BOJ’s Cautious Tone

    Japan’s bond market heads into a sale of policy-sensitive two-year notes Friday on a somewhat stronger footing on speculation the Bank of Japan isn’t rushing into the next rate increase.

    The auction comes 24 hours after the BOJ’s first policy decision Thursday under a new government led by Sanae Takaichi, who’s seen as an advocate of relatively low rates. Governor Kazuo Ueda gave few hints about the next rate hike after the BOJ stood pat on policy, saying that the central bank isn’t falling behind the curve in the fight against inflation.

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  • Apple claims ‘tremendous’ global uptake of latest iPhones

    Apple claims ‘tremendous’ global uptake of latest iPhones

    Danielle KayeBusiness reporter

    Reuters A man holds an iPhone with a crowd of people behind him.Reuters

    Apple boss Tim Cook holds an iPhone 17 pro and an iPhone Air, as Apple holds an event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, US September 9, 2025.

    The latest iPhones have seen “a tremendous response” across the globe, said Apple boss Tim Cook as the tech giant released its latest financial results.

    The firm unveiled its thinnest iPhone, the Air, in September, along with upgraded iPhone 17 models, proving a bumper crop for the firm.

    It said it expects the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s period to be a blockbuster, forecasting overall revenue to be up to 12% higher than the same period last year.

    But Apple narrowly missed estimates for iPhone sales in its fourth quarter that ended in September, which boss Tim Cook blamed on supply constraints for several iPhone models along with a lag in shipments to China.

    Despite that, during a call with analysts Mr Cook said Apple is heading into the holiday season “with our most powerful lineup ever”.

    The iPhone Air helped entice customers and boost sales.

    If the company meets its sales forecast for the holiday season, it would be Apple’s “best quarter ever”, chief financial officer Kevan Parekh told analysts on Thursday.

    Apple reported overall fourth quarter revenue of $102.5bn (£77bn), topping analysts’ estimates and representing an 8% increase from the previous year. But iPhone revenue, specifically, came in slightly below expectations at $49bn (£37bn).

    Mr Cook stressed that global demand for iPhone 16 and 17 models has been robust, despite constraints that led to the sales miss in the recent quarter.

    “We’re not predicting when the supply and demand will balance,” Mr Cook said. “We’re obviously working very hard to achieve that, because we want to get as many of these products out to customers as possible.”

    In the Chinese market, he said he “couldn’t be more pleased with how things are going”, citing strong reception to the new iPhone 17.

    Data from Counterpoint, a technology market research firm, showed that the first 10 days of iPhone 17 sales in the US and China were up 14% compared with sales of the iPhone 16.

    The effects of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs also remain top of mind for Apple’s investors. It manufactures many iPhones in China and its global supply chain leaves it vulnerable to trade wars – though a recent meeting between Trump and President Xi raised hopes for a de-escalation of tensions.

    Mr Cook on Thursday told analysts that the company took at $1.1bn (£836m) hit from tariffs in the recently ended quarter. He said the hit will likely amount to another $1.4bn in the holiday quarter as Trump imposes taxes on those whom he sees as “unfavourable” to the US economy.

    Amazon, which also reported quarterly results on Thursday, projected sales to land between $206bn (£156bn) and $213bn (£161bn) for the current quarter through December, largely in line with analysts’ expectations.

    “We’re encouraged by the start of the peak season,” Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, told analysts.

    Amazon also said that revenue from Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud computing business, rose 20% in the third quarter from the previous year – its fastest pace since 2022.

    For investors, that AI-driven growth could come as a reassurance, as Apple faces fierce competition in the race to dominate the AI boom.

    Apple’s stock has lagged behind that of rivals Microsoft and Alphabet, both of whom on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to spending big on the technology. Those firms have reported even faster growth than Amazon in their cloud computing businesses.

    “We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity,” Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, said in a statement.

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  • Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P Live Updates for Oct. 31

    Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P Live Updates for Oct. 31

    Asian equities climbed close to their record and US equity-index futures advanced as strong earnings from Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. lifted sentiment after a brief pause in the global stock rally.

    MSCI’s regional stocks index climbed 0.6% at the open, with Japanese shares leading the charge. Apple shares rose in late trading after the company beat revenue estimates and offered a bullish holiday forecast. Amazon surged 13% in extended trading after reporting its fastest cloud unit growth in nearly three years.

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  • Saudi Arabia scales AI ambitions amid infrastructure realities

    Saudi Arabia scales AI ambitions amid infrastructure realities

    RIYADH: As global powers accelerate artificial intelligence investments, Saudi Arabia is confronting a defining moment in realizing its digital transformation ambitions.

    Through Vision 2030, the Kingdom has made foundational investments in sovereign cloud infrastructure, high-performance computing, and international partnerships, positioning itself as a regional AI frontrunner.

    However, industry experts caution that translating these ambitions into nationwide impact requires addressing three core challenges: modernizing legacy hardware systems, creating unified data architectures, and cultivating specialized compute talent.

    The central question remains: Does Saudi Arabia possess the infrastructure needed to deliver AI at visionary scale?

    Fadi Kanafani, general manager for SoftServe in the Middle East, said the Kingdom’s progress is already tangible. “Saudi is beyond the announcement stage; now we have action on the ground,” he told Arab News.

    Fadi Kanafani, general manager for SoftServe in the Middle East. (Supplied)

    Kanafani cited Humain’s AI-driven public service automation and AdopTech’s industrial sandboxes for manufacturing innovation as examples of execution beyond strategy. He also noted Aramco Digital’s alliances with hardware pioneers such as Groq — known for ultra-low latency inference engines — and Cerebras, a leader in wafer-scale computing, as evidence of cutting-edge capacity being embedded directly into the national ecosystem.

    Global cloud providers are amplifying this momentum through substantial infrastructure commitments. Oracle’s second Riyadh region enhances sovereign data capabilities for government entities, while Amazon Web Services’ upcoming 2026 regional hub marks one of the Middle East’s largest cloud investments, Kanafani said.

    At the academic front, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure have launched AI innovation labs at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, while Salesforce’s decision to base its regional headquarters in Riyadh signals growing international confidence in the Kingdom’s digital roadmap.

    Suhail Hasanain, NetApp’s senior director for the Middle East and Africa, echoed that alignment.


    Suhail Hasanain, senior director for NetAppfor the Middle East and Africa. (Supplied)

    “Saudi Arabia has made remarkable progress in establishing foundations for AI-driven transformation,” he said. “Vision 2030’s prioritization of data sovereignty and advanced compute resources embeds artificial intelligence at the heart of national development — from Neom’s cognitive city ambitions to the National Data Bank’s unified information architecture.”

    Legacy systems and talent gaps

    Despite robust infrastructure growth, large-scale enterprise adoption still faces operational barriers. Outdated financial systems, fragmented electronic health records, and siloed industrial datasets continue to constrain AI’s full potential.

    Kanafani pointed to these friction points: “Most organizations remain anchored to legacy systems fundamentally incompatible with AI’s data requirements. Critical information exists in disconnected silos — patient records isolated from diagnostic AI tools, equipment maintenance logs separated from supply chain optimization algorithms.”

    Regulatory complexity compounds the challenge. “Governance frameworks vary significantly across healthcare, financial services, and critical infrastructure sectors, creating compliance uncertainty during scaling,” Kanafani added.

    Hasanain stressed the human capital dimension. “Beyond physical infrastructure, we confront a severe shortage of specialized talent — data engineers capable of curating trusted datasets, machine learning operations specialists to productionize models, and AI governance experts to ensure ethical deployment.”

    He outlined three pillars for closing these gaps: establishing benchmark datasets, building hybrid systems that balance performance with sovereignty, and developing comprehensive workforce pipelines to operationalize AI across sectors.

    From pilots to real-world impact

    Across energy, healthcare, and logistics, real-world applications are already demonstrating AI’s potential when aligned with national priorities.

    In energy, Aramco uses predictive maintenance algorithms to anticipate equipment failures before they disrupt operations. In healthcare, institutions like King Faisal Specialist Hospital leverage computer vision tools for faster, more accurate medical imaging analysis. Meanwhile, Neom’s Oxagon industrial zone applies digital twin technology to simulate logistics before implementation.


    Aramco’s AI hub,  where predictive maintenance algorithms are used to anticipate equipment failures before they disrupt operations. (Aramco photo)

    NetApp underpins such innovations through adaptable infrastructure solutions. “We empower organizations to orchestrate AI workloads seamlessly across sovereign cloud environments like STC’s and global hyperscalers like Microsoft Azure,” Hasanain explained.

    He added: “For a major Riyadh-based financial institution, we integrated transaction data across 200 branches into a unified real-time fraud detection platform — significantly enhancing security while reducing operational costs.”

    SoftServe, meanwhile, applies a co-creation model. “We partner deeply with Saudi organizations to build purpose-driven solutions,” Kanafani said.

    “For a Tabuk agricultural enterprise, we developed a custom AI model that optimizes irrigation by synthesizing satellite imagery, soil moisture sensors, and weather pattern analysis – delivering measurable water conservation outcomes.”

    Kanafani emphasized that organizational culture must evolve alongside technology. Their approach embeds change management from the outset, ensuring readiness for transformation.


    Accelerated by NVIDIA AI Blueprints, SoftServe Gen AI Industrial Assistant streamlines the navigation of equipment manuals, speeds up troubleshooting, and simplifies maintenance tasks. (Softserve photo) 

    Balancing sovereignty and collaboration

    The interplay between national priorities and international innovation continues to define Saudi Arabia’s AI journey.
    “Data sovereignty remains non-negotiable for sensitive applications in national security, central banking, and citizen services,” Hasanain said. “Yet strategic collaborations with global technology leaders accelerate capability development – such as deploying NVIDIA’s advanced DGX systems while simultaneously training Saudi engineers to manage them locally.”

    Kanafani pointed to hybrid models gaining traction: “Leading Saudi manufacturers increasingly adopt blended architectures — maintaining proprietary process data on localized secure servers while leveraging global cloud scalability for supply chain optimization and market intelligence applications. This harmonizes control with flexibility.”

    As Saudi Arabia develops national AI ethics guidelines, Kanafani underscored proactive design: “Responsible innovation requires embedding bias detection and algorithmic transparency mechanisms directly into AI systems during development — not attempting remediation after deployment reveals ethical shortcomings.”


    Saudi Arabia launched the Principles of AI Ethics developed by #SDAIA during the #GlobalAISummit in September 2022. (X: @globalaisummit)

    Building the AI workforce

    The Kingdom’s Future Skills initiative aims to train 20,000 AI specialists by 2030 through academic partnerships and hands-on industry experience.

    Hasanain noted the importance of integrating learning with real-world exposure. “Oracle’s developer academies provide vital theoretical foundations, but sustainable capability requires integrating graduates into real-world industry projects where they confront practical scaling challenges.”

    Still, both experts warn that success will hinge on disciplined execution. “Underestimating cybersecurity requirements or data governance complexity undermines even the most sophisticated AI initiatives,” Kanafani cautioned.


    Launch of the Future Skills Initiative as part of the Saudi-British Strategic Partnership Council and coinciding with the Human Capability Initiative Conference last April. (SPA)

    As the global race for AI infrastructure intensifies, Saudi Arabia’s investments have positioned it to translate ambition into regional leadership. Yet, as Hasanain noted, sustaining momentum will require operational focus.
    “Our trajectory is clear, but achieving scalable impact demands relentless focus on data accessibility and talent density — transforming pilot potential into nationwide transformation.”

    Kanafani concluded with a vision of distinction: “The Kingdom’s unique opportunity lies in synthesizing global technological excellence, local problem-solving ingenuity, and deeply rooted ethical traditions. This fusion could position Saudi Arabia as the world’s first values-led AI superpower — where technological leadership serves societal advancement.”
     

     

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  • Grade 16 officer’s flat in DHA robbed

    Grade 16 officer’s flat in DHA robbed


    KARACHI:

    Armed robbers looted over Rs20 million in cash, gold, and valuables from the flat of Keamari Muktiarkar Gada Hussain Abro, a Grade-16 government officer, in DHA Phase 6 on October 27.

    According to Darakhshan police SHO Shahid Taj, the robbery was allegedly orchestrated by Abro’s domestic servant, Adnan Malik, who has been arrested, while his two accomplices remain at large.

    “Around 2:30pm, my wife called to inform me that armed men had entered our home and looted valuables,” Abro stated in his FIR.

    He said two unidentified men knocked on the door, which was opened by the servant Adnan, allowing the robbers inside. They confined the family in one room and looted Rs15 million in cash, an iPhone 13 Pro Max, another touchscreen mobile phone, gold jewelry including two rings, three chains, a gold necklace set, a laptop, and a tablet – items collectively worth around Rs8 million.

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  • Nektar Therapeutics to Participate in the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in London

    Nektar Therapeutics to Participate in the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in London

    SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) today announced that company management will be webcasting its participation in the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference being held November 17-20, 2025 in London.

    • Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in London on Thursday, November 20, 2025 – webcast to be available at 11:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time / 3:00 a.m. Pacific Time – link here

    The fireside chat will be accessible via the webcast link above as well as on the Investor Events section of the Nektar website: https://ir.nektar.com/events-and-presentations/events. A replay of the presentation will be available for 30 days.

    If you would like to request a one-on-one meeting with company management during the conference, please reach out to your Jefferies representative.

    About Nektar Therapeutics

    Nektar Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing treatments that address the underlying immunological dysfunction in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases. Nektar’s lead product candidate, rezpegaldesleukin (REZPEG, or NKTR-358), is a novel, first-in-class regulatory T cell stimulator being evaluated in two Phase 2b clinical trials, one in atopic dermatitis, one in alopecia areata, and in one Phase 2 clinical trial in Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Nektar’s pipeline also includes a preclinical bivalent tumor necrosis factor receptor type II (TNFR2) antibody and bispecific programs, NKTR-0165 and NKTR-0166, and a modified hematopoietic colony stimulating factor (CSF) protein, NKTR-422. Nektar, together with various partners, is also evaluating NKTR-255, an investigational IL-15 receptor agonist designed to boost the immune system’s natural ability to fight cancer, in several ongoing clinical trials.

    Nektar is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For further information, visit http://www.nektar.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

    Contact:

    For Investors:

    Vivian Wu of Nektar Therapeutics
    628-895-0661

    For Media:

    Jonathan Pappas
    LifeSci Communications
    857-205-4403
    [email protected] 

    SOURCE Nektar Therapeutics

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  • Omnicom and Interpublic Announce Extension of Exchange Offers in Connection with Expected Merger Closing

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  • A&O Shearman advises Celanese on USD 500 million divestiture of Micromax to Element Solutions Inc

    A&O Shearman advises Celanese on USD 500 million divestiture of Micromax to Element Solutions Inc

    The sale supports Celanese’s strategic priorities, including deleveraging its balance sheet and focusing on core growth areas.

    The Micromax portfolio comprises advanced electronic inks and pastes used in high performance electronics across applications such as navigation and defense, medical monitoring, and advanced circuit board components. The portfolio includes conductive, resistive, and dielectric thick film inks, as well as Low Temperature Co fired Ceramic (LTCC) materials for multilayer circuits.

    The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.

    “This transaction underscores our strength in executing complex, cross border divestitures,” said M&A partner, Romain Dambre. “We are pleased to support Celanese on a strategic portfolio action that advances its priorities and positions Micromax for continued success under new ownership.”

    The A&O Shearman team that advised Celanese was led by M&A partner, Romain Dambre and associates Iqra Anees, Lucy Chen, and Becca Scher in New York.

    Tax advice was provided by partner Ryan Bray in Dallas, and associate Brandon Fawbush in Washington D.C. Antitrust advice was provided by partner Noah Brumfield and associate Nick Putz in Washington D.C. Employment advice was provided by compensation, employment, pensions and governance (CEPG) partners Doreen Lilienfeld and Melisa Brower and associates Alexandra Sentner and Thomas Blecher in New York. Intellectual property advice was provided by partner JB Betker and associate Will Jackson in New York.

    The multidisciplinary deal team was also supported by A&O Shearman teams across nine jurisdictions, including U.S., UK, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, and Singapore.  

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