Category: 3. Business

Insider Brief

• Forward Edge-AI, Inc. announced that its Isidore Quantum® encryption platform has achieved FIPS 140-3 compliance, enabling access to federal and commercial contracts.
• Isidore Quantum® is an all-domain quantum-resistant encryption solution validated across air, land, sea, and space, built on NSA frameworks with patented AI enhancements, and authorized for export under ITAR and EAR exemptions.
• The platform has been field-tested with U.S. military branches and deployed on a SpaceX mission, with over $700 million in pipeline demand for applications in government, defense, and private sectors.

PRESS RELEASE — Forward Edge-AI, Inc. proudly announces that its flagship encryption platform, Isidore Quantum^®, has achieved FIPS 140-3 compliance, unlocking access to federal and commercial contracts and positioning the company as a first mover in the $1.2 trillion post-quantum encryption market.

FIPS 140-3, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) most rigorous encryption certification, is the de facto global benchmark for cryptographic module security. With this certification, Isidore becomes the only all-domain quantum-resistant encryption solution tested and validated across air, land, sea, and space, and authorized for export under ITAR and EAR exemptions.

Isidore’s architecture is built on NSA-developed cryptographic frameworks and enhanced with Forward Edge-AI’s patented innovations, including real-time machine learning. The solution combines Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA) Suite 2.0 compliance with zero-trust, AI-enhanced encryption—eliminating legacy PKI, key management infrastructure, and human error.

Field-tested with the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, and Space Force, Isidore was recently deployed aboard Rogue Space’s Barry CubeSat on SpaceX’s Transporter-13 mission—demonstrating the first encryption module of its kind to reach low-Earth orbit.

The FIPS 140-3 certification positions Isidore Quantum^® as a procurement-ready solution for government, defense, and private sector entities racing to meet NSA and White House post-quantum mandates. With over $700 million in pipeline demand and authorized export status, Forward Edge-AI is uniquely positioned to lead global adoption across SCADA, telecom, aerospace, and finance.

Failure to act swiftly on post-quantum security is no longer a strategic delay—it’s an existential liability. Delays could result in catastrophic breaches, permanent data loss, and irreversible exposure to quantum-enabled adversaries. The industry must heed the warning: Q-Day is coming. The time to act was yesterday.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is expected to trigger a review of the auto-enrolment pension scheme next week in a move that could ultimately force employers to raise their contributions to staff retirement pots.

The announcement could come as early as Monday, forming a key part of the Labour government’s pensions review, industry sources told the Guardian.

It is expected to be one of a raft of changes outlined in Reeves’ Mansion House speech, which will detail the government’s financial services strategy to City bosses on Tuesday evening.

The review, led by the Department for Work and Pensions, will explore raising auto-enrolment contributions from the current level of 8% of worker earnings, with employees currently paying in 5% and the employer adding 3%. The consultation was put on hold last year amid concerns that it would upset businesses already reeling from a rise in employer national insurance contributions announced in Reeves’ autumn budget.

It is not yet clear what level the government is leaning towards as a new minimum, but leading pension providers have long called for the figure to be raised to 12%, suggesting that the increase takes place gradually over a number of years.

The review will be formally launched before parliament rises for summer recess on 22 July.

The auto-enrolment scheme, which was originally launched in 2012, forced employers to enrol employees automatically into a pension and contribute to their retirement funds. It was meant to make sure that everyone, whether they work for a supermarket or a corner shop, has a private pension to add to their state pension.

However, there are growing concerns that the pension contributions are not high enough to support people through retirement, creating a “ticking timebomb” where retirees will have to turn to state support and care in their old age.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) this week cited inadequate pensions saving as one risk factor for the public finances in the coming decades.

“Recent studies suggest a significant proportion of the population may not be saving enough through private pensions to achieve an ‘adequate’ retirement income,” the OBR warned – suggesting that could mean more people relying on the state pension and means-tested benefits.

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A government spokesperson said: “We cannot pre-empt the outcome of the review, with no decision being taken relating to pension contributions.

“We’re reforming the pensions market to drive economic growth, ensure greater security in retirement and put more money in people’s pockets.”

They added: “Our pension schemes bill will make pension pots work harder for savers, and our forthcoming pensions review will explore how we can take this even further to give hardworking people the retirement they deserve. And thanks to our commitment to the triple lock, millions will see their state pension rise by £1,900.”

TLDR:Dubai is opening WOOHOO, the first restaurant run by an AI chef.Chef Aiman, an AI created by UMAI, designs the menu, atmosphere, and service.While humans cook, Chef Aiman invents recipes using smart ingredient combos and cuts waste.Artificial intelligence is becoming part of many areas in the Arab world. It’s in education, banking, and even helping people manage money. Now, AI is stepping into a new place: the kitchen.Dubai is set to open a restaurant called WOOHOO, where the kitchen is guided by an AI chef. It’s the first in the world to do this. The restaurant will be near the Burj Khalifa, one of the most famous landmarks.Here’s the catch: humans still cook the food. But everything else, from what’s on the menu to the music and even the way servers act, will be created by Chef Aiman, an AI developed by UMAI.

Meet Chef Aiman:

Chef Aiman is not your usual kitchen helper. It’s an AI designed to work alongside human chefs. Its job is to help come up with recipes, suggest ingredients, and make sure dishes are balanced and precise.The name Aiman comes from “AI” and “man,” hinting at a blend of technology and human creativity. The AI has been trained on thousands of recipes from all over the world. It also knows a lot about food science and how ingredients work together on a molecular level.Instead of guessing, Chef Aiman breaks down food into smaller parts like texture, acidity, and umami, the savory flavor we all know. It then mixes and matches these to find new and interesting flavor combinations.

What Sets Chef Aiman Apart?

Unlike a real chef, Chef Aiman can’t taste or smell the food it makes. It doesn’t have senses like humans do. But it has something else: a huge database of food science and recipes.Because of this, it can spot combinations people might miss. For example, it looks for ways to reuse food that usually gets thrown away, like meat scraps or fat, to reduce waste. This makes the kitchen more sustainable.This focus on using all parts of ingredients is rare in restaurants. It’s a smart way to cut down on food waste while creating new dishes.

How Chef Aiman Actually Works

Chef Aiman isn’t just a tool that sends over recipes. It’s interactive. Human chefs can actually talk to it, ask questions, and get real-time feedback.One chef described it like a conversation. In a video, a chef was seen saying, “I was talking to AI-man,” as he scribbled notes while the AI guided him through steps and ingredients. This back-and-forth is a big part of how it works. The AI helps chefs build menus, tweak dishes, and plan the entire cooking process.

What to Expect at WOOHOO Restaurant

WOOHOO calls itself “dining in the future.” It plans to open its doors in September 2025 in central Dubai, close to the Burj Khalifa.The menu will feature international dishes with a touch of Asian flavors. But the real story is how it blends AI’s precise insights with human creativity. Dishes will change with the seasons, cultural influences, and even moods, something Chef Aiman can adjust for by analyzing data.The restaurant’s design and service will also reflect AI input, creating a dining experience unlike any other.

AI’s Growing Role in Food and Beverage

Chef Aiman isn’t just a silent helper in the kitchen. It’s becoming a voice in the food world. It appears on podcasts, talking about how AI can understand taste, the ethics of cooking, and what the future of food might look like.Most AI in restaurants works behind the scenes, handling orders or customer questions. Chef Aiman is different. It’s front and center, creating and guiding what people eat.With its ability to learn from global data, Chef Aiman can adjust dishes based on what’s fresh, what’s culturally relevant, and even how people feel. This is a new way AI and cooking come together.

FAQs

No. Humans still prepare and cook all the meals. Chef Aiman helps design the recipes and guides the kitchen staff.

No. It doesn’t have senses. It works by analyzing data about ingredients and flavors.

It will open in September 2025, in the center of Dubai, near the Burj Khalifa.

COPENHAGEN: Adopting a rather unusual way to bring delicious dishes to the foodies out there, Danish chef Morten Kryger Wulff is using custom-built bicycle-turned-portable kitchen to put out tantalising, original recipes.

The 56-year-old chef, a veteran of prestigious kitchens across Europe, got the idea more than two decades ago to take his cooking to the great outdoors, leading customers on a gastronomic bike ride through Copenhagen — with delectable food served at every stop.

On a sunny weekday in July, grilled seaweed, dill cream, bean fricassee, Nordic pizza, and blackcurrant ice cream were on the menu for the ride from the Danish capital’s harbour to the Amager Nature Park.

“This is as close as I can come to nature, cooking-wise, in a chef way,” said Wulff.

The tour lasts about four hours total, covering three to five kilometres (around two to three miles). It is broken into bike rides of about 15 minutes each, in between which the chef gets off his bike, unfolds his table and starts cooking.

“You take away the walls of a traditional restaurant and you expose yourself to the city and to the elements you’re in,” he told AFP.

In his cargo bike — a contraption he designed himself, measuring over two metres (six feet seven inches) long and weighing 130 kilogrammes (287 pounds) — he brings everything he needs: a foldable work surface, a refrigerator, a gas burner and all his ingredients.

“It is impressive to watch him cook from that small kitchen, to see how compressed everything is,” said Pernille Martensson, a Copenhagen local who joined the tour with her husband to celebrate his birthday.

The route is “part of the menu”, said Wulff.

“For example, the dish with fish or shellfish or seaweed is typically served by the channels,” he said.

On the docks, he sautes shrimp before serving them in shells.

As Wulff and his group gradually move away from Copenhagen’s city centre, the chef — who has worked at The Savoy hotel in London and Geneva’s InterContinental — shares stories about the city and the project.

It all began in 2002, when he was kicked out of a municipal park for trying to have a barbecue with friends, and decided to start cooking outdoors legally.

Bicycle as most sensible vehicle

Wulff takes an ecologically gentle approach.

“The food we get for these tours is, of course, all harvested and bought locally,” he said, adding that even the wines come from around Copenhagen.

“Bicycle, it’s the most sensible vehicle, the smartest vehicle. It does not use any energy. You can have a battery, but it’s pedal-powered,” he said.

The mobile approach to dining means he and his customers “meet the city, we meet the locals”, he said.

The self-proclaimed “bicycle chef” said he is “very passionate about cargo bikes and what they can do”.

He frequently participates in the Danish cargo bike championships, an unconventional competition held annually in Copenhagen.

In 2016, he was named courier of the year.

The award committee said he had “demonstrated the many possibilities of the cargo bike with his mobile kitchen project”.

Bicycle-loving Copenhagen has over 385 kilometres (239 miles) of bike lanes, the oldest dating back to 1892.

LAHORE – Toyota Indus Motor Company (IMC) has announced an increase in the prices of multiple models in Pakistan, effective immediately, following the imposition of the new tax in budget for fiscal year 2025-26.

The increase impacts a wide range of variants including Yaris, Corolla Altis, Hilux, Fortuner, and Corolla Cross.

Below are the updated prices and differences for each variant.

Toyota Yaris New Price

The popular Yaris lineup has seen moderate price revisions:

GLI MT 1.3: Increased from Rs. 4,479,000 to Rs. 4,649,000 (Difference: Rs. 170,000)

ATIV MT 1.3: Rs. 4,730,000 to Rs. 4,829,000 (Difference: Rs. 99,000)

GLI CVT 1.3: Rs. 4,760,000 to Rs. 4,809,000 (Difference: Rs. 49,000)

ATIV CVT 1.3: Rs. 5,604,000 to Rs. 5,719,000 (Difference: Rs. 115,000)

ATIV X CVT 1.5 Beige Interior: Rs. 6,255,000 to Rs. 6,389,000 (Difference: Rs. 134,000)

ATIV X CVT 1.5 Black Interior: Rs. 6,319,000 to Rs. 6,449,000 (Difference: Rs. 130,000)

Toyota Corolla Altis Rates

Toyota Corolla Altis variants have also undergone price adjustments:

X Manual 1.6: From Rs. 5,969,000 to Rs. 6,099,000 (Difference: Rs. 130,000)

1.6 X CVT-i: From Rs. 6,559,000 to Rs. 6,699,000 (Difference: Rs. 140,000)

1.6 X CVT-i Special Edition: Rs. 7,189,000 to Rs. 7,339,000 (Difference: Rs. 150,000)

Altis X CVT-i 1.8: Rs. 6,889,000 to Rs. 7,029,000 (Difference: Rs. 140,000)

Grande X CVT-i 1.8 Beige Interior: Rs. 7,509,000 to Rs. 7,669,000 (Difference: Rs. 160,000)

Grande X CVT-i 1.8 Black Interior: Rs. 7,549,000 to Rs. 7,709,000 (Difference: Rs. 160,000)

Toyota Hilux New Prices

The Hilux pickup truck series has witnessed considerable jumps in prices:

Hilux E: Increased from Rs. 11,039,000 to Rs. 11,379,000 (Difference: Rs. 340,000)

Revo G 2.8: Rs. 11,959,000 to Rs. 12,329,000 (Difference: Rs. 370,000)

Revo G Automatic 2.8: Rs. 12,549,000 to Rs. 12,939,000 (Difference: Rs. 390,000)

Revo V Automatic 2.8: Rs. 13,849,000 to Rs. 14,279,000 (Difference: Rs. 430,000)

Revo Rocco: Rs. 14,419,000 to Rs. 14,869,000 (Difference: Rs. 450,000)

Revo GR-S: Rs. 15,359,000 to Rs. 15,839,000 (Difference: Rs. 480,000)

Toyota Fortuner Prices

The Fortuner SUV has faced the steepest increases:

2.7 G: From Rs. 14,499,000 to Rs. 14,939,000 (Difference: Rs. 440,000)

2.7 V: Rs. 16,999,000 to Rs. 17,509,000 (Difference: Rs. 510,000)

2.8 Sigma 4: Rs. 17,999,000 to Rs. 18,539,000 (Difference: Rs. 540,000)

Legender: Rs. 18,999,000 to Rs. 19,569,000 (Difference: Rs. 570,000)

GR-S: Rs. 19,899,000 to Rs. 20,499,000 (Difference: Rs. 600,000)

Toyota Corolla Cross Prices Unchanged

Unlike other models, the Corolla Cross has seen no price update as of yet:

1.8: Rs. 7,849,000

1.8 X: Rs. 8,499,000

1.8 HEV X: Rs. 9,449,000

1.8 HEV: Rs. 8,999,000

With price hikes across nearly all major Toyota models, consumers may now face higher financial commitments when purchasing new vehicles.

Sri Hatiningsih, a Credit Administration Staff member at Rural Bank (BPR) Artha Huda Abadi (AHA), is diligently reviewing and processing credit applications from BPR AHA’s clients. Based in Pati, Central Java, the bank primarily supports local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Now, she completes her evaluations and finalizes credit approvals within minutes. 

“It used to take me at least 30 minutes to process each client. Now, I need only five,” Sri explained, emphasizing the speed and efficiency made possible by recent upgrades to BPR AHA’s core banking system (CBS).

Since late 2024, BPR AHA has received technical support to upgrade CBS from the ILO’s Promoting SMEs through Access to Digital Financial Services–Phase 2 (Promise II Impact) project, supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The intervention is part of the Promise II Impact’s broader strategy to integrate MSMEs into value chain ecosystems and expand access to digital financial services in underserved areas.

The upgraded CBS has streamlined application processes and significantly boosted the bank’s efficiency. Real-time credit assessments and simplified loan application interfaces now enable staff to quickly verify customer information, reducing administrative delays and minimizing documentation errors.

In just six months, BPR AHA has achieved notable growth, onboarding 591 new credit account holders and 299 new savings and deposit clients. These numbers reflect not only expanded capacity but also greater inclusion—reaching informal workers, micro-entrepreneurs, and rural households previously excluded due to limited collateral, financial history or digital literacy.

One satisfied client is M. Islam, a snack distributor and tapioca flour supplier. A loyal customer since 2019, he shared how loan applications used to take up to two weeks. “Now I can complete everything in one week and submit documents online. It helps streamline my business planning,” he remarked.

H. Dliaul Khaq, Director of BPR AHA, emphasized that the CBS upgrade came at a crucial moment, coinciding with new regulatory requirements from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) that introduced more complex accounting standards. The new system replaced manual, time-consuming tasks—previously prone to inconsistencies caused by network instability and system errors—with automated, real-time data collection and reporting, ensuring timely and accurate submissions.

Beyond compliance, the upgraded CBS has enhanced institutional accountability in client services and business development. It has also significantly improved workload management and occupational safety. 

“Since the upgrade, faster transaction speeds and improved system reliability have reduced overtime, allowing employees to complete their work on time and maintain a healthier work-life balance. This shift has boosted staff morale, lessened fatigue and supported safer, more sustainable working conditions as key aspects of decent work,” Dliaul continued.

Notably, the transformation fostered a data-driven and inclusive workplace culture: staff are now trained to use real-time dashboards and analytics tools, shifting decision-making from intuition to evidence-based approaches. This shift has strengthened transparency, cross-department collaboration, and operational confidence, while empowering employees to track performance, anticipate client needs, and drive innovation.

Djauhari Sitorus, Programme Coordinator of ILO’s Promise II Impact Project, praised BPR AHA’s commitment and progress in expanding access for remote and rural clients through digitalization. “The partnership between the ILO and BPR AHA shows how targeted digital investments in rural banking can drive systemic improvements that enhance efficiency, promote decent work and create more opportunities for MSMEs in underserved regions.”

A Withholding Tax Certificate in Pakistan is an important document confirming tax deductions made at source.

It serves as proof of tax withheld on income such as salaries, contracts, or services and can be used for submitting tax returns to the Federal Board of Revenue or claiming tax credits.

According to the FBR, “If Income Tax is withheld by someone from payments made to you, then, section 164 of income Tax Ordinance 2001, requires every withholding agent to provide to the person from whom the tax has been deducted, a certificate that such amount has been collected as tax from that person”.

The top tax authority said the Withholding Tax Certificate must be attached to the income tax return as proof of payment of tax.

You can obtain your tax withholding certificates from your withholding authorities, e.g employers, banks etc.

Download Bank Alfalah Withholding Tax Certificate

The Bank Alfalah has unveiled an easy process for its customers to download the Withholding Tax Certificate. You can get it instantly from Alfa app.

Following are the steps to download the certificate:

Long in to Alfa

Click “More”

Select Tax Management

Pick account, WHT type and transaction period

Click “Generate”

The mayor of the West Midlands has pledged to plug the net-zero skills gap to boost the region’s green economy.

Richard Parker said he would ensure people in the area would have the skills they needed to take up new jobs being created in “fast-growing green industries”.

His comments came after a report from Coventry University highlighted the lack of skilled workers in the sector and urged the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to take action.

Parker said he would boost the sector with measures like investing in decarbonising homes or businesses and attracting firms to the region, including electric vehicle battery manufacturers.

“It will turbocharge the work that’s already begun to build a pipeline of talent to tackle the net-zero skills gap this report rightly highlights,” he added.

The report made recommendations for short, medium and long-term action that could be taken in the region.

These included establishing a green skills centre, creating apprenticeships and collaborate with government and industries.

Prof Carl Perrin, Coventry University’s associate pro vice-chancellor for research, said: “Green skills are no longer a ‘nice to have’ – they are a strategic imperative.

“Businesses that invest in sustainability and workforce development are not only contributing to environmental goals but also unlocking economic advantages.”