The UAE has unveiled a US$1 billion AI for Development initiative to finance AI projects across African nations. The programme aims to enhance digital infrastructure, government services, and productivity, supporting long-term economic and social development.
Implementation will be led by the Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX), in cooperation with the UAE Foreign Aid Agency. AI technologies will be applied in key sectors, including education, agriculture, and infrastructure, to create innovative solutions and promote sustainable growth.
Officials highlighted the initiative as part of the UAE’s vision to become a global hub for AI while reinforcing its humanitarian and developmental legacy. The programme aims to boost international partnerships and deliver impactful support to developing countries.
The initiative reinforces the UAE’s long-term commitment to Africa and its role in technological and digital advancement. Leaders emphasised that AI-driven projects can improve living standards and foster inclusive, sustainable development.
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A recent survey reveals that 38.7% of Portuguese individuals aged 16 to 74 used AI tools in the three months preceding the interview, primarily for personal purposes. Usage is particularly high among 16 to 24-year-olds (76.5%) and students (81.5%).
Internet access remains widespread, with 89.5% of residents going online recently. Nearly half (49.6%) placed orders online, primarily for clothing, footwear, and fashion accessories, while 74.2% accessed public service websites, often using a Citizen Card or Digital Mobile Key for authentication.
Digital skills are growing, with 59.2% of the population reaching basic or above basic levels. Young adults and tertiary-educated individuals show the highest digital proficiency, at 83.4% and 88.4% respectively.
Household internet penetration stands at 90.9%, predominantly via fixed connections.
Concerns about online safety are on the rise, as 45.2% of internet users reported encountering aggressive or discriminatory content, up from 35.5% in 2023. Reported issues include discrimination based on nationality, politics, and sexual identity.
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Nokia has announced a $4 billion expansion of its US research, development, and manufacturing operations to accelerate AI-ready networking technologies. The move builds on Nokia’s earlier $2.3 billion US investment via Infinera and semiconductor manufacturing plans.
The expanded investment will support mobile, fixed access, IP, optical, data centre networking, and defence solutions. Approximately $3.5 billion will be allocated for R&D, with $500 million dedicated to manufacturing and capital expenditures in Texas, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Nokia aims to advance AI-optimised networks with enhanced security, productivity, and energy efficiency. The company will also focus on automation, quantum-safe networks, semiconductor testing, and advanced material sciences to drive innovation.
Officials highlight the strategic impact of Nokia’s US investment. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick praised the plan for boosting US tech capacity, while CEO Justin Hotard said it would secure the future of AI-driven networks.
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India is forecast to surpass one billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2031. Ericsson’s latest Mobility Report highlights the rapid uptake in a market that is already leading global data consumption.
The study estimates that there will be approximately 394 million Indian 5G subscriptions by the end of 2025, roughly one-third of all connections. The average monthly mobile data usage per smartphone is expected to increase from 36GB today to 65GB by 2031.
Ericsson expects global 5G subscriptions to reach 6.4 billion by 2031, accounting for around two-thirds of all mobile lines. Affordable 5G phones, expanding networks and fixed wireless access services are credited with driving worldwide adoption.
Industry leaders say 5G already underpins key digital services, from streaming platforms to industrial automation and remote education. Analysts predict rising data use will spur further investment in Indian telecom infrastructure and cloud-based services.
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India has activated new Digital Personal Data Protection rules that sharply restrict how technology firms collect and use personal information. The framework limits data gathering to what is necessary for a declared purpose and requires clear explanations, opt-outs, and breach notifications for Indian users.
The rules apply across digital platforms, from social media and e-commerce to banks and public services. Companies must obtain parental consent for individuals under 18 and are prohibited from using children’s data for targeted advertising. Firms have 18 months to comply with the new safeguards.
Users can request access to their data, ask why it was collected, and demand corrections or updates. They may withdraw consent at any time and, in some cases, request deletion. Companies must respond within 90 days, and individuals can appoint someone to exercise these rights.
Civil society groups welcomed stronger user rights but warned that the rules may also expand state access to personal data. The Internet Freedom Foundation criticised limited oversight and said the provisions risk entrenching government control, reducing transparency for citizens.
India is preparing further digital regulations, including new requirements for AI and social media firms. With nearly a billion online users, the government has urged platforms to label AI-generated content amid rising concerns about deepfakes, online misinformation, and election integrity.
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A growing debate over AI dominated COP30 in Brazil, as delegates weighed its capacity to support climate solutions against its rapidly rising environmental costs.
Technology leaders argued that AI can strengthen energy management, refine climate research and enhance conservation programmes.
Participants highlighted an expanding number of AI-driven tools showcased at the summit, reflecting both enthusiasm and caution about their long-term influence.
Several countries noted that AI systems could help smaller delegations review complex negotiation documents and take part more effectively.
Environmental advocates warned that ballooning electricity use and water demand from data centres risk undermining climate targets.
Campaigners pressed for tighter rules, including mandatory public-interest testing for new facilities and reliance on on-site renewable energy.
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The Dutch government has paused its intervention in chipmaker Nexperia after officials described promising diplomatic progress with China, easing a months-long standoff that had disrupted global supply chains. The suspension follows talks in which Beijing began relaxing export limits it had imposed on Nexperia’s finished chips, restrictions that had deepened shortages for major carmakers including BMW, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, and Bosch.
The dispute began in September when the Netherlands seized control of Nexperia from its Chinese owner Wingtech, invoking the Goods Availability Act, a Cold War-era law that had never been used before. Dutch authorities stated that the takeover was necessary to safeguard national security and prevent Wingtech founder Zhang Xuezheng from relocating production to China, citing allegations of mismanagement and attempts to undermine European operations.
Beijing retaliated by restricting chip exports, while management on both sides blocked shipments and orders amid a worsening internal corporate conflict.
Economy Minister Vincent Karremans stated that the government was encouraged by China’s efforts to restore chip supplies and would continue negotiations alongside European and international partners. The EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič and several major automakers welcomed the announcement, though industry leaders cautioned that it remains too early to predict how quickly supply chains will stabilise.
With the Chinese side now selling stockpiled chips to ease shortages and the European side planning its response, the easing of tensions marks a temporary reprieve in a dispute that highlighted the fragility of Europe’s semiconductor dependencies and the geopolitical risks tied to them.
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Cloudflare has resolved a technical issue that briefly disrupted access to major platforms, including X, ChatGPT, and Letterboxd. Users had earlier reported internal server error messages linked to Cloudflare’s network, indicating that pages could not be displayed.
The disruption began around midday UK time, with some sites loading intermittently as the problem spread across the company’s infrastructure. Cloudflare confirmed it was investigating an incident affecting multiple customers and issued rolling updates as engineers worked to identify the fault.
Outage tracker Down Detector also experienced difficulties during the incident, later showing a sharp rise in reports once it came back online. The pattern pointed to a broad network-level failure rather than isolated platform issues.
Users saw repeated internal server error warnings asking them to try again, though services began recovering as Cloudflare isolated the cause. The company has not yet released full technical details, but said the fault has been fixed and that systems are stabilising.
Cloudflare provides routing, security, and reliability tools for a wide range of online services, making a single malfunction capable of cascading globally. The company said it would share further information on the incident and steps taken to prevent similar failures.
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Cloudflare says its global outage on 18 November was caused by an internal configuration error, not a cyberattack. CEO Matthew Prince apologised to users after a permissions update to a ClickHouse cluster generated a malformed feature file that caused systems worldwide to crash.
The oversized file exceeded a hard limit in Cloudflare’s routing software, triggering failures across its global edge. Intermittent recoveries during the first hours of the incident led engineers to suspect a possible attack, as the network randomly stabilised when a non-faulty file propagated.
Confusion intensified when Cloudflare’s externally hosted status page briefly became inaccessible, raising fears of coordinated targeting. The root cause was later traced to metadata duplication from an unexpected database source, which doubled the number of machine-learning features in the file.
The outage affected Cloudflare’s CDN, security layers, and ancillary services, including Turnstile, Workers KV, and Access. Some legacy proxies kept limited traffic moving, but bot scores and authentication systems malfunctioned, causing elevated latencies and blocked requests.
Engineers halted the propagation of the faulty file by mid-afternoon and restored a clean version before restarting affected systems. Prince called it Cloudflare’s most serious failure since 2019 and said lessons learned will guide major improvements to the company’s infrastructure resilience.
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ZTE has won the Best Mobile/5G Service Innovation award at the 2025 Global Connectivity Awards for its work on Malaysia’s CelcomDigi dual-network convergence. The project integrates network assets across four regions and six operators, marking the largest deployment of its kind in the country.
The company introduced an intelligent, integrated, and connected management model built on big-data platforms for site deployment, optimisation, and value analysis. Eight smart tools support planning, commissioning, and operations, enabling end-to-end oversight of project delivery and performance.
Phase-one results show a 15 percent rise in coverage, 25 percent faster downloads, higher traffic, and a more than 60 percent reduction in complaints. ZTE also deployed AI-based energy-saving systems to reduce emissions and advance sustainability goals across the network.
The project incorporates talent-building measures by prioritising localisation and working with Malaysian universities. ZTE says this approach supports long-term sector resilience alongside near-term performance gains.
CAPACITY’s Global Connectivity Awards, held in Malaysia, evaluate innovation, execution, and industry impact. ZTE states that it will continue to develop new project management models and partner globally to build more efficient, intelligent, and sustainable communications networks.
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