20, Aug 2026
MENA Fintech Association Appoints Meera Judge and Zain Umer as Co-Chairs of Digital Assets Working Group
New leadership steps in as digital asset infrastructure matures and institutional adoption picks up pace across the region
Dubai – UAE | Aug 20: The MENA Fintech Association (MFTA), a leading not-for-profit organization serving fintech startups, financial institutions, and regulators across the Middle East and Africa, announced the appointment of Meera Judge and Zain Umer as Co-Chairs of its Digital Assets Working Group.
The appointments come as the region’s digital asset market moves past early experimentation. Tokenized value, blockchain infrastructure, and open-ownership models are increasingly finding practical, institutional use, and MFTA said the new Co-Chairs will help guide the Working Group’s agenda through this next stage.
Commenting on her appointment, Meera Judge said:
“The space we are stepping into looks different from even a year ago. Value that used to sit still is moving on-chain, the technology is maturing fast, and open ownership is becoming practical. I am grateful to be taking on the role of Co-Chair of MFTA’s Digital Assets Working Group at exactly this moment.”
Zain Umer added:
“It is a privilege to take on the leadership of MFTA’s Digital Assets Working Group at such an important stage in the region’s development. MENA has emerged as one of the world’s most dynamic markets for digital assets, but the next phase must be about translating that momentum into sustainable, institutional growth. I look forward to bringing together regulators, industry leaders and the wider ecosystem to help address the market challenges that will shape this next chapter, and to ensure the region continues to set a global benchmark for responsible innovation.”
Nameer Khan, Chairman of MENA Fintech Association:
“Meera and Zain bring the credibility, experience and industry perspective needed to lead the Digital Assets Working Group into its next chapter. Their leadership comes at an important moment as MENA’s digital asset market evolves from early pilots into a more mature institutional ecosystem, and I look forward to seeing them help strengthen collaboration between regulators and industry.”
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- By Neel Achary
20, Aug 2026
Duleep Trophy Final Moved to Chennai to Bring Fans Back to the Stands
Chennai, August 20: The final of the 2026-27 Duleep Trophy has been shifted from Bengaluru to Chennai, with the BCCI opting for a venue where spectators can attend the prestigious domestic first-class match.
The title clash is scheduled to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium from September 6 to 10. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia said the decision was taken to give cricket fans an opportunity to watch the final live, as spectator access is restricted at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
The rest of the tournament will continue at the Bengaluru facility, beginning on August 23. The change of venue applies specifically to the championship match.
The move also gives the Duleep Trophy final a traditional cricketing setting, with Chennai’s historic stadium expected to provide a stronger atmosphere for players competing for one of India’s premier domestic titles.
20, Aug 2026
Hurricane Lala Devastates Hawaii Island, Recovery Efforts Expected to Take Weeks
Honolulu, August 20: Hawaii Island has entered a long recovery phase after Hurricane Lala battered the region with torrential rain, powerful winds and severe flooding, leaving thousands of residents without electricity and causing extensive damage to critical infrastructure.
The Kaʻū district on the southern part of the island suffered some of the heaviest destruction, with washed-out roads, collapsed bridges, landslides and fallen trees isolating several communities. Emergency crews continue to clear debris and restore access to affected areas.
Power restoration remains a major challenge, with thousands of households still experiencing outages as utility teams work to repair damaged transmission lines and electrical infrastructure. Authorities have also reported damage to homes, public facilities and transportation networks across the island.
Beyond Hawaii Island, Hurricane Lala disrupted daily life on Maui and Oahu, where strong winds and heavy rainfall triggered localized flooding and damaged residential and commercial properties.
State and local agencies are coordinating relief operations while assessing the full extent of losses. Officials have warned that rebuilding roads, bridges and essential services in the worst-hit communities could take several weeks, urging residents to avoid damaged infrastructure and follow emergency safety advisories.
Hurricane Lala is among the most destructive storms to impact Hawaii in recent years, highlighting the growing challenges posed by extreme weather events across the Pacific.
20, Aug 2026
PM Modi Likely to Address UN General Assembly High-Level Session in New York
New Delhi, August 20: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the high-level segment of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next month, as world leaders gather to deliberate on pressing global challenges and the future of multilateral cooperation.
According to the preliminary programme, Modi is scheduled to speak during the afternoon session on September 25. The session is currently slated to continue from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. local time, although the final speaking schedule could undergo changes.
The high-level segment of the UNGA is scheduled to commence on September 22, bringing together heads of state and government from across the world. The 81st session will be chaired by Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, who was elected President of the UN General Assembly in June.
This year’s UNGA theme is “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all.” Discussions are expected to focus on strengthening international cooperation and addressing geopolitical, economic and development challenges facing the global community.
Modi has participated in several high-level UNGA sessions since assuming office in 2014. His upcoming address is expected to provide an opportunity for India to highlight its priorities on global development, multilateral cooperation and emerging international challenges.
The UNGA week is also likely to see a series of bilateral and informal engagements among world leaders on the sidelines of the main sessions.
20, Aug 2026
University of Houston Biologists Awarded Nearly $1M NSF Grant to Study How Mutation Rates Evolve
Multi-institutional Research Could Offer Insights into Cancer Progression, Antibiotic Resistance
HOUSTON, Aug. 20 — A nearly $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation will allow University of Houston researchers to investigate how mutation rates evolve across species — work that could offer critical insights into cancer progression and antibiotic resistance.
Over the next four years, UH professors and evolutionary biologists Ricardo Azevedo and Rebecca Zufall, alongside scientists Maurine Neiman from the University of Iowa and Stephen Wright from the University of Toronto, will examine how an organism’s reproductive mode — whether sexual, asexual or self-pollinating — alters the speed at which its DNA mutates. This mutation rate dictates how quickly species can adapt to changing environments.
Supported by a combined $2.08 million in total NSF funding across partner institutions, the multi-institutional project builds on previous research by Azevedo and Zufall that found Tetrahymena, microscopic single-celled freshwater organisms, has the lowest mutation rate ever recorded. The discovery provides a foundation for the researchers’ next question: what determines how quickly mutation rates evolve across different organisms and reproductive systems?
“This collaboration is really powerful because we have three empiricists who work on these three different systems, and then Ricardo is the theoretician and modeler,” Zufall said. “We won’t only focus on the outcome of our specific species. We want to find broad patterns that underlie how populations evolve across all of life.”
Researchers from the two other institutions will examine snails and mustard plants, respectively, with the UH team focusing on Tetrahymena. By comparing closely related organisms within each group that differ primarily in their mode of reproduction, the researchers can isolate the exact impact reproduction has on mutation rates without interference from other biological variables.
“If we understand how mutation rates evolve, potentially, we’re helping understand evolution more broadly in all kinds of systems — from cancer to the evolution of antibiotic resistance or drug resistance in active infections,” said Azevedo, the grant’s principal investigator. “That’s something that has a lot of practical, interesting applications.”
Azevedo noted that cancer cells inside growing tumors reproduce asexually and often elevate their mutation rates, enabling them to adapt quickly and resist treatment. And although the project is driven by basic science rather than immediate clinical applications, understanding mutation rate mechanics addresses fundamental questions in medical research and overall human adaptation and survival.
20, Aug 2026
University of Houston Awarded $3.8M Grant to Expand Access for Prediabetes Prevention
HOUSTON, Aug. 20 – The University of Houston has received a $3.8 million award from the National Institutes of Health to launch a five-year study evaluating whether continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) can be an effective and accessible tool for preventing or delaying progression to Type 2 diabetes among underserved populations.
With an estimated 115 million U.S. adults living with prediabetes, researchers and clinicians from UH Health, the University’s academic health enterprise, will work with community partners to test how CGMs can be used as an effective and accessible tool for preventing Type 2 diabetes.
“This is not just about rolling out new technology—it’s about putting an actionable diabetes prevention tool in the hands of people who have historically had limited access to these advances,” said Lola Adepoju, leader of the study and executive director of the Humana Integrated Health Systems Science Institute at UH. “As diabetes care continues to advance, we have an opportunity to close some of these access gaps and make sure people who could benefit most aren’t the last ones to gain access.”
Turning Real-Time Data into Action
According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 80% of people with prediabetes don’t know they have the condition, potentially missing a critical window to make changes that could prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes. Even after diagnosis, the challenge is turning that diagnosis into action. CGMs provide a real-time window into how blood sugar responds throughout the day, helping patients better understand how their daily habits affect their health.
“CGMs help patients connect everyday choices — what they eat, how much they move and how well they sleep — with what’s happening inside their bodies,” Adepoju said. “That feedback is immediate and personal, which can give people the information and motivation they need to make healthier choices before prediabetes progresses to Type 2 diabetes.”
Researchers will examine whether those insights translate into measurable health improvements. The study will track changes in blood sugar awareness, health behaviors and HbA1c, a key measure of glucose control, as well as whether participants return to normal glucose levels or delay progression to Type 2 diabetes.
Expanding Access Through Community Health
Even as CGMs become more widely available, cost remains a significant barrier for some people. The devices are not typically covered by insurance for prediabetes, and while some are now available over the counter, the out-of-pocket costs can still prevent patients who could benefit from the technology from getting it.
Adepoju’s team hopes to close that gap by working with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and community partners to broaden access to CGMs, while training community health workers to help patients understand and use the technology effectively.
“If this study is successful, prediabetes care could become more proactive and accessible, combining earlier intervention, effective technology and ongoing support tailored to each patient’s needs,” Adepoju said. “We also hope to show insurers and policymakers the value of covering CGMs for people with prediabetes, particularly those who may not be able to afford these devices on their own.”
The focus on prevention, technology and community-based care also makes the study a natural fit for the UH Health mission.
“This study reflects exactly what UH Health is about — bringing together researchers, clinicians and community partners to turn new ideas into better health and healthcare,” said Dr. Jonathan McCullers, vice president for health affairs at UH and dean of the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. “By pairing innovative research and technology with community-based care, we have an opportunity to improve how we prevent chronic disease while expanding access to the tools that can help people live healthier lives.”
20, Aug 2026
Child Care Aware of Missouri Hires Senior Accountant
Nancy Light-Lambert brings more than 15 years of experience to support the organization’s financial operations and mission.
(St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 20, 2026) Child Care Aware of Missouri (CCAMO) has hired Nancy Light-Lampert as senior accountant. In this role, Light-Lampert will manage key accounting processes that support the nonprofit’s business operations, including human resources and payroll functions.
Light-Lambert brings more than 15 years of accounting experience to CCAMO. Her background includes financial operations, accounts receivable, payroll support and business administration across the legal, telecommunications and professional services sectors.
Before joining CCAMO, Light-Lambert served as an accountant at Holland Injury Law. She also worked as an operations support consultant for Verizon Corporation and as an accounts receivable senior consultant at CMS Intelliteach. Light-Lambert holds both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fontbonne University.
“Nancy brings deep financial and operational experience that will be an integral resource as CCAMO continues to grow and strengthen its statewide impact,” said Robin Phillips, CEO of Child Care Aware of Missouri. “Her expertise will support sound business practices, informed decision making and the strong internal foundation needed to advance our mission for Missouri’s children, families, child care providers and early childhood educators.”
Founded in 1999, CCAMO is a statewide nonprofit that focuses on a comprehensive early childhood education experience through impactful programs and partnerships. The organization’s services include workforce development, child care business supports, advocacy and policy work, and Child Care Keeps Missouri Working, a regional campaign offering concierge solutions to businesses undergoing employee recruitment and retention challenges due to the overwhelming shortage of quality child care options. For more information, call 314-535-1458 or visit www.mochildcareaware.org
19, Aug 2026
MS Dhoni-Backed Garuda Aerospace Limited Signs MoU with Australia’s Timed Automation Solutions to Advance Autonomous Drone Capabilities
Chennai, Aug 19: IPO-bound drone technology company Garuda Aerospace Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understandingwit h Timed Automation Solutions , Australia, a provider of enterprise autonomous drone platforms. The MoU establishes a framework for collaboration between the two organisations to advance technical cooperation, facilitate knowledge sharing, and explore growth opportunities in the autonomous drone sector.
The collaboration brings together Garuda Aerospace’s expertise in drone manufacturing and drone-based solutions with Timed Automation Solutions’ strengths in autonomous aerial operations and enterprise drone platforms, including drone-in-a-box orchestration, fleet and site control, AI-assisted image review, and enterprise integrations. Under the MoU, both companies will evaluate non-exclusive opportunities in product distribution, joint development of drone technologies, and participation in domestic and international projects. By leveraging their complementary capabilities, the collaboration aims to support innovation across applications such as agriculture, infrastructure inspection, and remote operations.
Speaking on the collaboration, Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO, Garuda Aerospace Limited, said:
“As autonomous technologies continue to redefine industries worldwide, building strong international relationships is essential to shaping the future of the drone ecosystem. Our association with Timed Automation Solutions reflects our commitment to expanding Garuda Aerospace’s global reach while developing solutions that address evolving industry requirements. We remain focused on driving technological excellence and delivering long-term value through strategic collaborations.”
“This collaboration with Garuda Aerospace reflects TAS’s vision to build a scalable, software driven UAV ecosystem in Australia. By combining Garuda’s manufacturing capabilities with our SkyStream platform, we aim to deliver flexible, cost effective, and scalable solutions for industries transitioning towards autonomous operations.” Shakil Mansoor, Founder and Director from Timed Automation Solutions added.
The collaboration will also explore pilot deployments across Australia and New Zealand, supporting the evaluation of real-world use cases and operational workflows. This MoU marks another step in Garuda Aerospace’s broader strategy of driving innovation through strategic collaborations. Building on its existing partnerships across the aerospace, defence, and technology ecosystem, the company continues to expand its capabilities while creating new opportunities in autonomous drone technologies and global markets. In 2025, Garuda Aerospace also secured export licence approvals, supporting potential expansion into the Australian market.
19, Aug 2026
From outer perimeter to inner rack: Flir as the end-to-end reliability partner across data center operations
For a data center operator, risk rarely comes down to a single system or department.
Aug 19: For a data center operator, risk rarely comes down to a single system or department. It can begin with a cut fence, an intruder approaching a substation, an alarm no one trusted enough to investigate, or a rack that ran hot overnight. The cause may be different, but the consequence is often the same: an interruption to operations that can be costly. More than half of significant data center outages can now cost a company over $100,000, and roughly one in five exceed $1 million, according to the Uptime Institute’s 2024 Annual Outage Analysis.
The challenge is that the industry tends to sell protection the way it is organized internally: one function at a time, with perimeter security pitched to the Security Director, substation protection routed to facilities, and rack thermal monitoring and inspection left to reliability engineering. A VP of Operations, however, is responsible for uptime across the entire site, making the fence and the rack part of the same operational risk conversation.
Reliability, not another security line item
Perimeter detection, electrical monitoring, alarm management, and rack inspections may fall under different departments, but they all serve the same basic purpose: identifying problems early enough to prevent them from affecting operations.
A perimeter breach, for example, often begins as a security event. If the intruder reaches a substation or other critical equipment, it quickly becomes an uptime issue. Security may investigate the incident, but the operational impact will be measured by lost capacity, service disruption, and recovery time. Bringing these controls into a single program gives operators a more complete view of the risk they manage. It also helps reduce the gaps that appear when each department plans, purchases, and operates its systems independently.
Following the risk from the fence inward
At the outer edge of a property, data centers can stretch for miles of dark, lightly staffed perimeter. Much of that darkness is by design. Many sites are built as low-light facilities to avoid adding light pollution to the surrounding area, which is good for neighboring communities but leaves conventional cameras with little to work with. Thermal imaging removes that dependency, reading the heat signature of a person or vehicle in complete darkness. Detecting movement early matters because the farther a potential threat travels into the site, the less time an operator has to assess and respond.
The solution can be a multilayered security approach, beginning with a radar system such as the Flir R-190/R-290 detecting movement as it approaches or crosses the perimeter. It works in concert with both the bi-spectral FH-Series AI thermal/visible cameras and the bi-spectral Elara DX-Series thermal/visible PTZ cameras to verify the activity and continue tracking it. Instead of relying on a single sensor or an isolated alarm, the operator receives multiple sources of information that help determine whether the event requires action.
Those detections can feed into Flir Latitude VMS, giving the control room a common view of the event. Flir Nexus® connects sensors and systems so that information gathered at the fence reaches the person responding.
Moving deeper into the property, the substation is one of the most important points of exposure. The equipment feeding power to the data halls is essential to the operation, yet it is often less visible than the systems inside the building.
Fixed radiometric thermal cameras can continuously monitor transformers, electrical connections, and other energized equipment for abnormal temperature changes. While technicians could miss a loose or deteriorating connection during a visual inspection, an infrared camera detects the heat it produces well before the equipment fails. That allows the operations team to investigate and make repairs during a planned maintenance window rather than responding after an outage.
Inside the data hall, the available response time becomes even shorter. GPU-dense racks can draw several times the power of the traditional 8 to 12 kW rack, creating more heat in a smaller space. Under those conditions, a cooling issue or component failure that developed over several days could escalate within minutes.
Periodic handheld inspections also play an important role, as they allow maintenance teams to view assets from multiple angles and distances. Fixed thermal monitoring provides visibility between scheduled surveys, while handheld tools with route-based inspection capabilities, such as the Flir i65 and Assetlink software, support more detailed inspections, analysis, and documentation when a potential issue is identified. Onboard tools such as reference imaging ensure these handheld inspections result in repeatable, trackable thermal data, making it easier to identify changes over time and support repair decisions. When combined with safety equipment such as infrared windows, maintenance teams can help maintain uptime by safely inspecting energized electrical equipment.
Two budgets, one operational problem
Security and operations are often managed separately, leading different teams to purchase thermal technology for different purposes. The security department may invest in thermal cameras for perimeter protection, while the operations team deploys thermal equipment for electrical inspections, early fire detection, and rack monitoring. Although these purchases are often made independently, they address closely related risks.
Simply put: the purchases come from different budgets because the organization is divided that way. The risk itself is not.
Grand View Research valued the data center physical security market at $1.87 billion in 2023 and projects it will reach $4.83 billion by 2030. Mordor Intelligence projects the thermal imaging systems market will grow from $5.78 billion in 2025 to $8.71 billion by 2031.
These may appear to be separate markets, but operators experience them as parts of the same uptime challenge. Both are intended to reveal developing issues, provide enough information to act, and prevent a larger disruption.
A more complete reliability picture
Compliance requirements are also moving operators toward a more coordinated approach. The 2023 edition of NFPA 70B placed greater emphasis on documented electrical maintenance and thermographic inspection. Inspection records, identified deficiencies, and corrective actions are increasingly part of the facility’s broader maintenance and audit process rather than being managed informally or in isolation.
None of this means operators need to replace systems that already work. It means they should view perimeter protection, power monitoring, interior surveillance, rack conditions, and compliance as part of a single reliability program.
Flir supports that full path, from radar and thermal detection at the perimeter to radiometric monitoring of critical equipment inside the facility. By connecting those capabilities, operators gain a clearer view of risk across the site and more time to respond before a condition escalates into an outage.
For most data center operators, the first step is not another purchase order. It is a change in perspective: seeing the path from the outer fence to the inner rack as one continuous reliability environment.
19, Aug 2026
Tenable Advances Exposure Management with Coverage Across Every Major AI Platform and Developer Tool
Tenable now delivers greater risk visibility and governance across an expanded AI attack surface created by increased adoption of LLMs, MCPs and AI tools
Dubai, UAE | Aug 19 — Tenable® Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TENB), the exposure management company, today announced enhanced AI security capabilities within the Tenable One Exposure Management Platform. Tenable One AI Exposure now delivers expanded platform coverage with support for Google Gemini, extending its coverage across major LLMs: Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT Enterprise and Microsoft Copilot. The release also extends discovery to all major Model Context Protocol (MCP) deployments and AI-native Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tools. Together, these capabilities give security teams a more complete view of where AI is being used, what risk it creates and where action is needed.
The rapid adoption of AI across the enterprise has created a critical AI exposure gap, a largely invisible risk that emerges across interconnected applications, infrastructure, identities and data. Underscoring this risk, Tenable detected 457 million AI-related security issues across more than 7,000 organizations, averaging 62,000 exposures per organization over a 30-day period. Traditional security tools leave security teams blind to high-impact attack paths, forcing them into a reactive loop rather than preemptively reducing AI risk.
Tenable One continuously discovers AI across endpoints, cloud and LLM applications, including both authorized and shadow AI. It inventories AI assets with the Tenable Exposure Graph, Tenable’s data lake that aggregates massive volumes of security data to help organizations map, analyze and prevent cyber risks. Tenable One reduces real-world AI risk by securing the environments where AI runs and hardening AI workloads before they can be exploited. With these new advancements, Tenable One enables organizations to gain better visibility, context and control to manage AI risk while being able to govern AI use, enforce policies and prevent cyber exposures.
New AI security capabilities within Tenable One include:
● Google Gemini Coverage: Tenable One now delivers visibility and governance for Google Gemini including monitoring of user interactions and prompt responses, policy enforcement, and detection of malicious activity and inappropriate usage.
● Enhanced AI Visibility: Tenable One now doubles its coverage of sanctioned and shadow AI, supporting MCPs, AI-native IDEs (such as Cursor, Windsurf and Trae) and AI-enabled browser extensions.
● Operationalised Remediation: Organizations can remediate faster by creating tickets directly in Jira and ServiceNow or alerting users on policy violations by sending automated email notifications, Slack or Teams messages.
“The massive volume of AI exposures confirms the operational reality that authorized and unauthorized AI is deployed faster than security teams can govern it,” said Eric Doerr, Chief Product Officer, Tenable. “There’s no denying that AI attack surfaces are making defenders’ jobs even harder, and legacy or siloed cybersecurity tools simply don’t cut it. With today’s expansion to include Google Gemini, MCP and AI-native IDE deployments, Tenable is the only exposure management platform delivering unified AI visibility and governance across all major LLMs, software, and tools.”
Tenable One brings together two distinct AI capabilities. Tenable AI Exposure helps organizations discover, assess and secure how AI is being used across their environments. Tenable Hexa AI is the platform’s agentic engine, using AI to coordinate agents, automate security tasks and accelerate remediation. Put simply, AI Exposure helps organizations secure their use of AI, while Hexa helps them use AI to improve security operations. Together, they advance Tenable’s preemptive security strategy by helping organizations reduce AI-related risk and act on cyber exposure more efficiently.
