Latest news with #API
Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Business
- Middle East Eye
UAE ambassador's firm linked to Bangladesh airports data deal
An Emirati state-owned business appointed to set up a new passenger information system at Bangladeshi airports sub-contracted part of the project to a company co-owned by the UAE's own ambassador to the country. Documents seen by Middle East Eye appear to raise questions about whether the arrangement delivers value for money for the Bangladeshi government or travellers facing higher prices as a consequence of inflated costs linked to the new system. They also raise questions about a potential conflict of interest on the part of the UAE's ambassador in Bangladesh, Abdulla Ali Alhmoudi, who has promoted closer ties between the aviation sectors in the two countries. Iftekhar Zaman, the executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, called for an investigation into the deal, which he said appeared to amount to 'a clear case of conflict of interests and an abuse of power'. Zaman told MEE: 'As a public servant, an ambassador cannot be involved in any business activity without specific approval of the government. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'The first question, therefore, is whether such approvals were obtained. An equally important question is what is the source of the capital he has invested. 'More importantly, an in-service public official cannot have business relationships with the government. No less important is the potential reputational damage caused by an ambassador.' Middle East Eye has contacted Alhmoudi, the Emirati embassy in Dhaka, the Emirati foreign ministry, the Bangladeshi government and the companies and individuals named in this story but none had responded at the time of writing. Bangladeshi officials with knowledge of the deal also refused to comment due to concerns that speaking out would jeopardise Bangladesh's relationship with the UAE. Deal signed by previous government The new passenger information system is being implemented in order to bring Bangladeshi airports in line with international standards requiring the collection of Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data. In December 2022, the governments of Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly explore setting up API and PNR systems in Bangladesh. Shattered Lands: How Doha and Dubai could have joined India or Pakistan in 1947 Read More » An Emirati state-owned business, Emirates Technology Solutions (Etek), based in Fujairah was appointed to lead the project. In turn it subcontracted the work to a Dubai-based company named Identima which was registered in 2021 by Alhmoudi. At the time of Identima's registration, Alhmoudi was serving as the UAE's charge d'affaires in Dhaka - the second-highest diplomatic post in the country - raising questions about whether he was already using his position to advance business interests. Before Dhaka, Alhmoudi served as the UAE's deputy head of mission in Libya from 2013 to 2014. Alhmoudi is listed in business documents as a partner owning a 34 percent share and as the manager of the company. Two Bangladeshi nationals, Muntasir Billa Shahariar and Sajed Ahammad Sami, are also listed as partners, with each holding a 33 percent share in Identima. Shahariar appears to have enjoyed close ties with the former Awami League government led by then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, which was toppled by popular protests last August. Images seen by MEE show Shahariar attending private meetings with Hasina. Neither Etek nor Identima had any apparent previous experience in setting up or running airport information systems. Swiss software Identima then agreed a deal for the system to be built using software provided by a Swiss company, SITA, which is considered to be one of the world's leading specialists in the field, and which provides IT systems for the UAE's own airports. The documents also mention a second company, Entrust, which appears to have worked in coordination with Identima. Business records list Entrust as a technical partner involved in integrating SITA's software - although its precise role remains unclear. Identima is named in these documents as the 'paying agent'. UAE pardons Bangladeshis jailed for protesting against ousted leader Sheikh Hasina Read More » The documents appear to raise questions about whether the agreement has resulted in Bangladesh paying over the odds for use of SITA's software. MEE understands that under the deal Bangladesh was initially to be charged a fee of around $6.50 per passenger, although this was later reduced to $4. But the International Civil Aviation Organization recommends a fee of $3.50 per passenger, while SITA is understood to charge $1.50 per passenger for providing the same services in the UAE, according to sources familiar with these details. SITA typically makes agreements with governments, airport authorities, or national aviation bodies. Any third party involved in handling SITA systems would need to be authorised either by the company itself or by the relevant contracting government entity. MEE contacted multiple aviation experts who declined to comment on SITA and its pricing, citing commercial sensitivity. The documents also raise questions about the appropriateness of Alhmoudi's apparent business interests in the project. Alhmoudi has promoted the UAE's deepening involvement in Bangladesh's aviation sector in his official duties. In Septemberr, he met Monjur Kabir Bhuiyan, the chair of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, to discuss expanding cooperation in areas including 'ground handling services, anti-drone systems, and passenger information systems', according to Bangladeshi media reports. 'As a public servant, an ambassador cannot be involved in any business activity without specific approval of the government' - Iftekhar Zaman, Transparency International Bangladesh A memorandum of understanding signed between Etek and Identima in October 2021, which is signed on Identima's part by Shahariar and by Alhmoudi as a witness, notes that each company 'warrants that no conflict of interest exists or is likely to arise'. It states that each company will notify the other if a conflict arises, and that both will seek to resolve it. MEE has asked Alhmoudi, Shahariar, and both companies whether they have taken any steps to address Alhmoudi's apparent conflict of interest. The Vienna Convention, the United Nations treaty governing the conduct of international diplomacy, strictly forbids diplomats from profiting from professional or commercial activities in the countries where they are based. Alhmoudi was appointed ambassador in Dhaka on 21 September 2022, just over three months before the memorandum was signed on 28 December that year. Zaman, of Transparency International Bangladesh, told MEE: 'All these matters should be thoroughly investigated through due process to ensure the accountability of the ambassador, as well as those who were involved in the approval of this contract.' The revelations about Alhmoudi's involvement come as the current MoU between Bangladesh and the UAE is due to expire at the end of this month. MEE has seen a copy of a renewal agreement dated 2 July 2024 which was signed by Alhmoudi on behalf of the government of Fujairah. In a letter to the Bangladeshi foreign ministry dated 22 May, the UAE's embassy in Dhaka requested a further extension until 30 June 2026. 'Slow progress' The future of the project now appears clouded by uncertainty. In April, Bangladesh's Financial Express reported that CAAB was 'making slow progress' in implementing the passenger information system It reported that a committee had been created earlier this year to review and evaluate proposals from different countries. 'A revolution': Bangladeshis hope for democracy and justice after Hasina flees Read More » A CAAB official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the newspaper that the aviation authority planned to implement SITA through a company charging a "comparatively higher cost" than the ICAO recommendation of $3.50 per passenger, and raised concerns that the additional burden would fall on passengers, namely Bangladeshi labourers working abroad. The UAE and Bangladesh share strong economic and diplomatic relations, with trade between the two countries in recent years worth $2bn. Besides being one of Bangladesh's top five sources of foreign investment, the Emirates hosts approximately 1.2 million Bangladeshi workers across various sectors, with remittances from the UAE worth millions to the Bangladeshi economy. Both countries have also seen a change in relations after the fall of Hasina. In 2025, the UAE has signed several MOUs with Bangladesh to collaborate further in development, technology, finance, tourism and to explore direct shipping between the Bangladeshi port city of Chittagong and Dubai. Following lobbying from Mohammed Yunus, the chief adviser to Bangladesh's interim government, the UAE also released dozens of Bangladeshis who protested in the Emirates against Hasina's rule.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
BofA Reiterates Buy as Agora (API) Gains Traction in Live Engagement
Agora Inc. (NASDAQ:API) is one of the 10 best debt-free IT penny stocks to buy. On June 28, Bank of America Securities' analyst Daley Li reiterated a Buy rating on Agora (NASDAQ:API), setting a price target of $7.10. Agora's Q1 2025 results showed modest top-line growth, with revenue up 1% year-over-year. While overall growth was limited, the company's international business stood out, benefiting from stronger demand in areas like live shopping and entertainment. A consumer smiling as they engage with streaming apps and voice platforms. For the second quarter, management guided for core revenue growth of 7% to 13% year-over-year. This range broadly matches market expectations and suggests that conditions are starting to improve—particularly in China's social entertainment and education markets—while international demand continues to hold up well. The analyst also pointed to signs of progress on the profitability front. Q1 2025 was Agora's second straight profitable quarter, along with an improvement in gross margins. The company is also commanding a stronger net cash position which adds further flexibility, allowing it to pursue growth opportunities like in the field of AI. Agora Inc. (NASDAQ:API) is a China-based company that provides a real-time engagement platform-as-a-service (PaaS), enabling developers to embed voice, video, and live interactive streaming capabilities into their applications. While we acknowledge the potential of API as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None.
Business Upturn
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Upturn
VeriSilicon Expands DSP Portfolio with Silicon-Proven ZSP5000 Vision Core Seriesfor Edge Intelligence
By Business Wire India Published on June 26, 2025, 09:36 IST Shanghai, China: VeriSilicon ( today released the ZSP5000 Digital Signal Processing (DSP) series IPs, which are based on its fifth-generation silicon-proven DSP architecture. This product line adopts a highly scalable and energy-efficient design, and has been deeply optimized for compute-intensive workloads such as computer vision and embedded AI. Combined with the configurable nature of the architecture, this series of IP can provide excellent solutions with both energy and computing efficiency for various edge devices. The ZSP5000 series IPs include ZSP5000, ZSP5000UL, ZSP5000L, and ZSP5000H, delivering scalable vector processing performance ranging from 32 to 256 8-bit Multiply-Accumulate (MAC) operations per cycle. For even higher performance, VeriSilicon's multi-core ZSP5400H can combine multiple ZSP5000H cores in a multi-cluster architecture to further scale computing capability. The ZSP5000 series features a rich and intuitive instruction set optimized for ease of programming and efficient performance tuning, while its dedicated instructions accelerate common imaging and signal processing tasks such as vector-scalar arithmetic, horizontal reductions, permutations, shifts, table lookups, clamping, and averaging. It integrates the ZTurbo coprocessor interface, allowing customers to easily add custom instructions and hardware accelerators within the same pipeline, and is compatible with the OpenCV Application Programming Interface (API), ensuring seamless integration with the mainstream computer vision frameworks. Additionally, the ZSP5000 series is equipped with a full-featured memory subsystem, a multi-channel 3D DMA engine, and a scalable multicore configuration, supporting flexible deployment for a broad spectrum of applications. The ZSP5000 series IPs are backward compatible with VeriSilicon's scalar ZSPNano series, efficiently handling mixed MCU and DSP workloads. VeriSilicon also offers comprehensive ZView development tools, including an Eclipse-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE), cycle-accurate simulator, optimizing compiler, debugger, and profiling tools, streamlining software development and system integration. 'With the growing adoption of OpenCV and the increasing demand for computer vision workloads alongside NPUs in edge intelligence computing, we are introducing the ZSP5000—our next-generation DSP IP series. It supports the industry-standard OpenCV API, enables streamlined interfacing with NPUs via our FLEXA interface, and integrates built-in audio processing capabilities for multi-modal applications,' said Weijin Dai, Chief Strategy Officer, Executive Vice President, and General Manager of the IP Division at VeriSilicon. 'Energy efficiency is key at the edge, and the ZSP5000 series IPs feature an optimized memory access architecture to minimize processor power consumption. It also features ZTurbo, a custom instruction extension mechanism designed for targeted applications, which enables further power and performance optimization through seamless integration of hardware accelerators. Our leading customers are already leveraging these capabilities to achieve significant advancements in power and performance.' About VeriSilicon VeriSilicon is committed to providing customers with platform-based, all-around, one-stop custom silicon services and semiconductor IP licensing services leveraging its in-house semiconductor IP. For more information, please visit: View source version on Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with Business Wire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Business Wire India, established in 2002, India's premier media distribution company ensures guaranteed media coverage through its network of 30+ cities and top news agencies.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Sam Altman on NYT podcast: Key highlights including Microsoft tensions, AI jobs disruption
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has sharply criticised The New York Times over a recent development in a copyright infringement lawsuit, accusing the publisher of trying to undermine user privacy by demanding that the ChatGPT-maker retain consumer and API customer data. 'The New York Times, one of the great institutions, truly, for a long time, is taking a position that we should have to preserve our users' logs even if they're chatting in private mode, even if they've asked us to delete them. Still love The New York Times, but that one we feel strongly about,' Altman said during a live interview in San Francisco, California, US, with Hard Fork, the tech podcast from The New York Times. The CEO was accompanied onstage by Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's chief operating officer, with podcast hosts NYT columnist Kevin Roose and tech journalist Casey Newton. The two OpenAI executives abruptly came up onstage before being introduced. 'This is more fun that we're out here for this,' Altman said to the hosts. 'Are you going to talk about where you sue us because you don't like user privacy?' he said moments later, taking a jab at NYT. However, the rest of the 33-minute conversation went on smoothly with Altman and Lightcap responding to questions on a slew of AI-related issues including talks with US President Donald Trump, impact of AI on jobs, souring relationship with Microsoft, Meta's all-out push toward artificial superintelligence (ASI), and more. Here are the key highlights from the interview. OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said that he agreed with predictions about AI changing jobs forever. 'I think that there is going to be some sort of change. I think it's inevitable. I think every time you get a platform shift, you get the changing job market,' he said. 'In 1900, 40 per cent of people worked in agriculture, it's 2 per cent today […] We work with businesses every day to try and enable people to be able to use the tools at the level of 20-year-olds that come into companies and use them with a level of fluency that far transcends anyone else at those organizations but we see it as our mission to make sure that people know how to use these tools and and to drive people forward,' he said. 'I do think there will be areas where some jobs or whole categories of jobs will go away and any job that goes away, even if it's good for society and the economy as a whole, is extremely painful at that moment. But in many more cases I think we will find that the world is significantly under-employed and wants way more code than can get written right now,' Altman said. Both of them disagreed with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's prediction that AI will eliminate 50 per cent of entry-level white-collar jobs in the next five years. 'The entry-level people will be the people that do the best here. They're the most fluent with the tool, they're the most liable to think of things in new ways. New jobs will be better and people will have better stuff. The take that half the jobs are going to be gone in a year or two years or 5 years or whatever is just not how society really works even if the technology were ready for that. The inertia of society will be helpful in this case,' Altman said. When asked about the current status of OpenAI's relationship with Microsoft, Altman said, 'In any deep partnership, there are points of tension and we certainly have those. We're both ambitious companies, so we do find some flashpoints, but I would expect that it is something that we find deep value in for both sides for a very long time to come.' He added that he had a 'super nice call' with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella this week where they discussed the future of their working relationship. Microsoft is OpenAI's biggest investor and has pumped billions of dollars into the AI startup. However, recent reports have suggested that ties between the two companies have soured with the partners negotiating a new contract. On these reports, Altman asked, 'Do you believe that, when you read those things?' When asked whether Meta CEO's play toward building AI systems that are superintelligent was a recruiting strategy, Lightcap quipped, 'I think [Zuckerberg] believes he is superintelligent.' Competition for AI talent has reached a feverish pitch as superstar researchers are being courted like professional athletes on the belief that individual contributors can make or break companies. In a recent podcast appearance, Altman had said that Meta offered OpenAI employees bonuses of $100 million to recruit them, as the social media giant looks to ramp up its AI strategy. Based on productive talks he has had with Donald Trump about AI and its geopolitical and economic importance, Altman said that the US president 'really gets it. I think he really understands the importance of leadership in this technology.' At the beginning of the year, Trump announced what might be the most ambitious infrastructure project in the country's history since NASA's first missions to the moon. This initiative known as the Stargate Project is a joint venture among OpenAI, Microsoft, Nvidia, Arm, Oracle, Softbank, and other corporate partners aiming to invest $500 billion to build out AI infrastructure such as data centers, energy plants, power lines, and more in the US over the next four years. The first data centre under the project is already under construction in Texas and will be dedicated to training OpenAI's next AI models. When asked about the dangers of ChatGPT, especially when used by people to discuss conspiracy theories or suicide with the chatbot, Altman said, 'We don't want to slide into the mistakes that I think the previous generation of tech companies made by not reacting quickly enough.' 'However, to users that are in a fragile enough mental place, that are on the edge of a psychotic break, we haven't yet figured out how a warning gets through,' the OpenAI CEO said. On AI regulation, Altman said, 'As these systems get quite powerful, we clearly need something. And I think something around the really risky capabilities and ideally something that can be quite adaptive and not like a law that survives 100 years.' 'I have become a bit more, jaded isn't the right word, but it's something in that direction, about the ability of policymakers to grapple with the speed of technology,' he said.
Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
VeriSilicon Expands DSP Portfolio with Silicon-Proven ZSP5000 Vision Core Series for Edge Intelligence
SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VeriSilicon ( today released the ZSP5000 Digital Signal Processing (DSP) series IPs, which are based on its fifth-generation silicon-proven DSP architecture. This product line adopts a highly scalable and energy-efficient design, and has been deeply optimized for compute-intensive workloads such as computer vision and embedded AI. Combined with the configurable nature of the architecture, this series of IP can provide excellent solutions with both energy and computing efficiency for various edge devices. With the growing adoption of OpenCV and the increasing demand for computer vision workloads alongside NPUs in edge intelligence computing, we are introducing the ZSP5000—our next-generation DSP IP series. Share The ZSP5000 series IPs include ZSP5000, ZSP5000UL, ZSP5000L, and ZSP5000H, delivering scalable vector processing performance ranging from 32 to 256 8-bit Multiply-Accumulate (MAC) operations per cycle. For even higher performance, VeriSilicon's multi-core ZSP5400H can combine multiple ZSP5000H cores in a multi-cluster architecture to further scale computing capability. The ZSP5000 series features a rich and intuitive instruction set optimized for ease of programming and efficient performance tuning, while its dedicated instructions accelerate common imaging and signal processing tasks such as vector-scalar arithmetic, horizontal reductions, permutations, shifts, table lookups, clamping, and averaging. It integrates the ZTurbo coprocessor interface, allowing customers to easily add custom instructions and hardware accelerators within the same pipeline, and is compatible with the OpenCV Application Programming Interface (API), ensuring seamless integration with the mainstream computer vision frameworks. Additionally, the ZSP5000 series is equipped with a full-featured memory subsystem, a multi-channel 3D DMA engine, and a scalable multicore configuration, supporting flexible deployment for a broad spectrum of applications. The ZSP5000 series IPs are backward compatible with VeriSilicon's scalar ZSPNano series, efficiently handling mixed MCU and DSP workloads. VeriSilicon also offers comprehensive ZView development tools, including an Eclipse-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE), cycle-accurate simulator, optimizing compiler, debugger, and profiling tools, streamlining software development and system integration. 'With the growing adoption of OpenCV and the increasing demand for computer vision workloads alongside NPUs in edge intelligence computing, we are introducing the ZSP5000—our next-generation DSP IP series. It supports the industry-standard OpenCV API, enables streamlined interfacing with NPUs via our FLEXA interface, and integrates built-in audio processing capabilities for multi-modal applications,' said Weijin Dai, Chief Strategy Officer, Executive Vice President, and General Manager of the IP Division at VeriSilicon. 'Energy efficiency is key at the edge, and the ZSP5000 series IPs feature an optimized memory access architecture to minimize processor power consumption. It also features ZTurbo, a custom instruction extension mechanism designed for targeted applications, which enables further power and performance optimization through seamless integration of hardware accelerators. Our leading customers are already leveraging these capabilities to achieve significant advancements in power and performance.' VeriSilicon is committed to providing customers with platform-based, all-around, one-stop custom silicon services and semiconductor IP licensing services leveraging its in-house semiconductor IP. For more information, please visit:
