Daily Briefing
Saturday, 14 November 2026
55 stories published on this day, grouped by section.
The day in brief
- FAA Halts All US Departures After Communication Failure at Air Traffic Control Centres: The rare nationwide ground stop followed problems at the centres that guide aircraft between airports, and the FAA has not said when flights will resume.
- Turkiye and Qatar Sign Mutual Defence Pact Pledging a Joint Stance Against Attack: The accord, signed by Erdogan and Sheikh Tamim in Istanbul, adds joint exercises and defence-industry work, though neither government has released its text.
- Nvidia Board Says It Has Not Chosen a Search Firm or Formally Engaged CEO Candidates: The board called speculation about Jensen Huang's successor premature after a report that it had approached Arm chief Rene Haas, four days before Nvidia reports results.
- Google Says Its /teamwork AI Agents Solved Long-Open Problems, Opens Them to Researchers: Multi-agent workflows built on Gemini 4 produced formal proofs, a Rust rewrite of a video decoder and scheduling gains inside Google, the company says.
- China Warns Washington Against New Chip Curbs as Nvidia Scandal Fuels a Push in Congress: Beijing said it opposes the abuse of export controls as US lawmakers line up behind tighter limits on chipmaking equipment, days before Trump and Xi are due to meet.
AI
Saudi AI Start-Up Shaffra Says Its Digital Employees Saved Clients 800,000 Work Hours
The Riyadh company's AI recruiters run up to 20,000 interviews and its call-centre agents handle up to 8,000 calls a day, its chief executive says.
Business
UAE's Higher Colleges of Technology to Train 2,000 Students to Start Their Own Companies
The five-year programme with the New Economy Academy covers licensing, tax and AI tools for business planning, and sends viable ideas on to HCT incubators.
FAA Halts All US Departures After Communication Failure at Air Traffic Control Centres
The rare nationwide ground stop followed problems at the centres that guide aircraft between airports, and the FAA has not said when flights will resume.
FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop After Four Hours as Officials Blame Overloaded Systems
Investigators will check whether a new AI rerouting tool was involved, and airlines warn the backlog will spill into the weekend for more than a million stranded travellers.
DAMAC Targets 10GW Data Centre Pipeline by End of 2027, Up From About 6GW
Chairman Hussain Sajwani says $9 billion of the Dubai group's $20 billion US data centre programme is already invested, even as building costs have risen about 30%.
Blackstone's AirTrunk Signs MoU for 1.8GW of Data Centres in India's Andhra Pradesh
The two proposed campuses near Visakhapatnam made up most of the investment pledged on the second day of the state's CII Partnership Summit.
Companies
Nvidia Board Says It Has Not Chosen a Search Firm or Formally Engaged CEO Candidates
The board called speculation about Jensen Huang's successor premature after a report that it had approached Arm chief Rene Haas, four days before Nvidia reports results.
Nvidia Joined a Record 121 Startup Rounds This Year Before Huang's Exit, Crunchbase Says
The chipmaker was 2026's most active corporate venture investor, backing rounds for OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and Crusoe, and its new leadership may be less keen on such bets.
Abu Dhabi's e7 Lifts Nine-Month Profit 56.5% as Identity Solutions Revenue Rises 29%
The ADX-listed secure printing and identity group earned AED 91.7 million, though third-quarter margins narrowed as lower-margin education printing work picked up.
Amanat Holdings' Nine-Month Profit Rises 16% to AED145.3 Million
Growth at its UK care homes and special-needs education businesses lifted the Dubai-listed investor's revenue 23%, and it has now committed 60% of a AED1.5 billion growth plan.
Investors Fear Huang's Exit Will Cut Nvidia's Startup Funding and Push Valuations Down
Venture investors expect interim chief Colette Kress to be more cautious with the cheques that have propped up neoclouds, inference providers and open-weight model makers.
Amazon Plans a Database of Every Product Sold Online to Counter AI Shopping Agents
An internal document describes a 'World Product Graph' fed by brands and web crawling, and concedes that many answers from Amazon's own shopping assistant are wrong.
Trump Urged Jensen Huang to Fight for His Nvidia Job Before He Resigned
The president has since said Huang is 'going through hell' and named Tim Cook as the only man to replace him, as Democrats press for inquiries into what the White House knew.
SpaceX Calls Off Booster Catch on Starship's 15th Test Flight
The Super Heavy booster was diverted to a Gulf of Mexico splashdown while the upper stage flew on to deploy Starlink satellites ahead of a planned tower catch about 22 hours later.
Jensen Huang Misled Nvidia's General Counsel About Alice Huang Ties, Sources Say
Internal messages from October show the former chief executive described his dealings with the Megaspeed executive as routine customer business weeks before he resigned over their affair.
Presight's Third-Quarter Profit Rises 31% as Order Backlog Reaches Dh4.41 Billion
The Abu Dhabi AI company now earns almost all its quarterly revenue from multi-year contracts and expects full-year results in the mid-to-upper end of analyst forecasts.
Nvidia Executive Calls Viral Letter Demanding Huang's Return 'Obviously Fake'
Bryan Catanzaro says he never signed a letter that listed him among staff threatening to quit, though internal forums show real support for the former chief executive.
Fintech Sokin Wins DFSA Licence and Plans to Grow Its UAE Team to 100
The cross-border payments firm is offering dirham accounts through Ruya Community Islamic Bank and has opened an office at One Za'abeel with backing from Seed Group.
Rox Raises $100 Million at $1.3 Billion Valuation as Aramco's Prosperity7 Joins
The San Francisco start-up sells AI agents that research accounts and prepare outreach for enterprise sales teams, and is pitching itself as an alternative to Salesforce.
Microsoft Traces 365 Outage to Network Capacity Upgrade as Some UAE Reports Linger
The company says the disruption was not linked to cyberattacks or AI agents, while UAE users were still logging Outlook problems on Saturday morning.
Binghatti Says It Can Repay 2027 Sukuk as Moody's Weighs a Downgrade
Chairman Muhammad BinGhatti points to AED 2.7 billion of free cash, more than AED 10 billion in escrow and 6,378 homes due for handover before year end.
Dubai Investments' Nine-Month Pre-Tax Profit Edges Up to AED 1.13 Billion
Higher rental income kept the group ahead of last year, though the figures imply a weaker third quarter after a 29% first-half rise.
OpenAI Raises $15 Billion at $1.25 Trillion Valuation, Half Its Original Target
The round, which has not formally closed, came in below the $30 billion and $1.4 trillion price OpenAI first pitched, days before rival Anthropic lists on Nasdaq.
Julphar's Nine-Month Profit From Continuing Operations Jumps to AED 89 Million
The Ras Al Khaimah drugmaker lifted revenue 13.5% to AED 906 million, though total net profit fell against a 2025 period boosted by a one-off disposal gain.
Spinneys Absorbs Up to Fourfold Freight Costs to Keep UAE Shelves Stocked
The grocer's chief executive says US container costs have risen from $6,000 to $24,000 since February, but prices on 550 essential items will hold.
Markets
Nvidia Results and Anthropic's Nasdaq Debut Set Up a Two-Day Test for the AI Trade
Nvidia reports on Tuesday under an interim chief, and Anthropic is expected to price an offering of up to $64.4 billion on Wednesday before trading starts Thursday.
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Robinhood's Appeal Over 2021 IPO Disclosure Lawsuit
The justices will decide whether IPO issuers can be sued for leaving out interim financial data, with a ruling expected by the end of June.
Goldman Sachs Sees S&P 500 at 8,700 Within a Year Even as Earnings Growth Slows
The bank expects AI capital spending growth to peak in 2027 but says cheaper valuations and lower bond yields should keep stocks rising, with high volatility.
Kraken Opens Tokenized Anthropic IPO Requests as Bitcoin Slides Below $68,000
Non-US customers can request ANTx tokens at the offer price plus a 5% spread, while traders link bitcoin's six-week slide to money moving toward the listing.
Binance Aims to Reopen All Withdrawals by Next Week After $6.3 Billion Hack
The exchange restored withdrawals on 87 networks this week and has already covered 95% of the tokens stolen in an October 29 breach the FBI blames on North Korea.
Policy
Turkiye and Qatar Sign Mutual Defence Pact Pledging a Joint Stance Against Attack
The accord, signed by Erdogan and Sheikh Tamim in Istanbul, adds joint exercises and defence-industry work, though neither government has released its text.
China Warns Washington Against New Chip Curbs as Nvidia Scandal Fuels a Push in Congress
Beijing said it opposes the abuse of export controls as US lawmakers line up behind tighter limits on chipmaking equipment, days before Trump and Xi are due to meet.
IMF Says Lebanon Needs More Work on Bank Restructuring Before a New Programme
The fund reported progress after a staff visit to Beirut, but key laws on bank resolution and deposit recovery remain unresolved, and the finance minister is aiming for a deal in early 2027.
Megaspeed Case Exposes the Limits of Singapore's Policing of the AI Chip Trade
Singapore says Washington gave it little help in its Megaspeed inquiry, and corporate records link the Nvidia buyer to a Chinese gaming company.
UAE Sets Eid Al Etihad Holidays With Two Paid Days for Private Sector, Three for Government
Private-sector staff get December 2 and 3 off for the 55th national day, while federal employees are off until December 7, leaving companies to plan around a one-day gap.
White House AI Task Force Urges Liability Relief to Spur Reporting of AI Cyber Incidents
Agencies should limit penalties on companies that report attacks in good faith for at least 12 months, the task force said, as a key information-sharing law nears expiry.
Trump Won't Raise Nvidia Case or Chip Controls With Xi in Shenzhen, Officials Say
Elon Musk will travel with the president to the APEC summit, where the White House says Trump, Xi and Putin will hold their first three-way meeting.
Nvidia Scandal Puts Export Control Agency and Its Chief Under Congressional Scrutiny
Jeffrey Kessler, who runs the Bureau of Industry and Security, weighed inviting Jensen Huang to headline its January conference and has been asked to testify on December 3.
Senator Murray Presses OpenAI on ChatGPT Medical Safeguards After Seattle Woman's Death
The Washington Democrat gave OpenAI until December 1 to explain what has changed since Bowen Wan, whose family says ChatGPT guided her off seizure medication, died.
GCC Tells UN Security Council Gulf States Have Faced More Than 7,000 Missiles and Drones
Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi called for an immediate halt to attacks on Gulf states and shipping, and for Gulf seats at any talks that touch their security.
Nonprofits Sue Five AI Developers to Stop Work on More Capable Frontier Models
The San Francisco suit against OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and SpaceX's AI unit uses California's unfair competition law to seek an immediate injunction.
Warsh Convenes Fed Forum on AI's Economic Impact as Officials Split on Jobs and Prices
Monday's three-hour session in San Francisco is the only public event of the five task forces the Fed chair set up, and every member of this one comes from tech.
Democratic Senators Tell Musk to Preserve SpaceX Records on Ukraine Starshield Limits
Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Coons want communications since September 1, including with the White House and Pentagon, after Ukraine reported new disruptions to the military satellite service.
AI Becomes the Top Financial Stability Worry in Fed Survey, Cited by 87% of Contacts
The share of market contacts naming AI as a salient risk rose from 50% in the spring, putting it well ahead of a broad market correction and higher rates.
Houthis Claim Drone Strikes on Riyadh Airport and Saudi East-West Oil Pipeline
Saudi Arabia has not commented on the unverified claims, which target the pipeline the kingdom relies on to move crude to the Red Sea and avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump and Xi Expected to Settle Details of AI Incident Channel at APEC in Shenzhen
The leaders agreed in September to open a line for urgent AI incidents, and analysts expect modest results as Chinese models show some of the risks seen in US systems.
UN Review Conference in Geneva to Decide Next Steps on AI-Powered Autonomous Weapons
Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons meet from November 16 to 20 to weigh draft elements of an instrument on lethal autonomous weapons systems.
Von der Leyen Tells EU Leaders Europe Needs at Least €500 Billion for Tech Sovereignty
At the bloc's first leaders' summit on AI, held in Dublin, the Commission pointed to seven planned AI gigafactories and about €30 billion being mobilised for them.
Modi's Office Summons Telecom Secretary Over Website Blocks Based on Fake Court Orders
India's telecom department told internet providers to block 129 betting sites on the strength of two forged High Court orders that sat on its website for months.
Chinese Open-Weight Models Show Signs of Training on Banned Nvidia Blackwell Chips
A former OpenAI researcher says weights from DeepSeek V4 and Moonshot's Kimi K3 bear Blackwell fingerprints, as the Megaspeed scandal puts Nvidia's China exposure under scrutiny.
Research
Google Says Its /teamwork AI Agents Solved Long-Open Problems, Opens Them to Researchers
Multi-agent workflows built on Gemini 4 produced formal proofs, a Rust rewrite of a video decoder and scheduling gains inside Google, the company says.
Products
Tesla Invites Select Buyers to Order Cybercab for Personal Use at $29,990
Owners must also pay a $299 monthly autonomy subscription, and the steering-wheel-free two-seater will run only in areas Tesla supports, with first deliveries estimated for December.
NiCE Relaunches Cognigy With Tools for Running Fleets of Contact Centre AI Agents
The update folds default speech and language models into per-conversation pricing and adds turn-by-turn tracing and simulated testing of up to 10 agent variants.
Meta's Muse AI Agent Can Now Phone US Businesses for Paying Subscribers
Meta tested the calling feature in September and brought in human operators for a while because many businesses hang up once they realise an AI is on the line.
Runway Releases Open Weights for Praxis-1, Its Video-Trained Robot Control Model
The 27-billion-parameter model is available under Apache 2.0 for commercial use and tops Nvidia's RoboLab-120 leaderboard among world action models, by Runway's own testing.
The Nakoda AI Brief
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