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A new initiative unveiled by the Dubai Future Foundation in collaboration with the MIT Senseable City Lab presents a data-intensive approach to urban greenery by applying artificial intelligence to evaluate the cooling effect of trees in multiple global cities. The project, named “Re-Leaf”, harnesses satellite imagery, street-level visuals and thermal data across locations such as Dubai, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Rome to measure how trees can function as natural cooling infrastructure.

Re-Leaf reveals that shade and evapotranspiration from trees can reduce local surface temperatures by up to 15 °C compared with surrounding paved or built areas. One key finding is that drought-resistant species such as neem trees outperform more commonly planted palms in arid urban environments. DFF described the work as a shift in treating urban vegetation “as essential infrastructure for the cities of tomorrow”.

The initiative emerges under the banner of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, curated by Carlo Ratti, in which Re-Leaf features as a special project. The exhibit presents city-scale “skyscraper-like” visualisations that depict greenery levels across the participating cities, with taller towers indicating higher vegetation cover.

Dubai’s establishment of the first Middle East-based Senseable City Lab via DFF provides a focal point for this research. The lab, working in partnership with MIT, developed the algorithms and datasets behind the project. From a strategic perspective, the work aligns with Dubai’s ambition to be an innovation hub and to address the demands of climate-resilient urban planning.

Beyond the headline figure of 15 °C cooling, the dataset comprises more than 2,000 trees across the four cities, allowing comparative analysis of species performance in different climates and urban morphologies. The research team emphasises that while the act of planting trees is well-known, the novelty lies in quantifying their impact using high-resolution AI tools and translating the results into actionable urban design decisions. “In a hotter world, trees must be seen as essential infrastructure, not just decoration,” Ratti said.

Urban planners and environmental scientists are responding to the project by pointing out its potential to shift policy focus from reactive mitigations—such as heavy air-conditioning—to proactive green infrastructure deployment. According to one expert, tree shading and transpiration “are vital for climate-responsive urban design”. For cities in arid or semi-arid zones—where energy use for cooling is high and water scarcity is acute—the findings are particularly relevant. The identification of species that deliver stronger cooling while requiring less water offers practical guidance for future planting strategies.

However, the project also faces scepticism around questions of scalability and implementation cost. Critics ask whether data-rich analyses can translate into large-scale urban forestry programmes in dense built environments, and note that factors such as soil depth, maintenance regimes and tree lifespan require further study. One architecture-critique article raised a broader question: “Do we need AI to confirm that trees cool cities?” highlighting the risk of attending to measurement rather than action.

The choice of cities for analysis – Dubai, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Rome – reflects a mix of climatic zones and urban typologies, offering the chance to test how vegetation behaves across contexts. Amsterdam, with a temperate maritime climate, provides contrast to Dubai’s arid conditions, while Rome offers a dense historical fabric and Los Angeles a sprawling low-rise geography. Re-Leaf’s catalogue of thousands of tree species and urban cooling maps explicitly aims to support urban designers and policymakers.

For DFF and its partners, integrating tree-cooling metrics into master-planning holds promise beyond aesthetics. The project’s immersive display at Venice functions not only to showcase technology but to prompt debate on how cities invest in nature-based solutions. DFF Director of Dubai Future Labs, Khalifa Al Qama, described the work as generating insights with global value.

Engineering firm ABB India has announced a 25 per cent increase in the production capacity of variable speed drives at its Peenya facility in Bengaluru. The expansion involves a newly installed production line equipped with advanced automation and sensor-based monitoring, and is aimed at boosting local manufacturing, reducing lead times and supporting domestic industry sectors such as buildings, data centres, water, cement and metal processing.

The new manufacturing line is reported to slash lead-times by up to 40 per cent while enabling more customer-specific configuration of high-power drives. According to AR Madhusudan, Business Line Manager, Drive Products at ABB India, “As we mark two decades of drives production in India, this expansion reinforces our strong commitment to advancing local production capabilities and delivering energy-efficient technologies for India’s industries.” The upgrade is said to align with the country’s wider ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives and reflect the Group’s deployment of Industry 4.0-style automation.

The enhanced line integrates robotics for the assembly of key components and digital monitoring tools for real-time visibility of operations, designed to boost productivity while reducing manual handling and improving safety. Tuomo Hoysniemi, Division President for Drive Products in ABB Motion, stated the move supports the firm’s global push to help industries become leaner and cleaner by localising production and strengthening ecosystem proximity to customers.

Driven market demand for energy-efficient drives has been growing rapidly, as industries seek to reduce electricity consumption and enhance operational performance. VSDs allow electric motors to adjust speed to match demand, which in turn lowers energy use and improves process control. ABB’s upgrade adds capacity for large-power-rated drives to meet higher performance needs in key industry verticals.

The decision to bolster local manufacturing forms part of ABB’s broader global strategy. The firm has previously stated it aims to achieve over 90 per cent local production in key markets including India, to mitigate supply-chain risk and respond more nimbly to demand. Outside India, ABB has increased investment in the U. S. and Europe to expand local production capacity for electrification equipment and industrial automation.

Industry analysts note that with growing pressure on carbon emissions as well as rising electricity costs, the demand for high-efficiency drives is set to rise steadily. Manufacturing localisation also delivers benefits such as reduced logistics cost, faster service and improved customisation, especially when the line can deliver “made-to-order” drives to match client specifications.

In India, the upgrade is also timed with the global celebrations by ABB of 50 years of innovation in drives and two decades of drives production in India. The move is expected to strengthen ABB India’s position among competitors in the domestic automation market, in which other firms are also investing in local ecosystem capabilities and digital manufacturing.

However, challenges remain. While localisation reduces lead times and improves responsiveness, it also requires ongoing investment in workforce skills, digital infrastructure and supply-chain resilience. The extent to which the upgraded line will translate into significantly higher market share for ABB India or broader cost advantages remains to be seen. Similarly, customer uptake may depend on the long-term savings delivered by the drives and the availability of after-sales support in the regions targeted.

A new financial entity, Evernorth Holdings Inc., backed by Ripple Labs and a cadre of major investors, is embarking on a substantial accumulation of the cryptocurrency XRP, aiming to raise more than US$1 billion via a merger with Armada Acquisition Corp II and list on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker “XRPN”. According to on-chain data, the firm has acquired around 388.7 million XRP at an average price of US$2.44 per token, representing roughly 95 per cent of its initial US$1 billion target.

Evernorth’s structure diverges from typical passive crypto funds by seeking to deliver regulated, liquid equity exposure to XRP while simultaneously building a dedicated treasury operation. The company plans to deploy acquired XRP into lending programmes, liquidity-provision initiatives and decentralised-finance protocols, rather than simply holding the tokens. This approach is led by CEO Asheesh Birla, and supported by strategic advisors including Ripple’s CTO. Major backers include SBI Holdings, Pantera Capital, Kraken and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen.

Market observers draw a parallel between Evernorth’s accumulation strategy and the approach taken by MicroStrategy Incorporated with its Bitcoin holdings, suggesting a potential supply constraint in XRP that could influence pricing dynamics. Analysts estimate Evernorth’s holding could absorb up to 2 per cent of XRP’s liquid supply within a year, tightening available tokens for retail circulation. The company’s public-market vehicle may further attract institutional capital that would be channelled into open-market purchases of XRP by the treasury arm.

The strategic significance of Evernorth extends beyond token accumulation. By enabling a publicly traded entity dedicated to XRP exposure, it lowers traditional institutional barriers—such as asset custody, regulatory transparency and mandate-compliance—that have impeded large-scale crypto adoption. Evernorth’s design allows corporate treasuries, pension funds and asset managers to gain direct exposure to XRP through an equity wrapper, bypassing conventional hurdles of spot-token holdings. Concurrently, its active deployment of XRP into yield-generating operations seeks to drive liquidity, on-chain utility and ecosystem momentum, aligning its interests with Ripple’s broader infrastructure objectives in cross-border settlement and network expansion.

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs has secured the richest place in regional mergers and acquisitions activity in the Middle East and North Africa market, advising on 24 deals worth a combined US$104 billion in the first nine months of 2025, according to data from LSEG Deals Intelligence. The firm’s Co-head of Investment Banking for the Middle East & North Africa, Jassim AlSane, said the growth was driven by “national champions … with significant growth objectives” and government-backed strategies.

M&A volumes across the region have picked up substantially, supported by sovereign backing and major consolidation efforts. According to LSEG’s broader MENA investment banking review, M&A activity hit US$66.4 billion in the first quarter alone, illustrating a robust trajectory for the region. The strong performance underscores an increasingly active market for deals even amid global macro-economic headwinds.

Goldman’s dominance emerged as national-champion companies in the Gulf co-led big transactions. These firms often benefit from state support and predefined strategic mandates that accelerate investment decisions. AlSane highlighted that the top-10 deals for the firm in the region were “underpinned by an approved strategy” and “government-backed,” signalling a close alignment between private investment banks and states seeking large-scale diversification.

Key sectors powering the deal flow include energy-transition assets, infrastructure, and digital platforms. Observers note that the MENA region is embracing its role as a growth frontier for capital deployment, leveraging both private and sovereign funds to consolidate industries and build scale quickly. In particular, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates continue to push forward national frameworks that incentivise large transactions.

Despite the gains, the environment is not without uncertainty. Globally, deal volume has not uniformly increased — while deal value is up, the overall number of transactions in certain markets remains flat or declining. In the MENA context, some deals have faced delays or regulatory hurdles associated with cross‐border scrutiny and the need for state coordination. Critics argue that heavy reliance on government-backed mandates may reduce private-sector initiative and create hurdles in negotiation and valuation.

Goldman’s rise in the region also reflects wider trends in global investment banking. The firm posted a 42 per cent jump in investment-banking fees in the third quarter of 2025, citing advisory revenue jolts of 60 per cent year-on-year. While that data is global rather than specifically MENA-focused, it indicates that investment banking hunger for strategic transactions is rising and Goldman is benefiting. These elevated fee levels are the highest the firm has seen in years and point to a structural shift in deal-making dynamics.

Over $250 million has been wiped out from leveraged positions across major cryptocurrency markets within the last 60 minutes, according to real-time tracker alerts. The bulk of the liquidations hit long bets, triggering a sharp lash of volatility that rattled traders across exchanges.

Data from multiple crypto-analytics feeds show that Bitcoin and Ethereum bore the brunt of the forced closures, with long positions cascading under mounting downward pressure. The alerts indicate that around $200 million of that total was liquidated in just the preceding 15 minutes. Margin calls and automatic stop-loss triggers have sharply pared back open interest.

Market participants point to a combination of lower-than-expected macro signals and heightened global risk aversion as catalysts for the sudden liquidation wave. Macro equity markets have seen risk assets fall under pressure over the past sessions, prompting a spillover into speculative crypto positions. The added strain from derivatives exposure amplified the move.

Crypto exchange data show that Binance, Bybit and OKX recorded the highest volumes of liquidations, especially in their perpetual futures markets. On Binance alone, over $80 million in long positions may have been forcibly closed, according to traders cross-checking the on-chain and order-book flows. Ethereum perpetuals also registered substantial losses, particularly in mid- and high-leverage tiers.

Analysts observing funding rates and open interest across exchanges have flagged an abrupt deleveraging. The funding rates for many altcoins flipped negative, signalling that the short side was gaining dominance as leverage unwound. Open interest across high-risk tokens dropped by 15 – 20 % in many cases, suppressing liquidity and heightening slippage.

Several algorithmic trading desks and quant funds experienced knock-on effects. As large liquidations pulled prices lower, stop orders cascaded, exacerbating the decline in thin markets. Some trading firms reported losses due to slippage and forced exits—even though positions were hedged—with automated strategies failing to escape the downdraft in time.

A few larger holders, often designated as ‘whales’, appear to have opportunistically repositioned. Some have placed bids closer to now-discounted levels in anticipation of a bounce; others reduced exposure altogether. On-chain indicators suggest increased inflows to stablecoin pools and accumulation in non-spot holdings, hinting at a cautious redeployment rather than wholesale exit.

Institutional interest remains muted amid the turmoil. According to contacts in digital-asset fund management, most institutions were already operating with limited leverage and hedges in place. Few entered new positions during the seizure of volatility, and many paused trades to watch whether support levels would hold.