News related to
First

Thailand has wrapped up the second Thailand Kickboxing World Cup in Bangkok and used the event to unveil KATPRO, a new professional league aimed at turning the country into a more prominent force in global kickboxing. The tournament was staged at the Bangkok Youth Center, also known as the Thai-Japanese Youth Center, with WAKO listing the event in Bangkok from 7 to 12 April 2026, while organisers said the main World Cup competition ran from 9 to 11 April and the professional launch followed on 11 April.

Organisers said the World Cup drew athletes and officials from 32 countries, underlining the scale of the event and the growing international pull of combat sports in Thailand beyond its traditional Muay Thai base. One published account put attendance at more than 1,500 athletes and officials, while another report ahead of the competition cited more than 720 athletes and over 1,200 supporters and officials. The difference appears to reflect varying methods of counting participants and delegations, but both sets of figures point to a sizeable international turnout.

Bangkok crowns a bigger kickboxing ambition became the broader message around the event, as sport officials and tourism planners tied the competition to a larger push to position the country as a year-round destination for international sports events. The Kickboxing Association of Thailand organised the tournament with WAKO and in cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Bangkok authorities, giving the competition both sporting and promotional value.

For Thailand, the timing is significant. Combat sport is already central to the country’s international sporting identity, but kickboxing has long occupied a secondary place to Muay Thai in public visibility and commercial development. By hosting another WAKO-recognised World Cup and pairing it with a new professional platform, Thai organisers are signalling that they want to build a parallel ecosystem: one that can develop amateur athletes, attract overseas fighters and sponsors, and create a clearer route into paid competition.

That strategy also reflects the changing shape of global striking sports. Kickboxing has grown through international federations, regional circuits and commercial promotions that reward standardised rules, television-friendly formats and cross-border matchmaking. Thailand already has the infrastructure, coaching depth and fight culture to compete in that space. What it has lacked is a more structured domestic platform designed specifically for kickboxing rather than adapted from Muay Thai. KATPRO appears intended to fill that gap. Organisers described it as the country’s first structured professional kickboxing league, launched at the same venue as the World Cup. The opening gala featured seven bouts with fighters from more than 10 countries and followed professional procedures including weigh-ins and face-offs.

The official messaging around the World Cup and league launch stressed athlete development as much as spectacle. That matters because Thailand’s long-term credibility in kickboxing will depend not only on hosting events, but on producing fighters who can succeed regularly under international kickboxing rules. WAKO’s event listing confirms that the Bangkok competition sat within a wider calendar of World Cups and championships across multiple countries, placing Thailand within an established global circuit rather than a standalone showcase.

There is also an economic calculation behind the push. Sports tourism has become a more deliberate policy tool across Asia, with governments and city administrations using tournaments to drive hotel occupancy, transport demand, media attention and repeat visits. Holding a multinational combat sports event in Bangkok during April gives organisers a chance to blend competition with destination marketing, and tourism officials made clear they view such events as part of a wider international branding effort.

Still, the bigger test lies ahead. Hosting a successful World Cup is one thing; building a durable professional league is another. Professional combat sports require dependable matchmaking, medical oversight, sponsorship, broadcast distribution, fighter pay structures and fan interest strong enough to support repeated cards. Thailand has advantages in venue culture, gym networks and audience familiarity with striking sports, but kickboxing still has to define its identity in a market where Muay Thai remains the dominant brand.

The collaboration combines Paymentology’s cloud-first processing platform with Change Financial’s local BIN sponsorship, regulatory expertise and in-market presence – enabling fintechs, digital banks and programme managers to launch and scale debit, credit and prepaid programmes more efficiently in the Australian market.

Change Financial is a Mastercard Principal Issuer in Australia, providing local scheme connectivity and compliance support. Together with Paymentology’s real-time, multi-cloud processing infrastructure, the partnership creates a streamlined pathway for fintechs looking to enter or expand in the country.

Australia represents one of the world’s most advanced digital payments markets. The national payments market was valued at USD 849.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 1.35 trillion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 5.09% between 2026 and 2034. Cards and mobile wallets now sit at the centre of everyday transactions, as digital adoption continues to accelerate. Australians made approximately AUD 160 billion in mobile wallet payments in the past year alone, with billions of transactions recorded annually, highlighting strong demand for digital-first, contactless and mobile-enabled payment experiences.

Minh Ha Truong, Head of Growth Asia Pacific at Paymentology commented: “Australia is one of the most sophisticated payments ecosystems globally, with strong consumer adoption of digital, contactless and mobile-first experiences. By partnering with Change Financial, we’re combining next-generation issuing infrastructure with trusted local BIN sponsorship and expertise, unlocking faster payment method adoption for fintechs and helping them scale confidently in the Australian market.”

Change Financial brings deep experience supporting fintechs and financial institutions through local sponsorship, scheme relationships and programme enablement.

Jennifer Mateer, Chief Commercial Officer at Change Financial added: “We collaborate closely with fintechs and programme managers every day to launch innovative payment solutions with speed and confidence. Our partnership with Paymentology combines our local market expertise with global-scale issuing infrastructure, enabling innovators to accelerate time to market and deliver compelling card payment experiences to Australian consumers and businesses.”

Hashtag: #Paymentology #Fintech

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Paymentology

Paymentology is the leading next-generation issuer processor, empowering fintechs, digital banks and retail banks to effortlessly launch and manage innovative payment solutions on a global scale. The company drives greater customer choice and value through easy-to-use, integrated platforms and services that help clients to disrupt the status quo, accelerate time to market, and achieve growth.

With a superior multi-cloud platform offering a vast global footprint, and enhanced real-time data, Paymentology distinguishes itself as a leader in the payments industry. Its team of payments experts, with deep local market knowledge, operates across 50 countries and 14 time zones, providing 24/7 support. Paymentology is deeply committed to expanding financial inclusion globally, changing lives and positively impacting the communities in which it operates.

For more information, visit https://www.Paymentology.com.

China Unicom Delivered a Masterclass in Connected Marathon Events

Marathon events typically feature high-density crowds with an extensive demand for uploads. China Unicom and Huawei turned to 5G-A 3CC on 3.5 GHz and 2.1 GHz for the event, ensuring an uplink fulfillment at 20 Mbps surpassing 99.6%, along with a peak speed of field-tested 677 Mbps. This impressive uplink performance provided consistent and reliable support for 4K/8K broadcasting and real-time collection and editing while also enabling fans to share and stream smoothly.

Such unrivalled experience is underpinned not only by high-quality networks but also flexible operations. China Unicom and Huawei used intelligent base stations to build 5G-A intelligent, elastic channels for the event. This facilitated differentiated scheduling for livestreaming, voice and video calling, and short videos to ensure smooth experiences for fans even at heavy-traffic moments.

5G-A GigaUplink Takes Embodied AI to New Heights

In a global first, the E-Town half-marathon features a pioneering format that sees human and robot runners compete simultaneously. The humanoid robots were divided into an autonomous navigation group and a remote-control group, running on the same course and evaluated using mixed timing methods. Each humanoid robot requires approximately 10 Mbps uplink for video uploads, environment sensing, gait control, and autonomous navigation. Dedicated uplink slices were reserved to ensure a positioning accuracy of up to sub-decimeter level and an average end-to-end latency of less than 30 ms throughout the racing course, which provided strong support for the video uploads, obstacle avoidance, cornering, and sprinting of humanoid robots. While offering technical upgrades to sports events, this promoted the adoption of humanoid robots on a large scale.

Qin Yang, Deputy General Manager of China Unicom in Beijing spoke proudly of the excellent connections his company provided for the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games as a global strategic partner and the 2026 Beijing E-Town Half-Marathon event as the exclusive official communications sponsor. “5G-A and AI are essential digital infrastructure, enabling us to bring embodied AI to sports. Given the new dynamics of AI development, we will double down on our priorities over connectivity, computing power, services, and security to sharpen our competitive edges as a preferred telecom partner for intelligent sports and a core enabler for intelligent industry transformation. Moving forward, we will accelerate our innovation-driven push to strengthen our digital infrastructure and drive the high-quality growth of embodied AI in China and beyond.”

Samuel Chen, Vice President of Huawei’s Wireless Network Business Marketing, said this humanoid robot half-marathon offers a good example of deepening integration between mobile technology and embodied intelligence. “Beyond redefining connectivity for sports, it has shown us what intelligent production and life will look like in future. We are always dedicated to building excellent 5G-A networks together with operators based on user-centered innovation to ensure GigaUplink, low latency, and high reliability for differentiated mobile AI services. This will enable us to continuously drive the high-quality growth of the digital economy.”
Hashtag: #Huawei #ChinaUnicom

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

By Nantoo Banerjee Pakistan may be right that peace in Lebanon is essential for talks between the US and Iran. But, the key question is: will Iran’s theological regime ever ask its terror sponsor, Hezbollah, to go soft on Israel which lately launched massive waves of airstrikes across southern Lebanon, hitting over 200 Hezbollah targets, […]

The article Pakistan’s Back-Channel US-Iran Peace Negotiation May Not Work appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

According to statistics from the China General Administration of Customs, emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have become a key driver of export growth. However, underdeveloped local financial infrastructure, incomplete cross-border payment systems, and shortages of foreign exchange mean buyers often struggle to access U.S. dollars. As a result, exporters in these markets frequently face low settlement efficiency, slow cash recovery, and risks such as account freezes.

To address these collection challenges, XTransfer has developed a comprehensive set of cross-border collection solutions. In 2025, payment collections from emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America rose 106% year-on-year. By region, collections increased 273% in Africa, 82% in Southeast Asia, and 94% in Latin America.

Over the same period, customs statistics show that in 2025, China’s total goods exports to Asia, Africa, and Latin America increased 14.6% year-on-year, with exports to Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America up 26.6%, 14%, and 8%, respectively. XTransfer’s significantly faster growth in collections compared with export growth suggests exporters are accelerating the shift from informal channels to secure, compliant collection methods, and that market recognition of high-quality cross-border payment services continues to rise.

Bill Deng, Founder and CEO of XTransfer, said emerging markets offer long-term opportunities for Chinese exporters, but many are held back by the “last mile” of collections. He added that XTransfer is committed to helping SMEs collect funds safely and quickly through secure, compliant, and efficient cross-border financial services comparable to those used by multinational companies.

Release of XTransfer PMI
At the Canton Fair, XTransfer partnered with the Yicai Research Institute to publish the “China Small and Medium Enterprises (B2B) Merchandise Export Purchasing Manager Index” (XTransfer Export PMI), offering operational guidance and decision-making reference for small and micro export-oriented businesses.

This edition draws on a sample survey of XTransfer’s 800,000 SME users, selecting over 3,000 companies nationwide. It covers the full export process across export orders, pricing, procurement, logistics, staffing, and cash flow. The report shows that the March 2026 XTransfer PMI was 51.56%, indicating export conditions for SMEs are generally improving. Despite a complex external environment, SMEs have remained resilient and steadily strengthened their pricing power in international markets. Meanwhile, demand structures in emerging markets are reshaping, with export focus shifting toward intermediate goods and higher value-added products.

Resilience Amid Geopolitical Disruptions
Customs data show that in the first quarter, China’s goods exports reached RMB 6.85 trillion, up 11.9% year-on-year, marking a strong start to the year and benefiting SMEs. The XTransfer PMI also shows expansion in the export order index (53.85) and the export price index (56.15). While seasonal factors like the Spring Festival affected the short term, the underlying “volume and price rising together” trend suggests SMEs are accelerating their shift from “low-price internal competition,” strengthening pricing power through technology upgrades and improved quality.

Geopolitical disruptions have also extended delivery times, pushing the logistics time PMI down to 37.50. In contrast, the sales collection (receivables) index rose to 68.59, showing a pattern of “goods moving slower, money returning faster”. This suggests overseas buyers remain strongly tied to China’s high-quality supply chain and are willing to raise prepayment ratios or shorten payment terms to secure capacity. One exhibitor, Mr Wang, said, “A Southeast Asian customer increased its deposit from 30% to 70% to lock in production, worried our capacity would be booked by others.“

Emerging Markets Demand Trends Toward “High-End” Upgrading
The report highlights a shift toward higher-end demand in emerging markets. Africa’s export orders index (57.55) points to rising infrastructure-related demand; Latin America’s export orders index (56.47) and price index (57.81) signal opportunities in electromechanical and optical medical equipment; and Southeast Asia is absorbing components and semi-finished goods, calling for SMEs to move from finished-goods suppliers to supply-chain partners.

As industrialisation accelerates in emerging markets, demand for high-quality intermediate goods, complete electromechanical equipment, and technical services is rising. SMEs are moving from “low-end capacity exports” to “exports of technology and supply chain support”.

The composite PMI for the “New Three” (new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, and lithium batteries) was 54.59. The “New Three” sectors continue to hold growth potential, and enterprises need to enhance profit margins by delivering differentiated value.
Hashtag: #XTransfer #PMI #Crossborder #Payment #SMEs

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has cast Amaravati’s quantum push as a test of whether the country can build strategic technology capacity at home rather than remain tied to foreign platforms, using the launch of two indigenous open-access facilities to argue that partnership with global companies need not mean dependence. The remarks came days after the state unveiled Amaravati 1S and Amaravati 1Q on World Quantum Day, presenting the project as both a technology milestone and a political statement about capability.

Speaking in Amaravati, Naidu pushed back on questions over reliance on companies such as IBM, saying the starting point mattered less than whether domestic institutions could absorb, adapt and eventually build. He described the new facility as proof that companies and researchers in the country are capable of producing quantum systems, while acknowledging that the path to scale will involve collaboration. That framing is central to the state government’s pitch: use foreign alliances where useful, but ensure design, testing, skills and manufacturing depth are developed locally.

The immediate trigger for that argument was the April 14 launch of the Amaravati Quantum Reference Facility, or AQRF, spread across SRM University-AP in Amaravati and Medha Towers in Gannavaram. Andhra Pradesh has described the systems as the country’s first indigenously built, open-access quantum computer test beds, intended to let researchers, startups and industry users test hardware under operating conditions rather than rely only on closed imported machines. Officials say the site is designed to validate processors, cryogenic systems, amplifiers and control electronics, with access for hands-on study and benchmarking.

That matters because quantum computing remains a field in which much of the world’s high-end hardware is controlled by a small number of companies and laboratories. Andhra Pradesh officials and syndicated reports on the launch said about 85 per cent of the facility’s components were manufactured domestically, a claim being used to support the government’s assertion that a “sovereign hardware ecosystem” is now possible. The systems were developed with support from institutions including the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Indian Institute of Science and the Defence Research and Development Organisation, alongside younger firms working on hardware integration.

Yet the sovereignty message sits alongside a second reality: Amaravati’s longer-term quantum ambitions still rely on international corporate participation. IBM, Tata Consultancy Services and the Andhra Pradesh government announced in May 2025 that the planned Quantum Valley Tech Park in Amaravati would seek to host an IBM Quantum System Two with a 156-qubit Heron processor, subject to export licences and final agreements, while TCS would work on algorithms and applications. Naidu himself described that project at the time as part of the National Quantum Mission and a route to job creation and industrial use cases.

That leaves Andhra Pradesh trying to strike a careful balance. On one hand, the state wants the credibility, tooling and developer ecosystem that come with IBM and TCS. On the other, Naidu is signalling that strategic depth cannot rest on access alone. His comparison with the telecom sector was meant to make that case: the country did not master mobile and network technologies overnight, but built capability over time through policy support, local firms and institutional confidence. In quantum, he appears to be arguing for the same sequence — collaborate first where necessary, but move steadily towards domestic competence.

The wider national backdrop supports that ambition. The National Quantum Mission, approved in April 2023 with an outlay of Rs 6,003.65 crore running through 2030-31, is meant to seed research, industrial development and applications across computing, communications, sensing and materials. The Department of Science and Technology says the mission aims to develop intermediate-scale quantum computers in the 50 to 1,000 physical qubit range and has already set up four thematic hubs led by IISc Bengaluru, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi. Amaravati’s project is therefore not operating in isolation; it is seeking to attach itself to a national push that is still in its build-out phase.

The deal did not arrive in isolation. It came only weeks after KKR invested $95 million, taking the wider financing linked to that phase of fundraising to about $315 million. Lenskart said the fresh capital would support expansion of its online business and physical store network, reinforcing its strategy of building an omni-channel model rather than relying solely on digital sales. That approach helped distinguish it from many internet-first companies that were still testing how to translate app traffic into durable consumer brands.

Founded in 2010, Lenskart entered physical retail in 2013 and built its business around prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses and sunglasses, using technology tools such as virtual try-on features and a tightly managed supply chain to bring down delivery times and widen consumer choice. The 2021 fundraising gave investors another signal that eye care and vision products could support a scaled consumer business in a market where organised retail had long remained fragmented. It also underlined growing confidence that health-linked discretionary categories could attract repeat spending even outside the big metropolitan centres.

At the time, the broader market backdrop was unusually supportive. India’s start-up sector went through a record funding cycle in 2021, with Reuters later reporting that start-ups in the country raised about $35 billion that year before the market turned more difficult in 2022. Lenskart’s round therefore became part of a larger story: global investors were competing for exposure to domestic consumption, digital adoption and a new generation of companies that blended software, logistics and offline distribution. That enthusiasm also produced a wave of unicorns, richer private valuations and a heavier pipeline for later public listings.

What makes the Lenskart story more durable than a single boom-year headline is what followed. The company continued to attract capital after the 2021 round, raising another $200 million in 2024 from Temasek and Fidelity in a deal that valued it at about $5 billion, according to reports. That step-up suggested investors still saw room for growth despite the post-2021 funding reset that hit many privately held technology firms. It also showed that consumer-facing businesses with large store networks, repeat demand and clearer revenue visibility were being treated differently from cash-burning platforms built around discount-led expansion.

By 2025, Lenskart had moved into the next phase of that journey, filing for an initial public offering and seeking a valuation of nearly $8 billion at the top end of its price band. Reuters reported that the company had 2,067 stores across the country and another 656 overseas, reflecting a business that had grown well beyond its original online-only identity. That proposed public market debut placed Lenskart among a wider group of venture-backed companies testing whether private-market optimism could translate into sustained investor demand on the stock exchange.

Operationally, the business has also shown signs of maturing. Reuters reported in November 2025 that Lenskart had turned profitable in financial year 2025 and posted a 23% rise in revenue to 66.53 billion rupees. Another Reuters report in February 2026 said about 80% of its revenue came from prescription eyeglasses, while international revenue from Southeast Asia, Japan and the Middle East was rising strongly. Those figures matter because they suggest the company’s scale is now being supported not only by funding rounds and valuation jumps, but by a more established earnings and expansion profile.

At the centre of the Manila discussions was Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and Chief Executive of Dubai Chambers, who met Ferdinand A. Ferrer, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Donald Lim, president of the Management Association of the Philippines. According to Dubai Chambers, the conversations focused on trade facilitation, investment promotion and business partnerships, with particular attention to artificial intelligence, digital transformation and smart cities. Separate talks were also held with leading Filipino companies, where Dubai’s advantages were presented in areas including the digital economy, real estate investment and retail.

The Manila visit was not an isolated diplomatic stop. It followed the formal launch of Dubai International Chamber’s office in Manila on April 14, part of Dubai’s wider effort to build a larger global commercial footprint. Dubai Chambers says the office will serve both sides of the relationship: helping Filipino companies study opportunities in Dubai and use the emirate as a platform for expansion, while also supporting Dubai-based companies looking to enter the Philippine market through local intelligence, commercial introductions and help with market entry.

The commercial backdrop helps explain the urgency. Non-oil trade between Dubai and the Philippines reached AED3.58 billion in 2025, a 17 per cent increase from 2024, according to Dubai Chambers. By the end of December 2025, 2,592 Filipino companies were registered as active members of Dubai Chamber of Commerce, up 23.3 per cent year on year, while 856 new Filipino companies joined during 2025. Those figures point to a relationship that is moving beyond labour and remittance links into a more formalised business corridor involving services, trade intermediation, investment and corporate expansion.

That momentum has been building for some time. In May 2025, Dubai Chamber of Commerce organised a trade mission to the Philippines involving representatives from 17 Dubai-based private-sector companies. The mission produced 180 bilateral business meetings and included a Manila forum, “Doing Business with the Philippines”, attended by 314 participants. During that forum, Dubai Chambers signed a memorandum of understanding with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry to strengthen cooperation and explore new avenues for trade and investment. January 2026 brought another symbolic marker when First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos visited Dubai Chambers headquarters, adding political visibility to what has become a more structured economic relationship.

For Dubai, the Manila initiative fits a larger policy design. The chamber says the office forms part of the “Dubai Global” initiative, which aims to establish 50 representative offices worldwide by 2030 and support expansion into 30 priority markets. That strategy is designed to attract foreign direct investment into Dubai while helping companies based there expand overseas. The Philippines, with its large consumer market, growing digital economy and active private-sector institutions, offers Dubai an opening not only into Southeast Asia but also into sectors where urban development, technology adoption and service-led growth are accelerating.

For the Philippines, the significance lies in access. Dubai positions itself as a gateway market linking Asia, the Gulf, Africa and Europe, and Filipino businesses looking for a wider regional or global footprint may see value in that proposition. The chamber has framed Manila’s new office as a bridge that can lower information barriers, connect firms with partners and convert general goodwill into bankable deals. Sectors identified during the talks suggest where both sides believe there is room to move fastest: AI and digital transformation for future-oriented growth, smart cities for infrastructure and urban services, and real estate and retail for more immediate commercial activity.