Stablecoin startup ZAR raised $12.9M led by a16z to test USD-backed coins for Pakistan, which the World Bank estimates has the third-largest unbanked population (Faseeh Mangi/Bloomberg)

Faseeh Mangi / Bloomberg:
Stablecoin startup ZAR raised $12.9M led by a16z to test USD-backed coins for Pakistan, which the World Bank estimates has the third-largest unbanked population  —  Andreessen Horowitz is leading funding for …

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After AWS’s major outage, Signal’s Meredith Whittaker says there “isn’t really another choice” but to use AWS and “the entire stack” is “owned by 3-4 players” (Emma Roth/The Verge)

Emma Roth / The Verge:
After AWS’s major outage, Signal’s Meredith Whittaker says there “isn’t really another choice” but to use AWS and “the entire stack” is “owned by 3-4 players”  —  Meredith Whi…

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Amazon says it will cut ~14,000 jobs from its corporate workforce, after cutting 27,000 across 2022 and 2023; the company had 1.55M employees globally in June (Spencer Soper/Bloomberg)

Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Amazon says it will cut ~14,000 jobs from its corporate workforce, after cutting 27,000 across 2022 and 2023; the company had 1.55M employees globally in June  —  Amazon.com Inc. said it was cutting about 14…

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OpenAI offers its cheaper ChatGPT Go plan for free for one year to users in India starting November 4, but did not say how long the offer would remain available (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
OpenAI offers its cheaper ChatGPT Go plan for free for one year to users in India starting November 4, but did not say how long the offer would remain available  —  OpenAI is offering its ChatGPT Go plan av…

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Bangladesh, Pakistan boost trade ties after two decades: Dhaka gets access to Karachi Port; move amid frayed ties with India

Pakistan granted Bangladesh access to Karachi Port, a significant outcome of their first Joint Economic Commission meeting in two decades. This move aims to revitalize bilateral trade and expand Dhaka’s network with China and Central Asia, occurring as…

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