DOHA, Qatar — Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has warned that reopening the Strait of Hormuz to normal shipping traffic must become an international priority, cautioning that the world faces an “industrial catastrophe” if the ongoing crisis in one of the world’s most vital maritime chokepoints continues unresolved.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari delivered the warning to U.S. media Monday, as new data from maritime analytics firm Kpler showed an average of just 10 commodity ships transited the strait per day over the past 10 days, the lowest level recorded since May, following continued U.S. and Iranian strikes on tankers moving through the waterway.

The strait, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply normally passes, has remained under an effective Iranian blockade since the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran earlier this year. Full-scale military hostilities between the two countries had eased in June following a Memorandum of Understanding, but tensions have escalated sharply again since that agreement expired last month, with Iran resuming attacks on tankers attempting to evade the blockade in recent weeks.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who also serves as the country’s foreign minister, met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing to discuss regional developments, including freedom of navigation through the strait, according to a statement posted by Qatar’s Foreign Ministry on X. Sheikh Mohammed affirmed Qatar’s support for diplomatic efforts aimed at securing maritime navigation and “paving the way for a comprehensive agreement,” describing the Beijing talks as “fruitful.”

Separately, the United States and European Union have pushed to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council through the International Atomic Energy Agency, though analysts say the move is unlikely to meaningfully pressure Tehran. Cyrus Schayegh, a professor of international history and politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told Al Jazeera that Iran currently has little incentive to engage diplomatically with Washington.

“Iran is not interested in engaging with the US on the nuclear front until the US starts to engage with Iran,” Schayegh said. “If the Europeans and the US are going to refer Iran to the UN, there is not much Iran can do at this point,” he added, noting Tehran can rely on continued backing from Russia and China. “I don’t think Iran will be particularly afraid.”

Schayegh said Iranian leadership appears increasingly willing to escalate the confrontation rather than de-escalate it, calculating that approaching U.S. midterm elections could increase political pressure on Washington to relent.

“They can push the Americans more, as the political cost for the US will become too high and maybe Trump will then cave,” Schayegh said, adding that growing international criticism of the U.S. position has bolstered Tehran’s confidence. “The Iranians feel that the international scene is moving in their way, so this makes them feel they can escalate and feel confident enough that this will work for them.”

The regional crisis widened further Monday when Yemen’s Houthi militia launched a wave of attacks on southern Saudi Arabia, wounding more than 70 people and striking several oil facilities. Saudi political analyst Khaled Batarfi told Al Jazeera the attacks would likely prompt a Saudi response but not trigger a prolonged conflict.

“This is an escalation of course,” Batarfi said, noting Saudi Arabia had previously sought to avoid direct engagement in Yemen’s civil war. “But now this is too much,” he said, adding that any Saudi retaliation would target the specific Yemeni faction responsible for the attack. “But I don’t see a prolonged war, not with Iran and not with the Houthi.”

Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Houthi attacks in a statement, calling them “a blatant violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty and a direct threat to the security and safety of its citizens.” The Gulf Cooperation Council issued its own condemnation, describing the strikes as an “extremist criminal approach” that reveals “the malicious intentions” of the Houthis and their rejection of peace and stability in Yemen.

Fighting inside Yemen itself has continued across multiple fronts between Houthi forces and the internationally recognized government, with key battlegrounds including western Taiz, the Red Sea port of al-Makha near the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, southern Hodeidah’s vital port infrastructure, and Marib, home to some of Yemen’s most significant oil and gas fields.

Elsewhere in the region, Israeli forces raided the southern Lebanese town of Kfarchouba at dawn Monday and raised the Israeli flag on a nearby hill, according to Lebanese outlet Lebanon 24, following overnight artillery shelling of the al-Salouqi and al-Hujeir valleys in southern Lebanon. Separately, Israeli forces killed a 29-year-old Palestinian man, identified as Abdul Karim Muhammad Salem Khader, in the West Bank town of Aqraba south of Nablus, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, which said Israeli forces besieged and partially demolished his home before withholding his body.

Amid the broader deterioration, the United Kingdom moved to announce a trade ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. UK Pensions Minister Pat McFadden confirmed the move to Times Radio, saying Britain’s foreign secretary would deliver a formal statement to Parliament.

“The foreign secretary will make a statement to Parliament later today, and at the heart of the statement is the idea that the UK, along with many other countries, does not want to see the possibility of a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine being erased,” McFadden said.

Diplomatic efforts to address the region’s overlapping crises continued elsewhere, with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein meeting his Lebanese counterpart, Youssef Rajji, in Cairo on the sidelines of an Arab League ministerial session. Hussein emphasized “the importance of dialogue between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” while Rajji thanked Iraq for its continued support of Lebanon’s security and stability.

With the Strait of Hormuz crisis now stretching well past six months and showing renewed signs of escalation on multiple regional fronts simultaneously, Qatar’s warning of a looming “industrial catastrophe” underscores the mounting economic stakes tied to a resolution that, according to analysts tracking the conflict, remains elusive for now.

Shares of Hindustan Copper jumped more than 4% on Tuesday after copper prices soared to fresh all-time high amid shortage worries and a softer US dollar.

Hindustan Copper shares jumped to Rs 531 apiece on NSE on Tuesday despite an overall weak market sentiment. This comes as benchmark copper contracts on the London Metal Exchange touched a record high of $14,533 a ‌metric ton, surpassing ⁠its previous all-time ⁠peak of $14,527.50 hit in January.

Also Read | Copper prices scale fresh record high as focus turns to tight supplies outside US

In the domestic market, Copper futures on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) neared lifetime highs, rising around 1%. The rise in copper prices were driven by strong buying, which was mainly from Commodity Trade Advisor (CTA) investment funds, largely driven by computer programs, Reuters quoted Alastair Munro, senior base metals strategist at broker Marex.

Traders and producers meanwhile have been shipping large amounts of copper to the US since President Donald ⁠Trump hinted at ‌import tariffs in February last year. Comex copper stocks stand at a record 766,795 short tons or 695,624 metric tons, according to the report.

After Trump’s copper tariff threat, prices went up as traders tried to store copper in US ahead of the introduction of tariffs. However, Trump went ahead with imposing tariffs on copper products but not on refined metal. In July, Trump issued a proclamation that called for a follow-up Commerce Secretary report before deciding whether to impose a phased tariff on refined copper imports starting at 15% in January 2027. The market may still be pricing in the possibility of introduction of tariffs on copper imports.
State-owned Hindustan Copper is the country’s only integrated copper producer with captive mines. The sharp rise in the stock comes amid the soaring copper prices.Also read | The New Oil? Why the world is chasing copper

Hindustan Copper share price

Hindustan Copper shares have delivered multibagger returns over the past one year, jumping more than 115% as Trump’s tariff threats continued to push the red metal’s prices higher. The stock has overall gained only 1% in 2026 so far, although it has fallen 1% in a month and recorded only marginal gains in one week.

In the longer term, the shares of the state-owned company rallied 217% in three years and 352% in five years. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 51,233 crore.

Also Read | Coforge shares double from March low, outperform Nifty IT peers. Is more steam left in the rally?

Disclosure: “This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Debaroti Adhikary and her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The EconomicTimes Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.”

Every development strategist in Asia and the Pacific knows the arithmetic. Public budgets cannot cover the region’s infrastructure and social needs, so private capital must fill the gap. 

What gets less attention is why that capital so often stays on the sidelines even when the need is obvious, and the projects are sound.

A recent essay from the Asian Development Bank, written by financial management officer Deewas Khadka, makes the case plainly. Investors do not fund a project because it is important. They fund it because they trust the numbers behind it. 

When that trust is absent, even a technically excellent power plant, road or water system can struggle to find backers.

Why the “boring” part of finance matters most

Before capital moves, three conditions usually need to be satisfied: a project must be bankable, its risks must be identifiable, and the environment around it must be dependable. 

It is the third condition that gets waved through as a formality, and it is the one Khadka argues deserves the closest scrutiny. 

Reliable financial reporting and independent audits are what allow investors to believe that the people managing a project can account for its resources and report results honestly.

This is easy to dismiss as a back-office concern. It is not. Accounting standards define what must be disclosed. 

Audits test whether that disclosure can be believed. Strip either one out, and investors are left pricing uncertainty instead of risk, which almost always means demanding higher returns or simply walking away.

The hidden cost of weak financial trust

The clearest evidence of this problem shows up in ordinary lending behavior. In many developing markets, banks still lend against land and buildings rather than against a company’s actual financial performance, because collateral feels safer than a balance sheet. 

That habit quietly excludes smaller businesses that lack property to pledge but have viable, revenue-generating operations. 

These are often the firms most responsible for local employment and innovation, and they are also the ones locked out by a system that does not trust financial statements enough to lend against them.

The gap between law and practice compounds the problem. Many countries have adopted international accounting standards in legislation. 

Far fewer have made those standards work in practice. Audits in some markets have become a compliance ritual rather than genuine independent scrutiny, and financial statements fall short of what they claim to represent. 

Reform on paper does not automatically produce trust in the field, and businesses that need financing the most often see the least benefit from it.

Five fixes worth taking seriously

Khadka’s essay outlines a practical agenda for governments willing to treat this as a priority rather than a technicality:

Reporting obligations should scale with risk, so large companies and banks face full requirements while smaller firms face proportionate ones, preserving scrutiny without burying small business in paperwork.

Financial information should be genuinely accessible. A report filed away and never seen again helps no one. Central filing systems and digital, open reporting make information usable by lenders, regulators and tax authorities alike.

The accounting and auditing profession should be funded and staffed like infrastructure, because universities, professional qualifications and continuing education are what make standards function rather than merely exist on paper.

Reform needs a clear owner. Too many countries support better reporting in principle while responsibility for delivering it is scattered across agencies with no single body accountable for results.

And countries should diagnose their own weaknesses honestly, using tools such as the World Bank’s Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes to identify where trust is strong and where it is not, then build a plan with real deadlines and accountability behind it.

A public good, not just an investor courtesy

The value of credible financial reporting extends well beyond any single deal. Reliable accounting records help tax authorities collect revenue they are owed. 

They give journalists, lawmakers and citizens the ability to follow public money. They give regulators the evidence they need to catch abuse before it spreads. 

A country that neglects its reporting and audit systems is not only less attractive to foreign capital. It is also weakening the domestic institutions that accountability depends on.

Trust cannot be legislated, only earned

The uncomfortable conclusion is that none of this can be manufactured by decree. Trust is built slowly, through years of consistent reporting and institutions that behave the way they claim to. There is no ribbon cutting for a more rigorous audit regime, which is precisely why governments tend to underinvest in it.

But the logic Khadka lays out is hard to argue with. Development needs will keep growing faster than public budgets. 

Private capital will not arrive simply because a project deserves it. It arrives when risk can be measured, and institutions can be believed. 

For governments across the region serious about closing their financing gap, credible financial reporting is not a technical afterthought to development strategy. It is the foundation the rest of the strategy stands on.

Mark Beyer speaks to Justin Fris about a long-term technology partnership that is considered to be key to Lotterywest’s business.

Plus: Rio strikes Ngarlawangga deal; Premier updates on defence bids; and WA providers respond to aged care funding decision.

Almost half of UK small business owners are now using artificial intelligence tools, according to research released on 8 September by the insurance provider Simply Business, which found adoption has more than doubled from 22 per cent in 2025 to 47 per cent.

A further 13 per cent of owners plan to start using AI within the next six to 12 months, meaning 61 per cent are either using the technology already or expect to be soon, according to the company’s 2026 SME Insights Report. The report draws on a survey of UK small business owners carried out between 30 July and 7 August 2026, alongside earlier studies conducted this year, Simply Business said.

Among businesses using AI, the most common applications are creating content, cited by 63 per cent, problem solving on 53 per cent and generating ideas on 50 per cent. Some 46 per cent say the technology is helping them save time on administration.

Research published in March by the Centre for Economics and Business Research for HSBC UK found that 55 per cent of mid-sized companies were using AI in some form by the end of 2025, up from about 35 per cent two years earlier.

Confidence gap

Confidence has not kept pace with adoption, the report found. Just 19 per cent of small business owners describe themselves as “very confident” using AI day to day, and 33 per cent say they use it only for routine administrative tasks.

Security and privacy concerns are the most commonly cited barrier, mentioned by 44 per cent of owners. Not seeing a clear use for AI is second on 39 per cent, ahead of concerns about accuracy on 36 per cent. Simply Business said the findings indicated that for many small businesses the obstacle was not access to the technology itself but a lack of clarity about its practical application.

Nearly one in three owners, 31 per cent, say they do not understand how to use AI or are wary of integrating it into their work, which the insurer said pointed to a wider skills gap. A Business Matters analysis published in June identified thin margins, scarce digital skills and a shortage of time to experiment among the reasons AI adoption is not spread evenly across the economy.

Calls for guidance

Julie Fisher, chief executive of Simply Business, said: “Adaptability and resilience are central to the DNA of small business owners and time and again they have proven they are drivers of innovation, finding new ways to grow even in the face of challenging trading conditions.”

She said the rise in AI adoption was one of the most significant shifts tracked in this year’s report, but that many owners remained wary of security and privacy around AI tools and unsure how the technology could be useful to them.

“To help unlock even greater levels of innovation and productivity, small businesses need tailored guidance on how AI can be used, accessible tools, and time to discover how it can work for them on their terms,” Fisher said.

Google launched its AI Works for Business programme of free workshops for small firms with the Department for Business & Trade and NatWest in 2025, after its research found UK small businesses lagging US counterparts on adoption.

Fay Phillips-Jones, founder and HR career coach at Coaching With Fay, said: “AI has played an important role in accelerating my business. As a sole founder, I use it to challenge my thinking, support business planning, organise information and develop more efficient systems. However, I treat AI as a thinking partner, not a substitute for thinking.”

She added: “I would welcome greater access to practical, funded education on responsible AI adoption. The opportunity for sole traders and microbusinesses is enormous, but the technology is evolving at an extraordinary pace.”

Ideja Bajra, founder of Edvance AI, said: “The biggest benefit to using AI is speed and efficiency; automating your processes means you can reach clients faster and more consistently. It’s also been a huge help in personal workload for me. There are already some encouraging government initiatives focusing on upskilling and AI integration, but from the perspective of a small specialist advisory firm, the support can sometimes feel fragmented.”

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Shares of IFCI fell as much as 7% to a day’s low of Rs 95.3 on the BSE on Tuesday as investors booked profits following a sharp rally in recent sessions. The decline snapped the stock’s two-day winning streak, while the stock surged nearly 30% over the past month.

The recent uptick comes after the much-awaited IPO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) received market regulator Sebi’s approval, clearing a key hurdle to become India’s second listed stock exchange.

Sebi approved NSE’s draft offer document on Friday, according to the regulator’s website. The initial public offering of the stock exchange, expected to raise around Rs 30,000 crore, will entirely comprise an offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 14.89 crore equity shares.

Also read: NSE IPO set to deliver massive gains of Rs 7,200 crore to state-run insurance firms

IFCI owns more than a 50% stake in Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL), which, in turn, holds over 4% of NSE. Through its controlling interest in SHCIL, IFCI enjoys indirect exposure to NSE, making its stock particularly sensitive to developments related to the exchange’s IPO.

Important things to know about NSE IPO

The Economic Times reported, citing sources, that National Stock Exchange is likely to price its IPO at around Rs 1,800 per share or slightly above. The company will likely announce the price band on September 15, according to a person aware of the development. If everything goes as per the schedule, the IPO is likely to open around September 18, while listing may occur around September 25.
Analysts say the exchange is already commanding premium valuations in the unlisted market. “NSE remains a capital-light near-monopoly. At around Rs 1,970-2,000 in the unlisted market, it trades near 45x FY26 earnings. That’s rich, but below BSE at around 70x and MCX at around 80x,” Nitant Darekar, research analyst at Bonanza, had said earlier.Seven public sector entities, including State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Stock Holding Corporation, GIC, New India Assurance, National Insurance Company, and United Insurance Company, are set to partially monetise their holdings in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) through the bourse’s long-awaited initial public offering (IPO).

Also read: NSE grey market premium soars on Sebi’s IPO approval

According to NSE’s Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filed with market regulator SEBI, the seven government-owned entities together hold approximately 7.97 crore shares, part of the proposed offer for sale (OFS). Other shareholders include MS Strategic (Mauritius), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Aranda Investments (Mauritius).

Disclaimer: This article has been written by Veer Sharma, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Veer Sharma and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The EconomicTimes Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.

Salford has been named the UK’s most entrepreneurial city after its concentration of small businesses grew by 15.4 per cent in 12 months, according to rankings released by GoDaddy, which found satellite cities taking four of the top five places.

The Most Entrepreneurial Cities ranking, published by GoDaddy, with data from the company’s Small Business Research Lab. Each place with city status in the UK is given a microbusiness density growth score, based on the number of new start-ups for every 100 people. GoDaddy said the list identifies the key locations fuelling the UK’s small business economy.

Salford, with a population of about 130,000, is two miles from Manchester, home to about 550,000 people. Ely, 14 miles north of Cambridge, was second, with density growth of 14.9 per cent, more than double the 7.1 per cent recorded by its larger neighbour.

Bangor in Northern Ireland grew by 12.9 per cent, four times Belfast’s 3.2 per cent, while Milton Keynes, on 11.7 per cent, outpaced London’s 9.8 per cent. The full top 10 also includes Stirling, Londonderry, Manchester, Sunderland, Preston and Lisburn..

Investment in Salford

The company linked Salford’s first place to sustained local investment. The city has developed a digital and innovation-focused enterprise hub anchored by HOST Salford at MediaCity, backed by Salford City Council and public funding that includes £846,900 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. According to GoDaddy, the hub has supported more than 300 businesses and helped upskill more than 5,000 people, alongside programmes such as EnterprisingYou and Build a Business, which support people launching new ventures.

Yvonne Sampson, director of enterprise at GM Business Growth Hub, which delivers the EnterprisingYou programme, said: “The growth in Salford has been over a decade in the making, leveraging commercial and residential investment to create an environment for thriving entrepreneurship. The City has fantastic strengths, from the University to MediaCity and the longstanding partnerships between Salford Council and support organisations like ours, GM Business Growth Hub.”

She added: “Not only does it have a well-established digital, creative and technology sector, but recent investment in the City’s high streets has meant there has been some incredible growth in the everyday business economy.”

Zwi Meisner, 48, who has run the New York Laundrette in Salford with his brother for seven years, said: “Salford has a real sense of community. It’s a diverse place where people from different backgrounds support each other and genuinely want to see local businesses succeed. It doesn’t surprise me that so many new businesses are starting up in the area. Finding the right location is everything, and Salford can offer lower premise costs that would be harder to find in Manchester.”

Rents, AI and start-up costs

The research points to costs as one factor behind the shift. Average rent in Salford is about £2,500 a year cheaper than in Manchester, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Technology is another, GoDaddy said. More than half of entrepreneurs, 52 per cent, use generative AI to support their business, with the biggest time savings reported in content creation, cited by 62 per cent, marketing, at 40 per cent, and business advice, at 39 per cent.

The amount of capital needed to launch has also shrunk. In the latest survey by the Small Business Research Lab, 53 per cent of UK entrepreneurs said they had created a new venture with under £1,000 of initial investment.

Alexandra Rosen, economist and head of the GoDaddy Small Business Research Lab, said: “Entrepreneurship is no longer tied to major city centres. Better digital infrastructure, the rise of AI tools and lower start-up costs have changed the economics of building a business, making it possible for founders to launch and scale from places that may previously have been overlooked.”

She added: “What we are seeing is a more distributed model of growth, where smaller cities and towns are becoming increasingly important parts of the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

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