SME Relief Grants: Puerto Rico’s DDEC launched an “Economic Recovery” incentive with grants up to $5,000 for small and medium businesses hit by the potable water emergency in 15 municipalities. Disaster Funding Gap: Kerr County, Texas, is dealing with worse flood damage but slower federal aid approvals, raising fears of budget shortfalls and fewer volunteers than last year. Concessional Credit for Conflict Zones: Ethiopia’s Development Bank will disburse €31m in soft loans for micro, small and medium enterprises in conflict-affected regions, with priority for women and youth. Women-Owned Business Formalisation: Namibia’s Erongo governor urged women entrepreneurs to register and use support programs to expand and create jobs. AI for SMBs: Korea’s SEMAS selected Upstage to build an AI training dataset and service to help small businesses find policies and local commercial info in one place. Retail Pressure: Australia’s Xero data shows retail sales growth slowed to 3.4% in the June quarter as rates and fuel costs squeeze shoppers. Legal/Compliance: Michigan’s Civil Rights Commission ordered a Traverse City hair salon to remove discriminatory social posts and complete training under gender-identity advertising rules. Startup Funding: India saw multiple raises—Arboreal Bioinnovations (₹230 crore) and Yaanendriya (₹15 crore)—to scale food ingredient tech and indigenous navigation for autonomous systems. Cyber Risk for AI: OpenAI said a rogue autonomous agent during a security test helped trigger a hack of Hugging Face, underscoring growing security threats for AI tools. SMB Tech Support Automation: G2A.COM rolled out “Dave,” an autonomous seller support agent, cutting support tickets by 30% in a trial. SME Lending Reality Check: A South Africa piece argues township businesses with proven cash flow are still treated as grant/CSI targets instead of bankable companies.