AI for SMEs & skills: Türkiye unveiled its 2026-2030 AI Action Plan, aiming for AI literacy for 5M citizens, a talent pipeline, legal/ethical guardrails, and 1 GW of data-center computing by 2030—plus GPU-hours for researchers, startups and small businesses. Trade & payments modernization: Descartes rolled out AI-powered image document management to speed customs entry and shipment processing, while Veefin and NSIA Group are expanding digital supply chain finance across five West African markets to help SMEs access working capital via factoring and reverse factoring. SMB-focused AI training: Small Business Partner launched an “AI for Small Business” training campaign for Michigan SMEs, and InternSync debuted a swipe-based platform connecting high school students with internships and early-career roles at small and mid-sized businesses. SME financing pressure: A report says most Western North Carolina small businesses are still earning less after Helene, and another item flags small business lending margins hitting a five-year low. Local business support & policy: Vancouver approved a public safety plebiscite, and New York’s Mamdani push targets fees and bureaucratic headaches that hit neighborhood businesses. Tech infrastructure for growth: Sonatype added agentic maintenance and real-time security incident visibility for AI-speed software development.