Banking & Deals: ABB Financial Group completed its 51% acquisition of Uzbekistan’s Davr Bank, paying about $140m for a controlling stake and relaunching it as “ABB Davr,” with Davr serving 2m+ customers and 43 branches; S&P upgraded its long-term rating to B+ (stable). Venture & HR Tech: Teachers’ Venture Growth made a follow-on secondary investment in HR tech unicorn Darwinbox, its second bet after a $40m round in 2025, as Darwinbox pushes its AI-native Cortex platform for larger enterprise customers. Sanctions & Crypto: The US is seeking to seize $61m in crypto it says is linked to illegal Iranian oil sales, with claims involving laundering via Binance/USDT channels. BRICS & Development Finance: Iran’s spokesperson says BRICS leaders agreed to Iran’s admission to the New Development Bank, with membership applications to be expedited after the summit. Energy & Geopolitics: Syria saw fuel-price protests after diesel and petrol hikes tied to the US-Iran war, adding pressure to an already fragile economy. Turkey Enforcement: Turkish police detained 33 executives in a probe into alleged fresh produce price manipulation, using wholesale market and farmer registration data. Regional Trade & Investment: Azerbaijan and Türkiye highlighted growing business ties—4,000+ Turkish firms in Azerbaijan and $5.7b trade in 2025—under the Shusha Declaration framework.