Munira Mutaher

Colombo

Assistant Photo Editor at Rest of World

Visuals @RestofWorld, Anthropology @GoldAnth

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Articles

Middle East tech giants are building super-apps to dominate digital life

2 days ago | restofworld.org | Divsha Bhat |Munira Mutaher

The race for super-apps is intensifying in the Middle East. Unlike Western markets, where Google, Apple, and Meta maintain separate app ecosystems with strict integration limits, in countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, tech giants are following in the footsteps of China’s WeChat. Dubai-based Careem, which started as a ride-hailing company, has evolved into a comprehensive app handling transportation, food delivery, grocery shopping, payments, and home cleaning.
India’s richest man can’t crack e-commerce, even with Shein

2 weeks ago | restofworld.org | Kunal Purohit |Ananya Bhattacharya |Munira Mutaher

Online retail continues to elude India’s richest man. The SheiniSheinFounded in China in 2008 and headquartered in Singapore, Shein is a fast fashion brand that grew rapidly through exposure on social media.READ MORE India app, launched by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail in partnership with the Chinese fast-fashion giant, has struggled to gain traction in a market where Amazon and Walmart have been fighting neck-to-neck for nearly a decade.
India’s richest man can’t crack e-commerce, even with Shein

2 weeks ago | restofworld.org | Kunal Purohit |Ananya Bhattacharya |Munira Mutaher

Online retail continues to elude India’s richest man. The SheiniSheinFounded in China in 2008 and headquartered in Singapore, Shein is a fast fashion brand that grew rapidly through exposure on social media.READ MORE India app, launched by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail in partnership with the Chinese fast-fashion giant, has struggled to gain traction in a market where Amazon and Walmart have been fighting neck-to-neck for nearly a decade.
How phony job ads on Facebook and Telegram lure tech workers to scam compounds

2 weeks ago | restofworld.org | Linda Yulisman |Munira Mutaher

Young Indonesians are increasingly falling for fraudulent job ads on Telegram, Facebook, and other social media and getting trafficked to scam farms in Southeast Asia, former scammers and cybersecurity experts told Rest of World. There, they learn to use AI-generated deepfakes, voice clones, large language models, and other technologies to con people into parting with their life savings.
UAE emerges as Middle East’s EV leader, driven by sales spike and climate goals

3 weeks ago | restofworld.org | Paromita Dey |Munira Mutaher

Once a land of gas-guzzling super-cars, the United Arab Emirates is rapidly emerging as the Middle East’s unexpected electric vehicle leader, signaling global energy transition has reached the heartlands of petroleum production. Ambitious climate targets, expanding charging infrastructure, and a growing range of vehicles at various price points are driving this EV revolution.
How do you compete with Chinese e-commerce giants? A Vietnamese company is deploying housewives

4 weeks ago | restofworld.org | Lam Le |Munira Mutaher

Vietnam’s e-commerce platform Sendo, once seen as a homegrown rival to deep-pocketed foreign competitors, shut down its core marketplace on April 15. While Sendo’s closure stemmed from the dominance of ShopeeiShopeeSingapore-based Shopee, a subsidiary of Sea Ltd., is a major e-commerce platform that operates across Southeast Asia.READ MORE, TikTok Shop, and Lazada, it’s not a full surrender yet.
Trump’s trade war slows AI humanoid robot production in China and U.S.

1 month ago | restofworld.org | Kinling Lo |Munira Mutaher

As viral clips of robots doing flips, kung-fu, and running a marathon rack up views online, U.S. and Chinese firms are locked in a more high-stakes race: deploying humanoid robots as workers in factories, elderly care, and domestic settings. Several companies are hoping to begin mass production as early as this year. But escalating trade tensions could derail those efforts.
Uber and Ola are copying India’s fast-growing ride-hailing app

1 month ago | restofworld.org | Indulekha Aravind |Munira Mutaher

A 3-year-old homegrown startup has upended India’s ride-hailing sector. Namma Yatri, launched in 2022 as an auto-rickshaw aggregator, has changed how drivers earn from ride-hailing platforms. The app, developed in consultation with a drivers’ union in Bengaluru, discarded the dominant commission-based model and pioneered a subscription-based system where drivers pay the platform a nominal fee and get to keep the entire fare charged from customers.
China’s chipmakers are catching up to Nvidia and TSMC. Here’s how they compare

1 month ago | restofworld.org | Kinling Lo |Munira Mutaher

Washington’s latest export restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 chips are likely to accelerate China’s shift toward domestic alternatives, as homegrown firms strive to close the gap with global rivals. Years of controls on U.S. chips have pushed the Chinese government to invest billions in its domestic supply chain for semiconductors that are key to the development of artificial intelligence.
AI teaching tools spread in Kenya as teacher shortage worsens

1 month ago | restofworld.org | Stephanie Wangari |Munira Mutaher

Sylvia Osewe, an elementary school teacher in the Nairobi area, loves seeing her students learn and grow. But at one time early in her career, she nearly quit. “I had about 90 students in my class [in 2008]. I had to write all the lesson plans, teach the students, mark their books, write lesson notes, and update record work,” she told Rest of World. The ideal class size is 40 students, according to the Kenyan education department.