EU Competition & Digital Markets: The EU General Court partially annulled the Commission’s “gatekeeper” designation for Meta’s Facebook Marketplace, a win for Meta but a reminder for SMEs that platform rules can shift fast. EU Industrial AI: The European Commission appointed Siemens chair Jim Hagemann Snabe as a “Special Envoy for Industrial AI,” aiming to boost AI adoption across EU industry—watch for knock-on effects on SME compliance and competitiveness. SME Payments & Trade Finance: IFC and Standard Chartered launched a $300m risk-sharing facility to expand supply-chain finance across eight African countries, targeting SMEs with faster cash flow. Cross-border Fintech: XTransfer and BBVA signed an MoU to deepen cross-border payments in Latin America and Europe, explicitly aiming to streamline onboarding and compliance for small traders. AI for Small Firms: A new dossier argues AI oversight can burn out the most productive users—especially in small businesses—while another report says AI agent task success jumped from 12% to 66% in a year, but only a small share of firms capture real returns. UK Small Business Spotlight: “Nation’s Favourite Businesses” will replace SmallBiz100 as part of the Small Business Saturday UK countdown, pushing consumer support for local firms. Data Privacy Politics (US): A US House hearing on the SECURE Data Act highlighted a fight over whether federal rules will weaken stronger state privacy protections—relevant for European SMEs selling into the US.