News
Careem Launches AI Tool To Convert Grocery Lists To Online Orders
A new in-app feature lets users turn written or photographed grocery lists into instant product selections ready to buy.
Careem—the “everything app” for the Middle East — has introduced an AI-powered feature to simplify grocery shopping through its service. The new Grocery List tool allows users to upload a photo of a handwritten list or enter items manually, which the system then scans and converts into a curated set of product matches.
The tool uses AI to extract individual items from a list — typed or photographed — and presents customers with a single, scrollable page of suggested products. Users can then review, edit, and check out their order in one step, removing the need to search for items manually.
Chase Lario, VP of Careem Groceries, said the goal was to “remove unnecessary steps” and make the process as “efficient and intuitive” as possible. The tool is designed to support time-pressed customers looking for a faster way to handle routine grocery needs.
Also Read: Google Pay Launches In Lebanon With Support From Multiple Banks
The feature is now available within the Careem app under the “Groceries” section. It builds on Careem’s existing grocery delivery service, which operates in Dubai and Abu Dhabi with fulfilment times averaging 15 minutes. Careem Plus members continue to receive free delivery alongside benefits across other categories, including rides, food, and domestic services.
The update reflects a wider push among mobility and delivery platforms to integrate AI for practical, time-saving applications in everyday services.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
RØDE’s New DS3 Studio Arm Is Built For Heavier Creator Setups
Dubai Turns AI On Its Own Civil Service To Measure Productivity
Former Rockstar Director Dismisses GTA 6 Leaks As “Nothing Burger”
Qatar Airways Flies The World’s First Starlink-Equipped 787-9
Shokz OpenFit Pro Review: Open-Ear Audio Finally Grows Up
Syria Just Got Its First Super App Featuring Built-In Digital Payments
Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA
Spotify Will Now Tell You If Your Favorite Artist Isn’t Real
-
News3 weeks agoLebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
-
News3 weeks agoSamsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA
-
News2 weeks agoSpotify Will Now Tell You If Your Favorite Artist Isn’t Real
-
News2 weeks agoInstagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”