Category: Latest Updates

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai GFH Bank has signed a partnership agreement with AlNassr Club Company, making the Bahrain-headquartered bank a partner of the Saudi football club for the 2026–2027 season as it seeks to strengthen its profile in key regional markets. The agreement was signed in Riyadh by GFH Bank chief executive and board member Hisham Alrayes and AlNassr chief executive José Semedo, with senior representatives of both organisations attending the ceremony. GFH said the partnership is intended to broaden its engagement

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai Electronic Security Centre has unveiled SARAAB, an artificial intelligence model built to detect deepfake videos, presenting the Emirati-developed system at GISEC Global 2026 as authorities intensify efforts to counter AI-enabled cyber fraud and manipulation. The open-source model was developed entirely by a team at the Dubai Electronic Security Centre, or DESC, and is designed to analyse video frame by frame for signs of synthetic alteration. The centre says SARAAB is the first deepfake-detection model of its

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Cosmo Developments has launched THE WADI, a mixed-use project on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island with an estimated investment of AED6 billion and plans for 3,950 homes. The company, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi-based Flag Holding Group and Reportage Group, said the development will occupy about 140,700 square metres along Yas Canal. Reportage Group, which manages Cosmo Developments, will oversee the project from development and delivery through to long-term management. THE WADI will include studios and one-, two-

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Cross-border investment in commercial property rose 56 per cent to $71.8 billion in the first half of 2026, with stronger activity in Asia and Europe helping international deals outpace the broader recovery in global real estate transactions. Data from property consultancy JLL showed overseas investment into Asian property quadrupled to $19.3 billion, while cross-border investment in Europe increased 31 per cent to $39.9 billion. The figures point to a marked revival in international capital deployment after a

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai flydubai has partnered with Egnatia Aviation and Skyborne Airline Academy to expand flight instruction for the first cadet batches of its Ab Initio Pilot Training Programme, strengthening a pipeline designed to feed qualified first officers into the Dubai carrier’s growing operation. The two academies will provide practical flight training for selected candidates working towards a Multi-Crew Pilot Licence, or MPL. Cadets completing the pathway are expected to progress into flydubai’s flight operations after meeting the programme’s training

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai International visitor spending in the Middle East is forecast to rise by US$116 billion, or 57%, between 2025 and 2030, signalling a sharp expansion in tourism revenues despite near-term geopolitical disruption. The projection comes from the ATM Travel Trends Report 2026, produced by Arabian Travel Market with Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, and presented at Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. The report expects international travel across the wider Middle East, North Africa and South Asia

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Ajman Real Estate Investment Exhibition 2026 recorded 344 property transactions worth AED226 million on its third day, as visitor numbers reached 6,936 at Emirates Hospitality Hall. The figures were announced as the fourth edition of the exhibition continued in Ajman on Wednesday, with the Ajman Land and Real Estate Regulation Department citing strong participation from investors, developers and property specialists. The event had originally been scheduled to close on September 16, but organisers extended it by one

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The UAE has ranked first in a new global tax optimisation index assessing 48 jurisdictions for internationally mobile individuals, driven by its lack of personal income, wealth and inheritance taxes and a 5 per cent value-added tax. The study by Global Citizen Solutions’ Global Intelligence Unit gave the UAE a composite score of 82.7 out of 100, narrowly ahead of Antigua and Barbuda on 82.2. Paraguay ranked third with 77.2, followed by Hong Kong at 76.9 and

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Oil prices fell on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia offered additional crude cargoes to Asian refiners through Oman, easing fears that Middle East disruptions would remove more barrels from the market. Brent crude settled $2.92, or 2.7 per cent, lower at $105.83 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate dropped $3.40, or 3.2 per cent, to $102.43. The decline followed a rally driven by concern over damage to Saudi export infrastructure and reduced tanker traffic through the Strait

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Emirates NBD has provided Cars24 Arabia with a digital revolving short-term financing facility to support the used-car platform’s expansion across the UAE and speed access to working capital for eligible dealers and business partners. The Dubai-based bank said the facility is built around an application programming interface, or API, that links its automated lending capabilities directly with Cars24 Arabia’s digital platform. Eligible businesses can draw funds, make repayments and replenish their credit limits through a fully digital

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai’s hotel occupancy rose to 66 per cent in August as international tourism strengthened, marking the sector’s highest monthly occupancy rate since February, according to the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism. The August level was equivalent to 89 per cent of the occupancy recorded in the same month of 2025 and represented a sharp recovery from 36 per cent in March, when regional disruption weighed heavily on travel. The department said the improvement had been accompanied

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Fasset will become the first platform worldwide to list DDSC, the UAE dirham-backed stablecoin, under a new collaboration that will also allow users to swap the token with major dollar-backed stablecoins including USDC and USDT. The arrangement expands DDSC’s distribution beyond its initial institutional use and follows regulatory approvals that opened the way for the token to appear on selected platforms overseen by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. Fasset and DDSC said the listing would give eligible

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai has introduced a round-the-clock service at Dubai International Airport allowing eligible UAE citizens and residents to obtain an International Driving Permit within five minutes before travelling abroad. The service is available at the Customer Happiness Centre in Terminal 3 Arrivals and is open to people holding a valid UAE driving licence. It brings permit issuance directly into the airport environment, giving travellers who need the document at short notice an alternative to arranging it through

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Emirates is expanding its A350 deployment and upgraded cabin footprint as strong winter bookings support additional capacity across its network following a better-than-expected summer. The Dubai-based airline said it had taken delivery of 18 aircraft since January, comprising 11 Airbus A350s and seven Boeing 777 freighters, with another six A350s scheduled to arrive before the end of December. Its A350s currently serve 30 destinations from Dubai, a total expected to rise to 36 by year-end as the

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabia has identified about 114 million tonnes of mineralised ore containing rare earth elements and promising uranium concentrations at the Jabal Sayid project in Madinah, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has announced. Prince Abdulaziz disclosed the estimate on Monday during the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, placing the find at the centre of Riyadh’s drive to expand mineral development while building a civilian nuclear energy programme under international safeguards. The

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Silicon Central Mall has become the first operating hub for Keeta Drone’s food delivery service in Dubai, linking participating restaurants with customers around Dubai Silicon Oasis through approved autonomous flights. The service is operating after clearance from the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, with customers able to place eligible food and beverage orders through the Keeta app. Drones depart from Silicon Central Mall and carry orders to designated collection points within Dubai Silicon Oasis, while selected neighbourhoods can

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai New York-based software company Clay has raised $115 million in a Series D funding round led by Wellington Management, lifting its valuation to $7.1 billion as demand grows for artificial intelligence tools used by sales and marketing teams. The financing, announced on September 9, included participation from Sequoia Capital, StepStone Group, Andreessen Horowitz’s Perennial fund, Meritech Capital, DST Global, CapitalG, BoxGroup, Boldstart, Bloomberg Beta and Evolution. Clay said the new capital would support development of its

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Oil prices rose on Tuesday as renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia and the continued shutdown of the kingdom’s East-West pipeline kept traders focused on the risk of further disruption to Middle East crude supplies. Brent crude climbed $1.24 to $106.93 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate gained $1.29 to $102.65 in Asian trading. The move followed another wave of Houthi attacks on Saudi targets and concern that a prolonged outage of the East-West route could remove

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai will host the third Quantum Innovation Summit from September 28 to 30, bringing government bodies, researchers, technology companies and investors together as the UAE expands work on quantum computing, secure communications and post-quantum cybersecurity. The event will be held at the Grand Hyatt Dubai Conference & Exhibition Centre and is hosted by the UAE Cyber Security Council for a second consecutive year, with Vernewell Group organising the programme. Organisers say the 2026 edition will focus on

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi building materials procurement platform BRKZ has raised $31 million in fresh capital, with Aramco-backed Wa’ed Ventures co-leading a $13 million Series B equity round alongside 500 Global. The financing also includes an $18 million growth-debt commitment from Stride Ventures, part of a previously announced $30 million venture-debt facility. BECO Capital and ANB Seed Fund participated in the equity round, BRKZ said on Monday. The Riyadh-based company plans to use the money to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Wall Street is preparing for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this week for the first time since July 2023, after another surge in oil prices and stubborn inflation pushed market expectations decisively towards tighter policy. Interest-rate futures on Monday assigned roughly a 90% probability to a quarter-point increase at the Federal Open Market Committee’s September 15-16 meeting. A move of 25 basis points would lift the federal funds target range to 3.75%-4.00%, reversing expectations held

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabia’s Government Expenditure and Projects Efficiency Authority has activated flynas under the unified framework agreement for government ERCAB travel, widening the airline choices available to public-sector entities and eligible travellers. The activation lifts the number of airlines participating in the government travel arrangement to four, with flynas joining Saudia, flyadeal and Riyadh Air. EXPRO said the addition is intended to improve flexibility, strengthen competition among national carriers and give government users access to a broader range

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai International Financial Centre has confirmed the programme for the inaugural Dubai Future Finance Week, bringing more than 850 speakers to a five-day series of events across the emirate from November 2 to 6. The programme will comprise more than 85 high-level events, including 12 signature forums across 14 stages, and will focus on fintech, tokenisation, Islamic finance, family wealth, sustainable finance and private capital. The week will be held under the theme “Finance Reimagined: Where Innovation

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Ras Al Khaimah has retained its A/A-1 sovereign credit rating from S&P Global with a stable outlook for 2026, with the agency citing prudent fiscal management, strong buffers and broad economic stability over the next two to three years. S&P said the emirate’s fiscal position should remain resilient despite geopolitical uncertainty, supported by conservative budgeting, low debt and the government’s ability to adjust spending when required. The agency expects fiscal surpluses to average about 3 per cent

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Oman has called for new liquefied natural gas export routes that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that the months-long disruption to the Gulf’s main energy artery has exposed a critical weakness in global gas supply chains. Energy and Minerals Minister Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi told the Gastech conference in Bangkok on Monday that producers and consumers needed to examine infrastructure capable of moving LNG to international markets without depending entirely on the strait. His

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai QNB Group, working with Mastercard, has issued what it describes as Syria’s first internationally accepted payment card, extending the country’s return to cross-border card services after years of isolation from global payment networks. The new card is intended to allow eligible customers in Syria to make payments locally and abroad wherever Mastercard is accepted, subject to applicable regulatory and compliance requirements. The launch builds on the two companies’ work this year to restore card acceptance, acquiring and

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai flydubai will begin dedicated freighter operations on October 1, adding three Boeing 737-800 cargo aircraft as the Dubai carrier broadens its freight business and strengthens capacity for regional trade. The aircraft will join the fleet through a wet-lease agreement with SolitAir and will be based at Al Maktoum International Airport, or Dubai World Central. Each freighter will offer payload capacity of up to 23,000kg per flight, supplementing cargo already carried in the belly holds of flydubai’s 98

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabia has temporarily stopped its East-West oil pipeline after multiple drone attacks damaged sections of the route, tightening pressure on crude exports as shipping disruptions intensify around the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea. The Energy Ministry said the pipeline was shut as a precaution after strikes on September 10 in the Riyadh and Madinah regions. Several people were injured, while emergency and technical teams moved to secure the system and assess its integrity under approved

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Etihad Airways will begin year-round flights between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Airport on October 4, adding a sixth destination in the kingdom to the carrier’s network. The service will initially operate once a week before increasing to twice weekly from October 25, Etihad said. The route will be flown with an Airbus A320 configured with eight Business Class seats and 150 Economy Class seats, linking Abu Dhabi with the tourism hub in Saudi

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai World Central will open its second runway by the end of 2027, marking the next major infrastructure step in Dubai’s plan to shift aviation growth to Al Maktoum International Airport and build capacity for as many as 260 million passengers a year. Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths confirmed the timetable during an international media briefing, saying development of DWC was proceeding at full speed. The first major expansion phase is scheduled to come on stream

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Ajman Municipality and Planning Department has secured four honours at the 2026 Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, recognising work spanning government management, the circular economy, smart-city transformation and digital public services. The awards were presented at the programme’s seventh annual gala in Istanbul on Friday, September 11, after winners from across the region were selected through an international judging process. The department’s results included a Gold Stevie for Innovative Management in Government for organisations with

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai QatarEnergy is negotiating multi-year liquefied natural gas supply agreements with US producers running through 2031 as it seeks to replace output lost after Iranian strikes damaged key facilities at Ras Laffan, people familiar with the talks said. Discussions include Venture Global, Cheniere Energy and Woodside Energy, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. The move would shift QatarEnergy beyond the spot-market purchases it has used to cover missing cargoes and towards longer arrangements designed to bridge

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has called for stronger private-sector cooperation with Germany after attending a major business forum in Munich where companies from the two countries signed 30 agreements and commercial partnerships worth about €9.66 billion. Sheikh Mohamed told executives and investors at the Germany-UAE Business Forum on Friday that businesses would play a vital role in advancing the strategic partnership, urging them to explore new opportunities in priority sectors and expand existing

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The UAE has backed closer financial coordination among BRICS members and supported the New Development Bank’s next five-year strategy during high-level meetings in Mumbai, reinforcing its expanding role in multilateral development finance. The Ministry of Finance said the country took part on Thursday in the second meeting of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors and a special meeting of the New Development Bank’s Board of Governors. Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial