Category: Latest Updates

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabian property technology company Ghanem has secured an additional $1.5 million in pre-seed financing, lifting the size of its early-stage funding round to $8.6 million as it expands a digital platform for fractional ownership of income-generating real estate. The extension attracted property companies and strategic angel investors, the Riyadh-based business said, without identifying all participants in the new financing. Its previous $7.1 million financing included participation from Al Rumaih Group, while Waad Investment has also invested

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Emaar Hospitality Group has confirmed the opening of Emaar South Golf Club in Dubai South, adding an 18-hole championship course to its leisure portfolio and expanding golfing facilities near Al Maktoum International Airport. The club welcomed its first players on 5 October and becomes the group's fourth golf club. Designed by European Golf Design, the course measures 7,278 yards from the black tees, with practice facilities and a clubhouse intended to serve golfers, residents and visitors. The opening

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The United Arab Emirates and Greece announced 18 agreements and commercial partnerships worth €12.75 billion ($14.3 billion) on Thursday, alongside plans for another €15 billion of UAE investment in Greece. The announcements came at the UAE-Greece Strategic Forum in Athens, attended by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The package covers digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, energy, logistics, healthcare and food security. Abu Dhabi said the proposed

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Central banks are increasing gold reserves and shifting bullion between international vaults, with new industry data showing a sharp rise in purchases and growing interest in reducing dependence on individual storage centres. The World Gold Council says official institutions bought an average of approximately 1,000 tonnes annually over the four years preceding its 2026 survey, compared with roughly 500 tonnes a year during the previous decade. That represents a doubling, rather than the fourfold increase suggested in

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai BlackRock has launched a robotics-focused exchange-traded fund, widening its artificial intelligence investment range as investors become more selective about exposure to the technology. The iShares Future Robotics and Related Technologies Active ETF began trading on NYSE Arca on Wednesday, 21 October, under the ticker RBTX. The fund seeks investments across businesses developing, supplying and deploying intelligent machines that automate physical tasks, including operations in manufacturing and transportation. BlackRock said robotics represented an important stage in the commercial adoption

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai A unit of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has secured shares in Paras Healthcare's Rs 14.5 billion initial public offering, placing the emirate's sovereign wealth capital among the hospital operator's institutional backers. The Gurugram-based company opened its public subscription on Wednesday, October 21, with bidding scheduled to close on Friday. Its anchor placement, completed on October 19, raised Rs 6.525 billion from domestic and overseas institutions ahead of the public offer. Exchange disclosures show that Paras Healthcare allocated 9,415,584

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Formula One's season-ending Grands Prix in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will proceed as scheduled, with motorsport authorities reaffirming plans for both races despite security concerns arising from conflict across the Middle East. The confirmation keeps Qatar's event at Lusail International Circuit on November 27–29 and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit on December 4–6. The UAE race will conclude the 2026 championship, while organisers are continuing preparations for a four-day programme beginning on December

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Abu Dhabi-based Burjeel Holdings has highlighted its mission-ready healthcare operations across national and international projects, reporting more than 1.17 million outpatient and inpatient visits as it showcases an integrated model for delivering medical services. The healthcare group is placing emergency preparedness, frontline medical response, deployable hospital infrastructure and specialised treatment at the centre of its participation in the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit 2026, being held from October 20 to 22 at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi. Burjeel is

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi footballer Bayan Sadagah has become a prominent figure at Jeddah club Al-Ittihad as the kingdom’s professional women’s competition enters another season, reflecting opportunities that were unavailable to female players only a few years ago. The 31-year-old midfielder represents a generation whose ambitions developed before Saudi Arabia had an established national league for women. Her journey from informal family matches to professional football illustrates the changes accompanying the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s expansion of competitions, coaching and

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Emirates NBD has agreed to deploy OpenAI’s GPT models through computing infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first Middle East and North Africa bank to adopt the arrangement, according to the two companies. The enterprise collaboration, announced on Monday, will allow the Dubai-based lender to use advanced artificial intelligence for customer services, compliance, risk monitoring and internal operations while processing model requests within the UAE. The companies presented the local infrastructure as a means of

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Etihad Airways has extended cancellations on its Abu Dhabi services to Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah until October 24, citing continuing regional disruption and warning passengers that further timetable changes remain possible. The airline confirmed that every flight between Abu Dhabi's Zayed International Airport and both Riyadh and Dammam will remain cancelled through Saturday. Its suspension of Jeddah services covers four specified flights rather than an explicitly announced cancellation of every service on that route. The affected Jeddah flights

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Azizi Developments has begun preliminary work on workforce accommodation projects in Dubai and Sharjah designed to house more than 31,000 people, with phased completion scheduled through late 2027. The developer's largest planned community, at Al Sajaa in Sharjah, will accommodate more than 20,000 residents across 36 residential buildings. Site preparation is expected to start later this month, while enabling and shoring works are already under way at accommodation sites in Dubai's Jebel Ali Industrial 1 district. The programme

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Kuwaiti-founded Tap Payments has climbed to 13th place in the 2026 Forbes Middle East Fintech 50, gaining 11 positions over two years and securing a third consecutive appearance on the regional ranking. The payments technology company rose from 18th position in 2025 and 24th in 2024, reflecting a sustained improvement in its standing among financial technology businesses operating across the Middle East and North Africa. The latest list, released on 8 October, places Tap immediately behind Saudi

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai Municipality has introduced comprehensive advertising content guidelines aimed at improving the quality of outdoor advertisements, protecting the emirate’s visual identity and ensuring promotional displays complement its evolving urban landscape. The Advertising Content Regulation Guidelines for the Emirate of Dubai establish unified standards governing advertising messages, creative designs and visual presentation. The framework seeks to bring greater consistency to outdoor advertising while allowing businesses and designers to adopt innovative approaches. Announced on Saturday, the initiative forms part of

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai EFG Hermes UAE has launched market-making and liquidity provision services on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), extending its brokerage operations to support trading activity and improve liquidity in selected listed securities. The company, regulated by the UAE's Capital Market Authority, announced the expansion on Friday, saying it would place buying and selling orders under exchange rules and regulatory requirements. The initiative is intended to improve price availability, facilitate transactions and provide additional trading support for companies

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Team Abu Dhabi will field 15 sailors at the 15th Mussanah Race Week in Oman, joining more than 100 competitors from seven countries as racing begins on Sunday. The squad, drawn from the Abu Dhabi Marine Sports Club Academy’s modern sailing programme, will compete in Optimist and ILCA dinghy classes at Barceló Mussanah Resort. The event’s competitive programme runs from 18 to 21 October, following registration, equipment checks and a scheduled practice race on Saturday. Organisers have confirmed

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai's Government Media Office has opened discussions with Shenzhen News Group on expanding media cooperation, strengthening institutional links and increasing coverage of the emirate across Chinese news platforms. The meeting took place in Shenzhen during the Dubai Business Forum – China, organised by Dubai Chambers, bringing together representatives of both organisations to examine opportunities for content development, professional exchanges and collaboration in digital journalism. Officials discussed ways to improve the flow of information between media institutions in Dubai

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabia's next Media Forum will take place in Riyadh from February 1 to 3, 2027, under the patronage of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, organisers have confirmed. Mohammed bin Fahad Al-Harthi, president of the Saudi Media Forum, reiterated the dates during a reception on the sidelines of MIPCOM, the international television and entertainment industry market in Cannes, France. The gathering brought together representatives of international companies, producers and senior media executives, providing a platform to

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments (IMI) has rejected a British regulatory assessment of its abandoned Telegraph takeover bid, accusing Ofcom of flawed reasoning and disregarding evidence about its editorial independence. The company challenged the media regulator's methodology on Friday after Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy published previously withheld findings examining the proposed acquisition of Telegraph Media Group by RedBird IMI, a joint venture involving IMI and US investment firm RedBird Capital Partners. Ofcom concluded that the proposed transaction could

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Abu Dhabi developer Aldar Properties has agreed to acquire nine residential buildings in Sharjah from Arada for AED1.1 billion ($300 million), marking its first property investment in the emirate. The forward purchase agreement, announced on Thursday, covers more than 1,100 homes across three residential blocks at Aljada, Arada’s mixed-use development. Arada is scheduled to deliver the buildings in the fourth quarter of 2029, after which the properties will join Aldar’s portfolio. Aldar said the transaction would increase its

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Governments and state-backed borrowers are increasingly exploring bonds denominated in currencies other than the US dollar as competition for capital drives up financing costs, a senior Citigroup banker said on Thursday. Stephanie von Friedeburg, Citi’s global head of the public sector group, said demand for financing from governments and private companies was placing pressure on available investment capital, with artificial intelligence infrastructure attracting substantial private funding. Speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai Holding Entertainment plans to open another water park at Dubai Parks and Resorts within months, chief executive Fernando Eiroa has announced. Eiroa disclosed the development at the Rise summit in Dubai on Wednesday, October 14, without specifying an opening date, park name, rides, capacity or admission charges. The announcement establishes that the proposed attraction will be part of Dubai Parks and Resorts, already home to theme parks and a water park. It does not establish whether the

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai GFH Partners has completed the $151 million sale of a major logistics distribution facility near Chicago to Michelin North America, marking its fourth exit from its United States industrial and logistics portfolio. The Dubai International Financial Centre-based investment manager said the transaction involved a two-million-square-foot distribution centre and adjoining land in Wilmington, Illinois. The property was sold in partnership with Silver Creek Development, which jointly acquired the asset with GFH Partners in February 2021. The sale closed on

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The United Arab Emirates holds first place in Arton Capital’s 2026 Passport Index, with its citizens able to access 182 destinations through visa-free travel or facilitated entry arrangements, according to the latest published rankings. The assessment places the UAE ahead of Singapore and Malaysia, which share second place with mobility scores of 175, while Spain follows with 174. The seven-destination advantage reflects the index’s measurement of travel access without obtaining a conventional visa before departure. The result confirms

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai is studying an integrated underground transport network to carry passengers, goods and services as part of a wider strategy to develop a three-dimensional mobility system spanning roads, airspace and subterranean infrastructure. Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), disclosed the initiative during the Mohammed bin Rashid Leadership Forum on Tuesday, outlining plans to transform how people and goods move across the emirate. The proposed

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Etisalat has completed its first procurement contract evaluation using agentic artificial intelligence operating within its private cloud, marking a new deployment of automated decision support in the UAE telecommunications group's internal operations. The Abu Dhabi-based company announced the milestone on Tuesday, saying the system can analyse information, assist contract assessments and automate parts of complex purchasing workflows. It plans to extend the technology across additional procurement stages, although the completed evaluation represents an initial implementation rather than

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai RISE Summit 2026 will open at Dubai World Trade Centre on Wednesday, bringing sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, government officials and developers together to examine shifts in international investment and the financing of major projects. The one-day gathering on 14 October, organised around the theme Recharging Momentum in Global Economies, will consider how geopolitical tensions, borrowing costs and technological change are influencing decisions about where capital is deployed. Dubai's official events calendar anticipates more than 300 international

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Etisalat UAE has commercially introduced technology that it says can triple smartphone upload speeds on its 5.5G network, targeting growing demand from artificial intelligence applications and high-resolution content sharing. The operator announced on Monday that it had deployed 2×2 uplink multiple-input multiple-output, or MIMO, alongside carrier aggregation for compatible smartphones. It described the commercial combination as a global first, although the claim has not been independently established through comparative network testing. The upgrade allows supported devices to transmit

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The UAE has urged Gulf governments to strengthen collective security arrangements, warning that attacks on Saudi Arabia threaten every country in the region. Dr Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said on Monday that Gulf states could no longer afford shortcomings in security and defence cooperation as missile and drone attacks heightened concerns over regional stability. Writing on X on October 12, Gargash described Gulf security as indivisible and called for

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Dubai Police has warned that increasingly convincing artificial intelligence deepfakes could undermine confidence in genuine photographs, videos and recordings, creating new obstacles for criminal investigations and digital security. A study prepared by the force's Future Foresight Centre says the challenge is expanding beyond identifying fabricated material to establishing that authentic content has not been manipulated. It identifies potential consequences for public safety, information credibility and decisions relying on electronic evidence. The assessment highlights two connected threats: criminals exploiting

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai A missile struck a passenger terminal at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, wounding numerous people and triggering evacuations as emergency crews rushed to the scene, regional officials said. Two officials confirmed the airport had come under attack, with one saying the missile hit an occupied passenger terminal. Both requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly. Saudi authorities had not immediately issued a formal account of Saturday’s incident or confirmed a casualty figure. Witnesses

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Wall Street is confronting a fresh source of pressure on US government bonds as the extra compensation investors demand for holding longer-term debt climbs to its highest level in more than a decade. The so-called term premium on 10-year Treasury securities has risen by roughly 40 basis points since mid-September to about 0.98%, according to a model maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That is its highest reading since 2014 and helps explain why

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai The UAE economy expanded by 0.4 per cent in the first half of 2026, reaching Dh961.9 billion in real gross domestic product, as non-oil activities sustained growth despite a contraction during the second quarter. Figures released on Friday by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) showed that non-oil GDP increased by 1.8 per cent compared with the corresponding period of 2025, lifting its contribution to the national economy to 79.2 per cent from 78.1 per cent

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabia’s Almarai plans to invest more than $4 billion through 2031 to expand production capacity, diversify its food and beverage portfolio and strengthen its presence across priority markets. The Riyadh-based company unveiled details of its 2026–2031 growth strategy at a capital markets day on Thursday, outlining four priorities covering established businesses, new product categories, emerging distribution channels and geographical expansion. The investment programme, exceeding 15 billion Saudi riyals, will support additional manufacturing capacity, operational improvements and capabilities