Category: Talking Point

Gold continues its ascent worldwide as festival-driven demand collides with macroeconomic turbulence. Spot prices have broken past $4,300 an ounce, prompting Indian domestic rates to reach ₹1,31,699 per 10 grams and record premiums in key markets. HSBC, recalibrating its outlook, now forecasts average gold at $3,355 for 2025 and $3,950 for 2026, citing sustained safe-haven interest.Buyers in India are shifting patterns: instead of heavy gold jewellery, many are opting for coins, bars or lighter designs valued for liquidity. This trend

U. S. President Donald Trump declared that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to halt India’s purchases of Russian crude oil, a shift that would significantly upend global energy flows if implemented.Trump told reporters that Modi made the commitment during their conversation, stating that phasing out Russian imports would not happen overnight but would take place “within a short period of time.” The Indian embassy in Washington has not confirmed the claim.The announcement comes amid mounting pressure from the

Al Mal Capital REIT has sealed its first move into the healthcare sector by acquiring the real estate asset housing NMC Royal Hospital in Dubai Investments Park. The transaction lifts AMCREIT’s portfolio valuation to around AED 1.4 billion across six assets.The facility spans 492,332 square feet and comprises two hospital blocks alongside a fully leased commercial wing. The hospital, which supports nearly 120 inpatient beds, outpatient services, emergency response and a pharmacy, will continue operations under a long-term

Dubai’s 45th edition of GITEX GLOBAL opened on 13 October at the Dubai World Trade Centre, attracting what organisers call unprecedented global participation. The event hosts more than 6,800 exhibitors, 2,000 startups and 1,200 investors from over 180 countries.Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum inaugurated the event, underscoring the UAE’s ambition to lead in AI-driven economies. Dubai’s leadership has signalled this edition will be the last at the DWTC venue, with plans in motion to relocate GITEX to Expo City

Dubai has recorded a landmark quarter in its upper-tier residential sector, with 103 homes sold for over US$ 10 million in Q3, representing a 24 % rise compared with Q3 of 2024. Demand in the ultra-luxury segment translated into 17 sales above US$ 25 million — more than double the tally from the same period last year.By the end of September, the cumulative number of US$ 10 million+ transactions stood at 357 for the first nine months, up 26 %

Large language models powered by artificial intelligence are now matching or even exceeding human-level empathic accuracy based solely on text, according to a new study that pits cutting-edge systems like GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini against human participants.The study challenged models to infer emotional states from transcripts of deeply personal and emotionally complex narratives. Human participants were split: some read the same transcripts; others watched the original videos. Models had only the semantic content to work with. Remarkably, the AI systems

Deloitte Australia will reimburse part of the A$440,000 it earned from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations after a commissioned report was found to contain fabricated quotes from a federal court judgment and references to non-existent academic papers.The 237-page document, published in July, initially underwent limited public scrutiny. A revised version released in October removed misattributed quotations and corrected erroneous citations after Sydney University researcher Chris Rudge raised concerns about extensive “fabricated references.”The department acknowledged Deloitte had confirmed “some

Deloitte Australia has agreed to partially refund AU$440,000 to the federal government after a commissioned report attributed to it was found to include fabricated citations, invented legal quotations, and other inaccuracies. The firm disclosed that the report’s drafting had involved the use of a generative AI system, prompting sharp debate over how much control and transparency clients should demand when consultants deploy such tools in high-stakes settings.The 237-page independent assurance review, commissioned by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

Wikipedia’s position as a trusted repository of knowledge is under intense pressure from the accelerating adoption of generative artificial intelligence, which poses multidimensional threats to its editorial integrity, infrastructure, and community model. Volunteer editors report surging volumes of AI-generated drafts, forcing a defensive stance rarely seen in its history.At the heart of the challenge lies the phenomenon often dubbed “AI slop” — text that superficially mimics encyclopaedic tone but is riddled with factual errors, misattributions or invented data. Volunteer editors

Wizz Air Hungary is reopening bookings for flights from Abu Dhabi to several European destinations, with services beginning in October and November 2025.Flight schedules show routes from Katowice and Krakow in Poland launching on 10 October. The carrier plans to resume Larnaca services from 15 November, operating four times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and Sofia flights from 17 November on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.The revival comes just weeks after Wizz Air shut down its UAE-based joint venture,

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise has enlisted a consortium of international and regional banks to host a series of fixed income investor calls beginning 6 October 2025, with the aim of gauging demand for a potential benchmark 5-year senior unsecured US dollar sukuk issuance.The mandate positions Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Goldman Sachs International and HSBC as active bookrunners, while Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ajman Bank, Bank ABC, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Dubai Islamic Bank, Fifth Third Securities,

More than 640,000 companies have registered under the UAE’s corporate tax scheme as the Federal Tax Authority reported strong uptake in tax returns and payments. The filings cover entities whose financial year ended 31 December 2024, and the FTA credited its digital infrastructure and awareness efforts for high compliance rates.Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Director-General of the FTA, announced that “hundreds of thousands” of corporate tax returns and annual declarations have already been processed via EmaraTax. He described the outcome

Saudi Arabia has announced that half of all jobs in licensed tourism establishments must be staffed by Saudi nationals by 2028, signalling a significant policy shift to move citizens into non-oil sectors. The Ministry of Tourism says the measure will tackle the overreliance on expatriate labour and realign the workforce with Vision 2030 economic diversification goals.Under the new framework, the Saudisation ratio will rise gradually: 40 per cent by April 2026, 45 per cent by January 2027, and 50 per

Global investment firm KKR has acquired a minority stake in ADNOC Gas Pipeline Assets LLC, reinforcing its commitment to Middle East energy infrastructure. ADNOC retains full operational control and ownership of the pipelines.KKR’s move builds on longstanding ties with Abu Dhabi’s national energy group. In 2019, KKR and BlackRock acquired a portion of ADNOC’s oil pipeline business in a landmark deal; that investment was later sold to Abu Dhabi’s Lunate fund. KKR’s repeat foray into ADNOC’s gas infrastructure marks a

The Middle East and North Africa are experiencing a wave of sovereign bond issuance as governments tap global debt markets to meet financing needs, even though oil prices have held in the mid-$60s per barrel and credit spreads remain compressed.Kuwait re-entered the international capital markets after an eight-year hiatus, successfully issuing $11.25 billion in three, five and ten-year bonds at spreads of 0.40 to 0.50 percentage points over US Treasuries. The offering drew order books exceeding $28 billion and allocated

OpenAI has surged past its prior valuation to reach an estimated $500 billion after current and former employees sold approximately $6.6 billion worth of shares to a consortium of investors. The deal, structured as a secondary share transaction, elevates OpenAI to the top of private tech valuations globally.Buyers in the transaction include Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. Rowe Price. Although OpenAI had authorised up to $10 billion of share sales for insiders, not all

Electronic Arts, creator of blockbuster franchises like “Battlefield” and “Madden NFL,” has agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, in what would be the largest leveraged buyout in history. Under the terms, EA shareholders will receive $210 per share in cash, valuing the company at roughly $55 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, pending regulatory

Oil markets face mounting pressure to weaken as forecasts from Macquarie warn of a shift into the $50-per-barrel range amid “punishing oversupply.” Macquarie’s analysts trimmed their price outlooks and argue supply growth from both OPEC+ and non-OPEC producers threatens to swamp demand.The bank now expects West Texas Intermediate to average about $64 per barrel in 2025, down by $3 from previous estimates, and to drop further to $57 in 2026. Their revised view underscores what they describe as a

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is driving a landmark $55 billion leveraged buyout of Electronic Arts, committing more fresh capital than private equity heavyweight Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, according to people familiar with the deal.The transaction calls for EA shareholders to receive $210 per share in cash, equating to a 25 percent premium over the stock’s unaffected closing price on September 25. PIF, already holding approximately 9.9 percent of EA, will roll over that stake into

A shareholder meeting of Kuwait Airways authorised an accounting manoeuvre to eliminate 300 million dinars in accumulated losses by reducing its paid-up capital, the official gazette confirmed.The extraordinary general assembly, convened on 2 September, approved a cut in paid-up capital from 977.7 million dinars to 683.7 million dinars, and a 6 million dinar diminution of its legal reserve. Simultaneously, issued capital will be increased by 300 million dinars under a scheduled payment plan overseen by the Kuwait Investment Authority. After

Beacon Media, the entertainment venture co-founded by wellness advocate Dr Deepak Chopra, has joined forces with MovieVerse Studios — the mainstream content arm of IN10 Media Network — to launch a content alliance aimed at elevating storytellers across the Global South. The partnership seeks to establish a “borderless content ecosystem” connecting Hollywood, India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America — with a prospective audience reach exceeding three billion.At the heart of the alliance is a slate combining feature

Arabian Post Staff -Dubai[caption id="attachment_108057" align="alignleft" width="388"] Kabir Mulchandani[/caption]Dubai-based lifestyle and hospitality conglomerate FIVE Holdings has secured a $460 million revolving credit facility that will be used to repay its $350 million green bond ahead of schedule and free up capital for further growth. The facility, arranged with Commercial Bank of Dubai, AAIB and Santander, enables the group to retire its green bond three years before it matures, leaving it with more than $300 million in cash for strategic deployment.The

Abu Dhabi’s real-estate sector recorded its most powerful half-year showing to date, with transaction values climbing sharply to AED 54 billion. The newly published inaugural market report by the Abu Dhabi Real Estate Centre signals a turning point in transparency and market discipline in the emirate.The ADREC report shows residential unit sales reached AED 25 billion in the first six months, marking a 38 per cent increase year-on-year. Volumes expanded by about 23 per cent. Cash payments dominated, accounting

Electric vehicle insurance policies in the UAE are commanding about 72 per cent higher premiums than those for comparable petrol or diesel cars, largely because of elevated repair costs, limited workshop capacity, and parts supply chain challenges. Such figures, derived from data compiled by leading insurance and automotive analysts, shed light on systemic pressures across the market.Average comprehensive EV insurance is being priced at approximately AED 4,992 annually, whereas for internal combustion engine vehicles of similar body types, premiums average