Results

AI for a Small Business: The Three Uses That Pay for Themselves

Most small firms adopt AI where it is visible rather than where it saves money. The returns are in drafting, summarising and structuring information, and the losses are in anything requiring accuracy nobody checks.

Aug 13, 2026

The UAE Buys Candles the Way It Buys Oud, and a New Generation of Local Brands Has Noticed

Home fragrance in the Emirates is not a wellness import. It sits on top of a bakhoor and oud culture that was already there, which is why a crowded market keeps making room for small local labels.

Sep 5, 2026

The UK-GCC Trade Deal Is Moving From Headline to Business Checklist

The concluded UK-GCC free-trade agreement could reshape services, procurement and investment, but companies should focus on implementation details rather than celebratory totals.

Aug 3, 2026

Two Rocket Launchers on a Small Island, and Oil Moved Three Per Cent

American forces hit Iranian launchers on Larak after the Guard was seen preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Iran answered at bases in Jordan and the UAE. It is the first exchange in over a month.

Sep 1, 2026

The UAE's Quietest Business Problem Is How Long It Takes to Get Paid

Persistent payment delays and rising default concerns are squeezing liquidity across the Emirates, in the same half that produced the region's largest volume of new project awards. Both things are connected.

Aug 17, 2026

The ECB Is Turning Climate Risk Into Financial Plumbing

The European Central Bank's collateral framework shows climate risk moving from sustainability reports into the operational rules that determine how finance is priced.

Jul 24, 2026

We the UAE 2031 Turns Long-Term Ambition Into an Open Economic Invitation

The UAE’s next growth chapter combines an AED 3 trillion economic goal with regulatory modernization, talent attraction and deeper global partnerships.

Jul 28, 2026

Saudi Arabia’s New Growth Engine Is Bigger Than Any Single Project

The Kingdom’s most important economic story is the ecosystem forming across tourism, logistics, manufacturing, technology and clean infrastructure.

Jul 28, 2026

Four Deals in Five Days, and Not One of Them Was Large

Measurement, medical imaging, homebuilding and a presentation startup all changed hands in the first fortnight of August. The mid-market is moving while the giants wait on regulators.

Aug 15, 2026

The ECB Is Holding Rates, but Credit Is Still Getting Tighter

Europe's policy rates are unchanged, yet banks expect lending standards to tighten again. The real economy may feel restraint even without another formal rate increase.

Aug 2, 2026

ADIPEC Still Runs on Oil, Whatever the Programme Says

Abu Dhabi's energy week arrives on 2 November with hydrogen and carbon capture across the agenda and hydrocarbons across the balance sheets. Both things are true at once.

Aug 14, 2026

The Chip Market's August Update Will Test a $1.5 Trillion Forecast

WSTS is due to publish its second-quarter forecast update on August 3 after raising the 2026 semiconductor outlook. AI demand is strong, but concentration is the central risk.

Aug 2, 2026

Saudi Vision 2030 Enters Its Decisive Third Phase With Confidence

A decade after its launch, Vision 2030 is moving from rapid transformation toward durable delivery, stronger institutions and opportunities that reach everyday life.

Jul 28, 2026

UAE Employers Have Stopped Asking Whether You Use AI and Started Asking to See It

Hiring is building across technology, finance, healthcare, logistics, real estate and construction. What has changed is not which sectors are recruiting. It is what counts as evidence on a CV.

Aug 18, 2026

Travel

How to Travel Smarter on Points and Budgets in 2026

Points are getting devalued faster and fares are climbing. Here is how frugal travelers are still booking business class and cheap trips in 2026.

May 19, 2026

The UAE Economy Is Slowing in 2026, Yet Its Engines Are Still Turning

A reduced growth forecast meets strong property activity, startup funding and recovering energy exports in the UAE's mixed July economic picture.

Jul 29, 2026

AI Is Not Just Speeding Up Jobs. It Is Redrawing Their Boundaries

New usage research finds workers using AI for tasks once associated with other professions, especially where specialist help is scarce.

Jul 31, 2026

Most of the Value of a Trade Show Happens in the Fortnight After It

Firms spend heavily on stands and almost nothing on follow-up, then conclude that exhibitions do not work. The floor is the cheap part of the exercise and the least important.

Aug 14, 2026

Google’s AI Spending Is Finally Showing Up in Revenue

Alphabet’s second quarter paired 24 percent revenue growth with an 82 percent cloud surge, offering its clearest evidence that the AI bill has customers.

Jul 23, 2026

The Red Sea Crisis Is Squeezing Gulf Restaurant Margins

Shipping disruption is pushing up the cost of imported produce and packaging, and Gulf restaurateurs are running out of room to absorb it quietly.

Apr 9, 2024

The Gulf Exhibition Season Starts in Two Weeks and Runs to December

Riyadh opens at the end of August, Abu Dhabi takes November, Dubai takes the rest. Four shows account for most of the region's commercial calendar between now and the new year.

Aug 14, 2026

The Gulf's Restaurant Scene Is Reinventing Itself in 2026

After two years of shocks, Gulf dining is rebuilding around homegrown brands and confident local concepts rather than imported franchise names.

May 19, 2026

Six Hundred Billion Dollars Is Sitting in a Queue

Twenty announced transactions are waiting for permission to happen. The delay is not bureaucratic sloth, it is three separate review regimes that did not exist in this form a decade ago.

Aug 15, 2026

The Gas Shock Reaches Far Beyond the Energy Bill

Tighter LNG supply is reducing gas demand, but the deeper risk runs through electricity, industry, fertilizer and food prices. Energy security is becoming economic security.

Jul 31, 2026

Aramco's $67.2bn Half Year Was Built on a Supply Shock

Profit rose 29 percent as Hormuz disruption pushed crude to $108 a barrel in the second quarter. The number says more about the strait than about the company.

Aug 6, 2026

Why the Gulf Economy Held When the Region Didn't

A war that closed the Strait of Hormuz and hit every GCC state should have broken the region's economics. Reserves and diversification kept it standing.

Jul 16, 2026

Two Filipino Seafarers Were Killed on a Tanker in Hormuz, and the Retaliation Reached Kermanshah

The Saudi carrier Bahri says two crew died in a security incident aboard the SIDR while transiting the strait on 31 August. Iran says four IRGC aerospace personnel were killed in United States strikes days later.

Sep 5, 2026

Paramount-Warner Wins EU Approval, but Not a Finish Line

Brussels cleared the entertainment mega-deal after a distribution concession, but a US states’ lawsuit and questions over Gulf backing still block certainty.

Jul 23, 2026

Palladium Is the Only Precious Metal That Did Not Set a Record in January. That Is the Whole Story

Gold, silver and platinum all peaked in the same fortnight in January. Palladium's record is still from March 2022 and it is not going to be beaten, because the engine it was bought for is being discontinued.

Aug 18, 2026

Red Sea Tanker Attacks Push Oil Above $96 a Barrel

Houthi claims against two Saudi tankers have exposed the weakness in plans to bypass Hormuz, sending Brent higher as two vital shipping routes face risk.

Jul 23, 2026

How the Red Sea Crisis Is Reshaping Gulf Supply Chains

Houthi attacks on shipping have rerouted global trade around Africa, and Gulf importers are absorbing the fallout in freight rates and delivery times.

Feb 5, 2024

The Strait of Hormuz Has Been Shut for Almost Six Months. Oil Is at $93, Not $200, and That Gap Is the Story.

A potential war is the wrong frame. Fighting began on 28 February and the strait closed on 4 March. The economic damage is real and measurable, and it is far smaller than the forecasts issued in the first month, for reasons worth understanding.

Aug 22, 2026

From Concrete Saws to Generators: Al Wisam’s Site Range

Al Wisam’s equipment catalogue connects cutting, compaction, concrete, power and material handling around the way UAE jobsites actually operate.

Feb 12, 2026

Al Wisam at Big 5 Global 2025: Machinery Meets Buyers

At Big 5 Global 2025 in Dubai, Al Wisam put SIRL, Batmatic, and Battipav equipment in front of contractors looking for practical site solutions.

Nov 27, 2025

Luxury Is Growing in Euros and Shrinking in People, and It Has Lost Sixty Million Customers Since 2022

Bain and Altagamma expect personal luxury goods to reach as much as 373 billion euros in 2026. The same research shows the customer base falling from 400 million to 340 million. Both numbers describe the same strategy.

Aug 22, 2026

A Middle East Data Breach Now Costs 8 Million Dollars, and a Quarter of Them Are AI-Enabled

IBM's 2026 breach report puts the regional average at 8 million dollars, with lost business the single largest line at 3.57 million. The cheapest number in the study is the one most firms have not spent.

Aug 18, 2026

Saudi Arabia and US EXIM Sign a $15 Billion Understanding

The kingdom's sovereign fund and America's export credit agency have agreed a memorandum worth up to fifteen billion dollars. What it is not is a committed investment.

Aug 6, 2026

Serious Banks Are Forecasting Gold at $4,500 and at $6,000 for the Same December

Citi, Goldman, Deutsche, HSBC and Societe Generale have published year-end gold targets a third apart from one another. The spread is not sloppiness. It is an argument about what gold is for.

Aug 18, 2026

Sports

The Saudi Pro League Is Selling More Players Than It Buys

With the season opening on 13 August, outgoing transfers outnumber incoming ones by a wide margin and summer spending sits far below the headline years. That is a strategy shift, not a slowdown.

Aug 8, 2026

Silver Went to $121 and Came Most of the Way Back. The Shortage That Did It Has Not Gone Away

Silver set a record just under $122 an ounce in late January, then lost close to half of it. The London squeeze behind the spike has eased rather than ended, and the metal is still up almost 74 per cent on the year.

Aug 18, 2026

Creators Are Using More AI, Which Makes Human Taste More Valuable

Adobe's 2026 creator survey finds AI helping audiences and businesses grow, while originality, disclosure and judgement become the real differentiators.

Jul 31, 2026

Fashion Spent Two Years Changing Every Designer It Had. Now Comes the Part That Counts.

Jonathan Saunders starts at Kate Spade today, near the end of the largest reshuffle of creative leadership the industry has run. Fifteen debuts landed in a single season. Almost nobody is asking whether it worked.

Aug 26, 2026

The EU AI Act's New Rules Just Hit Every Major AI Model Maker

New obligations for general-purpose AI providers took effect this month, and the rest of the world is still deciding how, or whether, to follow.

Aug 6, 2025

How creators actually earn from short-form video in 2024

YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels pay differently. Here's what creators are really making and why the math doesn't add up for most.

Apr 18, 2024

Europe's MiCA Rules Are Now Fully Live. Crypto Just Grew Up

The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets law became fully applicable on December 30, forcing every exchange and stablecoin issuer to operate under a real license.

Jan 8, 2025

SEC Approves Spot Bitcoin ETFs, Opening Wall Street's Door

After a decade of rejections, US regulators cleared eleven spot Bitcoin ETFs, letting ordinary brokerage accounts hold the asset directly for the first time.

Jan 14, 2024

How the Middle East Became Specialty Coffee's Next Big Market

Dubai and Riyadh are hosting barista championships and single-origin tastings as third-wave coffee culture reshapes a region long defined by cardamom-spiced brews.

May 5, 2025

Saudi Arabia Is Turning AI Into National Infrastructure

The Kingdom’s AI opportunity is moving beyond chatbots toward Arabic technology, smarter public services and productive tools for every major industry.

Jul 28, 2026

Yope’s Private Social Network Makes the Feed Feel Old

With 15 million registrations and fresh funding, Yope is betting that small friend groups, private pages and no public feed can pull social media inward.

Jul 23, 2026

Stablecoins Are Becoming Payment Infrastructure With Bank-Like Questions

Stablecoins promise faster settlement and programmable money, but reserves, redemption, governance and operational resilience now matter more than hype.

Jul 28, 2026

You Can Buy a House Without Selling Your Bitcoin Now, and the Collateral Terms Tell You What It Is Really Worth

The first crypto backed conforming mortgages are being written in the United States. Pledge bitcoin, keep the coins, skip the taxable sale. The catch is not a margin call. It is that you must post 250 dollars of bitcoin for every 100 dollars you borrow.

Aug 28, 2026

Travel

Eight Point Seven Million Airport Customers Lost Data, and the Field That Matters Is the Number Plate

Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands lost email addresses, phone numbers, postcodes and vehicle registrations taken from car park, lounge and wifi bookings. No payment details. The combination is still enough to build a message you would believe.

Aug 30, 2026

Kuwait's 5G-Advanced Roadmap Looks Beyond Faster Phone Downloads

Kuwait's telecom regulator is linking 5G-Advanced, AI, cloud services and local skills in a new digital transformation framework.

Jul 29, 2026

Brazilcore Is Bigger Than a Flag-Color Outfit

Brazilcore is spreading through sport, music and streetwear, but its most compelling expression comes from local creativity rather than copied symbols.

Jul 27, 2026

The Accent Wall Is Dead. In 2026 the Pattern Goes on All Four Walls and the Ceiling Too

Colour drenching taught people to paint a room in one shade. Pattern drenching takes the next step and wraps the whole envelope, ceiling included, in a single design. It is the loudest interiors idea in years and it is not maximalism.

Aug 20, 2026