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OpenAI says it is scrapping the release of its next-generation AI model over safety concerns that researchers raised during internal testing, in one of the clearest signs so far that agent misbehavior could stymie the industry’s rapid progression.

The move follows a summer punctuated by reports of artificial-intelligence systems industrywide going rogue, and marks a rare case of a major AI developer ditching a new release because of safety concerns.

Salesforce, the world’s #1 AI CRM, and Innovation City, the UAE’s premier AI-powered free zone, have announced the deployment of Salesforce’s Agentforce to streamline and enhance the free zone’s business registration services – introducing what Innovation City and Salesforce believe to be the world’s first AI-powered registration platform of its kind.

The new implementation combines AI platform capabilities powered by Salesforce with Innovation City’s digital ecosystem, enabling businesses to access services and complete registration processes faster through more responsive interactions, while operating within Innovation City’s established governance and regulatory framework.

Agentforce provides Innovation City with a digital workforce of AI agents capable of autonomously executing defined tasks and workflows within established parameters, permissions and controls. This transforms company registration that once took days or weeks into a process completed in minutes. Human oversight is introduced only where strategic judgment or complex exceptions require it, while governance, security, and full auditability remain embedded throughout the process.

Powered by Salesforce’s trusted data and compliance architecture, the platform reduces friction across key registration and business processes, giving companies quicker access to the services needed to launch and expand their operations at Innovation City, while maintaining the controls and safeguards applicable to the company registration process.

Innovation City’s AI-powered registration platform demonstrates the potential of AI agents to transform company formation and related business services. For organizations ready to bring AI agents across their entire business, Salesforce offers Agentforce 1 – a complete edition that unifies AI agents, connected data, and built-in trust and governance in a single package, so companies can deploy digital labor across teams and workflows.

“We are not just digitizing bureaucracy – we are fundamentally transforming the company formation experience,” said Paul Dawalibi, CEO of Innovation City. “This is the moment we move from talking about the future to living it. With Salesforce Agentforce, we have created an AI-powered registration platform that combines intelligent automation with the governance and oversight expected of a modern business jurisdiction. Ras Al Khaimah’s Innovation City isn’t just a free zone – we are building an AI-powered ecosystem where technology removes unnecessary friction and enables entrepreneurs to move from ambition to execution faster than ever before.”

This groundbreaking partnership supports the UAE’s broader ambition to accelerate the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies across services and the economy. Salesforce Middle East’s partnership with Innovation City places both organizations at the forefront of this transformation, turning national ambition into tangible, lightning-fast opportunity for the world’s most ambitious founders.

Mohammed AlKhothani, General Manager and SVP, Salesforce Middle East, said: “Organizations across the Middle East are maturing beyond AI experimentation to actual measurable outcomes for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and enterprises. Agentforce brings autonomous digital labor to the heart of these processes; our AI agents act on data, workflows, and business logic to deliver faster, smarter, and more relevant experiences. Our partnership with Innovation City shows how Agentforce can safely simplify business processes, all while meeting enterprise-grade requirements for governance, data privacy, and trust.”

This partnership with Salesforce represents more than technology – it represents a shared belief that forward-looking companies need infrastructure designed for them today. Agentforce’s autonomous AI agents bring enterprise-grade intelligence to every step of the registration journey at Innovation City, setting a new global standard.

Bosses are getting no shortage of feedback on how to give their youngest staffers…well, feedback: Do ask how they are doing first. Don’t criticize a personality trait. Do give them concrete direction, and a lot of it.

And whatever you do, call a performance discussion a check-in, not a review.

The oldest members of Gen Z are about to turn 30, yet companies are devoting more time and resources than ever to figuring out how to give this manager-befuddling generation better direction. For help, they are turning to a cottage industry of multigeneration-workplace consultants and even artificial-intelligence bots, while ripping up the script for what used to be once-a-year evaluations.

All of it is a departure for leaders who rose through the ranks in an era devoid of so much thought to effective coaching and criticism. “When I started my first job, I got a performance review a year later, and that was just expected,” said Adam Coyne, chief administrative officer at research and analytics firm Mathematica, which has shifted from annual reviews to quarterly, two-way check-ins for new junior hires.

“This is a group that wants a lot more real-time feedback,” added Coyne, 55.

It is a message managers say they are getting nonstop from surveys and all-hands meetings, not to mention the universities and colleges preparing graduates for the white-collar world of work: Used to the immediate validation of social-media likes and comments, even instantly posted grades, this generation of workers craves clear, frequent direction—and they feel disoriented and anxious when they don’t get it.

Gallup data suggest companies are still struggling to get the hang of it. Younger workers report some of the biggest drops in engagement at work over the past five years. Not knowing where they stand appears to be a big factor. The share of Gen Z and younger millennials who strongly agreed with the statement, “I know what is expected of me at work,” fell 9 points to 42% in surveys between 2020 and 2025.

That doesn’t mean they need the effusive praise that many managers claim they do, some 20-something workers say. “I personally dislike this style,” said Nathan Luckock, a 20-year-old engineer at an AI startup. More effective, he said, is just “pointing out mistakes and then offering a solution.”

That sounds familiar to Lindsey Pollak, a multigenerational workforce expert and executive coach, who says she coaches bosses to be as specific as possible. Instead of “be more responsive,” for instance, she suggests “need to hear from you within an hour of receiving an instruction.”

At Mathematica, Chief Executive Paul Decker said the firm switched to more frequent check-ins in part because so many new entry-level hires were peppering supervisors with questions like: “How am I doing?” and “What does the next level require?” At staff meetings, younger workers often questioned why things were done the way they had always been done.

That included things like “waiting months to learn whether you’re meeting expectations,” he said.

KPMG executives said they, too, began giving their younger workers more frequent assessments on skills like critical thinking and adaptability last year after interns said they wanted to hear more often how their skills were coming along. The firm wanted to “make sure that we scratch the itch,” said Jason LaRue, vice chair of talent and culture at KPMG’s U.S. practice.

Some managers are getting feedback on giving feedback from bots.

Joe Hirsch, a corporate speaker and author of “The Feedback Fix,” recently used an AI coaching platform to work with a tech-company manager on her delivery. She had been frustrated that one of her junior reports wasn’t grasping her pointers on pitching clients, so she role-played the conversation with the AI coach.

The problem, the bot advised, was that she wasn’t giving the employee enough context for why she wanted things done a certain way. “Let’s connect so I can share more about our approach and get your take on it,” it suggested she say.

That did the trick when she tried the approach in real life. “The advice finally landed,” Hirsch said.

Even a few, clear bullet points work, said Valerie Chapman, the 27-year-old founder and CEO of Ruth AI, a career strategist platform for women. “My generation likes to get feedback so that they know how they should adjust.”

She recalls getting bullet-pointed direction when she worked as a strategic growth partner at real-estate company Compass a few years ago. The feedback started with praise before offering pointers.

“It would be, ‘Great job. Here are some things that you could do next week,’” she said. “If that comes in on a Friday, then my Gen Z brain knows exactly what I need to do on a Monday.”

Mike Ekbundit, director of GE Appliances’ engineering programs, said he has tried to make performance discussions with younger workers in rotational programs two-way dialogues rather than top-down critiques. So he revised online evaluations to include prompts for managers to ask questions like “Did you like the assignment leader?” and “Was it too much work?”

Managers are also asked to assess the program participants on nine different categories, like innovation and resilience, while employees are prompted to list their top strengths and weaknesses.

“I need high customer satisfaction to retain this highly sought-after talent, and this is part of how I get it,” he said.

The report on Strategic Tourism Ambition in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries, issued by the GCC Statistical Centre (GCC-Stat), indicated that the direct and indirect economic value of tourism in the GCC countries rose to approximately US$254.7 billion in 2025, compared with US$11.7 trillion globally.

The number of tourism-related jobs in the GCC countries reached approximately 4.5 million, compared with around 371 million globally, while tourism’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) and employment, as well as the sector’s growth rates in the GCC, stood at competitive levels compared with global averages.

The report, which examines the sector’s ability to withstand geopolitical tensions, recovery pathways and the economic outlook through 2035, showed that the GCC tourism sector had made tangible progress towards achieving the targets of the Gulf Tourism Strategy 2022–2030, with average progress towards the six strategic objectives reaching approximately 73.8% by 2025, driven by sustained growth in visitor numbers and tourism spending, an increase in the sector’s contribution to GDP, and growth in direct employment opportunities.

The report measures progress towards six key objectives of the Gulf Tourism Strategy: increasing the number of inbound trips, direct travel and tourism GDP, inbound tourist spending, the sector’s share of GDP, domestic tourist spending and direct employment.

By 2030, the strategy aims to attract 128.7 million visitors, raise direct travel and tourism GDP to US$145.8 billion, increase inbound tourist spending to US$188 billion, raise the sector’s direct contribution to GDP to 6.5%, increase domestic tourist spending to US$49 billion, and bring the number of direct jobs to approximately 2.9 million.

For inbound visitor numbers, the total reached 89.9 million in 2025, representing 69.9% of the 2030 target of 128.7 million visitors. The number grew by 3.1% between 2024 and 2025, while average annual growth over the 2019–2025 period was approximately 29.4%, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the trajectory of this indicator.

In terms of inbound tourist spending, total expenditure rose to US$131.9 billion in 2025, achieving 70.2% of the 2030 target of US$188 billion. It recorded growth of 9.7% in one year and average annual growth of 17.5% over the 2019–2025 period.

As for domestic tourism, domestic tourist spending reached US$42.9 billion in 2025, achieving 87.6% of the 2030 target of US$49 billion. Spending grew by 6.2% between 2024 and 2025, while average annual growth over the 2019–2025 period was approximately 20.3%.

Direct travel and tourism GDP in the GCC countries reached US$101.7 billion in 2025, achieving 69.8% of the 2030 target of US$145.8 billion, with annual growth of 8.8% between 2024 and 2025 and average annual growth of 15.9% over the 2019–2025 period.

The travel and tourism sector’s contribution to the GCC countries’ GDP also rose to 4.6% in 2025, achieving 70.8% of the 2030 target of 6.5%. This contribution grew by 7% between 2024 and 2025, while average annual growth over the 2019–2025 period was approximately 7.2%.

In the labour market, total direct employment in the travel and tourism sector reached 2.2 million jobs in 2025, achieving 74.7% of the 2030 target of approximately 2.9 million jobs, with annual growth of 5.6% between 2024 and 2025 and average annual growth of 4.9% over the 2019–2025 period.

These indicators strengthened the international standing of the tourism sector in the GCC countries, whose share of total international tourism reached 5% in 2025, while their share of global tourism receipts stood at 6.9%. This reflects the region’s expanding presence in the global tourism market and the sector’s growing economic impact.

In terms of ease of international mobility, the report indicated that the GCC countries occupy the top six positions among Arab countries for passport strength, according to the Henley Passport Index 2026. Compared with 2016, GCC passports recorded cumulative improvements in their rankings ranging from 6 to 36 places as of 16 July 2026.

According to a recent skills report, 59% of quantity surveying and construction professionals identified advanced digital tools as the most important skill for the future.

Construction has always relied on practical experience: understanding how projects are delivered, spotting risks early and knowing when something on site is not right. These skills remain essential, but as digital tools become more embedded across the industry, the way construction teams work is changing.

As a digital platform working with construction teams around the world, PlanRadar has identified six skills that are becoming increasingly important on the modern jobsite, helping professionals work more efficiently and adapt as construction becomes more digital.

• Creating clear digital project records

Good documentation is more than taking a photo or writing a quick note. Site information should clearly show what happened, where it happened, who is responsible and what action is needed. This makes it easier for contractors to respond and for reviewers to confirm that work has been completed correctly.

A 2023 case study found that introducing structured digital quality-control documentation reduced supervisors’ documentation workload by 80–90%. Standardised data entry also improved the accuracy and usability of inspection records. Clear, organised information also provides a stronger foundation for future automation and AI.

• Coordinating digital workflows

Construction professionals increasingly need to understand how information moves through a project, not just how to use individual tools. An inspection, Request for Information (RFI) or approval should have a clear path, showing who starts it, what information is needed, who reviews it and when it must be escalated.

This matters because delays in these workflows can have a real impact. A PlanRadar study of 1,728 construction professionals found that one in four respondents said delayed approvals typically add more than a month to project timelines. Clear digital workflows help teams keep responsibilities visible, reduce missed actions and move decisions forward faster.

• Working confidently with digital drawings and BIM

Construction professionals do not need to be BIM specialists, but they should be able to navigate digital drawings, understand revisions and connect site issues to the correct location. This is becoming increasingly important in the UAE as Dubai continues to digitise building processes.

Through its BIM platform, Dubai Municipality allows consultants to upload IFC models and automatically check them against Dubai BIM Standards and selected building regulations.

As these processes become more sophisticated, these skills will become more important on site. Professionals who can confidently use digital models will be better placed to connect design information with actual site conditions.

• Capturing useful visual evidence

Visual documentation is becoming a more important part of how construction teams track progress, and communicate site conditions. Professionals need to know what should be captured, when it should be recorded and how images can support later decisions.

A UAE case study at Expo City Dubai saw a contractor use 360-degree reality capture across 28 buildings, creating around 180 captures of the project. The visual record helped teams monitor progress, identify issues and improve reporting. Used effectively, visual evidence gives teams a clearer record of site conditions and makes progress easier to review without relying solely on repeated physical inspections.

• Building practical data literacy

Construction teams generate large amounts of information daily. The skill is knowing how to read that information and identify what actually needs attention.

Professionals should be able to spot recurring quality issues, overdue actions, approval delays and differences in performance across teams or locations. They also need to understand when a number is useful and when it needs more context.

This does not mean every project manager needs to become a data specialist. It means being able to ask the right questions, check the information behind a result and use project data to support better decisions.

• Using AI with professional judgement

A 2025 RICS survey of more than 2,200 construction professionals found that 46% identified a lack of skilled personnel as one of the main barriers to AI adoption. As AI becomes more common in construction, professionals will therefore need more than basic awareness of the technology.

They should understand where AI can support routine work, how to question its output and when professional verification is required. AI can organise information, identify patterns and summarise records, but decisions involving safety, contracts or technical responsibility still require human judgement.

Digital skills are becoming part of everyday construction, but the pace of technological change means professionals cannot be expected to master every new tool. What the industry needs instead are curious, adaptable people who are willing to keep learning, question how technology is used and apply it in ways that improve project delivery.

A wave of corporate warnings and technical disclosures has flooded the media, with headlines worrying over “swarms” of rogue artificial-intelligence agents launching “unprecedented” cyberattacks, outsmarting their makers, and inching toward a terrifying autonomy. The most revealing part of this narrative isn’t what the software did. It’s who is telling the story—and why. When corporate leaders publicly insist that the systems they financed, engineered and deployed are suddenly beyond their power to contain, skepticism isn’t only healthy; it is essential.

For years, Silicon Valley has drawn scrutiny from civil society and global regulators over tangible harms such as youth mental health deterioration and systematic privacy violations. Today, industry figures seem to be trying to change that public image. Loudly blowing the whistle on their own systems—just as two of the leading companies were preparing for massive initial public offerings—lets AI executives position themselves as a new generation of leaders who have come to terms with their societal responsibilities. They seem to want us to believe that they no longer want to “move fast and break things” but will instead stand as vigilant guardians between humanity and a technological apocalypse.

California’s attorney general and Paramount PSKY -3.86%decrease; down pointing triangle have discussed a series of potential concessions as part of advanced settlement negotiations, including a $1.5 billion investment by the company in production in California, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Paramount executives and a coalition of states that sued to block its $81 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery WBD -1.56%decrease; spent the weekend hashing out the details of a possible settlement. Such an agreement would clear the way for a deal that would bring HBO, CBS, CNN, streaming services and famed movie studios under one owner.

Among the concessions the parties have discussed beyond the sizable production investment: a promise not to sell either studio lot and to stay in the state of California, the people said. The company had explored moving out of the state as the deal faced opposition.

The parties have also considered potential penalties if Paramount doesn’t make good on an earlier pledge to make 30 movies a year after the merger, including having to sell its stake in Miramax, known for such classic movies as “No Country for Old Men” and “Pulp Fiction,” the people familiar with the matter said.

Other measures the sides have explored include the sale of some cable channels and the creation of a board to ensure that CNN retains editorial independence, people with knowledge of the talks said. The network has been a political flashpoint throughout Paramount CEO David Ellison’s fight for Warner. Paramount had been discussing creating such an editorial board before the lawsuit.

A final deal hasn’t been reached, and it is unclear what terms the parties may ultimately agree to.

Ellison has spent the past year fighting to buy Warner in a megadeal that would expand his entertainment empire, but that has drawn opposition from some political and Hollywood figures.

A dozen Democratic-led states led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued in July to block the deal on antitrust grounds, arguing that the combination of Paramount and Warner would create too much concentration in the markets for theatrical films and cable television channels.

The Writers Guild of America sued over the merger, saying that the deal would eliminate jobs and career opportunities for Hollywood screenwriters.

About two dozen demonstrators gathered in front of the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building in downtown Oakland on Sunday evening to protest a potential settlement. Holding signs reading “Bonta: Don’t You Dare” and “Block the Megamerger,” they took turns giving speeches urging the attorney general to continue pressing the suit.

“Nothing has changed since he filed the case,” said Annie Leonard, co-founder of the nonprofit Committee for the First Amendment, which advocates for free expression. “He needs to stay as strong as he was in filing it.”

The two sides had come under pressure to settle the matter in recent months, including from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, movie theater chains and some Hollywood labor unions.

Paramount’s agreement with Warner also included a “ticking fee” with payments to Warner shareholders of roughly $650 million a quarter, or $7 million a day, beginning next month, until the transaction closes.

Paramount had asked a federal judge to require the states and the Writers Guild to put up a nearly $1.9 billion bond for challenging the acquisition, money that would go to the company if it ultimately won the case.

The logistics corridor launched by the Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority in cooperation with Oman Customs recorded robust growth during its first three months of operation, reflecting the success of an integrated sea–land logistics model that supports smoother trade flows, improves supply chain efficiency and provides importers, exporters, freight companies and logistics service providers with more flexible and competitive logistics solutions.

Inaugurated on 17th May 2026, the corridor forms part of a broader strategy to develop an integrated logistics and customs ecosystem linking seaports with land border crossings.

It capitalises on Sharjah’s strategic location and its network of ports and border crossings to facilitate imports, exports and re-exports, support growth in trade between the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman, and expand access to markets across the region.

The corridor’s latest performance indicators show that total cargo value handled during the initial three months reached approximately AED1.7 billion. Truck movements surpassed 34,000, while processed customs declarations exceeded 32,000.

Compared to the corresponding period last year, cargo value jumped by 66.26%, reflecting growing trade activity and rising demand from the business community for the logistics and customs solutions provided through the corridor.

The corridor connects cargo flows between ports and logistics hubs via the Khatmat Malaha Border Crossing in Kalba and Al Madam Border Crossing, extending into the Sultanate of Oman.

This integrated sea-land model gives businesses multiple options for moving goods, shortens the end-to-end cargo journey, reduces handling stages and procedures, and improves the efficiency of logistics operations.

The corridor forms an interconnected logistics network linking Sharjah’s ports and a number of other UAE ports with Sohar, Duqm and Salalah ports in the Sultanate of Oman via the Khatmat Malaha and Al Madam border crossings.

The network provides the business community with more flexible and efficient routes for moving goods, while strengthening trade connectivity between the markets of the two countries and across the wider region.

Operating the corridor through both Khatmat Malaha and Al Madam gives the system greater operational flexibility, providing two complementary routes for cargo according to its destination and logistics requirements.

Khatmat Malaha also benefits from its proximity to Sohar Port, approximately 70 kilometres away, while Al Madam provides access to the main road network. Together, these connections strengthen integration between sea and land routes and support the continuous flow of trade.

The operational rollout was led by Sharjah Customs in close coordination with the Border Crossings and Entry Points Affairs Sector, the wider sectors and departments of the Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority, relevant UAE federal and local entities, Oman Customs and other concerned entities on the Omani side.

Together, they worked to develop the corridor’s operational and customs procedures, facilitate the movement of trucks and goods, and accelerate transaction processing.

This institutional collaboration has significantly reduced customer journey times, strengthened coordination between arrival and departure points, and streamlined the various stages of the cargo journey.

It also gives businesses greater flexibility, enabling them to manage their supply chains with greater efficiency and reliability while reducing the operational burden associated with the movement of goods.

Mohammed Ibrahim Al Raisi, Director of Border Crossings and Entry Points Affairs at the Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority, said, “The early results recorded by the corridor during its first months of operation reflect the success of the vision underpinning the project. That vision brings together the efficiency of land border crossings, the speed of customs procedures, and the capabilities of ports and free zones within an interconnected logistics ecosystem that serves the business community and facilitates trade flows.”

“From the outset, our goal was to offer the business community far more than a mere transit route. We built an integrated logistics ecosystem that gives companies more efficient and flexible options, shortens the cargo journey, and helps reduce both time and operational burdens, while maintaining procedural efficiency and ensuring the safe and seamless movement of goods through border crossings,” Al Raisi added.

He explained that integration across the Authority’s sectors and continuous coordination with the relevant federal and local entities, together with close cooperation with Oman Customs and the competent authorities on the Omani side, have been fundamental to the development of the corridor and to improving its operational efficiency.

Al Raisi added that the growth in trade flows and customs transactions, coupled with new customers joining the ecosystem within a relatively short period, reflects rising demand for the integrated logistics solutions offered by the corridor.

Growth in corridor traffic has been accompanied by a significant expansion in its user base, with more than 200 new importer codes registered during the first months of operation. This reflects the growing number of new customers using the corridor’s services and its increasing appeal to the business community.

Cargo moving through the corridor has ranged from equipment and vehicles to food and agricultural products, building materials and spare parts.

The markets served have also expanded to include the domestic market, Saudi Arabia and a number of markets across Africa and Asia, highlighting the corridor’s widening commercial reach and its ability to serve multiple economic sectors and markets.

Al Raisi noted that the diversity of goods and markets, together with the expanding customer base, was an important indicator of the corridor’s ability to accommodate different patterns of trade.

He stressed that the project’s true value is measured not only by traffic volumes, but also by the new options it provides to the business community, the greater efficiency it brings to cargo movement, and the stronger integration it creates between ports, border crossings and markets.

Looking ahead, Al Raisi said the next phase will focus on expanding the base of companies using the corridor, attracting more shipping companies, shipping lines and logistics service providers, and broadening the range of services and routes available.

These efforts will help drive trade growth, support commercial exchange between the UAE and Oman, and open up wider access to regional markets.

He concluded, “We look forward to building on the results achieved during the first phase and expanding the corridor’s reach to establish it as a broader logistics platform that leverages Sharjah’s network of ports, border crossings and free zones, as well as its strategic location between the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. This will enhance the competitiveness of logistics services and provide the business community with more efficient routes to regional and international markets.”

The ongoing expansion of the corridor forms part of the Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority’s efforts to strengthen the competitiveness of Sharjah’s trade and logistics ecosystem by capitalising on the integration of seaports, land border crossings, customs and free zones.

This integrated approach supports smoother trade flows, expands the options available to the business community, opens new opportunities for investment, and strengthens Sharjah’s contribution to regional and international trade and supply chains.

The UAE continues to strengthen an integrated ecosystem linking domestic production with quality, innovation, technology, supply chains and global markets, enhancing the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the national economy.

The approach spans the production cycle, from agriculture and food production to advanced manufacturing, product identity, marketing and exports, while directing government and institutional demand towards priority national products.

In April, the Cabinet approved the National Project for the Protection of Geographically Defined Products to identify and protect agricultural, industrial and traditional products whose quality, characteristics or reputation are associated with specific areas of the UAE. It also adopted a policy to increase the presence of national products across retail outlets and digital platforms and facilitate manufacturers’ access to major supply chains.

In agriculture, the National Agriculture Centre (NAC) and the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) have unveiled the National Project for UAE Good Agricultural Practices (UAE GAP) to raise local production standards and improve access to new markets. The program aims for 80 percent of local farms to obtain UAE GAP certification.

Other measures include the National Agricultural Initiative for the Adoption of Climate-Smart Crops, aimed at diversifying the national food basket and reducing reliance on imports, and the Sustainable Product initiative, which seeks to increase the share of locally produced agricultural and livestock products used by the UAE’s restaurant and hotel sector to 25 percent.

In industry, an AED1 billion National Industrial Resilience Fund has been approved to support the localization of critical industries, strengthen supply-chain resilience and accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across production, operations and planning.

The UAE has also expanded the National In-Country Value Program, making its application mandatory in selected sectors to channel more government and institutional demand towards national products and strengthen their integration into supply chains.

The Make it in the Emirates platform further connects investors, manufacturers and industry leaders with domestic production and investment opportunities, while ADNOC’s Local+ initiative gives greater priority to UAE-manufactured products across its projects.

Efforts to retain greater value within the national economy also include the launch of the UAE’s largest aluminum recycling plant, the Al Taweelah recycling plant in Abu Dhabi—with an annual capacity of 185,000 tons, enabling aluminum scrap to be processed locally into high-quality, lower-carbon products.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology’s Factory Forward UAE initiative brings industrial technology transformation programs and enablers under a single framework. Programs within the ecosystem have supported more than 700 factories, while over 620 have been assessed through the Industrial Technology Transformation Index (ITTI).

Alongside expanding domestic production, the UAE is strengthening international investments and partnerships to connect national capabilities with regional and global resources, markets and value chains.

Together, these initiatives reflect the UAE’s drive to build a more competitive and technology-enabled national production base, capable of meeting domestic demand while expanding into global markets and strengthening the country’s position in international value chains.

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile and Formula One Management have announced, following approval by the World Motor Sport Council, the 2027 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar, featuring 24 Grands Prix across 22 countries and 10 Sprint events.

Pre-season testing will take place in Bahrain from 24–27 February before the Championship returns there for the first race, followed by Saudi Arabia. 

The calendar then moves to Australia, Japan, and China, followed by the Miami and Canadian Grands Prix. The European leg includes Formula 1’s return to Portugal in June, after Monaco, with Türkiye rejoining the calendar in October between Azerbaijan and Singapore.

The closing phase of the season features races in Austin, Mexico City, São Paulo, and Las Vegas, before the final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Bringing together historic venues and major global destinations across five continents, the 2027 calendar reflects Formula 1’s continued growth as a global sport and entertainment platform while supporting its long-term sustainability goals through a more efficient geographical flow of events across the season.

Due to the continued success and strong demand for the format, the number of Sprint events has increased from six to ten for 2027, delivering even more competitive action across the season for fans, promoters, broadcasters, and partners.

Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Monaco, and Abu Dhabi will host Sprint events for the first time, with fans set to enjoy two thrilling qualifying sessions in Monaco as the drivers show their world class skill and precision on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo. Sprint events will also return to Montréal, Silverstone, Monza, São Paulo, and Lusail.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the FIA, said: “The 2027 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar is a strong reflection of the global appeal and continued growth of our sport. With twenty-four Grands Prix across five continents, the return of Portugal and Türkiye, and the opportunity for an expanded Sprint program, the calendar combines tradition, innovation, and fan engagement while maintaining the highest sporting standards.

“I would like to thank Formula One Management, the promoters, the national sporting authorities, the FIA officials and volunteers and all our stakeholders for their collaboration and commitment. Together, we continue to strengthen the FIA Formula One World Championship and deliver an exceptional season for competitors and fans around the world.”

 Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1, said: “The 2027 calendar brings together some of the most iconic circuits and vibrant cities in the world, creating an incredible stage for another unforgettable season of Formula 1. We are thrilled to welcome Portugal and Türkiye to the championship and to expand Sprint racing to ten events, giving our fans even more intensity, drama, and the wheel-to-wheel action that make our sport so special.

“Formula 1 continues to go from strength-to-strength, attracting new audiences around the globe. Week after week, the world’s greatest drivers will battle on some of the most challenging tracks in motorsport, supported by F1’s outstanding teams, world-class manufacturers, and global partners. 

“Together, they create a spectacle unlike anything else in sport. As we continue this remarkable journey of growth, I want to thank our fans around the world as their passion drives everything we do.

“I want to thank The President of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, and the FIA, our teams and drivers, promoters, partners, sponsors, and host cities for their continued commitment and support and we recognize the extraordinary dedication of the volunteers, marshals, and officials whose hard work makes every Grand Prix possible. 

“We are incredibly excited to see this calendar come to life and to deliver another season packed with unforgettable moments, fierce competition, and world-class entertainment for our fans across the globe.”

There is ample and alarming evidence that artificial intelligence can help humans do bad things, such as committing cyberattacks, building weapons and even killing themselves or others. The Hugging Face hacking episode—and a growing list of others by poorly constrained swarms of agents—indicate just how powerful and potentially dangerous AI has quickly become.

Yet many inside the U.S. AI industry insist far worse is coming, on account of the imminent arrival of AI with superhuman and self-improving abilities.

Plenty of experts, including many who study AI harms for a living, are skeptical. The so-called doomers’ assertion that AI might decide to wipe out all of humanity—or even “just” topple human civilization—is contingent on it achieving a pace of development not yet seen.

Conventional wisdom is that if you are invited to someone’s home—or on their yacht or plane—you should thank them with a host gift. Exceptions can include casual get-togethers with close friends or occasions when you’re expressly asked not to.

The best gifts appear effortless, but are chosen with immense consideration. A bottle of wine bought en route to the party, the old standby for many, is no longer one of them.

When choosing a gift, it’s helpful to follow certain parameters: nothing too ostentatious, too hefty or too idiosyncratic in design. At the same time, thinking outside the box can show a deeper level of thoughtfulness. Here’s how to pull it off.

Keep gifts relatively small

Thom Bettridge, an editor and writer in New York, has a rule of thumb: he only buys gifts that are smaller than a breadbox, to minimize the space that they take up in hosts’ homes. He likes thoughtfully designed playing cards or cookies from a specialty bakery.

Imported sea salt also passes the breadbox test. It’s a gift that Los Angeles fashion designer Zoe Latta often gives to friends. She said fancy salt is always well received because it’s an elevated version of an everyday staple that most people use.

Another small gift—a favorite of Salima Boufelfel, a founder of vintage clothing stores in New York, Paris and Tucson, Ariz.—is Santa Maria Novella’s scented pomegranate, a terracotta vessel that smells like and resembles the fruit. “It scents closets and laundry rooms,” she said.

Don’t assume a host has everything

Part of being a good guest, according to Bettridge, ”is understanding subtle helpfulness.”

When New York City Ballet principal dancer Unity Phelan is invited on a group trip to someone’s home, she and her husband try to stop at a nearby market or farm stand to buy a bounty of fruit and vegetables that everyone can enjoy throughout the stay.

Even if your host seems to have it all, that isn’t a reason to forgo bringing a gift. “People think that ultrahigh net-worth people are buying everything and they are not,” said Kelly Bensimon, the model-turned-reality-TV-star-turned-real-estate-agent.

Thoughtful knickknacks are something that people of any social status can appreciate, Bensimon added. She likes giving dish towels made of fine European linen, which she often gets at Clic, the French homewares boutique with locations in California, New York City, the Hamptons and St. Barts.

Avoid strong aesthetics

“You want to find things that will blend in,” said Latta, the fashion designer. Clear glassware that can be easily mixed with a host’s other cups is a good option, she said.

Fresh flowers, another old standby, endure as a suitable host gift—if you get them from a local florist, not a corner store, and go with seasonal varieties. For a cleaner look, Kaelen Haworth, the owner of a luxury-clothing store in Toronto, likes choosing flowers in a single color or type, not an assortment.

If you’re going with flowers, sometimes it’s better to send them after the fact—for instance, if you’re invited on a private plane. Zachary Weiss, a writer in New York, likes to send orchids to his hosts well after landing. “It comes down to practicality,” he said.

Have a stash at the ready

It’s easy to leave gift-buying to the last minute. Stockpiling some trinkets will help you avoid the scramble.

When she’s not giving flowers, Haworth likes to give skin care—specifically from independent brands or products from other countries, which she buys in bulk when she travels. “I went to Greece and bought 15 bottles of a sunscreen they don’t have in the U.S.”

Sometimes, life gets in the way and grabbing wine might be the only alternative to showing up empty-handed. If you’re invited somewhere with your significant other, do as New York ceramist Shane Gabier does and get two bottles of wine—a gesture more generous than showing up with just one.

ZainTECH, the digital solutions arm of Zain Group, has signed a multi-year strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS),  to support organizations across Saudi Arabia in accelerating cloud adoption, modernization and AI-led innovation. 

The collaboration, which will help to accelerate customer engagement and adoption of AWS cloud and AI services across the Kingdom, comes at an important stage in Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation journey. Organizations across government, financial services, energy and healthcare are modernizing their technology environments and increasing investment in cloud, data and AI. Under the collaboration agreement, ZainTECH experts will support organizations in adopting AWS solutions, strengthening their security and compliance readiness, and exploring new AWS Cloud-enabled use cases and opportunities.

“Saudi Arabia is entering an important new phase of cloud adoption, with local cloud infrastructure creating new possibilities for organizations across the Kingdom,” said Andrew Hanna, Chief Executive Officer of ZainTECH. “Our multi-year strategic collaboration with AWS strengthens our ability to support customers at this pivotal stage. With ZainTECH’s regional expertise, we can help organizations prepare their environments, address security and data residency requirements, and accelerate the development of new solutions across cloud, data and AI.”

The strategic collaboration builds on ZainTECH’s established cloud capabilities and regional presence across the Middle East, supporting its mission to enable organizations to become Digital, Intelligent and Resilient. The company serves more than 1,600 organizations across eight countries and has more than 850 technology professionals, with expertise spanning cloud, cybersecurity, data and AI, digital solutions and managed services. This regional scale and technical expertise enable ZainTECH to help organizations modernize their environments, strengthen resilience and build the capabilities needed to innovate in a rapidly evolving technology landscape.

The collaboration supports Saudi Arabia’s broader digital transformation agenda and Vision 2030 objectives by helping organizations use cloud technologies to enhance agility, strengthen resilience and accelerate innovation. Through its collaboration with AWS, ZainTECH will continue working with organizations across the Kingdom to unlock new opportunities enabled by cloud, data, AI and other emerging technologies.

It wasn’t all that long ago that restaurants and bars around the country were dappled in the glow of cigarettes. Those days are over, but diners haven’t stopped lighting up—now it’s just with the blinding OLED gleam from their phones.

My seven-year run as a bartender started in the BlackBerry era and ended a few years after the birth of the iPhone. Back then, phone interruptions were mostly relegated to a few stray pings. If someone picked up a phone, it was usually only to say “Can I call you back?”

Today, phones are as common in a table-setting as napkins and silverware. If diners themselves aren’t pulling them out to check messages and social media, they’re likely in the background as others record Instagram videos or make FaceTime calls.

Many restaurants and patrons alike are pushing back against the shift that has turned collegial, communal spaces into places to watch TikTok while you eat. Here’s what some are doing—and what we can learn from them.

The phone lockup

Antagonist, a cocktail bar in Charlotte, N.C., is pretty antagonistic about phones. Upon entry, each customer receives a lockable Yondr pouch—the same bag some schools use to store students’ phones—that can only be opened by the staff.

“The main goal of our whole concept here really isn’t to burden anybody or take away their property,” Adam Horner, Antagonist’s general manager, said. “It’s essentially just to bring back a little slice of human connection that we all feel has been lost with technology.”

Even if your dinner destination doesn’t have the same rules, you can still borrow the basic idea. Keep your phone somewhere inconvenient or even mildly inaccessible: in your coat pocket, for instance, or your purse.

While Horner admits some patrons have arched an eyebrow at Antagonist’s policy, the benefit of having a place where people can be part of an organic social scene has far outweighed the potential loss of customers, he said. “I strongly encourage people to give it a chance, and sometimes they don’t and they go somewhere else.”

The airplane approach

The Edge, a local spot in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, is a bit less rigid about phones. There’s no ban on them, but the restaurant doesn’t offer internet access. A sign at its bar reads: “No Wi-Fi. No Screens. Connect With Each Other.”

The directive is meant to encourage “stepping away from the digital and being present in the moment,” said Justine Masters, who owns The Edge with her sister Juliet.

Another way anyone with a smartphone can separate themselves from the internet: turn on Airplane mode. It may sound obvious, but it’s a simple and effective way to minimize phone-induced distractions while dining out.

The screen-free competition

For those wanting to break the grip of a bad habit, one tactic is to replace it with another better-for-you thrill. That’s the strategy behind the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A’s “cellphone coops.”

At a number of locations, diners can request a coop—a cardboard box—where they can put their phones while they eat. The goal is get groups to make it through an entire meal without checking their phones, with free ice cream as a reward. The coops even feature conversation prompts for the table.

You don’t need a cardboard coop to emulate the competition elsewhere—and if ice cream isn’t enough of a draw, treat the person who goes longest without using their phone to a free drink. Or make the loser pay the tip.

The point is to create rituals that result in discipline and, slowly, new habits.

What we gain from no-phone dining

The ubiquity of phones has not only eroded our manners, but also lessened the joys of bar and dining culture. One of Chris Hall’s favorite watering holes is The Saloon in Washington, D.C., a community-orientated beer bar with no televisions and a blanket ban on all phone use.

For him, it’s a bulwark against a bar culture that has become “very insular and not very fun.” He added that, over the years, he’s made at least a dozen friends at The Saloon. “You can talk to strangers in this place.”

Tina Vaughn and Chip Smith, the husband-and-wife owners of Eulalie, an upscale cloth-napkin bistro in Tribeca, also forbid phone use at their restaurant.

The policy is spelled out on a sign in the entryway and on the restaurant’s handwritten menus. Vaughn sees it as a way to help patrons combat the pressure to always be available.

“People want an excuse. They’re dying for someone to say, ‘You can get off that. It’s OK,’ ” she said. “The phone has become less a tool and more of a stress bomb, I feel, for so many.”

Omnicom’s CFO is still trying to get his head around what went wrong. It’s been a little over a week since the holdco lost one of its longest running clients to Publicis. He called the loss “disappointing” and “unfortunate.” Now, he and the rest of the C-suite are doing a post-mortem to figure out why it happened.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia and Technology Conference earlier today, Phil Angelastro  gave a sobering take on PepsiCo’s decision to walk away after more than 25 years.