The Agenda

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is mourning the death of twelve people killed in an attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. The mass casualty event also saw more than 300 people injured, some of them critically according to Saudi authorities. How significant is this for KSA and international aviation?  Dubai is cracking down on shared housing, with new rules that could force some tenants to move out. We get the latest straight from the Dubai Municipality. A mother here in the UAE is reportedly planning to give ChatGPT a role in raising her son after she dies, allowing AI to continue offering him advice and guidance. But could artificial intelligence really preserve a parent's personality?  More GCC citizens could soon be able to visit Europe without applying for a Schengen visa. And could coffee waste be the secret to growing more food in the desert?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dubai bans families and single tenants from sharing a unit under tougher shared housing rules. What does it mean if you rent a room, and could you be forced to move? KHDA wants to hear from parents stuck in school traffic. Why is it running a survey on the school commute? Half term is here, and UAE staycation bookings are up nearly a third. Where is everyone heading, and are there last-minute bargains? Abu Dhabi’s packed entertainment season adds Black Coffee and The Phantom of the Opera. Has international confidence returned? Do cats make us happier? New research says countries with more cats are happier, with a strange twist involving a parasite. And we meet the 16-year-old who is the youngest member of Dubai Police’s triathlon team.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Abu Dhabi researchers have launched a new AI model designed to understand Emirati Arabic. We'll discuss why the UAE needs its own ChatGPT equivalent. As global technology leaders gather in Abu Dhabi for AI Everything, the boss of French AI company Mistral says the UAE needs powerful AI systems under its own control to defend against cyber threats. Thousands of robots will be roaming the streets of Abu Dhabi within months - that's one of the revelations from the event. We find out what they'll be doing and how soon you could see one. We're also looking at the war for UAE talent. If you quit tomorrow, could your boss stop you going to work for their biggest rival? Top lawyers say employers are increasingly enforcing non-compete clauses. We find out why, and how much breaking one could cost you. It's still months away, but we're already thinking about Christmas, because we're being warned it could cost more this year. We dig into a new global survey warning of double-digit cost increases across supply chains. Meanwhile, Dubai is getting a colourful new look, with redesigned street signs and neighbourhood names. We find out why your house could soon be getting a number plate.   And scientists have discovered that butterflies may use the patterns on their wings to create optical illusions, confusing predators and helping them escape being eaten.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The UAE has begun putting limits on how much salt, sugar and fat can go into some of the foods we eat every day. The new resolution covers packaged foods made in the UAE or imported, including by companies in free zones. It starts with bread, sweetened milk drinks, flavoured yoghurt and laban, salty snacks and processed cheese. The limits come down in stages until the end of 2030. On The Agenda, we get more details about the new resolution from Nouf Khamis Al Ali, Director of the Health Promotion Department, Ministry of Health and Prevention. What does an AI-native city looks like? If you have a pool in the UAE, you may have noticed the costs to keep it are rising. Why? And some parents are posting their children's pictures in Facebook groups, asking strangers to remove the watermark, and photographers say that puts children at risk.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Schools across the UAE are asking parents to rethink the way they take and share photos and videos on campus. It’s not a ban on photographing your own child. Parents can still capture those important school moments. The concern is what happens when other children are unintentionally included in the frame and, more importantly, what happens to those images afterwards. Abu Dhabi says it will be the world's first AI-native government by 2027, with more than 40 government entities working as one AI-driven system. For residents, that could mean fewer forms and faster answers. But when a machine makes the call on your application and gets it wrong, who answers for it? Cheap flights from Europe to Abu Dhabi were meant to be back this month. But now Wizz Air says they won't start until January.  With world food prices rising, do you know where your own money goes? One Dubai founder tracked her shop and found her grocery bill had jumped by about a quarter, with the same habits. So how do you spot it before it bites? And how do you move a whole museum's worth of specimens? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.