Saudi Arabia’s growing AI industry attracted a bounty of private investment last year, placing it on the World Bank’s Top Ten list of the industry’s funding magnets. 

The ranking in a World Bank report on “The Promise of Artificial Intelligence” comes amid a surge in spending on AI infrastructure, data centers and computing capacity. 

The Washington-based international lender said Saudi Arabia’s position among the top tech powers illustrates how emerging markets with sufficient capital and infrastructure can become significant players in the global AI economy.

The Saudi Cabinet declared 2026 the kingdom’s “Year of AI” in a March session chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who outlined a plan to achieve international tech leadership in his Vision 2030 blueprint.

Meanwhile, New York consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal said Saudi Arabia’s AI and cloud expansion could require up to $42 billion in project capital by 2030, when about half of its announced data center capacity is due to be delivered, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports.

The UAE will start charging businesses an annual royalty fee to play copyrighted music on their premises, pulling the country into line with international practices.

The permit will cover entities including shopping malls, fitness centers, cafes and restaurants, but non-commercial settings like schools and charity events will be exempt.

The fees, which will be scaled to business size and type of music used, will be managed by Emirates Music Rights Association and Music Nation, a collective management organization founded and chaired by Rasha Khalifa Al Mubarak.

The fees will apply from Dec. 1, with 10% of the funds collected going towards the newly established Cultural Support Fund for Music. 

ADNOC is reportedly offering to move Iraqi oil through the Strait of Hormuz for its Asian customers as part of a strategy that has helped the UAE keep crude flowing during the war with Iran.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is shipping Iraqi crude and other Middle Eastern oil grades through a “dark shuttling” system in which tankers make short trips through the strait with their transponders switched off before transferring the cargo to other vessels outside the Gulf, Bloomberg reports.

The Red Sea’s Bab Al-Mandeb Strait is also growing more perilous, with four crew members and two rescuers killed on Tuesday in a Houthi attack on an Egyptian-owned cargo ship, Reuters reports.

And in the Gulf of Oman, U.S. forces fired two Hellfire missiles at a Panama-flagged container ship that ignored warnings to stop sailing toward an Iranian port.

U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, declared that the U.S. has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz, even as Pakistan’s defense minister said Washington and Tehran were close to a possible agreement over the waterway.

Oman is dealing with an oil slick covering about 390 square kilometers after the tanker Caroline Bezengi, which was carrying about 1 million barrels of Russian Urals crude, ran aground off the Hallaniyat Islands.

The vessel appears to have been stranded for about seven weeks and had previously been sanctioned by the U.K. and EU, Bloomberg reports.

The slick is spreading north and northeast, with the nearest point about 7km from the shoreline, threatening coral reefs, fish, turtles, dolphins and whales in the area.

Authorities are using aerial surveillance, satellite imagery and subsea inspections to contain the spill, secure the vessel and transfer its remaining cargo.

The real estate arm of the Qatar Investment Authority has launched the first phase of its $29.5 billion tourism development on Egypt’s northwestern Mediterranean coast. 

The $4.5 billion phase one of Qatari Diar’s Alam El-Roum project, includes a 2km beach and promenade, natural and artificial lakes, a marina with 50 berths for yachts and four hotels with a total of more than 1,000 rooms.

Qatari Diar CEO Sheikh Hamad bin Talal Al-Thani met Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the project and said the company was seeking global partners, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports. The company already transferred $3.5 billion in cash to the Egyptian government late last year.

The Alam El-Roum project is one of several major Gulf investments in Egyptian developments that have come as part of a broader economic bailout that helped save the country from a currency collapse. 

The UAE’s $35 billion Ras El Hekma project, led by Abu Dhabi’s L’Imad Holding (formerly ADQ) is the largest foreign direct investment in Egyptian history.

Dubai’s private-school market is expanding its “super-premium” tier as wealthy families seek traditional British education, with new schools continuing to open despite regional tensions.

Taaleem’s Harrow Dubai will open on Aug. 31 with fees of $21,800 to $34,853.

“Five years ago, there was a huge surge in mid-market schools. Super-premium is not something that’s been particularly developed, and in the last three years, it’s certainly been a focus for education providers,” Simon O’Connor, Headmaster of Harrow Dubai, told Arabian Gulf Business Insight.

The school will initially enroll more than 375 pupils representing over 50 nationalities and replicate the independent school model of its U.K. namesake.

Queen Elizabeth’s School Dubai Sports City will also open Aug. 31, charging up to $37,196 for Years 7 and 8 and offering facilities including a 400-meter athletics track and a football programme with the Real Madrid Foundation.

Abu Dhabi’s national oil company is considering building a new liquified natural gas export facility outside the Strait of Hormuz and is committing to $8.2 billion in investments to boost gas production to meet booming demand. 

ADNOC Gas is looking at options on the UAE’s east-coast, where the emirate of Fujairah borders the Gulf of Oman, but has not made any final decision on the plans, Chief Financial Officer Peter van Driel told Bloomberg. 

The UAE is on a mission to eventually reduce its dependence on the Strait to zero by building new oil pipelines to Fujairah and expanding internal freight networks via road and rail. 

Such a facility would give the UAE a competitive advantage against its neighbors, particularly Qatar — a major gas producer — which is largely dependent on the route. 

ADNOC ships have been repeatedly attacked while transiting the Strait, with a missile strike on one of its tankers on Saturday morning bringing the total number of attacks on the company’s vessels to 16. No injuries were reported in the latest incident.

Separately, ADNOC Gas will build new gas-processing facilities to handle increased volumes amid fast-growing demand both domestically and from Asia, van Driel said. It comes months after the UAE exited OPEC, freeing it from quota restrictions. 

The UAE has activated emergency bankruptcy protections for businesses whose financial distress can be directly linked to the Iran war, temporarily shielding them from creditor-led insolvency proceedings and giving them more time to restructure.

The measures apply to companies seeking court protection after Feb. 28, when hostilities escalated, and allow them to negotiate with lenders and suppliers without having to file for bankruptcy due to temporary payment difficulties.

Courts can also allow existing management to remain in control, permit companies to continue paying staff and approve new funding while restructuring talks are underway.

The rules are designed to prevent otherwise viable businesses from failing due to short-term cash-flow problems and to encourage creditors and debtors to reach restructuring agreements.