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The headquarters of SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, with a Falcon 9 booster in March 2024.

Explainer

Saudi investors could emerge as key winners from SpaceX’s historic IPO

A new disclosure from Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding ahead of SpaceX’s Nasdaq debut shows just how valuable Elon Musk's relationship with Gulf investors has become.

Latest News

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

David Rosenberg

In Tel Aviv, reporting on business and tech

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Israel's Netanyahu calls domestic rise of lab meat part of 'global revolution'

Investment in lab-grown meat and other plant-based proteins is taking off in Israel, which has a relatively large vegetarian and vegan population.

A US Black Hawk helicopter takes off from Britain's RFA Cardigan Bay landing ship in the Gulf waters off Bahrain stand next to a rigid-hull inflatable boat during the International Maritime Exercise (IMX), on November 5, 2019. - IMX is a joint military exercise involving assets and personnel from more than 50 partner nations and seven international organisations. The US has pushed for the creation of a US-led operation dubbed the International Maritime Security Construct to safeguard trade and the flow of o

CENTCOM hires first-ever AI adviser as it fields new tech in Middle East

US CENTCOM became the first combatant command to appoint an AI, machine learning and robotics adviser this week as the Pentagon looks to keep ahead of China’s technological advances.

Washington Pulse

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Cyberattacks strike Israeli banks as Iran celebrates Quds Day

A group called "Anonymous Sudan" took responsibility for coordinated cyberattacks on Israeli banks and the Israel Post.

In this photo illustration, the welcome screen for the OpenAI ChatGPT app is displayed on a laptop screen on Feb. 3, 2023, in London, England.

Analysis

Middle East unlikely to slow down on AI, ChatGPT rollout

Astra Tech, backed by Abu Dhabi AI company G42, said it created the first Arabic language ChatGPT last Wednesday. Also this week, the number of signatories of the open letter increased more than sixfold since last Monday’s 3,000, highlighting the growing concern about unregulated AI.

By Salim A. Essaid

A man walks past a sign of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Mumbai on August 5, 2022. - India's central bank on August 5 hiked interest rates for the third time in four months, as Asia's third-largest economy contends with a widening trade deficit and weakening currency. (Photo by Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP) (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE, India to boost cooperation via digital currency

The Emirati Central Bank has begun implementing its digital dirham strategy following a financial cooperation agreement with India and the UAE's cryptocurrency push.

UAE center unveils Falcon LLM, 'better, faster' ChatGPT rival

The model claims to use only 75 percent of GPT-3’s training compute time, and 40 and 80 percent of DeepMind’s Chinchilla NLP and Google’s PaLM-62B compute times, respectively.

Hydrogen renewable energy production pipeline - hydrogen gas for clean electricity solar and wind turbine facility.

UAE, Egypt to develop major green hydrogen project in Mauritania

The UAE is interested in Africa's green hydrogen potential, but the lack of development in the country could prove challenging.

This picture taken on May 11, 2022 shows a view of the main headquarters of Qatari news broadcaster Al Jazeera in the capital Doha.

UAE unblocks several Qatar news sites as ties between two nations warm

Several Qatari-owned news websites had been inaccessible to UAE residents since relations worsened in 2016 over Doha's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, but at least four are now unblocked.

People watch the lauching of NASA and SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission to International Space Station, at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai on March 2, 2023. - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off to the International Space Station carrying two NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and the second Emirati to voyage to space. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE sends second astronaut to space on longest Arab mission

Sultan Saif AlNeyadi will collaborate with NASA and other international space agencies to conduct 19 scientific studies in a wide array of fields.

Technicians work at the headquarters of the Israeli company 1MRobotics, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on, January 11, 2023. - Behind a seemingly ordinary storefront in Tel Aviv, the Israeli company is speeding up online shopping by replacing staff with robots that manoevure around small, streetside storerooms. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli tech rebound hinges on judicial reform

The Israeli tech downturn is likely to deepen this year as start-up funding continues to decline. Recovery in the crucial sector depends on the government's judicial overhaul.

David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg

In Tel Aviv, reporting on business and tech

An employee at "al-Gameya", a tech startup the runs an app to facilitate for strangers to create an informal money-pooling association to provide access for money in time of need, holds a phone with the application open at the company offices in Egypts capital Cairo on September 12, 2021. - Cash-strapped Egyptians fearful of banks have long relied on a "gameya" to access money in time of need, but now tech startups are cashing in on the practice. Such cooperative systems that allow people to save and borrow

Mega funding rounds fuel Middle East's rising fintech giants

Funding rounds over $100 million were once almost non-existent in the Middle East. But that’s changing now during the fintech boom with regional companies raising more capital than ever.

Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Aisha Mohammed Ali, 25, a mother of five who is a refugee from Aleppo, Syria, teaches the alphabet to one of her daughters, on January 5, 2022 in Tripoli, Lebanon. Tripoli is home to one of the country's largest population of Syrian refugees, 9 out of 10 of whom live in extreme poverty. (Photo by Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images)

Syrian refugees in Lebanon turn to TikTok 'begging' for money

TikTok has allowed thousands of refugees in Lebanon to beg for money from donors online by exposing their children and poor conditions to the outside world, a method that heightens the risk of exploitation and human-trafficking.