United Arab Emirates - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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United Arab Emirates

December 21, 2025

Abu Dhabi 11:43 am

19°C

RICCARDO MILANI/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images

UAE AI investor MGX moves closer to strategic stake in TikTok US

The state-linked Emirati investment firm is set to acquire a 15% stake in the social media platform's new US business as part of a plan that would avert a nationwide ban starting in 2026.

United Arab Emirates

Solar panels in a Sinai desert, Egypt.

Egypt lands $572M UAE-backed solar deal, expanding Gulf's clean-energy footprint

Gulf companies have been increasing their investments in North African renewable energy.

Latest News

Interview

Robots can solve UAE construction labor shortage, says Buildroid AI

Buildroid AI

Culture

Egypt’s koshary, Gulf’s bisht gain UNESCO recognition

A woman sells koshary after the Eid prayer in Abu Sir village on April 21, 2023, in Giza, Egypt.

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

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

Jennifer Gnana

Gulf Correspondent

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (C) participates in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting in New York on September 28, 2018. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

As US elections near, GCC states chart middle course between US and China

Former Vice President and Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden's previous statement to make Saudi Arabia a 'pariah' hangs over the region.

For Arab youth, the future is in the Gulf

The most recent Arab Youth Survey shows the United States is gaining ground on Russia and China as perceived "allies."

United Arab Emirates

Israel hopes aviation agreement warms up ties with Jordan

Israel and Jordan sign agreement to allow overflights flights through each other's airspace.

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates embassy is pictured in the Syrian capital Damascus on December 27, 2018 after its reopening, the latest sign of efforts to bring the Syrian government back into the Arab fold. - The UAE broke ties with Syria in February 2012, as the repression of nationwide protests demanding regime change was escalating into a devastating war. (Photo by Maher AL MOUNES / AFP) (Photo credit should read MAHER AL MOUNES/AFP via Getty Images)

Intel: Oman ambassador returns to Syria

With much of Syria now under Syrian President Basher al-Assad's control, some Arab states are slowly considering the reopening of foreign missions in Damascus.

(L-R) Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan pose as they visit the Holocaust memorial prior to their historic meeting in Berlin, on October 6, 2020. (Photo by MICHELE TANTUSSI / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MICHELE TANTUSSI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli, Emirati diplomats meet in Germany

The meeting was the countries' first since signing a normalization agreement last month.

United Arab Emirates

Etihad Airways provides COVID-19 test with ticket

The Abu Dhabi airline is including a COVID-19 test that can be taken before departure in the ticket price for travelers on outgoing flights.

United Arab Emirates

A picture taken on July 19, 2020, shows a screen broadcasting the launch of the "Hope" Mars probe at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. - The probe is one of three racing to the Red Planet, with Chinese and US rockets also taking advantage of the Earth and Mars being unusually close: a mere hop of 55 million kilometres (34 million miles). "Hope" -- Al-Amal in Arabic -- is expected to start orbiting Mars by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE. (Photo by Giuse

UAE Mars probe's trajectory now viewable online

The public can now track the Emirate probe Hope as it heads toward Mars, in the United Arab Emirates' first space mission.

United Arab Emirates

Israel's midfielder Dia Saba (R) shoots the ball past Guatemala's goalkeeper Paulo Motta as he scores during the FIFA friendly football match between Israel and Guatemala at Netanya Municipal Stadium in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on November 15, 2018. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Arab-Israeli soccer star joins Emirati league

Following normalization of ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the Emirati Al-Nasr soccer club has recruited Arab-Israeli star Dia Saba, who will be the first Israeli to join a Gulf league.

United Arab Emirates

This picture taken on July 17, 2020 shows an Emirates Boeing 777-31H aircraft taxying upon arrival at the Iranian capital Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. - The UAE's Emirates airlines landed its first flight in Tehran on July 17 after a five month shutdown due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Emirates resumes flights to Muscat

The Dubai-based airline is getting closer to resuming its pre-pandemic network, despite a new virus outbreak in the United Arab Emirates.

United Arab Emirates

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a bilateral meeting in Vienna, Austria, May 17, 2016.
/ AFP / POOL / LEONHARD FOEGER (Photo credit should read LEONHARD FOEGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Why rejoining Iran nuclear deal isn’t so easy, even if Biden wins

A new Iran deal should consider the “gold standard” energy pact by the UAE and include a regional dialogue on the peaceful use of nuclear power.

United Arab Emirates

This picture taken on November 17, 2019 shows the Liberia-flagged container ship RDO Concord sailing through Egypt's Suez Canal in the canal's central hub city of Ismailia on the 150th anniversary of the canal's inauguration. - One hundred and fifty years after the Suez Canal opened, the international waterway is hugely significant to the economy of modern-day Egypt, which nationalised it in 1956. The canal, dug in the 19th century using "rudimentary tools" and which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea,

Will Suez Canal feel impact of UAE-Israel normalization?

The potential economic agreements between the United Arab Emirates and Israel may reduce traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal.

United Arab Emirates

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - APRIL 01: A medical worker, wearing disposable gloves , measures the temperature of a man at a coronavirus drive-through screening center on April 01, 2020 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 40,000 lives and infecting hundreds of thousands more. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

UAE records new high in COVID-19 cases

The United Arab Emirates is trying to simultaneously fight the resurgence of the coronavirus and boost its tourism industry.

United Arab Emirates