The Agenda

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? 

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World food prices rose again in September. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says its benchmark index averaged 136 points, up 1.5 percent on August and just under 6 percent on a year ago. So what does that mean for the weekly shop? 

The UAE is tightening up on late salaries. Under the latest Wage Protection System decision, employers will get alerts about delayed wages before the ministry takes any administrative action.  

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, has attended the unveiling of the probe for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt. In a post on X, Sheikh Hamdan said the spacecraft was developed, assembled and tested in the UAE. 

A venomous snake living in the UAE's mountains has been caught doing something that has never been recorded before.

And what if you could film in Paris, on Mars or in the middle of a storm without leaving Dubai? 

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The KHDA has sent parents across Dubai a new survey on the school commute, asking how children get to school, how long families spend stuck in traffic at the gates, and what would actually make it easier. One option's already being tested. 

We also speak to a Dubai student who created a platform aimed at getting more children sharing rides to school. 

Plus, how are school buses managing the school pick-up and drop-off process?  

UAE university enrolment has hit its highest level in a decade, more than 57,000 new students across 66 institutions, a 13 per cent jump on last year.  

Altair-1, the UAE's first commercial AI-enabled Earth observation satellite, launched on Wednesday evening from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.  What does this milestone actually signal about where the UAE's space ambitions are heading? 

New data out from the Copernicus Climate Change Service shows Europe's summer was defined by extreme heat and drought. It was the continent's third warmest summer on record, and the warmest ever for western Europe, with 52 per cent of Europe exposed to dangerous heat stress by the end of the season.  

And we're heading north as Fujairah reopens its hiking and biking trails.

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Fuel prices in the UAE are up this October, and that explains the long queues at the pumps yesterday. 

From today, Super 98 costs AED4.40 a litre compared to AED3.80 in September, while Special 95 goes up from AED3.69 to AED4.28.  E-Plus 91 is now at Dh4.21, and diesel climbs to Dh4.80, the steepest monthly jump of the year.

So, how can we make fuel last a little longer?

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Etihad Rail's stations in Dubai and Al Dhaid, in Sharjah, open this morning, joining the Abu Dhabi to Fujairah route that launched at the end of June. From the Al Yalayis station, the journey to Abu Dhabi takes around 64 minutes, with tickets from AED 39 for standard class and AED 109 for premium.

So will people really swap the drive for the train? How will attractions and tourist spots benefit from these newly-opened stations?

Is mental health care becoming more accessible in the UAE?

And why has OpenAI scrapped the release of its next-generation model?

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Ahead of the official launch of Etihad Rail's station in Dubai, ARN's News Centre's Lujain Ammar got on the preview journey, departing Mohammed Bin Zayed City Station in Abu Dhabi and arriving at Al Yalayis Station in Dubai. She shares her experience of the journey, giving listeners a first look at the new rail service and what passengers can expect when the station officially opens.

Ajman has wrapped up its fourth Real Estate Investment Exhibition, and demand was high enough that organisers actually extended it by a day. It's given us a good look at where the emirate's heading, infrastructure, community building under Ajman 2030, and a real shift away from just building towers towards thinking about how people actually live there. 

Today is the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. We speak with people who are finding innovative ways to keep food from going to waste, from rescuing surplus meals to extending the shelf life of fresh produce.

Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi have found that a single cancer-causing gene doesn't always do the same thing to a cell. 

And looking for a home with a little history? Ras Al Khaimah's Al Qasimi Palace, famously known as the Haunted Palace, is up for sale for over AED 22 million.

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On our monthly Consumer Hour with the Dubai Corporation for Consumer Protection and Fair Trade (DCCPFT), we're looking at scams, specifically the ones designed to look completely legitimate. One of the most common right now is fake insurance offers, policies sold at a fraction of the normal price, sometimes even with official-looking documents, that turn out to be worthless the moment you actually need to make a claim. 

The government's been cracking down on fake Emiratisation, the Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation (MoHRE) uncovered 377 cases across 266 companies this year, businesses hiring Emirati nationals on paper without giving them real roles. So what does it look like when a company actually gets this right? 

Spain has had a brutal wildfire season, with more than 265,000 hectares of forest burnt by mid-August and 42 large fires recorded. Now a solar-powered aircraft from the UAE is helping keep watch. 

And why do dogs listen more to consonant sounds that vowels?

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A Dubai teenager is turning a conversation with an exhausted delivery rider into a business idea with a social conscience, launching a low-cost rehydration product for outdoor workers.

CBSE Class 12 students in the UAE whose board exams were disrupted earlier this year now have another chance to sit those papers. But after a gap of more than six months, should they take it? We get advice from a headteacher.

We also look ahead to the launch of Etihad Rail’s Dubai passenger station next week, turning the spotlight on Fujairah. Could better rail links bring a new wave of tourists, investment and opportunities for local businesses?

Abu Dhabi is officially the Middle East’s leading city for artificial intelligence - and one of the best places in the world to build an AI industry. A new global index ranks the capital 11th in the world, so what is Abu Dhabi getting right, and what would it take to break into the global top ten?

Meanwhile, when was the last time you picked up a book? A reading caravan will travel across the UAE to encourage both children and adults to get back into literature.

And scarlet macaws are deliberately allowing some of their youngest chicks to starve. Scientists are now stepping in, taking the abandoned babies and placing them with foster parents.

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The passenger train from Dubai to Abu Dhabi starts running next week, and we now know how much a ticket will cost. The Agenda's Katie Chambers has everything you need to know about the UAE's new commuter service.

We're also putting the spotlight on Al Ain, as the city looks to establish itself as a business centre in its own right - attracting major international companies and investing in new industries. But what can Al Ain offer that Abu Dhabi and Dubai don't? What role will its universities play in that growth? And what's it actually like to build a technology company there?

Remember the AI trend a couple of weeks ago, when we all turned ourselves into 1980s versions of ourselves - big hair, shoulder pads and questionable fashion choices included? If you tried it, did you think about the environmental footprint of your request? Should we be considering the climate every time we use ChatGPT?

Meanwhile, forget crisps or a fizzy drink - a new machine popping up around Dubai is dispensing something rather different: your next book. We'll find out how you can get involved.

And could watching the sunset actually be good for you? Research suggests those few minutes of changing light can trigger a powerful sense of awe, with some surprising benefits for our wellbeing.

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Flights in and out of Riyadh were disrupted after a missile was intercepted over the Saudi capital. So should we be nervous about flying while the conflict continues?

We take a closer look at AI - how dangerous is it really, could it help develop better cancer treatments.

Ed Sheeran has spoken out about Gaza, raising the question: should pop stars keep politics off the stage?

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