The Agenda

Mortgage costs are heading higher after the UAE raised interest rates for the first time in more than three years. So how much more could you end up paying?

And when the conflict ends, will Middle East aviation be ready for travellers to come flooding back?

The red carpet is also coming back to Dubai. The Dubai International Film Festival will return in 2027, a decade after it disappeared from the city’s cultural calendar.

Meanwhile, hackers are stealing encrypted data today, hoping quantum computers will help them unlock it in the future. So how do we protect our secrets from technology that hasn’t even arrived yet?

Plus, should pop stars keep their politics off the stage? Macklemore has been dropped from Ed Sheeran’s US tour over comments about Palestine, prompting other artists to pull out in solidarity.

We meet the Dubai couple who have rescued more than 6,000 drivers stranded in the desert - completely free of charge.

And would you take a halal-friendly cruise to Antarctica? The first voyage sold out, and now the company behind it is taking the idea to even more remote destinations.

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Dubai is building a huge new 80-kilometre road through the desert, creating a fourth major route linking Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

It’s designed to ease congestion, but can building more roads really keep pace with the UAE’s rapid growth? And just how challenging will a project of this scale be to build? We speak to the experts.

Plus, the United States has confirmed for the first time that it has weapons orbiting the Earth. What exactly are they, and are we entering a new arms race in space?

Would you read more if you were paid to do it? Singapore is offering people rewards for picking up a book as it tries to tackle doomscrolling and encourage deeper reading.

And robot fighting has become a sport in Riyadh. So are humanoid robots finally ready to move out of the lab and into our everyday lives?

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Despite months of disruption, the Gulf is still forecast to be one of the fastest-growing tourism markets in the world.

A new report suggests visitor numbers could rise by around 10% a year over the next five years. We speak to the author of the study about what is driving that growth and whether the momentum can continue.

Meanwhile, Ras Al Khaimah is turning its attention from staycationers back to international tourists. The CEO of RAK Tourism joins us to discuss the billions of dirhams being invested in new hotels, attractions and tourism projects across the emirate.

And the UAE’s highest mountain is getting a major adventure upgrade. Jebel Jais is set to add an 80-kilometre hiking loop, with a route that could take around five days to complete.

Plus, the UAE is expanding its annual flu vaccination campaign. We ask who should be getting the jab and when.

And finally, a remarkable piece of travel history has gone under the hammer in Abu Dhabi, with a 700-year-old manuscript documenting the journeys of Ibn Battuta selling for nearly AED 1 million.

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Residents from Dubai Marina and JLT to The Springs, Al Barsha, Al Furjan and Discovery Gardens are reporting a persistent unpleasant smell. The Agenda team has reached out to Dubai Municipality for an interview/ statement and we're awaiting response. Meanwhile, the Municipality’s Call Centre confirmed to Gulf News it has received complaints and is aware of the problem. But when a smell is being reported across such a wide area, how do you actually work out what it is and where it’s coming from?

We also ask: Can a bad smell itself be harmful, and what symptoms should we be looking out for? 

Lots of focus on tourism as the Arabian Travel Market continues. We start with the smallest emirate of the UAE - Ajman. What does it have to offer people who perhaps haven’t explored it before?

We also discuss how artificial intelligence change how we book and plan our holidays

Plus, are we getting real Christmas trees this year?

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Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, which is the company behind Claude, says AI capabilities are advancing dramatically, and argues that slowing development could buy researchers crucial time to make the technology safer. So how worried should we be about the speed at which AI is developing? 

The Boring Company is set to build more than 150 kilometres of tunnels across the UAE, as part of a new agreement with several investment companies based in the Emirates. The idea is to move passengers underground in electric vehicles, bypassing the traffic above. But does putting cars underground actually solve congestion?

Dubai welcomed around nearly 900,000 international visitors in August, its highest monthly figure since February, while hotel occupancy climbed from just 36% in March to 66% in August. So how long will it take Dubai tourism to fully recover, and what will drive the next stage of that recovery? 

The tourism industry is gathering in Dubai for Arabian Travel Market, at the start of what would traditionally be one of the UAE's busiest tourism seasons. But beyond getting visitors back, there's a longer-term challenge: finding and training the people needed to support the UAE's growing hospitality, tourism, sports and events industries. We speak to one academy that is on a mission to meet that demand.

Sisters Arva and Farida of Frying Pan Adventures join The Agenda to talk about their 13 years of showing Dubai to tourists,

And if you’re planning to buy the new iPhone 18, or even one of the foldables, watch where you click.

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Dubai Airports says the recovery is already underway, with passenger numbers climbing sharply after months of disruption. 

As delayed major events including Arabian Travel Market and GISEC finally get underway, we hear from Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths on who is flying, when international tourists will return, and the latest timeline for the move to Al Maktoum International.

Meanwhile, Palm Jebel Ali has unveiled its first retail and lifestyle hub, set to open as soon as next year. But how do you actually build a brand-new neighbourhood from scratch?

Also, would you go back to work in your seventies? Sharjah is creating 1,000 part-time jobs for senior citizens, in a scheme designed to keep older people active and connected. 

We meet two septuagenarians with no intention of slowing down, and speak to the manager of Elder Square, a UAE daycare centre dedicated entirely to older people.

Plus, more than 24,000 Dubai Government employees have just completed a summer experiment in flexible working. So did working fewer hours actually work?

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With attacks on ships around the Strait of Hormuz escalating, the regional conflict is also intensifying online, with cyberattacks on the UAE still running at around 600,000 a day.

So how do you protect the ports and infrastructure that keep global trade moving? We speak to DP World.

Also on the podcast, Wizz Air is returning to the UAE, just a year after pulling the plug on its Abu Dhabi operation. We find out what has changed, why it is coming back and what it could mean for airfares.

Meanwhile, some of the people building the world’s most powerful AI systems are warning that the technology could eventually wipe out humanity. So just how seriously should we take those warnings coming out of Silicon Valley?

Could spending a few minutes as Marie Curie change the way you think about women in science? Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi say virtual reality could help challenge some of our unconscious biases.

And the UAE National Orchestra is back for its second season with a bigger programme. We speak to its Artistic Planning Director about how the orchestra is developing an increasingly distinctive sound of its own.

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A new report from St. James’s Place Middle East suggests that, for many affluent expats, the answer is yes. An extraordinary 96% say they earn more here than they would at home, and 97% say they save more. And perhaps unsurprisingly, many are staying much longer than they originally planned. 

Dubai is one of the most digitally connected cities in the world. But the more connected a city becomes, the greater the potential cyber risk. What threats are Dubai facing now, how is the city protecting its digital infrastructure, and how much responsibility lies with businesses and ordinary users? 

Katie is joined live in the studio by His Excellency Amer Sharaf Alhashmi, CEO of the Cyber Security Systems and Services Sector, Dubai Electronic Security Center.

When we talk about cyberattacks, it can all sound very technical. But often, the way into a system is surprisingly simple. 

Toyota and Lexus have relaunched a major safety campaign in the UAE urging owners of older vehicles to check whether their cars still have defective Takata airbags. The recall itself is not new, but it remains the largest automotive safety recall in history. We ask: what exactly can go wrong with these airbags?

And police in France are searching for two thieves after a raid on the Renoir Museum, and this is not an isolated case. So are museums facing a growing security problem? 

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If you're booking a Dubai hotel this month, you may have noticed prices climbing. We tell you how a hotel decides what your room is worth.

ONPASSIVE Metro Station is becoming Garmin Metro Station, after the technology company secured the naming rights under a 10-year agreement. So what does naming a Metro station actually do for a brand, and do frequent changes risk confusing passengers? 

After years of strong growth, there are signs Dubai’s property market may be starting to turn.  

Abu Dhabi has introduced a new Post-Separation Charter aimed at keeping children out of parental disputes and protecting their psychological and social wellbeing. 

Eid Al Etihad is a celebration of the UAE’s Union and everything the country has achieved since 1971. But the story of the UAE isn’t only found in official records or history books, but also in the memories of people who watched the country change. 

And we share more details about the three new Harry Potter-themed lands under construction on Yas Island. 

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A woman who lost her husband just seven months ago is now creating a new support community for widows after finding herself struggling to navigate everything that comes after a death.  

If your husband or wife died unexpectedly, would you know what happens to your bank accounts, your home, your mortgage or your children? And for expat families, with assets and relatives potentially spread across several countries, how much more complicated can it become? 

Today is the UN’s International Day of Clean Air, and new global research suggests many of us may be underestimating the risks. In the UAE, roughly two-thirds say they're not concerned, despite air pollution exceeding WHO recommended levels. So why aren't we more worried?

Could AI help doctors find symptoms of Crohn’s disease earlier?

And a new study has looked at thousands of reports of wildlife turning up in and around people's homes and researchers say there’s a serious reason behind some of those unexpected visitors. 

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