Author: Arabian Media staff

Wedding season is expensive, with the average wedding guest spending $610 in 2024, according to an internal survey by wedding planning website The Knot. If you have multiple weddings to attend this year, those costs can quickly blow through your budget. Luckily, there are ways to handle the expense of wedding season without going broke (or feeling cheap!). It all starts with knowing what matters to you. Key Takeaways Take time to prioritize which weddings and associated events are important enough to justify the expense of attending.Stick to your budget with strategies like sharing expenses with friends, using airline or…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldAdvertisers are flocking to Fox News to reach “an audience of one”, according to the network’s head of ad sales, as companies, advocacy groups and foreign leaders try to lobby US President Donald Trump through his television screen. Fox News has recorded a boom in advertising revenues this year on the back of record audience numbers, backed by an unexpected boost from political advertising. While this typically falls away after an election, Fox has found that political and advocacy advertising has…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.One of the biggest policy challenges of our times will be how to regulate artificial intelligence appropriately. As the powerful general purpose technology is rapidly adopted across society and the economy, the task will be to maximise its upsides while minimising its downsides. AI is already proving a helpful boost to productivity in sectors such as software, marketing and administration. But its widespread use also raises real concerns about its more harmful impacts, ranging from algorithmic discrimination to deepfakes and disinformation. The…

Image credit: WAM Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has issued Law No. (7) of 2025, establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for contracting activities in the emirate. The law marks a major step in enhancing governance and transparency within Dubai’s contracting sector and aligns with the emirate’s long-term development goals and international best practices, a WAM report said. Designed to unify and strengthen oversight, the legislation introduces standardised processes for contractor classification, licensing, accountability, and supervision. It also supports the broader objectives of Dubai’s economic strategy and sustainable…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Cryptocurrency companies are racing to expand into traditional banking in the US, as they seek to capitalise on a friendlier regulatory environment under President Donald Trump and become more embedded in the financial system.Crypto payments group Ripple, stablecoin company Circle and custodian BitGo have applied for national trust bank charters that will allow them to offer some banking services, while crypto exchange Kraken plans to launch bank cards in the next month.“It’s a natural convergence,” Arjun Sethi, co-chief executive of Kraken, told…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Automobiles myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Renault is preparing more than 20 new models that will each be developed in less than two years in one of the most ambitious projects as western carmakers turn to fewer components and artificial intelligence to match the engineering speed of Chinese rivals.The French group and other legacy carmakers from Volkswagen, Nissan to Stellantis are tearing down vehicles made by BYD and other Chinese carmakers, hiring Chinese engineers and learning from their joint venture partners in China to compete against an influx of…

On a recent weeknight in Shanghai, customers packed one of the city’s six Sam’s Clubs, scouting for deals among the wide aisles stacked to the ceiling with groceries and merchandise.“At least half our family’s stuff is bought here,” said Peter Xu, a 34-year-old shopper at the front of a long queue for free samples of Chaoshan beef noodles.Sam’s Club, Walmart’s warehouse chain, is one of China’s fastest-growing foreign retailers, with 56 stores in the country and plans for 60 by the end of the year, said a person familiar with its expansion. This compares with seven China stores from Costco,…

Malian government helicopters landed unannounced at a Barrick Mining complex on Thursday and carted away gold, escalating a dispute between the parties and highlighting challenges facing miners as African countries assert more control over their natural resources.The trend spans west and central Africa’s “coup belt” that includes Mali, Niger and Guinea, where military regimes have seized power in recent years, as well as elected governments such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Governments have also been emboldened to act by the global race for critical minerals essential to high-tech and defence industries, as well as the transition to cleaner…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The rich in Britain are turning to life insurance to reduce the pain of unexpected inheritance tax bills following a contentious overhaul of the system in the autumn Budget.“Every market has its day in the sun. Life insurance is having a moment,” said Holly Hill, associate director at insurance broker John Lamb Hill Oldridge, adding that she had seen “a deluge” of new policies taken out by estate owners following the Budget in October last year.John Lamb Hill Oldridge said it had…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A former Sequoia Capital Partner who left the Silicon Valley firm after a bitter boardroom battle at Klarna is set to launch a $400mn UK-based venture capital fund. Matt Miller has been raising money from institutional investors in recent months, according to people familiar with the moves, seeking to become one of the best-funded solo investors focused on backing European tech start-ups.He has already secured at least $355mn from institutional investors, according to one of the people familiar with the matter, while…