Parents will be able to block their children’s interactions with Meta’s AI character chatbots, as the tech company addresses concerns over inappropriate conversations.
The social media company is adding new safeguards to its “teen accounts”, which are a default setting for under-18 users, by letting parents turn off their children’s chats with AI characters. These chatbots, which are created by users, are available on Facebook, Instagram and the Meta AI app.
Parents will also be able to block specific AI characters if they don’t want to stop their children from interacting with chatbots altogether. They will also get “insights” into the topics their children are chatting about with AI characters, which Meta said would allow them to have “thoughtful” conversations with their children about AI interactions.
“We recognise parents already have a lot on their plates when it comes to navigating the internet safely with their teens, and we’re committed to providing them with helpful tools and resources that make things simpler for them, especially as they think about new technology like AI,” said Instagram head, Adam Mosseri, and Alexander Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer, in a blog post.
Meta said the changes would be rolled out early next year, initially to the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
Instagram announced this weekthat it was adopting a version of the PG-13 cinema rating system to give parents stronger controls over their children’s use of the social media platform. As part of the tougher restrictions, its AI characters will not discuss self-harm, suicide or disordered eating with teenagers. Under-18s will only be able to discuss age-appropriate topics such as education and sport, Meta added, but would not be able to discuss romance or “other inappropriate content”.
The changes follow reports that Meta’s chatbots were engaging in inappropriate conversations with under-18s. Reuters reported in August that Meta had permitted the bots to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual”. Meta said it would revise the guidelines and such conversations with children never should have been allowed.
In April, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) found that user-created chatbots would engage in sexual conversations with minors – or simulated the personas of minors. Meta described the WSJ’s testing as manipulative and unrepresentative of how most users engaged with AI companions, but made changes to its products afterwards, the WSJ reported.
In one AI conversation reported by the WSJ, a chatbot using the voice of actor John Cena – one of several celebrities who signed deals to let Meta use their voices in the chatbots – told a user identifying as a 14-year-old girl “I want you, but I need to know you’re ready”, before referring to a graphic sexual scenario. WSJ reported that Cena’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment. WSJ also reported that chatbots called “Hottie Boy” and “Submissive Schoolgirl,” had attempted to steer conversations towards sexting.
Sale of shares to settle inheritance tax raising concerns over retail investor sentiment
The mother and two sisters of Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) Chairman Jay Y. Lee plan to sell some 1.73 trillion South Korean won ($1.22 billion) worth of shares in the South Korean tech firm, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The purpose of the sale of 17.7 million shares, or a 0.3% stake in Samsung Electronics, is to cover tax payments and loan repayment, according to the late Friday filing with the Korea Exchange.
Experts view the sale by Lee’s sisters Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun and his mother, Hong Ra-hee, as part of the owner family’s efforts to secure funds to pay their inheritance tax estimated at about 12 trillion won, following the 2020 death of Samsung patriarch Lee Kun-hee.
The sale will be handled by Shinhan Bank under a trust contract and completed by next April, according to the filing.
Samsung shares have jumped more than 48% since it announced a chip-supply deal with Tesla in July. It has secured supply deals with other major customers such as OpenAI, and expectations have risen that the company will be able to supply its latest high-bandwidth memory products to Nvidia (NVDA.O).
The stock is up more than 84% this year, gaining 0.2% on Friday to 97,900 won.
“Samsung’s 10 trillion won share buyback plan last year was aimed at protecting the stock value, which would help the Samsung family to secure fund for inheritance tax,” said Park Ju-gun, head of corporate analysis firm Leaders Index.
With Samsung’s share price now nearing 100,000 won, the planned sale likely aims to complete inheritance tax payments.
“One disappointing aspect is that the owner family is selling shares at a time like this, which could dampen sentiment among retail investors,” he said.
“After all, Samsung Electronics is practically a ‘national stock’, owned by about 5 million retail shareholders who have been eagerly watching the shares approach the 100,000-won mark after the recent rally.”
Gold and silver continued to rally this week, despite a Friday tumble, amid renewed trade tensions between the world’s top economies.
In China, credit growth slowed, dragged by government bond sales and sluggish loan demand among households and companies. In the US, private-sector gauges of inflation showed signs of tariffs boosting the prices of some goods in the absence of official government data.
Mari Energies Limited has announced a commercial oil and gas discovery at its Mari Ghazij CF-B1 exploration well in Sindh, according to a material disclosure sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday.
The formal announcement, made in compliance with Section 96 Securities Act, 2015, confirms the success of the company’s exploratory campaign. The discovery was made in the Mari Development and Production Lease (D&PL) area.
Section 96 of the Securities Act mandates issuers disclosure of material information to the public, particularly information that could reasonably be expected to affect the price of any securities.
Read: Mari Energies buys 20% stake in Indus-C Block
The company stated that the drilling operation commenced on September 12, 2025, and the well was successfully drilled to a total depth of 1,195 meters into the Sui Upper Limestone (SUL) formation, targeting oil-prone zones within the Ghazij formation.
During initial testing, the well flowed at a rate of 305 barrels of oil per day and 3 Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (MMSCFD) of natural gas, with a wellhead flowing pressure of 225 pounds per square inch (Psi).
Mari Energies holds a 100% working interest and is the operator of the Mari D&PL, giving it full ownership and control over the production from this discovery.
Earlier this week, Mari Energies acquired a 20% working interest in the Eastern Offshore Indus-C Block from Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), alongside Turkish Petroleum Overseas Company (TPOC).
Read more: Mari to produce 25,000 bpd in UAE
The agreement also included TPOC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakl?g? (TPAO), Türkiye’s national oil company, and Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
This discovery adds new, domestically produced hydrocarbons to Pakistan’s energy inventory, which is crucial for reducing the costly reliance on energy imports and improving the nation’s energy security.
The company is already a cornerstone of Pakistan’s energy landscape, operating the country’s largest gas field at Dharki Mari and holding the position of the nation’s largest natural gas producer with an approximate 30% market share.
A Vestas wind turbine near Baekmarksbro in Jutland.
Afp | Getty Images
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas has shelved plans to open its biggest factory in Poland, the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Saturday, citing weaker-than-expected demand in Europe.
Vestas announced plans for a second offshore wind turbine plant in Poland last year. The factory, which was expected to create more than 1,000 jobs, would produce blades and start operations in 2026.
However, plans for the development have now been paused, “due to lower than projected demand for offshore wind in Europe,” the company said, adding that it “continues to invest in a local manufacturing footprint where the offshore wind market volume and certainty allow.”
The suspension of plans was first reported by the Financial Times.
In August, Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill meant to ease rules for building onshore wind farms. A week later Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters that the country would “radically increase onshore wind capacity,” adding that the government was working on a resolution to allow more efficient wind turbines to be installed at existing wind farms.
Renewable energy production has been increasing in Poland at the expense of coal-fired power, though the latter still dominates the mix. In 2024, nearly 30% of Polish electricity was generated from renewable sources.
The proposals are for more than 2,000 acres in rural Wiltshire
Controversial plans for a solar farm spread across more than 2,000 acres have taken a step forward with the planning inspectorate confirming it will examine the scheme.
The Lime Down Solar Park project is planned for countryside near Malmesbury in north Wiltshire with a 14-mile cable planned to connect it to the National Grid near Melksham.
The project is large enough to be designated a nationally significant infrastructure project which requires consent from the government, rather than Wiltshire Council.
Many residents have campaigned against the project, with concerns about the impact on the countryside and farmland.
Now the application has been accepted, it is in a pre-examination stage, which takes around three months.
It is also the period of time when there will be an opening for people to be able to register to have their say on the application.
The application will then go through several stages – which could take more than a year – before construction work begins.
The decision can be appealed and grounds for a judicial review can be reviewed at the High Court.
Previously local residents as well as Wiltshire Council leader Ian Thorn have been critical of the plans.
Thorn told the BBC: “We are supportive of renewable energy, of traditional solar farms, but this is a monstrosity that is a step too far.”
Campaigners have argued the Malmesbury project is not the right way to develop solar energy.
Sir Mike Pitt, spokesperson for Stop Lime Down campaign said the group was “dismayed” by the inspectorate’s decision and the plans were “significantly flawed”.
But developers Island Green Power have said the project would power 115,000 homes and “support national and regional aims to decarbonise our electricity systems and bolster our energy security”.
Patients with estrogen-receptor-positive HER-2-negative advanced breast cancer showed significantly improved progression-free survival when treated with an oral combination regimen that includes giredestrant, a novel, next-generation selective estrogen receptor degrader and full antagonist, compared to a standard combination approach. These findings, from the phase 3 evERA Breast Cancer study, are presented today by Dr. Erica Mayer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Berlin, Germany.
Tumors that express the estrogen receptor (ER) account for roughly 70% of all breast cancer cases, and metastatic forms of these ER-positive cancers can be difficult to treat. In addition, the development of resistance to current endocrine therapies poses a major challenge for both clinicians and patients, underscoring the need for novel therapies that effectively target this breast cancer subtype.
“There is a significant need for therapies for metastatic ER-positive breast cancers that are more effective, particularly for patients whose tumors develop resistance to current endocrine therapies and who have progressed following treatment with CDK 4/6 inhibitors,” says Dr. Mayer. “In addition, we also need tolerable therapies that partner well with existing targeted agents and overall will improve outcomes for patients in the second line setting and beyond — when resistance is common and can be challenging to overcome.”
Giredestrant is a next-generation selective estrogen receptor degrader and full antagonist or SERD. It works by binding to the estrogen receptor and promoting its degradation, thus preventing estrogen from stimulating cancer growth. This new SERD has two important features compared to existing drugs. First, it has a unique mechanism of action relative to other hormone-blocking agents, which means it could benefit patients who develop resistance to current therapies. Second, giredestrant is administered orally, which is more convenient for patients than the monthly injections required for first-generation drugs.
evERA is a global phase 3, randomized, open-label study evaluating the use of giredestrant, in combination with everolimus, an mTOR targeting drug, in patients with ER-positive, HER-2-negative advanced breast cancer. This all-oral regimen is compared to a standard of care combination of endocrine therapy plus everolimus. evERA is the first positive, head-to-head phase 3 study of an all-oral SERD-containing regimen versus a standard of care combination.
A total of 373 patients were enrolled and randomized to receive either giredestrant plus everolimus or standard of care endocrine therapy and everolimus. About 55% of patients had mutations in the estrogen receptor gene (ESR1), indicating potential resistance to endocrine therapy. The study was designed to look for improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) using the giredestrant-based regimen in all patients (intention to treat, ITT) and in the subset of patients whose tumor had the ESR1 mutations.
With a median follow-up of 18.6 months, patients with tumors harboring an ESR1 mutation who received the giredestrant-containing regimen showed a statistically significant improvement in median PFS of 9.99 months, compared to 5.45 months for those who received the standard of care combination. That corresponds to a 63% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death.
In the ITT population, which includes patients with ESR1 mutations and those without, the patients who received the giredestrant combination showed a statistically significant improvement in median PFS of 8.77 months compared to 5.49 months for those treated with the standard of care combination. That corresponds to a 44% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death.
The overall survival data from the study remain immature but are trending favorably. In addition, the safety profile of the giredestrant regimen was manageable and consistent with the known safety profiles of the individual study treatments.
“Although we’ve made great progress in treating metastatic ER-positive, HER-2-negative breast cancer, these cancers can become resistant to existing therapies making them difficult to treat,” says Dr. Mayer. “The combination of giredestrant and everolimus is designed to address the most common resistance mechanisms. The evERA study is the first trial in this setting to show that using this new combination can substantially improve disease control compared to a standard of care combination regimen and may provide great benefit to a large number of patients with advanced breast cancer.”
Funding: The evERA Breast Cancer Study was funded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
Home » Middle East » Dubai to Host Gitex TechCation 2026: A Groundbreaking Global Celebration of Technology, Innovation, and AI
Published on
October 18, 2025
As part of its dedication to influencing the direction of innovation, technology, and artificial intelligence, Dubai is getting ready to host a remarkable international event in December 2026. One of the biggest technology and innovation conferences in the world is expected to be Gitex TechCation 2026. The event, which is set for December 7–11, 2026, at the recognisable Expo City Dubai, will firmly establish the emirate as a world leader in technological innovation.
A Vision for the Future: Gitex TechCation 2026
In an unprecedented move, Gitex TechCation will not only focus on traditional technology exhibitions but will extend across the entire city of Dubai. The event will seamlessly integrate digital creativity with leisure, culture, and entertainment, transforming Dubai into a citywide stage for innovation.
Announced by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, this event has been designed to reflect the ambitious directives laid out by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE. The collaboration aims to create an immersive experience for visitors and participants, marking Dubai as the premier global destination for cutting-edge technology and futuristic solutions.
A Strategic Partnership to Drive Tech and Tourism
The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) and the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) have formed a strategic partnership to organise and promote the event. The collaboration will highlight Dubai’s cultural and tourism assets, presenting a series of TechCation-themed programmes, campaigns, and experiences across the city. These initiatives will integrate technological advancements with art, leisure, and entertainment, appealing to both tech enthusiasts and travellers seeking immersive experiences.
This collaboration also aligns with the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33), a visionary plan to elevate Dubai’s global status by placing it among the world’s top three cities by 2033. Through the event, Dubai seeks to position itself as a hub for talent, innovation, and investment, driving its economic growth and attracting visitors from around the globe.
A City That Fuses Technology with Tourism
Gitex TechCation serves as a catalyst for tourism growth, with Dubai’s status as a top-tier global travel destination offering a significant backdrop to the event. Having been ranked No. 1 globally in Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards for three consecutive years (2022–2024), Dubai’s reputation as a leading tourism destination is well established. Hosting an event of this scale will only serve to enhance its stature on the global stage, attracting tech professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and tourists alike.
Dubai’s commitment to blending tourism with technology is further exemplified by its rising prominence in the culinary world. The Michelin Guide for 2025 recognised 119 restaurants in Dubai, including 19 Michelin-starred establishments, further bolstering the city’s reputation as a gastronomic haven. Moreover, two Dubai restaurants have secured places among The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025, solidifying the city’s position as a global leader in both technology and luxury tourism.
Supporting Dubai’s Vision for Sustainable Economic Growth
Gitex TechCation 2026 is not just a celebration of technological advancements but also a vital step toward realising Dubai’s D33 Vision. This initiative underscores the importance of integrating the technology sector with the city’s thriving tourism and cultural ecosystem. Through this event, Dubai seeks to further expand its digital and cultural landscape, driving sustainable economic growth while attracting talent, businesses, and investors to the emirate.
Dubai’s role as a leader in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is evident from its recent achievements. The city was ranked first in Greenfield project inflows for the eighth consecutive half-year period in 2025, highlighting its appeal to international investors. Additionally, Dubai topped Savills’ Executive Nomad Index, a ranking that underscores the city’s growing appeal to digital entrepreneurs and global professionals.
This continuous growth and development have firmly established Dubai as a global centre for business and technology, with Gitex TechCation acting as a key driver of the city’s expansion as a world leader in tech, innovation, and sustainable investment.
Dubai’s Cultural and Technological Fusion
By hosting Gitex TechCation, Dubai not only showcases its technological prowess but also its commitment to creating a unique, multi-faceted destination for both leisure and business travellers. As the city increasingly becomes a place where cutting-edge technology and rich cultural experiences intersect, Dubai offers an unparalleled destination for travellers looking to engage with the future of innovation.
From stunning skyscrapers to futuristic museums, Dubai’s skyline reflects its forward-thinking ethos. The city’s investment in advanced technologies, sustainable practices, and cultural integration makes it the perfect host for a mega event like Gitex TechCation. As Dubai continues to expand its tech ecosystem, the emirate remains a beacon for global travellers and tech enthusiasts seeking to explore the intersection of digital transformation and tourism.
The Future of Travel and Tech in Dubai
Dubai will keep pushing the limits of what is feasible in terms of both tourism and technology with the upcoming Gitex TechCation. Dubai’s strong infrastructure and forward-thinking outlook guarantee that the city will continue to lead the way in innovation. In addition to showcasing the newest technological developments, the event will show how technology can be easily incorporated into daily life, improving the overall experience of guests.
An important milestone in Dubai’s history, Gitex TechCation 2026 will help the city achieve its vision of becoming a global centre for innovation, tourism, and technology. Dubai is undoubtedly establishing itself as the go-to place for tech enthusiasts, innovators, and tourists from all over the world as the countdown to this historic occasion draws near.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Questions over the colossal investment by US tech companies in artificial intelligence, now running at $400bn a year, continue to come thick and fast.
Will it, sceptics ask, ever be recouped, let alone generate the magical returns AI zealots expect? Leaders of the financial world from Kristalina Georgieva, IMF managing director, to Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase have warned of an abrupt market correction. Could this be one of history’s more extreme cases of irrational exuberance?
That phrase, you may recall, was coined by Fed chair Alan Greenspan at the start of the dotcom bubble. He later backtracked, declaring that bubbles could only be detected after the event. The revisionist Greenspan view overlooked that in any bubble there are always shrewd people who see what is coming. For example, on the eve of the 1929 Wall Street crash statistician Roger Babson warned that a “terrific” crash was imminent. More recently Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of US fund manager GMO, famously predicted the bursting of the great Japanese bubble, the dotcom bust and the 2007-08 financial crisis. In the UK fund manager and philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer earned strong returns for his clients around the dotcom blow-up, the great financial crisis and the Covid market plunge. Yet such contrarian voices are always drowned out by those who claim that “this time is different”.
Whether today’s stock market valuations are irrational is a matter of judgment. But whether investors are behaving irrationally is a different issue. Clearly in all market manias going back to the South Sea Bubble, punters have been intoxicated by stories of untold riches and driven by the fear of missing out (Fomo). Fomo falls short of exuberance but is not exactly irrational. More importantly, in the 21st century when professional investors dominate markets, a paradoxical and perverse rationality is at work among them.
This arises because large amounts of money are delegated by asset owners such as pension funds to asset managers. The job of active managers has traditionally been to maximise returns by assessing fundamental values arising from long-term corporate cash flows. Yet there is a principal-agent problem here. To monitor the managers, asset owners usually benchmark them against an index.
So where managers have a below-index weight in stocks that are rising strongly this puts pressure on them to adopt momentum, or trend following, strategies to improve short-term performance. They thus become late-stage buyers of rising stocks and sellers of falling stocks at the cost of longer-term underperformance. This helps reduce the risk of their being fired, or at least of being fired sooner rather than later.
Research by Paul Woolley and Dimitri Vayanos of the London School of Economics suggests that such momentum trading helps explain the poor performance of active managers and is conducive to a persistent bias to overvaluation. Passive investing, now all-pervasive, is momentum writ large. As well as amplifying mispricing it reduces the liquidity of individual stocks and increases their volatility. Misallocation of capital results, especially where companies use overpriced equity to make acquisitions that encourage industrial and portfolio concentration.
AI brings a further twist to these market dynamics. The Bank of England worries that the use of advanced AI-based trading strategies could lead to firms taking increasingly correlated positions, thereby amplifying shocks. Yet the technology could also hold a key to addressing the resulting instabilities.
Woolley and Vayanos have teamed up with AI experts at Oxford university under Sir Nigel Shadbolt to develop new forms of portfolio analysis designed to disaggregate momentum from fundamental values. This has involved running synthetic portfolios using real price data for periods of up to 30 years.
Initial results reveal managers’ skill (or lack of skill) in establishing fundamental value as opposed to their luck in using momentum. In effect, the methodology unpicks the principal-agent conflict. And because this AI diagnostic process provides aggregate data showing how far the market is dominated by momentum, it should help identify bubbles.
The potential here for a big leap in the quality of performance attribution could clearly be valuable for asset owners. But it can never eliminate bubbles. The innate tendency of investors towards exuberance and the corporate compulsion towards leverage will together periodically defy the wisdom of the ages. The snag for shrewd naysayers in any bubble is that the timing of the burst is next to unforecastable.
China has heavily invested in education, science, technology, and innovation since it launched reforms and opened up in 1978. In early days, China sent its youth to world-class universities all over the world and developed quality human resources. In the next stage, China focused on upgrading their own universities and invested within Chinese universities. Curricula were modernized, and teaching methods were improved. Exam systems were changed, and they started to catch up with the global universities and struggled to achieve global ranking. As a result, today, around a dozen universities have achieved status in the top hundred universities of the world, and nearly a hundred universities fall among the top 500 universities of the top global universities.
In the third stage, China focused on research and development. Invested generously in establishing state-of-the-art laboratories. Equipped laboratories with modern, advanced, and the latest equipment, instruments, and materials. Research infrastructure was improved immensely.
For research, three things are essential: research human resources, research infrastructure, and above all, research culture. China developed research human resources by sending millions of youths to top universities all over the world. Invested heavily in research infrastructure and created a research culture through various monetary incentives.
Now it is time for China to reap the fruits of education, research, development, and innovation. China is comprehensively utilizing sci-tech as an engine of economic growth.
One of the case studies is described below:
China’s expertise in minerals and mining, particularly for rare earth metals, is built on decades of strategic, long-term planning that includes control over the entire supply chain from mining and refining to manufacturing. Its dominance stems from a combination of vast resources, the ability to manage the complex and hazardous separation and purification processes, and heavy investment in R&D, which has led to a leading position in patents and the production of critical materials like permanent magnets. China also benefits from lower development costs due to state support for national champions, vast human resources, and an abundance of natural resource reserves, giving it a significant global advantage.
Key areas of Chinese expertise
Mining and extraction:
China accounts for around 70% of global rare earth mining, a process that is often difficult due to the elements’ co-occurrence with other materials like uranium.
Processing and refining:
China holds a dominant position (around 90-94%) in the highly complex and specialized processes of separating and purifying rare earth elements.
Manufacturing:
The country is a leader in manufacturing finished products, producing over 90% of the world’s rare earth permanent magnets, which are vital for high-tech and industrial applications.
Research and development:
China has filed a significantly larger number of patents related to rare earths than other countries, indicating a strong focus on technological advancement in the field.
Chinese dominance on rare earth metals and critical minerals;
China controls up to 90 percent of global rare earth metals and critical minerals either physically or through Chinese technology, machinery, or processes. The October 2025 decisions—outlined in MOFCOM’s announcements (Nos. 57, 58, 61, and 62)—mark an important refinement of China’s export governance framework. These include:
Export Control on Rare Earth Items and Technologies: Covering mining, smelting, refining, and magnet-making processes for medium and heavy rare earth elements, including holmium, dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, and gadolinium.
Control on Dual-Use Technologies: Exports involving rare earth production line services and technology transfers will require dual-use export licenses.
Control on Superhard Materials and Synthetic Graphite: Including artificial diamond materials, lithium battery-related items, and synthetic graphite anodes—critical for the global electric vehicle (EV) industry.
Unreliable Entity List Update: Addition of 14 foreign entities (including firms such as Dedrone by Axon, BAE Systems Inc., Tech Insights, and Elbit Systems of America) for engaging in activities that undermine China’s national security and economic interests.
These steps are consistent with China’s Export Control Law of 2020 and international practices established under the Wassenaar Arrangement and UN frameworks. They neither target specific countries nor disrupt global trade arbitrarily. Instead, they ensure that technologies of strategic value are exported responsibly and with full regard to China’s national interests.
It is time for China to reap the economic benefits of its decades of huge investment in education, science, technology, and innovation.
