More than 32,000 violators of the UAE’s Entry and Residency Law were apprehended between January and the end of June 2025, according to the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security.

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The arrests came as part of a broad series of inspection campaigns conducted across the Emirates under the slogan “Towards a Safer Society.” The initiative is part of the authority’s ongoing efforts to enhance compliance with immigration laws and ensure the lawful residence and employment of foreigners.

Major General Suhail Saeed Al Khaili, Director General of the Authority, said the primary goal of the campaigns is to reduce the number of violators and uphold social stability. “These campaigns aim to guarantee a dignified life for residents and visitors by ensuring they live and work within the framework of the law,” he said.

Legal action, deportations underway

Al Khaili emphasised that the authority’s strategy includes not only enforcing the law but also raising public awareness about the importance of legal compliance. “We are committed to instilling a culture of lawfulness in society,” he said. “Those who are found to be in violation are given an opportunity to rectify their status or face deportation in accordance with legal procedures.”

Of the individuals apprehended, approximately 70 per cent have already been deported after completing the required legal processes. Others are currently in detention and will be referred to the relevant authorities for further action.

The Director General stressed that inspection campaigns will continue across all emirates. He added that dedicated task forces are working around the clock to identify and apprehend violators, and that strict penalties—including fines—will be imposed on both the violators and those who employ or shelter them.

“The Entry and Residency Law includes strong deterrents for anyone who breaks the law or helps others to do so,” Al Khaili noted.

Public urged to support law enforcement

Al Khaili called on all members of society to comply with the Entry and Residency Law and to avoid employing or assisting violators. He emphasized that public cooperation is vital to maintaining security and social order.

“The law is clear, and its enforcement protects the safety and integrity of our society,” he said.

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) has started supplying cooling services to the first phase of the Al Habtoor Tower project. The tower, positioned as the world’s largest residential icon, spans an area of 3,517,313 square feet.

According to Empower, all phases of the district cooling connection for the development are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027. Once fully operational, the project will receive a total cooling capacity of 7,200 refrigeration tons (RT), which is nearly 75% of the peak cooling demand of the Burj Khalifa.

The service launch follows an agreement signed in April 2024 between Empower and Al Habtoor Group. Under the agreement, Empower will supply its district cooling services to the Al Habtoor Tower through its Business Bay district cooling plant.

The company confirmed that the cooling services will be delivered using advanced technologies that optimise energy efficiency and minimise carbon emissions. The distribution network has been designed in accordance with leading environmental standards.

“The scale and diversity of Empower’s portfolio reflect our steadfast commitment to delivering the highest standards of quality and reliability to customers across all sectors. We remain dedicated to providing sustainable cooling solutions that keep pace with Dubai’s rapid urban and population growth, support its environmental vision, and align with the UAE’s broader objectives of conserving natural resources, advancing a green economy, and achieving carbon neutrality,” said H.E. Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO of Empower.

“We take pride in our partnership with Al Habtoor Group to deliver our industry-leading services to the Al Habtoor Tower. This collaboration stands as a testament to the growing confidence in Empower’s expertise and capabilities in supporting landmark developments that shape the emirate’s urban landscape. We remain committed to expanding our operations and playing an active role in advancing the sustainability of Dubai’s real estate sector,” he added.

Bin Shafar also emphasised Empower’s plans to continue expanding its services while leveraging advanced technologies. These efforts will follow a strategic plan focused on sustainable development, in line with the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to establish Dubai as a global green economy hub and achieve the world’s lowest carbon footprint by 2050.

Al Habtoor Tower is one of the most prominent projects in Empower’s portfolio. The 350-metre tower will feature 87 floors, 1,701 residential units, and a suite of luxury amenities. It is expected to accommodate up to 5,000 residents.

Empower already provides environmentally friendly district cooling to all projects within Al Habtoor City, including luxury hotels and mixed-use residential towers. This partnership highlights the continued trust in Empower’s energy-efficient cooling solutions and aligns with the sustainability goals of leading real estate developers.

ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor with a focus on critical infrastructure and global supply chains, has announced that its voluntary tender offer for Aramex—submitted through its wholly owned indirect subsidiary, Q Logistics Holding—has become unconditional as of 22 July 2025.

According to the investor, all regulatory approvals and conditions outlined in the offer document published on 10 February 2025 have now been satisfied or waived. These include antitrust and foreign direct investment clearances from both UAE and international authorities.

Read: How Aramex, Sprinklr are reimagining customer experience with AI

As a result, payment of consideration to Aramex shareholders and the registration of shares in the name of Q Logistics Holding is scheduled to take place on 25 July 2025.

The transaction represents a significant milestone in ADQ’s strategy to deepen its investment in global logistics and supply chains, aligning with its broader economic diversification objectives.

Maison Safqa, a members-only private sales platform, has officially launched in Saudi Arabia, providing a curated online destination for luxury fashion and lifestyle at exclusive prices. Designed specifically for the modern Saudi shopper, the platform combines international prestige with regional creativity, debuting with well-known global brands and planning to gradually showcase emerging Saudi designers.

Read-How Saudi Arabia leveraged events and influencers to boost reputation

The platform redefines access to luxury style by offering time-limited private sales that allow members to shop premium fashion, lifestyle, and beauty products with a sense of exclusivity and excitement. Each brand appears on the platform for a limited period, creating urgency and freshness with every drop—from coveted high-end labels to rising global designers.

“Maison Safqa was built on the idea that each brand deserves a dedicated off-price sales channel to maximize its performance and reach without compromising the equity and name they have built,” said Co-founder and CEO Léa Mehaweg. “For our customers, we wanted to create a space where they could shop premium and luxury brands with insider prices, without sacrificing experience or taste.”

Luxury brands often face challenges with fast-moving fashion cycles leaving excess inventory. Maison Safqa turns this into an advantage by providing a private, members-only platform where brands can discreetly reintroduce past collections. This strategy protects brand prestige, preserves value, and keeps luxury on its own terms.

Now live in Saudi Arabia, Maison Safqa offers a fresh approach to fashion, luxury, and digital exclusivity for discerning shoppers.

For too long, the global response to climate change has been reactive, sluggish, and above all, mispriced. Flood defences, solar infrastructure, water recycling systems—these lifesaving essentials are often framed as burdensome costs on public balance sheets, rather than what they truly are: economic stabilisers and future-proof growth engines. It’s not just bad accounting. It’s a dangerous illusion.

In the Gulf, where sun and sand are abundant, and where cities like Dubai have shown what’s possible with speed and scale, the time has come to pivot from damage control to proactive efficiency. That shift won’t be driven by slogans or subsidies alone—it will be driven by smarter investment logic.

Climate change doesn’t send invoices—it sends storms

In April 2024, a record-breaking storm brought Dubai to a standstill. Roads turned into rivers. Power systems are strained. Insurance payouts skyrocketed. What looked like a “once-in-a-century” disaster soon proved to be just the beginning of a recurring pattern.

Yet many of the world’s economic systems still categorise climate preparedness as “optional.” The cost of building a solar farm or rethinking coastal urban planning is still filed under ‘expenditure’, while the trillions quietly burned in reactive cleanups, lost productivity, inflationary food imports, and healthcare bills don’t show up under the same scrutiny.

This is precisely the accounting fallacy that needs urgent recalibration. Because when climate volatility becomes the new baseline, business-as-usual is not just bad policy—it’s financially reckless.

Growth, but smarter

We’ve all inherited an economic model obsessed with expansion. Bigger buildings. Faster growth. Higher quarterly returns. But growth without efficiency on a finite planet is not strategy—it’s entropy. The real economic revolution lies in radical efficiency. That means squeezing every unit of value from every kilowatt, every kilo, every line of code and capital. Not to scale back ambition—but to scale smart.

Clean energy is no longer a boutique concept. It is outpacing fossil fuel investments globally, creating jobs, stabilising grids, and offering long-term resilience in the face of chaos. Our own work, from building the world’s largest Community Solar Power Programme to deploying zero-emission tire recycling tech in emerging markets, reflects this philosophy: minimise waste, maximise value, decentralise access.

This isn’t charity. This is smart capitalism, rebooted.

The UAE has the tools. Let’s use them.

Few regions are as uniquely positioned as the UAE to lead this charge. There is wealth. There is vision. There is speed. When storms hit, local authorities act swiftly. Infrastructure rebuilds happen in days—not years. But we need to move from swift reaction to strategic prevention.

Dubai’s coastline regeneration, solar megaprojects, and water management efforts prove that when there’s political will, the technological roadmap already exists. What’s needed now is a broader shift in how we measure ROI—not just for governments but for corporations and capital markets.

Why isn’t a climate-resilient supply chain considered a premium asset? Why do insurance companies still treat climate-linked damage as “acts of God” when the causes are very much human? Why do investment dashboards still struggle to assign monetary value to prevention?

It’s time to stop asking whether we can afford climate interventions and start asking how we ever afforded not to.

Read: Sheikh Mohammed establishes Dubai’s climate change authority

Investing in stability, not just returns

We don’t need a revolution in technology—we need a revolution in thinking. Renewable asset-backed instruments, such as the SDBN tokens, are just one example of how new models can offer both steady returns and climate resilience. Sunmoney’s community solar programme shareholders, on the other hand, receive monthly payouts based on actual solar energy production, tying their digital investment directly to real-world infrastructure. When linked to circular economy solutions like our Resun zero-emission tire recycling initiative, the value multiplies: environmental waste becomes industrial input, with zero emissions and global portability. The system can even convert waste into electricity in an ecological manner, proving that discarded materials aren’t just pollutants—they’re untapped energy sources.

These aren’t hypotheticals—they’re operational, profitable, and rapidly scalable.

Efficiency is the new growth

The next economic superpower won’t be the country with the largest GDP or the most skyscrapers. It will be the one that uses the least energy to achieve the most outcomes. The one that builds resilience, not just revenue. The one that turns survival into a dividend. These ideas—about efficiency, adaptation, and economic resilience—have also surfaced in recent conversations on We Are Endangered Species podcast that explores the human side of the climate crisis through the lens of lived experience and practical innovation.

This isn’t about giving up on growth. It’s about redefining it. A megawatt saved is a balance sheet strengthened. A recycled resource is a supply chain secured. A storm prevented is GDP protected.

The future belongs to those who stop mistaking climate action for cost and start recognising it as the most important investment of our time.