Gulf

1. Abu Dhabi gas bet
2. Iran diplomacy…
3. … and Palestine’s role
4. A royal boost for housing
5. Hack hits Dubai patients
6. Lebanon courts Gulf tourists

Kuwaiti schools are handing out more than just a slap on the wrist.

ADNOC Gas’ $5B expansion

ADNOC Gas is making its biggest investment to date, awarding $5 billion in contracts to expand capacity at four processing facilities and to develop new fields. The company plans to double its liquefied natural gas production by 2028 and is pouring capital into operations to support gas self-sufficiency in the UAE and supply feedstock to the country’s growing petrochemical industry.

Oman, Qatar, and the UAE are all boosting LNG production, with Doha leading the Gulf in added volumes. Demand is rising in traditional markets like Asia and Europe, as well as among newer importers such as Bahrain, Iraq, and Kuwait. War and sanctions have reduced access to cheaper pipeline gas from Iran and Russia, making LNG more attractive. Iraq, for example, is building a permanent offshore LNG terminal and has accelerated construction after the US revoked a waiver allowing purchases of Iranian gas, part of Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran.

Iran nuclear talks to resume

Talks between the US and Iran are expected to resume this week, possibly coinciding with a diplomatic gathering in Oslo. The core dilemma remains: whether Washington and Tehran can agree on a framework that would likely allow uranium enrichment in Iran, which the Islamic Republic considers a red line.

While the talks have stalled, regional diplomacy continues on several fronts. The foreign ministers of Egypt, Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Syria will meet this week at the Oslo Forum, an annual peace conference in Norway. Senior officials from Qatar, Turkey, and the UAE are also expected to attend. The UAE’s foreign minister met with the US Secretary of State in Washington on Tuesday to discuss regional issues, including Sudan and Syria.

Analysis: Palestine’s role in Iran deal

Trump’s broader ambition for peace in the Middle East may be key to ending the nuclear standoff and reshaping Iran itself, Suzanne Kianpour, a former BBC foreign affairs and political correspondent, writes in her debut Semafor column.

Iranian “officials say that Palestine is the sole reason for their hostility toward Israel,” Kianpour wrote. “The creation of a Palestinian state — or just a credible process toward one with backing from most Arab states — would strip Tehran of its ideological cover. All that would be left is a government that can’t provide its citizens with electricity, salaries, or security.”

Crown princes: You get a home

The amount that the UAE and Saudi Arabia’s leaders pledged for housing this year. A recent expat boom and rising property prices are pushing the countries to step up support for their citizens, with rafts of new subsidies and homes. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, approved Dh4.62 billion ($1.25 billion) in home loans and repayment exemptions for Emiratis in the capital, the second such package approved this year, on the eve of Eid Al Adha last week. The largesse followed up a pledge made this year to slash housing repayments by up to half.

Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reached into his own pocket with a personal donation of $266 million for new housing for Saudi citizens as he looks to meet a goal of 70% homeownership among locals by 2030. Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, contending with some of the fastest-rising real estate prices in the world, approved plans last month for 17,000 affordable housing units. He broke the mold, however: Non-citizens are welcome to buy.

Millions of Dubai patient records hacked

A hacker group claims to have stolen a trove of patient data from one of Dubai’s leading hospitals, a major breach as health care providers in the region push to digitize records. As many as 450 million data points were stolen from American Hospital Dubai, including patients’ credit card numbers and treatment plans, Cyber News reported. The dark web gang, which specializes in ransomware, said it would publicly release the stolen data on June 8. But patient systems remain down, and there has been no update on negotiations with the hackers. American Hospital Dubai did not respond to Semafor’s request for comment.

Part of the Mohamed & Obaid AlMulla Group, the 254-bed acute care facility is also part of a network of caregivers that works with US nonprofit Mayo Clinic.

— Kelsey Warner

Lebanon leans on Gulf travel return

Lebanon is pushing to bring back Gulf tourists as part of a broader effort to revive its economy after years of war and financial collapse. Tourism once accounted for nearly 20% of the country’s GDP, and officials see it as the fastest way to re-engage wealthy neighbors and stabilize growth. With travel bans lifted by the UAE and Kuwait, hotel bookings are rising ahead of summer. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has resumed direct flights to Beirut, and Lebanon’s national carrier is considering launching a low-cost airline to boost capacity. Saudi Arabia, the region’s biggest spender which has yet to lift its travel ban for citizens, remains the missing piece.

Semafor’s Ben Smith and Max Tani will be in Cannes to cover media and marketing’s biggest annual gathering, where many of the most powerful people in media come to make deals, rub shoulders, win awards, and sip Aperol spritzes on the Côte d’Azur.

Starting June 16, they’ll deliver news, scoops, and insights on the year ahead in media — with all its deal-making, gossip, and pretentious grandeur, from one of the industry’s true epicenters.

Technology

• Specifics for the massive UAE-US AI campus are starting to emerge. US chipmaker Nvidia has given the green light to the UAE’s G42-backed Khazna Data Centers to house its most cutting-edge Blackwell chips.

Investment

• After shunning Lebanon and threatening to dismantle his Beirut hotel and move it out of the country, billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor is now eyeing Syria. His company is considering investments in construction, hospitality, and logistics, as the country opens up following the easing of Western sanctions. — The National
• Nigeria’s $5 billion oil-backed loan from Aramco has been delayed, as falling crude prices complicate the deal. The funds were intended to help finance Nigeria’s budget, and if completed, the facility would mark the kingdom’s largest loan to the country. — Reuters

Finance

• In what a UAE official called a “welcome” change, the EU is preparing to remove it from a list they never wanted to be on: a high risk destination for money laundering. ​The de-listing comes after the UAE stepped up collaboration with the bloc’s law enforcement and made changes to better align with international policies.

With exam season upon us, the Kuwaiti government has offered up a stern lesson for anyone thinking of cutting corners. Those tempted to bend the rules could find themselves paying a hefty fine or facing imprisonment. The government has approved changes to the penal code which mean that anyone found leaking or selling exam questions faces a jail term of up to five years and fines of up to 5,000 dinars ($16,000). If you’re caught altering answers or grades the punishment is even steeper, with up to seven years in jail and fines of up to 10,000 dinars.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s split is the latest proof that conglomerates are deeply out of fashion, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman and Rohan Goswami write.

Glomming diverse operations together smooths out profits through business cycles. It mutualizes economic risk.

But it also mutualizes scandal, tainting a corporate empire with the real or perceived sins of one subsidiary. And with President Donald Trump looking for points of leverage, corporate sprawl is a real liability.

It’s not just the president: These companies’ broad footprints leave no easy choices in the culture wars.