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The RAK casino project being developed by Wynn Resorts received a gaming licence from the UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority in early October. Wynn has said it expects at least two competitors to gain licences in the future, helping to drive RAK’s economic growth.

The 9.6m t/yr liquefied natural gas project was originally due to be developed in Fujairah, but was moved to Abu Dhabi emirate in early 2023. Once complete in 2029, it will more than double the UAE’s LNG production capacity to 15.6m t/yr.

In his second visit to China in three months, Ras Al-Khaimah ruler Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al-Qasimi held talks with officials to tap into their experience in industrialisation and urban planning, and signed a co-operation deal covering areas including the digital economy and advanced manufacturing.

The days of Ankara focusing its attention in the GCC solely on Qatar are now firmly in the past, as recent agreements point to Türkiye steadily growing its military and commercial links with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, as well as with Doha.

The new UAE Aid Agency will take charge of the UAE’s international disaster relief activities, a role until now filled by the Emirates Red Crescent. The latter has become embroiled in allegations that the UAE has used a relief effort on the Chad-Sudan border as cover to funnel weapons to one of the main combatants in the Sudanese civil war.

Sheikh Theyab, son of UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, has taken on a number of other roles in the international aid sector over the past year, including chairman of the International Humanitarian and Philanthropic Council set up in January.

Since the early summer there have been several meetings between senior Abu Dhabi and Qatari officials, reflecting their shared foreign policy concerns and increased economic co-operation. But the UAE seems to view the rapprochement more favourably.

Gulf rulers welcomed a familiar, if neither always firm nor predictable friend’s victory over the widely mistrusted Biden administration to regain the White House. Plenty of questions remain about what a second Trump term might mean for the Gulf economies and for regional security, and the ‘transactional’ populist’s impulsive approach to policy means it is unlikely to be a smooth ride even for his allies. Trump II could further accelerate trends apparent in recent years, of Gulf states pivoting towards Asia and making ever more assertive expressions of national interest, if still under an American defensive umbrella.

Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat is considering selling luxury sportscar business McLaren Automotive to Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings – adding to the latter’s existing portfolio of stakes in Chinese and British EV companies.

In a sector reorganisation, Sharjah ruler Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Bin Saqr Al-Qasimi has set up an Energy Council, renamed the Petroleum Council as the Petroleum Department and appointed Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC) chief executive Hatem Mohammed Al-Mosa as director general of both bodies.

Tehran has launched a housing development on Abu Musa and floated plans for tourism developments on the island, which is part of a trio of islands controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE. On nearby Greater Tunb, a power plant has also been brought back online after a four-year hiatus.

Crown Prince Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammed has mixed international visits with charitable and sports events, and supporting tech start-ups, in a typically busy month for a senior member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling Al-Nahyan family.

The Brics summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the first meeting between Iran and the UAE since they became full members of the emerging economies’ bloc in January. The conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon were high up the agenda as the Russian city of Kazan hosted an event that allowed emerging economies to show off their potential as an eventual alternative to western economic dominance – and the dollar economy – but above all it allowed Putin to bask in the glow of peer group recognition, ahead of the US election, while his war in Ukraine rages on.

Three sons of the late UAE businessman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamed Butti Al-Hamed have been locked in a legal dispute for the past six years with their youngest brother, alleging he misappropriated some $720m from their father’s estate.

Abu Dhabi government-owned investment group ADQ has handed the master developer contract for the Ras El-Hekma megaproject on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast to Modon Holding – a company which ADQ already owns a substantial stake in.