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Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa travelled to Mecca in early April for talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and also sat in on MBS’ meeting with the visiting Pakistani prime minister.

Ajman Ruler Sheikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al-Nuaimi launched the Ajman Principles document in early March, covering areas such as sustainability, inclusivity, accountability and government agility.

The Onaiza corvette was launched at King Faisal Naval Base in Jeddah in early March, with another vessel from the Sarawat project arriving at the Royal Saudi Navy base later in the month. 

Former minister Najah Al-Shammari is alleged to have fraudulently claimed benefits in Sweden at the time he was serving as defence minister in the Baghdad government.

One of the Bani Khaili brothers, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority MD Hamed Bin Zayed has long played a key role in Abu Dhabi’s economic development and also has his own business interests.

Commerce and industry minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani has been appointed to chair Qatar’s free zones regulator, replacing Ahmed Al-Sayed who had led QFZA for more than seven years.

The fourth election in as many years seems unlikely to lead to any dramatic change in Kuwait’s slow-burning political crisis, as most members of the outgoing parliament retained their seats and Abdulkarim Al-Kandari – whose comments about Emir Sheikh Mishaal precipitated the latest poll – increased his vote, suggesting voters were happy to reward the authorities’ outspoken critics.

Sheikh Hazza Bin Sultan, son of the late Sultan Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan became a member of the advisory board of an Islamic cryptocurrency venture in February 2023.

Sheikh Sultan is a businessman who also served as a presidential advisor under his father the late UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who died in May 2022, lived through a period of extraordinary change for his country. Born at a time when pre-oil Abu Dhabi was relatively isolated and under British protection, as head of state from 2004 until 2022, Khalifa played a key role in the UAE’s emergence on the regional and world stage – while being progressively replaced in decision-making by his half-brothers, led by Mohammed Bin Zayed.

Sheikha Shamma Bint Sultan, a grand-daughter of the late President Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, has become prominent on environmental issues. This places her in a topical and controversial area following the UAE's hosting of the COP28 summit in November 2023, where it promoted an agenda that was opposed by many climate activists.

Sheikh Zayed was sworn in as the UAE’s ambassador to Qatar in August 2023, two-and-a-half years after the end of the boycott of Qatar by its neighbours.

Seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp were killed when missiles levelled the consular office next to Iran’s embassy in the Syrian capital. While other IRGC officers have been killed by Israeli strikes in Syria in recent months, this attack appears the most serious yet.

Sheikh Shakbut was appointed a state minister in foreign affairs in early 2021 and is particularly focused on relations with African countries - which gives a commercial slant to his diplomatic role.

At one stage a young commander-in-chief of the UAE Armed Forces, and later – as one of his  father's favourite sons – accumulating a number of big jobs, Sultan Bin Zayed had a spotty reputation and dropped out of the limelight in his later years.