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The recent flurry of senior appointments by Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, including the naming of his brother Sheikh Mansour as federal vice president, highlights the extent to which Abu Dhabi controls all the main levers of power in the UAE – and its competition with Dubai for commercial, as well as political, dominance.

The Qatar Fund For Development (QFFD) signed an agreement with Afghanistan's Ministry of Education for a project to support 30,000 out-of-school children, half of them girls.

Sheikha Basmah Mubarak Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, wife of Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, held a lunch for around 25 female ambassadors and wives of ambassadors at Al-Rimiya Farm in Al-Abdali area.

A day after his appointment to the Mubadala board, Sheikh Theyab Bin Mohammed Al-Nahyan gained another role when his father UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) appointed him to chair the newly-established Abu Dhabi Transport Company.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) began the annual process of prisoner pardons to mark Ramadan, by ordering the release of 1,025 inmates. Such pardons are a staple of UAE life, but the number of people pardoned this year is substantially higher than last year.

While America and Europe continue to present a united front in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the UAE’s more ambivalent stance continues to cause concern in western capitals – and has the potential to undermine, or at least complicate, the country’s diplomatic and commercial relations with the United States and its allies.

Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Mansour Bin Nasser in early March launched the Saudi-Pakistan Tech House in Islamabad, to focus on creating opportunities via partnerships with Pakistani IT companies.

Saudi Princess Lamia Bint Majed Bin Saud was reappointed as a goodwill ambassador to the Arab world for the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) late February, for a second term (she was first appointed in 2020).

Fujairah Ruler Sheikh Hamad Bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi represented the UAE at the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Doha. Hamad Bin Mohammed, who has ruled Fujairah since 1974, also represented the UAE at the China-Middle East summit held in Riyadh in December.

Oman's former minister responsible for defence affairs Sayyid Badr Bin Saud Bin Harib Al-Busaidi has died. Badr's influence over defence affairs was curtailed in 2020. 

Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum announced the birth of his third son, Mohammed, in February. Hamdan’s wife Sheikha Sheikha Bint Saeed Bin Thani Al-Maktoum previously gave birth to twins in May 2021.

The overwhelming might of Iran’s internal security apparatus has ruthlessly suppressed the demonstrations which broke out in September 2022, following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The regime has dug in at home and abroad to protect the system of clerical rule, with hardliners as dominant as ever. But the protests have continued despite this onslaught and the regime’s critics have found new ways to express their discontent, from widespread strikes (including in the Tehran bazaar, a bastion of the 1979 revolution), to cyberattacks on state banks and other institutions.

Kuwait has all but left behind its former status as a pre-eminent hub of regional diplomacy, as the leadership is widely perceived to have walked away from its role as mediator in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and its neighbours. Concerned by this apparent inaction on the regional stage, GSN has been asking: why has Kuwait apparently retired from playing such a significant diplomatic role?

Gulf countries have despatched search and rescue teams, medical equipment, temporary housing and other relief supplies to Turkey and Syria in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit in the early hours of 6 February. Qatar and the UAE were among the first to respond; flights left from Kuwait the following day. Aid has also been forthcoming from Saudi Arabia and Iran.

In his new book, 25 Days to Aden, regional risk and security expert Michael Knights – a former contributor to GSN – has offered an unprecedented view of the UAE as a rising, and effective, military power, as it became embroiled in the Yemen conflict.