Search results

Iran freed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele in exchange for the release of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi from jail in Belgium, in a deal arranged by Oman. The two men first travelled to Muscat before heading on to their respective home countries.

The UAE government said it was changing the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation to the simpler Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). No reason was given for the name change. 

Slow moves towards peace: Yemen remains a failed state (F on GSN’s risk grade scale), with an economy and society ravaged by war (risk grade 6). Cautious moves towards achieving a sustainable peace depend on the main belligerents buying into a credible, internationally-brokered deal. Even then, dangerous non-state actors – and more covert action by governments – will likely mean Yemen remains deeply unstable for years to come.

Few doubt Al-Ula would have remained an interesting but little-visited pre-Islamic site in north-western Saudi Arabia without Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) and his multinational advisors. Instead, with their input, the Nabatean site of Medain Saleh has become an ambitious experiment in economic and social reinvention.

Germany’s largest bank Deutsche Bank has been pursuing bankruptcy proceedings against entities in Sweden and the Cayman Islands connected to Saudi-Ethiopian businessman Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi. The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands had ordered the winding-up of Amoudi Aviation, following a petition submitted one month earlier by Deutsche Bank Luxembourg.

Colonel Jassim Mohammed Abdullah Al-Khayal was named commander-in-chief of the Emiri Guard in Sharjah and prompted to the rank of major general. Al-Khayal had previously served as director general of the General Administration of the Emiri Guard.

Sharjah’s population has grown by 22% since 2015, rising from 1.4m to 1.8m over that time, according to preliminary results from the census carried out in 2022 and announced by the Department of Statistics and Community Development late May.

American University of Sharjah (AUS) president Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al-Qassimi has urged governments and technology firms to do more to include women in policymaking, in a speech at the Women in Tech Global Summit in Paris.

Khalaf Abdel Rahman Hamid Al-Rumaithi was extradited from Jordan to the UAE. He was convicted in the UAE on terrorism-related charges in a notorious mass trial in 2013. Now a Turkish citizen and resident in Turkey, but formerly a senior civil servant in the UAE, Al-Rumaithi was arrested by the Jordanian authorities when visiting Amman.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) ended its boycott of cabinet meetings in early May, as it bowed to international pressure to seek compromise with its main rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). However, hopes have since withered that it might spark a more deep-seated process of co-operation on key issues, amid disputes over regional elections and the federal budget in Iraq.

Regional and international organisations Arab League Summit: Saudi Arabia provided a warm welcome to President Bashar Al-Assad on Syria’s return to the League of Arab States, at the organisation’s 32nd summit, held at the King Abdullah International Conference Centre in Jeddah on 19 May.

Oman's Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said was unusually active in late May, making trips to Cairo and Tehran in quick succession, just as Egypt and Iran were edging towards a diplomatic rapprochement. Recent reports also suggest Oman may once again be acting as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.

Huge art and archaeology projects say a lot about contemporary Saudi Arabia, as Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) pushes ahead with ever-expanding ambitions to remodel the country's economy and society. Major cultural developments in the north-west are emerging as a hub, with big budgets drawing in international institutions, architects, artists and curators, but the changes also provide scope for significant local expression, including for female and younger artists – even as MBS' critics languish in prison, some facing death penalties.

Iran has appointed Alireza Enayati as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, following the China-brokered rapprochement between the two Gulf powers in March. Enayati previously served as ambassador to Kuwait, from 2014 to 2019.

Princess Sara Bint Mashour Bin Abdelaziz, wife of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), launched an education centre for science, technology, reading, engineering, arts and maths, in a rare public outing for the 'first lady'.