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King Salman Bin Abdelaziz has made changes to the leadership of six of Saudi Arabia’s 13 regions and one of its governorates. GSN analyses the new round of appointments and profiles those on the up.

Royal Saudi Air Force pilot Prince Talal Bin Abdelaziz Bin Bandar Al-Saud died on 7 December, the same day an RSAF F-15 crashed in Dhahran.

An extensive diplomatic effort by Saudi officials paid off on 28 November, when Riyadh was selected to host the World Expo 2030, seeing off competition from Busan in South Korea and the Italian capital Rome. 

The Saudi government has set out SR1.25tn ($333.6bn) worth of spending plans for 2024, in a budget statement issued on 6 December.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unexpected visit to the UAE and Saudi Arabia on 6 December – a rare foreign excursion for a leader who has tended to stay close to home since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Notably, neither Gulf country is a signatory to the International Criminal Court, which in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin over Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

A showcase mega-event has its downsides, even while the climate  talks place the UAE at the centre of the global stage.

Saudi-headquartered multilateral the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) unveiled a new identity, rebranding as The Arab Energy Fund, during the COP28 climate talks on 4 December.

The Royal Court announced on 1 December the death of Prince Mamdouh Bin Abdelaziz, a half-brother of King Salman Bin Abdelaziz. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) performed the funeral prayers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on the same day.

The Riyadh-based Hevolution Foundation, set up in 2018 and now jointly run by Princess Haya Bint Khalid Bin Bandar Al-Saud and former Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Mehmood Khan, is due to hold its inaugural Global Healthspan Summit in late November. The event will focus on extending healthy years of life and announce investments in the sector. 

Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdelaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz  announced in November that Saudi Aramco had discovered two natural gas fields in the Empty Quarter, at the Al-Hiran and Al-Mahakik fields.

The work schedule is unrelenting for Qatari Prime Minister and foreign affairs minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani, who flew into Manama for talks with Bahraini Prime Minister and Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa on 17 November – to cement bilateral ties as well as discuss the situation in Gaza. 

Saudi Power Procurement Company issued a request for qualification (RfQ) in November for projects involving some 3.7GW of solar power generation capacity in the fifth round of bidding under the Ministry of Energy's National Renewable Energy Programme.

Saudi Arabia is due to bring in a new legal framework for businesses in mid-December. The Civil Transactions Law sets out a new code for property rights, financial transactions and other contracts. 

Prominent Saudi businessman Sheikh Mohammed Bin Issa Al-Jaber has lost a long-running case against the founders of Al-Arabiya television channel over a disputed $30m payment. 

Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron made a surprise return to the British government when he was appointed foreign secretary. During his time as premier, from 2010 to 2016, he did much to expand relations with the Gulf states.