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Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said spoke to US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on the phone on 15 May. They reiterated support for UN special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths and the Stockholm agreement signed in late 2018. They also “discussed Iranian threats to the Gulf region more broadly”, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

Oman
Issue 941 - 21 February 2013

Bahrain needs negotiations, not dialogue

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Anniversaries are by their nature retrospective. As Bahraini opposition MPs gathered for a seminar in Britain’s House of Lords on 12 February – one of many events marking the two years that have passed since the start of the small island’s uprising – the mood was one of remembrance, not expectation. Farida Ghulam, wife of jailed political leader Ebrahim Sharif and a senior Waad party member in her own right, recounted what had happened to her husband and the other high-profile political prisoners jailed with him.

Bahrain
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Seven people were hanged in the central prison in Kuwait on 25 January for “a number of heinous crimes”, according to the official Kuwait News Agency. They included royal family member Sheikh Faisal Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who had been convicted in 2011 of murdering his nephew Sheikh Basel Salem Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. Others hanged included another Kuwaiti, two Egyptians, a Bangladeshi, a Filipino and an Ethiopian. The executions were the first in the state since 2013 and had been approved by Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Kuwait
Free

Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court upheld a lower court’s ruling to cancel a deal between Cairo and Riyadh to hand over two uninhabited Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia (GSN 1,018/4). The court ruling on 16 January was a victory for opposition groups in Egypt, but will further test the tense relationship between the two countries. The deal to cede the islands had been signed in April, during a visit by King Salman Bin Abdelaziz to Cairo, and Riyadh has been unimpressed by the court-ordered halt to the process.

Egypt
Free

It was the (literally) hands-on experience of the French-Algerian goalkeeper turned literary icon Albert Camus that caused him to observe: “After many years in which the world has afforded me many experiences, what I know most surely in the long run about morality and obligations, I owe to football.” In the harsh environment of arguably the world’s most high-profile sporting contest, the morality and obligations of a growing number of Gulf royals and businessmen are being tested in the English Premier League. Despite huge adverse publicity, Abu Dhabi’s representative in Manchester seems to be the most successful, and a number of clubs are looking to other Saudis for salvation.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) | Saudi Arabia
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When foreign ministers of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) met recently in Jeddah to discuss (among other issues) proposals for a Gulf Union, the outcome – in so far as there was one – was further delay.

Issue 953 - 07 September 2013

Latifa Bint Saud: Swiss property


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Princess Latifa, a daughter of the late King Saud, has bought an 18,800m2 estate in Switzerland from the wealthy Nordmann business family behind the Lacoste clothing brand. The sale price has not been disclosed but is said to be the second highest on record for the country (the daughter of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Dinara Kulibayeva, holds the current record).

Saudi Arabia
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Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa is recuperating from his recent medical treatment in Germany. On 8 January, the Bahrain News Agency reported that King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa had visited the premier at his residence in Berlin where he “congratulated him on his full recovery”. King Hamad returned to Bahrain two days later. Until now it had been unclear where the 84-year-old premier was receiving treatment; the nature of his ailment remains a mystery. The veteran PM has been out of public life since last October.

Bahrain
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Politics: Kuwait has been governed by the Al-Sabah family since the 18th century. It gained independence from Britain in 1961, when a new constitution confirmed the hereditary monarchy, but gave significant powers to an independent judiciary and an elected assembly. The emir – Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah (born in June 1929) since 2006 – retains final say. Parties are banned, but active associations and factions create opposition blocs in the 50-member Majlis Al-Umma (National Assembly).

Kuwait
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It is not just through trade and financial controls that the United States and its allies are gradually encircling Iran in an effort to throttle the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. And the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states are playing a larger role in this process than seemed likely earlier this decade, when Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz led a move towards rapprochement with Tehran. Thus, according to GSN’s contacts in the

Iran | United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Issue 941 - 21 February 2013

UAE spends $1.4bn at IDEX

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The UAE Armed Forces awarded defence contracts worth Dh5.2bn ($1.4bn) on 18 February, the second day of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2013). According to state news agency Wam, the UAE sealed contracts with 17 national and international contractors.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
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In yet another clash between jihadists and the security forces in the west, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on 8 May that a soldier had died in a gun battle in the Taif region. SPA said two assailants opened fire on a police station before retreating to a mountain village, Thaqeef, where Private Saeed Al-Harithy was killed in an exchange of fire. An explosive vest and bomb-making material were found. On 5 May, troops shot dead two Islamic State fighters and two others blew themselves up in a raid on their compound outside Mecca.

Saudi Arabia
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Ajman Crown Prince and Ajman Executive Council chairman Sheikh Ammar Bin Humaid Al-Nuaimi has donated Dh2m ($545,000) to fishermen who are registered with the Ajman Fishermen Association (AFA). The gift was announced on 18 May and was due to be paid before Eid Al-Fitr. The AFA is chaired by Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Ghamlassi, who is also chairman of the Crown Prince’s Office.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
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The recently appointed labour minister Adel Fakieh received global media coverage when he used his Facebook page to invite suggestions for tackling Saudi Arabia’s unemployment problem. He announced in October that he would set up a “work team” of Facebook friends to look at the issue.

Saudi Arabia
Issue 1100 - 03 April 2020

Saudi Arabia: Salvator Mundi

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A publication with new scientific analysis of the controversial picture – which is believed to be owned by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – was withdrawn after the Saudi authorities refused to loan the $450m painting to the Louvre’s major Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Paris, The Art Newspaper reported on 31 March. A Louvre spokesperson confirmed that Editions Hazan’s 45-page book “was a project in case the Louvre got the chance to present the painting. As this has not been the case, it is not going to be published”.

Saudi Arabia