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Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum launched a generative artificial intelligence (AI) competition in early November, with prizes of AED1m ($272,000) available for winners of the Global Prompt Engineering Championship.

Qatar Foundation (QF) chair Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser led a roundtable discussion in Doha in November to review the humanitarian situation in Gaza and ways to provide support to Palestinians.

Emirati Sheikh Rashid Bin Ahmed Al-Maktoum and his British wife Natalie Lankester announced they were expecting a third child. Rashid Bin Ahmed is a professional show jumper, while his wife represents the UAE in dressage competitions; together they run the DXB Horses team. 

Houthi forces in Yemen have continued to launch missiles and drones towards Israel. A drone from Yemen was shot down over the Red Sea in mid-November by the United States Navy destroyer USS Thomas Hudner.

Kuwait recorded a KD6.5bn ($21bn) surplus for fiscal year ending 31 March 2023, its first annual surplus since 2014/15.

The usual dizzying number of civil and military contracts were unveiled at the mid-November Dubai Airshow where, included among the 54 deals signed by the UAE government's Tawazun Council, was an air defence order with the unknown Black Diamond company, which GSN's research suggests is an Israeli venture created after Abu Dhabi's Abraham Accord was concluded.

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. 

A joint venture between United States-based investment firm RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments (IMI) has launched a bid to acquire a pillar of the United Kingdom’s Conservative establishment, the Telegraph Media Group (TMG), which includes The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers, and weekly political magazine the Spectator, in a debt-for-equity deal.

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. 

Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has attempted to cement his status within the political arena and strengthen his profile among local citizens since he was named Abu Dhabi’s crown prince on 29 March, in a move which put the 41 year-old first in line to succeed his father, President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ). 

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.

Leaders from the 15-strong Caribbean Community (Caricom) arrived in Riyadh mid-November for the first Saudi-Caricom summit.  Separately, Saudi ambassador to the UN Abdelaziz Bin Mohammed Al-Wasel signed protocols to establish diplomatic relations with Micronesia and Nauru. 

Hussein Ali Saleh Al-Fadala has taken up his position as Qatar's first consul general in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Qatar opened its consulate in Erbil during the summer.

Omani officials told GSN that the failure to achieve a settlement to the Israel/Palestinian conflict was nurturing radicalisation and undermining the prospects for resolving other political problems across the Middle East.

Omani officials appear confident that, despite international diplomatic attention having largely switched to the Gaza conflict, a peace settlement can be achieved soon between the warring factions in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, with all parties now appearing to recognise that ending the civil war is in their overwhelming political interest.