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The Alpha Dhabi investment vehicle owned by UAE national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed has transferred three of its hotel subsidiaries to NCTH in return for shares which will give it a majority stake in the enlarged hospitality group

Bahrain’s ambassador to the UAE Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa held meetings with rulers and crown princes in the five northern emirates over a four-day period in mid-March

Princess Fahda Bint Saud Bin Abdelaziz and Princess Fahda Bint Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz were both in their 70s and died in mid-March

King Salman Bin Abdulaziz flew into Jeddah on 9 March, amid fresh speculation about his state of health. His son, Crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman followed a few days later

Two of Dubai’s larger real estate developers, Nakheel and Meydan, are being handed over to Dubai Holding, the investment group owned by the emirate’s Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum

Amnesty International has criticised a draft version of the Penal Code for Discretionary Sentences, which was leaked online in July 2022. The legislation sets out strict punishments for what are often vaguely-worded crimes and fails to guarantee freedom of expression or religion – which caused a diplomatic incident in early March involving a delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom

Two former managers of PetroSaudi International, a company set up by Prince Turki Bin Abdullah, are facing bribery, money laundering and other charges over a 2009 deal with Malaysia’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which has been at the centre of a major corruption scandal for the past decade

A long-running investigation into millions of dollars’ worth of bribes paid to Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah and his associates in 2007-10 has ended with the two defendants walking free from a London court, after successfully arguing the payments had been approved by the British and Saudi authorities. One defendant’s lawyer told the court his client was being prosecuted to deflect attention from the UK government’s decades of dubious payments in the Gulf

In a further accumulation of jobs in the ruling family, President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed has named his daughter Mariam as deputy chair of the Presidential Court for National Projects while his son Theyab has a new senior role at the Presidential Court for Development and Fallen Heroes’ Affairs

Kuwait's recently-appointed emir travelled to the UAE in early March, following on from trips to the other members of the Gulf Co-operation Council in the opening months of the year

Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum reshuffled the top team at the Dubai's State Security Department via a series of decrees in early March

Official figures showed turnout of just 41% at parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections on 1 March, the lowest of any election since the 1979 revolution. While the authorities called for a festival of democratic expression, those abstaining including former president Mohammad Khatami.

Waves of appointments by King Salman since 2017 have seen younger-generation royals and those from more remote branches of the ruling family appointed to prominent positions, in a break from previous monarchs’ habits

The Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (Dimdex) featured a Russian naval vessel and Iranian anti-ship missiles, alongside western defence firms. Not only did Dimdex accommodate an unusual line-up of government participants, the organisers said a record number of contracts were signed

Bahrain’s ruler reached the 25th anniversary of his time in power on 6 March. A silver jubilee flag was commissioned for the occasion