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One aspect of the anti-corruption purge that has left observers in Riyadh perplexed is where the detailed financial analysis which should underpin investigations is happening. One Saudi working in the compliance unit of a large local bank told GSN that, at its height, his department was receiving urgent requests from Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (Sama – central bank) for complete financial statements and accounts for up to 200 customers a day.

A Kuwaiti tanker carrying 18,000 tonnes of gas arrived at Basra on 23 July, as part of a package of aid by Kuwait to its larger neighbour. The fuel will be used to operate power stations to help deal with an acute electricity shortage in southern Iraq, which has triggered violent popular protests.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces deputy supreme commander Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan spoke to Austria’s young Chancellor Sebastian Kurz by phone on 27 July, to discuss ways to promote bilateral ties. The call followed a meeting between Kurz and minister of state and Adnoc Group chief executive Sultan Bin Ahmad Al-Jaber in Vienna on 22 June.

The profile is quickly rising of Saudi ambassador to the US Prince Khalid Bin Salman. The increasingly prominent younger son of King Salman Bin Abdelaziz is the subject of considerable succession speculation, focusing on his possible appointment to deputy crown prince – a role which necessarily requires a candidate younger than the crown prince, his 32-year-old elder brother Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).The deputy post has been vacant since MBS’s promotion in June 2017.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani was the most senior Gulf royal to attend the inauguration ceremony for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s second term in office – no surprise given the importance that Doha places on its alliance with Turkey in the face of hostility from other Gulf states.

Tangier hoteliers and other business have been panicking amid signs that King Salman Bin Abdelaziz and his usually huge delegation will not be holidaying in the northern Moroccan city this summer. The king’s entourage was estimated to have spent some $100m on his 24 July-23 August 2017 holiday in Tangier, where since 2015 Salman has stayed at his palace at Cap Spartel and booked up hotels and luxury villas around it.

Troubling evidence is emerging of a more hardline policy from the UAE authorities towards academics and scholars researching the politics and societies of the region. Gulf authorities have often arrested and detained prominent local academics in the past, including the likes of UAE University professor of political science Abdulkhaleq Abdulla and economics professor at Abu Dhabi’s branch of Paris-Sorbonne Nasser Bin Ghait.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces deputy supreme commander Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) took part in the Astana International Financial Centre’s official inauguration on 5 July, in the company of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Also in the MBZ delegation was deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash. A day earlier MBZ held talks with Nazarbayev in Astana, where they witnessed the signing of agreements on the transfer of prisoners and cultural co-operation.

The UAE’s support has done much to make Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) by far the most powerful military force in Libya. Even so, the LNA is not strong enough to conquer the western half of the country, including Tripoli, in a definitive civil war. The LNA’s lack of economic independence has weakened the militia politically. Despite its control over the most productive hydrocarbons assets, oil revenues flow into the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya (CBL), which is under the control of its rivals.

Politics: At the top of each emirate are the rulers’ courts and their crown princes. In practice, only the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai make unilateral decisions and issue emiri decrees; most of the smaller emirates use legislation crafted at federal level. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah all have executive councils (Dubai’s is relatively informal). Abu Dhabi and Sharjah have national consultative councils, whose usefulness (like the Federal National Council) has been questioned. For family trees of all seven families, see GSN 1,000.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its monthly oil report warned on 12 July that the oil supply disruptions in Iran, Libya, Venezuela and elsewhere could create problems for global oil markets. The Paris-based agency’s remarks came despite the 23 June agreement by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and allied producers led by Russia to boost production in an effort to prevent oil prices rising too fast.

The General Headquarters (GHQ) of the UAE Armed Forces announced on 7 July that national service for Emirati males with a high school diploma or above is to be extended from 12 to 16 months – those without a high school certificate will continue to serve for two years. The UAE first introduced national service in 2014.

King Salman Bin Abdelaziz announced a pardon on 10 July for all servicemen involved in Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen. The statement referred to an amnesty for “military and disciplinary penalties, in regard of some rules and disciplines”. It gave no indication of what the pardon covers. Saudi-led coalition forces have repeatedly been accused of war crimes by human rights groups, who cite the use of cluster bombs and air strikes that appear to target civilians.

The Court of Cassation threw Kuwaiti politics into fresh turmoil on 8 July, by sentencing two current members of the National Assembly and six former MPs to jail terms of three and a half years for storming parliament in 2011. The two sitting MPs, Waleed Al-Tabtabai and Jamaan Al-Harbash, were reportedly outside the country at the time of the decision, which had been delayed from May. They are expected to lose their seats, although that will require a vote in parliament first.

Prominent businessman Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal posted a photo of Twitter on 12 July of a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), with the two men standing with arms around each other smiling broadly. The photo was accompanied by a message saying he was “honoured” to meet MBS and that they had discussed economic matters and the role of the private sector in the Vision 2030 economic reform programme.