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Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Industry signed a $5.6bn agreement with Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Human Horizons to set up a joint venture to develop and manufacture cars in the kingdom. Human Horizons makes cars under the HiPhi brand.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani's government has launched Iraq down a perilous fiscal path, with an extravagant three-year budget for 2023-25 which gained Council of Representatives (Majlis an-Nuwwab or parliament) approval.

Slow moves towards peace: Yemen remains a failed state (F on GSN’s risk grade scale), with an economy and society ravaged by war (risk grade 6). Cautious moves towards achieving a sustainable peace depend on the main belligerents buying into a credible, internationally-brokered deal. Even then, dangerous non-state actors – and more covert action by governments – will likely mean Yemen remains deeply unstable for years to come.

Regional and international organisations Arab League Summit: Saudi Arabia provided a warm welcome to President Bashar Al-Assad on Syria’s return to the League of Arab States, at the organisation’s 32nd summit, held at the King Abdullah International Conference Centre in Jeddah on 19 May.

Few doubt Al-Ula would have remained an interesting but little-visited pre-Islamic site in north-western Saudi Arabia without Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) and his multinational advisors. Instead, with their input, the Nabatean site of Medain Saleh has become an ambitious experiment in economic and social reinvention.

Huge art and archaeology projects say a lot about contemporary Saudi Arabia, as Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) pushes ahead with ever-expanding ambitions to remodel the country's economy and society. Major cultural developments in the north-west are emerging as a hub, with big budgets drawing in international institutions, architects, artists and curators, but the changes also provide scope for significant local expression, including for female and younger artists – even as MBS' critics languish in prison, some facing death penalties.

Qatar’s Ministry of Labour is reportedly preparing to take legal action against a company accused of leaving hundreds of workers unpaid for months. Stark Security Services, which provided security at five of the Fifa World Cup stadiums, fired hundreds of workers after the tournament ended in late 2022 but before their contracts had expired.

The UAE and Malaysia are to start talks on a free trade deal, according to a statement issued during a visit to Kuala Lumpur by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohammed Al-Nahyan in May.

The Ministry of Finance set out further details of the UAE’s federal corporate tax regime in May, ahead of the new tax’s launch on 1 June.

Oman's Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said was unusually active in late May, making trips to Cairo and Tehran in quick succession, just as Egypt and Iran were edging towards a diplomatic rapprochement. Recent reports also suggest Oman may once again be acting as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.

Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi was born from an Ethiopian-Yemeni marriage in the early 1940s and moved to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1960s to join relatives. His route to wealth was not dissimilar to other foreigners who joined in the kingdom's boom periods and became associated with senior royals.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has launched an ambitious project to develop a $17bn transport network linking the north and south of Iraq. The Development Road Initiative will start at the under-construction Grand Faw port in the south and travel northwards via 1,200km of rail lines and roads.

Germany’s largest bank Deutsche Bank has been pursuing bankruptcy proceedings against entities in Sweden and the Cayman Islands connected to Saudi-Ethiopian businessman Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi. The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands had ordered the winding-up of Amoudi Aviation, following a petition submitted one month earlier by Deutsche Bank Luxembourg.

Sharjah’s population has grown by 22% since 2015, rising from 1.4m to 1.8m over that time, according to preliminary results from the census carried out in 2022 and announced by the Department of Statistics and Community Development late May.

Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance Company is seeking compensation from former chairman Sheikh Nasser Bin Ali Bin Saud Al-Thani "for his responsibility for the mistakes he made" while in charge of the business.