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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.

Rashed Al-Makhawi, a former UAE ambassador to Germany, has lost a case in London's High Court in which Emirates NBD bank was seeking to enforce a $57.5m judgement against him made by the Dubai courts.

Iran's Labour Ministry director for social insurance Sajjad Padam was dismissed from his post after saying that the government "may have to sell off Kish and Qeshm islands and even oil assets in Khuzestan" in order to settle the country’s debts with China.

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.

Dubai-based Emirates group reported record results, with an 81% increase in revenues to AED119.8bn ($32.6bn) for the 12 months to end-March 2023 and a record annual profit of AED10.9bn. The airline contributed almost all of the group’s profits.

UAE state-owned defence group Edge is to push for defence export orders in Latin America, after announcing it is to open an office in Brazil’s federal capital Brasilia in the near future.

Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al-Thani has made another revised bid to buy Manchester United Football Club (MUFC), in an effort to see off a rival approach from United Kingdom-based petrochemicals giant Ineos Group’s boss Jim Ratcliffe.

Khalifa anniversary: The UAE marked the first anniversary of the death of president Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on 13 May. Khalifa had been in office since November 2004, but had largely been sidelined after suffering a stroke in early 2014. His half-brother Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) was already the dominant figure in UAE politics and since replacing Khalifa as head of state has further entrenched the position of his branch of the family.

Alpha Dhabi Holding – the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)-listed investment firm linked to national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan – said it had bought a 36.4% stake in National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels (NCTH) for AED730m ($199m), becoming the largest shareholder in the local hotel owner and operator.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded Oman's long-term senior unsecured rating from Ba3 to Ba2 while maintaining the positive outlook. The agency said the change reflected the continued reduction in Oman's sovereign debt burden and its improving debt affordability metrics during 2022.

Fujairah and others census counting: Fujairah is preparing for the first part of its latest census, with teams of field workers due to visit all parts of the emirate starting in May, including residential and commercial premises and other facilities. A second phase is due to be carried out in Q1 2024, when the population will be counted. The project is being supervised by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi.

MBC Group Holdings, a British Virgin Islands-registered company connected to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ibrahim family, has submitted a petition to a Cayman Islands court to wind up its partnership with a son of Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz. The move offers an insight into how lucrative deals were awarded in the later years of Abdullah’s reign and how those deals were treated when King Salman Bin Abdelaziz took over in 2015.