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An arbitration hearing between the English Premier League and championship-winning football club Manchester City FC is due to start on 10 June over a policy designed to prevent clubs signing artificially inflated commercial deals with companies linked to their owners. It is only one element in a complicated saga surrounding Abu Dhabi’s financing of a prized soft power asset.

Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani is engaged in legal disputes with Swiss art dealer Phoenix Ancient Art over alleged fake art works, with cases in the London and New York courts.

Ajman Ruler Sheikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al-Nuaimi named Marwan Obaid Al-Mehairi as the new director general of the Emiri Court in late May, among a number of other personnel changes at the Ajman authorities.

With great power competition rising between the US and China over the development of artificial intelligence, the major Gulf economies are being forced by Washington to pick a side. The UAE appears to have come down firmly in favour of working with American AI firms, while Saudi Arabia has been divesting its American AI investments and striking deals with Chinese rivals.

Two months after Majles-e Khobregan-e Rahbari (Assembly of Experts) elections, 93 year-old Mohammad Movahedi Kermani has been named to lead the sometimes influential body.

Kuwait's new heir apparent Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah is the first person from the ruling family’s Hamad branch to be named crown prince, ending the duopoly of the Jaber and Salem branches.

More than 80 men and women registered to stand in the Iranian presidential election being held later this month, but the number actually allowed to compete is likely to be in the single figures once the Guardian Council vets all the prospective candidates. Unlike the last election in 2021, there appears to be a chance that some moderate figures will be allowed to run on 28 June.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa says there is “no reason to delay” the restoration of diplomatic relations with Tehran, some eight years after they were severed, while Iran’s acting president has invited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to visit, in a further sign of Tehran’s efforts to improve relations with its Arab neighbours.

Brigadier General Jassim Mohammed Al-Ghattam was appointed Muharraq governorate’s deputy governor in late May for a four-year term, ending a reshuffle process for provincial official that began in August.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman postponed a visit to Japan at the last minute due to concerns around King Salman’s health, but then sought to reassure the public about his father’s condition at the weekly cabinet meeting.

Prince Turki Bin Miqrin is reportedly set to take delivery of the world’s largest sportfishing yacht, the $70m, 52-metre Special One, which is undergoing sea trials in the North Sea.

Qatar’s Emir Tamim was among the few foreign heads of state to attend the late Iranian president’s funeral in Tehran, while other GCC states sent their foreign ministers. In a febrile mood, three former Iranian presidents didn’t attend the service, for reasons unknown.

President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials were killed when the helicopter they were travelling in crashed in poor weather in East Azerbaijan province on 19 May. New presidential elections are due to take place within 50 days, amid other major questions for Iran’s political-religious elite.

Emir Sheikh Mishaal’s announcement suspending the National Assembly for up to four years is an effort to break the gridlock between the elected chamber and the appointed government that has stymied change for so many years, but critics fear a new period of repression – and some are planning to flee Kuwait. Whether Mishaal can ‘correct the path’ or will be forced to back down may depend on internal dynamics within the ruling Al-Sabah family.

Kuwait Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah formed his new cabinet just two days after parliament was suspended, with most of the key figures retained from ex-premier Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah’s previous government. Although the usual limits on cabinet size are also now suspended, this government is smaller than usual with only 13 members.