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Lana Nusseibeh has stepped down as the UAE’s permanent representative to the Untied Nations, after more than a decade in New York, notably while the UAE filled a seat on the Security Council in 2022/23.

Former military officer Sheikh Zayed Bin Hamdan, who suffered serious injuries in a helicopter crash in Yemen in 2017, has become an influential official with a role in some of the most sensitive media and AI dossiers backed by his Bani Fatima uncles.

UAE national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (TBZ) controls a $1trn-plus investment empire that, mixing private and public funds, is in full expansion mode. Although now widely commented on, the structure of Tahnoun’s business empire and the identities of those individuals who work most closely with TBZ often remain opaque, as is the nature of financial links with his powerful Bani Fatima brothers.

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

Sheikh Mansour Ibrahim Ahmed Hamad Al-Mualla has been appointed as executive director of the emirate’s Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation

King Salman Bin Abdelaziz’s nine years on the throne have seen a concentration of power in the 88-year-old monarch’s immediate family – who are the subject of the latest GSN profile series – that is unprecedented in modern Saudi history. Other significant branches of the Al-Saud have gone into retreat as Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has taken an iron grip on the kingdom

Noor Bint Ali Al-Khulaif was appointed to head the EDB in mid-February, taking over from Khalid Humaidan who is now governor of Central Bank of Bahrain.

Khalid Bin Salman has been named chairman of the fast-growing state defence industry conglomerate in a reshuffle that reduced the size of Saudi Arabian Military Industries’ board to eight, while bringing in three new well-connected directors

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC)’s influence over Iranian politics and business has become an integral element of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s domination and the organisation may well provide a successor to the supreme leader. A new series of GSN profiles shows the extent that military and political leaders with an IRGC background occupy influential posts across the Islamic Republic.

Royal Commission for Al-Ula chief executive Amr Bin Saleh Al-Madani has been arrested for money laundering and other offences, according to the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha), in a sign that the authorities’ patience with public servants enriching themselves is wearing thin.

Iran launched missiles and drones at targets in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan in mid-January, claiming it was striking back at terrorist groups and Israel-linked sites, in a tough approach that has been accompanied by a domestic clampdown on moderate politicians ahead of elections in March. This suggests the regime continues to feel vulnerable to opposition at home, while speculation builds around the eventual succession to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the subject of the first of a series of GSN profiles.

Saudi ambassador to the US Princess Reema Bint Bandar has defended the idea of the season finale for women’s tennis being held in Saudi Arabia, following criticism of the idea by former stars Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova; Reema has also been speaking out about the Gaza war and the plight of Palestinians.

Kuwait’s new Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Sabah appears to have taken note of the recently enthroned Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed’s desire for change, with new ministers being appointed to all the major posts in cabinet, including defence, finance, foreign affairs and oil, while some portfolios have been rationalised to deliver more rational government.

The emirate’s authorities deployed some 1,200 police to enforce the ban on celebrations, in a move which underlined Sharjah’s willingness to plough its own furrow.

Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani made a number of changes to his cabinet on 8 January, less than a year after his last major overhaul to the executive team. Among the most significant changes was the promotion of minister of state for foreign affairs Sultan Bin Saad Al-Muraikhi to the cabinet.