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Qatar has promised to give $1,000 to those in Gaza whose properties have been destroyed by Israeli’s Operation Protective Edge, according to the Palestinian Safa news agency. On 16 August, Safa quoted deputy minister of social affairs Omar Al-Darbi as saying the emergency funds from the Qatari committee for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip would be distributed in the following two days.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has served Section 2 notices on former board members of Barclays, as part of its probe into the bank’s dealings with Qatar, according to a 24 September report in the Financial Times (FT). Section 2 notices require a person to provide information, whether through interviews, producing material, or having premises searched, and are usually given to people who have a duty of confidence to their clients. The SFO is investigating Barclays’ capital raising from Qatari investors in 2008, and has been struggling with accessing evidence.

European powers finally launched a watered-down version of a new payments system with Iran on 31 January, after months of delay. Designed to bypass United States sanctions on Tehran, the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (Instex) has been developed by France, Germany and the UK and has, initially at least, been limited to dealing with areas of trade not subject to US sanctions, such as food, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Its scope may be expanded to cover more contentious good and other trading partners in the future.

Interior minister Prince Abdelaziz Bin Saud Bin Naif Al-Saud has been on a short tour of south-east Asian nations. He arrived in Malaysia on 13 March and held talks with defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein, interior minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and foreign affairs minister Anifah Aman the following day. On 15 March he met Prime Minister Mohammed Najib Tun Abdul Razzaq and House of Representatives speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.

The government is scrambling to deal with the fallout from the death of two trainee officers, Hadib Al-Swarij and Falih Al-Azmi, at Ali Al-Sabah Military Academy on 29 August. Local reports said the two men died after being forced to stand outside in the summer heat while carrying heavy weights and being denied water. A number of other cadets are reported to be in a poor condition.

The UK parliament’s Committee on Arms Export Controls has launched an inquiry into the sale of weapons to the Gulf amid growing public unease about London’s support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen. Among other topics the committee will examine is whether UK arms have been used by Saudi forces in Yemen and whether any export licence criteria have been broken.

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Saeed’s three-day official visit to Iran has cemented decades of steady relations between the troubled Islamic Republic and Oman, for long seen as a moderate and sensible state whose good offices are valued by international partners. The visit, the Sultan’s first since Shah Reza Pahlavi’s fall in 1979, has highlighted the importance that Muscat attributes to maintaining steady relations with its large and powerful neighbour.

Violence continues in Yemen as security forces clash with demonstrators calling for an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule. Behind the headlines, international aid organisations have told GSN in Sanaa that they are struggling to cope with the growing number of migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

In the wake of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report into human rights abuses during the government’s crackdown on protesters, Bahrain has entered a critical phase.

Mohammed Bin Nayef (MBN) was born in August 1959 to Jawahar Bint Abdelaziz Bin Musaid Bin Jiluwi. He is married to Reema Bint Sultan Bin Abdelaziz, consolidating links with the Al-Sultan.

Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia Aeronautics Company, a subsidiary of Public Investment Fund-owned Taqnia, has signed a deal with Ukraine’s Antonov that will see Taqnia develop a new model of Antonov, based on the Antonov-32. Chairman of Taqnia Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Saud was in Kiev for the signing of the agreement on 6 May. Under the deal, Ukraine will transfer Antonov-32 production technologies to Saudi Arabia, and train specialists.

The election of four women to the National Assembly marks a significant victory for civic rights and indicates a shift in public mood.

Kingdom tries to avoid oil reaching the giddy heights that could further unsettle the global economy

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah welcomed his Qatari counterpart Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani for talks on 4 February. The high-ranking welcoming party at the airport also included Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. Sheikh Tamim’s delegation included his personal representative Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and others.

Gulf countries got their usual poor marks in the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report, released on 27 June. None of the countries fully comply with standards set out in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, although some do slightly better than others. Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE were classified as not meeting the TVPA’s minimum standards but were at least making “significant efforts” to bring themselves into line.