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A private jet usually associated with former Russian president and now National Security Council deputy chairman Dmitri Medvedev made an unexplained visit to Muscat in the wake of the 23-24 June abortive Wagner Group coup.

UAE state minister for foreign affairs Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan has been increasingly active on the African continent, since his four-year stint as ambassador to Saudi Arabia ended in 2021.

The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) is to resume negotiations with Japan on a free trade agreement (FTA) after a break of 14 years, following talks between GCC secretary-general Mohammed Al-Budaiwi and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia announced a $500m package of assistance to support Tunisia’s beleaguered economy, comprising a $400m soft loan and a grant of $100m. Tunisia is also likely to benefit from a $100m pledge from the UAE to help countries struggling to cope with irregular migration flows.

Political upgrade: It may seem not the most opportune moment to remove the downwards negative trend arrow from Saudi Arabia’s ‘B’ political risk rating – coming amid more speculation that King Salman Bin Abdelaziz’s health is fading and with the International Monetary Fund giving the kingdom its “steepest growth downgrade among major economies”, as Bloomberg put it on 25 July, and longer-term investment plans in question.

The high-profile campaign to make Saudi Arabia a global power in football, golf and other sports has, in many ways, eclipsed the state's domestic spending – which conventional policy wonks might say should be of greater importance to the 22m population – but the activities of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)'s prized Public Investment Fund (PIF) over the past few months tells an equally important story.

A US Senate committee has shed light on the key personalities involved in the controversial agreement between Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour to create a new global golf entity; many of the names will be familiar to Saudi-watchers.

Sheikh Saeed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan died on 27 July, five days after the UAE's Presidential Court said he had an unspecified "health problem". Funeral prayers were held at Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed the First Mosque in Al-Bateen. President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) announced three days of mourning for his half-brother.

A rift has emerged between Baghdad and the Christian community, after President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a 2013 decree which recognised Cardinal Louis Sako as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church – which is distinct from the church in Rome but with close connections to the Vatican.

Bahrain's Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa was named chairman of the Board of Trustees of the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence, in a royal decree issued by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa.

A Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15 SA fighter jet crashed, and its crew was killed, on 26 July, while taking part in a training mission around the city of Khamis Mushait. It is the second serious incident involving an RSAF F-15 jet, after an F-15 S crashed last November, during a routine training mission in the King Abdelaziz Air Base training area in Eastern province.

Sheikh Zayed Bin Khalifa Bin Sultan Bin Shakhboot Al-Nahyan was sworn in as the UAE's ambassador to Qatar. He is a great-grandson of former ruler Shakbout Bin Sultan, and is married to a daughter of Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, a son of the late President Sheikh Khalifa.

Slowing growth: The UAE economy grew by 3.8% in Q1 2023, compared to Q1 22, according to Federal Centre for Competitiveness and Statistics data issued in early August. GDP was AED418.3bn ($113.9bn) in the January-March period, when non-oil GDP expanded by 4.5%.

Arguably the biggest impact of an expanded Brics membership could be its potential boost to the trend towards the 'dedollarisation' of international trade. 

UAE leaders have welcomed another renegade Qatari royal, Sheikh Sultan Bin Suhaim Al-Thani, just weeks after an apparent pretender to the Al-Thani throne, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Thani, left the country after complaining he had been held against his will in Abu Dhabi.