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Three stalwarts of the Abu Dhabi economy – Ahmed Al-Mazrouei, Sultan Al-Jaber and Mohammed Al-Suwaidi – have joined the AI council.

The newly-appointed board of trustees at Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence includes several familiar faces – in yet another indication of how small the core group is that runs Abu Dhabi’s AI efforts.

The Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) has been opening more investigations and making more arrests. With its powers strengthened by a new law in November, the Saudi graft-buster could ramp up its activities further.

Phoenix Group, which has a number of links to billionaire UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed’s business empire, has secured a 80MW power supply for a new crypto-mining site in Ethiopia, in the latest stage of an international push which has taken the Abu Dhabi-based cryptocurrency firm to Oman, Canada and the US –and which could soon lead it to South America.

Fly Persia, a Shiraz-based airline that operates two ageing Boeing 737 aircraft, has prevailed in a six-year-long trademark dispute with the far larger FlyDubai, after a Luxembourg court ruled their logos weren’t likely to be confused.

Suhail Bahwan Group and its fertilizer venture have experienced a bumpy ride in Algeria over the past two decades, but recent talks in Algiers suggest the Omani group could be ready to agree further investment – adding to its long history of being a big player in the sultanate.

Kuwait businessman Abdullah Al-Humaidi plan to develop a ‘Disneyland-style’ resort was launched in 2011, but collapsed over environmental concerns and a failure to secure sufficient investment.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund has signed a one-off deal with FGS Global, whose other clients include the UAE Embassy in Washington DC.

Zain has been chasing a debt now standing at $877m against Prince Hussam Bin Saud Bin Abdelaziz since 2015, but the Kuwaiti telecoms company’s bankruptcy petition against the Al-Baha governor has been ruled out by London’s Chief Insolvency and Companies Court, which said it had now jurisdiction over the case.

Eagle Hills has signed an MoU with Georgia’s government to develop mixed-use schemes in Tbilisi and the Black Sea resort of Batumi. Meanwhile, the prospects for its Grand Budapest project in Hungary have dimmed significantly.

Prince Abdelaziz Bin Mishaal had a wide-ranging business career, managing family assets held in Al-Shoula Group among a portfolio of interests.

A government-to-government deal between Doha and Jakarta has committed Sheikh Abdelaziz Bin Abdulrahman’s Qilaa International to building up to 1m affordable housing units in Indonesia – where Abu Dhabi has also been linked to a possible investment in President Subianto’s plans to build 3m homes a year.

The UAE artificial intelligence firm, which has close links to national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, is one of four equity partners who plan to invest sums in AI infrastructure in the US.

A Dubai businessman favoured by Donald Trump, Hussein Sajwani – profiled by GSN below – in early January said he would invest $20bn in a network of US data centres. His group has also signed a deal to enable $1bn of assets to be traded on a blockchain.

Mishaal Bin Sultan has been reappointed chairman of online food delivery service Jahez International.