President Donald Trump is continuing to fill his diplomatic roster, and many ambassador roles in countries around the world are still up for grabs.
Here, The National takes a look at who Mr Trump has chosen for ambassadorships in the Middle East and North Africa, and which roles have yet to be filled.
Israel: Mike Huckabee
Mr Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas. Since leaving office in 2007, he has hosted political television and radio shows and been a commentator on others. He has frequently expressed great love for Israel and led several tour groups to the country over the years. He has in the past referred to the area as “Judea and Samaria”, the biblical terms settlers use to describe the West Bank, and has said there is no way to negotiate with Hamas.
Turkey: Tom Barrack
Mr Barrack is a billionaire and a long-time friend of Mr Trump. The grandson of Lebanese-Christian immigrants, Mr Barrack founded the private equity firm Colony Capital. He was the chairman of Mr Trump's first inaugural committee in 2017, and two years ago was acquitted of federal charges of unlawful lobbying.
Lebanon: Michel Issa
Mr Issa is a Lebanese-American businessman and philanthropist who is reported to be a golfing buddy of Mr Trump. In his announcement of his nomination on Truth Social, the President called him "an outstanding businessman, financial expert, and leader with a remarkable career in banking, entrepreneurship, and international trade". Mr Issa will take on a complex file at a complicated moment: Lebanon is slowly coming out of a lengthy political vacuum and is continuing to experience the effects of a devastating economic crisis. The country is also in an uneasy ceasefire with Israel.
Tunisia: Bill Bazzi
Mr Bazzi is the mayor of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, which has a large Arab-American community. He endorsed Mr Trump during his 2024 campaign. Mr Trump described Mr Bazzi as a decorated US marine who served the country for 21 years. Before he was elected mayor, he worked at Boeing as a quality manager and at Ford as a product development engineer. If confirmed, he will replace Joey Hood, who took up the role in 2022.
Kuwait: Amer Ghalib
Mr Ghalib is the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan. The Yemeni-American mayor endorsed Mr Trump during his presidential campaign. The President credited Mr Ghalib with helping him to secure victory in Michigan. If confirmed, he will replace Karen Sasahara, who took up the role in 2023.
Holdovers from Biden administration
Yemen: Steven Fagin
Mr Fagin began his tenure in 2022. A career member of the foreign service, he has held a wide range of positions in embassies and consulates throughout the world, including Iraq and Egypt. As ambassador, Mr Fagin has grappled with the rise in attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on international shipping that have precipitated US strikes on sites in Yemen.
Egypt: Herro Mustafa
Ms Mustafa acceded to the ambassadorship in 2023. She previously served as ambassador to Bulgaria, and before that held various posts in the foreign service around the world. Ms Mustafa is originally from the Kurdish region of Iraq, and her family fled the country in the 1970s for the US. She has served as ambassador during a complicated time for Egypt, as it navigates the fallout of the Israel-Gaza war.
Oman: Ana Escrogima
Ms Escrogima took up the position in 2023. She previously served as the State Department’s UAE-based Arabic-language spokeswoman, and was office director for Regional and Multilateral Affairs in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau.
UAE: Martina Strong
Ms Strong has been UAE ambassador since 2023. She previously served as the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Saudi Arabia and also held diplomatic positions in Iraq, Bulgaria and Poland. She has won a number of State Department awards and speaks Arabic, Czech and Polish.
Bahrain: Steven Bondy
Mr Bondy has been ambassador to Bahrain since 2021. Before that, he was chargé d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the embassy in the UAE. His accession to the ambassadorship follows a stint as political/economic counsellor at the embassy in Bahrain.
Algeria: Elizabeth Moore Aubin
Ms Moore Aubin has been her current role since 2021. She previously served in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and was also deputy chief of mission in Algiers.
Positions to be filled
There are still several Middle Eastern countries that Mr Trump has yet to name ambassadors for. The ambassadors to Jordan (Yael Lempert), Morocco (Puneet Talwar) and Saudi Arabia (Mike Ratney) have left or announced they would leave their posts after Mr Trump entered office.
The ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, left her role in December. John Godfrey, the ambassador to Sudan, left his post in February last year. The US has not had an ambassador to Syria since 2014.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
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On sale: now
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
GROUPS AND FIXTURES
Group A
UAE, Italy, Japan, Spain
Group B
Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Russia
Tuesday
4.15pm: Italy v Japan
5.30pm: Spain v UAE
6.45pm: Egypt v Russia
8pm: Iran v Mexico
The lowdown
Badla
Rating: 2.5/5
Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
Factfile on Garbine Muguruza:
Name: Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
World ranking: 15 (will rise to 5 on Monday)
Date of birth: October 8, 1993
Place of birth: Caracas, Venezuela
Place of residence: Geneva, Switzerland
Height: 6ft (1.82m)
Career singles titles: 4
Grand Slam titles: 2 (French Open 2016, Wimbledon 2017)
Career prize money: $13,928,719
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
PAST 10 BRITISH GRAND PRIX WINNERS
2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2015 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2013 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-GP)
2012 - Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
2011 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2010 - Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
2008 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2007 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.
Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
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