Mansions, university facilities, think tanks, sports teams — the U.K. is no stranger to Gulf money and multibillion-dollar investments streaming from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia into British institutions.

But newspapers? That’s a hard stop, apparently. The latest investment pursuit flowing westward from one of the U.K.’s close Gulf allies, the UAE, has thrown British lawmakers, journalists and even former intelligence officials into a frenzy.

Just on Wednesday, Britain’s government announced it would change its laws to stop foreign governments from being able to own the country’s newspapers, potentially throttling a controversial Emirati ownership bid for one of the U.K.’s most influential papers.

Read more: cnbc.com

Photo: cnbc.com