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It was on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 that Rudyard Kipling penned his ‘Recessional’, a hymnic warning about the inevitable decline of the British Empire. “Lo, all our pomp of yesterday/ Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!/Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,/Lest we forget – lest we forget!” wrote the poet of the Empire, as Britain’s redoubtable monarch marked 60 years on the throne.

Aspects of Dubai’s economy are looking much brighter, according to the authorities, but there are still serious concerns over other economic factors. Tourism appears to be recovering. But in the real estate market, property values are as much as 60% lower than at their 2008 peak and there are serious concerns over the refinancing of debt at Dubai’s government- related entities (GREs).

Saudi Arabia has pledged $3.25bn in aid to Yemen, at the start of a one-day donor meeting in Riyadh.

The political crisis began in February 2011, when huge protests, inspired by events elsewhere in the region, took to the streets to demand political change. The uprising was largely crushed, but protests have continued on a smaller scale and, on the protesters’ side, political demands have, if anything, hardened.

Published in May 2012, this graphic illustrates data for the Middle East North Africa region taken from the IMF World Economic Outlook. Selected indicators include real GDP, consumer price inflation and current account balance. A map of the region is shaded to show revisions to 2012 GDP growth forecasts, while a chart shows fiscal breakeven oil prices.

Kuwait, like many Gulf states, has been grappling with how best to deal with sociAl networking sites such as Twitter, which have given wings to dissent that in the past would not have left the realms of private conversation.

Yemen is two months into a transition period, expected to last two years, that is intended to steer the troubled state towards multi-party democratic elections. Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was president for 33 years, finally stepped down in early 2012. He was replaced by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, vice-president since 1994, who was sworn in on 25 February at a ceremony in Sanaa.

Eastern Province governor Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd laid foundation stones in Abqaiq in early April. He was joined by his deputy, Prince Jiluwi Bin Abdelaziz Bin Musaid. In Riyadh, governor Prince Sattam Bin Abdelaziz opened the environmental rehabilitation project ofWadi Nammar andWadi Laban. Asir region governor Prince Faisal Bin Khalid Bin Abdelaziz attended a graduation ceremony on 10 April at King Khalid University, where female students recently protested against conditions. Prince Faisal met student representatives and formed a youth council to address their concerns.

Kuwait, like many Gulf states, has been grappling with how best to deal with sociAl networking sites such as Twitter, which have given wings to dissent that in the past would not have left the realms of private conversation.

The US Army has renewed a contract with DynCorp International to provide support to the Kuwait Air Force’s AH-64D Apache helicopter maintenance programme for 16 AH-64D Apache Block II aircraft. The fixed-price contract has one base year with four, one-year options and a total contract value of $25.4m if all options are exercised, DynCorp said in a statement. The new contract will take over in July from an old one, signed in 2008 and worth $18.3m, a spokeswoman for the company said (GSN 841/7).

Deputy prime minister Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan remains on the ascendancy. Also minister of presidential affairs, he is close to half-brother UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and is married to Sheikha Manal Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the eldest child of UAE vice president, prime minister and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

Simpler tactics, softer targets and waves of recruits emerging from US detention have led to a resurgence of Al Qaeda in Iraq, demonstrated by the group’s ability to stage major co-ordinated attacks on an increasingly regular basis

Gulf Finance House (GFH) has appointed Hisham Alrayes as acting chief executive, the bank said in a statement on 17 April. Alrayes was previously chief investment officer and takes over from Ted Pretty, who joined the bank in 2009 (GSN 872/11). Alrayes has been at GFH since 2007, and is also chairman of Cemena Holding Company, Gulf Holding Company and Bashaer Fund, GFH said.

It has been more than a year since the start of an uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad, whose forces have cracked down brutally on protesters. The UN estimates that government retaliation has killed more than 9,000 people since March 2011; the authorities say militants have killed more than 2,500 soldiers and police.

Sweden’s defence minister quit last week after outcry at government plans to help Saudi Arabia build a weapons plant. Swedish outrage at the idea of signing military agreements with undemocratic countries is admirable; British and US newspapers have also recently decried massive arms deals to the Gulf. But arguably, the provenance of weapons – while important to the domestic politics of source countries – is only a sideshow.