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In the past few months, Doha has hosted talks on Syria and Darfur, and announced the imminent opening of an office of the Taliban; it continues to position itself in the new Egypt, not least as a critical donor, having given $5bn to Cairo and pledged much more.

The appointment of King Abdullah’s half brother Miqrin to the post of second deputy prime minister has delayed the potentially more divisive decision on who in the third generation will succeed.

Prince Faisal Bin Khalid Bin Sultan has made what is thought to be his second marriage, to a daughter of Prince Khalid Bin Musaid Bin Abdelrahman.

The US Department of State has added Saudi national and senior member of Al-Qaeda Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al-Khazmari Al-Zahrani – better known as Abu Maryam Al-Zahrani – to its list of specially designated global terrorists.

It may finally be crunch time in Iraq for ExxonMobil, which in late 2011 led the charge north when it became the first major to sign a contract for exploration blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan. After months of back and forth, and meetings between chairman Rex Tillerson and (separately) Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and Kurdish Prime Minister Massoud Barzani on 21 and 22 January, Exxon has apparently been told to decide once and for all between its 60% stake in the $50bn West Qurna 1 project in the south and its production-sharing agreements in blocks still being explored in Iraqi Kurdistan (Al Qush, Arbat East, Baeshiqa, Betwata, Pirmam and Qara Hanjeer).

The government is reviewing its policies on hiring expatriates. There are plans to look at rules governing permits, to consider which sectors should be the focus of efforts to get more Omani nationals into work, and to collect data on foreigners violating labour laws.

The new parliament’s pro-government character appears to be translating into greater levels of achievement. The assembly has already pushed through a number of bills and motions, including approving the much delayed draft law to privatise Kuwait Airways Corporation.

The UK has officially opened a new visa application centre in Baghdad, meaning that Iraqi citizens can apply for British visas from their capital, rather than from Amman or elsewhere as was previously necessary.

Crown Prince Salman has had a busy schedule, holding talks with Spanish defence minister Pedro de Morenés y Alvarez de Eulate (deputy defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Sultan also attended the meeting), commander of Turkish land forces General Hayri Kivrikoglu and South Korean defence minister Kim Kwan-jin.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Central Bank of Tunisia and Islamic Development Bank held a three-day regional conference on Islamic banking and sukuk markets in December.

In 2012, Zeena Al-Towayya and Sahar Al-Shamrani became the first women from Oman and Saudi Arabia, respectively, to set foot on Antarctica. Al-Towayya, an IT professional, and Al-Shamrani, a television producer living in Dubai, were part of a 72-member International Antarctic Expedition team which also included 14 women from the UAE.

The Kurdish region is top of the agenda in Iraq’s current political crisis. The region has an identity very distinct from that of Iraq’s, and since 1991 has been de facto autonomous. The 2005 constitution stipulated that Iraqi Kurdistan is a federal entity recognised by Iraq and the UN, and the 2010 Erbil agreement with Baghdad outlined how power would be shared. But the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has protested its lack of implementation, and relations with Baghdad are highly acrimonious.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) announced on 28 December that it had awarded carrier licences to Gulf Air and Qatar Airways.

It is almost a decade since the last war in Iraq, and more than a year since the formal withdrawal of US troops in 2011. Relative stability has returned, but is threatened by ongoing violence and political turmoil. Bloody attacks continue to disrupt daily life: independent monitor Iraq Body Count documented 4,471 civilian deaths from violence in 2012,much lower than the 29,000 killed in 2006, but higher than in 2011.

It takes time for things to happen in Saudi Arabia. It was back in 2011 that King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz announced women would be appointed to the Majlis Al-Shura, and on 11 January, 30 women duly were. A royal order specified women were to constitute “no less than 20%” of the council, which is selected by the king and serves as an advisory body.