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Budget talks in Baghdad are going down to the wire over the thorny issue of allocations to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The negotiations are the latest manifestation of a long-running dispute between Iraq’s centre and its periphery that has proved stubbornly immune to resolution since the late Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime was ousted in 2003. There is added friction in the Baghdad-Erbil standoff, with Iraqi Shia parties increasingly vexed at what they view as a resurgence of Kurdish independence hopes.

Qatar and the UAE used Kuwait’s National Day on 25 February as the moment to name two roads after the late Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who died in September 2020.

The National Museum is setting up a new section dedicated to the late Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said, giving an account of his life and featuring a number of items donated by his successor Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said.

In a royal decree on March 30, King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa appointed Khalid Yusuf Al-Jalahma as Bahrain’s first ambassador to Israel, following the Abraham Accords signed in September.

Dubai Holding has signed an agreement with Itochu Corporation, Hitachi Zosen Inova, Besix Group and Tech Group to develop an energy-from-waste facility, which will process up to 45% of Dubai’s current level of municipal waste.

Governments around the Gulf appear to have rediscovered the potential for diplomacy to settle their differences in a significant mood shift after the turmoil of the Donald Trump presidency, when allies knew there was little chance of being upbraided for anything deemed ethically questionable or destabilising, as long as they kept buying American military equipment.

Bell has begun building the 12 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters destined for the Bahrain Air Force. A Bahraini delegation visited Bell’s Amarillo, Texas facility on 12 April to mark the start of production.

Sheikh Salman Bin Ahmed Bin Salman Al-Khalifa has been appointed president of the court of Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad, via a royal order issued by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa on 3 May.

Dubai Deputy Ruler Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Al-Maktoum has been appointed chairman of the Ruler’s Court of his father, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR).

Ruler Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi has raised the minimum wage for local citizens by 43%, to Dh25,000 ($6,800) from Dh17,500. It follows a Department of Social Services study into Sharjah living standards.

Regional rivalries are not necessarily forever – they may dissolve into historic rapprochements, which is how senior diplomats in the Gulf would probably prefer to interpret recent political and diplomatic manoeuvres involving Qatar, the UAE and Egypt in East Africa.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has signed an agreement with India’s Reliance Industries to develop a world-scale chloralkali (used in water treatment and the manufacture of textiles and metals), ethylene dichloride and PVC production facility at Ruwais.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz (MBS) ordered SR3.74m ($997,000) to be handed out to nearly 200 men and women around the kingdom as a marriage subsidy.

On 22 July, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated a new oil pipeline running from Goreh in Bushehr province to a terminal at Jask in Hormozgan province, on the Gulf of Oman. The 1,000km, 42-inch link provides a strategically important new export outlet for Iranian crude.

Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Sultan Muhammad Al-Qasimi appointed Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Bin Sultan Al-Qasimi as deputy ruler of the emirate, in emiri decree No 25 of 2021, issued on 9 August.