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While analysts say the current National Assembly is more serious about policy issues than its predecessor, significant voices have continued a more personalised campaign against prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his government.

Re-elected

Wedding

Egypt’s role in the alliance gathered behind Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s efforts to crush the Houthi rebellion suggests the ‘sleeping giant’ of Middle East politics has not entirely withdrawn from its central role in regional diplomacy. Cairo still plays an important part in mediating in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, most recently in trying to heal the fratricidal rift between Fatah and Hamas. But otherwise, Egypt under 81-year-old President Hosni Mubarak seems to have long parted from its Nasserite status as a critical hub for Arab political and cultural thought and action.

It is not just through trade and financial controls that the United States and its allies are gradually encircling Iran in an effort to throttle the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. And the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states are playing a larger role in this process than seemed likely earlier this decade, when Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz led a move towards rapprochement with Tehran. Thus, according to GSN’s contacts in the

Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani has been in Algeria and Libya for official talks. The Emir held meetings with Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi, Prime Minister Dr Al-Mahmoudi Al-Baghdadi and Foreign Minister Musa Kusa (previously the foreign intelligence head).

Specialist Lloyd’s of London insurer Hardy Underwriting has entered into a joint venture with Arab Insurance Group (Arig) to develop reinsurance business in the Middle East and North Africa.

Ajman businessman Sheikh Hassan Bin Ali Al-Nuaimi is said to be close to buying loss-making French fashion house Christian Lacroix

It was the (literally) hands-on experience of the French-Algerian goalkeeper turned literary icon Albert Camus that caused him to observe: “After many years in which the world has afforded me many experiences, what I know most surely in the long run about morality and obligations, I owe to football.” In the harsh environment of arguably the world’s most high-profile sporting contest, the morality and obligations of a growing number of Gulf royals and businessmen are being tested in the English Premier League. Despite huge adverse publicity, Abu Dhabi’s representative in Manchester seems to be the most successful, and a number of clubs are looking to other Saudis for salvation.

The mainstream Shia parliamentary opposition appears to have become sidetracked by marginal and sectarian issues, and is now caught between a tactically astute government and vigorous rivals

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan has been in Cuba

Seychelles meeting

Among this season’s crop of strange, apparently Gulf-related football stories is the case of England’s oldest football league club, Notts County, which was purchased in July by Munto Finance, described as a special purpose vehicle of the unknown Qadbak Investments Ltd. There was immediate speculation that Gulf businessmen or ruling family members were involved – particularly the Qataris – although the club’s board remained coy, saying they did not know the identities.