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Bahrain was rocked by protests in February and March last year, an uprising largely crushed by security forces and troops. Following the unrest, a report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) concluded human rights abuses had taken place, including the torture of many of those detained for taking part in protests.

As the one-year anniversary of protests approaches, activists are starting to make plans. Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights president Mohammed Al Maskati told GSN there was a call for protests from 12-14 February. “They have a lot of support in different villages, and are calling for people to get into the streets,” he said. Emotions will be particularly charged on 14 February, the one-year anniversary of the Pearl Revolution and the ten-year anniversary of King Hamad’s promulgation of a new constitution, which ignored the results of a national referendum to the immense anger of the opposition.

Protesters call for widespread demonstrations on 14 February, undeterred by continuing clashes with riot police; rights groups say little has changed since the completion of an official inquiry into last year’s violence

The future of Gulf Air, once the biggest Gulf airline and the pride of Bahrain, hangs in the balance. Prospects for the airline, which is owned by state fund Mumtalakat, have often hit the headlines as it struggles with competition from regional players such as Emirates and Qatar Airways, despite several management changes and restructuring. On 25 January, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News (GDN) reported that the government has four proposals for its future: dissolving the airline, selling it and launching a new national carrier, downsizing it or maintaining it in its current form with government support.

Several Bahrain observers have told GSN that the Al Khalifa family does not seem entirely aware that it is involved in a fight for legitimacy, rather than simply charged with keeping a lid on dissent.

The appointment of Sir Daniel Bethlehem – one of two British lawyers (with Sir Jeffrey Jowell) brought in to help push through the human rights recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report – was perhaps not the most sensitive choice by a government seeking to regain public support. Lurking on Bethlehem’s undeniably impressive CV is the fact that, in 2004, he defended (unsuccessfully) Israel’s separation wall at the International Court of Justice in The Hague; he was also counsel to Israel in its submissions to the Mitchell Committee in 2000-01, following the failure of the Camp David summit in 2000.

At long last, the Bahrain authorities appear to be trying to deal with their social housing shortage. The kingdom’s expanding population and demand for land for high-end real estate developments in the booming mid-2000s has led to tensions over the shortfall of affordable housing.

In the wake of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report into human rights abuses during the government’s crackdown on protesters, Bahrain has entered a critical phase.

The much-anticipated Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s report into human rights abuses in the country since February contained few major surprises, but acknowledged systematic abuses and presented an important opportunity for change.

Bahrain is looking to expand its media influence and is lobbying heavily for Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s new Alarab channel to be based in Manama, seeing it as a potential job creator that could help boost the economy.

It is not just Russian billionaires who have been fighting their business battles in UK courts. Saudi magnate Sheikh Mohammed Bin Issa Al-Jaber (MBI) has failed to get success in the latest round of his High Court battle with South Africa’s Standard Bank, which he accused of a conflict of interest when it recruited his personal adviser Salim Khoury while he was still employed by the tycoon.

The arrest of a UK-based metals magnate for his alleged role in a scam to defraud Bahrain’s industrial flagship Alba of hundreds of millions of dollars provides another window onto the severe governance shortfalls apparent in some major corporates’ business practices

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa has visited Egypt, holding talks with Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi on ways to strengthen relations, the kingdom’s ambassador to Cairo confirmed to Al-Ahram newspaper on 5 November.

Following protests beginning in February, the political environment has deteriorated significantly, with an uneasy stalemate between the unlicensed opposition and a regime bolstered by Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) finances and military power.

Criticism surrounding the $53m US deal to sell armoured vehicles and military equipment to Bahrain has grabbed the headlines, but it is a drop in the ocean in terms of US arms exports.