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National dialogue aiming to resolve the chasms exposed by Bahrain’s ‘Spring’ started on 5 July with policy debates under four broad headings: politics, society, economy and rights. The recommendations of this four-week dialogue will be processed by the bi-cameral legislature, the government and the King.

A growing trend for Gulf states to import liquefied natural gas from Pacific Rim and other sources underlines a hard truth: within a short period, many of the GCC’s fast-growing, high rent economies may no longer be defined as energy exporters and within the coming decade will be energy-dependent polities with all that implies for their fiscal and external balances

The first official session of Bahrain’s National Dialogue, chaired by Council of Representatives speaker Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al-Dhahrani, took place on the evening of 5 July.

Foreign and local critics of the regime’s response to demonstrations calling for political reform have welcomed the appointment of an international commission to enquire into Bahrain’s ‘Arab Spring’ crisis. With opposition reactions ranging from reservation to distrust, King Hamad has much to do to rebuild trust in his divided kingdom

In an unusual move, Sheikh Khalid, the 21-year-old fifth son of Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, has married Sahab Bint Abdullah, a daughter of the Saudi monarch. As with Saudi Arabia’s $400m grant to Sunni neighbour Jordan, announced on 2 June, the move demonstrates increased regional interconnectedness during a period when Bahrain’s stability – and the wider region’s future direction – is uncertain. The dynastic marriage is “a sign of the times,” Brookings Doha Center director Salman Shaikh told GSN. The Gulf states all have serious concerns about regional stability and this is reflected in signs of growing intra-Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) unity – bar ongoing bilateral spats between some neighbours.

Reuters correspondent Frederik Richter is among the journalists to be expelled from Bahrain as the authorities have cracked down. He reported that Ministry of Information official Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nezar Al-Khalifa on 16 June gave him one week to leave, complaining that Reuters had lacked balance in its reporting during the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

The recently announced marriage of King Abdullah’s daughter Sahab to King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s son Sheikh Khalid, is highly unusual. Al-Saud women marry outside the wider family extremely rarely, and then only to trusted or established families like the Sudeiri. Genealogists canvassed by GSN said it was possibly the first time the daughter of a Saudi king had married into another royal family since an episode in the late 19th century when the Al-Saud were forced to give a female member to the Al-Rashid family. However, there have been high level marriages between the Al-Maktoum and Al-Khalifa/Al-Thani.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on 31 May issued an industry report card, Banks in the Gulf are on the way to recovery, but has the dust settled? projecting relatively positive prospects for most Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) banks. It said many were “continu[ing] to show resilience or even signs of a gradual improvement”.

The state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has fired almost 300 oil workers for taking part in a week-long strike in March in support of pro-democracy demonstrators.

US investigators are seeking to uncover a ‘golden chain’ of Al-Qaeda financiers as the discovery of its now deceased leader Osama Bin Laden and his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on 2 May has prompted questions about his sources of funding.

Prime minister Marouf Bakhit was in Abu Dhabi on 17 April to seek financial support at a meeting with UAE deputy prime minister and presidential affairs minister Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Sheikh Mansour said the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) was looking at ways of giving Jordan a more central focus for economic and developmental support. The GCC is setting up a $20bn fund to assist development in the region, particularly in the poorer states of Bahrain and Oman (GSN 896/13).

Although Bahrain’s lower national assembly chamber the Majlis Al-Nuwab is elected, power to implement constitutional reform lies with the royally appointed government and upper chamber, the Majlis Al-Shura. Following demonstrations beginning on 14 February, the political environment has deteriorated significantly, with a renewed and uneasy status quo of state force and opposition suppression now apparent.

Ahmed Hamad Al-Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) is suing the former chief executive of Bahrain-based The International Banking Corporation (TIBC) for allegedly defrauding the company of $9.2bn

Speaking to GSN, Bahraini human rights officials report on abuses in jails and hospitals, and the suppression of opposition by force, all of which has been overshadowed by the rhetoric of Iranian meddling in the region

Bahrain’s sovereign credit rating remains on review with negative outlook as confidence wanes