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ADIC eyes MENA private equity deals; Bahrain banks consolidate their positions; Kuwait enters Palestine telecoms sector; Vodafone Qatar to sell a 40% stake in April IPO

Whoever wins the Iranian election will have to engage in sustained diplomatic fence-mending. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s apparently thoughtless way with words has cost Iran dear over the past three and a half years. This month, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has been in Riyadh – where he met King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz – and Manama, seeking to patch up the latest strains in relationships with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He also visited Kuwait, with whom Tehran’s dealings are rather more placid.

Taqa profits down as oil price stays low. Oxy deal to raise output. Qatar to build 100MW solar power plant

The mood in Bahrain was edgy in the run-up to the 26 March trial of 35 individuals including Haq leader Hassan Mushaima,

Supermajors interested in Bahrain onshore gas round; Indian offshore drilling firm considers entry;:Block 8 partner announces first oil from West Bukha; Oilex resumes Block 56 testing programme

In a fast-evolving regional situation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is touring the Gulf again, visiting Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait

Exasperated by Haq's persistent campaigning, the authorities arrested the extra-parliamentary opposition group's president Hassan Mushaima, human rights commission head Abdeljalil Al-Singace and outspoken Shiite scholar Mohammed Habib Almuqdad on the night of 25-26 January. Al-Singace was released after 24 hours but remains on bail and is subject to a travel ban. Mushaima and Almuqdad remained in solitary confinement, and were denied contact with their families or lawyers, as GSN went to press.

Eritrea, a county with more than eight decades of exploration history but not much recent success, in late 2008 assigned two offshore blocks to a local/Chinese joint venture called Defba Oil Share Company, set up through a partnership of the Asmara government and Bahrain-registered Energy Alliance Company WLL.

Five country ratification is the first hurdle. Policy and structural detail will have to follow soon if markets are to take the GCC’s monetary union plan seriously.

Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society and Haq, Bahrain’s two largest parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition movements, have engaged in renewed talks about a potential joint strategy, as the 2010 elections approach. Haq leader Hassan Mushaima continues to argue that now is not the time to back down over a potential election boycott.

Saudi supertanker (VLCC) Sirius Star, carrying an estimated $100m worth of oil was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Kenya and headed towards the northern Somali coast. Bahrain’s Ebrahim Abdulaal Group of Companies (EAGC) has signed an MoU with London-based H Oil.

QNB Al-Islami, fully-owned by Qatar National Bank (QNB), has opened its first branch outside Qatar in Sudan. Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) says it has suspended mortgage lending for ready properties to individuals. Private, joint-stock Unicorn Investment Bank (UIB) is establishing a new Islamic bank in Bahrain.

Bahrain-Saudi Arabia pipeline shows relations are good. Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) is planning a $2bn expansion of its Sitra refinery. Iran has signed a MoU with Turkey for the development of two phases of its South Pars gas field. International services company Petrofac has been awarded a KD147m ($543m) lump-sum contract by Kuwait Oil Company for a new gas pipeline.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s second son Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa is suing pop star Michael Jackson in London’s Royal Courts of Justice for $7m over alleged breach of contract

Street violence flared in Bahrain during late September and October, leading to another major security hunt for a group of Shia protestors who were allegedly involved in a serious assault on three men. The crowd threw a Molotov cocktail at a car that contained three Bahraini Shia male civilians who escaped with light injuries. Bahraini security insiders told GSN the attackers believed the vehicle carried a Bahraini Secret Intelligence Service (BSIS) surveillance team. Whatever the truth - no completely independent witnesses are yet available - the incident should be seen against the background of growing tension in Bahrain, as the authorities maintain a firm line which leading opposition figures fear will only deepen disenchantment among young Shiite men.