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Analysts expect the cabinet and opposition-dominated parliament to remain at loggerheads, and say that, in the short term, the stalemate is likely to continue. When parliament opened on 15 February, proceedings were chaotic and, less than a week later, there was a request filed to grill the prime minister.

France’s Technip has won a Kuwait Gulf Oil Company contract to build a 110km pipeline between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, both onshore and offshore.

Saudi Arabia avoided a clash with Cairo in April 2011, when Saudi business tycoon Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal returned 75,000 feddans (77,850 acres) of a total 100,000 feddans of agricultural land bought in 1997 by his Kingdom Agricultural Development Company.

It is not just in diplomatic circles that Qatar punches above its weight. The small Gulf country of around 1.9m people has topped Forbes’ list of the world’s richest countries, published on 22 February.

The lack of opposition voices in the new cabinet narrows the chances of its survival; a first chaotic session of parliament and a request already filed to interpellate the prime minister confirm expectations of a rough ride ahead

With political parties banned and some candidates campaigning on multiple platforms, working out the election gains of the various blocs and alliances is not straightforward.

Gulf states may want to take note of a January report by Barclays Capital suggesting an “unhealthy correlation” between the construction of skyscrapers and subsequent financial crashes.

Invigorated by the Arab Spring, and encouraged by last year’s dissolution of parliament following protests over corruption, a new parliament looks set to bring Kuwait to tipping point. Analysts say there is only so long the country can endure the paralysis caused by pitching an elected parliament against a hand-picked government

A family feud among the Al Ghanim, one of Kuwait’s most high-ranking billionaire business clans, has been aired in public, following media coverage of a New York court case. While some say it has long been an open secret that brothers Bassam and Kutayba Al Ghanim do not get along, the allegations in the case brought by the younger Bassam are astonishing.

Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has appointed outgoing defence minister and deputy premier Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah as prime minister. The appointment, on 30 November, came just two days after the government of Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah resigned due to pressure from the opposition, which had refused to co-operate.

While the opposition has been undermined in parliament, the government confronts a continuing challenge on the streets.

The storming of parliament has highlighted the extent of tensions within Kuwait’s malfunctioning political system, but rather than building momentum behind another Arab Spring revolution, it has left the parliamentary opposition weaker and the departure of prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed a more distant prospect. Even so, with street protests and opposition from the ruling family’s Al-Salem branch, the Al-Jaber leadership faces a tough time

On 16 November, opposition-led demonstrators stormed the parliamentary building, calling for prime minister Nasser Mohammed Al- Ahmed Al-Sabah to resign. Their anger was directed at the recent corruption and bribery scandals that have rocked the government, and an October constitutional ruling preventing the opposition from grilling the prime minister over the illegal money transfers.

With the government weakened by a corruption scandal and growing opposition, thousands of public sector employees have taken to the streets to demand higher wages and continued state subsidies

A lengthy meeting between Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and opposition MPs on 1 November focused on their concerns over the ability of the prime minister and government to run the country.