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Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are reportedly cautiously moving toward "soft normalisation or partial recognition" of the Taliban, amid fears that international terrorist organisations like the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) could exploit Afghanistan's security vacuum and pose a security threat to Gulf Arab countries.

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has set up a joint venture with the sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF) to invest in iron ore, copper, nickel and lithium assets around the world

A member of the family behind one of Saudi Arabia’s leading privately-owned construction companies, El Seif Engineering Contracting (Esec), is rising up the social ranks, with a wedding between Esec chairman’s daughter, Rajwa Bint Khaled Al-Seif, to Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein Bin Abdullah due to take place on 1 June.

Accounts of Saudi energy policy are typically laden with caveats, given the inscrutability of decision-making in the kingdom. Saudi industry veteran Ibrahim Al-Muhannah’s new book Oil Leaders, however, offers an intriguing peak behind the curtain into Saudi and Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) oil politics since the late-1980s.

The Saudi government has been accused of trying to control information about the kingdom posted on online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, with indications that other governments may be making similar efforts to burnish their image.

A series of talks between Iranian and GCC officials have been held during December and early January in Gulf capitals, as well as on the sidelines of events in Jordan and Brazil, in moves that suggest Tehran is recalibrating its relations with neighbouring monarchies during a period of intense domestic tensions.

Huge investments by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund (PIF) – chaired by Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) – and its subsidiaries and affiliates are continuing to define wider Saudi strategy. Recent big deals include Saudi National Bank (SNB)’s move to buy nearly 10% of Credit Suisse, a big potential bank takeover in Egypt and efforts to boost tourism-focused investment in marginalised areas of the kingdom.

The visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Riyadh underlined China's fast-growing profile with a trio of summits, with Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Co-operation Council states and the wider Arab world. It also gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman an opportunity to assert his position in the Arab world and to further test the potential to develop relations with China and reduce reliance on western partners.

Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman was in London on 13 December for talks with his counterpart Ben Wallace and to sign a new bilateral defence agreement.

The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) said on 2 December that it had rolled over a $3bn deposit placed with State Bank of Pakistan. akistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the move to shore up dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

The United States has contradicted claims by Saudi Arabia and the UAE that they played a central role in arranging a prisoner swap which saw US basketball star Brittney Griner freed from a Russian prison and Russian arms dealer Victor Bout released from a US jail.

Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Military Industries (Gami) signed a memorandum of understanding with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia in December, paving the way for a deal to buy more warships for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF).

Iran has reacted with irritation to statements issued by China, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Co-operation Council states during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Riyadh for a series of meetings in early December.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia formally dismissed a lawsuit against Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, in the wake of the White House decision that he was entitled to claim sovereign immunity.

Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s Vision 2030 policies have increasingly sought to make the kingdom a hub for global sporting events, its soft power projection extending through the ownership of football and other sporting assets and, in the process, providing unprecedented entertainment for the Saudi population.