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On 11 March, Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa was appointed ‘first deputy premier for the development and performance of the executive authority’s bodies’, a move widely perceived as conciliatory towards the opposition. On 10 February, the government and opposition groups began a National Consensus Dialogue. Violence flared again on the 14 February anniversary of the uprising (and has again since), but talks have not been derailed, a measure of the seriousness on all sides.

The estate of the bankrupt Icelandic bank Kaupthing has settled a dispute with the emir’s brother, former deputy prime minister Mohammed. The dispute stemmed from a deal the sheikh made to buy shares in the bank just before its 2008 collapse through his Q Iceland Holding. The bank had issued legal proceedings against the sheikh in Iceland.

Prince Turki Bin Salman has been appointed chairman of Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), replacing his brother Faisal Bin Salman, who was appointed Medina governor in January. SRMG owns Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and Arab News.

Dubai’s ruler, Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR), reduced the board of the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) from six to five men on 20 November. Decree number 17 of 2012, published by state news agency Wam, named five existing members of the board, but excluded Ahmed Humaid Al-Tayer, formerly one of MBR’s trusted aides.

The newly formed Whistleblowers UK is to be formally launched on 12 December in central London. The non-profit organisation says it will provide advice and help to those who are considering acting on their conscience and – to ensure independence – will not accept funding from national or local government, law firms, banks, business or the media.

Thirty of parliament’s 50 seats went to candidates who have not previously been MPs. Three seats went to women – Maasouma Al-Mubarak, who has held several ministerial positions and was elected in 2009, and two newcomers, Safa Al-Hashem, who has previously worked in the higher education ministry, and lawyer Thikra Al-Rashidi.

The man often said to be the second wealthiest man in Oman after Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said has received approval from the sultanate’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) to raise his stake in HSBC Oman from 18.39% to 25%. Soon after the CMA approved Omar Abdulmoneim Zawawi’s request to raise his stake, the bank had a market cap of around $1.12bn, which would have made Zawawi’s existing 18.39% stake in the bank worth just over $205m.

Gulf Finance House (GFH) plans to acquire the UK’s Leeds United Football Club through its wholly owned subsidiary GFH Capital Limited. In a statement on 27 September, GFH said it had signed “an exclusive agreement to lead and arrange the acquisition of Leeds City Holdings, the parent company of Leeds United Football Club”.

A suspected associate of Osama Bin Laden, Saudi national Yasin Abdullah Ezzedine Qadi, has been removed from the UN sanctions list after more than a decade. The UN Security Council Sanctions Committee said on 5 October it had removed the 56-year-old Egyptian-born man from the list of individuals associated with Al-Qaeda, and rescinded his asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, after a report from the Ombudsman.

Bahrain’s Court of Cassation has upheld the convictions of nine medical staff sentenced last year for their part in an anti government uprising

Bahrain’s troubled Bank Alkhair has appointed Khalil Nooruddin as managing director and chief executive, the bank said in a statement on 18 September.

On 17 September, Bahrain’s Public Prosecution said it had charged seven police officers with torturing or mistreating detainees in their care. The seven were involved in gathering confessions from medical staff who took part in anti-government protests last year – a case which became one of the most high-profile in Bahrain’s 19 months of violent confrontation between the government and pro-democracy campaigners.

While Iraqi vice president Tariq Al-Hashemi remains in exile in Turkey, there is no chance of the death sentence imposed on him in absentia by a Baghdad court being carried out. In spite of his declaration of “absolute innocence” and the wave of violence which followed the verdict, it appears that Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has achieved his basic aim of neutralising a powerful opponent, although not without cost.

Simon Eedle, the regional head of Crédit Agricole CIB, has left the bank, according to an email he wrote on 12 September.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has moved to curb the power of two key rivals, limiting the number of military personnel under their control. Late on 6 August, state news agency Saba published a presidential decree ordering the creation of a Presidential Protection Force, which will sweep up three brigades of the elite Republican Guard commanded by Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the son of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and one brigade from the First Armoured Division led by Brigadier General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar.