Search results

A total of 309 candidates are competing in elections for the Federal National Council (FNC), the UAE's nearest equivalent to a parliament – fewer than in any of the previous four election cycles and significantly less than the 478 people who stood in 2019.

The UAE's early September announcement that it had set up a federal gambling regulator is a further sign of how the competition between regional economies is pushing them to diversify into areas that would previously have been regarded as too sensitive or even taboo.

Iraq's Constitutional Court ruled early September that a maritime border agreement between Kuwait and its northern neighbour was annulled for being 'unconstitutional'. The dispute highlights the fragile Kuwaiti position in a changing region and the reduced status of its foreign policy. 

Four people were killed in Kirkuk on 2 September, as Arab and Turkmen protestors tried to stop the Kurdistan Democratic Party from reclaiming its old headquarters building, in violent clashes that point to more trouble ahead in the sensitive city and wider Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Tensions could ratchet up further as two thorny anniversaries approach, before provincial elections scheduled for 18 December – unless the federal and Kurdish authorities find a way to better manage the situation. 

It is not yet the dawn of a new world order, but the formal invitation for Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to join the Brics group is a further sign of China’s growing influence and of wider shifting global alignments. A turbocharged Brics could boost the trend towards 'dedollarising' international trade, as Gulf states and other 'middle powers' seek to find a balance between the world's established and emerging powers. 

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani has entered into his second decade as ruler in a strong position, having dealt with the regional blockade, the Covid pandemic and the Fifa World Cup. This leaves Qatar now in search of a new direction: while positioning itself as a regional mediator provides a focus for its multi-polar foreign policy, Doha has yet to identify a new national purpose on the domestic stage. 

Kuwait's National Assembly (parliament) agreed to set up a High Election Commission to supervise future elections, a role until now held by the Ministry of Interior. The commission will be run by a panel of five senior judges and be overseen by the Ministry of Justice.

Arguably the biggest impact of an expanded Brics membership could be its potential boost to the trend towards the 'dedollarisation' of international trade. 

New deputy governors were appointed for both Bahrain's Northern and Southern governorates, in a decree by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa. Both have been appointed for four-year terms.

Since coming to power in 2013, the Qatari emir has overseen a centralisation of power in the Diwan Emiri, part of an effort to move away from the style of previous governments.  Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani is a less impulsive ruler than his father. 

Qatar is politically stable – perhaps more so because of the 2017-21 regional boycott by its GCC-3 neighbours Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Efforts during the blockade to endorse pretenders to the throne saw obscure Al-Thani family members being promoted by Doha's opponents, but these came to nothing. Rather, that period of crisis boosted Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani's status.

The Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh has sentenced retired teacher Mohammed Al-Ghamdi to death for a series of tweets in which he criticised corruption and unemployment levels and called for the release of political prisoners.

More than 800 inmates in Bahrain's Jau (sometimes Jaw) Central Prison are currently on hunger strike, according to opposition figures, in a protest that began with 400 prisoners on 7 August. There have also been demonstrations in other parts of Bahrain in sympathy with the prisoners.

It is almost a year since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran for failing to adhere to Iran's strict dress code for women. She died in police custody on 16 September, prompting nationwide outrage which soon morphed into the "Women, Life, Freedom" protest movement. The Iranian government has been nervously preparing for the anniversary of Amini's death, by targeting protestors and their supporters.

Gulf royal families have generally been closely associated with only a narrow range of traditional preferred sports – including camel racing, horse racing and falconry – but younger Saudi princes and princesses now occupy senior positions in bodies overseeing a far wider range of pursuits, from motorsport and esports to triathlons and diving. Their efforts to promote sports and attract international events feed into Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's economic and social diversification drive.