Work on the mega-project has resumed after a 10-year stalemate. A delegation from Beijing visited the country in recent days. A facility competing with the route planned by the Emirates and Turkey. The unresolved knot of maritime disputes with Iraq. At the weekend the Emir signed the appointment of Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as Crown Prince. 

Bishop Aldo Berardi, head of the vicariate that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, comments on Pope Francis' decision to grant the Syro-Malabar Church jurisdiction over Indian migrants. "This is not a secondary element, it concerns areas that go beyond rituals" and will have to be defined. The problem of places of worship, relations with the State and interlocution with the Muslim world. "Too many voices" can create "confusion".

The 83-year-old Meshal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah has given the green light to the new executive. He suspended the assembly (only two precedents in 1976 and 1986) and parts of the Constitution. Behind the decision is the clash between the leadership and the 'pro-Islamist' opposition. Analysts and activists fear an authoritarian drift, priority to the issues of 'national development and stability'. 

Receiving in audience a delegation led by the new Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, the pontiff publicly expressed his assent to a request made for years by the Churches of the East, especially for their faithful in the Persian Gulf. A new harsh warning on the divisions around the liturgy in Kerala: "Discussing celebratory details while disrespecting unity is incompatible with the Christian faith.

In his (first) inauguration speech, Sheikh Meshal attacks the institutions that have failed to bring about 'change or correction' in the course of the nation. He also targets decisions that 'do not meet' standards of 'fairness and justice'. The country still relies on crude oil revenues and has no plans for a post-oil era. The prospect of public spending cuts.

Today's news: at UN Security Council new vote on Gaza truce, with over 20,000 dead; Beijing prepares to test first "made in China" ocean drilling ship; Hanoi indicts dozens of people for bribery in 12 billion euro scam; Pakistan uses artificial rain for the first time to combat smog in Lahore;  In Kuwait, the funeral of Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah was held yesterday.