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Following the Eid holiday Crown Prince Sultan travelled to Tabuk, where he announced a donation of SR10m – to be given on an annual basis – to the Prince Fahd Bin Sultan University

Nouriya Al-Sabeeh looks far from safe, as Islamists gear up for another ministerial grilling, but the wider reform drive should continue as the parliamentary opposition lacks coherence on most non-social policy issues.

Yemeni-based militants constitute one external threat to expatriates. Indeed, the prospect of establishing bases in Yemen has been mentioned prominently in militant communiqués and in Saudi government statements since 2006.

The ‘hard stop’ armed takedown of a vehicle at a government checkpoint – a regular occurrence in 2004-05 – has become so rare that the unsuccessful 14 October attempt to stop a suspected terrorist vehicle in Eastern Riyadh was big news. The authorities seem to have the jihadist challenge under control, but Yemeni-based militants still pose a threat, as does potential ‘blow-back’ from Iraq

Iraq is the other major source of advanced terrorist capability in Saudi Arabia, leading the Kingdom to quietly take steps to reduce potential blowback. The September announcement of a mutual extradition treaty between Saudi Arabia and Iraq received little media coverage but represents a significant development. The treaty stipulated “the exchange of convicted prisoners… so that they serve the rest of..

Qatar plans to host a peace conference for Darfur, where the regime of Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir is accused of conniving in human rights crimes. Al-Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.

Emir Sheikh Hamad visited Syria in early October for talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum’s daughters, Sheikha Latifa; Yorkshire press; purchase of champion Arab gelding

Bank Markazi (Central Bank of Iran) governor Tahmasb Mazaheri has been replaced, at least on a temporary basis, by the bank's general secretary Mahmoud Bahmani, who is generally regarded as more malleable. Mazaheri had been increasingly isolated in his resistance to the president's high-spending populism since the departure, earlier this year, of Economics Minister Davoud Danesh Jaafari.

As Kuwait prepares for the 21 October start of the parliamentary session, Islamist assembly members are preparing to campaign for the amendment of Article 2 of the constitution to bring all legislation into compliance with Islamic principles.

Kaupthing stake; Eid meetings, greetings; Saudi meeting

When the renowned Doha-based Egyptian cleric and scholar Yusef Al-Qaradawi launched a fierce attack on Shiites – whom he deemed heretics – for supposedly infiltrating and undermining Sunni societies, he provoked dismay even among many of those who have hitherto listened to his views with respect. Then he chose to reaffirm his discomfiting message, dispelling any question that he could have been misquoted or misunderstood by the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm on the first occasion.

The UAE has announced its first female ambassadors with the appointment of Sheikha Najla Bint Mohammed Bin Salim Bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi to Sweden, and Dr Hassa Al-Otaiba to Spain.

With Ahmadinejad finding a second wind as Khamenei endorses nationalist populism, his conservative pragmatist rivals who now dominate the Majlis risk being outmanoeuvred as president and supreme leader unite in defying international opinion over the nuclear issue and continuing a high-spending domestic policy recipe that has fuelled surging inflation.

University opened; Genetics project; Legal win; Princess Sarah death