Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah swore in 30 women to the kingdom’s previously all-male 150-member Shura Council, the country’s senior advisory body. The move was criticised by conservative clerics.

Investigators in Bulgaria concluded that Hizbullah, a Lebanese party-cum militia, was behind July’s bombing of a bus near a Black Sea resort which killed five Israeli tourists and the bus driver. Israel called on the EU to list Hizbullah as a terrorist group.

Following the death and capture of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s new rulers said a new government would be appointed within a month and elections to an assembly would be held within eight months.

The passing of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz, heir to the Saudi throne and half-brother to King Abdullah, raised questions about the Saudi succession. The next in line to the throne is likely to be Prince Sultan’s brother, Prince Nayef, the interior minister, who is considered a staunch conservative.

Protesters in Homs, Hama and various parts of Damascus held a general strike. Supporters of President Assad rallied in his favour in Damascus. Officials of the Arab League met Mr. Assad in an effort to negotiate an end to the unrest that has rocked Syria since March.

Around 98.5% of Moroccan voters approved a new constitution proposed by King Mohammed VI, who faced pro-democracy protests earlier this year.

Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the former dictator of Tunisia, was again convicted in absentia, this time of illegally possessing drugs and weapons. Ben Ali fleed Tunisia in January and now resides in Saudi Arabia.

The German parliament questioned the sales of 200 tanks to Saudi Arabia because of the country’s poor human rights record and participation in the crackdown on protesters in Bahrain in March.

Tunisia’s ousted president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and his wife were sentenced in absentia to 35 years for corruption and fined US$ 66m.

Dozens of Al-Qaeda members escaped from a prison in the port city of Mukalla in Yemen.

In Bahrain, eight pro-democracy campaigners, all Shias, were given life sentences for “plotting to overthrow the government”.

A series of bombings in Iraq killed at least 35 people, predominantly in Diwaniya, south of Baghdad. The attacks were presumed to have been carried out by Sunni extremists linked to Al-Qaeda.

Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Meshal, leaders of respectively Fatah and Hamas, cancelled a meeting at which they were meant to select a prime minister. The news came as a blow to Palestinian hopes of unity.

Five months after being nominated as prime minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, a Sunni supported by Hizbullah, at last got parliament to vote him formally into office.

Tunisia’s interim government said that ousted dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali will stand trial in absentia on charges ranging from corruption to drug-trafficking.

A party created by the Muslim Brotherhood agreed it would form a front together with the Wafd, an old liberal secular party that used to cooperate with the previous regime, to compete in Egypt’s general election scheduled for september.

Protests against Syria’s government continued and intensified. According to the regime, “armed gangs” in Jisr al-Shughour killed 120 members of security forces, though these claims could not be verified. At least 70 protesters were killed in Hama.

Tunisia’s interim government postponed the country’s first election since the January revolution to October 23rd, citing technical reasons.

Hundreds of Palestinians living in Syria tried to breach the Israeli border on the Golan heights. At least eight were killed.

Protests in Yemen grew fiercer and a reported 27 people are believed to have been killed since the demonstrations began a few weeks ago.

Fighting between forces loyal to Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi and his opponents intensified. Gaddafi remains in control of Tripoli and is battling to seize back towns under rebel control.

An estimated 100,000 refugees fleeing Libya are believed to be in makeshift camps across the borders with Egypt and Tunisia. The UN suspended Libya from the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed by Libya’s leaders.

Protests by jobless and ill-paid workers in the Oman port of Sohar resulted in one death. Days later, thousands of Omanis took to the streets in support of Sultan Qaboos, who has promised reform.

Stockmarkets throughout the Middle-East tumbled amid continuing instability in the region. Saudi Arabia’s index fell to a 23-month low, while Dubai and Kuwait hit six-year lows.

Large demonstrations were also seen in Sana’a, Yemen, demanding that Ali Abdullah Saleh step down as president. He too has been in power for three decades.

A fragile transitional unity government in Tunisia struggled to restore order, as riots continued throughout the country.

Najib Mikati, a self-made telecom billionaire, becames Lebanon’s prime minister with the backing of Hizbullah. The United States, France, Israel and Saudi Arabia were all worried.

Leaked discussions between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were made public on Al-Jazeera. The leaks put both sides in a bad light. The Palestianian leadership under Mahmoud Abbas is portrayed to truckling to the Israelis by offering more generous concessions than was publicly admitted.

Ehud Barak, the current defence minister and former prime minister of Israel, left the Labour party to form a new party called Independence.

A suicide bomber killed at least 60 people outside a police-recruitment-center in Tikrit, Iraq.