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The management of the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) of London University, England, has angered academic staff by accepting a 1 million pound sterling donation from King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia without consultation. One of the 30 senior academic staff who signed a petition in protest points out that accepting money from Saudi Arabia could have implications for objective research and intellectual freedom. The staff are also concerned that the post of chair of Islamic studies funded by the donation was not advertised either internally or externally.

The secret Muslim wedding of former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan to Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of Britain's seventh richest man, in Paris, France, on May 16, 1995, has stunned people in both Britain and Pakistan. Khan's huge fame in Pakistan makes it likely that he will go into politics, despite his protestations to the contrary. Jemima has converted to Islam and is giving up a party-going Western lifestyle to live in Lahore, Pakistan. Nevertheless, Khan's decision to marry a rich, part Jewish white girl has been strongly criticised by the Pakistani press.

The holy fasting month of Ramadan creates much confusion for the parents of Britain's young Muslims since there is no single united Muslim voice to give a ruling as to the age when children should begin fasting. Many Muslim families allow children as young as eight to fast and demand for school lunches at a primary school in Stepney, east London, England, was running at just 50% of normal in the early stages of Ramadan in Feb. 1995. Since nothing, not even toothpaste, is allowed to pass the lips during daylight hours, some children feel vague, inattentive and dizzy by the end of the school day.

Zoroastrianism, a religion that predates Christianity by several millennia, emphasises the enjoyment of life, but does not accept conversions. The one unbreakable law of Zoroastrianism is that its followers must always tell the truth, but the religion imposes no ban on alcohol and has no special dietary restrictions. All 300 Zoroastrian priests worldwide can claim direct religious descendancy from the magi, or three wise men, of the Christmas story since priesthood cannot be gained through study but is passed down through the male line. There are 5,000 Zoroastrians in the UK.

United States warplanes, with British and French support, made further attacks on Iraq but criticism of the action is being voiced by a number of countries. President-elect Clinton has vowed to continue military pressure on Iraq but he is concerned by Iranian fundamentalism and may take a broader view of the Iraq situation. Apart from Britain and France, few countries have openly supported US action and Arab states complain of America's inaction in Bosnia and Israel where UN resolutions have also been ignored. Further UN peacekeeping troops may be sent to the Kuwait-Iraq border region.

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven states, three of which have oil. In 1992 it celebrated its 21st anniversary, and its transformation from desert to a modern society. The states are ruled by Sheikh Zayed, and they work closely together. Oil accounts for 40% of production and 60% of exports. UAE nationals only make up 15-20% of the population. Tourism is now being promoted.

Draft legislation drawn up to bring US law into line with the Chemical Weapons Convention includes provisions similar to those over which the US is threatening to wage war with Iraq. The draft legislation allows the US president to pick and choose weapons inspectors and to refuse admission to inspectors from certain countries without having to give reasons. Amy Smithson, who campaigned for the US to ratify the convention, commented on Feb. 11, 1998, that it was highly ironic that the US was preparing to wage war against Iraq over the very exceptions that it had itself registered.

The people of Iran have been celebrating in the streets the announcement that their team will play soccer against Australia in Sydney in the World Cup in 1998. The celebrations, in which women are going against the government prohibition on their attendance, are indicative of the people's desire for change. President Mohammed Khatami, who came to power in May 1997, is keen to reform the country, but has been hindered by right wing supporters of Ayatolla Khamenei, the Islamic Supreme Leader, who has supreme temporal power according to the Iranian constitution.

Salah al-Hejailan, lawyer for British nurses Deborah Parry and Lucille McLauchlan found guilty of murdering Australian nurse Yvonne Gilford in Saudi Arabia, released letters on Sep. 25, 1997, confirming a cash deal to save Parry's life. Gilford's brother Frank is said to be demanding $700,000 in personal compensation plus $500,000 for a hospital in Australia. The letters from Frank Gilford's Australian lawyers and senior British officials were signed before McLauchlan was sentenced to eight years in prison and 500 lashes. However Gilford insists that no deal has been agreed.

Hani Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian millionaire businessman, aged 36, who was educated in the west, has written a book, 'To Be a Saudi', in which he calls for democratic elections, the removal of international forces and greater freedom for women, and refers to corruption. Yamani is he son of Sheikh Yamani, ex-Oil Minister. His book continually expresses fidelity to the king, but contains much criticism of the Saudi lifestyle.

Mohammed Khatami will be inaugurated as president of Iran on Aug. 3, 1997, carrying the hopes of the two-thirds of Iranian voters who have had enough of 18 years of Islamic revolutionary fervour. The majority of Iranians, particularly women and the young, long for normality and freedom. However Khatami will face fierce opposition from the Conservatives who have the majority in parliament. Khatami will also have to contend with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and with the key revolutionary organisations that sustain the hard-line Islamic regime in Iran.

Members of an extended family from Pakistan, who smuggled heroin into Saudi Arabia inside their bodies, stand to be executed by beheading, like 50 other prisoners in the country in the months up to June 1997. Rape, murder and smuggling are offences punishable by death under Saudi Islamic law. Children are normally excused from execution, but girls can face the death sentence from menstruation onwards and boys from their mid-teens. The detained Pakistanis have no legal representation and have not gained publicity in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, unlike the British nurses charged with murder.

Iranians have a genuine choice when they vote in their presidential election on May 23, 1997, since the ideas and policies of the two front-runners, Nateq Nouri and Ayatollah Khatemi, are very different. A surge in support for the moderate Khatemi has deprived the hardline Nouri of what once seemed an impregnable lead. Nouri, a cleric, is widely thought to be the candidate favoured by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Khatemi has the support of Iranian Pres. Hashemi Rafsanjani and benefits from his status as a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed.

The ideological confusion about the status of women that exists in the Arab and Muslim world was apparent in the wide variations in clothing worn by the 250 or so women from 16 Arab countries who attended the first conference on the rights of Arabian women in the workplace. While Tunisian and Kuwaiti delegates opted for Western-style power suits, some Qatari delegates hid their faces behind black chiffon scarves as well as covering their hair and wearing black cloaks. Delegates also disagreed in their interpretation of what is and is not sanctioned by the Koran.

Kuwait has the only elected parliament in the Gulf region, but it is a flawed democracy since only 100,000 of the emirate's 750,000 nationals can vote and ultimate power still rests with the ruling family and the emir. Furthermore, the only real opposition group, the Kuwait Democratic Forum, was heavily defeated in elections in Oct. 1996, and now has just two members in an assembly of 50. The parliament is officially committed to women's rights but a bill granting women the vote passed by parliament's legislative committee in 1996 has yet to make it to the floor.

Dr Alia Shoaib has been dismissed from her professorial post at Kuwait University after remarks about homosexuality she made in an informal conversation to a student were published in a local magazine. Shoaib claimed that lesbianism was rampant among Kuwait University students, and that she had seen two women making love in the university toilets. However Kuwait University's female president Dr Faiza Khorafi insists that homosexuality does not exist in Kuwait because it is against Islam. Some members of the establishment support Shoaib's views, but others agree with Khorafi.

The 450-500 adult male members of Kuwait's ruling family, the al-Sabahs, each receive a monthly salary of between $1,000 and $6,000 when they reach the age of 18, but many chose to pursue a career. Abdullah al-Feisel is a member of the al-Sabah family but never uses the title sheik. Abdullah, who owns an art gallery and is one of Kuwait's leading architects, believes that royalty will disappear in the future. Sheikh Ahmed al-Fahd believes that the ruling family should not be remote from the people and is determined to get into parliament despite the opposition of his uncle, the emir.

There appears to be little chance of Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister, and her government returning to power following the election on February 2 1997, whilst the position of Nawaz Sharif, an industrialist, looks promising. Sharif would need an absolute majority to carry out promised changes in foreign policy and make economic reforms and contend with President Farouk Leghari. Under the current system the President has the power to dismiss elected governments.

Pakistan will hold its fourth election since 1989 on February 3 1997, but this is not anticipated to bring solutions to the country's problems. The Pakistan People's Party, founded by Zulfiqar Bhutto, currently led by the ousted Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, is not expected to return to power. The majority of the candidates are people who are already reputed to be corrupt. The only new politician to emerge is Imran Khan.

British-based Saudi dissident Mohammed al Mas'ari confirms that he is broke and living on social security with debts of more than 100,000 pounds sterling. Mas'ari admits that he has absolutely no way of paying his debts and reveals that he has had to use some of his family's money to keep his opposition movement, the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights, going. He concedes that his relationship with the militant British Muslim group Al Muhajoroun may not be wise, but points out that they are a very efficient organisation with many contacts in the Muslim community.

The case of the two British nurses, Lucille McLauchlan, and Deborah Parry, accused of murdering a colleague at the King Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhaharan, Saudi Arabia, has attracted international attention. The UK government tends not to interfere in legal matters in Saudi Arabia, but staff from the consul in Riyadh are helping the women. It is possible that the Saudis, who do not use defence attorneys in criminal cases in Islamic courts, will allow the women to have some representation.

The reintroduction of 'sawaj al messiar', a form of marriage whereby men do not need to provide a home or give financial support to wives, could be socially destabilising, according to Sheikh Mohammed bin Saleh al Outhaymayn, the second ranking Saudi Arabian cleric. The first ranking Saudi Arabian cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed bin Baz, issued a fatwa in August 1996 permitting messiar. The country has strong laws against extra-marital sex and adultery is a grave crime, but polygamy is allowed. According to Saudi men, messiar will help more single women to get married.

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al-Misned, second of the three wives of emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamed bin Khalifa al-Thani, argues that God created women to be equal and that there is no reason why they should not share the same work as men. She points out that many women in Qatar need to work to help their families but that this is not reflected in the image of women on local television. Sheikha Moza argues that the women of the Gulf can achieve anything once they have succeeded in identifying their goals, learning their capabilities, and believing in themselves.

The Israeli blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip imposed in Feb. 1996, in response to a series of Hamas bombings, has crippled the Palestinian economy and left its people living an impoverished existence in cantons that feel like prisons. Around 50,000 Palestinians now work in Israel, compared with around 150,000 before the blockade, and Palestinians in the West Bank need Israeli army permission to visit or do business in Jerusalem or Gaza. The blockade is not only costing the Palestinian economy around $5 million/day, but is making it subservient to Israel's economy.

Residents of Kabul, Afghanistan, were hoping on Sep. 27, 1996, that the capture of their town by the hardline Islamist Taliban militia will bring peace and stability after four years of factional fighting and rocket attacks. However the realities of rule by the Taliban, who have used heroin to finance their march to power, are already only too apparent to people outside the Afghan capital. A student of English in Herat, Afghanistan, explains that things improved when the Taliban first came to the town, but that he grew to hate them when they forced people to watch an execution.

Negotiators praised the pilot of the Sudan Airways flight hijacked by seven Iraqis and forced to fly to Britain, after the hijackers had given themselves up on Aug. 27, 1996. The aircraft had been on a flight from Sudan to Jordan. Negotiations with the hijackers were carried out through the pilot, Captain Abdel Hamid Hidirbi, after the aircraft had been made to land at Stansted Airport. The Iraqis, who were travelling with their families, released everyone on board the aircraft unharmed. They claimed that they were ordinary people who had been persecuted by Saddam Hussein's regime.

Seven Iraqis who hijacked a Sudan Airways flight bound for Jordan indicating their wish to fly to Britain to claim asylum, appeared to have been successful in their gamble on Aug. 27, 1996. The Iraqis gave themselves up at Stansted Airport, England, and the other 192 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were all released safely. The hijackers, who are thought to be dissidents, are likely to be allowed to remain in Britain after being prosecuted and serving jail terms, rather than being returned to the Sudan which is closely linked to Saddam Hussein's regime.

Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamed bin Khalifa al-Thani is taking legal action against his father, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamed al-Thani, in the High Court in London, England, on charges of 'misappropriating' billions of dollars of state money. Sheikh Hamed overthrew his father as emir of Qatar in a coup in Jun. 1995. The case, one of eight being brought around the world, centres on Sheikh Khalifa's use of state oil and gas earnings over a 14-year period. It is alleged that, at times, some 55% of Qatar's national income was lodged in foreign banks and investment companies overseas in Sheikh Khalifa's name.

The bombers who targeted the US servicemen stationed at the King Abdul-Aziz air base in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on Jun. 25, 1996, will have sent a shiver through the industrialised world since the servicemen provide the best guarantee that Saudi oil will continue to flow. Dhahran is Saudi Arabia's oil capital. However, the presence of the servicemen is also a symbol of the Gulf's dependence on Western protection. Several Arab analysts believe that the bombing, in which 19 people died and 264 were injured, was carried out by one of the numerous clandestine opposition groups operating in Saudi Arabia.

At least 11 people died and up to 160 servicemen were reported injured when a truck bomb exploded outside a military housing compound in al-Khobar near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on Jun. 25, 1996. Two men are reported to have detonated a lorry packed with gasoline outside the barracks after security guards had stopped them driving the lorry into the compound which houses American, British and French servicemen. The attack, which was apparently carried out in protest against the Western military presence in Saudi Arabia, followed weeks of warnings from underground Islamic groups.

Osama Bin Ladin, the wealthy Saudi who organised thousands of Arab volunteers for the holy war in Afghanistan and who has been linked to numerous terrorist incidents, is on the run after being forced to leave Sudan in May 1996. Bin Ladin, who was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1993, is said to be travelling on a Sudanese passport under an assumed name. Sudanese officials have said nothing about where he has gone. Bin Ladin's departure from Sudan, where he had been living for the past three years, has prompted an international alert among security agencies.

Iranian feminists, led by Faiza Hashemi Rafsanjani, daughter of Iranian Pres. Hashemi Rafsanjani, are demanding the right to stand for high government office following the success of women candidates in recent elections. Hashemi won the second highest number of votes in the elections and has not denied press speculation that she may run for the presidency. Many Iranian analysts believe that she is in a good position to make a bid for the parliamentary speakership. Meanwhile Iranian clergymen have started to question whether the Islamic government has been unnecessarily harsh towards women.

Iranian officials have announced that 23 clerics and supporters of grand ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Shirazi have been arrested by the security services for alleged illegal activities linked to the two-year-old uprising in Bahrain. Shirazi, who is based in the holy city of Qom, Iran, is one of a growing number of grand ayatollahs opposed to the Iranian government and its spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Shirazi's representatives deny any involvement in the uprising in Bahrain, pointing out that Shirazi has specifically condemned the use of violence or terrorism.

Sarah Balabagan, the Filipino maid who provoked an international outcry when she was sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates for the murder of her employer, will leave prison a wealthy women in a few months time. The plight of Balabagan, who was tried and re-tried before being sentenced in Oct. 1995, to a year in prison and 100 lashes, prompted huge donations from anonymous benefactors. Balabagan, who celebrated her 17th birthday in Apr. 1996, will not only benefit from a special trust fund worth several hundred thousand dollars, but is reported to be negotiating the film rights to her story.

The US's calls for tougher international action against Iran in the week of Mar. 4, 1996, contrasts with Gulf Arabs' sense of accommodation and desire to remain on good terms with Iran. Iran is more powerful than its Arab neighbours and wants to establish its hegemony in the region. Nevertheless, even its chief rival Saudi Arabia appears to want to maintain good relations. US policy towards Iran worries the UK Foreign Office which points out that problems are potential rather than actual. However Iran appears to have a capacity for chemical warfare and may be developing a nuclear capability.

Iran's ruling mullahs are out of touch with the country's youth, many of whom are calling for the laws that restrict entertainment and forbid even social relationships between single men and women to be relaxed. A country in which 62% of the population is under 25 years old is being governed by elderly Muslim clergy whose idea of entertainment consists of censored films, sports and healthy mountain walks. A student sentenced to five days in prison and 30 lashes after being caught in a taxi with his girlfriend says that most of the students he knows want to leave Iran as soon as they possibly can.

Sheikh Hamed bin Khalifa al Thani, who overthrew his father Sheikh Khalifa al Thani in summer 1995 to become emir of the Gulf state of Qatar, is under pressure to fall into line with the foreign and domestic policies pursued by other Gulf states. The other Gulf ruling families want Sheikh Hamed to 'see the error of his ways.' Sheikh Hamed's habit of explaining his policies and ideas to the press has upset his Gulf allies, as have his efforts to improve relations with Iran, Iraq and Israel. The other emirs are particularly alarmed by Sheikh Hamed's talk of allowing the election of a national assembly.

The agreement made by the heads of state of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria in 1994 not to normalise trade with Israel until a full and comprehensive peace agreement had been made with all Arab states has not prevented Oman and Qatar from establishing trade links with Israel. Oman and Qatar are reported to have received unwritten warnings from Saudi Arabia, the most powerful of the Gulf states. Nevertheless, Israel and Oman agreed in Sep. 1995 to establish trade offices in each other's countries, while Qatar has plans to export liquified natural gas to India and Israel in a joint venture with US company Enron.

Kuwait is to investigate the events leading up to its invasion by Iraq on August 2 1990. A parliamentary subcommittee has been questioning royalty and ministers over the last two years in an attempt to identify mistakes made. Some 625 Kuwaitis continue to be imprisoned in Iraq. The report is expected to criticise ministerial handling of the events, such as their failure to communicate what was going on.

Saudis see the dramatic increase in the number of public beheadings and hand amputations being carried out in Saudi Arabia as their government's response to a rise in crime. Saudi swordsmen have publicly beheaded 90 people in the first four months of 1995, compared with 53 for the whole of 1994. Foreigners, regarded as primarily responsible for drug addiction and crime in Saudi Arabia, have accounted for nearly 70% of those executed in the past three years. Pakistanis, most of whom are believed to be illiterate drug carriers, accounted for more than half of these.

Shia villages on the Gulf island of Bahrain have been terrorised by the Bahraini police in the five months since Bahrainis protested about unemployment and demanded parliamentary elections in an unprecedented series of demonstrations. Around 65% of Bahrain's population is Shi'ite but the island's ruling family, the Al Khalifas, is Sunni. Bahrain government officials claim that Shia fundamentalists influenced by Iran dominate the opposition movement. This is denied by opposition spokesmen who say that both Shia and Sunni religious groups support demands for democracy.

Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will try to portray herself as the West's only reliable partner in the fight against Islamic fundamentalism in the region during a visit to the US in the week of Apr. 3, 1995, but her crackdown on militants has its dangers. Kashmir, a territory claimed by both India and Pakistan, is a national cause in Pakistan and has prompted the emergence of numerous 'rent-a-jihad' services. Bhutto faces the dilemma of cracking down on militants while living with the army and powerful intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which support the Kashmiri cause.

Nearly 400 people have died in ethnic killings around Karachi, Pakistan, in 1995, as unemployed men offer their services as hit men for political parties. Police liaison officials believe that there may be 6,000 killers for hire in Karachi, a city of 12 million people which is home to every ethnic group in Pakistan. Many religious and ethnic groups are said to enjoy the secret support of government intelligence agencies. Sceptics dismiss the Pakistan government's claim that associates of Arab extremist Ramzi Ahmed Yousef were responsible for the killing of two US consulate workers in Karachi on Mar. 8, 1995.

A film that challenges the official UK and US version of the events leading to the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, will be shown in the House of Commons by Labour Member of Parliament Tam Dalyell on Nov. 16, 1994. Britain and the US have held Libya solely responsible for the bombing since 1991. However Allan Francovich's film, 'The Maltese Double Cross,' suggests that a US-based Lebanese drug-carrier for the CIA and the DEA, Khalid Jaafar, unwittingly carried the bomb on board after it had been placed in his baggage by Lebanese-based terrorists.

Two of the three British backpackers held for 10 days in a house near New Delhi, India, after being kidnapped by Muslim militants, arrived back in England on Nov. 11, 1994. The men were freed after a shootout between Indian police and the miltants on Nov. 1, 1994. While Paul Ridout and Miles Croston were relaxing at home, their fellow kidnap victim, Rhys Partridge, was travelling to Australia to visit his father. A London School of Economics student, Sayed Sheikh, has been arrested for allegedly being involved in the kidnappings, carried out by militants fighting for an independent homeland in Kashmir, India.

The women prime ministers of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have all come to power partly because of violence done to members of their closest family. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Begum Zia, criticised for failing to improve the lives of ordinary Bangladeshis, took over from her president husband, General Ziaur Rahman, murdered in 1981. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, prime minister of Sri Lanka who witnessed the assassination of both her husband and father, faces the Herculean task of making peace with the separatist Tamils. As prime minister, Benazir Bhutto has brought some form of stability to Pakistan.

A bitter struggle between secular liberalism and religious conservatism will dominate the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) that opens in Cairo, Egypt, on Sep. 5, 1994. The Vatican is fiercely opposed to the ICPD's proposed declaration committing the world's governments to promoting sexual equality on both ethical and practical grounds. The Pope sees the text as anti-spiritual, anti-life, and a hidden endorsement of abortion. The Vatican appears to have won the support of the Iranians, leading to the prospect of Muslim fundamentalist hostility to the conference.

Iranian charge d'affaires Gholamreza Ansari was summoned to the British Foreign Office on Apr 28, 1994, following intelligence reports that Iranian officials in western Europe had held meetings with the IRA. There is no evidence that the IRA has received funds or weapons from Iran, but, in a pre-emptive move, Foreign Office minister Douglas Hogg warned Ansari that Iran must break off its contacts with the IRA. Iran-watchers believe that any links with the IRA are more likely to have been initiated by radical factions outside the Iranian government.

The identification of a headless torso as that of Kuwaiti multi-millionaire Adnan Al Sane has uncovered a bizarre saga involving a bitter financial feud. Al Sane was last seen alive on Dec 15, 1993, and while his torso was discovered the following day in Manchester, England, his head was not discovered until six weeks later in Cannock, England. It has emerged that Al Sane was involved in a feud with his former Jordanian business partner Haj Hassan. Hassan and his girlfriend were seriously wounded on Apr 16, 1994, when they were shot by two men said to have been of Middle Eastern appearance.