Iraq’s President Fuad Masum arrived in Erbil yesterday to discuss the question of Kirkuk and its governor as well as the Erbil-Baghdad political deadlock with the Kurdish government. During his visit Masum will also meet former Kurdistan Region President and head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani. Masum, who started his tour of the Kurdistan Region on Saturday has so far met with officials of his Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Change Movement (Gorran) in Sulaimani.

Meanwhile, Saudi Prince Miteb bin Abdullah has been released more than three weeks after he was detained on allegations of corruption. Prince Miteb, once seen as a contender to the throne, was freed after agreeing an “acceptable settlement” with authorities of more than $1bn (£750m). He is one of more than 200 political and business figures detained in anti-corruption raids on 4 November.

Lastly, did you buy some bitcoins yet? Because if you did, it’s a good week for you as the value of one bitcoin has gone past $10,000 yesterday, just days after it passed $9,000. It caps a remarkable rise in value for the crypto-currency, which was trading below $1,000 at the start of the year.