MUST-READS

• China Virus
  Saudi King and Putin Discuss Oil Market After Virus Slams Prices

  OPEC and its allies only recently started a fresh round of deeper production cutbacks, the latest step in a three-year effort to prevent plentiful U.S. shale supplies putting the global market into surplus. But the outlook has deteriorated rapidly in the last few weeks as the coronavirus clouds the outlook for the global economy.

• OPEC+
  OPEC+ Consults China for Urgent Analysis of Virus Threat to Oil

  The unusual appearance at the cartel’s headquarters of Wang Qun, China’s ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, underscores how the outbreak has upended the global market.

• Global Oil Markets
  Oil prices rebound on hopes for OPEC+ supply cuts

  Tuesday’s gains marked a rebound after an extended slide over the last two weeks on concern over the global economic impact of China’s coronavirus, which pushed crude prices on Monday to their lowest level in more than a year.

• Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
  UAE, Saudi Arabia declare ‘continued support’ for Palestinian cause

  He made the comments at an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah. On his part, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al Jubeir, said: “We reaffirm our support for the Palestinian people in a manner that guarantees their legitimate rights.” The summit, in their final communique, rejected Trump's Middle East Peace plan.

• Ukraine International Airlines
  Iran plane pilot heard in leaked air traffic control audio talking about “missile” hitting Ukraine passenger jet

  A leaked recording of an exchange between an Iranian air-traffic controller and an Iranian pilot purportedly shows that authorities immediately knew a missile had downed a Ukrainian jetliner after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard, despite days of denials by the Islamic Republic.

• Iraq
  At Iraq protests, a cleric’s tweets split his followers

  On Saturday, Sadr endorsed Iraq's new prime minister-designate Mohammad Allawi, a figure loathed by the youths in revolt, in a move that has splintered protest squares. Hardcore Sadrists then ousted protesters from a multi-storey building that had become a symbol of the uprising, tearing down portraits of youths shot dead in rallies and banners listing demonstrators' demands.

  • WSJ (Paywall) - Iraq Names New Prime Minister, Faces Protests
• Investment
  Saudi Minister of Commerce: Riyadh Is Looking for Investment Opportunities in Greece

  During the meeting they discussed the possibilities of cooperation in the field of tourism and logistics. The Saudi side has asked for sharing of knowhow because it wants to organise tourist areas that do not have the restrictions that apply elsewhere. According to government sources, Saudis also want their country to become a logistics hub for the region, while they asked for a list of areas where Saudi Arabian capital can be invested.

• Yemen Civil War
  Yemen’s medical air bridge offers rare glimpse of hope

  It is a small but significant crack in a more than three-year-long blockade of civilian flights by a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government in its war with the rebel Houthi movement. If all goes as planned, a series of flights, carrying patients and their caregivers, will leave for Amman and Cairo this month. "If Raghad stays in Yemen, both her legs would have to be amputated because doctors here aren't able to treat her," her father reveals, his voice breaking mid-sentence as he fights back tears. "For her, that would be worse than death."

  • Reuters - Medical flights to start from Yemen's Sanaa in diplomatic breakthrough
• Afghanistan
  Taliban attacks in Afghanistan are at their highest level in a decade

  The Taliban launched more attacks across Afghanistan in during the last three months of 2019 than during the same period each year since the U.S. first started collecting data back in 2010, according to a new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The Taliban launched an eye-popping 8,204 attacks in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 17 percent increase over the 6,974 attacks launched in the same time period during the previous year, according to SIGAR's latest quarterly report on security and reconstruction efforts in the country.

• Libya
  In Libya, Toothless U.N. Embargo Lets Foreign States Meddle With Impunity

  It was one of the most shocking episodes of recent fighting in Libya, and the United Nations seemed determined to get to the bottom of it. A 13-page report published last week described in stark detail the bombing in July of a detention center in the town of Tajoura, near Tripoli, which killed 53 people, mostly African migrants. The United Nations report featured testimony from survivors, measured the bomb crater and called for an investigation into a possible war crime.

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