MUST-READS

• U.S. - Pakistan
  Kashmir shelling, spat over Pakistan aid mar run-up to Kerry trip

  Reports of a $500-million Washington aid package to Pakistan and a period of intense border shelling in Kashmir have overshadowed the run-up to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's expected visit to South Asia in the next few days.Kerry is due to attend an investment summit promoted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the weekend, and media reports say he will then travel to Islamabad.

• Saudia
  Saudia denies plan to ban gender-mixing

  Saudi Arabia’s national airline Saudia has denied reports that it is planning to ban gender mixing in line with rules enforced by the conservative Gulf kingdom.

• Manufacturing
  Manufacturing in Saudi Arabia: Making it in the desert kingdom

  The country is not starting from scratch. It is already strong in plastics and petrochemicals. SABIC, its largest public company, is one of the world’s biggest producers of these; and Saudi Aramco, the national oil company, is building a $20 billion petrochemicals plant in a joint venture with an American giant, Dow Chemical. Several large aluminium producers have already set up shop, including Alcoa of America, since Saudi Arabia has the two ingredients needed to produce the metal: bauxite ore and cheap electricity. Some fairly big Saudi food manufacturers already export around the region, such as Almarai, which produces milk and baby formula among other things, and Savola, whose mainstay is edible oils.

• Qatar
  Migrant World Cup workers in Qatar are reportedly dying at alarming rates

  Migrant workers from Nepal in Qatar building facilities for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are dying at a rate of one every two days in 2014, according to a new report from The Guardian.

• Guantanamo
  4 Afghans returned home from Guantánamo

  U.S. troops repatriated to Afghanistan on Saturday four Guantánamo captives — whose release was specifically sought by President Ashraf Ghani — in the Obama administration’s surging bid to empty the detention center.

• Extremism
  Saudi Officer Killed in Hostage Rescue

  A Saudi security officer was killed in an operation to free three foreign laborers taken hostage by a gunman in the capital, Riyadh, according to a police statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on Monday.

  • Reuters - Gunman holding three laborers was wounded and arrested
• Saud Al-Faisal
  Saudi foreign minister has successful back surgery in U.S. -agency

  Saudi Arabian Prince Saud al-Faisal, the world's longest-serving foreign minister, has undergone a successful back surgery in the United States, the royal court said on Saturday.

• No-Go-Zone Controversy
  The Origins of Fox’s Favorite Muslim No-Go-Zone Myth

  Bottom line: You don't need to worry about Muslim no-go zones if you live in the United States. And if you're planning a tourist expedition to Europe, it's a good idea to avoid high-crime areas, regardless of their demographics. But why, if there's no evidence for no-go zones and some of the highest-profile propagators of the idea have repudiated it, do such myths survive and thrive?

• U.S. - Turkey
  Plan to expand bombing campaign in Syria stalls amid U.S.-Turkey disagreements

  A plan to expand the U.S.-led coalition bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Syria, along the Turkish border west of the besieged town of Kobane, has been put on hold because Turkey and the Obama administration have failed to agree on its parameters.

  • Military Times - DoD: 1,000 new trainers could deploy to Middle East
• Saudi Style
  Saudi women are giving the abaya a colourful makeover

  “This past year, the coloured abayas became more widespread, especially among the younger generation, where you see them wearing neutral pastel colours, like grey, khaki, sky blue, yellow,” says Al Dabbagh, who has been designing couture abayas and dresses for more than eight years.

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