MUST-READS

• Saudi GDP
  Saudi GDP growth falls to 3.8 pct y/y in Q2 as oil sector slows

  Saudi Arabian economic growth is usually at its most robust early in the year, when the weather is favourable and few public holidays halt work; GDP then regularly falls in the second quarter from the previous three months. Growth in the hydrocarbons sector, which accounts for almost half of the $748 billion Saudi economy, slumped to 2.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter from 6.1 percent in the previous three months, the data showed.

• Saudi-Iran
  Rouhani Looks to Warmer Ties with Saudis, Tepidly Criticizes US Syria Strikes

  On his second trip to the UN General Assembly as Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani Tuesday said he looked forward to better relations with regional rival Saudi Arabia and only tepidly criticized the US attack on Islamic State (ISIL or ISIS) and Khorasan targets in Syria.

  Speaking at a press breakfast with about two dozen media representatives, Rouhani expressed hope that the P5+1 (US, UK, France, Russia, China plus Germany) and Tehran will conclude a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear program by the current Nov. 24 deadline but noted that differences remain and that this week’s series of meetings in New York are likely to be critical.

  • Al-Monitor - Rouhani expresses optimism over nuclear deal at UNGA
  • Reuters - Iran's Rouhani says ties with Saudis deserve to be warmer
• U.N. Meetings
  President Barack Obama to meet with Iraqi, Egyptian leaders

  Obama’s meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Thursday is expected to be the first face-to-face meeting between the two men. Egypt has been pivotal in U.S. efforts to fight terrorism and rein in violence between Israel and Gaza, but the U.S. has objected to strong-arm tactics by al-Sisi’s government, such as the jailing of journalists and figures from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.

  • WSJ - Egypt's President Backs U.S. War Against Islamic State Militants
• ISIS and Iraqi Kurds
  Oil-rich Kirkuk in Iraq’s north fears attack by Islamic State

  In recent weeks, international attention has focused on Islamic State advances elsewhere in the Kurdish region, such as near the strategic Mosul dam and the city of Irbil, capital of semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. U.S. airstrikes have helped push back the militants — and provided a tactical and psychological lift for peshmerga fighters, who fell back last month in a humiliating retreat.

• Terrorism Funding
  New group plans to spotlight secret funding for Islamic State militants

  It has begun building what it claims will be the best publicly available database of information about extremist groups and their supporters. The information will be provided to governments as well as the private sector, media and other outlets, organizers said.

• Arabs and ISIS
  Arab Countries Carve Out Role in Anti-Terror Fight

  Arabian Gulf countries, apart from using their bases for coalition forces to conduct military action against Islamic State militants, will play a major role in the fight against the group by cutting its terrorist financing and presenting a counter narrative to Islamic State leaders. The Jeddah Communique Coalition, formed to battle Islamic State militants, has been growing, however, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders are remaining cautious of the Obama administration’s leadership in the issue.

• Iraqi Kurdistan
  ISIS vs. the Kurds

  The fighting between ISIS and the Kurds stretches along a six-hundred-and-fifty-mile front in northeastern Iraq—a jagged line that roughly traces one border of Iraqi Kurdistan, the territory that the Kurds have been fighting for decades to establish as an independent state. With as many as thirty million people spread across the Middle East, the Kurds claim to be the world’s largest ethnic group without a country. Iraqi Kurdistan, which contains about a quarter of that population, is a landlocked region surrounded almost entirely by neighbors—Turkey, Iran, and the government in Baghdad—that oppose its bid for statehood.

• Global Oil Markets
  Saudi Arabia plays a complicated game with oil prices

  Economic weakness in China led a sharp slowdown in demand. US production was driven by shale to its highest level since 1986 this year, and is likely to beat its all-time high next year, with new deepwater production also on the way. The stronger dollar also puts pressure on the price. Then Riyadh has to balance against other Opec members to maintain that target. Over the past three years this has been more difficult than usual, in a game featuring least three wild cards.

• Construction
  Saudi return on buildings to rise sharply until 2022

  Aracadis has completed a study into returns on built assets on a total of 30 countries. They included Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “The UAE was ranked seventh among the 30 countries in terms of return on built assets as a proportion of GDP. Saudi Arabia ranked 29th,” Al Malaika said. He also said the return on built assets would be lifted by paying greater attention to planning, procurement, operations and maintenance and replacement and renewal of built assets.

• Advertising
  Analyzing the Mid-East’s surge in online classifieds

  Online classifieds have become so popular in the Arab world that in some countries the leading classifieds website is more popular than Facebook. This is the case for leading Arabic classifieds website OpenSooq.com, which is a leader in its category in several countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. With a simple, easy to use website and popular iOS and Android apps, OpenSooq is not only leading in countries that have mature online audiences, but also in countries where the number of Internet users is growing very quickly via smartphones, such as Iraq and Libya.

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