MUST-READS

• Amnesty International
  Rights Group: Saudi Silencing Peaceful Activists

  Saudi Arabia is waging a "systematic and ruthless campaign of persecution" against peaceful activists in order to silence criticism of the state in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, Amnesty International said Friday.

• Iran
  U.S. think-tank says it located possible blast at Iran military site

  The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said it had obtained commercially available satellite imagery on which six buildings at Parchin appeared damaged or destroyed.

• Cell Phone Market
  Saudi Arabia most competitive Arab cellular market for 4th year

  The Cellular Competition Intensity Index results for 2014 revealed that Saudi Arabia tops the score - as the most competitive Arab market - with a 75.86 mark. This is followed by Jordan (73.16 ), Palestine (71.28 ), Iraq (66.65 ), Egypt (63.80 ), Bahrain (62.17 ), Tunisia (60.33 ), Morocco (60.13), Oman (59.43 ), Algeria (58.44 ), Kuwait (56.68 ), Sudan (56.49 ), Yemen (56.01 ), Mauritania (55.97), Qatar (49.12 ), UAE (48.76 ), Lebanon (40.76 ), Syria (34.45 ) and Libya (31.12 ).

• Egyptian Economy
  Egypt business activity grows at near-record pace in September: PMI

  Business activity in Egypt expanded at a near-record pace in September, a survey showed on Tuesday, with a nascent economic recovery encouraging companies to hire for the first time in nearly 2-1/2 years.

  • NYT - As Egyptians Grasp for Stability, Sisi Fortifies His Presidency New York Times-10
• Turkey Today
  Essay: Thoroughly Modern Muslim Turkey

  Turks have always grasped better than most that modernity is something of a con game. Through hard experience -- spending decades, say, building what they thought were clean, cutting-edge, concrete apartment blocks only to be told by Europeans that a more modern government would have focused on historic preservation -- Turkish leaders discovered that the best thing about being a modern country is having the money and strength to decide what it means to be modern.

• NCB IPO
  Jumbo $6 bln bank IPO shows Saudi too big to miss

  For everyone else, the listing is an example of the large opportunities that will soon be available in a fast-growing, relatively well-regulated emerging market that is more stable than most. Saudi Arabia plans to allow direct investment by foreign financial institutions by the end of the first half of 2015, using a framework similar to China’s quota-based system for international investors. With a combined capitalisation worth more than Russia’s main index and equivalent to 80 percent of Brazil’s Bovespa, Saudi Arabia is too big to ignore.

• Turkish Perspective
  Turkey, the Kurds and Iraq: The Prize and Peril of Kirkuk

  The United States may currently be focused on the Islamic State, but Turkey is looking years ahead at the mess that will likely remain. This is why Turkey is placing conditions on its involvement in the battle against the Islamic State: It is trying to convince the United States and its Sunni Arab coalition partners that it will inevitably be the power administering this region. Therefore, according to Ankara, all players must conform to its priorities, beginning with replacing Syria's Iran-backed Alawite government with a Sunni administration that will look first to Ankara for guidance.

• ISIS Advance
  Kobane: Civilians flee IS street-to-street fighting

  Taking Kobane, besieged for three weeks, would give IS control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border. More than 160,000 Syrians, mainly Kurds, have fled the town. Earlier a local official in Kobane, Idriss Nassan, told the BBC that the town would "certainly fall soon"

  • WSJ - NATO Ready to Defend Turkey From Violence in Syria
  • Defense One - Air Strikes Haven’t Stopped ISIS From Moving On a Key Syrian City
  • The Atlantic - 'A Terrible Slaughter Is Coming'
  • Washington Post - Islamic State jihadists are using water as a weapon in Iraq
  • Independent - Isis in Kobani: Where is it and why is the battle to defend it so important?
• Saudi Clerics
  At haj, Saudi Arabia clerics step up anti-Islamic State drive

  "There are 70,000 sheikhs and preachers in Saudi Arabia who have an incredible amount of influence on people. That's why we are concentrating our efforts to fight these deviant thoughts, especially during haj," he said. The campaign also includes the distribution of religious material representing what the government believes to be more moderate views of Islam, as well as broadcasting more religious programmes on radio and television to spread these views.

• Haj Rituals
  Live Hajj Streaming 2014 from Makkah Saudi Arabia

  Live Streaming of Hajj 2014 and Eid ul Adha from Khana Ka’aba Makkah, Saudi Arabia this year. Watch Hajj Special Live Stream from Makkah.

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