MUST-READS

• US Energy Production
  Fracking Gives U.S. Energy Boom Plenty of Room to Run

  But the boom already has lasted longer than anyone would have imagined just a decade ago and has more room to run. That's because oil and natural-gas wells have become more productive—an unrecognized but potent trend that should keep the fuels flowing.

  • Mother Jones - Bad News for Obama: Fracking May Be Worse Than Burning Coal
• Women in the Workplace
  Aramco, GE And Tata Open Saudi Arabia’s First All-Female BPO

  Spread across 3,200 square metres, the facility will create up to 3,000 local jobs for Saudi women within the next three years, the statement said. Saudi Aramco president and CEO Khalid Al Falih said: “The first all-female business process service center in Saudi Arabia brings significant value to the Saudi economy and society.

• ISIS
  CIA: Islamic State group has up to 31,500 fighters

  A CIA spokesman says a new intelligence assessment estimates that the Islamic State group can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, up from a previous figure of 10,000. The new assessment is based on a review of intelligence reports from May to August. It is larger than the 20,000 figure being used by many outside experts.

• Jordanian Intelligence
  The Mouse That Roars

  Jordan played a key role in helping U.S. intelligence hunt down and kill Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic State's predecessor, according to former U.S. and Jordanian officials. Outside of Israel, Jordan's intelligence service is widely seen as the most competent and the closest to U.S. intelligence organizations. Many of its senior staff members were trained by the CIA, former U.S. officials say. That has helped Jordan, despite its small size, craft an intelligence service capable of wins like nabbing Zarqawi and helping the Americans quell a Sunni insurgency in Iraq in 2006.

• U.S. Strategy
  The “Best Game in Town” – Five Key Risks of the President’s Strategy

  It may seem unusual to criticize a strategy you have both suggested and endorse, and it is important to stress from the outset that President Obama has almost certainly chosen a strategy that is the “best game in town” — if he fully implements it, gives it the necessary resources, and sustains it over time.  The President has had to choose a strategy based on the “rules of the game” in the United States, in Iraq, in Syria, and allied states. They are rules that place major constraints on what the United States can do.

• Islamic Extremism
  Opinion: As Caliphates Compete, Radical Islam Will Eventually Weaken

  The rise of the Islamic State will inspire other jihadist groups to claim their own caliphates and emirates. In the long run, the extremism of these contrived dominions and the competition among them will undermine the jihadist movement. However, before that happens, the world will witness much upheaval.

• Labor
  Expat employment in Saudi up by 14% in 2014

  A Shoura council member has urged the Labour Ministry not to allow major companies to circumvent Saudisation laws by signing accords with subcontractors run mostly by expatriates, according to the report in Arab News.

• Islamic Finance
  Saudi Arabia Said to Weigh Opening Nation’s Debt Markets

  Saudi Arabia is working on new rules aimed at promoting the local currency bond and sukuk market, three people with knowledge of the matter said today. The rules are expected to allow foreign investors to buy local currency bonds for the first time and could be published early next year, they said.

• Saudi Arabia seizes $500 million worth of narcotics

  Speaking at a news conference, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said among the substances seized were 7.32 kilograms of unprocessed heroine, 5.84 kilograms of processed heroine, 16.37 tons of marijuana and more than 21 million amphetamine capsules. He said the crackdown over the six-month period saw the arrest of more than 1,100 suspects, 741 of whom are residents from 35 countries.

• Business Outlook
  Saudi Arabia, UAE lead best business outlook in emerging markets

  Increasing external and domestic demand has led to the high PMI levels, with growth in new export orders hitting a record high and credit growth picking up for the first time in the last five years. Although the recent improvement in global economic conditions has reinforced the Saudi Arabian and the UAE economies, their domestic sectors are playing a major role behind the countries’ stabilities, both consumer and corporate led.

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