MUST-READS

• NCB
  Saudi bank NCB to start trading on Weds after $6 billion share sale

  Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank IPO-NACO.SE 1180.SE will make its Riyadh bourse debut on Wednesday, a statement from the exchange said, having completed a $6 billion initial share sale last week.

  • Bloomberg - Saudi Arabia’s NCB Seen Surging After IPO Is Discounted
• Saudi Public Health
  Women’s gyms flourish in Jeddah as obesity levels rise

  According to recent reports, 72.4 percent of Saudis over the age of 40 suffer from obesity, and 35.6 percent of the general population. Over 44 percent of women are obese, 26.4 percent of men, and 18 percent of children. A recent study revealed that a whopping SR500 million a year is spent in the Kingdom on treating people suffering from illnesses related to obesity, especially diabetes. The disease has increased 30 percent over the past 10 years.

• Al-Ahsa Attack
  Opinion: The Crime that Changed the Face of Saudi Arabia

  Last week, the winds of change blew with a vengeance in Saudi Arabia, when armed terrorists opened fire on visitors to a Shi’ite Husseiniyah (meeting house) in the Al-Ahsa province, killing eight people, among them three children. True, this is not the first time Saudi Arabia has witnessed a crime of this nature, where innocent civilians and children have lost their lives. In fact, it has seen even worse. But it is the first time such terrorist acts have played on the country’s dissonant sectarian chord in such an ugly and dangerous way, in an attempt to fan the flames of sedition and strife between its people. It is also the first time Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, and its entire Council of Religious Scholars, have come out in defense of Saudi Shi’ites in this way, and they were joined by all groups in society—unequivocally and without pretense.

  • Al Arabiya - Saudi authorities foil attack related to al-Ahsa killings
  • Arab News - Saudi unity: No compromise!
  • WSJ - Funeral for Saudi Shiites Turns Into Show of Unity
• Al-Ahsa
  Saudi authorities arrest 33 suspects over terror attack

  Security forces have arrested 33 Saudi terror suspects related to the terrorist operation in Al-Ahsa governorate in which five people were killed and nine others were injured, security spokesman of the Ministry of Interior Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said.

• Nuclear
  KSA sets up nuclear regulatory authority

  The nuclear safety authority of Finland (STUK) is working in close coordination with King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), Riyadh in designing and executing a program to establish a nuclear regulatory authority for the Kingdom.

• Film
  Cinema green-lighted

  The green light has been given for establishing cinema houses in Saudi Arabia, following the reported agreement of four government entities.

• U.S. Military Spending
  Obama Said to Seek $3.2 Billion to Fight Islamic State

  President Barack Obama will ask Congress this week to approve $3.2 billion in added Pentagon and intelligence spending to continue fighting Islamic State and possibly to retrain Iraq’s military forces, according to U.S. officials. The amendment to the pending $58.6 billion war operations budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 will include funds to replace munitions used in operations against Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, according to the one of the officials. It also may provide at least $500 million to train and equip Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the Sunni militants, although another official said a final decision hasn’t been reached on that issue. The officials asked not to be identified before the request is made.

  • Reuters - U.S. launches fresh strikes on Khorasan group in Syria
  • Al-Monitor - Why arming rebels will fuel Syria's inferno
  • AP - U.S. Official: Top Bomb-Maker Hit in Syria Strikes
  • Al-Monitor - US general says anti-IS coalition focus remains on Iraq, not Syria Read
• Chemical Weapons in Iraq
  More Than 600 Reported Chemical Exposure in Iraq, Pentagon Acknowledges

  More than 600 American service members since 2003 have reported to military medical staff members that they believe they were exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq, but the Pentagon failed to recognize the scope of the reported cases or offer adequate tracking and treatment to those who may have been injured, defense officials say.

• Libya
  Libya faces chaos as top court rejects elected assembly

  Libya's Supreme Court declared the internationally recognized parliament on Thursday as unconstitutional, in a ruling likely to fuel further chaos in the north African oil producing nation.

• Iran Hostage Crisis
  Thirty-Five Years After Hostage Crisis, Tehran Faces Another Choice Between Revolution and Realpolitik

  Iran's annual commemoration of the Embassy seizure offers some insight into state of the current debate between these alternatives. Officially, the event is still celebrated as a national holiday — a epic victory over the oppressor, a powerful strike against America’s nefarious influence over Iran — accompanied by the requisite burning of the American flag and chants of ‘marg bar amrika’ or 'death to America.' Unofficially, many Iranians — including a number of those who were involved in the Embassy takeover — take a decidedly different view, one that is informed by the memory of all that followed in the wake of the initial euphoria.

  • Reuters - Iran Hardliners Want Nuclear Deal but No Ties with Washington
  • AP - Obama: Nuclear Deal With Iran 'an Open Question'
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