MUST-READS

• Well-Being
  Country Well-Being Varies Greatly Worldwide – KSA in top 10 for Community and Physical Well-Being Categories

  One in six adults worldwide are considered thriving -- or strong and consistent -- in at least three of the five elements of well-being, as measured by the inaugural Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index in 2013. Residents of the Americas region are the most likely to be thriving in three or more elements (33%), while those in sub-Saharan Africa are the least likely (9%).

• ISIS Funding
  Islamic State group’s war chest is growing daily

  The Islamic State group has taken over large sections of Syria and Iraq, and controls as many as 11 oil fields in both countries, analysts say. It is selling oil and other goods through generations-old smuggling networks under the noses of some of the same governments it is fighting: Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, Turkey and Jordan. While U.S. intelligence does not assess that those governments are complicit in the smuggling, the Obama administration is pressing them do to more to crack down. The illicit oil is generally transported on tanker trucks, analysts said.

  • The Hill - Syrian opposition: No ISIS cease-fire
• US-Saudi
  Arab Nations Offer to Conduct Airstrikes Against ISIS, U.S. Officials Say

  Several Arab countries have offered to carry out airstrikes against militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, senior State Department officials said Sunday.

  • Washington Post - U.S. aims to exclude Iran from coalition against Islamic State
  • CNN - Who is doing what in the coalition battle against ISIS?
  • CBS News - John Kerry: "We are at war" with ISIS
  • Defense One - Here's What Arab Militaries Bring to the Fight Against the Islamic State
  • Al-Arabiya - Opinion: America can degrade ISIS, Arabs should destroy it
  • The Guardian - US 'encouraged' as UAE and Saudis offer help in coalition attack on Isis
• GCC Economies
  Saudi Arabia, Kuwait ‘still too reliant on oil revenues’

  Saudi-based investment firm Alkhabeer Capital said in a report that the annual budget spending in GCC countries still continues to be driven almost entirely by income from the export of hydrocarbons although the contribution of non-hydrocarbon GDP to the overall GDP has significantly increased over the past two decades.

• Economic Cities
  Saudi City in the Desert Project Seeks to Woo Chinese Investors

  Saudi Arabia is building four economic cities to attract foreign investment and create jobs. KAEC, as the project is known, will include a port and business district as well as residential areas and resorts. It will be built over 168 square kilometers (65 square miles), about the size of Washington D.C., according to the project’s website.

• Yemen Drone Strike
  US drone strike targets AQAP fighters in Shabwa

  Local officials in Yemen's southern Shabwa province reported that an American drone strike killed five al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters today. Today's strike is the first reported in Yemen since Aug. 17.

• U.S.-Iraq
  Obama: More Airstrikes and Troops to Iraq to Defeat Islamic State

  The U.S. will deploy another 475 troops to Iraq to help support Kurdish and Iraqi security forces working to defeat IS. Those troops will join the several hundred American troops Obama deployed in June, but none of them are working in a direct combat role and they will provide support through training, equipment and intelligence, said Obama.

  • The Hill - Treasury to 'intensify' work to block ISIS funds
  • AP - France Ready to Participate in Iraq Airstrikes
• Mecca
  Witness Mecca’s Dramatic Transformation Over The Past Century In Just 14 Photos

  Although the requirements of Hajj have remained the same, Mecca itself has changed dramatically over the decades. Redevelopment of the site in 2013 lead authorities to remove a 17th century portico -- one of the oldest parts of Mecca's Grand Mosque -- in order to create more space for an ever-growing stream of pilgrims.

• Afghanistan
  Hopes for Afghan unity deal wane as candidate claims victory

  The prospect of two candidates declaring themselves the elected successor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai grew significantly Monday, threatening the Obama’s administration’s efforts to prevent the country from erupting in political unrest.

• Iraqi Government
  Iraqi parliament approves new government headed by Haider al-Abadi

  Iraq's parliament approved a new government headed by Haider al-Abadi as prime minister on Monday night, in a bid to rescue Iraq from collapse, with sectarianism and Arab-Kurdish tensions on the rise.

  • Military Times - U.S. expands airstrikes into western Iraq
• 10 of 61017 results<< 1 … 6,073 6,074 6,075 … 6,102 >>