MUST-READS

• Nitaqat Regulations
  Saudi Arabia Clarifies Method for Calculating Saudization Percentage under the Nitaqat Programme

  However, the Nitaqat rating will be based on a moving average of this ‘Weekly Saudisation rate’ over the past 26 weeks, and accordingly the overall Nitaqat rating will take longer to improve. Conversely, a short-term reduction in Saudi national headcount of a company will not have a significant adverse impact on the overall Nitaqat rating of a company if it has maintained a healthy Saudisation rate in the past 26 weeks.

• Raif Badawi
  Members Of Congress Call On Saudi Arabia To Release Blogger Raif Badawi

  More than sixty members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter to the king of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday calling for the release of all prisoners of conscience imprisoned for exercising their basic right to freedom -- including blogger Raif Badawi and lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair.

• Saudi Executions
  Saudi executions set ‘unprecedented’ pace

  Saudi Arabia has beheaded dozens of convicts, including foreign drug traffickers, since the start of the year in what Amnesty International calls an unprecedented pace of executions.

  • Arabian Business - Saudi human rights head defends death penalty
• Mohammed bin Naif
  ‘Exceptional’ Royal amnesty for Qat-smuggling convicts in Jazan Province

  All prisoners arrested in Jazan for smuggling qat, a kind of narcotic leaf, into the Kingdom will be released under an amnesty declared by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, second deputy premier and minister of interior.

• Labor
  Expats have right to keep their passports in Saudi Arabia; “Anybody violating this rule will face serious penalties”

  As per Article 13 of the act, employers must notify the nearest police department as well as the Labor Office when a worker absconds so as to ensure there are no lawsuits or complaints against the employer.

• Saudi-Turkey
  Are Turkey, Saudi Arabia working together against Iran?

  Turkish and Saudi views on regional issues do not always coincide, both Ankara and Riyadh have kept their bilateral relations away from regional squabbles.

• Guantanamo
  US intelligence finds Gitmo prisoners returning to fight

  The report said transfers to countries with ongoing conflicts and internal instability as well as active recruitment by insurgent and terrorist organizations "pose particular problems."  "Based on trends identified during the past eleven years, we assess that some detainees currently at GTMO will seek to reengage in terrorist or insurgent activities after they are transferred," the bi-annual report released Wednesday by the Director of National Intelligence concludes.

• Iran and ISIS
  Iran versus ISIS: Four-Part Series

  The Islamic world is rife with political diversity, from ultraconservative monarchies to new democracies. But two places reflect the escalating rivalry over an ideal Islamic state in the 21st century: The Islamic Republic of Iran, predominantly Shiite, was born of a revolution against centuries of monarchical rule. The Islamic State, purely Sunni, was born out of war in the modern nations of Iraq and Syria.

• Al-Qaeda
  The spy who came in from al-Qaeda

  Aimen Dean is a founder member of al-Qaeda, who changed tack in 1998 and became a spy for Britain's security and intelligence services, MI5 and MI6. Interviewed by Peter Marshall, he describes his years working in Afghanistan and London as one of the West's most valuable assets in the fight against militant Islam.

  • WSJ (paywall) - Opinion: How America Was Misled on al Qaeda’s Demise
• Israeli Politics
  Netanyahu’s speech to Congress fails to jolt electoral needle at home

  According to polls carried out by Israeli TV news channels Wednesday, the day after his high-stakes speech to Congress, Netanyahu’s address had only a modest influence on the Israeli electorate.

  • The Atlantic - Opinion: On the Use and Misuse of History: The Netanyahu Case
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