MUST-READS

• U.S. - Bahrain
  Bahrain denounces interference after Washington criticizes arrest

  Bahraini authorities denounced what they called foreign double standards and interference on Friday, days after their main Western ally Washington criticized the detention of the head of the main Shi'ite Muslim opposition group.

• Iran in Iraq
  Deaths in Iraq show two sides of Iran’s role in sectarian conflict

  While Taqavi’s funeral illustrated the clear official Iranian commitment to its armed forces, the murkier dimensions of Tehran’s growing role in the brutal sectarian conflict engulfing Iraq and Syria were highlighted by the death of Wathiq al-Battat, an Iraqi militant with long links to Iran and leader of one of Iraq’s several Shia militias.

  • Al-Arabiya - Iran in new deal to boost Iraq army
• Government Spending
  Opinion: Saudi Development In Era Of Cheap Oil

  So, the question many people in the Kingdom and abroad are asking is: How the Saudi economy fare in the next five years or in the era of cheap oil, no sovereign wealth fund and no national income diversifications in the near future? It is true that the announcement of the largest annual budget in Saudi Arabia’s history is comforting to all Saudis but the majority of the Saudi population is very young. Half of the Saudi population was born after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and Saudi Arabia still has the highest fertility rate in the world.

• Egypt-Qatar
  Al-Jazeera shuts down its Egypt channel

  The Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera news network on Monday shut down its Egypt channel, quieting a major source of tension between the two countries at a time when regional efforts are underway to reconcile between the two countries over the Gulf nation's support for Islamists.

• Palestine Summit
  Israel pans Switzerland for calling Palestine summit

  rael on Thursday voiced strong opposition to the Swiss government’s decision to convene a conference to discuss the status quo in the Palestinian territories next week in Geneva, saying the move brought into question Bern’s historic neutrality.

• Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
  AQAP releases infographics detailing attacks

  A Twitter account affiliated with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released two infographics detailing the terror group's activity for the first quarter of 1436, the current year according to the Islamic or Hijri calendar. Being that the current Islamic year began on October 25, 2014, these infographics purportedly represent terrorist attacks carried out by AQAP in the three months since.

• Aramco and Natural Gas
  Saudi’s Aramco Plans Natural Gas Production Near Jordan

  Aramco is exploring for gas where deposits are more difficult to access than at oil fields. The deposits include the Midyan gas field in the northwest of the country, the Empty Quarter desert in the south, and sites near Ghawar, the world’s largest oil field located close to the Persian Gulf coast.

• Execution Arrest
  Man arrested for filming execution in Saudi

  Police in the western Saudi city of Makkah have arrested a policeman for filming secretly the public execution of a Burmese woman. The policeman was among the staff assigned with the preparations for the execution in Makkah, Okaz news site reported on Saturday.

• Iraq Oil Exports
  Iraq to Double Exports of Kirkuk Crude Amid Oil Surplus

  Iraq will double exports within weeks from its northern Kirkuk oil fields and continue boosting output further south amid a global market glut that’s pushed prices to their lowest level in more than five and a half years. Crude shipments will rise to 300,000 barrels a day from the Kirkuk oil hub, where authorities are also upgrading pipelines between fields, Fouad Hussein, a member of the Kirkuk provincial council’s oil and gas committee, said yesterday in a phone interview.

• Iran in Iraq
  Dempsey says Iran’s role in Iraq might be ‘positive’

  Dempsey, who spoke with reporters following a meeting at the Pentagon with Lt. Gen. Benjamin Gatz, chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said, “If it is a path that ties the two countries [Iran and Iraq] more closely together economically or even politically, as long as the Iraqi government remains committed to inclusivity of all the various groups inside the country, then I think Iranian influence will be positive. But what really matters is where it all goes, and we're watching that very carefully."

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