MUST-READS

• E-Commerce
  A Syrian Entrepreneur Looks To Build The Amazon Of The Arab World

  He founded Souq.com in 2006 and settled in Dubai, the financial capital of the United Arab Emirates. Now he's the CEO of what's considered the most successful e-commerce site in the region. He recently raised $150 million in capital to expand. The 44-year-old entrepreneur says commerce is part of his DNA.

• Iran Negotiations
  US sanctions expert to leave as Iran talks extended

  With the decision last week to extend the Iran nuclear deal talks for another seven months, some key members of the US negotiating team, including the State Department’s deputy sanctions chief Richard Nephew, are moving on.

• Attack in UAE
  American Killed in Abu Dhabi Attack

  A statement posted on the Abu Dhabi Interior Ministry's website said the victim was stabbed Monday with a butcher's knife that was found by police. The statement said the American woman was a 37-year-old kindergarten teacher. Her name has not been made public.

• Iraqi Kurds
  Opinion: New Iraqi-Kurdish Agreement Bolsters National Unity

  Iraq’s chances of remaining a unitary state increased significantly with the signing of a new oil and budget agreement between the Baghdad government and the Kurds. Building on a partial deal reached last month that permitted the Kurds to legally sell 150,000 barrels of oil a day through a pipeline to Turkey, the new agreement will allow the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to sell 550,000 barrels of oil a day, including 300,000 from the disputed Kirkuk region. The KRG and the central Iraqi government will split the revenue.

• Shia Islam
  Opinion: Saudi Arabia Has a Shiite Problem

  To be sure, since the 1990s, the Saudi government has made some relative progress in terms of infrastructural development of the Eastern Province, where Shiite villages and towns have historically lagged behind their Sunni neighbors in terms of government funding. allowed some degree of religious freedom for the exercise of Shiite rituals and practices. Perhaps one positive byproduct of the killings in recent months has been rare expressions of cross-sectarian unity by influential Sunni clerics, senior Saudi officials, and editorialists. Someobservers have gone so far as to predict that the tragedy marks a turning point, ushering in a new era of Sunni-Shiite harmony in the kingdom.

• Gulf Stocks
  Stock News: Most Gulf Markets Fall; Blue Chips Lift Saudi

  Most Middle East bourses slipped in early trade on Wednesday as oil market turbulence kept equity investors cautious, although blue chips lifted Saudi Arabia’s index. Brent hit a high of $71.46 a barrel on Wednesday before giving up some gains and moving close to $71. Saudi Arabia’s index rose 0.2 per cent. Petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) and Al Rajhi Bank were the main supports, climbing 1.2 and one per cent respectively.

• Israeli Politics
  Netanyahu Israel elections: Prime minister wants new government.

  Unhappy with the state of his current ruling coalition, Benjamin Netanyahu has called for new Israeli national elections in which he could be—though is not expected to be—unseated as prime minister.

  • CSM - Israel's 'Nationality Law': What's at stake for Jews and Arabs (+video)
• Economic Cities
  More than $67 billion of investment for Saudi Arabia’s economic cities

  The objective of the economic cities is to grow the national economy and raise the standard of living for Saudis through enhancing the competitiveness of the economy, creating new jobs, improving Saudis' skill levels, developing regions and diversifying the economy. Each city is being developed by the private sector around at least one globally competitive cluster or industry, which will serve as an anchor and a growth engineer for the city, around which other businesses will locate.

• Global Oil Markets
  Opinion: Good, Bad and Ugly of Lower Oil Prices

  Roiled by sanctions, a collapsing currency and large capital flight, Russia now faces the effects of a sharp fall in oil revenue. Companies pushed to the brink may be looking for government support at a time when the authorities’ ability to respond is curtailed by the decrease in their own revenues. The effect will be to strengthen the winds of recession, inflation and financial instability in Russia.

• Islamic State
  Iraq Government and Kurds Reach Deal on Oil Revenue and ISIS Fight

  In a far-reaching deal with the potential to unite Iraq in the face of a Sunni insurgency, the government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi agreed on Tuesday to a long-term pact with the autonomous Kurdish region over how to divide the country’s oil wealth and cooperate on fighting the extremists of the Islamic State.

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