MUST-READS

• Petrochemicals
  Over $60bn petchem projects set to boost Saudi local sector

  MEED, the Middle East Business Intelligence, lists 26 projects worth $15 billion under way in the Saudi petrochemical sector, while another $46 billion worth projects are under planning stage.

• Al-Qaeda in Yemen
  Al Qaeda In Yemen Denounces ISIS

  Yemen's al-Qaida branch on Friday denounced the Islamic State group for declaring a caliphate on territory it seized in Syria and Iraq and for aggressively seeking to expand its area of influence. The al-Qaida Yemeni offshoot's purported spiritual guide, Sheikh Harith al-Nadhari, said such expansionist intentions are "driving a wedge" among jihadi groups. He was referring to Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's recent call for followers to "explode volcanos of jihad everywhere."

• Middle East SWFs
  Why 2015 will be year for ME wealth funds

  The region’s SWFs are taking advantage of their scale and long-term investment perspective by allocating more of their assets to real estate such as hospitality, industrial, logistics and retail, as well as funding infrastructure, where yields are higher. While the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Kuwait Investment Authority have been buying property since the mid-1970s, there has been a marked rise in brick and mortar investments by these funds and their peers from around the Arabian Gulf.

• Transportation
  Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Port to become one of world’s major berths

  Ports Development Company, owner and developer of King Abdullah Port, announced the handing over of the third berth at King Abdullah Port to National Container Company after fulfilling all Saudi Arabia’s coast guards and customs requirements, where the cooperation between governmental agencies and King Abdullah Port was key to effective business development within the port.

• Saudi-Afghanistan
  Saudi Arabia: Huge Islamic Center in Kabul Will Counter Terrorism

  Saudi Arabian officials launched work on a massive Islamic center to be built on a hilltop in the heart of Kabul Friday, saying the multi-million-dollar complex will help battle terrorism.

• Drone Intelligence
  A Look Inside a Secret US Air Force Intelligence Center

  The intelligence center at Langley is one of 16 such sites on the U.S. mainland. There are two in the Pacific and another one in Europe. A mix of active-duty, National Guard and Reservists man these facilities. In all, more than 6,000 airmen make up the 480th. The unit here at Langley focuses on processing intelligence data from the Middle East using computers called the Distributed Common Ground System, or DCGS. The 480th receives about 20 terabytes of data each day. In 2013, the wing processed 460,000 hours of full-motion video, disseminated 2.6 million images and generated 1.7 million signals intelligence reports, according to Air Force officials.

• Saudi - China Trade
  Trans-Asia rail key to spur China economic ties with Saudi Arabia

  The growth in trade is the result of Beijing's soaring demand for oil and the Middle East's hunger for lower-cost goods. The bilateral trade between China and Saudi Arabia clearly favors the latter. The value of Saudi exports into China exceeded its imports by more than $36 billion in 2012. The bulk of Saudi exports to China comprise crude oil. China is the second largest destination (after Japan) for Saudi Arabia's exports. China also is largest supplier of goods and services to the Kingdom. While Saudi Arabia is the largest oil supplier to China, followed by Angola and Iran.

• Education
  Jeddah-based college discusses cooperation with US institution

  Dr. Hassan Shaibah, Dean of the Batterjee Medical College for Science and Technology, and the president of the California Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Raafat Qahoush discussed ways of academic cooperation and the possibility of arranging summer training courses for BMC students in different medical specialties, including medicine, pharmacy and nursing, to be held in the United States.

• Transportation
  Riyadh signs $2bn contract with French company to modernise bus network

  Riyadh’s Governor has signed a $2bn (SR7.8bn) contract with French state-owned public transport operator Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) to supply, operate and maintain the Riyadh Bus network.

• Israel
  Analysis: The problem(s) with Israel

  Israel had grown accustomed to an absence of terrorist attacks in its cities: so the bloody murder of four worshippers and wounding of eight more at a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday was a shock. It illuminates the fragile, fractious state of the country, including the fact that the cabinet is riven, and may collapse soon.

  • Reuters - Israel approves 78 new settler homes in East Jerusalem
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