MUST-READS

• Health
  Saudi launches campaign to vaccinate primary school students

  The campaign will include government, private, international and community schools all over the Kingdom.

• Global Dangers
  Middle Easterners See Religious and Ethnic Hatred as Top Global Threat

  With growing conflicts engulfing the Middle East, people in the region name religious and ethnic hatred most frequently as the greatest threat to the world. Moreover, publics across the globe see the threat of religious and ethnic violence as a growing threat to the world’s future. But in Europe, concerns about inequality trump all other dangers and the gap between the rich and the poor is increasingly considered the world’s top problem by people living in advanced economies, including the United States.

  • Agence Global - Opinion: ISIS is the latest of many different Islamisms
  • Pew - Greatest Dangers in the World: Interactive Table
• National Commercial Bank
  Saudi ‘mother of all IPOs’ runs into Shariah storm

  "NCB's IPO is the mother of all IPOs", John Sfakianakis, Regional Director at Ashmore Group, told CNBC. "It's significant for the banking sector because it's the only bank of systemic significance that is going to be publicly traded and enhances transparency and governance".

  • Gulf Business - Saudi Fransi Capital Says Three Big IPOs In Pipeline As Market Booms
  • Bloomberg - Saudi Arabian Bank NCB Readies Plan to Divest $38 Billion
• ISIS and Antiquities
  The Black-Market Battleground

  At a time when the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, and other groups are killing, enslaving, and displacing thousands of people across Syria and Iraq, what happens to ancient artifacts may seem like a sideshow. But according to Danti, who is also a professor at Boston University, ISIS's profits from looting are second only to the revenue the group derives from illicit oil sales. ISIS's profits from looting are second only to the revenue the group derives from illicit oil sales. So understanding the Islamic State's approach to the fate of ancient artifacts actually could be key to stopping its advance.

• NCB
  Saudi’s NCB Pledges Conversion To Islamic Bank After Pressure From Scholars

  State-owned National Commercial Bank (NCB), which has about $116 billion of assets, currently has a mixed business – most of it conforms to Islamic principles such as bans on interest payments and pure monetary speculation, but some of it involves conventional banking. Some other banks in Saudi Arabia are also mixed.

• Saudi Airports
  ‘The Guide to Sleeping in Airports’: Jeddah airport second worst in the world

  Three Saudi airports were included in the top five worst in the region, compiled by readers of the Canadian website sleepinginairports.net. Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport was the worst – also taking out second place in a global list of the worst airports to sleep in. Dammam King Fahd International Airport and Riyadh King Khalid International Airport were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

• Syrian and Turkish Kurds
  The Meaning of Kobani

  he Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani has been under a relentless siege by the Islamic State (IS) for the past few weeks. Surprisingly its defenders have endured, defying the long odds. Whether it falls or survives, Kobani is likely to become for Syrian and Turkish Kurds what Halabja became for Iraqi Kurds in 1988: a defining moment of nationhood and identity.

  • Foreign Policy - U.S. Ramps Up Push to Save Key Syrian Town
  • McClatchy - Obama's Decision to Aid Kobani Puts Him Squarely at Odds With Turkey's Erdogan
  • WSJ - What Turkey Wants in the War on ISIS
  • The Atlantic - The Tide Slowly Turns in Kobani
  • Reuters - Turkey to let Iraqi Kurds reinforce Kobani as U.S. drops arms to defenders
• Carter Center in Atlanta
  From Jimmy Carter, a Rebuke to Egypt

  Over three decades, the Carter Center in Atlanta, led by former President Jimmy Carter, has established itself as a respected advocate for human rights and democracy. It has sent observers to 97 elections in 38 countries, worked to persuade governments to respect freedoms and human rights, and supported citizens who defend those principles. But it has thrown in the towel on Egypt.

• Assad and Anti-ISIS Campaign
  Syrian regime takes advantage of coalition strikes

  As the world’s focus remains firmly fixed on the Kurdish enclave of Kobani, under assault for three weeks now by a relentless and determined Islamic State (IS) force despite airstrikes by the US-led coalition, other significant events on the Syrian battlefield have largely gone unnoticed. As the Syrian army, backed by various local and foreign militias, makes significant gains in both Damascus and Aleppo, the question being raised is whether President Bashar al-Assad is the ultimate beneficiary of the coalition's campaign against IS and other jihadist groups.

• Technology and Startups
  On the strength of new investment, Saudi emotion sharing app leaves for Silicon Valley

  The startup is getting ready to move everything to Silicon Valley by the end of the year. Their main focus will shift to the US, says AlKadi, instead of Saudi Arabia. "Emotions and feelings are a global language.

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