MUST-READS

• Gaza Reconstruction
  Gaza rebuilding slowed by trickle of aid, rivalry

  Several dozen tons of cement bags stored in a warehouse are one of the few tangible achievements so far of a $2.7 billion plan to rebuild war-wrecked Gaza Strip. The program was launched with high expectations at an international conference in Cairo on Oct. 12, but has run into obstacles, including wrangling between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah for control in Gaza and what officials say has been a trickle of promised aid.

• Global Oil Markets
  A power shift in global oil dynamics

  Ruchir Sharma, the head of Morgan Stanley's emerging markets investments, points out that over the last decade, Chinese oil demand had been increasing on average 7 percent every year. Until now. The Chinese juggernaut's seemingly insatiable appetite for commodities like oil has screeched to a halt. Growth in Chinese demand for oil is currently running at about zero. This comes as a huge surprise. China accounted for about 50 percent of the increase in oil demand over the past 10 years, Sharma points out.

  • Oxford Institute for Energy Studies - Saudi Arabia’s Oil Policy in Uncertain Times: A Shift in Paradigm?
  • Bloomberg - Libya OPEC Governor Calls for Output Cut Amid Oil Plunge
  • Bloomberg - Oil at $80 a Barrel Muffles Forecasts for U.S. Shale Boom
• Extremism
  Thousands in Iran Protest Acid Attacks on Women

  Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of the historic city of Isfahan on Wednesday to protest several acid attacks on women. The attacks had coincided with the passage of a law designed to protect those who correct people deemed to be acting in an “un-Islamic” way.

• Extremism
  Saudi Arabia jails al Qaeda suspects over plot to hit U.S. forces

  A Saudi court has sentenced 17 people, four of them women, to prison terms of up to 30 years in two separate cases, one of which involving an al Qaeda plot to attack U.S. soldiers in Qatar and Kuwait, the state news agency SPA said.

• Mobile Gaming
  PlayPhone partners with Saudi Arabian mobile carrier to take games to the Middle East

  Mobily is the leading mobile carrier in Saudi Arabia, and it has more than 200 million mobile subscribers. Mobily will call its store PlayZone, and it will make it available in the Middle East and  North Africa, starting with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. More countries will roll out in the future.

• U.S. ISIS Strategy
  U.S., Iraq planning offensive by Iraqi forces to reclaim territory from Islamic State

  The plan, described as methodical and time-consuming, will not begin in earnest for several months and is designed to ensure that Iraqi forces­ do not overextend themselves before they are capable of taking and holding territory controlled by the militants.

  • Asharq Alawsat - We will liberate Mosul from ISIS: Iraq Defense Minister
  • Foreign Policy - Get Ready for Iraq War IV
  • NPR - Ambushes, Mines And Booby Traps: ISIS Militants Change Tack
  • The Atlantic - Daily Life in the Shadow of ISIS
  • Reuters - Consumed by ISIS, Iraq's Anbar Province a Key Battleground Again
• India and Pakistan
  Tensions Rising Dangerously in South Asia

  Although Modi made a big gesture in May when he invited his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, to his inauguration, since then Modi has canceled routine diplomatic talks with Pakistan on Kashmir and signaled a tough line toward terrorism. He also appointed a very experienced intelligence chief, Ajit Doval as his national security adviser. Doval is known as a hard-liner on terrorism—and on Pakistan.

• Energy Conservation
  Thermal Insulation and Energy Conservation

  Given the extraordinary level of electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia, the government is getting around to requiring thermal insulation in new buildings. At present, most dwellings in Saudi Arabia are made of either concrete block or poured concrete. Neither is particularly noted for its insulation qualities, though they are good at heat retention. But heat retention is not what’s desired or needed in Saudi Arabia, where air conditioning is a major source of energy demand.

• NCB
  Saudi Bank Posts Higher Profit Amid First Share Sale

  Net income rose to 1.87 billion riyals ($500 million) from 1.73 billion riyals a year earlier, the country’s largest bank said in a statement today. Total assets increased 19 percent to 438 billion riyals. The bank’s loan portfolio rose 15.8 percent to 214 billion riyals while deposits were 16.7 percent higher at 295 billion riyals.

• Sukuk
  Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical plans sukuk investor meetings

  Saudi Arabia's Advanced Petrochemical Co. will begin meeting investors from Sunday ahead of a potential sale of a sukuk denominated in riyals, it said on Wednesday.

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