MUST-READS

• Afghanistan
  New Afghan leaders face culture clash as they form Cabinet

  Ghani, an American-educated technocrat who cites Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson as his influences, wants to enact reforms and create a modern government run by experienced civil servants accountable to the people. But he has to contend with the high expectations of dozens of powerful individuals under him, some with nefarious pasts, who helped him attain the presidency. They are steeped in the traditional ways of Afghan politics, driven by ethnicity, patronage and enormous egos.

• Al-Qaeda in Syria
  The Pentagon Can’t Say If It Stopped the Khorasan Terror Threat

  The United States launched eight strikes against the Khorasan Group last month "to disrupt the imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests," Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said in a Sept. 23 statement. Those strikes targeted the group's "training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communications building, and command and control facilities." There were also early reports that Mohsin al-Fadhli, one of the group's leaders, was killed during the airstrikes around Aleppo—a city in northwestern Syria—but the Pentagon is unable to confirm those reports.

• Facilities Management
  Facilities Management in KSA: Fit for a king

  With a recent report by MEED Insight noting that there are $417bn worth of construction projects lined up in Saudi Arabia's future, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out why facilities management (FM) companies are all hurrying to start operations in the Kingdom. The country is, after all, seeing some amazing developments being planned and executed, and FM expertise can play a key role in ensuring that these properties, once built, are operated and maintained effectively and efficiently.

• Saudi Workforce
  Saudi Arabia labour market reforms bring change at the checkouts

  One day, during a training session, he showed two productivity charts to male checkout staff, their own and one with much better results. The staff were convinced that the other chart was a record of their Asian predecessors. When the manager explained that it showed the productivity of women checkout operators, the men began to work much harder.

• Saudi Arabian Airlines
  Saudia transports over 21 million passengers in 9 months

  Saudi Arabian Airlines transported a total of 21,116,905 passengers during the first nine months of 2014. This is an increase of 11.62 percent compared to the same period last year, during which the national carrier transported a total of 18,918,726 passengers, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

• Yemen
  Yemen Shiite Houthi Rebels Seize Border Post Near Saudi Arabia

  Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels seized a border crossing point near Saudi Arabia, expanding their control in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.

  • AP - Al-Qaida Fighters Storm Security Base in Yemen
  • Long War Journal - AQAP, Houthis clash in central Yemen
• Media
  Misstated Excerpt of Times Article Offers Fresh Take on President Sisi of Egypt

  There is no such thing as bad press for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, at least not if it is translated by the Egyptian news media.

• OIl
  Saudi Aramco trades first fuel oil derivative on Platts

  Saudi Aramco traded its first fuel oil derivative on Platts on Thursday and is expected to become more active in its paper trading activities, sources said.

• Islamist Groups
  Suicide Bomber Kills 7 in Pakistan Border Region

  The bomber detonated the explosives at a meeting of government-backed militia members in the Khyber tribal region, along the Afghan border.

• Security
  Britain Arrests 6 in Counterterrorism Raids

  The detention of three men and three women in Portsmouth and Farnborough, both in Hampshire, and in Greenwich, in southeast London, reflected heightened concerns that the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has helped foment jihadism, particularly among young Muslims opposed to British military actions in Muslim lands.

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