MUST-READS

• Smartphones
  Saudi mobile penetration rate hits 170%

  The penetration rate of mobile phones among Saudi nationals climbed to 170 percent and outperformed the global rate of 93 percent, according to a financial report. The Kingdom came in the 9th and 3rd positions at the global and Arab-Gulf levels, respectively, in terms of the mobile penetration rates compared to their respective populations, the report, compiled and analyzed by Al-Eqtisadiyah daily, said.

• Nitaqat
  Ethiopian Workers Struggle After Repatriation from Saudi Arabia

  More than 160,000 Ethiopians working in Saudi Arabia were expelled last year and sent back home due to new stricter labor regulations in the kingdom. Those forcibly repatriated are doing their best to adjust, but are having difficulty making ends meet.

• Women and Sports
  #BBCtrending: The female football fan causing controversy in Saudi Arabia

  Following the tackle, the camera picks out an angry fan of the Saudi team - a woman fully covered in a black abaya and niqab. In Saudi Arabia itself, women are banned from attending football matches, but since the game was taking place in the UAE, this spectator - together with several other women cheering for Saudi, like those pictured above - were able to join their fellow male supporters in the stadium.

• U.S.-Saudi and ISIS
  Biden apologizes to Saudi Arabia for ISIS comments

  Vice President Biden called the Saudi Arabian minister of foreign affairs Tuesday to apologize for remarks he made about the country's commitment to fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), marking the third time in a week he has had to reach out to a disgruntled foreign nation for his comments.

• Saudi-Lebanon
  Lebanon to get Saudi-financed arms soon

  Lebanon's army will soon receive military equipment as part of a $1 billion grant from Saudi Arabia to help it fight Islamist militants encroaching into Lebanon from Syria, former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Tuesday.

• Pentagon Costs
  Pentagon: Up to $1.1B cost for Iraq, Syria

  The Pentagon has spent as much as $1.1 billion on U.S. military operations against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria since the mission began in mid-June, including more than $62 million alone in Navy airstrikes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

• Hajj and Public Health
  Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca epidemic-free, says Saudi Arabia

  Among its preventive measures, Fakieh’s ministry set up a “command and control” centre to direct the hajj health operation, and required every pilgrim to complete a health screening questionnaire. Passengers were monitored by thermal cameras that detect high body temperature, and 15 isolation rooms were set up to hold any suspicious cases at the airport in the city of Jeddah. Fakieh said 170 people were considered as possibly having Mers but all proved to be negative.

• Pew Data on Islam
  Ben Affleck and Bill Maher are both wrong about Islamic fundamentalism

  Overall, the picture that emerges of fundamentalism among the world's Muslims is considerably more complicated than either Affleck or Maher seem to realize. There's no doubt that, particularly among some Middle Eastern Muslims, support for intolerant practices runs high.

• Islamic State
  Opinion: Let’s teach our youth to build, not destroy

  We need to come up with urgent solutions. We should develop a more effective strategy to confront the dangerous threat of ISIS that continues to gain power and has already reached our borders.

• Nusra Front
  U.S., anti-Assad rebels in Syria remain at odds over role of al Qaida’s Nusra Front

  To the United States and its allies, the Nusra Front is a fearsome al Qaida affiliate whose extremist ideology has no place in a future Syria. To many Syrian rebels, however, Nusra fighters are vital warriors in the battle to topple President Bashar Assad, even if the moderates don’t share the group’s end goal of a religious state.

  • Foreign Policy - Obama's Trying to Train Syrians and Iraqis to Fight ISIS. Easier Said Than Done.
  • Washington Post - Islamic State presses offensives in Iraq, Syria; defenders call for more airstrikes
  • War on the Rocks - We Don't Need and Won't Find Moderates to Defeat ISIL
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