MUST-READS

• Petrochemicals
  Sinopec Buys Saudi Yanbu Refinery Stake for $562 Million

  China Petrochemical Corp., Sinopec’s state-owned parent, signed an agreement with Aramco in January 2012 to develop a refinery in the Saudi city of Yanbu at a cost of as much as $10 billion. The 400,000 barrel-a-day plant may start this year, Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer Khalid al-Falih said at the time.

• Turkey
  The White House would be a tiny wing of Turkey’s new presidential palace

  Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week unveiled his new palace in the outskirts of the country's capital, Ankara. The gaudy residence boasts 1,000 rooms and apparently cost some $350 million to construct. Its total area, according to the AFP, encompasses some  2,150,000 square feet.

• Saudi-Iran
  Slow progress in Saudi-Iranian ties

  The Middle East is going through many developments, most notably the fluctuations of Saudi-Iranian ties, which affect the future of the countries in the region including that of Lebanon.

• MERS
  Saudi Arabia finds six new MERS cases as outbreak grows

  Saudi Arabia said late on Wednesday it had detected six new cases of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 24 hours, the biggest daily jump for months with officials blaming lax hospital procedures.

• U.S.-Israel Relations
  The Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations Is Officially Here

  The relationship between these two administrations— dual guarantors of the putatively “unbreakable” bond between the U.S. and Israel—is now the worst it's ever been, and it stands to get significantly worse after the November midterm elections. By next year, the Obama administration may actually withdraw diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations, but even before that, both sides are expecting a showdown over Iran, should an agreement be reached about the future of its nuclear program.

• Terrorism Warning
  US warns of terrorist attacks on American schools across Middle East

  The US issued a security warning against terrorist attacks on western schools in the Middle East, including one in Cairo's south district of Maadi. The warning from the US State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security cited an "anonymous" post on a jihadist website, which it said "encouraged attacks against American and other international schools in the Middle East, including western teachers employed at these schools."

  • McClatchy - Obama administration ramps up security amid threats
• Saudi Statistics
  Shoura slams Statistics Agency

  The Shoura members said that the Statistics Agency was not providing accurate figures on the number of unemployed women, creating confusion in chalking out a plan to increase their numbers in the work force.

• U.S.-Afghanistan
  Why the end of Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan matters

  On Sunday, the United States and Britain turned over control of Leatherneck and Bastion to the Afghan military they have been training for years. A few other major coalition installations in the country will remain, but the transition is one of the most dramatic milestones to date in the winding down of the Afghanistan War.

  • AP - As Marines depart Afghanistan, legacy lingers
• Egypt
  Sisi gives Egypt military new powers after Sinai attack

  A spokesman said the new law gives the army the right to secure sites like power plants, main roads and bridges. But critics say it allows the army to return to the streets and bring back military trials for civilians. President Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency after the bomb attack in Sinai on Friday. The new decree allows state infrastructure to be defined as "military facilities" for two years, permitting the army to work with police to secure such sites.

• Press Freedom
  Government will regulate video-sharing sites

  The Ministry of Culture and Information will soon regulate all video and image-sharing websites on the Internet to ensure they comply with the country's laws, an expert said here Sunday. Hamza Al-Ghubaishi, organizer of the Digital Visual Forum that concluded in Riyadh on Sunday, said the ministry's General Authority for Audio and Visual Media has been entrusted with this task.

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