MUST-READS

• Saudi-Iran
  Iran says is ready for ‘straight talks’ with Saudi Arabia

  Iran said on Tuesday it was ready for "straight talks" with Saudi Arabia over contentious issues that have kept the rival Gulf powers at loggerheads for more than three decades.

  • EA Worldview - Iran Daily: Tehran Shifts Again, Seeks Dialogue With Saudi Arabia
  • Al-Monitor - The kiss that sent Saudi’s Iran ambassador home
• Iran and Congress
  Iran bill debate seen in Senate by early February

  The new chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Thursday he expected a bill addressing Iran's nuclear program to come to the U.S. Senate floor for debate ahead of a vote in early February, if not sooner.

• Nasser Al-Haqbani
  Suicide bomber in Saudi border attack recruited family members to join ISIS

  One of the four men who carried out a fatal suicide bomb attack on Saudi border guards last Monday recruited some of his family members to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), informed sources have told Asharq Al-Awsat.

• Tunisia
  It’s the Economy, Tunisia

  Given concerns about security and the fate of the democratic transition, economic issues were essentially put on hold in both elections. Now it is time for Tunisia’s leaders to put the economy at the top of their agenda.

• Saudi-Iraq
  On the ISIS attack on Saudi Arabia’s borders

  We must not underestimate ISIS, although many think it is a gathering of fanatic madmen. ISIS is a developed model of al-Qaeda and it has extraordinary military and administrative skills.

  • Asharq Alawsat - Saudi Arabia an “oasis of peace” amid chaos: King Abdullah
  • Arabian Business - First slain Saudi border guard given Grand Mosque burial
  • Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia Pledges Stability for Nation
• Bahrain
  Bahrain Wefaq chief Salman held ‘for promoting violence’

  News of the cleric's arrest on Sunday triggered protests in Shia villages across the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom. A leading opposition activist, Maryam al-Khawaja, said the move was a very serious escalation of the continuing crisis in Bahrain. The country has seen years of sporadic unrest since the government's suppression of Shia-led pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011.

• Aviation
  Bahrain’s Gulf Air set to launch two new Saudi routes

  Bahrain's Gulf Air has announced further growth of its network in Saudi Arabia, with plans to launch two new routes in early 2015.

• Iraq and ISIS
  In northeast Iraq, flashes of resistance against Islamic State militants (+video)

  A combination of Iraqi Army units and Kurdish and Shiite paramilitaries has flushed Sunni militants from much of Diyala Province. But tribal leaders run a lethal risk for defying militants and joining the resistance.

  • Foreign Policy - U.S. Iraq Strategy Missing Key Allies As More Troops Set to Deploy
  • BBC News - Mount Sinjar: Islamic State siege broken, say Kurds
  • WSJ - U.S. Says It's Killed Top ISIS Leaders in Iraq
  • Reuters - Pentagon Still Predicting ISIS Fight to Take Three Years
  • The Hill - Pentagon calls ISIS 'Daesh' for first time
  • Defense One - Is Obama’s ‘Iraq First’ Strategy Working Against ISIS?
• Hotels
  InterContinental Group to open nine hotels in Saudi Arabia

  HG plans to open nine hotels over the next three to five years, including InterContinental Riyadh and Hotel Indigo Riyadh, which will be the Middle East’s first Indigo property. Both hotels will be situated in the King Abdullah Financial District.

• Social Media
  Saudi Arabia’s religious police close 10,000 Twitter accounts

  Saudi Arabia’s religious police have shut down more than 10,000 Twitter accounts so far this year, according to Arab News.

• 10 of 63018 results<< 1 … 6,185 6,186 6,187 … 6,302 >>