9.3.2010 EDITION
Saudi Tadawul Poised To Exercise More Global Appeal: FINANCIAL TIMES
Robin Wigglesworth | 9/1/10
“Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul stock market may be the largest and the most liquid in the oil-rich Arab world – but until recently it was nearly impossible for international investors to access. That is now tentatively changing.”
Al Qaeda Leader In Yemen Tries To Woo Saudi Soldiers: LONG WAR JOURNAL
Thomas Joscelyn | 8/31/10
“In a nearly 15-minute audio tape released in early August, Said al Shihri, one of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) top leaders, tried to convince Saudi soldiers and security officers to serve al Qaeda. Al Shihri set forth a dozen reasons why Saudi citizens should betray the royals, and he offered a cursory plan for doing so.”
Multiplying the Yield of an Oasis: NEW YORK TIMES
Benjamin Dierks | 9/2/10
“If something — an attack, a natural disaster or a major oil spill in the Gulf — should put the desalination plants out of operation, the emirate’s reserves, now stored in above-ground water tanks, would be exhausted within 48 hours.”
Targeting Al-Qaida’s Financiers: VOICE OF AMERICA
Editorial | 9/1/10
The United States Department of the Treasury has taken another step towards cutting the financial network that supplies the international terrorist organization known as al-Qaida. On August 24th, the Treasury Department designated Muhammad Abdallah Hasan Abu-al-Khayr, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, as a ‘key leader of the terrorist organization’s financial network.’
Saudi Aramco Extends Bids For Wasit Gas Plant: REUTERS
Reem Shamseddine | 9/2/10
Saudi Aramco has extended the closing date for bids to build the kingdom’s largest gas plant, industry sources said on Thursday.
UN: Blackberry Worries Legitimate: ALJAZEERA
9/2/10
“The UN technology chief has said that the Canadian maker of the Blackberry should give governments around the world access to its customer data and should not ignore their legitimate security concerns.”
“The Gaza Strip has one of the highest birthrates in the world. Almost three-quarters of the Palestinians who live there are younger than 30. Most have never left the tiny coastal strip that is ruled by the militants of Hamas, have never met an Israeli, and for the youngest, have never known a time when there wasn’t a conflict outside their doorstep,” writes Lourdes Garcia-Navarro (NPR). “The search for normality in Gaza is a never-ending quest.”
RELATED: US President Barack Obama has called French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Saudi King Abdullah to discuss with them the crucial direct talks between Israeli and Palestine leaders that resumed after a gap of two years,” Indian Express reports.
RELATED:” A Hamas spokesman said that 13 groups had joined forces to launch ‘more effective attacks’” against Israel, BBC News reports.
Steve Inskeep (NPR’s Morning Edition) hosts Ramez Maluf, professor of journalism at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, to find out how people in the Middle East view the debate over the proposed Islamic center near the site of the former World Trade Center in New York.
RELATED: “The Manhattan mosque controversy has exposed a broader, conservative Christian suspicion of mosques and Muslims,” writes Michael Gerson (Washington Post). “Christian fundamentalists who undermine religious liberty in order to target Muslims are playing a game of intolerance roulette. That First Amendment might come in handy someday.”
The home of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi was vandalized ahead of a rally that the authorities worry might reignite antigovernment protests, Reuters reports.
RELATED: “Protesters gathered in Iran on Friday for a demonstration to observe an annual holiday that marks the country’s solidarity with Palestinians and calls for the end of Israel occupation,” Reza Sayah and Mitra Mobasherat (CNN) report.
“A suicide bomb blast rocked a Shiite rally held to express solidarity with the Palestinian people in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 43 people,” NBC News reports.
“Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO disagreed Thursday over whether an airstrike in northern Afghanistan killed the top member of a re-emerging insurgent group or 10 election workers,” Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy) reports.
