Politics
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she takes responsibility for the failure in security at the US consulate in Benghazi, where the US ambassador to Libya was killed last month.
Mrs Clinton said ensuring the safety of US diplomatic staff overseas was her job, not that of the White House.
It comes ahead of the second campaign debate between President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
More than 100 inmates have escaped from the al-Judaida prison in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The prisoners are said to be of various nationalities and officials say about 60 have so far been recaptured. It is not clear how the breakout happened.
Al-Judaida is one of Tripoli's largest jails. Human rights groups accuse officials of abusing inmates.
Economy
Saudi Aramco plans to invest $35 billion over the next five years in projects to protect an oil production capacity cushion the world still relies on despite a shale oil boom and weak demand, the head of the world’s biggest oil producer said.
“Preserving our spare oil production capacity is crucial to maintaining oil market stability because it plays a pivotal role in protecting the world’s economic health,” Khalid al-Falih told an Oxford University seminar on Sept. 20 in a speech posted on Aramco’s website on Monday.
“So we are continuing to strengthen our oil business to meet the rising call on our oil production; in fact, we plan to invest $35 billion over the next five years in crude oil exploration and development alone to keep our oil production portfolio robust.”
Lebanon’s taxi drivers union have announced a strike on Wednesday following an unsuccessful meeting with Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi to set a ceiling for the prices of gasoline.
“We call on all drivers to strike next Wednesday to protest the increasing prices of fuel after we exhausted all efforts and reached a deadlock with officials,” the statement said.
The statement reiterated the association’s demand for a LL25,000 ceiling on 20 liters for gasoline and LL20,000 on diesel.
EU member states have announced a new package of sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
Foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg "significantly broadened EU restrictive measures", focusing on Iranian banks, trade and gas exports, officials said.
The ministers reiterated their "serious and deepening concerns" over Iran's nuclear activities and their commitment to "work for a diplomatic solution".
The UAE booked a consolidated state budget surplus of AED36.2bn (US$9.9bn) in 2011, the country's finance ministry said on Monday, publicly releasing such data for the first time.
The ministry said the figure included the federal budget as well as the fiscal balances of all seven desert emirates which form the UAE.
Saeed al-Yateem, executive director of revenue and budget at the ministry, told a news conference that the data would now be released every quarter starting next year.
Global oil prices should stay stable or fall just under their current levels over the next five years as Asian consumption makes up for a potential drop in European and US demand, Kuwait's oil minister said on Monday.
Asia is the Gulf state's biggest oil customer, receiving 65 percent of its exports, Hani Hussein told state news agency KUNA on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Kuwait.
He said oil prices will remain "stable or just under the current level," over the next five years thanks to "active and increasing" consumption in Asia, KUNA reported.
And finally…
Internet users in Saudi Arabia receive more email spam than any other country in the GCC, according to the findings of a new report.
Online security firm Kaspersky Lab found that in the third quarter of 2012, Saudi Arabian inboxes were home to 0.96 percent of all spam globally. The UAE came second in the GCC with 0.19 percent of spam, followed by Kuwait. As a whole the region accounted for 1.29 percent of all worldwide spam.
On a global basis, Kaspersky Lab found that the US was the most spammed country with 26.71 percent of all spam traffic, followed by China with 25.52 percent.
