Arabic press review: Royal rumble in Riyadh, battle stations at TV network
Saudi princess stands in solidarity with arrested prince
A Saudi princess expressed solidarity with a prince held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in a rare public declaration.
The Saudi princess, Nouf bint Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud, expressed her deep sorrow over the arrest of Mutaib bin Abdullah and his brother Turki on corruption charges, according to the London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi.
Princess Nouf posted on her Twitter account: "11 years ago, he took the pen and inscribed his words on this notebook when he visited my mother (his aunt), may God bless her soul. May God protect you my dear kind and generous brother Mutaib bin Abdullah."
The princess published a picture of the old handwritten letter that Mutaib bin Abdullah had written and sent to her in 2006.
Saudi TV group 'facing collapse'
Saudi Arabia's biggest television group, MBC, is facing the risk of collapse due to the arrest of its chairman, Sheikh Waleed al-Ibrahim, on corruption charges and the resignation of two senior journalists, according to claims on the Asrar Arabiya website.
The site says the editor of Al Arabiya news channel, Nabil Khatib, resigned a few days ago. The most prominent presenter on MBC, Dawood al-Shirian, also resigned and bid farewell to his audience on Sunday evening.
The resignations come amid a storm of anxiety witnessed by MBC Group because of the arrest of board chairman Ibrahim, a close associate of the ruling Saudi family for years, according to Asrar Arabiya.
War with IS cost Iraq $100bn
Iraq's prime minister says three years of war against Islamic State cost the Iraqi economy more than $100bn, according to the Saudi newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat.
Haider al-Abadi said in Karbala that “the estimations have now doubled to more than $100bn, which is only the cost of economic and infrastructure destruction caused by the occupation of Iraqi cities”.
* Arabic press review is a digest of reports that are not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.
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