The BBC reports that Saudi Arabia has pledged investment deals worth $20bn (£15.5bn) with Pakistan which is seeking to bolster its fragile economy. It comes as part of a high-profile Asian tour by the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pakistan urgently needs to address a balance of payments crisis and is looking to international backers for support. The deals include an $8bn oil refinery in the key port city of Gwadar. The two sides signed several other provisional agreements and memorandums of understanding in the energy, petrochemicals and mining sectors, according to reports. “It’s big for phase one, and definitely it will grow every month and every year, and it will be beneficial to both countries,” the crown prince said. Pakistan is desperate for cash. The south Asian country’s central bank has only $8bn left in foreign reserves and faces a balance of payments crisis. Prime Minister Imran Khan has been seeking help from friendly countries in order to cut the size of the bailout package his country is likely to need from the International Monetary Fund, under very strict conditions.

The BBC, Telegraph, Times and Guardian report that US President Donald Trump has told the UK and other European allies to take back and put on trial more than 800 Islamic State (IS) fighters captured in the final battle against the group. The BBC reports that Trump’s tweet comes as US-backed Kurdish forces continue an assault on the last pocket of IS territory on the Syrian side of the Iraqi border, at Baghuz. The captured IS fighters are being held by the Kurdish-led forces. Mr Trump has said for several days that the IS caliphate is “ready to fall”.

Reuters reports that according to the French justice minister earlier today, France will not act on US President Donald Trump’s call for European allies to repatriate hundreds of Islamic State fighters from Syria, taking back militants on a “case-by-case” basis. “There is a new geo-political context, with the US withdrawal. For the time being we are not changing our policy,” Belloubet told France 2 television. “At this stage France is not responding to (Trump’s) demands”, she added.

In the Guardian, Jason Burke writes that: “Without territory or new recruits, Islamic State is in its death throes.” He argues that the group, diminished and cornered, has lost its appeal for young Muslims.

The Guardian reports that an American woman captured by Kurdish forces after fleeing the last pocket of land controlled by Islamic State says she “deeply regrets” travelling to Syria to join the terror group and has pleaded to be allowed to return to her family in Alabama. Once one of Isis’s most prominent online agitators who took to social media to call for the blood of Americans to be spilled, Hoda Muthana, 24, claims to have made a “big mistake” when she left the US four years ago and says she was brainwashed into doing so online.

The Telegraph writes that: “Shamina Begum should expect no sympathy from Britain”. Shamima Begum, the British teenager who left Britain to join ISIS in 2015, said that a “lot of people should have sympathy towards me for everything I’ve been through”. The editorial asks however, why should people have sympathy for her, adding: “Does she have sympathy for the victims of the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State of the Levant and Syria (Isil) – the Yazidis slaughtered in their thousands, the gay people thrown from tall buildings, the Westerners murdered on camera, and the countless others who were killed by the so-called caliphate she swore loyalty to?”

The Times reports that a teenager caught as she headed to Syria to become a jihadist bride was never prosecuted despite police finding a cache of extremist material including plans of a key target for Islamic State. The girl, 15, was hauled by police from a flight, which had been just about to take off from Heathrow in December 2014. She was one of five school-aged girls from Bethnal Green, east London, to attempt to join the terrorist group and the only one not to be successful. One of the others, Sharmeena Begum, also 15 at the time, was on the same flight but managed to travel to the newly declared “caliphate” undetected. Analysis of phones and devices linked to the fifth Bethnal Green girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons but is now an adult, uncovered plans of a government building among a plethora of extremist material, including Isis propaganda that portrayed killings.

The BBC reports that Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki has cancelled a trip to Israel following comments on the Holocaust by Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr Netanyahu was quoted in Israeli media as saying “Poles co-operated with the Germans” during the Holocaust. He later issued a clarification saying he was not referring to the Polish nation or all Polish people. Poland summoned the Israeli ambassador and on Sunday said Mr Morawiecki would not attend a summit on Tuesday. The meeting, hosted by Israel, is of the Visegrad Group that represents the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

In the Guardian, Brian Eno argues that: “Israel must not be allowed to use Eurovision as a propaganda tool.”Eno writes that: “the song contest organisers should take a stand against the oppression of Palestinian artists and move their event from Tel Aviv.”

The BBC reports that a Niger national who was expelled from Israel has been stuck at the international airport in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, since November after his home country refused to take him back. “I have been staying here at the airport under very bad conditions because there’s nothing, nothing at all,” 24-year-old Eissa Muhamad told the BBC. Mr Muhamad’s series of misfortunes began last April when he was arrested for being in Israel illegally.

The Guardian reports that Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels have agreed on the first phase of a withdrawal from the key city of Hodeidah, in a deal the UN described as important progress. After two days of talks in Hodeidah, the government and Houthis finalised a deal on the first phase of the pullback and also agreed in principle on the second phase, a UN statement said. The talks were led by a Danish general, Michael Lollesgaard, as chair of a redeployment coordination committee (RCC) that includes the government and the Houthis. “After lengthy but constructive discussions facilitated by the RCC chair, the parties reached an agreement on phase one of the mutual redeployment of forces,” said the UN statement. The sides made “important progress on planning for the redeployment of forces” but no date was given to begin the demilitarisation. “The parties also agreed, in principle, on phase two of the mutual redeployment, pending additional consultations within their respective leadership.” The first phase provides for a pullback from the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Issa, and from parts of Hodeidah where there are humanitarian facilities. Under the Stockholm agreement, the pullback was supposed to have taken place two weeks after the ceasefire went into force on 18 December, but that deadline was missed.

The Telegraph reports that Iran has unveiled a new domestically-produced missile submarine amid mounting tensions with the United States and Saudi Arabia in the Persian gulf. Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, inaugurated the Fateh, or “Conquerer”, in the southern port city of Bandar Lengeh on Sunday. “From this moment, the Fateh Submarine joins Iran’s naval force with my order,” he said at a ceremony broadcast live on the state-run English-language Press TV. “Our defence power is solely defensive…Our enemy’s pressure and sanctions imposed on Iran have instigated our progress,” he said.

The Times reports that Iran’s foreign minister warned of a “great risk” of war with Israel as he accused the US of ramping up tensions in the Middle East through its “malign obsession” with Tehran. Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was giving a speech at the Munich security conference, said that the US “has travelled 10,000 kilometres to dot all our borders with its bases” and claimed that Iran’s own arsenal of missiles in Syria had been used only in self-defence against ISIS. Directing his remarks against Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Mr Zarif said: “Is it Iran who threatens the annihilation of others, or is it Mr Netahyahu, the wolf-crier-in-chief, who openly threatens my country’s obliteration while standing next to his nuclear weapons factory?” His remarks come as Washington steps up its efforts to isolate Iran and reduce its influence in the Middle East — even as the Pentagon prepares to withdraw US troops from Syria, where Iran has used the civil war to establish a foothold on Israel’s borders.

The Independent reports that Iran has threatened Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with retaliation after 27 members of the country’s elite revolutionary guard forces were killed in a suicide bombing on Wednesday. The head of the revolutionary guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, claimed, without evidence, that the US and Israel had ordered Saudi Arabia and the UAE to carry out the attack. “We definitely will retaliate,” the general said, in comments reported by state media. Mr Jafari was speaking at one of two funeral ceremonies held on Friday for the attack’s victims. The Jaish al-Adl Sunni militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing, which wounded 12 people.

The Independent reports that, according to Pakistani government sources, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives during his visit to Pakistan on Sunday, in an effort to broker an end to Afghanistan’s 17-year-old civil war. Pakistan has been playing an increasingly vital role in the Afghanistan peace talks, which have been gathering momentum in recent months amid a growing US desire to pull out its troops.

In the Israeli media, Maariv and Yediot Ahronot report the ongoing violence on the Gaza border. Last night, an IDF soldier sustained moderate injuries from a bomb that was thrown by Palestinians on the Gaza border. Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated violently along the Gaza border, setting fire to piles of tyres and throwing bombs at IDF troops and the border fence.  In response, IDF tanks attacked three Hamas positions in the northern Gaza Strip. Sources in Gaza reported that 19 Palestinians were injured by IDF fire.

Yediot Ahronot leads with a 50 day countdown to the election.  The paper has a recap of the campaign so far: “After the initial polls, followed by a significant leap in the day after the glittering launch event on prime time television, Benny Gantz’s party will try to keep up the positive momentum. High on the list of tasks: to present the party as one headed by a candidate who looks at Netanyahu in the white of the eyes, as equal to equal.” The paper continues to speculate whether Gantz’s party will unite with Yesh Atid in the next few days but suggests, the chances seem to be shrinking.  They also speculate that Gantz is still very interested in joining Orly Levi-Abecassis, which: “Answers Gantz’s weak points on the list: a woman, Mizrahi and social.” She is also considered to be able to bring voices of the soft and moderate right. However, Levy-Abecassis said a few days ago that the chances of a merger with Gantz were “nil,” as she put it. This is despite the fact that recent surveys show that it is barely crossing the threshold to enter the Knesset.  Gantz’s weak point is the fact that the party is perceived as lacking consistent policies and positions, partly because of the “neither right nor left” campaign and the fact that the two parties share different positions on political issues.  Israel Hayom suggests Tzipi Livni is considering withdrawing her party from the election.

Kan news reports that Palestinian Authority officials are furious about the decision that was made by the Israeli security cabinet to deduct approximately NIS 0.5 billion from the tax funds that Israel levies on the Palestinian Authority’s behalf—in response to the PA policy to pay salaries to terrorists and their families. Senior officials in Ramallah said that the Israeli decision would have severe repercussions.  They also report the response from Opposition Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich who said that the decision, while the security cabinet has approved a regular flow of enormous sums of money to Hamas was foolish, hypocritical and populist, and was damaging to national security. Yachimovich said: “It’s surreal that Prime Minister Netanyahu has chosen to withhold funds to the PA, with which we have life-saving security coordination, while simultaneously bolstering Hamas, which is a murderous terror organisation.”

Ronen Bergman in Yediot Ahronot analyses the Munich Security Conference.  He notes the similarity in themes of three speeches which were clearly not coordinated: “US Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke on Saturday, started with the Holocaust and moved on to talk about the Iranian nuclear program and its sponsorship of terrorism. Benny Gantz, who delivered his first international speech as a candidate for prime minister, started with the Holocaust and moved on to the Iranian nuclear program and Tehran’s sponsorship of terrorism. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif began with very severe accusations against the United States, including against Pence personally by saying that he didn’t know what antisemitism was, continued by addressing the right of countries to develop missiles and to conduct nuclear research, and concluded with Israel and the United States’ involvement in aggression in the region. Zarif’s English, incidentally, was better than the others.”

He adds: “While Zarif spoke in the central hall, which was nearly completely full, Benny Gantz’s aides waited impatiently in a medium-sized hall on the third floor of the hotel. When Zarif finished speaking, many went to hear Gantz. There was no sign that he felt unnatural in that capacity, though he did seem a bit anxious when he read his speech off a teleprompter that was brought especially for him into the room. The momentum was excellent, the room was full…but all of that failed to create the impact that his speech in Israel created….It isn’t clear whom Gantz was targeting with his speech. European diplomats who were in the room came away deeply disappointed. A speech that made no mention of the Palestinians, two states for two peoples, human rights, repealing the nation-state law or any mention of minorities, complained one European diplomat.”

Haaretz reports the diplomatic crisis between Israel and Poland after the Polish prime minister cancelled his participation in the Visegrad summit that will take place in Israel today.  The paper reports: “Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, who was set to replace him, is considering cancelling his participation as well after Israel’s acting foreign minister commented on Poland’s involvement in the Holocaust.”