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Saudi Arabia, India moving towards closer strategic ties: Modi

Agencies
October 29, 2019

Riyadh, Oct 29: India and Saudi Arabia are moving from a purely buyer-seller relationship towards a closer strategic partnership that will include the resource-rich Kingdom's investments in downstream oil and gas projects in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said.

Saudi Arabia is its second-biggest supplier after Iraq. It sold 40.33 million tonnes of crude oil to India in 2018-19 fiscal, when the country had imported 207.3 million tonnes of oil.

India imports around 18 per cent of its crude oil from the Kingdom, making it the second-largest source of crude oil for the country, Prime Minister Modi said in an interview published in the Arab News newspaper on Tuesday.

The prime minister arrived here on Monday night to attend a key financial conference and hold talks with the top Saudi leadership.

"From a purely buyer-seller relationship, we are now moving toward a closer strategic partnership that will include Saudi investments in downstream oil and gas projects," he said.

Modi said that stable oil prices are crucial for the growth of the global economy, and praised the Kingdom’s role as an important and reliable source of India's energy requirements.

"Saudi Aramco is participating in a major refinery and petrochemical project on India’s west coast. We are also looking forward to the participation of Aramco in India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves," Modi said.

Saudi Aramco, the most profitable company in the world, controls the world's second-largest proven crude reserves at more than 270 billion barrels.

Saudi Arabia is still recovering from the September 14 drone and missile assault on the world's largest crude-processing facility operated by Saudi Arabia's Aramco that knocked out about 5.7 million barrels a day, about half of the country's output. Its state energy company, Saudi Aramco, has vowed not to reduce shipments to customers as it draws down strategic reserves.

India imports 83 per cent of its oil needs.

This is Prime Minister Modi's second visit to the Gulf Kingdom. During his first visit in 2016, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz conferred Saudi's highest civilian award on him. The Crown Prince visited India in February 2019, giving a further fillip to the bilateral ties.

India's relations with Saudi Arabia have been on an upswing over the last few years. India's bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia was at USD 27.48 billion in 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia its fourth-largest trading partner.

Saudi Arabia last month said it was looking at investing USD 100 billion in India in areas of energy, refining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, agriculture, minerals and mining.

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News Network
June 17,2020

Abu Dhabi, Jun 17: The Ministry of Education (MoE) has allowed students still enrolled in universities overseas to obtain exceptions to attendance policies at their respective academic institutions in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the ministry said that the move stems from its keenness to ensure the continuity of education for those students and to maintain effective channels of communication with them.

Students' applications for exceptions to academic attendance in universities due to Covid-19 should be submitted following the end of the academic year, and not after the academic semester, via the following email: [email protected].

In their email, students have to explain the reasons for the required exceptions and should include an official message from the university concerned.

Scholarship approval issued by the Ministry of Education for studying abroad should also be attached.

The student's score reports for the academic years spent in the host countries and the duration of each academic year should also be attached, in addition to an entry and exit report of the student from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

Jerusalem, May 17: The Chinese ambassador to Israel was found dead in his home north of Tel Aviv on Sunday, Israel's Foreign Ministry said.

No cause of death was given and Israeli police said it was investigating.

Du Wei, 58, was appointed envoy in February in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. He previously served as China's envoy to Ukraine.

He is survived by a wife and son, both of whom were not in Israel.

Israel enjoys good relations with China.

The ambassador's death comes just two days after he condemned comments by visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who denounced Chinese investments in Israel and accused China of hiding information about the coronavirus outbreak.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Chennai, Jun 10: DMK MLA J Anbazhagan who had tested positive for coronavirus and was on ventilator support from June 3 passed away at a hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.

Coincidently, today is the 62nd birthday of the MLA.

"Anbazhagan J, who has been fighting for his life with severe COVID 19 pneumonia rapidly deteriorated early this morning. In spite of full medical support including mechanical ventilation at our COVID facility, he succumbed to his illness. He was declared dead at 08:05 hours on the 10th of June 2020," the hospital said in a statement.

In 2001, Anbazhagan was elected from T Nagar Assembly constituency. He served for five years.

Later in 2011, he was elected to Tamil Nadu Assembly from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seat. The DMK leader was re-elected from the same constituency in 2016.

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