- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
- Biden official urges talks as US port strike enters second day
- Huge protests in Argentina over public university cuts
- Rally in oil prices loses steam on mixed day for global stocks
- South America treated to rare 'ring of fire' eclipse
- Biden official says port strike deal not as far as parties think
- Mexico's new president offers apology for 1968 student massacre
- Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion
- Mixed US car sales in Q3 as industry hopes for post-election bounce
- Thunderstorms are a 'boiling pot' of gamma rays, scientists find
- Scientists unlock secret of 'Girl With Pearl Earring'
- Dolphins flash friendly grins when they're ready to play
- Facing backlash, EU moves to delay deforestation rules
- US private sector adds more jobs than expected in September: ADP
- Boys out of critical condition after Zurich stabbings
- Spain logs record summer tourism as inflow draws protests
- Hedi Slimane quits as Celine's artistic director
- Oil prices extend rally on Iran attack
RBGPF | -1.35% | 59.99 | $ | |
BCC | -0.9% | 138.29 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.16% | 24.74 | $ | |
SCS | -1.98% | 12.62 | $ | |
NGG | -2.7% | 66.97 | $ | |
RIO | -1.42% | 69.83 | $ | |
BTI | -2.45% | 35.11 | $ | |
AZN | -2.12% | 77.93 | $ | |
GSK | -2.81% | 38.37 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.16% | 24.89 | $ | |
JRI | -0.6% | 13.3 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.15% | 6.98 | $ | |
BCE | -1.77% | 33.84 | $ | |
RELX | -1.46% | 46.61 | $ | |
VOD | -0.52% | 9.69 | $ | |
BP | 0.28% | 32.46 | $ |
Biden to talk oil at Arab summit concluding Middle East tour
US President Joe Biden is set to discuss volatile oil prices during a summit with Arab leaders on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, the final stop of his Middle East tour.
The meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second city on the Red Sea coast, will bring together leaders of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.
Biden landed Friday in Saudi Arabia, a longtime US ally he once vowed to make a "pariah" over its human rights record, and met with King Salman, de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top Saudi officials.
Tensions had been high between Biden and Prince Mohammed, especially after Biden's administration released US intelligence findings that Prince Mohammed "approved" an operation targeting journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose gruesome killing in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate in 2018 spurred global outrage.
Biden now appears ready to re-engage with a country that has been a key strategic ally of the United States for decades, a major supplier of oil and an avid buyer of weapons.
Washington wants the world's largest exporter of crude to open the floodgates to bring down soaring gasoline prices, which threaten Democratic chances in November mid-term elections.
- Human rights -
But Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, tamped down expectations of immediate progress while speaking with reporters on the flight to Jeddah.
"I don't think you should expect a particular announcement here bilaterally," he said.
"We believe any further action taken to ensure that there is sufficient energy to protect the health of the global economy will be done in the context of OPEC+," Sullivan said, referring to the wider bloc of oil producers.
The summit will enable Biden to "lay out clearly and substantively his vision and his strategy" for US engagement in the Middle East, he added.
Biden said his trip "is about once again positioning America in this region for the future.
"We are not going to leave a vacuum in the Middle East for Russia or China to fill," he insisted.
Biden was under pressure to discuss the cases of Khashoggi as well as Saudis detained under what critics of Prince Mohammed described as a far-reaching crackdown on dissent.
Late Friday, Biden said he raised Khashoggi's killing "at the top of the meeting" with Prince Mohammed and "made it clear if anything occurs like that again they will get that response and much more".
While in Israel he told reporters his motives for visiting Saudi Arabia were "broader" than human rights.
"My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely, positively clear, and I have never been quiet about talking about human rights."
- Israeli ties -
Such comments disappointed relatives of detained Saudis, including some with US citizenship.
"I don't feel very optimistic about the visit only because past incidents prove that the powers that be in Saudi can do whatever they want and there are no consequences," said Sarah al-Haider.
Her brother, US citizen Salah al-Haider, was held for nearly two years on suspicion of terrorism-related crimes and remains under a travel ban despite being released last year.
Also Friday, dozens of British and US lawmakers urged Biden to discuss Egypt's "extensive architecture of repression" in talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
White House officials have used the trip as a bid to promote integration between Israel and Arab nations.
The issue of the strategic Red Sea islands of Tiran and neighbouring Sanafir is also expected to be on Saturday's agenda.
Egypt ceded the islands in 2016 to Saudi Arabia, but the deal requires Israel's green light -- a move that could spur contacts between the Jewish state and Riyadh.
Biden said Friday that a decades-old multinational peacekeeping force, including US troops, would leave Tiran, with the White House adding they would depart by the end of the year.
Saudi Arabia has refused to join the US-brokered Abraham Accords which in 2020 created ties between Israel and two of the kingdom's neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Riyadh has repeatedly said it would stick to the decades-old Arab League position of not establishing official ties with Israel until the conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.
But it is showing signs of greater openness towards Israel, and on Friday announced it was lifting overflight restrictions on aircraft travelling to and from Israel, a move Biden hailed as "historic".
Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid went further saying: "This is the first official step in normalisation with Saudi Arabia."
X.Cheung--CPN