Saudi says no plans for embargo despite Khashoggi row
Moscow, Oct 22 : Saudi Arabia said Monday it had no plans to repeat its harsh 1973 oil embargo, even as relations with the West sour following the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi.
Riyadh, long the world's biggest oil producer, hiked prices sharply during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, setting off a wave of inflation that plunged developed economies into years of crisis.
Saudi Oil Minister Khaled al-Faleh told the TASS news agency that "there is no intention" of repeating the events of 1973.
"Saudi Arabia is a completely responsible country. For decades, we have used our oil (production) policy as a responsible economic tool and we have kept it apart from politics," Faleh was quoted as telling TASS in an interview in Riyadh.
"If oil prices were to rise too much, that would slow the global economy and set off a global recession.
"Saudi Arabia has been coherent in its policy. We work to stabilise global markets and to facilitate global economic growth," he added.
Riyadh's changing accounts of what happened to Khashoggi, an insider turned critic of the government, have run into increasing western scepticism, with even firm ally US President Donald Trump saying the government had lied about what happened.
In its latest version, the government conceded that Khashoggi was killed by mistake in its Istanbul consulate but this only sparked more calls for a complete and transparent investigation, coupled with the threat of sanctions.
"This incident will pass," al-Faleh forecast.
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Defeated delimitation bill in Parliament to defend idea of India: Cong leader Rahul Gandhi
Chennai (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the opposition parties defeated the delimitation bill in the Parliament on Friday to defend the "idea of India."
Addressing a poll rally at Ponneri here, he said the BJP-led government at the Centre brought a new bill on April 16, and said they were trying to pass the women's bill, which he said was passed in 2023.
"In the so-called Women's Bill, delimitation was hidden. The idea was to reduce Tamil Nadu's representation in the Union of India... the delimitation move by BJP was to weaken the strength of southern states, small states, north eastern states," he alleged.
"We defeated in Parliament, a bill in which delimitation was hidden; we defeated it to defend the idea of India."
Rahul added that India that is Bharat, is a union of states, and every single state should have a voice, be free to express itself, and protect its tradition.
