Saudi Arabia agrees to boost oil production: Trump
Washington, July 1 : US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz, has agreed to increase the Arab kingdom's oil production significantly in order to stop the price of crude from rising.
"Just spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil and disfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference," Trump wrote on Twitter.
"Prices to high! He has agreed!" Trump added in reference to the Saudi king.
Last week, Trump urged members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to boost their crude production "substantially" to keep the price down, Efe reported.
OPEC and its allies decided last June 22 to raise crude production by a million barrels a day, a volume that, in the medium term, could be more like 600,000 barrels, as a way to control prices that are at their highest since 2014.
It's not yet clear if the increase with which, according to Trump, Saudi Arabia has agreed is in addition to the amount agreed with OPEC, though as Bloomberg reported this week, the state-run oil company Saudi Aramco plans to increase production starting in July to some 10.8 million barrels per day under pressure from the US.
Trump is concerned about the hike in gasoline prices in the United States, where a gallon costs an average of $2.85, which is 63 cents more than last year, according to estimates of the American Automobile Association (AAA).
The Democratic opposition has blamed part of that increase on Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, while Republicans fear that rising gasoline prices will dull Americans' enthusiasm for the US economy as they approach next November's legislative elections.
The US government has threatened with sanctions all the companies in the world that starting next November 5 continue doing business with Iran, which includes oil purchases.
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Tirupati laddu row: Samples of Ayodhya Ram temple 'prasad' sent for testing
Ayodhya, Sep 27: The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department on Friday collected samples of 'elaichi daana' or cardamom seeds being distributed as 'prasad' at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple here and sent them for testing, officials said.
The action was taken following a complaint lodged through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), Assistant Food Commissioner Manik Chand Singh said.
Singh said the samples were procured from Haiderganj, where the cardamom seed offerings are prepared and sent to the Jhansi State Laboratory for comprehensive testing and evaluation.
Prakash Gupta, the officer in charge of the Ram Temple trust, revealed that on average, around 80,000 packets of cardamom seeds are distributed daily as a sacred offering.
Amid a row over the alleged presence of animal fat in laddus at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, the chief priest of the Ram temple here on Thursday questioned the purity of ghee being sold nationwide and said 'prasad' should be prepared under the supervision of temple priests only.
