A1SaudiArabia.com

DHAKA – Beximco, the largest private sector industrial conglomerate in Bangladesh, said it has set up a joint venture with a Saudi firm to invest nearly $1 billion for upgradation of Bangladeshs sole oil refinery.

“Beximco and Marasel Company of Saudi Arabia will jointly submit interest for funding an upgradation project of the Eastern Refinery Limited,” a statement from Beximco said.

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JOHANNESBURG – South Africas largest union threatened on Friday to bring gold and platinum mining and other industries to a halt next week in a strike to support a stoppage by 1.3 million state workers.

The strike by state workers seeking pay raises more than double the inflation rate started last week and has led to school closures, prevented medical treatment and caused bodies to pile up at state-run morgues.

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STAVANGER, Norway – Petrobras and SINTEF have signed a General Research and Development agreement on Thursday as a part of the Innovation Norway Brazil Day at ONS here.

The executive manager of Cenpes (Petrobras R&D center), Carlos Tadeu, and CEO of SINTEF, Unni Steinsmo, signed the agreement.

The oil & gas industry in Brazil represents one of the fastest growing petroleum regions in the world.

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SEOUL – South Koreas crude imports in July went up 5.5 percent year on year to 68.96 million barrels (2.22 million b/d) despite a marginal rise in demand and crude throughput and a drop in exports, data released this week by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. showed.

Crude imports were up 2 percent from Junes 67.61 million barrels. The South Koreans paid an average $75.37/barrel on a CIF basis for their crude imports in July, compared with $68.71/b in July 2009 and 77.30/b in June this year.

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JEDDAH – The rise of energy and utilities sector index by 2.39 percent on Monday as a result of Saudi Electricity Cos approval of SR14.7 billion worth ($3.92 billion) of power projects to meet rising demand, sent the Saudi stock market benchmark Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) to rise 0.26 percent at 6,106.75 points.

Saudi Electricity surged 2.59 percent at SR13.85, its largest gain since July 24.

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JEDDAH: It is true that after a long day of fasting and partaking of the iftar one can usually feel weak and in need of a long nap, but to get around this many youths in the Kingdom have turned to taking energy drinks to break their fasts in order to give them a boost to enjoy Ramadan nightly activities and to stay up until the pre-dawn suhur.

“I prefer an energy drink after I have eaten my iftar meal,” said 22-year-old Saudi Afnan Labban. “It gives me a pick-me-up to go shopping and to enjoy other Ramadan activities with my family and friends.”

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RIYADH – A national strategic plan to develop and boost health and medical research in the Kingdom has been charted by the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in collaboration with the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center and a number of concerned organizations.
The national program promotes the health and well-being of Saudi citizens with a strategic plan aimed at curtailing various diseases and checking spiraling health care expenses that represent four percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
It also aims to raise the total value of related research activities that currently stands at two percent of GDP to a percentage that keeps pace with the objectives of science, technology and innovation.
The plan will be attached to the strategic five-year plans of KACST’s 11 technology programs to expand strategic technologies in order to achieve comprehensive sustainable development.
This development encompasses water, oil and gas, petrochemicals, nanotechnologies, biotechnology, information technology, electronics, communications, photonics, space and aeronautics technology, energy, advanced materials and environment, as well as mathematics, physics, agriculture and building and construction.
The health and medical research strategic plan has been based on the experiences, information and data of users of technology, medical sciences and health care, as well as related bodies, authorities and entities inside the Kingdom.
In addition, it plans to benefit from contributions and observations of global specialized institutes.
The participating bodies and authorities have agreed to specify a vision for the Saudi Medical and Health Research Program by developing national human potential and expertise. It will also involve the necessary infrastructure to carry out high quality innovative, sustainable and competitive research, as well as sponsoring and facilitating collaborative, creative multi-specialization and multi-disciplinary research.
The program will support research in the field of health and medical sciences to promote health and well-being in the Kingdom.
The strategic research goals of the plan were set after studying the most common contagious and non-contagious diseases in the Kingdom and estimating their future development.
The non-contagious diseases include diabetes, heart disease and circulatory diseases, cancer, allergy and asthma and neuro-diseases, according to the latest report carried by KACST’s website.
The concerned authorities have suggested establishing a new administrative entity to be called “The National Council for Medical and Health Research”.
This council will be in charge of administrative supervision and logistic support for departments and research institutions affiliated to it.
Members of this council will be leading international specialist researchers in medical, clinical and biomedical studies, as well as health experts including doctors, dentists and public health experts. – SPA

SOCHI, Russia – The presidents of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Russia agreed on Wednesday to pursue joint economic projects to help bring stability to the volatile region as they met for a rare regional summit.

The four-way summit, which also involved Tajikistan, adopted a joint declaration, saying it supported intentions by businesspeople from Russia, Pakistan and Tajikistan to help Afghanistan rebuild its infrastructure, including in energy and transportation industries.

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SINGAPORE – Waves crashing on to Australias southern shores each year contain enough energy to power the country three times over, scientists said on Tuesday in a study that underscores the scale of Australias green energy.

The research, in the latest issue of the journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, comes as the nation is struggling to wean itself of years of using cheap, polluting coal to power the economy and to put a price on carbon emissions.

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JEDDAH – The market ruckus brought about by recent BlackBerry-RIM dilemma might have shifted the favor to its rivals. However, even before the contentious issue occurred, smartphones with Googles Android operating system were the top seller.

Industry tracker NPD, a leading North American market research company, said in its findings for the second quarter of this year that Android-run smartphones were the buyers choice, accounting for 33 percent of all smartphones purchased, while RIMs BlackBerry slid to second place for the first time since 2007, and Apples iPhone occupied third spot with 22 percent.

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