Saudi King Salman embraces 'selfie' on tour across Asia

JAKARTA - Saudi Arabia's King Salman has embraced the "selfie", taking part in a number of light-hearted self-shot pictures and videos during his tour of Asia that contrast with the pomp and formality of most of the octogenarian monarch's trips abroad.

In the first days of a lengthy regional tour, the king has appeared with top-ranking officials in Indonesia and Malaysia in pictures and clips that have been shared online millions of times.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo shared on Facebook a video of himself dining with the king at the presidential palace in Bogor, near the capital Jakarta.

In the video, both men comment on the visit, the first to Indonesia by a Saudi king in nearly five decades, and give viewers a rare peek into a state event.

As Widodo holds what appears to be a phone camera, the king is seen dining on soup and using gold-colored cutlery before commenting in Arabic on his 12-day visit to Indonesia, the longest leg of his month-long tour of Asia.

"I'm very happy to be here in Indonesia and with the Indonesian people," King Salman says to the camera, as an interpreter sitting behind him translates into Bahasa Indonesia.

The king was also photographed posing for a selfie with former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and her daughter Puan Maharani, who is a member of Widodo's cabinet.

Indonesia has a high concentration of Facebook and Twitter users, and selfies are a mainstay of social media in the world's fourth most populous country.

Earlier this week, Salman was seen in a selfie posted on Twitter with Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, during the first stop on his sweep across Asia.

Though rare, Salman has made occasional appearances on social media before, including when he posed last year for a selfie in Qatar with a teen who survived cancer.

The king is travelling with an entourage of several hundred people and nearly 500 tonnes of luggage, including two gold-coloured escalators.

After Jakarta, the delegation is set to take a break in the resort island of Bali, where up to four hotels and 300 luxury cars have been booked for more than a week, according to local police and a tour agency association.

Salman is also set to visit Brunei, China, Japan, the Maldives and Jordan.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Oil jumps after Saudi king's death amid huge market shifts

SINGAPORE - Oil prices jumped in early Asian trading on Friday as news of the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah added to uncertainty in energy markets already facing some of the biggest shifts in decades.

Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television.

U.S. benchmark WTI crude futures rose more than 2 percent to a high of $47.76 a barrel in early Asian trading. International benchmark Brent futures opened up almost 1.5 percent higher at $49.10 per barrel at 0100 GMT.

The Saudi King's death comes amid some of the biggest shifts in oil markets in decades.

"The fear of the unknown is going to be supportive to crude oil prices," said John Kilduff, partner, Again Capital LLC in New York.

"King Abdullah was the architect of the current strategy to keep production high and force out smaller players instead of cutting," he added.

Oil prices have more than halved since peaking in June last year as soaring supplies clash with slowing demand.

Booming U.S. shale production has turned the United States from the world's biggest oil importer into the biggest producer, producing more than 9 million barrel per day.

To combat soaring output and falling prices, many oil exporters, such as Venezuela, wanted the 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output in order to support prices and revenues.

Yet, led by Saudi Arabia, OPEC announced last November it was keeping output steady at 30 million barrels per day.

Brent, which had already fallen to $77 per barrel by the time of the OPEC meeting, dropped another quarter over the next month as the market digested the fact OPEC would not come to the rescue.

OPEC's decision not to act, led by Saudi Arabia, was aimed at defending market share against U.S. shale producers as well as other non-OPEC exporters such as Brazil or Russia.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com