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26 Sep 2021; MEMO: Pakistan will pursue individual trade deals with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, a Pakistani official said on Sunday, as talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council remain stalled, reports Reuters.

The GCC, which includes those three countries plus Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain, started free trade talks with Pakistan in 2004. It has not implemented a free trade deal since 2015.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Canadians detained in China on spying charges were released from prison and flown out of the country on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, just after a top executive of Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies reached a deal with the U.S. Justice Department over fraud charges and flew to China.

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates has opened bilateral talks with South Korea in a bid to boost atomic energy cooperation, the UAE foreign ministry said today.

According to the National, Park Il, the Director-General of South Korea's Nuclear Affairs Ministry, met with the CEO of the UAE's Barakah One Company, Nasser Al-Nasseri, in Dubai yesterday. They plan to hold higher level talks as a result.

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: The window is still open to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal but won't be forever, a senior US official said yesterday, saying Iran has yet to name a negotiator, set a date for talks or say whether it would resume where they left off in June, Reuters reports.

Washington was prepared to be patient, the US official told reporters, but said at some point Iran's nuclear advances would overtake the deal and the United States and its partners would have to decide whether Iran was willing to revive it.

New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) The Defence Ministry on Thursday sealed a contract to procure 118 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) Arjun for the Indian Army at a cost of Rs 7,523 crore, in a major move to boost its combat capabilities.

The defence ministry placed the order for the Arjuna Mk-1A tanks with the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Avadi, Chennai.

The MBT Mk-1A is a new variant of Arjun Tank designed to enhance fire power, mobility and survivability, infused with 72 new features and more indigenous content from the Mk-1 variant

Mumbai, Sep 23 (PTI) Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) on Thursday said the African nation has reopened its borders for Indian travellers, which were closed for a brief period due to the second wave of Covid-19.

The temporary ban of passenger flights from India was revoked after a brief period of suspension since May this year as a result of the spike of Covid-19 pandemic in the country, KTB said in a statement.

Washington, Sep 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described India and America as "natural partners" as he held the first in-person meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House during which they decided to further cement the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed global issues of common interest, including threats to democracy, Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.

New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan will visit India next week to explore sealing of an early harvest trade pact to be followed by a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA) in line with the overall policy approach by the two sides to ramp up economic ties.

It will be the first ministerial visit from Australia after it joined a new security alliance with the UK and the US that triggered sharp reactions from France and raised apprehensions about its possible impact on the Quad.

22 Sep 2021; MEMO: Turkey is to start talks with the United Arab Emirates over funding its energy sector, the deputy power minister said yesterday.

According to Reuters, Alparslan Bayraktar told reporters that Turkey is in talks with the UAE on energy cooperation.

"There are such a lot of areas where we will cooperate," he said.

22 Sep 2021; MEMO: United Arab Emirates Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum approved a 65 billion-dirham ($17.70 billion) housing programme for Emirati citizens to be implemented over the next 20 years, the Dubai Government Media Office said on Twitter today.

"Decent housing is a dignity and a right for all," he said.