00:00Good evening, welcome to a special Gulf News update for Friday, January the 23rd.
00:10Saudi King Abdullah, who died Friday morning, was laid to rest this evening following a
00:15funeral attended by dozens of foreign leaders.
00:19The Saudi royal court earlier said in a statement that Abdullah, 90, died at 1am local time
00:25Friday and expressed its great sadness and mourning.
00:29King Salman, who replaced his half-brother as the ruler of the world's top oil exporter,
00:35vowed to maintain a steady course for the kingdom in a public statement.
00:39He called for unity and solidarity among Muslims and vowed to work in the defense of the causes
00:46of our nation.
00:47Another of Abdullah's half-brothers, Prince Mukrin, was named as the crown prince of the
00:53kingdom.
00:54King Salman named Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as the deputy crown
01:00prince and Prince Mohammed bin Salman to replace him as a defense minister.
01:06Earlier, global leaders paid tributes to the late King Abdullah, a cautious reformer who
01:12led his kingdom through a turbulent decade in a region shaken by the Arab Spring uprisings
01:17and extremism.
01:20UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan mourned the death saying
01:25that Arab and Muslim nations had lost a great figure who never hesitated to serve the causes
01:31of his nation until the end of his life.
01:34On behalf of Sheikh Khalifa, His Highness, Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi,
01:40Supreme Council member and ruler of Sharjah, attended the funeral of Abdullah.
01:46Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also
01:52joined Gulf leaders for the funeral prayer at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.
01:58In the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa ordered a three-day mourning starting from Friday.
02:03He also ordered that an absentee funeral prayer be performed for the late Saudi king after
02:08the Isha prayers on Friday evening at all mosques across the UAE.
02:13Oil prices rose briefly on news of King Abdullah's death, but analysts said the increase was
02:18likely to be short-lived without a cut in the kingdom's immense crude production.
02:24That's all for now.
02:25Thanks for watching.
02:26We will be back with our regular newscast on Sunday, but you can always get the latest
02:31news on gulfnews.com.
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