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Let the show begin: World-class entertainment comes to Saudi Arabia

October 3, 2016

Jeddah, Oct 3: Since its establishment a few months ago, the General Authority for Entertainment (GAE) has been working relentlessly to introduce the Saudi public to a new form of entertainment that takes the Saudi cultural life into new dimensions.

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With a view to changing local and international perceptions, a royal decree was issued, ordering the creation of GAE, a decision that comes in tune with the announcement of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 for the future.

The decision is of great importance as it will help strengthen both the Saudi economy and its global competitiveness.

GAE has organized a live performance, conducted by the internationally recognized iLuminate, that is taking place in Princess Nourah University’s conference hall in Riyadh. The event started on Sept. 28 and will continue till Oct. 8.

Speaking to Arab News, Ziad Al-Suhaibani, a member of the GAE’s organizing team and an official at the advisory unit of the Ministry of Economy and Planning, said that the show has been very successful so far and was attended by thousands of citizens.

“Our goal is to change the stereotypical image of the cultural entertainment that has been projected to the local audience. What is unique in these activities is that they are not catering to only one type of audience. We open the door to families, single young Saudi men and women to attend and enjoy,” Al-Suhaibani said.

“Change is happening in Saudi Arabia. A new face of Saudi Arabia is emerging — one that is modern, young and open-minded,” he said.

“Our goal is to link this change with 2030 Vision; through entertainment to help achieve the objectives of the vision,” he added.

Al-Suhaibani pointed out that the entertainment industry is a green field and customer experience of this event is world class, stressing that the activities selected are in total harmony with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

The audience expressed satisfaction with the show through different social media platforms.

“The iLuminate live show I attended today was spectacular and well organized. I am so glad to see such kind of activities in the Kingdom,” said one twitterati.

“Besides Arabs and Saudis, the attendees were very diverse. We’ve got visitors from Korea, Germany, Tajikistan, US, UK, Italy, France and from many other countries,” Al-Suhaibani said.

“The concept of live show is new to the Kingdom. I guess this may be the first international live show brought to the Kingdom,” he said.

On April 25, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pointed out at the launch of Saudi Vision 2030 that the government is working to activate the role of various government funds in the establishment and development of recreational centers, as well as to encourage investors, both from the Kingdom and abroad, to invest in Saudi Arabia, create partnerships with international entertainment companies and have land allocated for the establishment of cultural and recreational projects such as libraries, museums, art galleries and others.

The worldwide visual “iLuminate” specializes in the field of entertainment technology that combines state-of-the-art technology with entertainers wearing lit costume and performing in the dark to create the ultimate performing art experience.

The group came from New York to perform for the first time in the Kingdom.

When it concludes its activities in Riyadh, the show will move on to Jeddah, where it will be held at King Abdullah Sports City from Oct. 12-22.

This type of visual presentation is directed at children, families and youths; it combines the latest technology and the best talents to create an exceptional experience in the field of performing arts, he added.

Earlier this years, GAE unveiled its programs and activities till the end of 2016.

They include 166 artistic performances and plays expected to be attended by half a million visitors and bring revenues of over SR43 million.

The scheduled events for October include iLuminate, which uses laser technology, as well as performances such as “Luxury Entertainment Hub.”

In November, the audience will enjoy WWE wrestling matches, the Monster Jam Food Festival, and performances by the best participants in “Arabs Got Talent” who will perform live in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam for three days.

There will also be graffiti drawing in the Graffiti District, an even that is expected to be fun and attract a large audience.

In December, the schedule include events like “Comic Con,” animation and cartoon characters, “Actionha”, Spartan Reese, a show by prominent actor Tareq Al-Ali “Qalb Lal Bei’” (Heart for sale), Jeddah comedy club tour “Love Factory”, which is will be performed by Artologi exhibition in the three cities.

Plans for 2017 include performances by Cirque Du Soleil, Universe Science, the Light Festival, the Lion King; they will draw an estimated 2 million visitors in 15 cities.

Experts believe that GAE will be instrumental in reducing the number of outbound tourists by 50 percent.

In this context, Abdulrahman Al-Sani, vice president of the National Committee for Tourism, said some 4.5 million Saudi tourists spent nearly $35 billion (SR131.25 billion) in 2015 in foreign countries.

This figure is poised to increase to more than $100 billion (SR375 billion) in 15 years, at an annual rate of 15 percent, he said.

The volume of money spent on outbound tourism reached SR96.2 billion in 2015, compared to SR69.3 billion in 2014, a 39 percent increase, according to estimates of the Tourism Information and Research Center at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH).

GAE was created with several objectives in mind: dropping the unemployment rate from 11.6 percent to 7 percent, closer to the international rate; enhancing domestic tourism, in harmony with the Saudi Vision 2030, and supporting local festivals and activities, as tourism for entertainment purposes; activating the role of government funds to establish and develop entertainment centers; encouraging local and international investors to invest in Saudi Arabia and create partnerships; allocating lands for libraries and museums; supporting talented writers, directors and authors.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

Beirut, Aug 4: A massive explosion has shaken the Lebanese capital of Beirut, with a very high number of casualties expected.

A warehouse at the Beirut Port caught fire on Tuesday afternoon, triggering a huge explosion, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Several smaller explosions were heard before the bigger one occurred.

Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s General Security, said that “highly explosive materials” confiscated earlier had been stored at the site.

Footage shared on social media captured the moment of the bigger explosion, with a colossal shock wave seen traveling fast across several hundreds of meters and shrouding the area in thick smoke.

The blast left enormous material damage to the surrounding buildings and structures. But it was not immediately known how big an area was affected.

There was also no immediate casualty count. Graphic amateur video from the scene showed bodies strewn on the ground, with their clothes blown off.

The NNA said rescue operations were underway. Ambulances were seen heading toward the scene in central Beirut.

Lebanese LBC television channel quoted Lebanon’s Health Minister Hamad Hasan as saying that the blast had caused a “very high number of injuries” and “extensive damage.”

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud said an unspecified number of firefighters dispatched to extinguish the initial fire had been killed in the explosion.

“As they were putting out the fire, the explosion took place and we’ve [lost them],” he said, breaking down on live TV.

The explosion comes at a time when the Arab country is passing through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades, and amid rising tensions with Israel.

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News Network
May 7,2020

Dubai, May 7: As India begins the world’s largest evacuation mission by repatriating its overseas citizens stranded due to COVID-19, as many as 354 of them from the UAE will fly into their home country in the first two flights to Kerala today.

An Air India Express flight, which is scheduled to take off from Abu Dhabi to Kochi at 4.15 pm is the first flight, which will be followed by a Dubai-Kozhikode flight of the same airline at 5.10pm. The Indian missions in the UAE finalised the list of passengers, who were chosen based on the compelling reasons they submitted while registering their names.

Selection criteria

These include pregnant women and their accompanying family members in some instances, people with medical emergencies, workers and housemaids in distress, families with cancelled visas, bereaved family members who couldn’t attend funerals back home, a few students and stranded visitors and tourists including two brothers who got stranded in Dubai International Airport for 50 days, the missions said.

Short-listing the first passengers from among a database of more than 200,000 applicants, who include around 6,500 pregnant women, has been a mammoth task which posed several challenges for the missions, Neeraj Agrawal, Consul Press, Information and Culture at the Indian Consulate in Dubai told Gulf News.

He said the consulate set up an operations room in a tie-up with community volunteers from Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, Indian Association Ajman, AKCAF Task Force, the BAPS Mandir, Indian People’s Forum, and Tamil Ladies’ Sangam.

 “We are trying to accommodate as many deserving people as possible. We expect the understanding of the people. It has been very difficult to sort out everyone’s urgency.”

“We cannot do a lottery system in this and we had to make sub- categories to ensure there is a mix of people with different types of urgencies.”

“Though we want to give priority to pregnant women, it is practically not possible and not good for the health and safety of the applicants to allot a lot of them on the same flight.”

He said 11 pregnant women have been issued tickets on the Dubai-Kozhikode flight.

“That is the threshold we can allow on a flight.”

Volunteer support

The consul appreciated the support of the volunteers in finalising the flight manifest.

“But our response ratio was very less. Many people whose names came up on top of the list were not willing to go on the first flights.”

Due to various constraints like this and sometimes the details of accompanying persons not readily being available, he said the mission was not able to quickly reach out to who might be really in need.

“However, we have given due consideration to people who got in touch with us with their emergency needs. At the time of issuing tickets, we had about 20 such cases.”

He said the Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul led the entire operation and Pankaj Bodkhe, consul, education, was in charge of the Dubai flight.

A big challenge

“It has been a big challenge. Our only concern is that despite our best efforts, sometimes people with more compelling reasons might have got left out on the first flights because of the volume of people who have reached out to us.”

Since there is a chance that some passengers with tickets might not be allowed to fly if they fail the medical screening including blood tests to check antibodies for COVID-19, he said some applicants in the waiting list have been asked to be on standby at the airport.

People with emergencies wishing to fly to other destinations also could not be included, he pointed out.

“We had to ask them to wait. We are unable to send them to other destinations. We can see their desperation. We feel sorry and desperate.”

He said the government is trying to add more flights to un-chartered destinations and a new flight from Dubai to Kannur has been added on May 12.

Passengers of today’s flights have been urged to reach the airport four to five hours prior to departure to facilitate the medical screening.

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News Network
April 18,2020

Apr 18: Taking a strong notice of Islamophobia on social media, Princess Hend Al Qassimi, a member of the royal family of United Arab Emirates, called out a series of tweets by a user named Saurabh Upadhyay.

Upadhyay had posted tweets attacking Muslims over the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in March in Delhi that led to surge of coronavirus cases cases in India. He also gave into rumours of muslims ‘spiting on food’ to spread the virus.

Princess Qassimi shared the screenshots of his tweets and warned that those engaging in racism and Islamophobia will have to pay penalty and will be made to leave UAE. Upadhyay has apparently deactivated his Twitter handle now.

Responding to his earlier posts, she though the ruling family of UAE is “friends with Indians”, his rudeness was “not welcome”.

“All employees are paid to work, no one comes for free. You make your bread and butter from this land which you scorn and your ridicule will not go unnoticed,” she wrote.

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