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Municipality readies Makkah for Ramadan

June 15, 2013

Makkah_for_Ramadan

Makkah, Jun 15: Thousands of laborers will be working around the clock to keep the holy city of Makkah clean during the month of fasting that commences July 9.

The Makkah Municipality has approved a comprehensive plan to clean, collect garbage and monitor shops to ensure they adhere to food and safety standards. The workers will be deployed along roads and tunnels and ensure that streetlights and flood drainage systems work.

A municipality statement said yesterday that over 8,500 workers with equipment would be used, particularly in the Central Zone during the month. Additional workers and equipment will be deployed to cope with emergencies during the last 10 days of Ramadan.

The mayor will head the supervisory committee for Ramadan, with the support of deputy mayor, directors and top officials of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.

There will be 28 teams to eradicate insects, rodents, and stray dogs and cats. The teams will have 432 supervisors, technicians and drivers supported by 192 pieces of equipment for disinfecting and removing stagnant water, the statement said.

Municipal inspectors will make frequent visits to commercial establishments and markets to ensure adherence to hygiene and environmental health standards. Public health facilities will be inspected in collaboration with the General Administration for Environmental Health. There will be close monitoring of food shops. Samples will be collected from eateries, water companies and ice factories to ensure they are hygienic. The municipality plans to take 140 food samples daily throughout the month.

The fuel stations and cafeterias on highways and mobile cafes will be inspected to ensure that they are engaged in licensed activities. There will also be committees to monitor prices at markets, kiosks and stalls.

Inspections of slaughterhouses and meat shops will be beefed up to ensure that slaughtered animals are healthy and the shops and workers are following health regulations. The municipality will work with the Agricultural Department to ensure that animals meant for slaughtering are free of contagious diseases.

The committee will take steps to protect people from old and dangerous buildings. Preparations are also being made to tackle any emergency such as fire and floods, the statement added.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Dubai, Jul 28: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) (ADCB.AD) is letting go hundreds of employees, sources said, the latest in a round of lay-offs by regional banks as pressure mounts to cut costs amid lower oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.

The UAE’s third-biggest lender is laying off 400 employees, two sources familiar with the matter said, after it had committed to not cutting staff because of the crisis.

In a statement, a spokesman said ADCB had pursued efficiency over the last decade by managing out its lowest underachievers after regular reviews, while ensuring talent was deployed in high-growth areas, such as digital banking.

“A certain number of redundancies are therefore expected every year in the normal course of business,” the bank spokesman added.

The sources said the cuts would involve ADCB’s consumer business and several in top management were among those being let go. One source said the bank was looking to close 20 branches.

In March, ADCB had declared, “No employee will be made redundant during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UAE banks have been hit by government measures to rein in the spread of the virus, forcing many businesses to shut temporarily.

Last week, Dubai’s largest bank, Emirates NBD, reported a slump of 58% in profits. In June, sources told Reuters the bank started a new round of hundreds of lay-offs.

In May, ADCB reported a fall of 84% in first-quarter net profit as it took impairments of $292 million on debt exposure to troubled hospital operator NMC Health and payments group Finablr.

It was a major lender, with an exposure of about $981 million, to NMC Health, which went into administration this year after months of turmoil following questions over financial reporting.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Beirut, Aug 7: A devastating explosion that destroyed much of Beirut might have been the result of a missile attack or bomb, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said, as the death toll from the blast rose to 154.

More than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate had been sitting in a port warehouse for six years, but there have been conflicting accounts about why Lebanese authorities decided to empty the shipment of explosive material. The vessel carrying the flammable cargo was heading from Georgia to Mozambique when it stopped in the Lebanese port to load up on iron, according to the ship’s captain.

By Friday, 19 suspects had been arrested and Lebanon’s former director general of customs Chafic Merhy had been questioned by military police.

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News Network
July 23,2020

Beirut, Jul 23: The pandemic will exact a heavy toll on Arab countries, causing an economic contraction of 5.7% this year, pushing millions into poverty and compounding the suffering of those affected by armed conflict, a U.N. report said Thursday.

The U.N.'s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia expects some Arab economies to shrink by up to 13%, amounting to an overall loss for the region of $152 billion.

Another 14.3 million people are expected to be pushed into poverty, raising the total number to 115 million — a quarter of the total Arab population, it said. More than 55 million people in the region relied on humanitarian aid before the COVID-19 crisis, including 26 million who were forcibly displaced.

Arab countries moved quickly to contain the virus in March by imposing stay-at-home orders, restricting travel and banning large gatherings, including religious pilgrimages.

Arab countries as a whole have reported more than 830,000 cases and at least 14,717 deaths. That equates to an infection rate of 1.9 per 1,000 people and 17.6 deaths per 1,000 cases, less than half the global average of 42.6 deaths, according to the U.N.

But the restrictions exacted a heavy economic toll, and authorities have been forced to ease them in recent weeks. That has led to a surge in cases in some countries, including Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

Wealthy Gulf countries were hit by the pandemic at a time of low oil prices, putting added strain on already overstretched budgets. Middle-income countries like Jordan and Egypt have seen tourism vanish overnight and a drop in remittances from citizens working abroad.

War-torn Libya and Syria have thus far reported relatively small outbreaks. But in Yemen, where five years of civil war had already generated the world's worst humanitarian crisis, the virus is running rampant in the government-controlled south while rebels in the north conceal its toll.

Rola Dashti, the head of the U.N. commission, said Arab countries need to “turn this crisis into an opportunity” and address longstanding issues, including weak public institutions, economic inequality and over-reliance on fossil fuels.

“We need to invest in survival, survival of people and survival of businesses,” she said.

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