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Qatar hits out at UAE for alleged cyber terrorism, Saudi denies hacking

Agencies
July 18, 2017

Dubai, Jul 18: Qatar, the tiny Gulf state being isolated by its neighbours, said the reported involvement of the United Arab Emirates in hacking its government news site in May is "unfortunate" and a breach of agreements among the Gulf countries.Qatar

The Washington Post, quoting unnamed US intelligence officials, reported Sunday that the UAE orchestrated the hacking and planted a false story that was used as a pretext for the crisis between Qatar and four Arab countries.

The report said senior members of the Emirati government discussed the hacking plan a day before a story appeared on the official Qatar News Agency quoting Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, allegedly praising Iran and saying Qatar has a good relationship with Israel.

The UAE has denied involvement, calling the Post report "false" and insisting that the UAE "had no role whatsoever" in the alleged hacking.

The UAE along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties and severed air, land and sea links with Qatar in early June over allegations that it supports extremist ideology - a charge Qatar denied. The crisis has dragged on for more than a month with neither side showing signs of backing down.

Qatar maintained from the beginning that the quotes attributed to its ruler were the result of a hacking. It said in a statement yesterday that the Post report "unequivocally proves that this hacking crime took place."

Sheikh Saif bin Ahmad Al Thani, the head of Qatar's government communications office, said "it is especially unfortunate that this shameful act of cyber terrorism is being attributed to a fellow member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

"This criminal act represents a clear violation and breach of international law and of the bilateral and collective agreements signed between the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as collective agreements with the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the United Nations," he said.

The GCC is a six-member bloc that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Kuwait has been serving as a mediator in trying to resolve the current Gulf crisis.

Sheikh Saif said a Qatari government investigation into the hacking is ongoing and that prosecutors will "take all necessary legal measures to bring to justice the perpetrators and instigators of this crime.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Dubai, Jan 4: Three UAE airlines have made it to lists of the safest carriers in 2020, reinforcing the value these companies provide passengers in the increasingly competitive aviation scene.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Dubai's Emirates are in the list of the top 20 safest airlines, while Sharjah-based Air Arabia is in the list of the top 10 low-cost carriers, safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com reported on Thursday.

It named Qantas as the safest airline for 2020 out of the 405 carriers it monitors.

The top 20, in order, are Qantas, Air New Zealand, EVA Air, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Alaska Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Virgin Australia, Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, TAP Portugal, SAS, Royal Jordanian, Swiss, Finnair, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus and KLM.

"These airlines are clear standouts in the airline industry and are at the forefront of safety," said AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas.

"For instance, Australia's Qantas has been recognised by the British Advertising Standards Association in a test case in 2008 as the world's most experienced airline."

"Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the pure-jet era," said Thomas.

AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top 10 safest low-cost airlines; they are, in alphabetical order, Air Arabia, Flybe, Frontier, HK Express, IndiGo, Jetblue, Volaris, Vueling, Westjet and Wizz.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research in London, says that it isn't a surprise that UAE carriers are on those lists.

"UAE airlines almost always feature in the top rankings for safety because they value the equipment that they fly their passengers on each and every day," he told Khaleej Times on Thursday.

"All airlines do; but for the UAE, where airlines have expanded rapidly in the last couple of decades, it's an amazing feat that they rank so highly while inducting so many new aeroplanes."

There's little benefit to adding luxurious cabins if maintenance, security and safety protocols as well as routine engineering schedules are not adhered to, he stressed.

"And with the UAE itself sporting MRO activities as well as through companies like Strata, which supply components to Airbus and Boeing directly, airlines here have harnessed that tech-change to ensure that their fleets have the highest redundancy and safety checks at every possible chance," Ahmad added. "That translates into passenger confidence - and we can see the brand and loyalty strength across Emirates, flydubai, Air Arabia and Etihad; it's no surprise that each year, they all fly more and more passengers across their network."

In making its selections, AirlineRatings.com editors and its industry advisors take into account numerous critical factors that include: Audits from aviation's governing bodies and lead associations, government audits, airline's crash and serious incident record, fleet age, financial position and pilot training and culture.

"All airlines have incidents every day and many are aircraft or engine manufacture issues instead of airline operational problems. And it is the way the flight crew handles incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one. So just lumping all incidents together is very misleading," said Thomas.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Abu Dhabi, May 25: Dusty weather to persist in the UAE on Monday as well with a chance of rainfall in parts of the country, the national Met department reported.

According to the NCM, the weather today will be fair to partly cloudy, with a chance of some convective clouds formation by afternoon - eastward and northward - extending to some internal areas that may be associated with some rainfall.

The weather will get humid by night and Tuesday morning over some coastal areas.

NCM predicts a wet Eid break.

Sharjah Police issued a weather warning as heavy rain flooded roads in Sharjah's Kalba among other areas.

Moderate to fresh winds will gain strength during the day causing blowing dust and sand.

The sea will be slight to moderate in the Arabian Gulf and in Oman Sea.

Earlier on Sunday, a weather alert was issued by authorities as moderate to heavy rain - accompanied with hail - lashed parts of the UAE. A rainbow in Dubai skies cheered up residents, celebrating a unique Eid this year amid the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic - by mostly staying home.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Dubai, May 2: Saudi Arabia has confirmed 1,362 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients in the country to 25,459, the Ministry of Health reported Saturday.

In the daily media briefing, the ministry announced 7 more deaths and 210 new recoveries, raising the total number of fatalities and recoveries to 176 and 3,765, respectively.

Out of the 1,362 new cases reported today, 249 were confirmed in Medina, 245 in Jeddah, 244 in Mecca, 161 in Riyadh, in addition to 126 infections in Dammam, 81 in Khobar and 80 in Jubail.

Dr. Mohammed Al Abd Al Aly, spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health reiterated that so far there was no evidence that hot weather will curtail the spread of coronavirus.

Authorities continue to urge people to stay at home unless necessary despite having relaxed some restrictions and curfews at the start of Ramadan.

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