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Eid-ul-Fitr celebrated in Saudi Arabia, UAE, neighbouring countries

Agencies
June 15, 2018

Jeddah/Dubai, Jun 15: Muslims in most of the middle eastern countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates on Friday celebrated the Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Saudi King offers prayers in Makkah

King Salman performed the Eid Al-Fitr prayer in Makkah’s Grand Mosque. He also received Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri; the commander of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, Gen. Raheel Sharif; and princes, scholars, sheikhs, and senior civilian and military officials at Al-Safa Palace in Makkah. They came to congratulate him on Eid Al-Fitr.

The monarch also received congratulatory phone calls from Bahrain’s King Hamad, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and Kuwait’s heir-apparent Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

King Salman thanked them, wished them a happy Eid, and appealed to Allah to make the Muslim world more united, coherent and strong.

He also greeted the Saudi people and Muslims everywhere, thanking Allah because “we have successfully and comfortably completed our fasting and worshipping during the holy month of Ramadan.”

The monarch said: “Eid is a day of happiness and joy following strict worshipping, embodying the significance and meaning of communication, cohesion, solidarity, tolerance and cooperation.”

He thanked Allah for having “honored the leadership, people and government” of Saudi Arabia with the task of serving the Two Holy Mosques and their worshippers, “which the Kingdom will spare no effort to achieve.”

King Salman also thanked Allah for having helped Saudi Arabia “remain adherent to Islamic Shariah law.”

The monarch later arrived in Jeddah after spending the last 10 days of Ramadan in Makkah. He was seen off by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Interior Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Naif, and a number of senior officials.

UAE leaders offer prayers

Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the United Arab Emirates performed Eid Al Fitr prayers nationwide on Friday.

In Dubai, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, offered Eid Al Fitr prayers at Zabeel Mosque.

Performing the prayer alongside Shaikh Mohammad were Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, Shaikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chief Executive of Emirates Group Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, a number of Shaikhs, officials and a group of worshipers.

In Abu Dhabi, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, performed the Eid Al Fitr prayer this morning alongside worshipers at the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

Performing prayers by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad's side were Shaikh Saif Bin Mohammad Al Nahyan, Shaikh Surour Bin Mohammad Al Nahyan, Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, Shaikh Saeed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Ruler’s Representative, Shaikh Isa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Shaikh Nahyan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, Lt. General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Shaikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Adviser, Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Shaikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Shaikh Omar Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, Shaikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care & Special Needs, Shaikh Theyab Bin Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Zayed Bin Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance 

A number of Shaikhs, senior officials, diplomats, citizens and residents also offered prayers along with them.

The sermon, delivered by Dr. Mohammad Mattar Salem Al Kaabi, Chairman of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, highlighted the joyous holiday, stressing its timing to promote love and peace, which Al Kaabi said are the main goals of Islam, expressing hope for it to be achieved around the world.

Dr. Al Kaabi, pointed out that the Eid is an occasion to strengthen communication with family, creating love and affection between relatives.

Following the prayers, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed exchanged greetings with worshipers.

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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
January 27,2020

New Delhi, Jan 27: The government on Monday issued the preliminary information memorandum for 100 per cent stake sale in national carrier Air India. As part of the strategic disinvestment, Air India would also sell 100 per cent stake in low cost airline Air India Express and 50 per cent shareholding in joint venture AISATS, as per the bid document issued on Monday.

Management control of the airline would also be transferred to the successful bidder.

The government has set March 17 as the deadline for submitting the Expression of Interest (EoI).

EY is the transaction adviser for Air India disinvestment process.

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News Network
August 7,2020

Kozhikode: An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people on board overshot the Kozhikode tabletop runway on landing there today. The Boeing 737 “fell off” the runway into the valley, broke into two causing death and devastation. 

According to reports, around 20 people were dead including two pilots.

An Air India spokesperson said: “Air India Express flight IX 1344 operated by Boeing 737 aircraft from Dubai to Calicut overshot the runway at Kozhikode at 7.41 pm Friday. No fire reported at the time of landing. There are 174 passengers, 10 infants, two pilots and five cabin crew on board. Rescue operations are on and passengers are being taken to hospital for medical care. We will soon share the update in this regard.”

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing this accident. “Prima facie, the aircraft landed beyond the touchdown point and fell into a valley. It has broken into two. We suspect some casualties. More information is awaited,” said a senior DGCA official.

Taking to twitter, defence minister Rajnath Singh wrote: “Devastating news from Kozhikode, Kerala. I am deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to an accident carrying several passengers on Air India flight. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.”

Foreign minister S Jaishankar tweeted: “Deeply distressed to hear about the Air India Express tragedy at Kozhikode. Prayers are with the bereaved families and those injured. We are ascertaining further details.”

While, senior BJP leader from Kerala K J Alphons tweeted: “Second tragedy of the day in Kerala: Air India Express skids off the run way at Kozhikode, front portion splits , pilot dies and lots of passengers injured . All passengers evacuated. Very lucky the aircraft didn’t catch fire.”

More details are awaited.

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