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Expats grateful for Saudi generosity

September 23, 2014

Riyadh, Sep 23: Today is a proud moment for all the people residing in Saudi Arabia, which is celebrating its 84th National Day, the anniversary of the glorious unification by great visionary King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the founder of the modern Kingdom in 1932.Saudi generosity

Declared as a national holiday, the occasion is very special to the citizens as well as to the huge number of expatriates residing in this beautiful Kingdom to cherish all the gigantic achievements that have been accomplished in a country, whose religion is Islam, development a vision and justice a ruling method.

On this auspicious occasion, the Saudi citizens feel very grateful to the founding father for laying a strong foundation for the ongoing journey of the modern Kingdom and express their gratitude for all the great efforts he made to unify the Kingdom on the basis of Kalima e Shahadah, which the national flag bears with the Arabic testimony of the faith — “La ilaha il Allahu — Muhammadur Rasulullah — there is no god worthy of worship except the Almighty Allah and prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His messenger.”

Expressing his sentiment, Waddah Abdul Kader Omran, a Saudi national working as manager with McDonald’s, Saudi Arabia, told Arab News: “I am thankful to Almighty Allah for bestowing safety and security on us as we live in complete solidarity and peace. We are fortunate that we got good leadership in King Abdul Aziz, the founder of our modern unified Kingdom... as we all know we used to be in a different and divided rule on this piece of land for so many years but in 1932 we finally got our unified Kingdom. This was due to the great efforts of our visionary leader and from that day, we are celebrating our National Day with great zeal and zest each year on Sept. 23 to mark the beautiful occasion with traditional fervor and gaiety.”

Abdullah Inayat, a Riyadh-based PR executive, commented: “We are celebrating our 84th National Day with great zeal to cherish all the achievements that we have accomplished in the successful journey so far under the wise and brave leadership of our successive frontline leaders from our founder King Abdul Aziz to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. I pray Almighty Allah to bestow His blessings and all good things on our flourishing Kingdom.”

The huge number of expatriate workers of different nationalities, who have adopted the Kingdom as their second home, feel equally excited on the occasion of the National Day.

Various diplomatic missions here have greeted the Saudi government and people for the National Day anniversary.

Sharing his sentiments, Ebrahim Edries, consul general of South Africa, told Arab News: “Celebrating the Saudi National Day is important as celebrating national values appropriately is significant in forging national unity. We thus join all Saudis to celebrate their National Day with pride and enthusiasm,” he added.

The expatriates are thankful to the king, the crown prince and the Saudi authorities for all the humanitarian support extended to them for residing and working in the Kingdom. Speaking to Arab News, Mohammed Quaiser, a non-resident Indian working in the Kingdom for two decades, who also heads a voluntary organization of NRIs here, said: “The Kingdom is generous and has donated immensely to help develop the Muslim and Arab nation under its successive frontline leadership over the years. As an Indian and member of the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia, I have great respect and admiration for the visionary Saudi leadership and the Ummah it has been supporting, and wish all the success to this great Kingdom,” he added.

Akhatar ul-Islam Nadwi, an NRI staying in Riyadh for several years who is active in the community, said he has full admiration for the Kingdom, which accommodates people of all nationalities to live in peace and harmony.

He added: “I have great respect for the Saudi leadership and founder of its modern day Kingdom for all the great efforts they made for unification of this pious land and their struggle to give a better future to the upcoming generation....long live Saudi Arabia.”

Abdullah Ahmad, a Sudanese worker, who has grown up in the Kingdom, said he really admired the way this beautiful Kingdom has reached the age of peace and prosperity; all praise to Almighty Allah and the visionary leadership of the Kingdom for the huge success story they have written for their nation.

“Congratulations to the people of Saudi Arabia on the occasion of the anniversary of their unification.”

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Kuwait, Aug 2: Kuwait has barred entry of foreign passengers from over 30 countries including India and China.

A circular from the Director General Civil Aviation, State of Kuwait directed all airlines operating at Kuwait International Airport to adhere to the instructions in this regard.

"Based on the decision of the Health Authority in State of Kuwait, no foreign passenger coming from the down listed countries will be allowed to enter the State of Kuwait," the circular read.

These include- India, Iran, China, Brazil, Colombia, Armenia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Syria, Spain, Singapore, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iraq, Mexico, Indonesia, Chile, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova, Panama, Beirut ,Serbia Montenegro, Dominican Republic and Kosovo.

The circular stated that such restriction will also include the passengers were present 14 days before the date of travel until further notice.

The ban was announced the same day Kuwait began a partial resumption of commercial flights according to Khaleej Times, which quoted authorities stating that Kuwait International Airport would run at about 30 per cent capacity from Saturday, gradually increasing in coming months.

According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, Kuwait has reported 67,448 cases of coronavirus while the fatalities related to the virus stand at 453.

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News Network
May 21,2020

May 21: Mosques across the UAE will remain closed during Eid Al Fitr, a top official has said. The Takbeer, which is chanted before the special prayers performed on Eid, will be broadcast from mosques 10 minutes before the prayer time.

During the virtual press briefing held on Wednesday, Dr Farida Al Hosani, official spokesperson of the UAE health sector, reminded citizens and expats about the importance of adhering to the safety measures as laid out by the authorities.

Contact tracing process

"Before we began to use Al Hosn app to trace the contacts of Covid-19 cases, the tracking process used to take more than 48 hours. It also depended on the memory and honesty of people. The app is an AI-enabled methodological way to trace individuals who came in contact with Covid-19 cases so that they are isolated. It has proven to be an efficient way to stop the spread of the coronavirus," Dr Farida said.

Install the app

She called on all the public to install the app on their smart phones. "The success of the tracing system via Al Hosn app relies on its use. We hope 50 to 70 per cent of people in the UAE instal and use the app in an effective way."

No sermon

Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Shamsi, Spokesperson for the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, said there will be no sermon for the Eid prayers.

He called on everyone to welcome Eid with joy and positivity and to stay connected with their loved ones via social media.

Mass testing

Dr Amna Al Dahhak Al Shamsi, the official spokesperson of the UAE Government, said mass testing continues across the country.

She stressed on the importance of adhering to precautionary measures and cooperating with the authorities.

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News Network
April 13,2020

Dubai, Apr 13: The UAE plans to impose "strict restrictions" on countries reluctant to take back their nationals working in the Gulf country in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and restructure its cooperation and labour relations with them, a state-run media report said on Sunday.

Indian expatriate community of nearly 33 lakh is the largest ethnic community in UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country’s population. Among the Indian states, Kerala is the most represented followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

The options being considered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation include "imposing strict future restrictions on the recruitment" of workers from these countries and activating the "quota" system in recruitment operations, state-run WAM news agency reported, citing an official.

It said the options also include suspending memoranda of understanding signed between the ministry and concerned authorities in these countries.

Citing the unnamed official, it said these options are being considered after many countries did not respond to requests by their nationals to return home following the coronavirus outbreak.

The official made it clear that all countries of foreign workers in the UAE should be responsible for their nationals wishing to return to their countries as part of the humanitarian initiative launched recently by the ministry.

Earlier this month, the ministry launched the initiative to enable residents who work in the UAE and wish to return to their countries to do so during the period of precautionary measures undertaken in the UAE to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Employees will be asked to submit their annual leave dates or agree with their employers on unpaid leave.

UAE's Ambassador to India Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Banna has said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) had sent out a “note verbale” to all the embassies in the UAE, including the Indian mission, during the past couple of weeks on the issue.

“We have sent the note verbale and all the embassies have been informed including the Indian embassy in the UAE and even the Ministry of External Affairs in India,” Al Banna told Gulf News over phone on Saturday.

He said the UAE has offered to test those who want to be evacuated.

“We are assuring everybody that we have the best of the facilities, the best of the testing centres and we have tested more than 500,000 people,” he said.

“We are assuring them also of our cooperation to fly those who got stranded in the UAE for some reasons. Some got stuck because of the lockdown and closure of airports in India. Some were visiting the UAE.”

“We are offering our system and making sure that they are good (to fly) by doing all the tests and transport them according to the request of their own government,” he said.

The envoy said those who test positive for COVID-19 will remain in the UAE. “They will be treated in our home facilities,” he added.

The Kerala High Court on Saturday sought the central government's response to a petition seeking a direction to bring back Indians stranded in the UAE in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the gulf nation.

Considering the plea by Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) in Dubai, the court directed the Centre to file an affidavit on the steps taken by it to ensure the safety of Indians living there and bring back those stuck in the Gulf countries.

In its plea, KMCC, the organisation for non-resident Indians from Kerala, sought directions to the Ministries of External Affairs and Civil Aviation to provide exemptions in the international air travel ban to bring back those Indians stranded in the UAE.

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