Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz Airport receives first Malindo Air flight

Dubai, May 14: As many as 242 beggars of different nationalities have been nabbed by the Dubai Police since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

Among those arrested, 143 were men, 21 were women and 78 were hawkers, said the police. "An anti-begging campaign was launched, especially to find beggar hotspots, to combat the negative phenomenon," said Colonel Ali Salem Al Shamsi, director of the anti-infiltrators department at the Dubai Police.

"Strict warnings have been issued to beggars to refrain from exploiting the sentiments of people during Ramadan," he added.

Col Al Shamsi also called on the public to stop helping them with money. "The public must direct those in dire straits through proper channels in order to get support from charitable institutions."

Col Al Shamsi also urged residents to report begging activities by calling 901 or through the Dubai Police app's 'Police Eye' feature.

Dubai, May 1: Saudi Arabia has reported 1,344 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 24,097, the Ministry of Health announced on Friday.

The ministry also announced 7 more deaths and 392 new recoveries, raising the total number of fatalities and recoveries to 169 and 3,55 respectively.

Out of the 1,344 new cases reported today, 282 were confirmed in Riyadh, 237 in Madinah, 207 in Makkah, 171 in Jubail and 124 in Jeddah in addition to 114 infections in Dammam.

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

Citizens and residents are allowed to go out for necessary needs between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. but must adhere to precautionary measures such as wearing a face mask and maintaining social distancing practices.

Dubai, Jul 9: The Government of India has announced an additional 104 special repatriation flights from the UAE to India as part of the Vande Bharat Mission, Phase 4 from July 15 - 31.

According to a flight schedule listed on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) website, national carriers Air India and Air India Express flights have been scheduled to various cities in 10 Indian states. Each flight has a capacity of 177 passengers.

Vande Bharat Phase 4 officially began on July 3, and in an earlier press briefing Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs had said 'Phase 4 will focus on repatriation of Gulf-based Indians.

The new additional flights have been organised to cities in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Rajasthan, according to the MEA schedule. To the joy of expats from Maharashtra, at least seven flights have been planned to Mumbai, which has been a less serviced state since the start of the Vande Bharat Mission.

Consul Press, Information, and Culture, Consulate General of India in Dubai Neeraj Agarwal said, "Approximately 100 repatriation flights are planned for the next 23 days, including 50 from Dubai and Sharjah each. If all flights are full, we are looking to evacuate anything between 17,000 to 18,000 passengers in the coming days."

Booking for the newly announced flights will open soon, said Agarwal. "Some of them are already open, and others will be open in the next few days. However, a few flights are subject to slot approvals," he explained.

Commenting on the possibility of flights from India to the UAE, Agarwal said, "We express hope that this too will happen soon."  The flight schedule can be seen here: https://www.mea.gov.in/phase-4.htm