UAE recalls envoy to Iran

April 13, 2012

recals


Abu Dhabi, April 13: The UAE on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Iran for consultations, a day after Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan condemned a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UAE’s island of Abu Mousa, occupied by Teheran since 1971.

‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned today UAE Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran Saif Mohammed Obaid Al Zaabi for consultations,’ a statement said as the latest Iranian provocation drew a chorus of condemnation. The UAE also cancelled a football friendly against Iran scheduled for April 17, at the Fujairah Stadium.

A statement from Yousuf Yaqoub Al Serkal, chairman of the interim committee of the UAE Football Association, said the decision comes in line with the UAE’s denunciation of Ahmedinajad’s visit.


GCC Secretary-General Dr Abdul Latif Al Zayani lambasted Ahmadinejad’s visit to the occupied islands as ‘provocative’ and a ‘flagrant violation’ of the UAE’s sovereignty.

The visit, he stressed, would not change the historic and legal facts and UAE sovereignty over its three occupied islands the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Mousa.

‘The visit demonstrates an irresponsible provocation and a step that doesn’t cope with the good neighbourliness policy adopted by GCC member states towards Iran nor with the GCC’s persistent peaceful efforts for solving the issues either through direct negotiations or taking the case to the International Court of Justice,’ he said.

The UAE Federal National Council (FNC) said in a statement that the ‘visit is a flagrant violation to the UAE sovereignty over its territories, and a setback to all efforts made by the UAE to put an end to the occupation of the UAE Islands through direct negotiations or resorting to the International Court of Justice’.

The FNC underscored that the visit is contrary to what has been agreed on between the two countries to avoid an escalation over the issue and to create a conducive atmosphere for reaching settlement that consolidates security, stability and good-neighbourliness.

The FNC slammed the provocative rhetoric of the Iranian president during his infamous visit to the UAE territory, calling on Teheran to cease such provocative steps and adopt peaceful approaches that could build confidence and help reach a just settlement to the issue.Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah had on Wednesday condemned the visit in the strongest possible terms, terming it as a ‘flagrant violation’ of the UAE sovereignty and a ‘setback’ to all efforts and attempts the UAE has been making to find a peaceful settlement to Iran’s occupation of the UAE islands.

‘This visit will not change the legal status of these islands which are part and parcel of the UAE national soil,’ Shaikh Abdullah emphasised.

He asserted that the visit and the provocative rhetoric of the Iranian president exposed Iran’s false allegations regarding its keenness to establish good-neighbourliness and friendship with the UAE and countries of the region.

The UAE foreign minister denounced the timing of the visit, saying it comes at a time when the two countries agreed to make more efforts to turn over the page by reaching a solution to the issue, and at a time the UAE has committed to what both countries had agreed out of a desire to create a conducive environment for reaching a solution that enhances stability in the region.

Ahmadinejad’s visit, Shaikh Abdullahhe said, was a gross breach of this agreement.


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News Network
April 27,2020

Dubai, Apr 27: Saudi Arabia has reported 1,289 new Covid-19 cases on April 27, its Ministry of Health tweeted.

Of the newly diagnosed cases, Jeddah recorded 294 infections, followed by Makkah (218) and Madinah (202).

The ministry also confirmed five additional coronavirus-induced deaths, spiking the total death toll to 144.

2,507 people are talking about this
Since the outbreak of the virus strain in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, Saudi Arabia has reported a total of 18,811 Covid-19 infections.

As many as 2,531 patients have till now recovered from the virus.

Oman
The sultanate registered 51 new Covid-19 cases on April 27, including 37 nationals and 14 expatriates, spiking the total number of infections to 2,049, Oman News Agency tweeted.

Meanwhile, 10 coronavirus-related deaths have been confirmed in the country.

Qatar
The Ministry of Public Health has reported 957 Covid-19 cases among the 3,420 people tested in the last 24 hours.

As many as 85,709 people have been tested for the virus across the country.

The total number of Covid-19 infections since the outbreak has now risen to 11,244.

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Khaleej Times
May 27,2020

Dubai, May 27: As the authorities have taken steps to ease the Covid-19 restrictions to allow the people of Dubai to resume sporting activities from Wednesday, May 27, the Dubai Sports Council has answered your key questions.

Q&A

What are the age groups allowed to practice sports during this period?

From 12 years old to 60 years old.

Is it required to do the Coronavirus (Covid 19) medical test certificate before resuming physical activity?

Returning to the activity does not require a Coronavirus (Covid 19) test certificate.

Is it allowed for the elderly with chronic diseases to return to sports activities in fitness and yoga centers?

No, it is not allowed.

Is it allowed to use the shower cabins and bathrooms in fitness and yoga centers?

Shower cabins, saunas and jacuzzis are not allowed, while bathrooms are allowed, with sterilisation being emphasised after each use.

What sports can resume its activities?

All sports except water sports/swimming and that are practiced indoors and swimming pools.

What is the approved operational percentage within the sports facility?

A maximum 50% capacity

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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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