New Saudi king orders lavish payout to state employees

Cairo, May 20: A senior Kuwaiti lawmaker has called for imposing a tax on expatriates’ remittances to shore up the country’s finances.

MP Khalil Al Saleh, the head of the parliament’s Human Resources Committee, has presented a draft law on the proposed tax to the legislature.

“Imposing fees on expatriates’ transfers will have a role in improving the state's revenues and diversify sources of income,” he told Al Rai newspaper.

Migrant workers transfer about 4.2 billion dinars annually from Kuwait, he added, citing figures from Kuwait’s Central Bank.

“This system is in effect in most countries of the world and in more than one Gulf country. Expats there have not objected to it. Allowing this money to exit the country is very dangerous and has a direct effect on economy,” MP Al Saleh said.

“We do not target brotherly expats because imposing symbolic fees on financial transfers will not affect their money, but will have a positive effect on the state’s sources,” he said. “This has become a necessity after the money transferred outside Kuwait has reached 4.2 billion dinars annually without the state [Kuwait] making any benefit from this.”

Foreign workers make up 3.3 million of Kuwait’s 4.6 million population.

Several Kuwaiti public figures have recently pushed for redrawing the demographic imbalance in the country, accusing expatriates of straining health facilities and increasing the Covid-19 threat.

Abu Dhabi, Apr 26: Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor says he is appalled after the bodies of three Indians flown back to India were returned to Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The three deceased Indian nationals had died of non-coronavirus causes and were flown to Delhi on Thursday but were promptly returned by authorities there.

“We are appalled at what has happened,” Kapoor told Gulf News. “We do not know if the bodies were returned because of coronavirus-related restrictions, but we are obviously not sending the remains of people [who have passed away from COVID-19],” he added.

“[As we understand], it happened because of new protocols at the airport and we are trying to sort it out,” he said.

Sent back a few hours later

“The remains were not offloaded from the plane, and were sent back a few hours later,” Kapoor explained.

The deceased were Kamlesh Bhatt, who passed away on April 17, and Sanjeev Kumar and Jagsir Singh who both died on April 13.

According to reports in Indian media, Kamlesh Bhat was 23 years old, and hailed from Tehri Garhwal district. He allegedly died of cardiac arrest. Along with the remains Kumar and Singh, Bhatt’s body was initially repatriated on an Etihad Airways flight, then sent back, even though his relatives had been on their way to collect them.

Kapoor explained the procedure through which remains are normally returned to family members back home, saying that the worker’s employer typically makes arrangements with cargo companies to repatriate bodies on cargo aircraft.

The employer applies for a No Objection Certificate from the Indian Embassy, which is granted once the Embassy ensures that all local formalities have been completed. The cargo company then applies for airport clearance, and the airline obtains approvals from the receiving airport.

“If airport protocols have changed, it means cargo companies have to be more careful about the clearance they’re getting,” Kapoor advised.

Additional costs
The ambassador added there may eventually be additional costs to repatriate the bodies but that it is first necessary to sort out the concerns.

The global coronavirus outbreak has spawned difficulties in repatriating mortal remains as a result of the travel restrictions imposed by countries. Remains of people dying from COVID-19 are not being sent back, but the caution surrounding the handling of bodies often affects the repatriation of those who succumb to other causes.

As Gulf News reported, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan reached out to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for intervention in bringing back the bodies of Keralites who have died in the Gulf from non-COVID-19 causes.

“I would like to draw your attention to the grievances received from Non-resident Keralites Associations (NRKs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries on the delay caused in bringing home the mortal remains of NRKs who had expired due to reasons other than the COVID-19 infection,” read the letter by the CM.

“It is learnt that a ‘clearance certificate’ from the Indian Embassies is required to process the application of bringing home the mortal remains of the dead. The Embassies are [further] insisting on the production of a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), New Delhi. To enable to bring back the bodies of the NRIs whose deaths occurred due to reasons other than COVID-19 infection, without necessary procedural hassles, I request your kind intervention,” Vijayan has requested.

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.

طريق كلباء #الشارقة ⁧#المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد⁩ ⁧#أمطار_الخير⁩ ⁧#أصدقاء_المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد⁩ ⁧#حالة_الطقس⁩ ⁧#حالة_جوية⁩ ⁧#هواة_الطقس⁩⁩ pic.twitter.com/i4gjYfgTwj

— المركز الوطني للأرصاد (@NCMS_media) May 25, 2020

أمطار غزيرة على فلي (الشارقة)
#أمطار#أمطار_الخير #استمطار #تلقيح_السحب #المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد
Heavy rain over Fili (Sharjah)
#Rain #Cloud_Seeding #NCM

— المركز الوطني للأرصاد (@NCMS_media) May 25, 2020

أمطار غزيرة على المنيعي (رأس الخيمة)
#أمطار#أمطار_الخير #استمطار #تلقيح_السحب #المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد
Heavy rain over Al Manaie (Ras Al Khaimah)
#Rain #Cloud_Seeding #NCM

— المركز الوطني للأرصاد (@NCMS_media) May 25, 2020

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

#Alert #NCM pic.twitter.com/RnFy0WtK3H

— المركز الوطني للأرصاد (@NCMS_media) May 25, 2020

مليحة ⁧#الشارقة⁩ ⁧#المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد⁩ ⁧#أمطار_الخير⁩ ⁧#أصدقاء_المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد⁩ ⁧#حالة_الطقس⁩ ⁧#حالة_جوية⁩ ⁧#هواة_الطقس⁩ #عبدالله_القايدي pic.twitter.com/rKhJG4mIzN

— المركز الوطني للأرصاد (@NCMS_media) May 24, 2020

طريق #الشارقة #كلباء #المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد #أمطار_الخير #أصدقاء_المركز_الوطني_للأرصاد #حالة_الطقس #حالة_جوية #هواة_الطقس #عبدالله_الشامسي pic.twitter.com/YDX91G6jaZ

— المركز الوطني للأرصاد (@NCMS_media) May 25, 2020

ننوه الأخوة السائقين بتوخي الحيطة والحذر أثناء القيادة وخاصةً على الطرق الخارجية للإمارة وذلك بسبب هطول أمطار الخير،
كما ندعو السائقين إلى توخي الحيطة والحذر والابتعاد عن أماكن جريان الاودية وترك مسافات كافية بين المركبات وتخفيف السرعات والحرص على التعامل مع الطريق بحذر

— شرطة الشارقة (@ShjPolice) May 25, 2020

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.