UAE honours PM Modi with top civil honour

Ottawa, Jun 25: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took his son out for ice cream on Wednesday in his first family outing since Canada started easing out of its pandemic lockdown.

It was also Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in Quebec province.

Wearing masks, the Canadian leader and his six-year-old son Hadrien were cheered at Chocolats Favoris in Gatineau, Quebec.

According to a pool report, Trudeau said the shop tapped into a federal emergency wage subsidy and business loan in order to weather the pandemic, and "avoid being frozen out of the frozen treat market."

Hadrien is said to have bounced with excitement, settling on a vanilla cone with a cookie topping while dad bought a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate for himself.

Father and son then headed out to the patio, where they doffed their masks to eat their cones.

Canada's provinces and territories declared states of emergency mid-March, closing schools and non-essential businesses in response to the pandemic.

Dubai, Apr 29: Dubai on April 23 was a suicide, Dubai Police confirmed to Gulf News on Wednesday.

According to Dubai Police, he committed suicide by jumping from a building in Business Bay.

“We received a report about a man plunging to his death from the 14th floor of a friend's building on Thursday. The businessman committed suicide over financial problems,” Brigadier Abdullah Khadim Bin Sorour, director of Bur Dubai Police Station, told Gulf News.

Joy Arakkal receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

The police ruled out any criminal suspicion behind the suicide and said they are coordinating with the businessman’s family for the repatriation of his body.

A UAE Gold Card visa recipient, Arakkal was the managing director of Dubai-headquartered Innova Group of Companies which had diverse businesses, with major focus in the oil sector. He is survived by his wife Celine and children, Arun and Ashly, who live in Jumeirah.

Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul confirmed to Gulf News that Arakkal’s family is set to fly home with his body after Indian authorities gives them special permission to travel in a chartered air ambulance.

“They have received the NOCs (No Objection Certificates) from India. We have taken it up with the UAE MoFAIC (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) for necessary permits from the UAE side,” Vipul said.

Once the approval is received, a chartered air ambulance will fly in from Bangalore to carry the family and the mortal remains of Arakkal.

Quiet embalming service

A few social workers and community leaders, who were coordinating with Arakkal’s family for the repatriation procedures, attended the embalming service was on Tuesday.

“Only the family members and a few of his employees were present apart from us,” said advocate Hashik T.K.

He said M.K. Raghavan, a member of Indian parliament from Kerala, and R. Harikumar of Elite Group in the UAE, offered great support for securing approvals from Indian authorities.

“We have been requesting the central and state governments to consider the emotional aspect of traditional funeral process in the case of expats who die abroad.”

He said almost two dozen bodies have been flown to India in the past few weeks on cargo flights. But, no family member was allowed to accompany the bodies so far.

Besides Arakkal’s family, the Indian government also issued immigration clearance for the family of a cancer patient from Nottingham, who is seeking treatment, to fly down to Calicut International Airport in Kerala.

Quarantine and funeral
On reaching Kerala, the family members would follow the quarantine procedures as per the government rules, Hashik said.

Arakkal’s’s funeral will be held in his hometown in Mananthavady in Wayanad district where he had built a 45,000sqfit mansion, one of the biggest houses in Kerala, last year.

“It is sad that he could stay in that house for a month or so only,” said a community member.

He said Arakkal had built houses for the poor and also funded the weddings of several young couples back home.

His companies include oil refineries, petrochemical trading, ISO tank cleaning services, shipping services and a telecom company working for infrastructure projects in the UAE.

He had received many awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan during his visit to Dubai.

Dubai, Apr 22: Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry registered 1141 new Coronavirus cases, 172 new Recoveries and 5 new deaths in the last 24 hours by 22nd April 2020 (3:40 PM), Most of  the Corona infected patients are in stable condition, while 82 cases are on critical condition and are being treated in various hospital's Intensive Care Unit, All the confirmed and suspected cases are isolated and are being treated in the country, the Total Covid-19 cases as of Today are as follows
 
Infections : 12772
Recovered : 1812
Deaths : 114
Active Cases : 10846
Critical : 82

-  The Spokesperson of Ministry of Health said Total laborartory tests exceeded 200,000. 

-  You should continue to socialize and stay at home, especially for those aged 65 and over or who suffer from chronic diseases.

-  Half a million field assessments under active survey, 50 government agencies involved in anti-virus efforts, 150 field teams participating in the active examination in the Kingdom.

- The Health Ministry said, Maintaining hand-washing and keeping away from gatherings is an important step, and we should all be responsible.

- Worldwide Covid-19 infection details as of Today (22nd April) are

Infections : 2,580,729
Recovered : 693,093
Deaths : 178,371

- Among the 1141 new infections, most of the cases are on active survey results, 868 cases from new infections are discovered from active survey field testing. The city wise total active cases excluding recoveries and deaths by 22nd April are

Makkah : 2472
Madina : 1944
Riyadh : 1762
Jeddah : 1679
Dammam : 678
Hofuf : 507
Taif : 131
Tabuk : 128
Jubail : 97
Qatif : 73
Buraidah : 46
Khamis Musaith : 44
Khobar : 38
Dhahran : 36
Yanbu : 36
Khalis : 24
Ar Ar : 16
Khafji : 15
Ras Tanura : 12
Zulfi : 11
Onaiza : 9
Al Maqwat : 9
Al Dariya : 8
Al Kharj : 8
Samita : 8
Bisha : 7
Najran : 7
Al Khanfadah : 7
Hail : 6
Al Baha : 6
Sabit Alaya : 5
Muhayil Asir : 5
Ahad Rafidah : 4
Muwiya : 4
Ar Ras : 4
Al Qurayyat : 3
Al Muzilaf : 3
Sharura : 3
Al Jafar : 2
Al Lais : 2
Al Hanakiya : 2
AlMabraz : 2
Al Qawiya : 2
Al Tawal : 2
Al Misan : 2
Al Qariya : 2
Hada : 2
Rabig : 2
Sabia : 2
Saihat : 2
Azam : 1
Al Aiz : 1
Al Bakariya : 1
Al Dawadmi : 1
Al Majmaah : 1
Al Mada : 1
Al Shamli : 1
Al Ala : 1
Al Wajha : 1
Al Arida : 1
Beesh : 1
Diba : 1
Sakaka : 1
Sariban : 1
Sharura : 1
Riyad Al Khabra : 1