Middle East

Riyadh, Aug 2: The Saudi Public Prosecution office has warned it will impose fines of up to SR500,000 ($133,323) on passengers breaching travel ban restrictions by boarding flights to countries hit by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Similar penalties would also apply to operators or owners of the means of transportation. In a tweet on Sunday, officials added that severe punitive measures would

Dubai, July 28: Saudi Arabia has announced a three-year travel ban and hefty penalties on citizens who visit countries on the kingdom's COVID-19 red list, including India. "Travelling to the banned countries is an obvious violation of COVID-19 related travel restrictions and the Kingdom’s updated instructions," the Gulf News on Tuesday quoted a report by the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as

Tehran, July 28: Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has arrested a network of agents with the Israeli Mossad spy agency at the Western borders, confiscating a large cache of weapons and ammunition that they were planning to use to provoke riots and terror inside the country. The ministry’s director-general for counterintelligence said on Tuesday that the Mossad agents had been arrested upon sneaking

Kuwait City, July 27: The Kuwait Cabinet has decided to reopen all social activities from September 1. These include summits and other social events, including children’s activities. Entry to the activities will be limited to the vaccinated people. The unvaccinated will be only allowed to pharmacies, consumer cooperative societies, and food and catering marketing outlets, starting from August 1

Dubai, July 23: Eight categories of travellers are allowed to fly to the UAE from countries where passenger entry is suspended. The latest addition to the exempted categories is Expo 2020 Dubai participants. Passenger entry from 16 destinations – including India, Pakistan, South Africa and Indonesia to the UAE remains suspended until further notice. According to the latest safety circular issued

Newsroom, July 22: Thousands of Indians stranded in their home countries unable to return to their jobs in the United Arab Emirates due to covid restrictions and flight ban rushed to buy tickets at unprecedentedly higher rates whenever travel agencies opened booking, albeit briefly. Travellers many countries including India are not allowed to enter the UAE until they spend 14 days quarantining in

Muslims in many countries around the world were observing Tuesday, July 20, yet another major Islamic holiday in the shadow of the pandemic and amid growing concerns about the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus. Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” is typically marked by communal prayers, large social gatherings and, for many, slaughtering of livestock and giving meat to the

Beirut, July 20: The Israeli military has fired artillery shells into southern Lebanon, shortly after the regime’s aircraft launched a number of missiles at targets near the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo. The Israeli army said in a statement that two rockets had been fired from Lebanon at the northern part of the occupied territories early Tuesday morning, setting off warning sirens in the

Makkah, July 19: Muslim pilgrims ascended Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on Monday in the high point of this year's Hajj, being held in downsized form and under coronavirus restrictions for the second year running. Just 60,000 people, all citizens or residents of Saudi Arabia, have been selected to take part in this year's Hajj, with foreign pilgrims again barred. The mask-clad faithful, who had

Dubai, July 17: UAE national carrier, Etihad Airways, has announced the extension of flight suspensions from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh until July 31. A search on the website for flights to the UAE from Mumbai, Karachi, Dhaka throws up a message, informing passengers about the July 31, 2021 date. "The only exemptions are if you are a diplomat or a UAE national or a Golden Visa holder. Your PCR