Flood in the rice bowl: Keralites who lost everything stare at uncertainty

The main day of this year's Onam falls on Saturday. Though devastated by floods, Keralites will put on their happy faces to welcome King Mahabali, the mythical, righteous king who must have watched from netherworld the sufferings of his people and now 'comes to visit them'.

This festival falls on the tenth day from the day of Atham, during the Malayalam month of Chingam. On this occasion, people dress in the attire of Mahabali and take over the roads and shopping malls in Kerala. Celebrations abound.

One of the most popular sites during this time is Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala and one of the major Ramsar sites (wetlands which have international importance). The snake boat races and greenery of Kuttanad are huge attractions for tourists who flock there. This time though, almost the entire Kuttanad is in relief camps, in Alappuzha and Changanessery, as the flood waters, which have taken over their agricultural lands, refuse to recede.

The roads in Kuttanad, which are usually flanked by paddy fields in various shades of green, are inundated by flood water. A few houses dot the deluge.

SC asks TN to maintain Mullaperiyar dam's water level at 139 ft till Aug 31

The Supreme Court Thursday ordered thaat the water level at the Mullaperiyar dam be maintained at 139 feet till August 31, keeping in mind the grave devastation that has taken place due to the unprecedented floods in Kerala.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the Centre's submission that the sub-committee of the Mullaperiyar dam had met on August 23 and directed the Tamil Nadu government to ensure that the water level is maintained at 139 feet, which is two feet below the permissible limit fixed by the apex court.

The bench made it clear that it would confine itself to the aspect of disaster management and said that the decision to lower the water limit in the dam has been taken in view of the devastating deluge in Kerala.

The observation came after Tamil Nadu government alleged that "it could be a part of a sinister design" to circumvent the apex court's decision fixing the permissible limit.

Kerala floods LIVE: Kochi airport faces Rs 2.2 bn loss; UAE offers Rs 7 bn

Kerala floods: The situation in the flood-ravaged state was gradually improving, even as some rainfall was forecast for the coastal state from Monday onwards. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, “heavy rainfall” is expected only in Kozhikode, Kannur and Idduki districts over the next four days. However, even as water recedes from major areas, authorities are gearing up to deal with the possible outbreak of water-borne and air-borne diseases.

Commercial flight operations from the Naval airport at Kochi commenced today with the first Air India flight from Bengaluru arriving this morning. It is after 18 years that civilian flights are landing and taking off from the naval airport.

The Indian Railways said that two special trains will be run on Monday from Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam to Kolkata and that the train services are expected to be restored on all lines in Kerala by Monday evening. The Railways would also provide blankets and bedsheets to the affected people in Kerala.

Nigeria-based Indian hits jackpot in UAE lottery, takes home Rs 180 mn

An Indian in the UAE has hit a jackpot by winning a whopping 10 million dirham in a raffle in Abu Dhabi, the latest addition to the long list of lucky winners from India. Dickson Kattithara Abraham, who lives in Nigeria, had purchased the ticket in Big Ticket Abu Dhabi, Khaleej Times reported. The 10 million dirham ($ 27,22,450 or Rs 18,22,25,000) prize was announced at the Abu Dhabi International Airport's arrivals hall on Sunday morning, the report said. Among nine other winners, five are Indians, three Pakistanis and one from the UAE, it said. Big Ticket Abu Dhabi is a long-running and extremely popular prize draw hosted at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

UAE's move of forming separate group with Saudi could worsen Gulf crisis

The United Arab Emirates today announced it has formed a new economic and partnership group with Saudi Arabia, separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a move that could undermine the council amid a diplomatic crisis with member state Qatar.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry announcement, just hours ahead of a GCC meeting in Kuwait, said the new "joint cooperation committee" was approved by the UAE's ruler and president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately report on the new partnership.

It wasn't immediately clear how the development could affect the six-member GCC meeting, which is expected to focus on the Qatar issue. Half of the GCC members are boycotting Doha in a dispute that's cleaved the Arabian Peninsula.

The Emirati ministry said the new "committee is assigned to cooperate and coordinate between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in all military, political, economic, trade and cultural fields, as well as others, in the interest of the two countries."

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have cultivated even-closer ties in recent years. Emirati troops are deeply involved in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
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Qatar blockade and Saudi Arabia: Could there be a power shift in Doha?

When it erupted in June 2017, the “Qatar crisis” drew immediate speculation that the emirate’s enemies, who accuse it of sponsoring terrorism and destabilising the region, were preparing for some sort of military action.

After all, since the inconclusive resolution to an earlier dispute with Qatar in 2014, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been determined to take a bolder and more assertive stance, bloodily intervening in Yemen and, according to recently leaked emails purportedly sent by the UAE’s ambassador in Washington, at one point even coming “pretty close to doing something in Qatar”.

Whereas Barack Obama was highly unlikely to ever support such action against Doha, later hinting that he would no longer reflexively side with Saudi Arabia in its squabbles, Donald Trump’s administration seemed at first to re-open the door to more drastic measures.

Trump pointedly chose Saudi Arabia for his first official overseas visit, on which he signed several big-ticket arms deals. And just hours after Riyadh severed relations with Doha, he tweeted that, when it comes to terrorism funding, “all reference was pointing to Qatar” and that “perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism”.

But the White House was soon apprised of the full extent of the US’s military facilities in Qatar, including the difficult-to-move forward headquarters of US Central Command (CENTCOM), and the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, hurriedly attempted to strike a more conciliatory tone. For a moment, it seemed any immediate danger to Doha had subsided. Indeed, as recently reported, Trump had apparently given an emphatic “no” to any military action, preferring to leave the quarrelling Gulf states to their own devices.

Nonetheless, even as the days dragged into weeks and then months, it seemed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE, along with their allies in the “Anti-Terror Quartet”, Bahrain and Egypt, were gaining the upper hand.
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Saudi Arabia plans to launch nuclear power tender next month: Sources

Saudi Arabia is expected to launch a tender process for its first nuclear reactors as early as next month and will reach out to potential vendors from countries including South Korea, France and China, industry sources said.

The world's top oil exporter wants to start construction next year on two plants with a total capacity of up to 2.8 gigawatts, three industry sources said, as it follows Gulf neighbour the United Arab Emirates in seeking atomic energy.

This will make it the second country in the Arab world to tap nuclear power as a way to diversify its energy supply for its 32 million population. The UAE's first plant is expected to come online next year after delays.

While a possible multi-billion-dollar Saudi tender would be smaller than those being considered in India and South Africa, Saudi Arabia's deep pockets and the lack of any anti-nuclear movement in the country could make it one of the strongest prospects for an industry struggling for contracts following the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

"Competition will be fierce," an industry source said, adding Saudi Arabia was expected to send a Request for Information (RFI) to suppliers in October, marking the official start of the tender process following feasibility studies.
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Arab states' sanctions boost food prices, hurt real estate in Qatar in July

Sanctions imposed by other Arab states are continuing to push up food prices in Qatar while hurting the real estate market, but not to the point of damaging the economy severely, according to inflation figures released by the government on Tuesday.

The annual inflation rate fell back sharply to 0.2 per cent in July. It had spiked to 0.8 per cent in June from 0.1 per cent in May after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.

By closing Qatar's land border with Saudi Arabia and disrupting maritime shipping routes, the sanctions slashed Qatari imports by more than a third in June, pushed up prices of some basic goods and hurt business sentiment in Doha.

There were fresh signs of that damage in the July inflation numbers. Food and beverage prices climbed 4.5 per cent from a year earlier - their fastest rate of increase since at least 2014, and accelerating from a rise of 2.4 per cent in June.
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Flames engulf Dubai's 86-storey Torch Tower

Fire is engulfing a high-rise residential tower in Dubai in the middle of the night, sending plumes of smoke into the air and debris falling below.

Dubai's police say firefighters are one the scene and that no injuries have been reported so far in the blaze at the Torch Tower, located in Dubai's popular Marina neighbourhood.

The Torch Tower is one of the world's tallest residential towers reaching more than 80 stories high. It caught fire in early 2015 with no major casualties reported in that blaze. Fires have affected several skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates.
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Digital Protection launches in Dubai to certify e-commerce websites

Dubai has launched an initiative to certify e-commerce websites, as part of its efforts to protect consumers, resolve their complaints and ensure best practices in online transactions.

The "Digital Protection" service is aimed at e-commerce companies offering their services in mainland Dubai, as well as the free zones in the emirate, said the report on Tuesday.

Mohammed Ali Rashed Lootah, CEO of the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP), said the initiative will promote consumer confidence and encourage online transactions as Dubai aims to grow into one of the smartest and happiest cities in the world.

"We will certify e-commerce websites, in line with our consumer protection policies, and train them on complying with relevant UAE laws and regulations," he said.

"The certified websites will display the consumer protection logo of Dubai Economy and will co-operate with us in resolving consumer complaints, irrespective of whether they are onshore companies or free zone entities," Lootah added.

The initiative is the latest in a series of measures adopted by CCCP to promote compliance and global best practices in consumer-friendliness among commercial establishments, both online and offline.
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