JEDDAH/WASHINGTON: The US and Britain on Tuesday imposed restrictions on carry-on electronic devices on planes coming from certain airports in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa in response to unspecified security threats.
“The US transportation authorities have implemented new procedures on US-bound flights, which include taking any laptops, iPads and Kindles (electronic readers), with their carry-on baggage,” Saudia said in a statement sent to Arab News.
“These devices can be accepted as part of checked-in luggage only,” Saudia spokesman Mansour Al-Badr told Arab News: “We do not know the reasons behind the ban.”
The US Department of Homeland Security said passengers traveling from a specific list of airports could not bring into the main cabin devices that are larger than a mobile phone such as tablets, portable DVD players, laptops and cameras.
Instead, such items must be in checked baggage.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said that there would be curbs on electronic items in the main cabin on flights from six countries in the Middle East. The foreign office said the measures would be implemented by March 25.
The moves were prompted by reports that militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices inside electronic gadgets, US officials told reporters on Monday.
“The US government is concerned about terrorists’ ongoing interest in targeting commercial aviation, including transportation hubs over the past two years,” a US counter-terrorism official said in a statement, adding that efforts were “intensifying.”
French and Canadian officials said they were examining their arrangements but neither government was taking additional security measures at this stage.
The airports covered by the US restrictions are in Cairo, Istanbul, Kuwait City, Doha, Casablanca, Amman, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
UK follows US electronic curbs on ME flights
UK follows US electronic curbs on ME flights
KSrelief conducts medical outreach in Yemen, Djibouti and Bangladesh
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) conducted various medical activities in Yemen, Djibouti and Bangladesh in cooperation with volunteer organizations and specialists.
In Yemen’s Socotra, 16 specialist volunteers successfully completed a project involving specialized and general pediatric surgeries. During the campaign from Nov. 16 to 23, KSrelief’s medical team conducted 404 examinations, performed 60 surgeries, and provided medicine for 208 patients.
In Djibouti, the aid agency launched on Wednesday a cardiac catheterization surgery project – with seven specialists in the team – and has successfully performed four procedures since.
In Bangladesh’s city of Rangpur, KSrelief implemented the Saudi Volunteer Project to combat blindness and its contributive diseases. The center’s volunteer medical team examined 5,082 cases, performed 456 specialized eye surgeries, and distributed 1,454 eyeglasses from Nov. 22 to 26.
At least five killed in road crash in Pakistan’s Balochistan province
- The crash occurred after driver of a speeding car lost control of it and hit a truck
- Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan where traffic rules are rarely followed
QUETTA: At least five people were killed after a speeding car hit a truck in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, an official said on Friday.
The vehicle carrying five people onboard was en route to Loralai from Quetta, when it crashed into the truck coming from the opposite direction in Sarki Jangal area, according to Loralai Deputy Commissioner Meeran Baloch.
The accident occurred after the driver of the speeding car lost control at a curve section of the highway.
“Five people traveling in the car, including principal of the Government Boys Degree College Loralai, were killed,” Baloch told Arab News.
“The bodies were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Loralai, where four of them have been identified.”
Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads, particularly in rural and mountainous areas, are in poor condition.
Such accidents are frequent in Balochistan where single-carriage roads connect various cities, and even some highways lack modern safety features.
Late last month, at least 12 people were killed and more than a dozen others sustained injuries in three fatal road accidents in the southwestern Pakistani province.
SAL Jeddah GT 2024 race continues at Jeddah Corniche Circuit
- Second qualifying session for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe is set to continue at 11:45 a.m. Saturday
- Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani from Team Speedcar as crowned as winners of the first race
RIYADH: The SAL Jeddah GT 2024 is all set for another entertaining day at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Saturday, with the second qualifying session for the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, supported by AWS, starting at 11:45 a.m.
The session lasts one hour in preparation for the official six-hour, 1,000-kilometer race starting at 5 p.m. Additionally, the second race of the European GT4 Series, supported by Club Raffa Racing, will begin at 2:15 p.m., lasting one hour.
Organized by the Saudi Auto and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) and Saudi Motorsports Company under the supervision of the Saudi Ministry of Sports, race kicked off on Friday in the presence of Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, minister of the Saudi sports and chairman of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, chairman of the Board of Directors of SAMF and Saudi Motorsports Company, crowned Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani from Team Speedcar as winners of the first race.
They were followed by Alex Denning and Thomas Emson from Elite Motorsport in second place, just 3.472 seconds behind. Their teammates, Joshua Rattican and Thomas Lépinon, finished third, 2.117 seconds behind. Meanwhile, Team Spirit of Le Mans came fourth, and Les Places Biavenoy ranked fifth.
In the Pro-Am category, AFR-Avatar clinched first place, ranking seventh overall, while Raison Moonsecured second place, followed by Mirage in third. In the amateur category, Schumacher CLRTclaimed first place, ranking 16th overall, followed by NM Racing in second (20th overall), and EV in third.
The gates for fans open at 10:00 a.m., offering various entertainment zones, children’s play areas, interactive games, and virtual reality experiences.
Trudeau in Florida to meet Trump as tariff threats loom
- The unannounced meeting came at the end of a week that has seen Canada as well as Mexico scramble to blunt the impact of Trump’s trade threats
Palm Beach: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Florida on Friday for a dinner with Donald Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate, as the incoming US leader promised tariffs on Canadian imports.
The unannounced meeting came at the end of a week that has seen Canada as well as Mexico scramble to blunt the impact of Trump’s trade threats, which experts have warned could also hit US consumers hard.
A smiling Trudeau was seen exiting a hotel in West Palm Beach before arriving at Mar-a-Lago, making him the latest high-profile guest of Trump, whose impending second term — which starts in January — is already overshadowing the last few months of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Flight trackers had first spotted a jet broadcasting the prime minister’s callsign making its way to the southern US state. A Canadian government source later told AFP that the two leaders were dining together.
Trump caused panic among some of the biggest US trading partners on Monday when he said he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10 percent on goods from China.
He accused the countries of not doing enough to halt the “invasion” of the United States by drugs, “in particular fentanyl,” and undocumented migrants.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone on Wednesday, though the two leaders’ accounts of the conversation differed drastically.
Trump claimed that Mexico’s left-wing president had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
Sheinbaum later said she had discussed US-supported anti-migration policies that have long been in place in Mexico.
She said that after that, the talks had no longer revolved around the threat of tariff hikes, downplaying the risk of a trade war.
Billions in trade
Biden warned that same day that Trump’s tariff threats could “screw up” Washington’s relationships with Ottawa and Mexico City.
“I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters.
Trudeau did not respond to questions from the media as he returned to his hotel Friday evening after meeting with Trump.
But for Canada, the stakes of any new tariffs are high.
More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, or Can$592.7 billion ($423 billion), went to the United States last year, and nearly two million Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.
A Canadian government source told AFP that Canada is considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
Some have suggested Trump’s tariff threat may be bluster, or an opening salvo in future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke with reporters earlier in Prince Edward Island province.
“Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau said. “There’s no question about it.”
According to the website Flightradar, the Canadian leader’s plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport late Friday afternoon.
Canadian public broadcaster CBC said that Trudeau’s public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, was accompanying him on the trip.
US approves $385 million arms sale for Taiwan
- United States is bound by law to provide Chinese-claimed Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties
WASHINGTON. The US State Department has approved the potential sale of spare parts for F-16 jets and radars to Taiwan for an estimated $385 million, the Pentagon said on Friday, a day before Taiwan President Lai Ching-te starts a sensitive Pacific trip.
The United States is bound by law to provide Chinese-claimed Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei, to the constant anger of Beijing.
Democratically governed Taiwan rejects China’s claims of sovereignty.
China has been stepping up military pressure against Taiwan, including two rounds of war games this year, and security sources have told Reuters that Beijing may hold more to coincide with Lai’s tour of the Pacific, which includes stopovers in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory.
The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the sale consisted of $320 million in spare parts and support for F-16 fighters and Active Electronically Scanned Array Radars and related equipment.
The State Department also approved the potential sale to Taiwan of improved mobile subscriber equipment and support for an estimated $65 million, the Pentagon said. The principal contractor for the $65 million sale is General Dynamics.
Last month, the United States announced a potential $2 billion arms sale package to Taiwan, including the delivery for the first time to the island of an advanced air defense missile system battle tested in Ukraine.
Lai leaves for Hawaii on Saturday on what is officially a stopover on the way to Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, three of the 12 countries that still to have formal diplomatic ties with Taipei. He will also stop over in Guam.
Hawaii and Guam are home to major US military bases.
China on Friday urged the United States to exercise “utmost caution” in its relations with Taiwan.
The State Department said it saw no justification for what it called a private, routine and unofficial transit by Lai to be used as a pretext for provocation.
