{"id":465237,"date":"2020-03-05T09:09:40","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T09:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mecouncil.org\/?p=465237"},"modified":"2022-09-20T16:12:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T16:12:57","slug":"gcc-news-roundup-coronavirus-affects-travel-in-the-gulf-qatar-saudi-talks-end-february-1-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/gcc-news-roundup-coronavirus-affects-travel-in-the-gulf-qatar-saudi-talks-end-february-1-29\/","title":{"rendered":"GCC News Roundup: Coronavirus affects travel in the Gulf, Qatar-Saudi talks end. (February 1-29)"},"content":{"rendered":"

GULF STATES BAR TRAVEL, SUSPEND FLIGHTS DUE TO CORONAVIRUS<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Saudi <\/span>Arabia<\/span> barred its citizens and<\/span> residen<\/span>t<\/span>s<\/span><\/a> on February 6<\/span> from traveling to China amid the <\/span>corona<\/span>virus outbreak<\/span>. <\/span>The country\u2019s<\/span> flagship national carrier<\/span>, <\/span>Saudia<\/span>, had previously<\/span> joined other major airlines<\/span> in suspending flights to China<\/span>.<\/span> On February 27, the country <\/span>closed its borders to foreign \u201cumrah\u201d pilgrims<\/span><\/a> and to tourists from at least 25 countries where the new <\/span>virus<\/span> ha<\/span>d<\/span> been found.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The United Arab Emirates<\/span> (UAE)<\/span> announced on February 3<\/span><\/a> the suspension of all flights to and from China, excluding Beijing. On February 25, the country <\/span>suspended all flights to and from Iran<\/span><\/a> due to the spread of the coronavirus in the Islamic <\/span>R<\/span>epublic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kuwait\u2019s civil aviation authority\u202f <\/span>announced on February <\/span>24 and <\/span>25<\/span><\/a> that it ha<\/span>d<\/span> suspended all flights <\/span>with Singapore<\/span>, <\/span>Japa<\/span>n, <\/span>South Korea, Iran, Thailand, Italy<\/span>,<\/span> and Iraq <\/span>over coronavirus fears.<\/span> The country<\/span> called on its citizens on February 29<\/span><\/a> to avoid traveling<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bahrain\u2019s Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) <\/span>announced on February 27<\/span><\/a> that f<\/span>lights to and from Iraq and Lebanon <\/span>had<\/span> been stopped until further notice<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TALKS <\/span><\/b>BETWEEN<\/span><\/b> SAUDI ARABIA<\/span><\/b>, <\/span><\/b>QATAR<\/span><\/b> SAID TO HAVE BROKEN DOWN<\/span><\/b><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Talks between Saudi Arabia and Qatar to resolve a bitter Gulf dispute\u202f <\/span>broke down soo<\/span>n<\/span> after starting<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>six sources said<\/span> on February 1<\/span>1<\/span>, leaving in place a political and trade embargo of \u202f<\/span>Doha\u00a0<\/span>\u202fthat hampers joint Gulf Arab efforts to counter Iran.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Qatar\u2019s priority in the discussions was to restore free movement for its citizens to the boycotting nations, access the airspace of those countries<\/span>,<\/span>and reopen <\/span>its<\/span> only land border<\/span>, which is<\/span> shared with Saudi Arabia. However, Riyadh wanted Qatar to first demonstrate a fundamental change in its foreign policy<\/span>, which<\/span> has seen Doha back opposing sides in several regional conflicts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SAUDI COURT SENTENCES EIGHT\u00a0CITIZENS ON SPYING CHARGES<\/span><\/b><\/strong><\/h4>\n

A court in Saudi Arabia\u202f <\/span>has sentenced one Saudi citizen <\/span>t<\/span>o death<\/span><\/a> and seven others to jail on charges of treason and spying for Iran, Saudi state television tweeted on February 23. The seven sentenced to jail were found to have \u201cassociated and cooperated with people working in the Iranian embassy<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d the broadcaster tweeted<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

LAW FIRM ASKS COUNTRIES TO ARREST UAE OFFICIALS FOR YEMEN WAR CRIMES<\/span><\/b><\/strong><\/h4>\n

A British law firm <\/span>filed requests on <\/span>February 12<\/span><\/a> with authorities in Britain, the United States<\/span>,<\/span> and Turkey to arrest senior officials from the <\/span>UAE<\/span> on suspicion of carrying out war crimes and torture in Yemen<\/span>. <\/span>The complaints were filed by law firm Stoke White under the <\/span>\u201c<\/span>universal jurisdiction<\/span>\u201d<\/span> principle<\/span>, which stipulates<\/span> that countries are obliged to investigate war crimes wherever they may have been carried out.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

UAE ISSUES OPERATING LICENSE FOR NUCLEAR PLANT<\/span><\/b><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The <\/span>UAE<\/span>\u202f <\/span>has issued an op<\/span>e<\/span>rating license <\/span><\/a>\u202ffor the Arab world\u2019s first nuclear power plant, a senior official at the nuclear regulator said on <\/span>February 17<\/span>, paving the way for it to start production later this year.<\/span> The multi-billion-dollar Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, which is being built by<\/span> the<\/span>Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), was originally due to open in 2017, but the start-up of its first reactor has been delayed several times.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

POSTAL SERVICES RESUME BETWEEN QATAR, UAE<\/span><\/b><\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u202fThe U<\/span>AE<\/span>\u202f<\/span> resumed <\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>direct <\/span>postal services t<\/span>o<\/span>Qatar<\/span><\/a> on February 9, <\/span>nearly three years after they were suspended due to <\/span>the Gulf crisis<\/span>. <\/span>The move came after the U.N. Universal Postal Union<\/span> (UPU)<\/span> held a meeting with postal representatives from Qatar and the four boycotting nations at UPU headquarters in Switzerland on Jan<\/span>uary<\/span> 29 to discuss how to improve ties<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Post still cannot be sent to Qatar from Egypt or Saudi Arabia, according to customer service phone-lines run by those countries. Bahrain Post did not respond to a request for comment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GULF STATES BAR TRAVEL, SUSPEND FLIGHTS DUE TO CORONAVIRUS Saudi Arabia barred its citizens and residents on February 6 from traveling to China amid the coronavirus outbreak. The country\u2019s flagship national carrier, Saudia, had previously joined other major airlines in suspending flights to China. On February 27, the country closed its borders to foreign \u201cumrah\u201d… Continue reading GCC News Roundup: Coronavirus affects travel in the Gulf, Qatar-Saudi talks end. (February 1-29)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":465242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"publication_archive_type":[297],"class_list":["post-465237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","publication_archive_type-issue-brief","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465244,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465237\/revisions\/465244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465237"},{"taxonomy":"publication_archive_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mecouncil-afkar.fuegodigitalmedia.qa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_archive_type?post=465237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}