Doha: An air hostess of SriLankan Airlines died and another air hostess and two flight attendants were injured in a road accident on Friday evening. A spokesperson of the carrier identified the deceased as Amendra De Kauwe (pictured) and said the injured were taken to hospital. The other air hostess is still undergoing treatment. The accident occurred when they were engaged in a desert safari. Kapila Chandrasena, CEO, said the airline was deeply saddened over the incident. He said the airline intends to provide necessary treatment and other facilities after getting in touch with the families of the victims. The airline is investigating the accident. the Peninsula
Dubai: Bahrain said yesterday that it had revoked the citizenship of 72 people convicted of “harming the interests of the kingdom”. The official BNA news agency said their nationality had been rescinded in a decree as part of measures to “preserve security and stability and fight the danger of terrorist threats”. BNA published a list of names of the 72 people affected by the measure adopted by the interior ministry and approved by the cabinet. Information Minister Isa Abdulrahman Al Hammadi said that “most” of those deprived of their citizenship “are abroad and can challenge the decision legally”. “They do not represent a single terrorist formation,” he added.
DUBAI: A lavish payout to public employees ordered by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia will help to sustain the kingdom’s consumer boom and reassure financial markets that the government is not slashing expenditure in the face of low oil prices. On Thursday, King Salman ordered the immediate payment of two months of bonus salary to all state employees and pension to retired government workers, in a string of decrees which also reorganised the economic policy-making apparatus. The announcement did not give a monetary figure, but Saudi Arabia’s SR860bn ($229bn) state budget plan for 2015 said salaries, wages and allowances would comprise 50 percent of total spending. That implies the new payout will be worth up to around SR70bn — about 8 percent of the original budget, or 2.5 percent of last year’s gross domestic product. Agencies
