Canadians hoping to travel to Saudi Arabia for the umrah pilgrimage are scrambling to curb their losses after the kingdom suddenly suspended entry for religious pilgrims over mounting coronavirus concerns, leaving travellers grounded and out thousands of dollars.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia moved to temporarily halt entry into the kingdom, home to two of Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the suspensions were temporary but provided no time frame for their expiry. It was unclear if the major pilgrimage, hajj, set to begin in July, will also be impacted.
And as news of the suspensions makes waves, phones have been ringing non-stop at travel agencies specializing in umrah packages, with customers worried the money spent on flights, hotels and tour bookings will disappear as a result.
“It’s a panic situation,” said Chaudhry Iqbal of Bismillah Travel and Tours in Mississauga, Ont.
Most customers looking to perform the umrah pilgrimage book in groups months in advance, their packages largely non-refundable, Iqbal explained.
Travellers who left before suspension also affected
“We are really in a limbo right now,” said Faisal Chohan of the Toronto-based World Ways Travel. But while the news is still fresh, Chohan says airlines have said little about whether they’ll take any steps to help customers get their funds back.
“It’s been a really crazy influx of calls from not only people who are travelling from here, but also people who have already travelled and are in transit,” he said.
Some travellers who booked with Chohan left from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport just hours before the suspension. By the time it was announced, they were already in flight or at their connecting destinations, where they were denied boarding their Saudi-bound flights.
Yusuf Bhatia and his wife are among them.
Some people spend years saving for such a trip.– Yusuf Bhatia
The pair booked their trip more than two months ago and left from Toronto on Wednesday — just before the suspension was announced. But they were nevertheless turned around in Istanbul, losing thousands of dollars in the process.
Thirty minutes before his flight was supposed to leave Istanbul for Jeddah, Bhatia says they were called to the desk and told Saudi Arabia had cancelled their umrah visas. Bhatia said he tried to volunteer a medical test to show he and his wife were virus-free, but it was to no avail.
‘No option but to return’
“We had no option but to return back,” he said.
“Some people spend years saving for such a trip with their family,” Bhatia told CBC News. “I wish they would allow the people who already left home and were in transit, or at least reimburse their hotel and travel.”
“He’s worked so hard, and just in that one shot he’s lost that $4,500,” said Chohan.
Some travellers who booked with World Ways Travel in Toronto left just hours before the suspension. By the time it was announced, they were already in flight or at their connecting destinations, where they were denied boarding their Saudi-bound flights. (World Ways Travel)
CBC News tried to contact Saudi officials for comment, but did not receive a response.
Another family with four children is stuck in Dhaka.
“He just got there today and he’s been calling me since morning as well,” Chohan said. That family travelled with Air Canada from Toronto to London. From there, they were supposed to take a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight to Jeddah and later to Dhaka. Instead they were sent straight to Dhaka.
Chohan said the majority of his customers’ bookings are through Air Canada, and said he was still awaiting word from the airline about reimbursing customers.
In a statement, Air Canada told CBC News it has goodwill policies allowing customers travelling to and from China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Italy to rebook their trips, but there is no such arrangement for Saudi Arabia.
“We continue to monitor this situation closely and will update policies as warranted,” the airline said.
Some will be ‘out of pocket’
Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, flight cancellations or delays based primarily on catastrophes or public health emergencies may be considered outside an airline’s control, the Canadian Transportation Agency told CBC News. If an airline’s decision is based primarily on commercial concerns, for example, that would count as within its control.
“Each situation would have to be assessed on its own merits,” the agency said in a statement.
The Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) recommends travellers affected by the kingdom’s decision contact their travel agencies, provided they have booked with one.
Customers may be able to get back some of their money if they have trip cancellation or interruption insurance through their credit card or purchased it separately, or if the airline provides rebooking options, TICO’s president and CEO Richard Smart told CBC News.
“There may be some consumers that in the end are out of pocket,” Smart said.
TICO’s own compensation fund does not apply to travellers in this situation, Smart said; it’s limited to travellers whose plans are affected by an Ontario travel agency, tour operator, airline or cruise going bankrupt.
For now, Chohan says more than 100 customers at his agency alone will have their trips cancelled because of the suspension.
Where airlines and hotels offer refunds, Chohan says, those funds will be returned to the customers. “But those that don’t, we are also stuck,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bhatia isays he and his wife were put up in a hotel at no charge while they awaited their flight back to Canada.
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
