Kerala man wins Rs 28 cr lottery in Abu Dhabi
Dubai, Jan 3: An Indian expatriate on Thursday won 15 million dirhams in the Big Ticket raffle at the Abu Dhabi airport.
Sarath Purushothaman, who is based in Dubai, was among the eight Indians, out of 10 winners of the Big Ticket raffle draw, the Khaleej Times reported.
Purushothaman was announced as the winner of a bumper prize of 15 million dirhams, it said, adding that it was the highest prize ever given away by Big Ticket.
According to the report, Purushothaman was contacted on the phone after the winning ticket was announced, but he thought it to be a prank.
The organisers had to call him one again to confirm that the announcement was legitimate, it said.
The second price of 100,000 dirhams was won by another Indian expat Jinachandran Vazhoor Narayanan.
Among the 10 winners, eight were Indians at the Thursday's draw, while the other two winners were from Pakistan and Fiji.
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First direct US-Venezuela commercial flight in 7 years to land in Caracas
Caracas (Venezuela) (AP): The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela is scheduled to land on Thursday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, seven years after the US Department of Homeland Security ordered an indefinite suspension, citing security concerns.
The resumption of a commercial flight between the two countries comes in the wake of the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, in early January.
It also comes a month after the US formally reopened its embassy in Caracas following the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country.
Flight AA3599 operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines, was scheduled to depart from Miami at 10:16 a.m. local time and arrive three hours later in the Venezuelan capital, returning to Florida later in the afternoon.
Earlier, the airline said a second daily flight between Miami and Caracas will start on May 21.
In late January, US President Donald Trump said he informed Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez that he would open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela, allowing Americans to visit.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they'll be safe there,” Trump said at the time.
The flights mark the resumption of nonstop travel between the US and Venezuela for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019. For the past seven years, passengers have relied on international airlines and indirect routes through neighbouring Latin American countries.
In January, when the airline announced the resumption of flights it said it would give customers the opportunity to reunite with families and pursue new business opportunities.
American Airlines was the last US airline flying to Venezuela. It suspended flights in 2019 between Miami and Caracas, as well as flights to the oil hub city of Maracaibo. Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017 amid a political crisis that forced millions to flee the country.
