DUBAI: A new service has been introduced by the Dubai Police allowing residents to check their legal status online, offering a streamlined way to access information about potential legal cases, police reports, or travel bans.

The “Circulars and Travel Ban” service, available through the Dubai Police smartphone app or website, enables users to quickly determine whether they are involved in any financial or criminal cases, or if any travel restrictions have been imposed.

The service is free of charge and requires only the entry of an Emirates ID number to retrieve legal information.

The officials stated the platform is designed to be user-friendly, reducing the need for residents to visit police stations, courts, or government offices.

The initiative is part of Dubai Police’s efforts to modernise and enhance public services.

By providing easy access to legal information, the service aims to help residents avoid potential legal complications and address issues promptly, saving both time and effort, according to officials.

The enhanced version of the enquiry service, as per the police, “replaces the traditional approach of visiting several entities with a seamless digital model that puts convenience and time at the centre”.

Mexico’s Senate has passed legal reforms that could impose up to eight years in jail and fines of up to 226,000 pesos ($12,500) for the production or sale of vapes and electronic cigarettes, a massive ramp-up of enforcement measures that critics call overly restrictive.

The changes to the General Health Law, ratified late Wednesday by pro-government senators after clearing the lower house on Tuesday, now await enactment by President Claudia Sheinbaum, who supports the legislation.

“There’s this idea that not smoking tobacco or a cigarette can be replaced by using a vape, and the truth is that vapes, in some cases, are even more harmful than cigarettes,” Sheinbaum said on Friday. “You shouldn’t smoke cigarettes, and you shouldn’t use vapes.”

Following the rise of anti-tobacco measures worldwide, Mexico banned smoking in most public spaces about two decades ago. In recent years, the government has turned its attention to limiting the sale of vapes and electronic cigarettes, which are also prohibited in Argentina and Brazil amid increasing concern over health impacts.

Mexico has not banned the actual use of vapes.

Sheinbaum said the government is working with state authorities to curb potential illegal markets for these products, noting concerns over organised crime involvement. She did not discuss when the new rules would go into effect.

Opposition Senator Luis Colosio criticised the reforms, calling them “prohibitionist.” During the debate on Thursday, he said the government was avoiding its responsibility to regulate and monitor the industry by opting instead for an outright ban.

“Prohibitions are nothing more than an easy way out of a problem they either don’t want to or can’t control,” Colosio said.

Despite the measures, vapes and e-cigarettes remain readily available in Mexico City’s retail stores, and authorities have yet to outline plans to address street-level sales.

“It would be good if they banned them because people like me keep buying them, and the truth is, they’re very cheap everywhere,” a Mexico City resident identified as Valentina told broadcaster Milenio TV.

• Ukraine resists US demand of unilateral troop withdrawal in Donetsk.
• Zelensky sends 20-point counter-proposal to Washington for review.
• Russia claims capture of Siversk amid contested Donetsk advances.

US President Donald Trump is “extremely frustrated” with Russia and Ukraine, his spokeswoman said on Thursday, as Kyiv said Washington was still pushing it to make major territorial concessions as part of its plan to end the nearly four-year war.

“The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war,” Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “He doesn’t want any more talk. He wants action. He wants this war to come to an end.”

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made remarks that appeared to show little had changed in Washington’s core position on how the conflict should end since it sent a 28-point plan to Kyiv and Moscow last month that heavily favoured Russia.

Zelensky said that Washington was still pushing it to cede land to Russia as part of an agreement to end the war that started with Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.

Washington wants only Ukraine, not Russia, to withdraw its troops from parts of the eastern Donetsk region, where a demilitarised “free economic zone” would be installed as a buffer between the two armies, Zelensky told reporters, including from AFP.

Under the latest US plan, Moscow would also stay where it is in the south of the country, but pull some of its troops out of Ukrainian regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not claimed to have annexed in the north.

Ukraine has been revising the original US proposal and this week sent a 20-point counter-proposal to Washington, the full details of which have not been published.

“We have two key points of disagreement: the territories of Donetsk and everything related to them, and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. These are the two topics we continue to discuss,” Zelensky told reporters at a briefing.

“They see Ukrainian forces leaving the territory of Donetsk region, and the supposed compromise is that Russian forces do not enter this territory… which they already call a ‘free economic zone’,” Zelensky said about the US plan.

Zelensky has long said he has no “constitutional” or “moral” right to cede Ukrainian land, and on Thursday said Ukrainians should have the final say on the issue.

“Whether through elections or a referendum, there must be a position from the people of Ukraine,” he said.

‘Great many questions’

Zelensky also pushed back against the idea of a unilateral Ukrainian withdrawal in the Donetsk region.

“Why doesn’t the other side of the war pull back the same distance in the other direction?” he said, adding there were “a great many questions” still unresolved.

Under the US plan, Russia would relinquish territory it has captured in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions — three areas over which Moscow has not made a formal territorial claim.

In 2022, Russia claimed to formally annex the Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, despite not having full control over them.

Ukraine’s troops still hold around one-fifth of the Donetsk region, according to AFP’s analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Much of eastern and southern Ukraine has been decimated by fighting.

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes.

Russia, which has the numerical advantage in manpower and weapons, has been grinding forward on the battlefield.

It claimed Thursday to have captured the town of Siversk in the Donetsk region, where its army is advancing at its fastest pace in a year, according to AFP’s analysis. Ukraine’s army’s eastern command denied the claim.

‘Pivotal moment’

After holding a video conference to discuss the latest proposals, Ukraine’s European allies said that “this is a pivotal moment for Ukraine, its people, and for the security we all share across the Euro-Atlantic region,” the British prime minister´s office said in a statement.

Trump has largely sought to sideline them from the process, preferring to deal directly with Moscow and Kyiv in shuttle diplomacy led by his envoy Steve Witkoff and, lately, his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Zelensky said that although there was no strict deadline to finalise an agreement, Washington wanted to have the contours of a deal ready by Christmas.

He also said that despite the diplomatic scramble, he saw no indication Russia wanted to halt its invasion.

“In my view, they need a pause. They need it, but they’re not taking it. I don’t see any sign that they want to end the war,” Zelensky said.

In Kyiv, a double bomb blast on Thursday killed a serviceman and wounded four others, in what city prosecutors said was a suspected terror act.