From Foreign Waters

Malaysia’s monarch spoke highly of the relations with the United Arab Emirates especially in the economic sector in an exclusive interview to the state news agency WAM.  He said that the remarkable growth between the two countries when it comes to the trade and tourism and economic development programs show the economic potential they hold. Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, further asserted that UAE has also been one of the most important trading partners of Malaysia.  "The UAE has been one of Malaysia’s main trading partners in this region. In 2019, total trade between Malaysia and the UAE was valued at US$6.426 billion, an increase of 12.5 percent from US$5.709 billion in 2018.” The UAE and Malaysia have shown a lot of pride in their relations. The emirati nation has been Malaysia’s largest export destination and second largest when it comes to import in the West Asia region. This was the first interview that the King had given to any Arab nation.  "Giv

Khalifa bin Zayed, Ruler of Abu Dhabi and his Highness has issued an order to fomra a Supreme Council to look after Financial and Economic affairs. The council has been formed to look after matters related to the finances, investments, petroleum and natural resource affairs in the emirate reveals a report in WAM.  The council will be headed by the Ruler of Abu Dhabi while the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi will be the Vice-Chairman of the council, states the law.  The report also said that the council will also be responsible to organise and approve public policies of Abu Dhabi in addition to other financial requirements. The law also consists of provision to supervise the performance of the related sectors so that it ensures compatibility with other directives or developmental plans approved by the emirate leadership.  It will be working in accordance with the Department of Finance, the Abu Dhabi investment Authority Mubadala, ADNOC, ADQ, and other entities within the scope of the council&

After successful implementation of diplomatic ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel after the signing of Abraham Accords, key negotiators join a virtual call to discuss further matters between the two as they call the treaty 'diplomatic win’.  The Abraham Accords was the result of expert negotiators coming to terms with the needs and requirements of the two countries and coming up with a proposal that benefits both the parties.  The virtual event was hosted by the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi and deep insight about how the deal was reached came into the knowledge of people. The assistant of the US president, who is also the special representative for the international negotiations, Avi Berkowitz, conducted the meeting along with Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE ambassador to the US and Minister of State, explained how the deal was reached behind the scenes.  Berkowitz said, “There were a lot of countries that were thinking of ways to improve their relationship with Isra

The first batch of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine has arrived in the United Arab Emirates as the nation plans to start its extensive inoculation campaign from Wednesday.  The vaccine arrived in Dubai late on Tuesday promises 95 percent efficacy against the Covid-19 virus. Soon after the arrival, Dubai’s Supreme Committee for zCrisis and Disaster Management announced a "wide and free vaccination campaign against Covid-19 with the Pfizer vaccine,” which will commence immediately.  Dubai has already authorised the use of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the government will soon start the vaccination drive, which is the second vaccine being made available in the UAE after the approval of Sinopharm jab.  https://twitter.com/DXBMediaOffice/status/1341506109627109376?s=20 The decision to approve the vaccine came after relevant tests were made and the vaccine was found to be safe and effective, reported a news agency WAM. The top official responsible for the vaccine safety, Dr Amin Hussein Al-Amiri,

Amid tension between Beijing & Canberra, China is facing power cuts due to a ban on Australian coal Multiple cities in China have been facing power cuts in recent weeks in the aftermath of Beijing's decision to ban coal imports from Australia.  China's National Development and Reform Commission's decision to indefinitely block coal imports from Australia has triggered a shortage of fuel in the country due to which various cities are experiencing power outages, including Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, and Guangzhou. In a number of provinces, local governments have imposed restrictions on power usage, asking agencies to cut electricity supply as the growing demand for energy is colliding with a shortage of thermal coal. For instance, China's central and eastern provinces of Hunan and Zhejiang have introduced new electricity restrictions, demanding citizens to ensure orderly use of electricity. While China is scrambling to revive its economy and industrial development, t

The United Arab Emirates has set benchmarks in various spheres this year and now it looks to focus on strengthening the media space of the country as Dubai gears up to host the 19th edition of the Arab Media Forum.  Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is the chairman of the Dubai Media Council, said that as the global advancements in the industry are growing, it is important to develop the Arab media sector  so that it gives a strategic boost to the government decision makers and other institutions related to the media sector.  “Since its inception, the Arab Media Forum has championed the drive to develop the Arab media sector by highlighting technological advancements, content development trends and solutions for challenges, and promoting dialogue and exchange of expertise at regional and international levels,” said Al Maktoum.  He spoke about the focus needed to be drawn towards the media sector as the Dubai Press Club prepares for the virtual edition of the Media for

The United Arab Emirates is making an example out of itself as it expands its logistics reach for Covid-19 vaccine reach by partnering with four other logistic companies.  Abu Dhabi has established the largest hub for Covid-19 vaccine distribution, Abu Dhabi Hope Consortium, with an aim to distribute vaccines to every part of the world by the end of this year.  The consortium, which plans to deliver billions of vaccines throughout the world, has partnered with Agility Logistics, Aramex, Hellman worldwide logistics and Kuehne+Nagel, a deal which was confirmed on Thursday.  The partnership will be benefited by providing global access for a potential distribution coverage to almost 80 percent of the world, confirms Abu Dhabi government media office. The Abu Dhabi media office made it official through twitter saying, “Abu Dhabi’s Hope Consortium has engaged four globally leading freight forwarder partners to support in addressing logistical challenges in the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 vacc

The European Parliament has issued a three-day ultimatum till Sunday to EU and UK negotiators to reach a Brexit trade agreement such that it has enough time to ratify the deal. In a joint statement on Thursday, the heads of the Parliament's political groups announced that it is ready to organise an extraordinary plenary session by the end of December in order to ratify a trade deal. However, Brexit negotiators have been warned to reach an agreement by midnight on December 20, Sunday.  They added that if a deal is not reached by then, it could only be ratified in 2021, given that there will not be enough time for the Parliament to debate on the aspects of the agreement.  The decision was taken by the parliament’s conference of presidents after a meeting with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Thursday morning during when he reported assured that a deal will be possible by Friday. UK and EU negotiators led by Michel Barnier and David Frost are currently in Brussels to

Dubai has been rapidly testing Covid1-19 tests and in a latest response to tackle the virus spread, the emirate has increased its capacity to more than 80,000 tests. The Dubai authorities have also decided to allocate 89 hotels and buildings for the purpose of isolation and quarantine.  The details of the number of tests carried on a per day basis, director general of Dubai Health Authority, Humaid Al Qutami addressed the Arab Conference (ARADO conference), which was being conducted virtually by the Arab Administrative Development Organisation, a non-profit organisation affiliated with the League of Arab States.  He assured that the emirate is taking all the necessary steps to provide protection to the workers in the first line of defense. He said that thermal devices have been installed at all the ports--land, sea, and air--and other Covid-19 laboratory centres.  He took help of certain examples to describe how the authorities have been trying to help people with treatment and other h

During the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the United Arab Emirates chose to implement various measures in order to control the spread of the virus. One of them was training dogs in such a manner that they detect Covid-19 in people.  Now one of the reports has suggested that there is 98 percent correlation between the results of the PCR tests and the trained dogs detecting virus house in the human body.  It was confirmed on Sunday by the Federal Customs Authority and the Higher Colleges of Technology that they have successfully accomplished the first of its kind study where trained dogs will be deployed to detect coronavirus infection.   A joint task force conducted a scientific study where the customs K9 sniffer dogs were required to detect the virus in the human body . The task force included experts, researchers and specialists representing the HCT and the K9 unit in the FCA.  The study was conducted in three phases and it revealed that there is a high rate of accuracy of dogs fr

The United Arab Emirates starts with the phase III trials of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Russia as it now seeks for volunteers who can participate in the trial. The trials as of now will only be conducted in Abu Dhabi .  Russia Covid-19 vaccine called Sputnik V will be reportedly given in two doses to nelly 500 volunteers. It came after Russia began distributing the vaccine on Saturday to the most exposed groups in the country marking the start of the first ever large scale vaccination drive. The trials for the vaccine in Abu Dhabi will be conducted only under the supervision of the Department of Health, Abu Dhabi. It is the official health regulator in Abu Dhabi. The vaccine usage programme in the emirate is being facilitated through the partnership between the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russian’s sovereign wealth fund, and Abu Dhabi-based Aurugulf Health Investment.  This is the second vaccine that is the third phase of clinical trials as the vaccine developed by the ch

As promised during the announcement of normalising ties with Israel, the United Arab Emirates is moving towards improving the situation between Palestine and Israel. The country has called for progress towards efforts at ending the long running conflict between the two parties.  It has called for a commitment from h=its regional and international partners who will collaborate for the efforts to find a solution to the issues of Palestine that deals with realistic aspirations of the Palestinian people.  The ambitions of the UAE came to public knowledge when the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UAE to the United Nations, Lama Nusseibeh, gave a statement at the general assembly’s meeting where she said, “The Middle East is witnessing many conflicts and crises that have exhausted its people. With the outbreak of Covid-19, existing challenges are exacerbated, making it a priority for the international community to seek permanent solutions to these issues by rethinking previous

The 49th national day celebrations have brought in some big surprises for the people of the United Arab Emirates with the latest announcement of the country smashing as many as five Guinness world records this time.  The country already has a reputation as the most record breaking nation in the gulf region and with the current aim to grab five more such titles for its 49th National Day Celebrations, the nation is trying to expand its reach.  This will take place as Guinness World Record will be witnessing three attempts by the Global Village that will be a part of the 25 world record planned to create this 25th anniversary as a popular attraction.  One of such records that the Emirati nation is aiming to break is using the maximum number of flags to create the largest flag number ever to exist. Apart from this, the country will also come together to make the largest bottle cap sentence which will reportedly consist of 13,434 bottle caps.  People will also be putting together the larges

On its Commemoration Day, the United Arab Emirates remembers those heroes who have sacrificed their life fighting for the citizens and their country.  November 30 is remembered as Martyr's Day. There will be both a public and an official commemoration of the fallen heroes today. Every year, on this day, the country’s top officials and people remember the martyr’s who have sacrificed their lives for their dedication towards the UAE.  Like every year, the UAE pasode homage to them and people expressed their gratitude and respect to the heroes who lived for their country. The emirati nation has time and again shown respect to the army personnels who have lost their lives. This is one such event that recognises their sacrifice.  The UAE government ensures that families of these heroes are always taken care of. Be it the government or non-government organisations, everyone is included in the activities that take place on this special day. The UAE nationals and expatriates also participa

The first ever passenger flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel took off on Thursday morning from the Dubai International Airport.  After signing a deal to normalise the ties between the two countries in September. Through this agreement, the UAE became only the third country to open its diplomatic borders for Israel and officially recognise Israel after Jordan and Egypt.  The flight took off at 9:40 am yesterday to Tel Aviv, a city in Israel. It was reportedly a direct flight by the budget airlines flydubai. It will be nearly a three hour long journey to the Israeli city.  The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu will be himself welcoming the first batch of passengers of the inaugural flight, confirmed one of the Israeli spokesman.  Ofir Gendelman confirmed the information through a tweet saying,“PM Netanyahu will attend this morning the welcoming ceremony for the first @flydubai commercial flight that will arrive at Ben-Gurion International Airport. These are the fruit

A campaign has been devised by the Dubai Foundation for Women Children that aims at ending violence against them in the United Arab Emirates. This is their sixth campaign aiming at stopping violence against women and also aims at sheding light on the mental health of the women.  This initiative has been taken by the foundation along with global UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. This will be 16 day long campaign which will kick off on November 25 that is marked as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and end on Human Rights day celebrated on December 10.  A statement released by the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children reported by WAM said that the campaign will shed light on the neglected and ignored area of mental health of women. The coronavirus pandemic has also to a lot of extent affected the lifestyles of women and shaped their mental health and this campaign will target this area

The United Arab Emirates solidified its stance on two state solutions in Palestine during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Emirates Society, where they also supposedly discussed ways of strengthening the ties between the United Kingdom and UAE.  The Emirates Society is a UK based society which focuses on the ties between the two countries on various aspects ranging from economic, political and cultural affairs. The institution hosted a high-level discussion on the remarkable Abraham accords, which were signed on September 15 this year.  Through this deal, the UAE and Israel normalised their ties with each other opening up a larger scope of possibilities for the two. This meeting explored further trade areas between the two and regional resolutions as a tie between Muslim and Jewish popoultations.  Reem bint Ebrahim Al- Hashimy represented the UAE at the online event, minister of state for International cooperation. Other dignitaries present at the event were ban-Ki-moon, the forme

On October 31, England president Boris Johson had announced complete lockdown for four weeks which meant that the country will next start freely moving from December 2. This step meant that all the international travels would be stopped.  But now as things progress, England has striked Dubai from its Quarantine list which is especially beneficial in December given the wintery atmosphere that will be taking place in the United Kingdom versus the considerably warmer situation in the United Arab Emirates.  Last week it was announced by the officials of the European country that the city will be added to the list of quarantine free travel destinations. From November 14, passengers arriving from the UK from Dubai will no longer have to serve the mandatory quarantine period of 14 days which makes it easier for the Emirates who want to experience the Christmas time in the European nation.  Other than Dubai, the British government also lifted travel bans and restrictions from the following pla

One of the emirates and capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, has continued to keep its low percentage of positive covid-19 cases.  Experts have time and again credited the UAE taking strict actions against those flouting rules that ensure safer movement within the community as one the most important reason why the Emirati capital managed to fare this good in controlling the increasing number of covid-19 cases.  The Abu Dhabi Media Office also confirmed the improved performance of the country in fighting this battle against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and tweeted, “Abu Dhabi's Emergency, Crisis & Disaster Committee announced the National Screening Programme and other testing initiatives continue to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the emirate, through mass testing and providing free tests for all segments of society.”  The media office praised the efforts taken by the officials and one of the major one being free tests that helped identify many cases and gave an o

The United Arab Emirates has made some changes in the Islamic law that relaxes alcohol consumption and cohabitation. The nation on Saturday announced criminalisation of ‘honor killings’, an age-old regressive culture of killing a person by the perpetrator who believes that the victim has brought shame or dishonor upon the family. While addressing the press, the government officials said that these reforms will be adding to the efforts that will improve legislation and will also provide a better platform for investment opportunities in the country. The officials also asserted that this will help in consolidating ‘tolerance principle’. Emirati film-maker Abdalla Al Kaabi said, “I could not be happier for these new laws that are progressive and proactive.” The filmmaker is known to deal with topics such as homosexualitu and gender identity. He said that 2020 has been a tough and transformative year for the UAE. The government is yet to disclose detailed structure of these laws and changes

 The United States department has made an unofficial deal of $10 billion defense sale to the United Arab Emirates.  As per a report in Reuters, the US state department has sent a notification to the congress and informed them about plans to sell $10 billion of defense equipment, which will include selling precision-guided munitions, non-precision bombs and missiles to the United Arab Emirates.  The proposal, which was first reported by CNN, has not yet officially been addressed and the state department spokesperson also denied commenting on the policy. The ordinance was reportedly submitted late Thursday in front of the congress, which came after president Trump planned to sell sophisticated armed aerial drones to the UAE.  These latest developments have come after the US was notifying the congress about potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to the middle eastern country.  The strength in the relationship between the UAE and US were fully established when the Arab state agreed to open it

The cabinet of the United Arab Emirates revealed through a tweet on Monday that it will be spending 26.04 billion dirhams ($7.09 billion) on social projects which will be a part of the budget for next year.  As per the information revealed by the UAE news agency WAM, 21.3 billion dirhams was  designated for government affairs while 3,93 billion dirhams was allocated to federal projects. The total amount that added up to the budget was 58 billion dirhams.  The Dubai media office said, quoting Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-maktoum, who is also the UAE’s prime minister, “the UAE economy will be among the fastest to recover in 2021, and the government has dealt with the 2020 budget efficiently and has all the tools to continue its financial and operational efficiency in 2021.” The federal budget however saw a decrease this when compared to last year of nearly 15.8 billion dirhams which means last year it was 61.35 billion dirhams. Experts say that this will not make any major

The United Arab Emirates was a part in the recently concluded Global Green Growth meeting where it highlighted the importance of sustainable living and green growth. This was the ninth session of the assembly while the thirteenth session of the council of the GGG group.  The Emirati nation was represented by Eng Aisha Al Abdooli, director of Green Development at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, MOCCAE. The session was headed by Ban ki-moon, president and chair of GGGI’s assembly and council. The session saw participation by various officials of different governments, international organisations and various businesses from about 30 countries.  The process lasted for two weeks where the delegates could share their experience and knowledge in the field and also discuss key initiatives that were aimed at sustainable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.  While addressing the members, Ban ki-moon said, “This year, the one development that has affected us all is the COVID-19

In a latest development, UAE’s martyr’s office has decided to launch a nationwide campaign to ensure that family members of the servicemen killed in the country in the line of duty, receive Covid-19 vaccine.  The news was confirmed by the Martyrs' Families Affairs Office who will also be overseeing the execution of this initiative in partnership with the emirate's Department of Health. The Executive Director of the office, Sheikh Khalifa bin Tahnoon, said that through this project, the United Arab Emirates aims to serve the people who have lost their loved ones in the line of duty. While talking about this initiative he also appreciated the efforts made by the United Arab Emirate’s health sector in controlling the coronavirus pandemic. The families who have been promised of help also thanked the office for its continued assistance. The coronavirus vaccine is going through phase three of trial in the Emirate and the latest person to have received the vaccine the Cabinet Minister

More than a thousand school buses have been inspected for possible danger for coronavirus by the Dubai’s road and Transport authority. The schools in the country have already opened and this calls for special measures by the authority. In this procedure of inspecting the school buses, 56 breaches were found where the authorities felt that the bus did not follow safety regulations. Though among these buses that had issues with the hardware such as seat, interior or exterior and other such things were also included.  According to the National, one of the transport officials said that these inspections will carry out through the year as they ensure safety of the pupils. This is after in August, the officials had a workshop with the school authorities and the bus managers to adhere to certain guidelines during the run of this pandemic.  These safety measures include, regular temperature check, carrying capacity of the bus reduced to 50 percent, sanitisation of buses before and after use an

Dubai may be known for its skyscrapers but it's not something that is going to come in limelight this time. It is coming up with one of the most powerful and old resources to generate power, a coal power plant which will stand tall in the midst of the deserted land.  It is a $3.4 billion project called Hassyan plant in Dubai. The official announcement about the contribution was only made recently after it was revealed that the peninsula will also be building a nuclear power plant and has also been promoting its solar power plant named after Dubai’s ruler.  Dubai has been advancing vigorously in sustainable development goals especially when it comes to carbon footprints. The Emirate has planned to contribute the lowest in the carbon footprint in the world till 2050. Although, it will be a task to achieve this feat hand in hand to building a coal plant, which will have a huge impact in increasing the pollution level in the city, but it also to be noted that till now, the country has

An initiative to build Abu Dhabi’s largest solar photovoltaic has been taken by a renewable energy company called Masdar and the Emirates leading curator of experiences, Miral,. This will be one of its kind projects that will be created at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi on Yas Island. As per reports, the deal has been signed aiming at providing nearly 16,000 solar modules all over the theme park’s roof area of 36,000 square meter. This will fetch 40 percent of its annual demand, which is a staggering difference from before. From what has been understood of the agreement, Masdar will be supplying a full turnkey solution for a seven megawatt peak project which will include design, procurement and other aspects involving the set-up of the plant such as- construction, operation and maintenance of the plant.  The project will reportedly take a year to complete and estimated time is scheduled in the fourth quarter of next year. With this, Abu Dhabi is set to become the largest solar powered th

The United Arab Emirates adheres to all the necessary norms and precautions while preparing for a 10-day long festival of Navratri. The community groups and Indian expats have maintained that all the celebrations will be ‘strictly at home.’ Usually, this time of the year brings a lot of celebrations and gatherings and a large population in the UAE loves to enjoy dandiya, a traditional dance performance originated in the Indian state of Gujarat. But given the current circumstances, there are ‘absolutely no festivities at the Hindu temple at Bur Dubai.  Gopal Kokani, general manager of the Bur Dubai Hindu Temple, said: "We are strictly adhering to the guidelines issued by the Community Development Authority. We have 30 minutes of prayer every morning and 30 minutes in the evening." The temple is known to host large gatherings each year during Navratri.  He added that the norms are being abided by June 1 of this year and everyone in the country who comes to the temple has adjust

According to a circular issued this month, the airlines have been asked by the Dubai airport to repatriate passengers who would come or visit the United Arab Emirates without a return ticket.  The decision was taken after it was found that on Wednesday and Thursday, many passengers from the South Asian countries got stranded in the Dubai airport after they were unable to fulfill the entry requirements.  As it was reported by the Khaleez times, the circular said, “Passengers with visit and tourist visas arriving (in) Dubai without a return ticket will be not be permitted entry, and it is the sole responsibility of the airline to arrange and cover the cost of a ticket/ flight to return their passenger to the country of origin." It was reported that the majority of the passengers among the south asian nations were from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. Yesterday a report claimed that according to the diplomatic institutions of India and Pakistan, as many as 300 pass

To promote safe and responsible space ventures and corporations, it has become a part of seven other signatories who have signed Nasa's Artemis Accords for the same purpose.  The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) officially became a part of the cluster during the 71st International Astronautical Congress (IAC), running between October 12 and 14, 2020. This initiative is unique in the sense that it will include the first women and next man to land on the surface of the moon till 2024.  The United Arab Emirates is planning for a one of its kind mission by the end of this decade where a human will be a part of mars mission. By signing the documents to join NASA’s initiative, UAE can now be an international partner to all the countries who are planning or have already executed the strenuous mission.  The whole event was held through a virtual set-up hosted by NASA and  Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chair of the UAE Space Agency was present while representing the

Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University has developed a new portable testing kit which can detect coronavirus in about 35 minutes. The team of researchers, who worked on it, applied a low cost detection technique called loop-mediated isothermal amplification (Lamp) technique to ascertain the infection. The makers claimed that the kit, which is slightly bigger than a smart phone, could be used for testing about 16 different samples. The changing of the colour detects the disease and the kit, which is under clinical validation, has proven to be as accurate as a PCR nasal swab test. Dr Anas Alazzam, associate professor in mechanical engineering at Khalifa University and key supervisor of the kit, said, “Polymerase chain reaction or PCR testing is lengthy and requires bulky equipment. It uses a thermal cycling approach to start the RNA replication process, which needs to be converted to DNA and detect the virus.” He added, “Lamp, on the other hand, uses a single temperature approach to get the

The coronavirus pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of people stressed out for various reasons. Many are troubled by the job losses while others have struggled to keep up their work and feed their families in half the payment.  This has taken a toll on the health of these workers and more than the physical aspect, it has affected mental health. One such worker is 31-year-old Mohammed Afia , who has been working in half payment since May, according to a story in Khaleej Times. He has been stressed out because since May he is unable to send enough money to home, time and again bothering him.  There is another worker who panicked when he got to know that a lot of his friends had lost jobs and was worried that he might also lose the job. A 27-year-old Adam Swamad, a Cameroonian supervisor in a cleaning company, said that apart from the fear of losing his job, he is scared of contracting the dreaded virus as well.  As the reports state, both the workers are attending counseling sessions

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel met for the first time following the agreement between the two nations, signed last month, aiming at normalising their ties. Berlin hosted the foreigner ministers meet, bringing together former foes on one table after about four decades. The historic deal between the two opposing nations was brokered by US President Donald Trump, giving them the option of settling their difference in a peaceful manner. Besides UAE, Bahrain also signed a similar agreement with Israel on September 15. UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed thanked his German counterpart Heiko Maas for hosting the meeting with Israeli foreign minister whom he referred as “my new friend Gabi Ashkenazi”. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said, “Three decades ago, the German people united Berlin to make history, and today we are gathered together in the hope of making history.” He added, “In the UAE we are looking forward to opening more new horiz

Despite a recent increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the country, UAE has a good handle on the situation because of improving treatment techniques. For five straight days, UAE registered more than 1000 cases of COVID-19 each day. It only dropped on Monday when 932 cases were recorded, in addition to three deaths. The total number of cases so far is inching towards the 100,000 mark and there have been 429 deaths. The spike in cases comes at the time when the society has been opening up further, with entry permits now being issued and entertainment options now open.  The country is responding to this by expanding testing in order to detect cases early and treat them accordingly. Each day, more than 100,000 tests are being processed. More 80,000 people have also recovered, including 1,287 in the previous 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Prevention. The recovery rate is, in fact, at record high levels and the chance of survival upon contraction of the disease is

The United Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi plans for a more inclusive society for the disabled. The emirate looks at the word as a part of this initiative of making the society more acceptable and comfortable for people with disabilities.  Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed spoke to the members of the host town committees of the special olympic world games of Abu Dhabi as reported by the national. The crown prince of Abu Dhabi, who is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of armed forces, announced the strategy for people’s determination last month.  The initiative has been taken to ensure equal opportunities and rights across several important sectors in the Emirati capital.  Hamad Ali Al Dhaheri, undersecretary of Abu Dhabi's Department of Community Development, said that as many as 30 initiatives will be supported under this programme and will be supported by 28 federal governments and local bodies.  He added that these 30 initiatives will be implemented in a span of five years and will aim

Post covid times have seen parents in the United Arab Emirates shifting their children to more affordable schools. As per a report by the National, admissions in affordable schools have increased as parents are trying to cut down on the educational spending.  Teachers of some schools also asserted that because of a lot of admission requirements, they are oversubscribed with waiting lists.  One of the schools in the UAE, the Winchester school said that they admitted double the number of children this year when compared to previous years. Jebel Ali from the school said that last year 350 students took admissions while this year the number has increased to 750. Fees at the school range from Dh13,800 for foundation stage to Dh30,800 for year 13. The principal of the school , Meenakshi Dahiya said that though every year we have a long waiting list but this year it is longer.  “We have more than 4,200 pupils at our school of which more than 700 pupils have joined this year. We did not get ma