The United Arab Emirates will make history on Wednesday by becoming the first Arab nation to send an interplanetary mission to Mars. “Hope” — or Al-Amal in Arabic — is expected to reach Mars’s orbit by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of unification of United Arab Emirates, an alliance of seven sheikhdoms. The UAE’s Mars probe will not land on the Red Planet.
Qatar and UAE airlines have announced mandatory coronavirus tests for passengers from Pakistan three to four days before the scheduled departure. The mandatory pre-flight requirement for Qatar airways will take effect from Monday, July 13th. Passengers from Pakistan must show they were tested for COVID-19, 72 hours before their flight departure and present a negative result.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday said it will not receive passengers coming from Pakistan as of June 29 until a special Covid-19 lab is set up to test them. The General Civil Aviation Authority said the decision also applies to transit flights originating from Pakistan. Major UAE airlines had already suspended flights from Pakistan since last week.
Emirates has announced to start scheduled flights from Sialkot on June 24, which will be the fourth destination from Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The UAE’s flag carrier announced that its flights from Sialkot would only carry outbound passengers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and onward destinations. In contrast, its returning flights from UAE will carry cargo.
Researchers at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center (ADSCC) have developed an innovative treatment for COVID-19 that uses stem cells to cure the infection. This treatment involves extracting stem cells from the patient’s blood and reintroducing them to the lungs through inhalation of a fine mist. The mist has a therapeutic effect as it enables the lung cells to regenerate and change the response of the immune system.
UAE lifted the ban on various Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to encourage the citizens to stay home amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Last week the government made Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Zoom, and Blackboard available in the country. A week after that, the government, realizing the importance of working from home in these testing times, has lifted the ban of Google Hangouts Meet, Cisco Webex, Avaya Spaces, BlueJeans, and Slack as well.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has temporarily barred entry to all passengers due to the coronavirus outbreak. The passengers except UAE and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nationals (excluding those from Qatar), and diplomatic passport-holders are prohibited to enter. The notification issued by the UAE Supreme Council for National Security said that temporary travel restriction was effective immediately, starting 8am (GMT) or 12pm (UAE local time) and until further notice.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are planning on setting up a refinery in the western Indian state of Maharashtra that will cost at least $70 billion. The figure exceeds the initial $44 billion estimate previously announced in 2018. The refinery and petrochemicals complex, which would secure the supply of 600,000 barrels per day of Saudi and Emirati crude oil for India’s market.
China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are exploring opportunities for cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chinese ambassador to Islamabad Yao Jing said in an interview with Arab News.The ambassador stressed that UAE was also a partner under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and has a lot of trade and economic links with Pakistan.
After years of banning Voice over IP (VoIP) calls like Whatsapp, Skype and FaceTime, the UAE government is finally going to consider removing the ban on Whatsapp calls. The country has increased its collaboration with the Facebook-owned WhatsApp and will work keeping in mind the national security initiatives. UAE’s NESA Executive Director, Mohamed Al Kuwaiti revealed the news, saying, “this is going to happen soon.”