Abu Dhabi Crown Prince: World will get through the tough times amid coronavirus outbreak

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has expressed strong belief that the world will survive the current challenging circumstances. (WAM)
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Updated 17 March 2020
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Abu Dhabi Crown Prince: World will get through the tough times amid coronavirus outbreak

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has expressed strong belief that the world will survive the current challenging circumstances.

“We will get through the ongoing tough times and survive the myriad challenges we and the entire world are now experiencing. The hard time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to get stronger than before,” Sheikh Mohamed said during a meeting with other senior royalties, ministers and officials.

 

 

“The world is going through tough times. We, in the UAE, are lucky, as our conditions are relatively better thanks to many factors, primarily the availability of qualified human cadres capable of efficiently shouldering the responsibility toward confronting the proliferation of the COVID-19. The UAE is faring well, all thanks to the early efforts and measures in place to face this virus.”

The total number of positive coronavirus cases in the UAE has now reached 98, wherein 26 patients have recovered from the illness.

 

 

“We all have seen the difference between the nations which have adopted early precautionary measures and those which haven’t. The former are more successful in containing the spread of the virus and addressing its repercussions, even though they’ve started only a few days or weeks earlier than the latter,” Sheikh Mohamed continued.

“We are racing against time in confronting the besetting challenges. In the UAE, we have adopted rational and early advanced precautionary measures before other countries around us to stand up to the challenge. And therefore, the infection tally in the UAE is less thanks to our early response to contain the virus at its onset.”

 

 

“The UAE has benefitted from the experience of other advanced countries, like Singapore, South Korea and China in confronting the virus. And we are still maintaining transparent channels of coordination with them. Until now we are among the most successful nations in the region in addressing this challenge, both in terms of the number of individuals who have been examined and the potential and resources boasted by the country in this regard.”

On the challenges faced by several world countries in relation to food and medical supplies, Sheikh Mohamed reassured all UAE nationals and residents that the nation is able to “provide all required food and medical supplies continuously and infinitely.”

 

 

“There are a lot of things the State is doing which we can’t reveal. However, our officials in charge know pretty well that medications and food supplies are a red line in the UAE. I’d like to reassure every citizen and resident of the UAE that our country is infinitely able to supply everyone with all the food and medicine they could ever need. We are well prepared to face any challenge that arises. We have started our preparation ahead of Coronavirus, and Thank God, the UAE is now secure and stable. We have an advanced infrastructure and we’re geared for all challenges whatsoever they are.”

 

 

Sheikh Mohamed expressed sincere thanks to the entire medical and paramedical teams provided by the Ministry of Health and Prevention. “I send my sincerest appreciation and gratitude to all the health workers of the UAE. They stand in the front line of our defenses, we owe them a great debt, and we will never forget their service.”

 

 

“Our traditions are very dear to us, but we must be practical during these times. I ask every Emirati and resident to do what is necessary, and let’s not allow our traditions to become a source of harm to our families and society. Take care of your mothers and fathers and families,” he added.

 

 


UN Libya mission alarmed by reported torture footage in detention facility

Guards check on a prisoner at the Kadhafi-era political prisoners jail Ain Zara in Tripoli on November 16, 2011. (AFP file photo
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UN Libya mission alarmed by reported torture footage in detention facility

  • The UN mission said the footage was consistent with what it described as “documented patterns of human rights violations in detention facilities across Libya”

CAIRO: The UN Libya mission expressed on Tuesday its alarm over what it said was footage circulating on social media featuring “brutal torture and ill-treatment” of detainees at the Gernada detention facility in eastern Libya.

Reuters was unable to immediately independently verify the reported videos.

“As UNSMIL continues to verify the circumstances of the circulated footage, it strongly condemns these acts that constitute serious violations of international human rights law,” it said.

The UN mission said the footage was consistent with what it described as “documented patterns of human rights violations in detention facilities across Libya.”

It also called for an immediate investigation into the accusations, adding that it is coordinating with the General Command of Libyan National Army for “unrestricted access to UNSMIL’s human rights officers and other independent monitors to the Gernada facility as well as other detention centers under their control.”

There was no immediate comment from Libyan authorities over the circulating videos.

The North African country has plunged into chaos and lawlessness after the toppling the regime of former dictator Muammar Qaddafi in NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

 

 


Emirati observation satellite launches successfully from California

Updated 15 January 2025
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Emirati observation satellite launches successfully from California

  • MBZ-SAT was entirely developed by Emirati engineers at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai
  • Developers say it will enhance disaster-management by capturing high-res images of areas as small as 1 sq. meter

LONDON: The Emirati-developed observation satellite MBZ-SAT successfully launched on Tuesday evening from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in the US state of California.

Described by developers as the most advanced observation satellite in the Middle East, it was carried into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The satellite was entirely developed by Emirati engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. Final testing by the team ahead of launch took place at SpaceX’s facilities in the US.

Developers said the satellite will enhance disaster-management efforts by continuously capturing high-resolution images that can reveal details in areas as small as 1 sq. meter.


120 civilians killed in artillery shelling in Sudan

Updated 15 January 2025
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120 civilians killed in artillery shelling in Sudan

PORT SUDAN: At least 120 civilians were killed in artillery shelling of western Omdurman on Tuesday as fighting between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces escalated again.
Rescuers said medical supplies were in critically short supply as health workers struggled to treat “a large number of wounded people suffering from varying degrees of injuries” in the capital Khartoum’s twin city just across the Nile River.
Sudan has been at war since April 2023 between the forces of rival generals. Most of Omdurman is under army control, while the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces hold Khartoum North and some other areas of the capital.
Greater Khartoum residents on both sides of the Nile regularly report shelling across the river, with bombs and shrapnel often hitting homes and civilians. Both the army and the paramilitaries have been accused of targeting civilians, including health workers, and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
Fighting has intensified in recent weeks. Port Sudan, the seat of Sudan's army-aligned government, was without power after a drone attack by the paramilitaries hit a hydroelectric dam in the north.
The war has killed up to 150,000 people, uprooted more than 12 million and pushed many Sudanese to the brink of famine.


Israelis, Gazans anxiously awaiting truce deal

Updated 15 January 2025
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Israelis, Gazans anxiously awaiting truce deal

  • The attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures

JERUSALEM: Israelis and Gazans on Tuesday anxiously awaited a long-sought truce deal, with relatives of hostages calling for their release, and displaced Palestinians praying for a chance to return home.
Multiple officials from mediating countries involved in the negotiations have said a deal on a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange is closer than ever, with Qatar saying negotiations were in their “final stages.”
In Israel, since the early morning, the families of hostages and their supporters gathered outside the parliament and the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand that every effort be made to secure a deal after months of disappointment.
“Time is of the essence, and time does not favor the hostages,” said Gil Dickmann, cousin of former hostage Carmel Gat, whose body was recovered from a Gaza tunnel in September.
“Hostages who are alive will end up dead. Hostages who are dead might be lost,” Dickmann said at a rally in Jerusalem. “We have to act now.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Dickmann and several other relatives of hostages still being held in Gaza met with Netanyahu to press him to agree to a deal.
“If we stop the war, we will receive all the hostages immediately,” said Eli Shtivi, father of former hostage Ilan Shtivi.
“So, that is what needs to be done.”
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
On that day, militants also took 251 people hostage, of whom 94 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has since killed 46,645 people, the majority civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
The extensive military offensive has left much of Gaza in ruins, displacing most of its residents during the course of more than 15 months of war.
The longing to end the war is deeply felt in Gaza as well.
“I’m anxiously awaiting the truce. I will cry for days on end,” said Umm Ibrahim Abu Sultan, a resident of Gaza City now living in Khan Yunis after being displaced along with her five children. “We lost everything.”
She expressed disbelief at the possibility of reuniting with her husband, who remained in Gaza City.
“I’m waiting for the announcement of the agreement. I just want to go back to my home, my area, and my family. It feels like we’re coming back from the dead,” she said.
Displaced Gazan Hassan Al-Madhoun said he had been waiting for 15 months for a deal.
“I can’t even imagine how I’ll feel when we return to Jabalia and to our destroyed home,” he said.
“It will take time to process the extent of the loss. The martyrs are still buried under the rubble.”
Back in Israel, however, not everyone was in favor of a ceasefire.
“They (Hamas) need to raise their hands and say, ‘That’s it. We’re giving you the hostages back because you won,’ and that’s not what’s happening,” said Barbara Haskel at a rally protesting the proposed deal.


Palestinian health ministry says Israeli air strike kills 6 in West Bank

Updated 15 January 2025
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Palestinian health ministry says Israeli air strike kills 6 in West Bank

  • The Palestinian ministry said among those killed was 15-year-old Mahmud Ashraf Mustafa Gharbiya
  • Israeli forces make frequent raids on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967

JENIN, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday that an Israeli air strike on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank killed six people, including a teenager, with the Israeli military confirming it carried out an attack in the area.
“There are six martyrs and several injured as a result of the Israeli bombing of Jenin refugee camp,” the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli military did not offer details but said it had carried out “an attack in the Jenin area.”
The Palestinian ministry said among those killed was 15-year-old Mahmud Ashraf Mustafa Gharbiya.
Palestinian security forces of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) slammed the raid by the Israeli military.
“The pre-planned intervention ... thwarts all efforts being made to maintain security and order and restore life to normal,” said Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the Palestinian forces, in a statement.
“It reflects the occupation’s premeditated intentions to disrupt every national endeavour aimed at protecting our people.”
Israeli forces make frequent raids on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Violence in the territory has soared since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 831 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the health ministry.
At least 28 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
In recent weeks Jenin has also seen intra-Palestinian violence, with PA forces clashing with militants.
The clashes broke out amid a major PA raid on the Jenin camp after the December 5 arrest of a Jenin Battalion commander on charges of possessing weapons and illicit funds.
Armed factions in Jenin and elsewhere see themselves as offering more effective resistance to the Israeli occupation than the PA, which coordinates security matters with Israel.