GENEVA / WAM The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments to accelerate the relaxation of travel restrictions as Covid-19 continues to evolve from the pandemic to endemic stage. Iata called for removing all travel barriers (including quarantine and testing) for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine, enabling quarantine-free travel for non-vaccinated travellers with a negative pre-departure ...

  Dubai / WAM DMCC, the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise, has announced the full list of industry-leading speakers set to take centre stage at its flagship diamond event, the Dubai Diamond Conference (DDC). The DDC will be held physically, welcoming the global diamond industry to Atlantis, The Palm on February ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The report, titled, “Non-Oil Foreign Merchandise Trade Through the Ports of Abu Dhabi”, published by the Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi (Scad), confirmed that the value of non-oil foreign trade passing through Abu Dhabi ports over 11 months in 2021 amounted to some AED190.20 billion, an increase of 2.9 percent compared to the same period in 2020, ...

  Dubai / WAM Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC (Etisalat Group) on Friday announced that, further to the announcement on November 18, 2021, it has completed the acquisition of elGrocer DMCC. Founded in 2015, elGrocer is a leading online marketplace for groceries operating in all seven Emirates of the UAE. It brings together major retailers and specialty stores on a ...

  GAZA / WAM The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has received a medical supplies convoy provided by the UAE, containing one million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to fight Covid-19. The convoy arrived in the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Border Crossing, and is the largest medical support of its kind provided by the UAE to ...

  Sharjah / WAM The sixth edition of Xposure International Photography Festival will host its first-ever Conservation Summit on February 10, under the theme ‘Saving our Oceans’, to explore hope and solutions for ocean conservation. A distinguished panel of conservationists, biologists, ocean explorers, researchers and photographers will shine a light on conservation stories through exhibitions and numerous panel discussions to ...

  SHARJAH / WAM The Emirates Publishers Association (EPA) hosted a virtual brainstorming session titled, ‘The Future Prospects of Publishing’, to engage local publishers in the process of setting priorities and developing the entity’s strategic five-year plans. Ali Bin Hatem, President of EPA and Rashid Al Kous, Executive Director of EPA, participated in the virtual session that was also attended ...

  Dubai / WAM The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) revealed that the number of medical personnel in the UAE grew between 104 percent and 140 percent on average over a period of ten years. The number of physicians working in the public and private sectors in the country increased to 26,151 by the end of 2020, compared to ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s coal imports are poised to jump to the highest level in at least two years as the nation’s utilities turn to the dirtiest fossil fuel as a replacement for expensive liquefied natural gas. More than 17.3 million tons of coal will be delivered to the country this month, said Edwin Toh, a dry bulk manager at energy ...

  Facebook and Instagram are reportedly working on ways to let users display non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on their profiles, and on building a marketplace to let users buy and sell these digital art objects and collectibles. No sooner did the Financial Times break that news last week than Twitter launched a first version of its own NFT integration that lets ...