Dubai / WAM New Zealand Minister for Economic Development, Simon Bridges formally announced the country’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai on Monday by delivering a letter of acceptance from Simon William English, Prime Minister of New Zealand. The country shares close ties with the UAE, as well as a shared vision in many key areas, such as energy and education. ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The Board of Directors of Abu Dhabi Housing Authority (ADHA) under the chairmanship of Saeed Eid Al Ghafli, exempted 16 cases from loan payments totalling AED12 million due to deaths. During its first meeting this year, the ADHA board also reviewed 936 requests for the replacement of a land grant for a built housing facility, including ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science is collaborating with a team of leading meteorologists to develop a potentially ground-breaking technology revolving around the ‘electrical seeding’ of clouds, a theoretical concept that studies the effect of electrical charges on rain-bearing clouds. Alya Al Mazroui, Manager of the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science, and ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai’s tourism sector sustained the momentum of its strong 2017 start, with the emirate’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) reporting a stellar 11 percent increase in overnight visitation in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2016. January to March 2017 saw 4.57 million travellers visit ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM ZonesCorp announced its participation in the Hannover Messe exhibition, the world’s leading industrial technology show, being held in Hannover, until April 28. Saeed Eisa Al Khyeli, Director-General of ZonesCorp, said, “ZonesCorp’s participation this year in Hannover Messe is a valuable opportunity to showcase the success of the industrial sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi ...

  DUBAI / Emirates Business The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCaE) has banned imports of certain vegetables and fruits from select countries with effect from May 15 as those products have been found to contain pesticide residues in excess of permissible limits. The counties that will be impacted by the ban include Egypt, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen. ...

  Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping called for restraint on North Korea in a phone call with Donald Trump, who also spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the US and Japan began joint naval drills in the region. Xi — in his second confirmed phone conversation with Trump since their summit this month — urged all parties to ...

  Bloomberg Even as the Kremlin called the French presidential election results a matter for the voters, Russian lawmakers and state-run media didn’t hide their disappointment at Emmanuel Macron’s victory. Macron won Sunday’s elections because voters were under pressure from the European Union and Germany, Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the International Affairs Committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, wrote ...

  Bloomberg Afghanistan’s defense minister and the chief of army staff resigned on Monday, three days after more than 140 soldiers were killed in the Taliban’s deadliest assault in 16 years. As the government and the U.S. struggled to manage the deteriorating security situation, Abdullah Habibi and Qadam Shah Shahim stepped down with “immediate effect” following the attack at an ...

  PROVIDENCE, R.I. / AP Every submarine in the US fleet was designed with the height, reach and strength of men in mind, from the way valves are placed to how display screens are angled. That’s going to change. With women now serving aboard submarines, defense contractor Electric Boat is designing what will be the first Navy subs built specifically to ...