The steering committee of the Expo 2020 Dubai urged all participants to join its vaccination drive to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Last month, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, announced free vaccinations for all expo participants and their staff.
"Health and safety is a pivotal part of the planning and operations for all world expos and the ongoing global pandemic has put this more sharply into focus,” said Manuel Salchli, chair of the Expo 2020 Steering Committee and Commissioner General for Switzerland at Expo 2020.
“It is very important that all official participants should benefit from the UAE’s generous offer to vaccinate their delegations and it is the collective responsibility of all the countries to support this initiative to ensure an enjoyable and safe expo for all participants."
Last Tuesday, delegates representing 173 countries and 24 international organisations participated in expo’s sixth international participants' meeting, which was held by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.
The meeting was the final one ahead of the opening of expo later this year.
"The world is recovering ... and we are ready to welcome 190 countries to the world's greatest event,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.
Organisers of the expo had said they were also positive about welcoming millions, as more people around the world get inoculated.
"We are hopeful that in the next five months we are going to see a better and stronger overall picture," Reem Al Hashimy, director general of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau and UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation, said in an interview.
“With a strong vaccination rollout in different parts [of the world] we are actually beginning to see finally the strong impact of vaccination and reduced ... prevalence of disease in society.”
While vaccination will be mandatory for the expo workforce, it is being encouraged, but not enforced, for visitors and tourists.
Ms Al Hashimy said testing would be in place for visitors at various stages.
Strong focus on space during the Expo 2020 Dubai - in pictures
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Abramovich London
A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.
A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.
Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.
Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.
If you go
The flights
The closest international airport for those travelling from the UAE is Denver, Colorado. British Airways (www.ba.com) flies from the UAE via London from Dh3,700 return, including taxes. From there, transfers can be arranged to the ranch or it’s a seven-hour drive. Alternatively, take an internal flight to the counties of Cody, Casper, or Billings
The stay
Red Reflet offers a series of packages, with prices varying depending on season. All meals and activities are included, with prices starting from US$2,218 (Dh7,150) per person for a minimum stay of three nights, including taxes. For more information, visit red-reflet-ranch.net.
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
