ABU DHABI // The first batch of young professionals on Monday graduated from a training scheme to support the local space industry.
The Generation Space programme offers coursework, professional development and mentoring in the UAE and the United States. It was launched in August by the UAE Space Agency, Mubadala and Lockheed Martin.
The four-month scheme comprises 350 hours of practical training and coursework, with visits to UAE’s space industry centres and the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
In the US, the trainees saw the launch of the first spacecraft designed to bring back samples from an asteroid.
Dr Khalifa Al Romaithi, chairman of the UAE Space Agency, said the programme accorded with the agency’s goal to support and develop a generation of engineers and scientists.
Dr Mohammed Al Ahbabi, the agency’s director general, said the graduates had proven their abilities and would help to further the UAE’s space sector.
“These engineers will play a major and integral part in leading the UAE space sector in the future,” he said.
Robert Harward, chief executive of Lockheed Martin UAE, congratulated the graduates on completing their training.
He said Lockheed Martin was proud to be a part of the programme to train future Emirati space explorers.
“This programme reflects the best of a public-private sector partnership,” said Mr Harward.
“We worked together with the UAE Space Agency and Mubadala to support the young people who will lead the UAE’s space industry in the future.
“Lockheed Martin is proud of our partnership to train and inspire the UAE space explorers of tomorrow, and we look forward to watching the next generation accomplish great things for their country and for the industry in the future.”
tsubaihi@thenational.ae
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
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Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
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