The National staff
ABU DHABI // The UAE has been applauded for its work in narrowing the gender gap and working to stop inequality, at an international awards ceremony.
At the Women in Parliaments Global Forum (WIP), the UAE was recognised in the WIP Awards for Closing the Gender Gap, winning the top spot in the category “Achievements in Closing the Gender Gap in the Arab World”, in recognition of its efforts to advance women and promote gender equality.
Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, first deputy speaker of the Federal National Council (FNC), collected the award at the ceremony during the 2013 annual summit, which took place between November 27 and 29 at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, under the theme The Spirit of Women in Parliaments: Advancing Society.
Ms Al Qubaisi described the award as a source of pride for all Emiratis, according to state news agency WAM.
She said it represents the efforts being made by the UAE to advance women and bolster their contribution to development under the leadership of the President, Sheikh Khalifa, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and by Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, chairperson of the General Women’s Union (GWU).
UAE senior officials, FNC members and ambassadors were among those who attended the WIP Award ceremony.
WIP is an independent, not-for-profit, Zurich-based foundation established with the purpose of advancing society by building a network between women in parliaments.
WIP members are members of parliaments at national level, including those directly elected to the European Parliament.
Based on the rankings of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, the WIP Awards honour countries for leadership in closing the gender gap.
In the report, the UAE was the highest-ranked country in the Arab world. The report noted particular improvements in the areas of literacy and political empowerment.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
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Director: Sean Baker
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Winner: Solar Shower; William Lee (jockey); Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
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Winner: Thaaqib; Antonio Fresu; Erwan Charpy.
5.10pm: Maiden; Dh165,000 (Turf); 1,800m
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5.45pm: Handicap; Dh175,000 (D); 1,200m
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Winner: Muzdawaj; Jim Crowley; Musabah Al Muhairi
6.55pm: Handicap; Dh185,000 (D); 1,600m
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7.30pm: Handicap; Dh205,000 (T); 1,200m
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5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m; Winner: Faiza, Sandro Paiva (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer).
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,400m; Winner: Greeley, Connor Beasley, Helal Al Alawi.
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7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Ahmed Al Mehairbi.
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Favourite book: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
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Favourite film: Bohemian Rhapsody
Favourite place to visit in the UAE: The beach or Satwa
Children: Stepdaughter Tyler 27, daughter Quito 22 and son Dali 19
RESULTS
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m
Winner: Dirilis Ertugrul, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ismail Mohammed (trainer)
2.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,400m
Winner: Kidd Malibu, Sandro Paiva, Musabah Al Muhairi
2.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,000m
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3.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,200m
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3.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
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4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
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Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
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Rating: 3/5
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Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
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• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
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Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
The specs
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Power: 268hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: CVT auto
Fuel consumption: 9.5L/100km
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In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
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Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
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Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
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Transmission: seven-speed S-tronic automatic
Power: 150bhp
Torque: 270Nm
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A major shake-up of government-run schools was rolled out across the country in 2017. Known as the Emirati School Model, it placed more emphasis on maths and science while also adding practical skills to the curriculum.
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Aspects of the school model will be extended to international private schools, the education minister has previously suggested.
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Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
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Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
