Sarah Al Amiri, UAE Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, at an event to mark Hope Probe's entering the orbit of Mars, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 9. Reuters
Sarah Al Amiri, UAE Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, at an event to mark Hope Probe's entering the orbit of Mars, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 9. Reuters

We're proud of the UAE's tremendous Mars mission



With reference to Sarwat Nasir's report UAE Mars mission: history made as Hope probe successfully enters orbit (February 9): what a wonderful achievement. Truly a great moment for the UAE and an occasion to be proud.

Mohan Pillai, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, US

Excellent! Congratulations on a successful mission. The more we learn about Mars, the better. With the Chinese mission and Nasa’s Perseverance following shortly, we will collect a lot of good data. Future cargo and manned missions will benefit from all the crafts this month.

Michael Chittum, Pacifica, California, US

This is so impressive. It was a treat to watch the live feed as well. Congratulations to the UAE and the whole Mars mission team.

Jo Suello, Duba

Congratulations to everyone involved in the mission for this outstanding achievement.

Mohammad Azam, Sharjah

The UAE is only the fifth country to join the elite club of exploratory nations to have made it to the red planet: Russia, the US, the EU, India and now the UAE. This is amazing.

K Ragavan, Benguluru, India

Well done! Many congratulations from France.

Georges Rodgeur, Paris, France

Fantastic news. Wishing future UAE space programmes many more successes.

A L Satish, Abu Dhabi

May the victim of the acid attack get to live a full life

With reference to Nick Webster and Kamal Tabikha's article Acid attack victim rebuilds her life after reconstructive surgery in Dubai (February 9): ten years is not enough punishment for having ruined somebody's life and bringing her such terrible pain. I really wish she is able to live her life again to the fullest, and that the man who did this to her gets a deserving punishment. Ivana Vorlikova, Dubai

Grateful to be in the UAE and for second dose of vaccine

With reference to Rory Reynolds and Gillan Duncan's report UAE vaccinates more than 190,000 in weekend push (February 6): I am grateful to have received my second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and to have contributed to pushing the UAE's vaccination numbers high. I am lucky to have an option, Sinopharm, as my allergies could make vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna too risky for me. I'm also profoundly indebted to have access to the doses, which I may not have had in the West.

I feel grateful towards the UAE for many reasons, not the least of which is having been vaccinated for coronavirus.

Elan Fabbri, Dubai

How green is the expo nursery?

Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery

An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo

Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery

Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape

The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides

All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality

Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country

Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow

Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site

Green waste is recycled as compost

Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs

Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers

About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer

Main themes of expo is  ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.

Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

RESULTS

6.30pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
Winner: Superior, Connor Beasley (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer)

7.05pm: Handicap Dh 185,000 2,000m
Winner: Tried And True, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson

7.40pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
Winner: Roy Orbison, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
8.15pm

Handicap Dh 190,000 1,400m
Winner: Taamol, Dane O’Neill, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
8.50pm

Handicap Dh 175,000 1,600m
Winner: Welford, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar

9.25pm: Handicap Dh 175,000 1,200m
Winner: Lavaspin, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar

10pm: Handicap Dh 165,000 1,600m
Winner: Untold Secret, Xavier Ziani, Sandeep Jadhav