Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, attended a Commemoration Day ceremony at Wahat Al Karama in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
During the evening event, Sheikh Mohammed paid tribute to those who died in service of their country and honoured their families.
The ceremony began with the arrival of Sheikh Mohammed, who laid a wreath at the Martyr's Monument as an army band played. This was followed by a 21-gun salute and the national anthem was played.
Sheikh Mohammed presented the families of the fallen with the Martyr's Medal in honour of their sacrifices. The medals were presented to the mother of Ahmed Omar, father of Ali Alsaadi, brother of Mohamed Alabdouli, and the father of Tariq Albaloushi.
Following an order from President Sheikh Khalifa to establish a Fallen Frontline Heroes Order for medics who died of Covid-19 while working to protect the country from the pandemic, Sheikh Mohammed presented the award to the families of Dr Sudhir Rambhau Washimkar and Dr Bassam Bernieh.
Dr Muhammad Usman Khan, Ahmed Al Sebaei, Anvar Ali, and nurses Lezly Orione and Marlon Jimenea were also honoured posthumously.
Earlier, Sheikh Mohammed said the UAE would remember those who died in the country's service.
“We thank Allah Almighty for blessing us with valiant men and women who have lived up to their promises to this nation," he said.
"We commemorate today their children who responded to their call of duty, fought and died while defending our country, it's dignity, sovereignty and independence."
Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the Federal National Council, delivered a speech at Monday's ceremony, in which he spoke of the noble qualities of those who died. He said their sacrifices will always be a source of pride for Emiratis and that their heroic actions will forever be etched in the nation’s history.
Air Force aircraft flew over Wahat Al Karama as part of the ceremony, which was also attended by other ministers and government officials.
Tributes were paid across the country as landmarks lit up with the Commemoration Day motif.
In the capital, Abu Dhabi Global Market, the Adnoc headquarters, Khalifa University and The W Hotel on Yas Island each displayed a message to mark the event.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Armies of Sand
By Kenneth Pollack (Oxford University Press)
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
WHAT FANS WILL LOVE ABOUT RUSSIA
FANS WILL LOVE
Uber is ridiculously cheap and, as Diego Saez discovered, mush safer. A 45-minute taxi from Pulova airport to Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect can cost as little as 500 roubles (Dh30).
FANS WILL LOATHE
Uber policy in Russia is that they can start the fare as soon as they arrive at the pick-up point — and oftentimes they start it even before arriving, or worse never arrive yet charge you anyway.
FANS WILL LOVE
It’s amazing how active Russians are on social media and your accounts will surge should you post while in the country. Throw in a few Cyrillic hashtags and watch your account numbers rocket.
FANS WILL LOATHE
With cold soups, bland dumplings and dried fish, Russian cuisine is not to everybody’s tastebuds. Fortunately, there are plenty Georgian restaurants to choose from, which are both excellent and economical.
FANS WILL LOVE
The World Cup will take place during St Petersburg's White Nights Festival, which means perpetual daylight in a city that genuinely never sleeps. (Think toddlers walking the streets with their grandmothers at 4am.)
FANS WILL LOATHE
The walk from Krestovsky Ostrov metro station to Saint Petersburg Arena on a rainy day makes you wonder why some of the $1.7 billion was not spent on a weather-protected walkway.
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
