Related: Who are the UAE's new astronauts?
The UAE has selected two new Emiratis to be part of its astronaut corps, including the Arab world’s first female astronaut.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, announced on Saturday that Nora Al Matrooshi, 27, had been selected to be part of the country's astronaut corps.
Mohammed Al Mulla was also chosen.
"We announce today ... two new Emirati astronauts ... among them the first Arab [woman] astronaut Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla," Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.
"They have been chosen from among more than 4,000 applicants and their training will soon begin with the Nasa astronaut programme. We congratulate the country. We count on them to raise the name of the UAE in the sky."
The duo are now colleagues of Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati in space, and reserve astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi.
They were chosen from 4,305 Emiratis who applied – including 1,400 female applicants.
Progress is being made by different space agencies to create gender equality in the space sector, which has been male-dominated since the early days of space exploration in the 1960s.
As of 2020, of more than 550 astronauts who had gone to space, only 65 were women.
The selection of the two new astronauts echoes the UAE’s focus on equal opportunities for women.
Selection process
The 4,305 applicants were chosen based on age and educational background. A total of 2,099 candidates then passed the IQ, personality and technical assessments.
Only 122 made it to the interview round. Of these, 61 candidates took part in preliminary and advanced medical examinations.
Fourteen passed a final round of interviews and evaluations, which the UAE's first two astronauts and two female Nasa astronauts participated in.
Four candidates passed fitness, communications and teamwork tests, from whom the new astronauts were selected.
Salem Al Marri, head of the astronaut programme at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (Mbrsc), said the space centre's goal was pick the best out of the lot.
"The team at Mbrsc has worked tirelessly after receiving applications to evaluate them according to specific criteria and standards, and then conducted successive evaluations to ensure the selection of the best candidates, until we reached this point to announce the new astronauts," he said.
Training stage
Ms Al Matrooshi and Mr Al Mulla will join the first two astronauts for training at Nasa's Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, US.
The start of their journey into the UAE's Astronaut Programme will be different to that undertaken by Maj Al Mansouri and Mr Al Neyadi, who were trained by the Russians after they were selected.
The two Emiratis spent a year training in Star City, in western Russia, for the first space mission, that included a week for Maj Al Mansouri on the International Space Station.
Now the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Nasa have signed an agreement to train four Emirati astronauts.
Maj Al Mansouri and Mr Al Neyadi have already completed six months of training under Nasa’s Astronaut Candidate Training Programme.
The two new astronauts will begin their training once the new class begins at the end of the year.
Once completed, all of four them will be qualified for Nasa-led space missions.
Yousuf Al Shaibani, director-general of Mbrsc, said the selection of the two new astronauts would help the nation continue to write a new scientific history for the Arab region in the field of space exploration.
"With the first batch of the UAE Astronaut Programme, we were able to catch the world's attention, by raising the UAE flag on the International Space Station," he said.
"We still remember the pride that swept the country when the first Emirati astronaut took off to space. Today, we are moving towards achieving another momentous occasion by announcing the second batch and will continue on our plans to enhance the capabilities of Emirati youth in the space sector.”
Female firsts in the space sector
• In 1963, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space. She was selected from more than 400 applicants.
• The former Soviet Union sent the second woman to space in 1982. Svetlana Savitskaya was also the first woman to perform a spacewalk.
• US space agency Nasa sent Sally Ride into space in 1983. She was the first American female astronaut.
• The International Space Station had its first female commander in 2007, when Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson took charge.
• The first all-female spacewalk took place in 2019, by Nasa astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch.
• Ms Koch also set the record for the single longest spaceflight by a woman, after spending 328 days on the ISS.
• In 1992, Mae Jemison was the first African-American woman to go to space.
Match info
Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
UAE SQUAD
Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
Honeymoonish
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PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
Sour%20Grapes
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Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Key facilities
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
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What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
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SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Results
Men's finals
45kg:Duc Le Hoang (VIE) beat Zolfi Amirhossein (IRI) points 29-28. 48kg: Naruephon Chittra (THA) beat Joseph Vanlalhruaia (IND) TKO round 2.
51kg: Sakchai Chamchit (THA) beat Salam Al Suwaid (IRQ) TKO round 1. 54kg: Veerasak Senanue (THA) beat Huynh Hoang Phi (VIE) 30-25.
57kg: Almaz Sarsembekov (KAZ) beat Tak Chuen Suen (MAC) RSC round 3. 60kg: Yerkanat Ospan (KAZ) beat Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) 30-27.
63.5kg: Abil Galiyev (KAZ) beat Nouredine Samir (UAE) 29-28. 67kg: Narin Wonglakhon (THA) beat Mohammed Mardi (UAE) 29-28.
71kg: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) w/o Shaker Al Tekreeti (IRQ). 75kg: Youssef Abboud (LBN) w/o Ayoob Saki (IRI).
81kg: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) beat Khaled Tarraf (LBN) 29-28. 86kg: Ali Takaloo (IRI) beat Emil Umayev (KAZ) 30-27.
91kg: Hamid Reza Kordabadi (IRI) beat Mohamad Osaily (LBN) RSC round 1. 91-plus kg: Mohammadrezapoor Shirmohammad (IRI) beat Abdulla Hasan (IRQ) 30-27.
Women's finals
45kg: Somruethai Siripathum (THA) beat Ha Huu Huynh (VIE) 30-27. 48kg: Thanawan Thongduang (THA) beat Colleen Saddi (PHI) 30-27.
51kg: Wansawang Srila Or (THA) beat Thuy Phuong Trieu (VIE) 29-28. 54kg: Ruchira Wongsriwo (THA) beat Zeinab Khatoun (LBN) 30-26.
57kg: Sara Idriss (LBN) beat Zahra Nasiri Bargh (IRI) 30-27. 60kg: Kaewrudee Kamtakrapoom (THA) beat Sedigheh Hajivand (IRI) TKO round 2.
63.5kg: Nadiya Moghaddam (IRI) w/o Reem Al Issa (JOR).
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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