ABU DHABI // USAID, the American government organisation responsible for foreign aid, has offered to provide training and assistance for the UAE as it sets up its rapid response unit for humanitarian disasters.
A team of representatives from USAID and the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance met officials from the UAE's recently established Foreign Aid Co-ordination Office (FACO) yesterday for discussions on how to deepen co-operation.
"We came into the UAE to meet with FACO to discuss how we can work together in the future to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance around the world," said Jon Brause, deputy assistant administrator at USAID.
"In particular, as FACO develops some of its new capacities to respond, we've offered to provide some technical assistance to them in areas that they find important."
The FACO is finalising plans for field support teams that will be deployed as soon as a crisis occurs to assess the immediate needs of the area.
The US Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) provides a similar function, with small teams deployed immediately after a disaster to assess what funds and assistance are necessary, and co-ordinate between humanitarian groups.
The officials invited the FACO to send its staff for training at the centres it uses for DART recruits.
"If they do develop this deployment capability, they are going to have the ability to assess needs immediately after a crisis occurs, and that's going to help us," Mr Brause said. "There are very few countries that can put teams on the ground, and if we had the UAE - that would be a tremendous addition."
The US organisation also hopes that the UAE, with a long history of aid work, will be able to provide advice and assistance in its activities in the Islamic world.
"We believe that the UAE can help us work in Muslim countries in particular, and give us guidance on how we can be more effective in our responses in the Horn of Africa and other countries where the situation is very complex and new insights can only be helpful," Mr Brause said.
At the meeting, also attended by representatives of the Red Crescent Authority, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and other charitable bodies, officials discussed current challenges, and those that are likely to become more prominent in the future, such as food security and how to respond more effectively to these issues.
The FACO, established by Cabinet decree in August last year, declined to comment yesterday, saying it planned to release a statement on the tie-up today.
@Email:lmorris@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
On sale: now
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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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- 400m Olympic running track
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The Two Popes
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
Four out of five stars
FULL%20RESULTS
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Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
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Match is on BeIN Sports
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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THE SPECS
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Transmission: Seven-speed auto
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Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
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SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
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