The list of demands was meant to be rejected: Qatar FM

Agencies
July 2, 2017

Rome, Jul 2: Qatar's foreign minister has said Doha will not meet any of the 13 demands made by Saudi Arabia and its allies, offering instead "a proper condition for a dialogue" to resolve the Gulf crisis.ar

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, speaking at the news conference in the Italian capital Rome on Saturday, said the list "was meant to be rejected", pointing to the fact that it arrived with a 10-day expiration date.

"Everyone is aware that these demands are meant to infringe the sovereignty of the state of Qatar, shut the freedom of speech and impose auditing and probation mechanism for Qatar," he said.

"We believe that the world is not governed by ultimatums, we believe that the world is governed by the international law, it is governed by an order that does not allow large countries to bully small countries."

Sheikh Mohammed spoke less than 48 hours before the deadline for the demands issued last week was due to pass.

It was not clear what would come next. Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar did not fear any military retaliation for rejecting the ultimatum.

The list of demands include downgrading ties with Iran, shutting down Al Jazeera media network and Turkish military base in Doha.

The ultimatum came more than two weeks after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed sanctions, accusing it of supporting "terrorism".

Sheikh Mohammed said on Saturday that "those parties brand any party of state who opposes their designs as terrorists".

He also said that Trump was manipulated into believing that Qatar was not doing enough to crack down on funding "extremists".

"The United States administration and institutions firmly believe in the state of Qatar, yet the statement made by President [Donald] Trump was based on false allegations and the false impression given to him by the heads of states who imposed blockade on Qatar," he said.

Trump would be able to find "the true established facts" from the US institutions, according to Sheikh Mohammed.

"The state of Qatar has been subjected to unlawful measures on the basis of false allegations without the submission of evidence," he said.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

Paris, Feb 5: Saudi Arabia has reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus on a poultry farm, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday, February 4.

The outbreak, which occurred in the central Sudair region, killed 22,700 birds, the OIE said, citing a report from the Saudi agriculture ministry.

The other 385,300 birds in the flock were slaughtered, it said.

The case was the first outbreak of the H5N8 virus in Saudi Arabia since July 2018.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

Paris, Mar 1: Most of the riders and teams taking part in the abandoned UAE Tour, and who had been quarantined in their Abu Dhabi hotels since Thursday after a coronavirus scare, were cleared to leave the country, sources said.

"The pleasure of going home after several days spent at the hotel," tweeted 2018 world champion Alejandro Valverde, one of the top stars of the race along with Chris Froome, the four-time winner of the Tour de France.

"We are doing well and soon we will fly to Spain."

However, there was confusion over how many competitors and officials will be allowed to leave.

All 133 cyclists who were still in contention as well as team members were tested after it was announced by organisers Thursday that two Italian staff members on the race had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Earlier Saturday, the UAE Tour, quoting health officials, said that 167 people had been tested and all were negative.

The Department of Health-Abu Dhabi were "still monitoring the condition of the remaining cases of contacts, whose lab testing findings will be available in the next few hours."

The UAE Tour cancelled its last two stages on Thursday after the coronavirus cases were confirmed.

Danish cyclist Michael Morkov of the Deceuninck-Quick-Step team, who took part in the first four stages, was placed in isolation in his hotel room after arriving in Berlin to take part in the world track championships.

However, on Saturday, he too was cleared to take part.

"The rider present in Berlin is currently in excellent health, with no suspicious clinical signs, and we are also guaranteed that he has not contacted the two members of the management of a team participating in the UAE Tour, originally suspected of coronavirus," governing body UCI said in a statement.

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News Network
June 17,2020

Abu Dhabi, Jun 17: The Ministry of Education (MoE) has allowed students still enrolled in universities overseas to obtain exceptions to attendance policies at their respective academic institutions in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the ministry said that the move stems from its keenness to ensure the continuity of education for those students and to maintain effective channels of communication with them.

Students' applications for exceptions to academic attendance in universities due to Covid-19 should be submitted following the end of the academic year, and not after the academic semester, via the following email: [email protected].

In their email, students have to explain the reasons for the required exceptions and should include an official message from the university concerned.

Scholarship approval issued by the Ministry of Education for studying abroad should also be attached.

The student's score reports for the academic years spent in the host countries and the duration of each academic year should also be attached, in addition to an entry and exit report of the student from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship.

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