Image used for representational purposes only.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Since the U.S.–Israel war with Iran disrupted oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf producers, including the UAE, have faced major logistical challenges in exporting oil.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasised on the implementation of the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEEC) as a ‘historic initiative’ to foster regional connectivity and prosperity during his meeting with United Arab Emirates Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

During the talks on Thursday, PM Modi also conveyed his warm wishes for UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to the Ministry of External Affairs statement.

PM Modi expressed satisfaction at the frequent high-level visits and exchanges, including the visit of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India in September 2024, which marked a generational continuity in bilateral relations.

The two leaders emphasized strengthening Comprehensive Strategic Partnership including in the areas of technology, energy, and people-to-people ties, as per the statement.

UAE Foreign Minister Zayed Al Nahyan shared the UAE’s perspective on the prevailing situation in West Asia and Prime Minister reiterated India’s commitment to support long-term peace, stability and security in the region.

According to MEA, the Prime Minister thanked the leadership of the UAE for ensuring the welfare of the large and vibrant Indian community in the UAE.

Later, taking to X, PM Modi said that both nations are committed to working towards peace, stability, and security in West Asia and the wider region.

“Happy to receive Deputy PM and Foreign Minister of the UAE, HH AB Zayed. India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is poised to achieve unprecedented heights. We are committed to working towards peace, stability, and security in West Asia and the wider region,” PM Modi said.

Notably, the UAE Deputy PM Nahyan arrived in New Delhi on Thursday to take part in the 4th Strategic Dialogue and the 15th India-UAE Joint Commission Meeting.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Banda (Uttar Pradesh):

Shahzadi, a resident of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, may be hanged in the UAE any time after September 20. The 29-year-old woman has been in Abu Dhabi jail for a long time for the murder of a four-month-old child.

Shahzadi’s father Shabbir here has appealed to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to save his daughter’s life.

Shabbir, a resident of Goira Mughlai village in Mataundh police station area, told PTI on Tuesday that his daughter Shahzadi, who is lodged in Abu Dhabi’s Al Batwa jail, called him from the jail on Sunday and told him that she may be hanged any time after September 20.

Shabbir said he has sent a letter to the President and Prime Minister Modi through email on Monday, requesting them to save the life of his daughter.

Shabbir said Shahzadi’s face was burnt in childhood. She used to work in an organisation called ‘Roti Bank of Banda’ during the COVID lockdown when she became friends with Uzair, a resident of Agra, through Facebook.

Uzair sent her to Dubai in November 2021 on the pretext of getting treatment. Uzair’s uncle Faiz and aunt Nazia, Nazia’s mother-in-law Anjum Sahana Begum live in Dubai.

“Nazia gave birth to a son, who died at the age of four months and 21 days, and Shahzadi has been implicated in the murder of this child,” Shabbir said.

“At present my daughter Shahzadi is lodged in Abu Dhabi’s Al Batwa jail and she (Shahzadi) called on Sunday to inform me that she could be hanged any time after September 20,” he said.

Shabbir said he came to know about the death sentence in 2023, and since then he has been pleading with the government of India to save his daughter’s life.

“On the order of a court, an FIR was lodged in Mataundh police station on July 15, 2024 for selling his daughter in Dubai, but Investigation Officer (IO) Sub Inspector Mohammad Akram did not take a single step in the investigation,” he alleged.

He accused the IO of being in cahoots with Uzair.

Meanwhile, Investigation Officer (IO) Mohammad Akram told PTI on Tuesday evening that Shahzadi’s case is related to Dubai, in which Uzair, his uncle Faiz, aunt Nazia and Nazia’s mother-in-law Anjum Sahana Begum are accused.

Correspondence will soon be made to the Dubai Embassy in India to record the statements of the victim and the accused, the police officer said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A court in the United Arab Emirates has handed life sentences to 43 Emiratis for “terrorist” links, state media said July 10, after a mass trial heavily criticised by U.N. experts and rights groups.

Government critics and human rights activists were among the 84 defendants brought before the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal, most of whom have been in jail since a similar trial of 94 people in 2013, according to rights groups.

The Abu Dhabi court “sentenced 43 defendants to life imprisonment for the crime of creating, establishing, and managing a terrorist organisation” linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the official WAM news agency said.

Ten others were jailed for 10-15 years, WAM said, with one defendant acquitted and 24 cases ruled inadmissible. It did not give details of the remaining cases.

Defendants can still appeal the verdicts before the Federal Supreme Court.

The trial, which kicked off in December, has been condemned by rights groups and United Nations experts who accuse the oil-rich Gulf monarchy of cracking down on dissent.

Most of the defendants have already been in prison for more than a decade since the “UAE 94” trial 11 years ago, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International.

But UAE authorities say the latest charges are “materially distinct” from those brought in 2013, which did not include accusations of financing a “terrorist organisation”.

‘Violent events’

The UAE has not named the 84 defendants but the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, a U.K.-based watchdog, has identified more than 70 people, most of them already imprisoned.

The latest verdict makes a “mockery of justice”, said Joey Shea, HRW’s UAE researcher, calling it “another nail in the coffin for the UAE’s nascent civil society”.

Among those sentenced to life in prison is Emirati academic Nasser bin Ghaith who has been held since August 2015 over social media posts, according to Ms. Shea.

Renowned human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor who has been held since 2017 is also likely among thos convicted, though the details of his sentence remain unclear, Ms. Shea said.

Amnesty International called it a “shameless parody of justice,” alleging fair trial violations.

“Trying 84 Emiratis at once, including 26 prisoners of conscience and well-known human rights defenders is a scarcely disguised exercise in punishing dissenters,” said Devin Kenney, Amnesty’s UAE Researcher.

The UAE has denied any wrongdoing.

WAM said the court had “guaranteed the defendants all their rights”.

The report said they were trying to “create and replicate violent events” that would have left “dead and injured in the squares and streets”.

‘Deeply regressive’

The UAE, a federation of seven absolute monarchies, prohibits criticism of its rulers and any speech that is deemed to create or encourage social unrest.

Defamation as well as verbal and written insults, whether published or made privately, are crimes punishable by fines and imprisonment.

In 2012, in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring revolts across the Middle East, the UAE launched a spate of arrests and prosecutions targeting dozens of Emirati dissidents who demanded political reform.

About 60 of the “UAE 94” put on trial then remain behind bars for alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that is outlawed in the Gulf state.

In a letter sent to UAE authorities in January, independent U.N. experts said they were concerned that the latest proceedings against the 84 defendants reflect “a broader pattern of suppression of dissent and civil society in the UAE”.

They questioned “alleged irregularities” such as “the use of torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment to extract forced confessions”.

Ben Saul, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said the latest charges “relate to the same conduct for which many of these defendants were tried the first time around a decade ago”.

The trial was a “deeply regressive step” and a “terrible example of the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society”, he told an expert panel hosted by the Geneva Press Club in March.

Last week, HRW said many of the defendants have been kept incommunicado for at least a year and have reported abuses including physical assault, lack of access to medicine, incessant loud music and forced nudity.

The wealthy country’s allies, including the United States, Britain and the European Union, should speak out about the “unfair mass trial”, HRW said.

“Emirati authorities have long used their country’s economic and security relationships to prevent criticism of its rights record, but rarely, if ever, has the silence from its allies been so deafening,” said HRW’s Ms. Shea.

Dubai:

A court in the United Arab Emirates has handed life sentences to 43 Emiratis for “terrorist” links, state media said Wednesday, after a mass trial heavily criticised by UN experts and rights groups.

Government critics and human rights activists were among the 84 defendants brought before the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal, most of whom have been in jail since a similar trial of 94 people in 2013, according to rights groups.

The Abu Dhabi court “sentenced 43 defendants to life imprisonment for the crime of creating, establishing, and managing a terrorist organisation” linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the official WAM news agency said.

Ten others were jailed for 10-15 years, WAM said, with one defendant acquitted and 24 cases ruled inadmissible. It did not give details of the remaining cases.

Defendants can still appeal the verdicts before the Federal Supreme Court.

The trial, which kicked off in December, has been condemned by rights groups and United Nations experts who accuse the oil-rich Gulf monarchy of cracking down on dissent.

Most of the defendants have already been in prison for more than a decade since the “UAE 94” trial 11 years ago, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International.

But UAE authorities say the latest charges are “materially distinct” from those brought in 2013, which did not include accusations of financing a “terrorist organisation”.

– ‘Violent events’ –

The UAE has not named the 84 defendants but the Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, a UK-based watchdog, has identified more than 70 people, most of them already imprisoned.

The latest verdict makes a “mockery of justice”, said Joey Shea, HRW’s UAE researcher, calling it “another nail in the coffin for the UAE’s nascent civil society”.

Among those sentenced to life in prison is Emirati academic Nasser bin Ghaith who has been held since August 2015 over social media posts, according to Shea.

Renowned human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor who has been held since 2017 is also likely among thos convicted, though the details of his sentence remain unclear, Shea said.

Amnesty International called it a “shameless parody of justice,” alleging fair trial violations.

“Trying 84 Emiratis at once, including 26 prisoners of conscience and well-known human rights defenders is a scarcely disguised exercise in punishing dissenters,” said Devin Kenney, Amnesty’s UAE Researcher.

The UAE has denied any wrongdoing.

WAM said the court had “guaranteed the defendants all their rights”.

The report said they were trying to “create and replicate violent events” that would have left “dead and injured in the squares and streets”.

– ‘Deeply regressive’ –

The UAE, a federation of seven absolute monarchies, prohibits criticism of its rulers and any speech that is deemed to create or encourage social unrest.

Defamation as well as verbal and written insults, whether published or made privately, are crimes punishable by fines and imprisonment.

In 2012, in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring revolts across the Middle East, the UAE launched a spate of arrests and prosecutions targeting dozens of Emirati dissidents who demanded political reform.

About 60 of the “UAE 94” put on trial then remain behind bars for alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that is outlawed in the Gulf state.

In a letter sent to UAE authorities in January, independent UN experts said they were concerned that the latest proceedings against the 84 defendants reflect “a broader pattern of suppression of dissent and civil society in the UAE”.

They questioned “alleged irregularities” such as “the use of torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment to extract forced confessions”.

Ben Saul, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said the latest charges “relate to the same conduct for which many of these defendants were tried the first time around a decade ago”.

The trial was a “deeply regressive step” and a “terrible example of the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society”, he told an expert panel hosted by the Geneva Press Club in March.

Last week, HRW said many of the defendants have been kept incommunicado for at least a year and have reported abuses including physical assault, lack of access to medicine, incessant loud music and forced nudity.

The wealthy country’s allies, including the United States, Britain and the European Union, should speak out about the “unfair mass trial”, HRW said.

“Emirati authorities have long used their country’s economic and security relationships to prevent criticism of its rights record, but rarely, if ever, has the silence from its allies been so deafening,” said HRW’s Shea.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A four-year-old girl in Sharjah was left alone on the school bus after the staff forgot to drop her off. According to the Khaleej Times, the girl, who fell asleep, was discovered crying by the bus conductor during the second trip taken by the bus for boys. The girl was on the bus from 6 to 8:40 am and later became ill, following which she was taken to a hospital for a check-up. 

Fortunately, the girl survived without any harm. However, the girl’s mother is now advising other parents to stay vigilant and regularly talk to bus drivers and conductors regarding their child’s safety. 

”At 7:30 am, the conductor called to inform me that my child fell asleep, was left behind on the bus, and couldn’t reach the classroom. I told him to immediately drop her home, but he didn’t. It was only when I called her teacher that she came to know about the incident. We rushed to the school by 8.15 am, but my daughter hadn’t reached the classroom or school yet,” the girl’s mother recalled the incident. 

“My daughter said her head banged against the front seat. And as she woke up, there were all the big students, i.e., boys and senior students of the second trip. It was only when she started crying that the conductor realised she was left inside and then called me,” she added. 

The girl’s parents have now withdrawn her from the school and complained to the local authorities, complaining that the staff downplayed it as a minor incident. 

“I can’t find the heart to send her to school until she is a bit older to look after herself. I have studied in the same school, but I never expected my daughter to be treated this way. Our trust has been broken. We are lucky to get our child alive; I pray no other parents and child undergo such a miserable situation,” the woman further said. 

In the past, there have been several such cases of carelessness wherein children have suffocated to death or fell ill after being left behind in school buses or private vehicles. 

A government research institute in the United Arab Emirates on Monday released a new open source GenAI model, which could rival the ones from big technology companies.

Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) said it was releasing the Falcon 2 series: Falcon 2 11B, a text-based model, and Falcon 2 11B VLM, a vision-to-language model that can generate a text description of an uploaded image.

TII is a research centre within Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council.

The UAE, a major oil exporter and influential Middle East power, is making huge investments in artificial intelligence. But that bet has also drawn scrutiny from the U.S. officials who last year issued an ultimatum: American or Chinese technology.

Emirati AI firm G42 pulled out Chinese hardware and divested stakes in Chinese companies before securing a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft that was coordinated with Washington.

Advanced Technology Research Council Secretary General Faisal Al Bannai, who is also an adviser to the president on strategic research and advanced technology, said the UAE was demonstrating it can be a major player in artificial intelligence.

The Falcon 2 series come as companies and countries are racing to develop their own large language models following the 2022 release of ChatGPT by OpenAI. While some have opted to keep their AI code proprietary, others, like UAE’s Falcon and Meta’s Llama, have made their code publicly available for anyone to use.

Al Bannai said he was optimistic about Falcon 2’s performance and that they were working on “Falcon 3 generation”.

“We’re very proud that we can still punch way above our weight, really compete with the best players globally,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A person stands surrounded by flood water caused by heavy rains, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The Indian embassy in the UAE on Friday advised the inbound Indian passengers travelling to or transiting through Dubai International Airport to reschedule non-essential travel till operations normalise after the city witnessed unprecedented rains this week.

The United Arab Emirates is trying to recover from the record-setting rains this week which has caused massive flooding in Dubai and surrounding areas.

The embassy in the advisory said while the UAE authorities were working round the clock to ensure normalisation of operations, the airport authorities have advised that passengers may travel to the airport “only after” final confirmation from the respective airlines regarding the departure date and time of flights.

Due to disruption caused by unprecedented weather conditions in the UAE earlier this week, Dubai International Airport has temporarily limited the number of inbound flights, the advisory said.

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, hoped to be back on a normal schedule within 24 hours.

“Inbound Indian passengers travelling to or transiting through Dubai International Airport are advised to reschedule non-essential travel till operations normalise,” the statement said.

“To assist Indian nationals at the Dubai International Airport, the Consulate General of India in Dubai has operationalised emergency helpline numbers which have been functional since April 17,” the statement said.

Dubai:

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a phone call with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to discuss the latest, dangerous developments in the region and their repercussions on the regional and international peace and security.

During the call, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed emphasised the importance of exercising the utmost self-restraint and working to prevent the expansion of the circle of tension in the Middle East, pointing out that diplomacy and dialogue are the only way to resolve differences and ensure the security of the region and the safety of its people.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed also stressed that peace, prosperity and development are what the countries of the region should enjoy and deserve.

In addition, the two top diplomats discussed bilateral relations and ways to strengthen them in a way that serves the common interests of the two neighbouring countries and the region.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)