DUBAI: The president of United Arab Emirates is in “stable and reassuring” condition after surgery following a stroke late last month, state media reported yesterday.
The Wam state news agency quoted the half brother of H H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as telling guests: “Yes we passed through a difficult crisis, we have overcome it, thanks be to God.”
Born in 1948, Sheikh Khalifa is known as a pro-Western moderniser who has ruled the UAE since the death of his father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 2004. He is also the ruler of oil-producing Abu Dhabi, the richest and most powerful of the UAE emirates, which also include Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaima. Wam reported on January 25 that Sheikh Khalifa had had surgery after a stroke.
The UAE is an ally of the United States and has used its formidable foreign currency reserves to back the military rulers of Egypt against the Muslim Brotherhood opposition.
DUBAI: A Bahraini court yesterday handed 13 Shias jail sentences of up to 15 years after convicting them of trying to kill policemen by torching their patrol vehicle, a judicial source said. The court jailed 11 of the defendants for 15 years, while the remaining two received two-year terms, the source said.
The court said the 13 had tried to kill policemen by setting fire to their patrol car in the Shiite village of Salihiya, west of the capital Manama, in 2012.
The petrol bomb attack injured two policemen and destroyed the vehicle. Scores of Shiites have been tried over unrest that followed Arab Spring-inspired protests in mid-February 2011.
The Shia-led protests were met with a nationwide crackdown a month later, backed by Saudi-led Gulf forces that rolled into Bahrain in support of the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty.
AFP
