The United Arab Emirates began 40 days of mourning yesterday following the death of the wealthy Gulf state's founding president, who helped transform seven backwater Gulf states into the world's ninth-largest oil producer and a high-tech commercial crossroads of gleaming skyscrapers.
Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, one of the richest rulers in the world according to Forbes magazine, died Tuesday at the age of 86. He was credited with forging close ties with the US and the West during his rule of the country, which stretched back to its 1971 founding after winning independence from Britain.
PHOTO: AFP PHOTO
Sheik Zayed is expected to be succeeded by his eldest son, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as Emirates president. Sheik Khalifa, who has been crown prince of Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest of the seven emirates, since 1969, automatically becomes ruler of Abu Dhabi following his father's death.
The leaders of the seven emirates that make up the Emirates will appoint the new president within 30 days. In the meantime, the prime minister -- Sheik Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a close relative of Sheik Zayed -- will serve as acting president. During the president's illness, Sheik Maktoum has been the public face of the Emirates.
Condolences have been flooding in from around the world following the death of Sheik Zayed, who had been ailing for several years and largely out of public eye. He had a kidney transplant in August 2000.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was "saddened" by Sheik Zayed's death, describing the late leader as a "friend" and "symbol of benevolent and wise leadership characterized by generosity, tolerance, and avid pursuit of development and modernization."
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat were among numerous Arab leaders who expressed remorse for the loss of Sheik Zayed, whose rule led the unification of the seven tiny emirates on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula -- once a backwater relegated to fishing from traditional dhow boats and diving for pearls in the Gulf waters.
"His death is a big loss for the Arab and Islamic nations and to humanity," Oman's Foreign Minister Youssef bin Alawi told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV.
Kuwait's information minister, Mohammed Abul-Hassan, credited Sheik Zayed with helping Kuwaitis who fled to the Emirates after Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered his forces to invade Kuwait in 1990, a move that led to the US-led 1991 Gulf War.
Alluding to the Emirates' incredible economic growth, Abul-Hassan said Sheik Zayed was an "example to be followed in his ability to turn the impossible into a truth."
The Emirates' top decision-making body, the Supreme Council, declared a 40-day official period of mourning would begin yesterday.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the