Tag: United Arab Emirates

  • Israeli footballer becomes first to join Arab football league

    Israeli footballer becomes first to join Arab football league

    An Israel footballer, Diaa Saba will become the first player to compete in Arab league after signing a two-year contract with Dubai’s Al-Nasr SC football club.

    Dia Saba 27, who was born in Majd al-Krum, an Arab town located in Galilee in Israel’s Northern District, posted an image of himself on Saturday on a Dubai-bound Emirates flight, confirming his transfer from China’s Guangzhou R&F football club.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CFmFK-KHALz/?utm_source=ig_embed

    The news came after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel signed an accord on 15 September to normalise relations during a ceremony at the White House in the United States (US)

    Al-Nasr’s Twitter account wrote “Welcome to Diaa Saba at the Blue Citadel” on Sunday, accompanying the tweet with a video of the player wearing a number nine jersey in the Al-Maktoum stadium.

    According to media reports, the transfer fee for Saba was $2.9m. Saba has scored 87 goals in 255 appearances in all competitions and currently has 10 caps for the senior Israeli national team.

    Last month, an Emirati businessman linked to an investment company owned by UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan made an offer to invest in Israel’s most controversial football club, Beitar Jerusalem, notorious for its to the Israeli far-right and ruling Likud party, and for its racist anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments.

    The investment company, the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, has a majority stake in the City Football Group, which controls football clubs on four continents, including Manchester City.

  • Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize over UAE-Israel peace deal

    Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize over UAE-Israel peace deal

    United States (US) President Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize over his efforts to broker a deal between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel.

    According to reports, Trump was nominated by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, who praised the US president’s efforts aimed at resolving conflicts worldwide.

    “For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Tybring-Gjedde told Fox News.

    Tybring-Gjedde, in his nomination letter to the Nobel Committee, said the Trump administration had played a key role in the establishment of relations between the UAE and Israel. “As it is expected, other Middle Eastern countries will follow the footsteps of the UAE, which can be a game-changer that will turn the Middle East into a region of cooperation and prosperity.”

    UAE-ISRAEL PEACE DEAL“

    The UAE and Israel last month declared there would be peace between the two nations, with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin inviting the leader of the Emirates to visit Jerusalem.

    The gesture came as the UAE, after Egypt and Jordan, became the third Arab country to agree to have full ties with Israel.

    Trump took to Twitter to announce the major development.

    At the time, Trump told reporters at the Oval Office that the agreement was “a truly historic moment”. “Now that ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the UAE,” he said.

    In 2020, there are 318 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. Submissions should be made online and all nominees are discussed and then the most worthy and interesting are shortlisted. 

  • Pakistanis for ‘boycotting UAE’ after Turkish journalist highlights Emirates’ relations with India

    Pakistanis for ‘boycotting UAE’ after Turkish journalist highlights Emirates’ relations with India

    Pakistani Twitterati on Wednesday eagerly jumped on the Turkey bandwagon to trend “#BoycottUAE [United Arab Emirates]” after Turkish journalist Ali Keskin asked them to do so while seeking sanctions on the Gulf country over its strengthening relationship with India among other reasons.

    Raising objections apparently over Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi being given UAE’s highest civilian award and the country sending medical supplies to India amid the pandemic, the journalist alleged that Emirates was biased towards India and also silent on the Kashmir issue while Turkey had stood by Pakistan on the same.

    https://twitter.com/alikeskin_tr/status/1262756828284252161
    https://twitter.com/alikeskin_tr/status/1262757376538447879

    This led to a war of words over the micro-blogging website. Reactions to the trend were myriad, with many netizens highlighting Pakistan’s outstanding debts to the UAE and how it has been, along with China, among the main avenues for Pakistan to seek bailouts.

    https://twitter.com/Muhammad_Adil_1/status/1262765905198616576
    https://twitter.com/TheZaiduLeaks/status/1262773114305462277
    https://twitter.com/PTItigresss/status/1262767308193140736

    Indians also reacted to the tweet:

    https://twitter.com/MohitJamwal77/status/1262990675781382152

    It may be noted that the Turkish tweet came amid UAE’s growing support for warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces after they criticised Turkey’s actions in the Eastern Mediterranean, extending support for Libya’s legitimate government along with countries like Israel and Russia. Pakistani netizens, on the other hand, jumped on the bandwagon agreeing that Pakistan should impose sanctions against UAE when its relations with India were highlighted.

    Pakistan, however, has been a heavy borrower of the UAE, and owes the country $30 billion dollars.

  • UAE to give $200 million financial aid to PM’s youth programme

    UAE to give $200 million financial aid to PM’s youth programme

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has announced to give $200 million in financial aid to the Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Programme.

    UAE ambassador has made this announcement while meeting PM’s Special Assistant to Youth Affairs, Usman Dar. The financial assistance had been assured by the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his recent visit to Pakistan.

    The ambassador said Pakistani youth are talented and capable and UAE will cooperate for the development of the youth. He said practical steps will be taken soon for the Pakistani youth.

    He also announced to start a youth exchange programme between UAE and Pakistan. A delegation of Pakistani youth will be sent to UAE where they will be trained with skills of entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence. Moreover, the UAE government has offered to Pakistani youth to partner in Dubai Expo 2020.

    The ambassador admired the federal government’s practical steps for its young generation and UAE will provide opportunities to the skilled youth in the future.

    Dar welcomed the financial assistance of UAE in the Kamyab Jawan programme. He said ‘PM Imran Khan has an aim to uplift the young generation. He added that a huge investment is being made on youth for the first time in the history of Pakistan. The young generation will play an important role in the national economy.’

  • Report reveals more than 11m Pakistanis went overseas for employment since 1971

    Report reveals more than 11m Pakistanis went overseas for employment since 1971

    More than 11 million Pakistanis have left Pakistan since 1971 to pursue employment opportunities in different parts of the world. 4.2 million of the 11 million were labourers.

    According to a report by the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment, 11,052,663 workers registered for overseas employment with the bureau between 1971 and November 2019.

    While labourers topped the list, drivers came at number two with 1.3m people leaving the country to become drivers.

    Meanwhile, the profession that saw the least amount of workforce export was that of photographers, with only 1,949 leaving the country for overseas employment.

    Of the 11m manpower exports, 4.7m has been categorised as ‘skilled’ and 4.6m as ‘unskilled’.

    Saudi Arabia has been the most popular destination among Pakistani workers seeking employment opportunities. The report says 5.4m Pakistanis registered as employees in the kingdom since 1971. Saudi Arabia also took in the most number of Pakistanis in 2019, with the figure standing at 294,156.

    United Arab Emirates is second on the list with 3.8m Pakistanis working there while Oman (793,454) comes at number three.