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In a significant demonstration of bilateral technological cooperation, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, arrived in New Delhi on February 18, 2026, to participate in the AI Impact Summit. Representing UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince’s visit underscores the deepening strategic partnership between the two nations in the realm of artificial intelligence and digital transformation.

The distinguished guest received an elaborate ceremonial welcome upon arrival, featuring traditional red-carpet honors and vibrant cultural performances. India’s Minister of Communications, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, personally greeted the Crown Prince at the airport, followed by meetings with several senior government officials, highlighting the importance both nations place on this diplomatic engagement.

The UAE’s substantial delegation reflects the summit’s strategic significance, comprising numerous high-ranking officials including Omar Sultan Al Olama (Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence), Saeed bin Mubarak Al Hajeri (Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and Faisal Al Bannai (Adviser to the UAE President for Strategic Research and Advanced Technology Affairs). The delegation also includes prominent figures from Abu Dhabi’s government entities and Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority.

This collaborative participation aims to advance international cooperation in harnessing AI technologies to support sustainable development objectives. Both nations seek to strengthen strategic partnerships with leading technology corporations to develop innovative solutions for future global challenges. The summit provides a platform for shaping the future digital economy architecture and accelerating digital transformation initiatives to enhance competitiveness across vital sectors.

The AI Impact Summit, continuing through February 20, represents a crucial junction in UAE-India relations, building upon previous high-level visits including UAE President’s recent engagement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This ongoing dialogue establishes a framework for mutual technological advancement and economic cooperation in emerging digital fields.

Across Iran on Tuesday, traditional memorial ceremonies for victims of the state’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests evolved into powerful displays of civil disobedience, blending grief with unprecedented acts of defiance.

The Chehellom ceremonies, marking forty days since death in accordance with Iranian tradition, became platforms for confrontation as mourners clashed with riot police and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces in multiple cities. In a striking departure from conventional mourning practices, families and supporters of the deceased engaged in dancing, clapping, and playing music beside fresh graves—actions that directly challenge the establishment’s prescribed forms of religious observance.

This transformation of ritual carries profound historical resonance. During the 1979 Islamic Revolution, similar commemorations for those killed by the Shah’s forces helped galvanize opposition. Now, four decades later, the tradition has been repurposed as a strategic protest mechanism against current rulers.

The scale of loss remains contested. While official figures acknowledge 3,117 deaths, the US-based Hrana news agency reported Monday that 6,508 protesters had been killed during weeks of demonstrations. Despite state attempts to co-opt the narrative by announcing official commemorations, security forces maintained overwhelming presence at cemeteries, establishing widespread checkpoints and engaging in clashes with mourners in Abdanan and Mashhad.

At Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery, witnesses described crowded scenes where sections 322 and 323 were packed with both grieving families and supporters wearing black. The atmosphere shifted between conventional mourning and radical expression: young people played celebratory music from phones while dancing beside graves, wedding cars decorated with black ribbons processed slowly through burial grounds, and mourners chanted revolutionary verses.

This practice of dancing at graves, while rooted in old tribal customs for those who died before marriage, has gained new symbolic meaning. Viral videos from recent weeks show grieving families transforming funerals into acts of resistance. One father, mourning his son Reza Asadi, stood by the grave and declared to the crowd: ‘People! This is my Reza for the homeland!’ before performing traditional dance steps.

As these unofficial mourning practices continue, human rights organizations report escalating executions across Iranian prisons. At least nine individuals were executed on Tuesday in multiple cities, with authorities attributing the deaths to drug crimes and murder. However, lawyers maintain that defendants were systematically denied legal representation and forced to confess under torture.

Additional concerns focus on the detention and killing of children during protests, with the Iranian Teachers’ Union reporting at least 200 minors killed. While officials claim all detained schoolchildren have been released, independent verification remains impossible.

Amid collective grief, attention has partially shifted to renewed nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, which Iran’s foreign minister has characterized as ‘constructive’—creating a complex backdrop of domestic repression and diplomatic engagement.

In a dramatic shift of policy, Israel has enacted comprehensive measures that fundamentally alter the administrative reality for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. These unprecedented changes, the first of their magnitude since Israel’s 1967 occupation, significantly expand civilian authority over territories previously governed under military law for nearly six decades.

The reforms effectively extend Israeli administrative control throughout the West Bank, realizing a long-standing objective of right-wing and ultra-nationalist settler movements. Critics characterize these moves as de facto annexation despite the absence of formal declaration, substantially weakening the Palestinian Authority’s limited self-rule and dismantling the foundational structure established by the Oslo Accords.

Key changes announced on February 8th include Israel’s newfound authority to enforce civilian decisions in Areas A and B—regions comprising approximately 40% of the West Bank containing major Palestinian population centers. Previously restricted to security operations in these zones, Israeli forces may now demolish homes, wells, and structures under expanded environmental and heritage protection pretexts.

Parallel land regulation reforms facilitate mass land seizures and simplify property transfers to settlers by abolishing Jordanian-era restrictions and declassifying previously protected land registries. Subsequent measures authorize the reclassification of unregistered or abandoned territories as “state property,” effectively legalizing widespread land confiscation despite international law prohibitions against such actions by occupying powers.

Hebron emerges as a particularly sensitive focus, with building permit authority transferred from Palestinian to Israeli military control. This shift enables settlement expansion within urban centers and potential alterations to the Ibrahimi Mosque complex, a site sacred to Muslims since the 1994 massacre by an Israeli settler.

The transformation deepened with Israel’s approval of a new settlement effectively expanding Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries into the West Bank—the first formal boundary extension since the 1967 occupation. This planned expansion at Adam settlement, presented as a new neighborhood despite lacking physical connection to existing structures, further blurs the Green Line demarcation established by the 1949 armistice agreements.