40-member group of mostly Indians wins 10-million dirham lottery in the UAE
Dubai, Oct 4: A 40-member group, including 38 Indians working at a Qatar-based hypermarket chain, have won 10 million dirhams (USD 2.72 million) in a lucky draw in the UAE, according to a media report on Monday.
The winning ticket was bought on Indian expatriate Naheel Nizamudeen's name in the Big Ticket Lottery, Abu Dhabi, the Khaleej Times reported.
Nizamudeen, who hails from Kerala, could not be reached since Sunday evening and the lottery organisers had to contact his parents in India to deliver the news of the mega prize.
In the lottery application, Naheel had given his Indian number which was not active. However, he had also given the alternate number of his parents, which was how the organisers contacted him.
The prize will be shared by another 39 winners, of whom 37 are Indians (all hailing from Kerala) and the other two are from Bangladesh. All of them are employees of Qatar-based hypermarket chain Al Suwayed Group.
The news of the winning is yet to sink in. "We usually get a lot of spam calls. I still can't believe that we have won, Naheel told the newspaper.
We are all from middle-class families and have financial issues. So, the future of 40 families have been secured with this jackpot," said Shinoy Othayoth Kizhakk, one of the winners and Nizamedeen's roommate.
Shinoy said it was the first time that 40 people bought the ticket.
Usually, there are 10 to 15 people who purchase the ticket. Since we were not winning for the past couple of years, we expanded our group to 40..... You never know who gets lucky, Shinoy said over the phone.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
