Gulf states to boost diesel shipments to struggling France. UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to increase deliveries in coming weeks, Paris sources say. October 20, 2026 The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are to sell France the equivalent of 10 per cent of its diesel consumption in the coming weeks, Elysee sources have said. The aim is to bring energy prices down in Europe, which have fuelled protests and public anger in France. "The greater the quantity, the lower the price. It's quite simple," an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron said. Wednesdays Get the latest insights on trends in oil and gas, markets and clean energy that matter A large part of the deal was obtained by Mr Macron during a tour of the Gulf that started on Monday with visits to Kuwait and the UAE. He is also set travel to Bahrain and Qatar. France previously obtained guarantees from Saudi Arabia to sell 95,000 tonnes of diesel in October and November, bringing the total to 190,000 tonnes over two months. In addition, the UAE and Bahrain are in the coming weeks expected to separately sell 100,000 tonnes of diesel to France for an unknown duration. "These are political commitments obtained from countries in the region because they know us and they know we are reliable - because we have been there during every critical moment, notably by deploying air defence capabilities," the adviser said. Sales are to go through French energy company TotalEnergies, whose chief executive, Patrick Pouyanne, has accompanied Mr Macron on his Gulf tour. UAE and France sign AI and tech deals. The UAE and France have signed deals in energy, artificial intelligence and advanced technology as the countries strengthen investment and economic ties. The preliminary agreements were signed in the presence of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Mr Macron in the UAE capital. Three agreements focused on AI and advanced technology were signed with French start-up AMI Labs to strengthen research and technological co-operation and explore new applications across several fields, Abu Dhabi Media office reported. The deals cover Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Abu Dhabi's G42 and computing company Analog. MBZUAE is to focus on strengthening co-operation with AMI Labs in AI research and development, while G42 aims to establish a framework for strategic co-operation in cloud computing infrastructure and AI models. Analog's deal with AMI Labs is related to exploring opportunities to integrate AI models into robotics and physical AI applications and opening new avenues for developing intelligent systems and expanding their use in industrial and technology sectors. The UAE and France will also boost co-operation in the energy sector, with Adnoc Gas and Schneider Electric signing an initial pact to assess advanced technology and opportunities for operational improvements to help enhance efficiency and improve the performance of energy systems. Adnoc Refining and Technip Energies also signed two contracts relating to a refining capacity enhancement project and a sustainable aviation fuel project. "These agreements demonstrate both countries' commitment to broadening economic and investment co-operation, strengthening integration between their industrial, technological and research capabilities, and opening new avenues for public-private partnerships to support the development of innovative and sustainable solutions in shared priority sectors," Abu Dhabi Media office said. Updated: October 20, 2026, 1:19 AM

MEIL, Analog partner to build India's first 'Physical Intelligence' grid. ANI | Updated: Jul 01, 2026 21:41 IST Hyderabad (Telangana)/ New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): India will get its first city-scale Physical Intelligence grid under a new joint venture between Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) and Analog, with the partners saying the technology will make real-time awareness as available and reliable as electricity. The companies announced the strategic partnership in Hyderabad, calling it a move that will shape how governments operate, industries perform and cities function.The joint venture will be developed in India and built for the world, said P.V. Krishna Reddy, Managing Director, MEIL. "We believe the next generation of transformative technologies should not simply be adopted in India. They should conceive, develop and build here for the world," he said. "This is far more than a business partnership. It is a shared commitment to create technology that will redefine how governments operate, how industries perform, how cities function and how people live and work."Alex Kipman, Founder & CEO of Analog and a former Microsoft AI executive, said the grid will be installed in Hyderabad first and expanded across Telangana and India. "Physical intelligence is simply the next utility that we will upgrade as a species. And I'm extremely proud to say that it starts right here in Hyderabad," Kipman said. He described Physical Intelligence as "a shared layer of awareness that operates at city scale, much like the electrical grid allows to have electricity as a utility at city scale."The partners said the technology is critical as cities add millions of autonomous robots, drones and self-driving vehicles. "As complexity compounds... that complexity will simply no longer work" without city-scale intelligence, Kipman said. Reddy explained that Physical Intelligence helps systems "detect issues early, predict failures before they occur, automate inspections, make decisions in real time and in some cases even act autonomously." He cited traffic management, where AI can "automatically detect violation, predict congestion before it builds up, dynamically adjust traffic signals and even provide priority routing for ambulance," with the ability to flag potential accidents 5-10 minutes in advance. In power transmission, he said drones and robots using Physical Intelligence can cut losses, boost efficiency and forecast area-wise demand for the next one to two years."Physical intelligence is not about replacing people. It's about empowering people," Reddy added. "It helps human beings make better decisions, reduce repetitive manual work, improve safety, increase efficiency and enables governments and industries to operate at unprecedented scale."Kipman outlined Analog's core IP that will power the grid: a 'world model' trained on sensors to predict "the next probable state of the world"; 'Anna', an analog neural agent with digital and physical neurons for real-time decisions; and 'Hive', a platform to homogenize millions of city sensors into a single plane of glass. "More sensors, better intelligence. Better intelligence, more use of Hive... With each turn of the crank, your city gets more insight," he said.MEIL brings "scale, execution excellence, engineering capability and deep understanding of India's need," Reddy said, noting the company operates nearly 5,000-6,000 EV buses and has built large industrial areas. "The future will belong to those who dare to build it. Today, MEL and Analog have chosen to build that future together," he said.Kipman added, "We're not just bringing our technology to Hyderabad, we are building our technology here in Hyderabad, created in India by Indians for India." (ANI)