UAE president Sheikh Khalifa dies at 73

Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, shown above at a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in 2009, was a pro-Western moderniser whose low-key approach helped steer the United Arab Emirates through a tense era. He died on Friday at age 73. (AFP File Photo)

DUBAI: United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a pro-Western moderniser who had aligned the Gulf Arab state closer to the United States and its allies, died on Friday at age 73.

The Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced the death of Khalifa, who was also ruler of the UAE’s richest emirate, Abu Dhabi, but gave no details.