A US-owned ship was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen on Monday in an attack claimed by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis.
The Marshall Islands-flagged MV Gibraltar Eagle was hit by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis off the coast of southern Yemen, reported Centcom, the US military's headquarters for the Middle East.
“The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its journey,” said Centcom.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was in response to "British-American aggression" and pledged to continue attacking shipping "until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted".
"The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of God Almighty, carried out a military operation targeting an American ship in the Gulf of Aden, with a number of appropriate naval missiles, and the hit was accurate and direct," the Houthis said in a statement.
The incident was initially reported by the UK Maritime Trade Organisation, which reported it had been hit 175km south-east of Aden.
Maritime security firm Ambrey said the ship was not thought to be Israel-linked. The Houthis had previously pledged to attack Israeli-linked ships that passed through the Red Sea while Israel's war in Gaza continued.
The attack comes after days of heightened tensions following US and UK strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to the group launching months of attacks against international shipping and US warships.
The US and UK bombed more than 60 Houthi targets across 16 sites in Yemen overnight on Thursday, followed by further US strikes at the weekend.
The Houthis, who are backed by Iran and control much of northern and central Yemen including the capital Sanaa, had vowed to retaliate after the attacks and appear to not have been deterred in their campaign.
"Attacks to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of the occupied Palestine will continue," senior Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters on Monday.
A cruise missile was fired from Houthi territory at a US destroyer on Sunday but was intercepted before reaching its target, Centcom said.
"The missile was shot down in the vicinity of the coast of Hodeidah by US fighter aircraft," said Centcom. "There were no injuries or damage reported."
Threat against shipping
The president and deputy chairman of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which controls much of southern Yemen and is opposed to the Houthis, called for the US and its allies to do more to stop the Houthi threat against shipping.
"The US air strikes in their current form are not enough. There should be a comprehensive approach – militarily, politically and economically against the Houthis," Maj Gen Aidarus Al Zoubadi told The National at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
"The way to address this is for there to be a comprehensive military operation that involves regional stakeholders to stop the piracy operation in the Bab Al Mandeb and importantly to support ground forces, STC and PLC forces, on the ground."
Maj Gen Al Zoubadi was referring to the forces of the STC and the Presidential Leadership Council, which make up the administration that currently rules most of southern Yemen.
Qatar's Prime Minister said on Tuesday at the WEF in Davos that military strikes will not contain attacks by Yemen's Houthis on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea, but an end to the war in Gaza will.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described the current regional situation as a "recipe for escalation everywhere" and said Qatar believes defusing the conflict in Gaza will stop conflict on other fronts.
"We need to address the central issue, which is Gaza, in order to get everything else defused ... if we are just focusing on the symptoms and not treating the real issues, [solutions] will be temporary," he said.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared to rule out further strikes. He said attacks on Houthi bases were a “single, limited action” in self-defence and the action was designed to protect international shipping.
“They fired on our ships and our sailors. It was the biggest attack on the Royal Navy for decades and so we acted,” he said.
“It was limited, not escalatory. It was a necessary and proportionate response to a direct threat to UK vessels and therefore to the UK itself.”
The Houthis launched their campaign against international shipping in response to Israel's war in Gaza in November.
They have caused major disruption to world trade, with major shipping companies opting to avoid the Red Sea – a key international waterway – due to the risk of attacks.
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How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
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Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
RESULT
West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' )
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72')
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
'I Want You Back'
Director:Jason Orley
Stars:Jenny Slate, Charlie Day
Rating:4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
Also on December 7 to 9, the third edition of the Gulf Car Festival (www.gulfcarfestival.com) will take over Dubai Festival City Mall, a new venue for the event. Last year's festival brought together about 900 cars worth more than Dh300 million from across the Emirates and wider Gulf region – and that first figure is set to swell by several hundred this time around, with between 1,000 and 1,200 cars expected. The first day is themed around American muscle; the second centres on supercars, exotics, European cars and classics; and the final day will major in JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars, tuned vehicles and trucks. Individuals and car clubs can register their vehicles, although the festival isn’t all static displays, with stunt drifting, a rev battle, car pulls and a burnout competition.
RESULTS
Light Flyweight (48kg): Alua Balkibekova (KAZ) beat Gulasal Sultonalieva (UZB) by points 4-1.
Flyweight (51kg): Nazym Kyzaibay (KAZ) beat Mary Kom (IND) 3-2.
Bantamweight (54kg): Dina Zholaman (KAZ) beat Sitora Shogdarova (UZB) 3-2.
Featherweight (57kg): Sitora Turdibekova (UZB) beat Vladislava Kukhta (KAZ) 5-0.
Lightweight (60kg): Rimma Volossenko (KAZ) beat Huswatun Hasanah (INA) KO round-1.
Light Welterweight (64kg): Milana Safronova (KAZ) beat Lalbuatsaihi (IND) 3-2.
Welterweight (69kg): Valentina Khalzova (KAZ) beat Navbakhor Khamidova (UZB) 5-0
Middleweight (75kg): Pooja Rani (IND) beat Mavluda Movlonova (UZB) 5-0.
Light Heavyweight (81kg): Farida Sholtay (KAZ) beat Ruzmetova Sokhiba (UZB) 5-0.
Heavyweight (81 kg): Lazzat Kungeibayeva (KAZ) beat Anupama (IND) 3-2.
The biog
Date of birth: 27 May, 1995
Place of birth: Dubai, UAE
Status: Single
School: Al Ittihad private school in Al Mamzar
University: University of Sharjah
Degree: Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Hobby: I enjoy travelling a lot, not just for fun, but I like to cross things off my bucket list and the map and do something there like a 'green project'.
