Follow the latest news on Cop27 in Egypt
More than 100 activists staged a noisy protest on Thursday inside the venue of the UN climate summit hosted by Egypt, chanting slogans urging for more to be done to save the planet.
The sister of jailed Egyptian dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah attended the protest but did not address the media or the onlooking crowd.
Sanaa Abdel Fattah said on Thursday that a lawyer for Abdel Fattah was still seeking access to visit him at a prison north of Cairo and negotiations were ongoing.
Many of the protest chants played on the title of her brother’s recently published book, You Have Not Yet Been Defeated.
The relatively small protest came hours before Abdel Fattah's lawyer said Egypt's state prosecutor had granted permission for him to visit the activist.
On Thursday afternoon, he said he was negotiating access with prison authorities.
Egypt has largely banned protests for much of the past decade.
Allowing the protest to proceed honoured Egypt’s repeated pledges to allow peaceful protests at the UN summit.
The protest took place at a time when Egypt has come under growing Western diplomatic pressure to free Abdel Fattah.
Abdel Fattah, 40, a well-known figure from the 2011 uprising that forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak to step down, began a partial hunger strike in April.
He declined liquids on Sunday, according to his family, who warn he could die.
Late on Thursday, Egypt's general prosecution said a thorough medical examination of Abdel Fattah, including blood tests, showed that he was in good health and did not need to be transferred to hospital.
"This suggests that it's doubtful that he is on a hunger strike," it said.
Thursday’s protesters held banners in English, French, Arabic and Spanish saying: “No climate justice without human rights.”
Most protesters wore white clothes and face coverings. They raised their fists as they chanted: “The people united will never be defeated.”
“We are here to raise the voices of all the climate and human rights defenders,” prominent Colombian activist Gina Cortes Valderrama told the crowd.
“We cannot forget those many, many, many who lost their voices,” said Ms Valderrama, the first of eight speakers to address the rally.
Sanaa Abdel Fattah, has been speaking about her brother’s case since she arrived this week in Sharm El Sheikh, the Red Sea resort where the UN meeting is held.
Abdel Fattah and siblings Sanaa and Mona became British citizens this year because their mother, mathematics professor Laila Soueif, was born in the UK.
In the past few days, the leaders of France, Britain and Germany said they discussed his case with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in Sharm El Sheikh and called for his release.
Abdel Fattah is serving a five-year prison sentence for "spreading false news" based on a Facebook post.
When asked about Abdel Fattah, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said this week that the dissident was treated in accordance with prison regulations and the penal code.
Abdel Fattah, he said, has access to “all the necessary care in prison."
On Wednesday, the minister said that raising the dissident’s case during the UN summit was designed to distract from the “organisational achievement” made by Egypt as host.
Mr El Sisi, who took office in 2014, has partially eased policies regarding dissent in recent months.
He has approved the release of about a 1,000 government critics who had been in pre-trial detention and called for the convening of a national dialogue on the country’s political future.
He has also allowed carefully measured criticism of his policies at a time when his country’s economy has been affected by the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war.
The head of Egypt's National Council for Human Rights whose members are appointed by parliament, said on Wednesday she hoped for a positive outcome to Abdel Fattah's case and others.
"We want really to see no one deprived of his liberty because of an opinion he or she expressed," Moushira Khattab, NCHR President said. "But we want everyone to get the same chance."
But one pro-government TV talk show host, Ahmed Musa, spoke about an international conspiracy to destabilise Egypt.
“No one can rattle Egypt. It’s a powerful nation and you need to realise that,” he said, addressing western leaders who called for Abdel Fattah’s release.
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THE DETAILS
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Dir: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson
3/5
Overview
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
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.”
Match info:
Leicester City 1
Ghezzal (63')
Liverpool 2
Mane (10'), Firmino (45')