An Israeli sapper checks a damaged apartment in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, after rockets were fired by the Hamas movement from the Gaza Strip towards Israel overnight. AFP
A Palestinian man looks on at the site of an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Reuters
A man inspects the rubbles of a building destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza. AFP
A view shows the site of an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Reuters
The rooftop of a building is seen destroyed following an Israeli air strike at al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City. AFP
A Palestinian searches for survivors under the rubble of a destroyed rooftop, after a residential building was hit by Israeli missile strikes at Al Shati refugee camp, in Gaza City. AP
Rockets fired from Gaza fly towards Israel. EPA
A relative of a Palestinian killed during Israeli-Palestinian clashes is comforted at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters
A Palestinian civil defence member checks the rubble of an apartment destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza. AFP
A man uses his mobile phone to photograph the remnants of a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Reuters
Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, above the southern city of Ashkelon. AFP
Fire billow from Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
Palestinians at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
A Palestinian man carries a wounded girl at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
A Palestinian boy receives medical care at a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
Palestinians inside a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed amid air raids in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said. It was unclear whether the deaths were caused by the air strikes. Israel said it bombed Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire directed towards Israel. AFP
An Israeli man checks debris at a house on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip fell. AFP
A drone image shows an area on the outskirts of Jerusalem reportedly hit by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip. Reuters
As thousands of ultranationalist Israelis gathered on Monday night to mark the anniversary of the seizure of East Jerusalem, air raid sirens rung out in the holy city as rockets flew in from Gaza.
The wail of the sirens initially caused confusion in the crowds.
They're just flexing muscles to show they can hit that far
Unlike in Tel Aviv or towns bordering the blockaded strip where such sounds are not uncommon when skirmishes break out between Israel and Gaza’s armed groups, Jerusalem has not come under direct rocket fire since 2014.
Monday night’s attacks, coming amid the worst outbreak of violence in the holy land in years, have already sparked a series of airstrikes and retaliatory rockets that lasted through the night and into Tuesday.
So far, at least 25 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza – including at least nine children – and two have been killed in Israel while six others were wounded.
Michael Stephens, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that the targeting of Jerusalem was symbolic for the militants and stemmed from what he says were provocative Israeli actions at Al Aqsa Mosque.
“I think the targeting was in response to it being a Jerusalem centric incident,” he said.
On Monday, police raided Al Aqsa in response to what they said was hundreds of people throwing rocks at officers ahead of controversial Israeli Jerusalem Day celebrations. Over 700 Palestinians were wounded in Monday’s clashes.
Anger was already bubbling through Ramadan over the potential eviction of Palestinians by Israeli settlers from the flashpoint East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
“The tensions have just risen to a head with these particular ‘real estate disputes’,” he said.
“The Israelis have then made it way worse by policing badly.”
Mr Stephens said he believed neither side had anything to gain from the current conflict.
Joe Truzman, an analyst with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said the targeting of Jerusalem was very out of character for Hamas and the other armed groups in Gaza.
“It almost doesn't make sense. Because they could have hit Al Aqsa,” he said.
He said he believes the move could be a sign that the conflict will not end anytime soon.
“In 2014, during the Gaza War, they fired on Jerusalem. One of the rockets did land near an Arab majority area. It's just showing they're just flexing muscles that they can hit that far,” he says.
But Mr Truzman warns that despite “muscle-flexing” the conflict could be one of the worst for some years.
“These groups previously keep firing until they are satisfied their objective has been met. In this case, obviously with the constant fighting, unpredictable things happen such as the recent killing of senior members of Hamas. So, they responded to that with multiple waves of rocket attacks, towards [the Israeli town of] Ashkelon.”
The rocket fire on Ashkelon on Tuesday killed two Israelis.
“So it is hard to say when it stops,” he said.
Mr Truzman says it is possible foreign mediation could yet calm the conflict.
“In previous negotiations for ceasefires, especially in 2018 and 2019, you had Egypt playing a critical role negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, so it could happen. But it's just honestly a guess because right now things are pretty bad,” he said.
“You know, two people have died already in Israel, according to reports so Israel will feel the need to respond to that.”
Mr Truzman says that a key figure renowned for de-escalating tensions was Nikolay Mladenov, former UN special envoy for the Middle East Peace Process.
Mr Mladenov cultivated a strong reputation for calming tensions in prior conflicts. But he left his post in December.
“He was very good at this. He was very good at bringing the two sides together and creating calm, but he's not there anymore. So yeah, so this is going to be interesting. We'll see how long this lasts.”
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.
What’s the draw in Asia?
Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.
Is Hong Kong short of banks?
No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.
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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.”
US Industrial Market figures, Q1 2017
Vacancy Rate 5.4%
Markets With Positive Absorption 85.7 per cent
New Supply 55 million sq ft
New Supply to Inventory 0.4 per cent
Under Construction 198.2 million sq ft
(Source: Colliers)
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
