Russia fired new generation hypersonic cruise missiles, including one capable of carrying nuclear warheads, during drills in the eastern Mediterranean, the country’s Defence Ministry said.
Crews of navy frigates fired Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles, while a submarine launched a Kalibr cruise missile, and an Onyx anti-ship missile was fired from the coat, the ministry said. The Kalibr is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
The number of Russian troops stationed in the region had been increased in time for the exercises.
The tests come as Russia air power attacks a Syrian rebel offensive where President Bashar Al Assad's forces have lost the second city of Aleppo. Moscow has been a key ally of Mr Al Assad since the Syrian civil war started in 2011.
Russia has a naval base in Syria at Tartus but the statement did not say where the drills took place.
“On December 3, during an exercise to test the combined activities of Russian navy and air force troop groups, precision sea-based missiles were launched in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea,” Russia's Defence Ministry said in a post on Telegram.
“In the course of preparing for the exercise, the Russian armed forces' troops grouping in the eastern Mediterranean was increased,” the ministry added.
More than 1,000 troops, 10 vessels and 24 aircraft were taking part in the drills, it said.
The ministry published images showing the launch of several missiles from ships and land and images of a target in open water being hit.
Meanwhile, Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday Russia is not yet ready to enter negotiations to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
“There are no grounds for negotiations yet,” Mr Peskov told the Izvestia newspaper. “Many countries have declared their readiness to provide their territory … And we are grateful to all countries for such goodwill, including Qatar”.
Qatar has mediated several returns of Ukrainian children taken to Russia from the conflict zone since the start of the war. Thousands of civilians, the vast majority of them Ukrainians, have been killed since Russia launched its invasion of the country in February 2022.
Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, said on Monday that there could be attempts to begin peace talks with Ukraine in 2025.
In late November, sources told Reuters that Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to discussing a ceasefire deal in Ukraine with president-elect Donald Trump and could agree to freeze the conflict along the front line. Russian troops control about 20 per cent of Ukraine's territory and have been advancing lately at the fastest pace since the early days of the war.
But the Kremlin has said repeatedly it will not negotiate with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unless Ukraine renounces its plan to join Nato and withdraws troops from territories now controlled by Russian troops.
Kyiv, which on Tuesday declared that it would not settle for anything less than Nato membership to guarantee its security, has also said it will not compromise its territory.
With Mr Trump promising to bring the war to a swift end after taking office in January and naming an envoy to Ukraine who favours freezing battle lines, concerns are growing in Kyiv and among its allies that the terms of any potential ceasefire pact would favour Russia and leave Ukraine vulnerable.
US President Joe Biden's outgoing administration – Ukraine's largest supporter – has sought to bolster Kyiv before leaving office, allowing Ukraine to use its long-range missiles to strike into Russia.
On Monday, in the latest of similar moves, it approved another military aid package to Kyiv, this time worth $725 million.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the latest arms shipments would include Stinger missiles, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and drones and land mines.
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Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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.”
