Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Israel allowed 90 lorries carrying critical aid into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the UN said, as international pressure intensifies over the Israeli military's renewed offensive and blockade on the enclave.
Three days after Israel announced it would permit limited deliveries, the UN collected goods from the Karam Abu Salem crossing and sent them into Gaza, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres.
In Gaza, the Hamas government media office reported the arrival of 87 aid lorries, which it said were allocated to international and local organisations to meet “urgent humanitarian needs”.
Five lorries entered Gaza on Monday with the first delivery of aid for the Palestinian territory's 2.3 million people since Israel imposed a blockade on March 2.
The first aid distributions in Gaza since early March came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a “temporary ceasefire”, but the military aimed to bring the entire territory under its control.
In Geneva, the Palestinian health minister said that 29 children had died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk.
"In the last couple of days we lost 29 children," Palestinian health minister, Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters, describing them as "starvation-related deaths".
Asked to react to earlier comments by the UN aid chief that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said that "The number 14,000 is very realistic, may be even underestimating" the scale.
He added it was necessary to “avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action” in Gaza.
Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies. Israel has meanwhile kept up its bombardment, with Gaza's Health Ministry reporting on Wednesday that the bodies of 82 people were taken to hospitals across the territory over the previous 24 hours.
Hundreds of lorries were entering Gaza each day during a ceasefire from January to March but the stockpile has run low and the blockade has resulted in shortages of food and medicine.
Mounting pressure
This month, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said Gaza's entire population was at risk of famine. Health authorities in the enclave have said dozens of people, many of them children, have died from hunger.
Far-right members of Israel's government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both settlers, are strongly opposed to the move, which they say would be a “gift to Hamas”.
A US-backed private group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which will use contractors, said that it will start moving aid into the territory in “coming days”. The UN and traditional agencies have said they will not co-operate with the foundation which some have accused of working with Israel.
The GHF has said it will distribute some 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operation.
Israel has faced mounting pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its expanded offensive and allow aid into Gaza. EU foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to review the bloc's co-operation accord, which includes trade, with Israel.
Sweden said it would press the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as “worrying and painful” and called for “the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid”.
Gaza's health ministry said at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall death toll to 53,655, mostly civilians.
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
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Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
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Shower or bath after being outside.
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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You Were Never Really Here
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Starring: Joaquim Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov
Four stars
Super 30
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Directed: Vikas Bahl
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Srivastav, Mrinal Thakur
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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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.”
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Four stars
It Was Just an Accident
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Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
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Rating: 3.5/5
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
