A Lebanese official has denied reports in Israeli media claiming that Israel and the United States have agreed to end the mandate of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
“This is not serious. We have sources in Washington who completely denied it,” the official told The National.
A US State Department spokesman told The National in New York the reports were "not accurate".
The UN Security Council is expected to vote in August on a draft resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) – a 10,000-strong peacekeeping force posted in southern areas bordering Israel.
The Jerusalem Post, a conservative Israeli daily newspaper, reported on Sunday that the US administration has decided not to renew Unifil’s mandate, and that Israel “did not try to convince them otherwise”.
“I don’t know where these reports are coming from, but they won’t lead anywhere. The presence of Unifil is a necessity for everyone,” the Lebanese source added. The official said the renewal process had already begun at the request of Lebanese authorities and was expected to proceed smoothly.
The decision to extend Unifil's mandate, which is taken annually, is made by the UN Security Council rather than individual countries. The council consists of 15 members; five permanent – the US, UK, France, China and Russia – and 10 rotating.
Unifil peacekeepers were deployed in 1978 after Israel invaded south Lebanon, and the force is tasked with monitoring violations from both sides of the border. Its area of operations extends from the Blue Line – the UN-delineated border between Lebanon and Israel – to the Litani River, about 30km from the border.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the mandate was in the hands of the Security Council. But he praised the work that Unifil has done since the 1970s as "speaking for itself".
The force "has been a very crucial component to the safety and the stability of southern Lebanon", he said. "The unrest and activity across the blue line continues even now, so the situation has not returned to a position of stability."
Unifil's annual budget is around $500 million, which is provided by contributions from UN member states. Contributions to UN peacekeeping missions are based on a formula, which takes into account “relative economic wealth of member states, with the five permanent members of the Security Council required to pay a larger share because of their special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,” according to the UN.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly criticised Unifil in several instances, calling on the UN to withdraw its peacekeepers from Lebanon and accusing the mission of serving as human shields for Hezbollah during the recent conflict in Lebanon.
Unifil has reported numerous breaches of the US-brokered truce deal between Israel and Hezbollah that took effect in November, ending 14 months of conflict, including two months of intense Israeli bombardment.
These include nearly 2,200 Israeli airspace incursions, more than 40 air strikes, and close to 1,300 Israeli ground activities in southern Lebanon, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force told The National in April.
On the Lebanese side, Unifil has reported 19 missiles launched from Lebanon into Israel. The force has also found Hezbollah weapons caches and rocket launchers on an almost daily basis. Unifil reports violations of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 conflict, not the latest truce on which it is based.
The peacekeeping force holds regular meetings with the ceasefire monitoring committee established under the latest truce, which is led by the United States and includes France, the Israeli military and the Lebanese army. Despite this, Israel has continued to strike Lebanon, including the capital, Beirut, claiming that it is striking Hezbollah military sites that violate the agreement.
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
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UAE%20SQUAD
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Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
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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Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
Results
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