Hundreds of migrants have been allowed to land in Italy after days of waiting on board rescue ships in the latest sign of Europe’s efforts to stop the mass movement of people from North Africa.
Two vessels run by German and Italian charities arrived at ports on the Italian island of Sicily after repeated requests to dock to provide relief to about 800 people rescued in a series of operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
More than 1,100 people have died attempting to cross to Europe by boat since the start of 2021, more than double the number during same period last year. Migrant charities and the UN say the toll can be linked partly to the lack of search-and-rescue operations from EU states.
The latest rescues come with at least four charity-run boats patrolling the area, significantly higher than in previous months. Operations have been hit badly by the impounding of boats by Italian authorities for what they are say are technical and safety breaches.
Aid workers say the policy is politically motivated and designed to restrict their ability to operate and discourage migrants from travelling.
After five separate rescue of groups crammed into in dangerously overloaded boats, the German-operated ship Sea-Watch 3 arrived on Saturday at the Sicilian port of Trapani with 257 migrants on board, including 70 children. Officials from the charity said they had made more than seven requests for a port of safety.
The Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking, operated by a European network of campaigners, arrived on Sunday at the port of Pozzallo with more than 550 rescued people on board, including pregnant women and more than 100 children.
Sea-Watch 3 was not allowed to dock in Italy for more than a week and the humanitarian group said no state responded to its requests to help with boats in distress. Seven people had to be taken off the Sea-Watch 3 before it docked because of medical emergencies.
The Sea Watch organisation said turmoil in North Africa, including in Tunisia where president Kais Saied suspended Parliament, and good weather were encouraging more people to attempt the crossing.
“It’s lucky that we have so many [ships] at the moment,” spokeswoman Mattea Weihe said. The Sea Watch organisation has two vessels – one currently impounded – and two spotter aircraft.
“We have seen times where there have been no ships for two or three weeks. We had a weekend in May where the aircraft spotted 11 or 12 boats and there was no rescue ship out there,” she said.
“It’s a strategy by the European Union to allow the situation to remain so bad so it becomes a deterrent to other migrants. They willingly letting people drown or be in distress.”
The UN’s International Organisation for Migration has called on European states to increase search-and-rescue efforts.
About 900 people died trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean while 250 died trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from West Africa. It said that deaths were probably “far higher” with many shipwrecks going unspotted.
UN data showed more people were being intercepted or rescued by North African coastguard operations, including more than 15,000 who were returned to Libya.
“This is concerning given that migrants who are returned to Libya are subjected to arbitrary detention, extortion, disappearances and torture,” the UN said.
UN figures show the highest numbers of people who arrive by land and sea are from Bangladesh, followed by Tunisia and then Syria.
Nello Musumeci, the right-wing president of Sicily, called for the national government of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi to announce a state of emergency to deal with the issue, and push for Europe to accept more of the new arrivals.
He said the strong gesture would “send a clear message to those in Brussels who do anything to avoid clear responsibilities”.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
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OPENING FIXTURES
Saturday September 12
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Fulham v Arsenal
Liverpool v Leeds United
Tottenham v Everton
West Brom v Leicester
West Ham v Newcastle
Monday September 14
Brighton v Chelsea
Sheffield United v Wolves
To be rescheduled
Burnley v Manchester United
Manchester City v Aston Villa
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place playoff
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
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.”
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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