Armed men boarded a Bangladeshi ship nearly 1,000km off the coast of Somalia, security agencies reported on Tuesday.
The bulk commodity carrier Abdullah was carrying cargo to the UAE from Mozambique. About 20 armed men boarded the ship from two boats, security company Ambrey Analytics said.
Bangladeshi broadcaster Somoy TV posted an image that appeared to show a small boat approaching the larger vessel.
The ship’s owner, SR Shipping Ltd., said it was carrying coal. Ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg shows the Abdullah slowed to a standstill in the Indian Ocean before turning round. It is now heading in the direction of the Somalian coast.
“We’re waiting for communications with the pirates. The ship is being controlled by the pirates near the Somali coast,” Mehrul Karim, chief executive of SR Shipping, said in a phone interview. “All the sailors are alive and in good health.”
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency also flagged the boarding incident and advised vessels to transit with caution. UKMTO did not specify that it was Somalian pirates who boarded the ship.
The attack is the most recent sign that Somalian pirates are active again in the Indian Ocean.
Global shipping routes have been disrupted by tensions in the Red Sea, where Yemen's Houthi rebels have vowed to continue attacks on commercial ships that they say are in retaliation for Israel's war in Gaza.
Major shipping companies have been forced to send cargo vessels on a much longer route round southern Africa, driving up the costs of global shipping.
Somalian pirates now appear to be seeking to capitalise on this disruption, with a rise in attacks reported since late 2023.
At the end of last year, the first hijacking in the waters off Somalia took place since 2017.
Indian navy commandos boarded the Liberia-flagged ship MV Lila Norfolk in early January after it had been ambushed by pirates off the coast of Somalia. All 21 of the crew, including 15 Indian citizens, were rescued.
In December, pirates seized the Malta-flagged MV Ruen and its 18 crew.
Naval forces operating in the area have published warnings that two piracy groups have been working in the Indian Ocean.
- With reporting from agencies
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How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma
Four stars
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
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Red flags
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- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The specs
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The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
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What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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