Follow the latest on the earthquake in Turkey
The EU on Monday sent 17 rescue teams to Turkey after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Turkey and north-western Syria overnight, killing at least 1,300 people.
Teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania are on their way to support first responders, said European Commissioner for crisis management Janesz Lenarcic in a joint statement with the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Some countries such as France have sent two rescue teams, and five — Italy, Hungary, Spain, Malta and Slovakia — are waiting for a response to their offers of help, said a European Commission representative.
A second earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck south-eastern Turkey's Kahramanmaras region on Monday, the country's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said.
The EU's Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services.
The commission's humanitarian aid and crisis management spokesman Balazs Iravju said that unlike Turkey, Syrian government authorities had not asked the EU to activate its civil protection mechanism.
Aside from governments, only the UN, ICRC and IRC can ask for assistance via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
So far, the EU has not received a request to activate this mechanism on Syria's behalf.
This means that the EU cannot send rescue teams to Syria.
“Should we have signal from the side of the Syrian authorities that they need help via the civil protection mechanism from the EU then we would immediately examine this request,” said Mr Iravju, responding to a question from The National during a briefing.
UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Aziz Haq said that "technically, it is for the Syrian Government to make that request, not the UN."
"On our side, the earthquake is expected to disrupt aid operations in north-west Syria, given the impact on roads, the supply chain and logistics facilities," said Mr Aziz Haq in an email.
The National has also reached out to the ICRC and IRC for comment.
The White Helmets, a civil defense group that operates in north-west Syria, said that they were in the process of coordinating with countries that offered to help, but did not name them.
The EU will support those affected by the earthquake in Syria through its humanitarian assistance programmes, said Mr Iravju.
“We have been in touch with our partner organisation on the ground and from our conversations with them, it has transpired that they will channel some of the existing humanitarian assistance to the areas affected by the earthquake in Syria,” he said.
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism was established in 2001 and includes EU countries and 8 additional states, including Turkey, Serbia and Norway.
Tobias Tunkel, Middle East and North Africa director at Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Germany would support the organisation.
Ismail Al Abdullah from the White Helmets spoke to the BBC from Sarmada in Syria, near the border with Turkey, to appeal for support.
“Many buildings in different cities and villages in north-western Syria collapsed, destroyed by this earthquake,” he said. “Our teams responded to all the sites and the buildings — and still now, many families are under the rubble. We are trying to save them but it's a very hard task for us.
“We need help. We need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. North-western Syria is now a disaster area. We need help from everyone to save our people.”
The ruins of collapsed buildings and puddles of water were visible in the background during the broadcast. There have been reports of heavy rain and snow across the region in the past days.
“Many buildings in different cities and villages in north-west Syria collapsed, destroyed by this earthquake. Our teams responded to all the sites and buildings, and until now many families are under the rubble,” said an unidentified man in a video published by the White Helmets’ Twitter account.
“We need help, we need the international community to do something, to help us to support us. North-west Syria is now a disaster area, we need help from everyone to save our people,” he said.
London said that 76 UK search and rescue specialists, four search dogs and rescue equipment were leaving for Turkey on Monday. A statement added the UK was in contact with the UN on emergency humanitarian support to those affected in Syria.
Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Twitter that his country would send 76 firemen and eight rescue dogs to Turkey.
Jessika Roswall, Minister for European Affairs of Sweden, expressed her condolences to Turkey and Syria as she arrived for a meeting in Brussels. Sweden currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
“My thoughts go to the families and the victims,” said Ms Roswall.
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Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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.”
