Two migrant rescue charities say Italy's policy of forcing them to use a longer route to reach people in distress is lethal.
The announcement comes after more than 60 people drowned off the coast of Libya on December 14 when rescuers were unable to reach them in time.
Alarmphone and Sea-Watch International both criticised Italy for assigning them the use of the Tuscan port of Marina di Carrara, which they say is 1,150km from the area where many migrant disasters are occurring.
"Italy has assigned us Marina di Carrara as a port of safety," Sea-Watch International said.
"It’s 1,150km away. The aim of these distant ports is to keep rescue ships away from the area of operation so we can’t rescue any more people in distress."
This week the charity made the voyage to rescue 119 migrants from Libya, including a three-year-old boy, in two separate missions.
"We were able to rescue 119 people in two rescue operations," it wrote on social media platform X.
"Our aircraft, Seabird, was also supporting from the air and is operational again today, searching for boats in distress."
Rescue charity Alarmphone has also hit out at Italy's policy.
"The Italian policy of forcing rescuers to disembark in faraway harbours, while knowing that people continue to escape from Libya, has knowingly widened the rescue gap at sea and proven, once more, lethal," it said in a statement.
"We are devastated that once again the European and Libyan authorities have failed to rescue people in distress, and that once again the EU border regime has killed. We denounce the continuous border violence, the continuous dying at Europe’s maritime and other borders."
More than 153,000 migrants arrived in Italy this year from Tunisia and Libya, according to the UN refugee agency.
Italy's far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni won elections last year after vowing to stop illegal migration.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says it is witnessing "appalling levels of human suffering" and has called on the EU to change its policies.
"MSF has been running search-and-rescue activities since 2015 as a direct response to European Union policies of disengagement and non-assistance along this stretch of the sea," it said.
"Working on eight different search-and-rescue vessels, independently or in partnership with other non-governmental organisations, our teams have provided lifesaving assistance to more than 90,000 people.
"While MSF continues to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the Central Mediterranean by providing assistance including emergency medical care, we call upon the EU and its member states to immediately change course and to prioritise the safety of those seeking sanctuary at European shores."
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.”
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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