Mauritania's ousted president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, had a series of talks with a high ranking French delegation in his hometown, where he was put under house arrest by the military junta, reported the Arabic daily Alsharq Alawsat.
According to members of Mr Abdallahi's family, the delegation arrived on Saturday in the village of Lemden, about 250 kilometres east of the capital.
The delegation, which includes two senior advisers of the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French intelligence director and other dignitaries, will also meet the former Mauritanian president, Ali Ould Mohammed Val, in Nouakchott.
The visit is part of European efforts to find a settlement to the political stalemate that followed the August 6 military coup, by seeking a consensual solution based on concessions made by all parties.
A senior Israeli defence official said on Saturday that his country was rapidly getting closer to launching a large scale military operation against armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, reported the Jordanian daily al Rai.
The Israeli Deputy Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai, warned that this operation "will be different from what took place in the past".
He considered that the truce was important to both parties, but added that the Palestinians were more afraid than ever before of Israel's military power, as the Jewish state had total control over the border crossings.
"We must find the right time for an operation. Their provocations are not leaving us with much choice," he said.
In the meantime, noted the Jordanian daily, the Israeli government was expected to give its approval on Sunday for the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners before Eid, as a sign of good intention towards the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas
A spokesman for the hijackers of a Saudi supertanker reiterated on Saturday the group's demand for a $25 million ransom, less than 24 hours before the ultimatum they had set expired, reported the Qatari daily al Raya.
In a phone call, the pirates' spokesman, Mohammed Said, indicated that "negotiations were continuing" and did not discard the possibility of an extension of the November 30 deadline.
"Although the deadline for the payment of the $25 million ransom is close to expiry, we still hope for a positive response," he said.
"The tactical movement [of the ship] will continue, but it is not aimed in any case at harming the crew of the tanker," he added.
The Somali pirates hijacked the Saudi supertanker, the Sirius Star, on November 15 with 25 crew members on board and 300,000 tonnes of crude and had given the owners of the oil carrier up to Sunday to pay the ransom, noted the paper.
Failure to pay the ransom could lead them to undertake acts with "extremely bad consequences", they have warned.
Hundreds of people were killed during violent clashes between Muslims and Christians that shook the central town of Jos in Nigeria during the last 48 hours, reported Sunday the Kuwaiti Arabic daily al Watan.
"Around 400 bodies were brought to the mosque after Saturday's violence. Families come here to identify the bodies and recover them," said the Imam of Jos's central mosque. A local correspondent for an international radio station also said that he counted 381 corpses.
The clashes between rival Muslim and Christian factions broke out on Friday, on the back of a disputed local election that took place on Thursday.
According to the Kuwaiti daily, the governor of Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital, imposed a 24 hour curfew and said in a statement that troops had orders to shoot on sight to enforce the curfew in neighbourhoods hit by the violence.
* Digest compiled by Mohamed Naji mnaji@thenational.ae
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The%20specs
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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.”