A security guard shot and killed two Jordanians at Israel’s embassy in Amman in a "confrontation", Israel's foreign ministry said.
Earlier reports said that one person had died and two — including one Israeli — were injured in Sunday's incident in a residential building used by embassy staff.
The ministry says two Jordanian workmen entered the building to replace furniture. One of the workers allegedly attacked an Israeli guard with a screwdriver.
Israeli media say the guard opened fire, killing a 17-year-old Jordanian. The reports also say that a Jordanian man, owner of the apartment, was hit by gunfire inadvertently and later died.
The media reports say Jordan demands to conduct an investigation, and that embassy staff remain inside the embassy.
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The Israeli statement said that according to international conventions, the guard has legal immunity.
"The first Jordanian, 17-year-old Mohammed Jawawdeh, succumbed to his injuries at the scene. The second, Bashar Hamarneh, a doctor who was in the residential quarter of the embassy at the time of the incident … died of his injuries after midnight in hospital," a security source said.
The injured Israeli is "deputy director of security at the Israeli embassy and is still receiving treatment in hospital", the source added.
Police said in a statement they were "informed late evening [on Sunday] of a shooting at a residential building inside the compound of the Israeli embassy".
Police deployed to the scene and surrounded the area, the statement said, adding that the two Jordanians had gone into the building to carry out "carpentry work".
An investigation into the shooting was still underway, the police said.
Israel and Jordan are bound by a 1994 peace treaty, but tensions have been high in recent days after Israel put in place security measures at a highly sensitive holy site in annexed east Jerusalem.
On Friday, thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of Amman after the weekly prayer to denounce the Israeli measures at the Haram Al Sharif mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount.
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Jordan is the official custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
A crowd estimated at more than 8,000 turned out for a demonstration called by Islamist movements and leftist parties.
Israel shut off the mosque compound on July 14 after Arab Israelis attacked and killed two police officers nearby.
Violence flared between Israeli security forces and Palestinians who are demanding that Israel remove metal detectors installed outside the site after the attack.
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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.”
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