Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday fiercely defended disputed judicial reforms on a visit to Berlin, where German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged him to reconsider a compromise.
There have been weeks of protests about the package of reforms since they were introduced by Mr Netanyahu's hard-right coalition, prompting Israeli President Isaac Herzog to warn the nation may be on the brink of "civil war".
Mr Scholz admitted he was watching the debate unfold in Israel "with great concern".
"As Israel's friend, we hope that the last word has not been spoken" on Mr Herzog's proposals for compromise.
The President, whose role is largely ceremonial, on Wednesday presented his compromise plans.
They were swiftly rejected by Mr Netanyahu, who said they would "only perpetuate the existing situation and do not bring the required balance between the powers".
He was defiant in In Berlin, saying his plans merely sought to bring Israel "in line with what is common and acceptable in just about every western democracy".
Mr Netanyahu also criticised "slanders and falsifications" against his and his coalition's intentions.
"Israel is being constantly … maligned," he said alongside Mr Scholz. I'm supposed to be some … potentate who's abolishing democracy and all this nonsense. This is absurd, it's preposterous."
But after a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Mr Netanyahu took on a more conciliatory tone.
Referring to nationwide demonstrations that have persisted for 10 weeks, he told journalists he was "attentive to what's happening in the country".
The coalition has proposed a two-stage process to a key element in the reform — "an immediate fix and then balancing things out", Mr Netanyahu said.
But he said that Mr Herzog had "discarded" the offer.
Mr Netanyahu's coalition, which includes ultra-Orthodox and extreme-right parties, says the reforms are needed to limit judicial overreach, but protesters say they threaten Israel's liberal democracy by weakening key checks and balances.
With the strife far from easing, Mr Herzog warned late Wednesday: "Anyone who thinks that a genuine civil war, with human lives, is a line that we could never reach, has no idea what he is talking about.
"It is precisely now, in the state of Israel's 75th year of independence, that the abyss is within touching distance. Today, I say to you what I told them: civil war is a red line.
"I will not allow it to happen."
He said he was convinced that most Israelis wanted a compromise.
The changes proposed by the coalition would allow the Knesset to override Supreme Court decisions that kill off laws with a parliamentary majority, and then deny the court the right to review such a move.
It would also make it harder for the Supreme Court to strike down legislation it considers would contravene Basic Laws, Israel's quasi-constitution.
Israeli protesters returned to the streets on Thursday, with some holding up placards saying the reforms spelled "the end of democracy".
In Berlin, several hundred protesters also turned out at the Brandenburg Gate, a short distance from the chancellery where Mr Netanyahu and Mr Scholz met.
Among them was Israeli Oren Goldberg, 44, who had travelled from the Netherlands to Berlin to demonstrate.
"I'm here to give a big welcome to the want-to-be dictator in Israel, to show him we won't accept it," Mr Goldberg said.
The controversy in Israel puts Germany in an uncomfortable position.
The two nations forged strong diplomatic ties in the decades after the Second World War, with Berlin committed to the preservation of the Israeli state after the Holocaust.
Successive German governments have described Israel's national security as a crucial foreign policy priority.
But in carefully worded statements, German leaders have voiced their worries over the legislative overhaul.
On Wednesday, Mr Steinmeier said he planned to raise the issue with Mr Netanyahu.
"What I would like to see is that what we have admired about Israel … is preserved."
The German presidency did not release a statement after the meeting.
But a senior Israeli official said the discussion mainly focused on Russia, with Mr Steinmeier urging Mr Netanyahu to use his ties with Vladimir Putin to help end the war in Ukraine.
Netanyahu was sceptical, noting that interests trump personal ties, but stressed he would do anything he could to stop the carnage in Ukraine, the official added.
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More from Mohammed Alardhi
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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Company%20profile%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EElggo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20August%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Luma%20Makari%20and%20Mirna%20Mneimneh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Education%20technology%20%2F%20health%20technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESize%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Four%20employees%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
New Zealand 15
Tries: Laumape, J Barrett
Conversions: B Barrett
Penalties: B Barrett
British & Irish Lions 15
Penalties: Farrell (4), Daly
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
Series info
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
The specs
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Torque: 353Nm
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