Jordan’s security forces shot and killed a gunman in the capital Amman in an exchange of fire on Sunday morning near the Israeli embassy in the Rabieh neighbourhood, witnesses said, amid rising domestic pressure on the authorities related to the Gaza war.
Government spokesman Mohammad Al Momani said a man with a criminal record used an automatic weapon to commit "terrorist aggression" against "men of General Security".
"The stability of Jordan and its security is a red line," said Mr Al Momani, who has the rank of minister. He said the three wounded security personnel were receiving treatment in hospital.
One witness, who helped the police track the gunman and did not want to be named, said the attacker drove into Rabieh, western Amman, with a car bearing the logo of a food delivery company. The gunman started hooting at one of many security patrols in the area and he was seen with an AK-47 automatic rifle, they said. Reinforcements were called in he was killed two hours later.
"Security men ran after him in one street and gunned him down," the witness told The National, adding that an ambulance took the body to the city's Al Bashir Hospital.
Another witness, who is a teacher living adjacent to the embassy, said she and her family were woken at 2.30am by the sound of the gunfire.
"We went to balcony to see what was going on and the police shouted at us to go inside," she said. Security forces searched the neighbourhood before sound of gunfire echoed in the area again, she added.
"They brought in armoured vehicles and officers into the buildings to see security camera footage," she said.
The police earlier said the man, who has not been identified, "started firing gunshots at the security force, which in turn applied the rules of engagement, which resulted in the killing of the perpetrator”.
Security forces have had to fire tear gas to disperse anti-Israel protests in Rabieh after some demonstrators tried to break through the security cordons around the Israeli embassy. Authorities have limited the scope of protests in the area and prevented any prolonged sit-ins. Demonstrations are also banned in areas near western interests and along the border with Israel.
King Abdullah II and his government have strongly criticised Israel's war conduct in Gaza and repeatedly called for a ceasefire but more than a year of war in the Palestinian enclave has led to frustration with the official policy of honouring Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel, which obliges the two sides to prevent threats to each other's security. The kingdom also has a defence pact with the US, Israel's main ally, on which it depends for financial and military assistance.
Officials say no one has supported the Palestinian cause more than Jordan, highlighting the kingdom's role in preserving Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, through a custodianship that traces its roots to the king's great grandfather.
At least one senior official of Hamas, the Iran-backed militant group now fighting for survival in Gaza, has called on Jordanian tribes to attack Israel. Infiltration attempts into Israel from Jordan have increased this year, although most have failed. Last month, Israeli forces shot dead two members of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood who tried to mount a cross-border raid near the Dead Sea.
Descendants of Palestinian refugees comprise a large proportion of Jordan's 11 million population, made up mainly of the tribes that lived there before it was established as the British Protectorate of Transjordan in 1921. Pro-Palestinian sentiment runs high among the two components of the population.
There has been uninterrupted stability since the ousting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation from Jordan in a civil war in 1970.
A military official said in a statement on Thursday that troops stationed on Jordan's northern border foiled two infiltration attempts in the past 24 hours, killing one infiltrator and arresting six others. The official did not give details of their identity or the specific locations of the incidents.
The kingdom's northern border with Syria is a main passageway for the smuggling of drugs and weapons sourced from Syria and Lebanon, and trafficked to Jordan and other Arab states. Jordanian security forces often clash with smugglers in the area.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
Specs
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Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
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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.”
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Rajasthan Royals 153-5 (17.5 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 60-4 (6 ov)
Rajasthan won by 10 runs (D/L method)
UAE FIXTURES
October 18 – 7.30pm, UAE v Oman, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 19 – 7.30pm, UAE v Ireland, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 21 – 2.10pm, UAE v Hong Kong, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 22 – 2.10pm, UAE v Jersey, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 24 – 10am, UAE v Nigeria, Abu Dhabi Cricket Oval 1
October 27 – 7.30pm, UAE v Canada, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 29 – 2.10pm, Playoff 1 – A2 v B3; 7.30pm, Playoff 2 – A3 v B2, at Dubai International Stadium.
October 30 – 2.10pm, Playoff 3 – A4 v Loser of Play-off 1; 7.30pm, Playoff 4 – B4 v Loser of Play-off 2 at Dubai International Stadium
November 1 – 2.10pm, Semifinal 1 – B1 v Winner of Play-off 1; 7.30pm, Semifinal 2 – A1 v Winner of Play-off 2 at Dubai International Stadium
November 2 – 2.10pm, Third place Playoff – B1 v Winner of Play-off 1; 7.30pm, Final, at Dubai International Stadium
