US president Donald Trump has rolled out fresh sanctions against North Korea-linked shipping assets, hailing the package as the toughest measures levied on Pyongyang.
Mr Trump used a speech to conservatives just outside Washington to step up his campaign of "maximum pressure" designed to force North Korea to roll back its weapons programmes.
"We imposed today the heaviest sanctions ever imposed on a country before," he said at the end of a lengthy campaign-style address on Friday.
In light of past US embargoes, that is likely an overstatement, but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed the sanctions covered virtually all ships that North Korea is "using at this moment in time".
Speaking to reporters in Pyeongchang on Saturday on a visit to the Winter Olympics, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: "Hopefully we'll see a change on the part of the North Koreans to start to denuclearise the peninsula, that's what our focus is."
She added: "I can tell you the president won't make the mistakes the previous administration has and be soft or weak."
Mr Trump's administration is locked in a nuclear standoff with North Korea, which is trying to develop missiles that could deliver an atomic weapon to major US cities.
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The latest sanctions are designed to put the squeeze on the communist state's already precarious economy and fuel supply.
In his speech, the US president had been expected to provide details of measures that target "56 vessels, shipping companies, and trade businesses," but skipped that part of his prepared remarks.
"Frankly hopefully something positive can happen," he said instead.
During a joint press conference with Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Trump said sanctions were only the first step.
"If the sanctions don't work, we'll have to go to phase two. Phase two may be a very rough thing," he said, without elaborating.
Mr Mnuchin said there were signs the punitive measures were starting to have an impact, but did not elaborate.
The North Korean military and broader economy depend heavily on imports of coal and oil from China and Russia.
China, Pyongyang's only major ally, has steadfastly rebuffed Washington's calls for a full oil embargo — fearing the chaotic collapse of the Pyongyang regime — but has accepted caps agreed at the United Nations.
The timing of the new US measures coincides with the arrival in South Korea of Mr Trump's daughter, Ivanka.
She is attending the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, which have taken place against the backdrop of the crisis.
The 36-year-old businesswoman, now an aide to her father, has been tasked with reaffirming US ties with South Korea, which have been strained over how to deal with the North.
She was hosted in Seoul by president Moon Jae-in, who has long advocated talks rather than confrontation with North Korea.
"Mrs Trump delivered a personal message to president Moon from president Trump about today's North Korea related sanctions announcement at a small meeting at the Blue House," the White House said.
"They also discussed the continued effort on the joint maximum pressure campaign against North Korea."
South Korean officials, who sit in a capital well within range of conventional North Korea artillery, have been spooked by Mr Trump's talk of military confrontation.
US officials worry meanwhile that North Korea is luring president Moon into talks that are designed to go nowhere.
North Korea's delegation at the closing ceremony will be headed by top general Kim Yong Chol, who is widely blamed for a series of attacks against the South including the 2010 sinking of a warship, with the loss of 46 lives.
The White House spokeswoman said Ivanka Trump would probably sit apart from the North Korean delegation at Sunday's closing ceremony.
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ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
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Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
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The Comeback: Elvis And The Story Of The 68 Special
Simon Goddard
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Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
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Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
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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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JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
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T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
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Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
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Ben Taub of The New Yorker
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Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
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Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
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Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
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Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
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Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
