World

Egypt arrests four Al Jazeera journalists

The journalists ‘broadcast live news harming domestic security,’ the interior ministry says, adding they were also found in possession of Muslim Brotherhood ‘publications’.

CAIRO // Egyptian secret police have arrested an award-winning Australian journalist and an Egyptian reporter for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel on suspicion of illegally broadcasting news harming “domestic security”, the interior ministry said.

Al Jazeera confirmed the arrests in a statement and said police also detained a producer and a cameraman.

Officers of the National Security service raided their makeshift bureau at a Cairo hotel on Sunday, arresting two of the journalists and confiscating their equipment, the ministry said.

It did not identify the journalists, only mentioning that one was a “Muslim Brotherhood member” and the other an Australian.

Al Jazeera English identified them as the Cairo bureau chief, Mohammed Adel Fahmy, and the Australian reporter, Peter Greste.

It said a producer, Baher Mohammed, and a cameraman, Mohammed Fawzi, were also arrested on Sunday evening.

The raid came after authorities listed the Muslim Brotherhood movement of the removed president, Mohammed Morsi, as a “terrorist organisation”, making membership in the group or even possession of its literature a crime.

The journalists “broadcast live news harming domestic security,” the interior ministry said, adding they were also found in possession of Muslim Brotherhood “publications”.

Mr Greste, a former BBC journalist, won the prestigious Peabody award in 2011 for a documentary on Somalia. Mr Fahmy, who formerly worked with CNN, is a well-known journalist in Cairo with no known links to the Brotherhood.

Egypt’s military-installed government cracked down on Al Jazeera’s affiliates following the overthrow of Mr Morsi in July, accusing the broadcaster of pro-Brotherhood coverage.

Several Al-Jazeera reporters remain in detention, including Abdullah Elshamy, a journalist for the Arab language station arrested on August 14 when police dispersed an Islamist protest camp in Cairo, killing hundreds in clashes.

The government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation last week after a suicide car bombing of a police headquarters killed 15 people.

* Agence France-Presse

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Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free

Fixtures - Open Men 2pm: India v New Zealand, Malaysia v UAE, Singapore v South Africa, Sri Lanka v England; 8pm: Australia v Singapore, India v Sri Lanka, England v Malaysia, New Zealand v South Africa

Fixtures - Open Women Noon: New Zealand v England, UAE v Australia; 6pm: England v South Africa, New Zealand v Australia

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Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111

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Emirates airline – 600555555

Etihad Airways – 600555666

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Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries

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Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
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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.”