BENGHAZI // Libyan rebels regained control of an oil facility at Marsa El Brega after they clashed with and drove away forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi, after fierce fighting that left two people dead.
Qaddafi loyalist forces armed with tanks and heavy artillery retook control of a key oil installation and port on the coast of the rebel-held eastern half of Libya today and warplanes bombed an ammunition depot on the outskirts of a nearby town also controlled by the opposition, witnesses said.
However, the Qaddafi forces were driven back by rebels who have controlled the town 800 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli for about a week, rebel officers said.
A resident of Brega, which is 200km southwest of the main eastern city and revolutionary cradle of Benghazi, also confirmed that the coastal town remained in opposition hands.
"The town is under the control of rebel forces, there are only some pro-Qaddafi forces surrounding Brega university," the resident said by telephone.
A member of the rebel forces and an oil company engineer who arrived in Ajdabiya from Brega told AFP that two people had been killed in the fighting. Brega itself was impossible to reach today.
Oil company official Ahmed Ali said the sound of gunfire had woken him early today at his firm's compound.
"I saw mercenaries from Chad who had taken up position at the company gates. I left in a car with a colleague. They stopped the car to search us for weapons before letting us go," Mr Ali said.
Another refugee from Brega, who gave his name as Mustafa, said Colonel Qaddafi's forces lay in wait overnight about 30 kilometres from the town.
"At dawn they returned and took control of the refinery. The rebel forces then arrived and made them retreat," he said.
Mehdi Suleiman Hussein, a fighter from Ajdabiya, told AFP that "Qaddafi's forces arrived in Brega and fought, but now they are pulling back," adding however that some "mercenaries" were still battling the rebels.
The rebels said they would probably seek foreign military help, a sensitive topic for Western countries uncomfortably aware that Iraq suffered years of bloodletting and al Qa'eda violence after a US-led invasion in 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein.
"We are probably going to call for foreign help, probably air strikes at strategic locations that will put the nail in his (Qaddafi's) coffin," Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the rebel February 17th Coalition, told Reuters.
"They tried to take Brega this morning, but they failed. It is back in the hands of the revolutionaries. He (Qaddafi) is trying to create all kinds of psychological warfare to keep these cities on edge," he said.
Their account was contradicted by Libyan state TV, which said Colonel Qaddafi's forces held the airport and seaport.
Colonel Qaddafi's forces are escalating a counteroffensive after government opponents over the past two weeks seized control of the eastern half of the country and several cities and towns in the western half near the regime stronghold in the capital Tripoli.
On Tuesday, loyalists pushed back rebels from towns near Tripoli, where Colonel Qaddafi appears to be in full control. They also kept up military operations for a second straight day to try to wrest back Zawiya, the city closest to the capital which is in the hands of government opponents. But rebels, backed by mutinous army forces and their weapons, have managed to repel those attacks and held on to Zawiya so far.
Also today, warplanes bombed an ammunition depot on the outskirts of the rebel-held eastern city of Ajdabiya, about 40 miles north-east of Brega and 140 kilometres south of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast.
Libyan forces have launched repeated air strikes during the two-week revolt but all of them have been reported to target facilities that store weapons in areas controlled by the rebellion. However, some air force pilots have said they bailed out because they were ordered to bomb civilians. Colonel Qaddafi's son, Saif al Islam, has repeatedly said air strikes have not been used against civilians though he has acknowledged bombing weapons depots.
Witnesses said they saw two warplanes bomb the eastern outskirts of Ajdabiya at 10am local time. They also said pro-Qaddafi forces were advancing on the city of about 150,000 people, some 750 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli.
One witness said airstrikes by Colonel Qaddafi's planes had apparently targeted a weapons dump that was also hit two days ago. But residents said it had hit a former army base near the town.
There were no casualties, they said. "There has been an air strike three kilometres past Ajdabiya towards Brega. It was the military base of El Haniya. It was not successful. They (pro-Qaddafi forces) hit outside the military base," he said.
"Nobody was injured because it hit in no man's land."
Another witness said rebel forces were rushing to the western side of Ajdabiya to meet the advancing pro-Qaddafi force.
"We are ready to repel their attack," the witness said.
Colonel Qaddafi's regime retook at least two towns in the western half of the country near Tripoli in the past few days and threatened a third in recent days, while rebels repulsed attacks on three other key areas, the city of Misrata east of Tripoli, the city of Zawiya west of the capital, and the mountain town of Zintan south of the capital.
One of those retaken by the pro-Qaddafi forces was the strategic mountain town of Gharyan, the largest in the Nafusa Mountains, which overlooks Tripoli, a resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government retaliation.
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Short-term let permits explained
Homeowners and tenants are allowed to list their properties for rental by registering through the Dubai Tourism website to obtain a permit.
Tenants also require a letter of no objection from their landlord before being allowed to list the property.
There is a cost of Dh1,590 before starting the process, with an additional licence fee of Dh300 per bedroom being rented in your home for the duration of the rental, which ranges from three months to a year.
Anyone hoping to list a property for rental must also provide a copy of their title deeds and Ejari, as well as their Emirates ID.
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
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There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
What is double taxation?
- Americans living abroad file taxes with the Internal Revenue Service, which can cost hundreds of dollars to complete even though about 60 per cent do not owe taxes, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service
- Those obligations apply to millions of Americans residing overseas – estimates range from 3.9 million to 5.5 million – including so-called "accidental Americans" who are unaware they hold dual citizenship
- The double taxation policy has been a contentious issue for decades, with many overseas Americans feeling that it punishes them for pursuing opportunities abroad
- Unlike most countries, the US follows a citizenship-based taxation system, meaning that Americans must file taxes annually, even if they do not earn any income in the US.
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)
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.”