Piracy costs the shipping industry about US$18 billion a year, according to a report by the World Bank.
It was the seizing of a Greek ship called Irene in 2009, off the coast of Somalia, that alerted the world to the escalating piracy problem in east Africa. The ship was carrying 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti oil bound for the United States - equivalent to a fifth of the country's daily oil imports - and was attacked off the coast of Somalia, astonishing the shipping industry.
Today, the UAE is at the forefront of tackling the scourge of piracy in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.
The Emirates' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dubai's global ports operator DP World and the Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) on Wednesday announced they would co-convene the third international counter-piracy conference in Dubai on September 11 and 12.
At this year's conference Captain Juwaid Saleem, a former captive of pirates in Somalia, and his family will relate their experiences.
Capt Saleem and his Pakistani crew were aboard their ship Albedo when they were hijacked by Somali pirates as they sailed towards Kenya in November 2010.
"The pirate boat came somewhere around this area … they had their own ladder, a steel kind of ladder," Capt Saleem told Voice of America, the US state broadcaster.
Overpowered by armed pirates, Capt Saleem surrendered.
He and his crew spent the next 20 months living in difficult, exposed conditions as hostages in Somalia.
"We were in the bushes and we were exposed to bare nature, there was no shelter, no shade provided, no canopy provided, all our skin was scorched," said Capt Saleem.
After a year and eight months, he and six of his Pakistani crew members were freed after a group of Pakistani doctors raised a $1 million ransom.
"That was the happiest moment of my life, for my family, to see them, and they were too glad to see me," he said.
The remaining 15 crew members are still missing in Somalia.
Ransom payments, which averaged $150,000 a year in 2005, had jumped to $5.4 million a year by 2010, according to Oceans Beyond Piracy, a project of the One Earth Future Foundation, a privately funded and independent non-profit US organisation.
According to Lloyd's of London since 2007, almost 4,000 seafarers have been held hostage. Each year, about 20,000 different ships transit the Gulf of Aden placing 300,000 seafarers at risk of pirate attack.
A third of the world's oil passes through the area that the Combined Task Force (CTF) has responsibility for, covering more than 6 million square kilometres, including the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the northern Indian Ocean.
The CTF is comprised of warships from numerous coalition nations. Contributors have included Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, the UAE, UK, and US. The joint hosting of the conference in Dubai will highlight the importance of public and private sector coordination in the fight against maritime piracy both on and offshore.
Countering piracy requires effective security initiatives, including co-ordination between international navies and merchant vessels and longer-term initiatives that support the development of local economies.
"While the international community has made great strides in fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia, the UAE believes that maritime piracy, notably in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean, remains a serious global concern," said the Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed.
Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, the chairman of ADPC, said although incidents of piracy had fallen, it was still a serious problem.
"Counter piracy remains a top priority for the emirate as maritime security is an important factor in the economic growth of the GCC region.
"While much has been achieved through the last two conferences and the number of incidents has dropped - the pirate groups still exist, the threat is still present and the devastating human consequences of pirate attack or armed robbery at sea still remains," he said.
That human devastation was brought home in the US this month with the jailing for life without parole of three Somali men.
In 2011 the three men and 18 others attacked and seized the 17.5 metre sloop Quest off the coast of south-east Africa, before killing the four retired Americans - two men and their wives - they found on board.
The trio were found guilty after a trial for piracy in Norfolk, Virginia, the home of a US Navy base.
Although Somali piracy has fallen to its lowest levels since 2006, violent piracy and armed robbery off the coast of west Africa is a growing concern.
Worldwide, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) piracy reporting centre recorded 138 piracy incidents in the first six months of this year, compared with 177 incidents for the same period last year.
Seven hijackings have been recorded this year, compared with 20 in the first half of last year. The number of sailors taken hostage also fell dramatically; down to 127 this year from 334 in the first six months of last year.
"The main reason for the decline has been the security provided by the naval fleets, but also owners have been more alert and have followed best management practices. Many now use armed security guards," says Neil Roberts, a senior executive at the Lloyd's Market Association, which represents underwriters.
"The pirates have also lost two to three ports in Somalia and the Kenyan army has pressured southern Somalia," he adds. But while the picture looks better in Somalia, in the Gulf of Guinea the IMB reports an increase in armed attacks and robbery.
This is a new cause for concern in a region where there has long been a threat of piracy, as well as attacks against vessels in the oil industry and theft of gas oil from tankers.
"There has been a worrying trend in the kidnapping of crew from vessels well outside the territorial limits of coastal states in the Gulf of Guinea," says Pottengal Mukundan, the director of the IMB.
The IMB says incidents are happening much further from the shore than has been typical, too, as much as 1,450km off the Nigerian coastline in one case.
Armed pirates in the Gulf of Guinea took 56 sailors hostage and were responsible for all 30 crew kidnappings reported so far this year. One person was reported killed and at least another five injured. Attacks off Nigeria accounted for 22 of the region's 31 incidents and 28 of the crew kidnappings.
West African pirates tend to be land-based criminals, mostly from Nigeria, who look to steal the cargo and any valuables they can find in a quick grab-and-dash operation, often staying on board for less than a week.
"In Nigeria, money moves quite quickly unlike in Somalia. In Somalia, it would take months. In Nigeria, the pirates take our [oil] cargo and the money of the [shipping] company. It would take only weeks, it is quite fast," a seafarer is quoted as saying in a report titled the Human cost of Piracy 2012 - published in June by a trio of organisations that work in this field, including IMB and Oceans Beyond Piracy.
In June, the heads of the west and central African countries signed a new code of conduct designed to stamp out piracy and armed robbery of ships in the region.
"This should be translated soon into action on the water," Mr Mukundan says.
"If these attacks are left unchecked, they will become more frequent, bolder and more violent."
business@thenational.ae
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Asia Cup Qualifier
Final
UAE v Hong Kong
TV:
Live on OSN Cricket HD. Coverage starts at 5.30am
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
FINAL RESULT
Sharjah Wanderers 20 Dubai Tigers 25 (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries: Gormley, Penalty
cons: Flaherty
Pens: Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries: O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons: Caldwell 2
Pens: Caldwell, Cross
Mumbai Indians 213/6 (20 ov)
Royal Challengers Bangalore 167/8 (20 ov)
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Britain's travel restrictions
- A negative test 2 days before flying
- Complete passenger locator form
- Book a post-arrival PCR test
- Double-vaccinated must self-isolate
- 11 countries on red list quarantine
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Mohammed Al Attas
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENomad%20Homes%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHelen%20Chen%2C%20Damien%20Drap%2C%20and%20Dan%20Piehler%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20and%20Europe%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20PropTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2444m%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Acrew%20Capital%2C%2001%20Advisors%2C%20HighSage%20Ventures%2C%20Abstract%20Ventures%2C%20Partech%2C%20Precursor%20Ventures%2C%20Potluck%20Ventures%2C%20Knollwood%20and%20several%20undisclosed%20hedge%20funds%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
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.”
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Twin%20electric%20motors%20and%20105kWh%20battery%20pack%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E619hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2C015Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUp%20to%20561km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQ3%20or%20Q4%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh635%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
If you go...
Etihad flies daily from Abu Dhabi to Zurich, with fares starting from Dh2,807 return. Frequent high speed trains between Zurich and Vienna make stops at St. Anton.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
