A female Yemeni political activist has never before won the Nobel Peace Prize. So now that the highly-regarded honour has indeed been granted to a Yemeni woman - shared with two female Liberian reformers - the strong role that Arab women have played in the Arab Spring needs no further substantiation, the pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi said editorially on the weekend.
Tawwakol Karman, 32, mother of three, has been a model of peaceful political activism in her country.
And she was right when she said her award was a triumph for all Yemen's women and youth who have sat in the nation's main city squares for months calling for democratic reform.
"The Yemeni people have reason to double-celebrate this historic precedent: first because it amounts to international recognition of the legitimacy of their revolution … and second because it has put their country on the media map - and by extension on the political scene - after decades of absence and isolation."
For the past several years, Yemen was more associated with violence, terrorism, insecurity, abductions and internal strife than with such an honourable, civilised cause as peace.
"Now that a Yemeni woman has won the most celebrated prize in the world, this perception is bound to change," the newspaper noted.
Syria and Iran send a message to the region
The Iranian news agency Fars reported last week that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad had warned Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu that Syria is capable of setting the Middle East on fire in a matter of six hours.
Despite Syria's denial of the Fars report, the "joint Syrian-Iranian message" between the lines must have reached its intended regional and western recipients, commented Tariq Al Homayed, the editor of the London-based newspaper Asharq Al Awsat.
"The goal of this message is to warn everyone against getting involved in the overthrow of Al Assad's regime," the editor suggested.
"Note that the news was not reported by a western or an Arab news organisation, even though the main quoted source was 'a senior Arab official'."
According to the Fars report, as quoted by Asharq Al Awsat's editor, President Al Assad told the Turkish foreign minister that "it wouldn't take me more than six hours to get hundreds of missiles moving to the Golan Heights and fired at Tel Aviv. At the same time, we will ask Hizbollah in Lebanon to open fire …
"That's just in the first three hours. In the remaining three hours, Iran will start hitting US aircraft carriers docked in the Gulf, while Khaleeji Shiites will move to strike major western targets."
For Bahrain, there's no option but dialogue
"The rulings handed down last week by a Bahraini martial court against a group of doctors and medics were too severe and unpalatable, and they caused Bahrain unnecessary embarrassment," columnist Saad Al Ajami wrote in the Emirati newspaper Al Ittihad yesterday.
This view was shared by a large number of observers, and by the country's top leadership too.
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said in a speech in August that the accused in last spring's violent events in Manama must be referred to a civilian court. He also announced that a committee of international experts would be formed to look into the aggression to which some political activists and members of the Bahraini opposition have allegedly been subjected.
With the case now referred to a civilian court, the road is cleared for a resumption of national dialogue, the columnist said.
Anyone who wishes Bahrain well and wants its two main sects - the Sunnis and the Shiites - to coexist in harmony once again knows that dialogue is "the only way out of a tunnel of division and sectarianism".
"Sectarianism-mongers on both sides have succeeded in driving a wedge deep into the bond between Shiites and the Sunnis," the columnist said.
Talk about dialogue is not an exercise in "intellectual luxury", he noted. Dialogue can bridge that rift.
Syria: National Council is a complex thing
Soon after protests erupted in Syria, the Syrian opposition abroad sought recognition as "the sole representative" of the protesters and the Syrian people at large, columnist Mostapha Zein wrote in the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat yesterday.
But cracks started to appear within the opposition abroad, with one faction all for foreign military intervention and another against it. And the home-grown opposition started to feel that it was being pushed to the side.
Now the opposition abroad has managed to unify its ranks. It established a Syrian National Council" in Istanbul. According to its spokesman Burhan Ghalioun, "the tougher part" is done.
Indeed, the columnist said, what comes next for the SNC is easier: securing international recognition.
"Recognition would be a no-brainer … Washington, Paris, Ankara and other capitals have publicly stood against the Syrian regime and exerted a lot of pressure on the leaders of the Syrian opposition abroad to get them to unify their ranks."
But it's not as seamless as that. The opposition on the ground in Damascus, which categorically rejects any form of international intervention, sees its counterpart abroad as too subservient to Turkey and Nato. On that basis, it won't cooperate.
* Digest compiled by Achraf El Bahi
AElBahi@thenational.ae
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Ibrahim's play list
Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute
Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc
Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar
His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach
Also enjoys listening to Mozart
Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz
Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica
Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil
RESULTS
Cagliari 5-2 Fiorentina
Udinese 0-0 SPAL
Sampdoria 0-0 Atalanta
Lazio 4-2 Lecce
Parma 2-0 Roma
Juventus 1-0 AC Milan
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
The cost of Covid testing around the world
Egypt
Dh514 for citizens; Dh865 for tourists
Information can be found through VFS Global.
Jordan
Dh212
Centres include the Speciality Hospital, which now offers drive-through testing.
Cambodia
Dh478
Travel tests are managed by the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health.
Zanzibar
AED 295
Zanzibar Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, located within the Lumumba Secondary School compound.
Abu Dhabi
Dh85
Abu Dhabi’s Seha has test centres throughout the UAE.
UK
From Dh400
Heathrow Airport now offers drive through and clinic-based testing, starting from Dh400 and up to Dh500 for the PCR test.
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%20Mother%20
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Left Bank: Art, Passion and Rebirth of Paris 1940-1950
Agnes Poirer, Bloomsbury
The%20specs
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5