SANA'A// Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's surprise return to Sanaa plunged the country into further chaos yesterday as his call for a truce was met by clashes between government and opposition forces.
Mr Saleh arrived early in the morning from Riyadh, where he had been recovering from severe wounds he suffered during an attack on his compound on June 3. He did not appear in public yesterday, but issued a statement through the state news agency.
He called for "all political, military and security parties at the government and opposition to a complete truce and a ceasefire to reach a compromise and reconciliation among all political forces," the Saba news agency reported.
"The solution is not in the mouths of rifles and guns, it is in dialogue and stopping bloodshed."
Officials at Sanaa airport said his plane arrived at 5am local time. Officials who requested anonymity said a helicopter flew him from the airport to the presidential compound.
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis demonstrated yesterday in about 17 of the republic's 21 provinces.
The demonstrators called for Mr Saleh and his family to face charges for violence against protesters. The tens of thousands gathered in Sanaa chanted: "Tell the returning mass killer, we will prosecute him."
"His return is for us a declaration of war. Instead of leaving his son to lead the battles against his people, he decided to come back and handle the situation himself," said Bushra Al Maktari, a protest activist in Taiz city.
More than 40 protesters who were killed in recent clashes were buried yesterday during funerals in Sanaa, Taiz, Ibb and Hodiedah.
"We will not be scared by his weaponry but will escalate our peaceful protests to bring him down," Ms Al Maktari said.
Tens of thousands of Mr Saleh's supporters who gathered near the presidential compound cheered his return.
Despite Mr Saleh's call for a ceasefire, clashes resumed in the capital yesterday between government security forces and forces loyal to General Ali Mohsen, the commander of First Armored Division who defected from the Saleh regime after dozens of protesters were killed in March.
In separate clashes, at least six people were killed and 22 wounded in shelling of the house of Sheikh Sadeq Al Ahmar, the leader of Yemen's most powerful Hashed confederation and his supporters in the Hasaba neighbourhood in Sanaa.
Violence has escalated after government troops and snipers killed 26 and wounded more than 300 protesters on Sunday, provoking fighting between Saleh forces and with Gen Moshen's forces protecting the camp of anti-Saleh protesters. In the past week, more than 100 people nationwide have been killed bringing the death toll to more than 440.
Mr Saleh, 69, has faced massive street protests demanding he step down since January. Demonstrations had increased this week after Mr Saleh gave powers to his vice president to negotiate and sign a Gulf-mediated deal under which he would resign in return for immunity from prosecution. But those efforts failed again and the GCC secretary general, Abdul Latif Al Zayani, left the country on Wednesday without a deal in place. Mr Al Zayani indicated that Yemen's political rivals were not ready to reach an agreement.
Mr Al Zayani was expected in New York yesterday to discuss the crisis with GCC foreign ministers and Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, a Yemeni diplomat told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
The US, which backed the GCC plan, urged Mr Saleh to begin a "full transfer of power", just hours after his return.
"We want to see Yemen moving forward," the US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said. "Whether President Saleh is in or out of the country, he can make this happen [by] stepping down from power and allowing for the country to move on."
A senior Saudi official told AFP that Mr Saleh "returned to Sanaa to put the Yemeni house in order and to prepare for elections".
The official added that Mr Saleh will "leave" after this, without specifying whether he would leave power or leave Yemen altogether.
For those outside of the protests, Mr Saleh's return was of little consequence.
"His return will not put bread on my table. We are tired and want to live. Our children are suffering and millions have lost their jobs," said Abdul Salam Habra, a public relations officer who lost his job when the protests began nine months ago.
Kareema Al Sulaihi, a web designer who lost her job in February, added: "We can't travel, we can't work, we can't study, we can't be out in the streets, why should we be celebrating? Saleh coming back will only make the country worse."
malqadhi@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Hakim Almasmari
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
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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.”
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
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Key developments in maritime dispute
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
IPL 2018 FINAL
Sunrisers Hyderabad 178-6 (20 ovs)
Chennai Super Kings 181-2 (18.3 ovs)
Chennai win by eight wickets
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
FIGHT%20CARD
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PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS
Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 2
Watford 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Newcastle United 3 West Ham United 0
Huddersfield Town 0 Southampton 0
Crystal Palace 0 Swansea City 2
Manchester United 2 Leicester City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1 Stoke City 1
Chelsea 2 Everton 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Burnley 1
Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
Naga
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets