With Yemeni government forces resuming an operation to retake the critical rebel-held port city of Hodeidah on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, civilians have again begun escaping, many bringing tales of Houthi violence and desperation.
Retaking the city is critical to breaking the Houthi stranglehold on the port, the Arab Coalition backing the Yemen government says, amid an ever worsening humanitarian situation which the UN warns is verging on widespread famine.
Over 76,500 households have been displaced by the fighting around Hodeidah since June, according to UN data, with the majority fleeing the province. Many are heading south on the coastal road – through a landscape still littered with Houthi landmines – where one of the first settlements they reach is Khokha.
A sandy town 120 kilometres south of Hodeidah, Khokha is not much more than a few winding residential streets around a crossroads where a route heads inland towards the town of Hays.
Khokha fell to the Houthi rebels in late 2014 and was retaken by Yemeni government forces last December. There is a large mosque, a post office, rows of fishing boats pulled up on the beach, and a scattered patchwork of farmers’ fields set back on the coastal plain. But not much to welcome the thousands of displaced civilians arriving here from Hays, Al Duraihmi, Al Jah and Hodeidah.
That is why a mobile healthcare clinic set up earlier this month has become a new hub in the town.
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Read more:
Opportunities for resolving Yemen crisis at UN General Assembly
Arab Coalition to open humanitarian corridors between Hodeidah and Sanaa
Yemen's Houthi rebels cut off food supplies for Hodeidah residents
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From children suffering the effects of traumatic stress to cases of acute diarrhoea caused by contaminated drinking water, some 160 patients receive life-saving primary healthcare daily, says Dr Hasan Abu Al Ghaith of the Yemeni Taiyba Foundation which runs the clinic with support from the Saudi King Salman Centre for Relief and Humanitarian Aid.
The situation is desperate, he says. Across Yemen, 1.1 million cases of acute watery diarrhoea or cholera have been reported since April 2017. With more than a quarter of Yemen's population dependant on aid, the UN's humanitarian Mark Lowcock warned the Security Council on Friday: "We are losing the fight against famine."
In one bed, a pale eight-year-old girl said the fear of fighting near her home in Hodeidah had made her sick. "Houthis frightened me, they were shelling from near our house, the sound of the mortars was very scary, I couldn't sleep for two days."
Women and children make up a large proportion of the clinic’s patients, said Etab, the female medical assistant who runs the women’s ward.
In addition to wards for men and women, the clinic runs a laboratory and pharmacy and a dedicated ward for treating children suffering from malnutrition. Up to a quarter of children arriving from Hodeidah are malnourished, according to UN data.
The foundation which runs the clinic is also providing food, shelter kits, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to the fleeing civilians. Around 4,000 displaced are currently staying in the town.
“Life is much better now, they have done a lot to help us," said Zahra, a 30-year-old woman from Al Jah, who brought her six-year-old nephew to the clinic suffering from diarrhoea.
The Case For Trump
By Victor Davis Hanson
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
MANDOOB
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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
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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.”
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 Bio
Ram Buxani earned a salary of 125 rupees per month in 1959
Indian currency was then legal tender in the Trucial States.
He received the wages plus food, accommodation, a haircut and cinema ticket twice a month and actuals for shaving and laundry expenses
Buxani followed in his father’s footsteps when he applied for a job overseas
His father Jivat Ram worked in general merchandize store in Gibraltar and the Canary Islands in the early 1930s
Buxani grew the UAE business over several sectors from retail to financial services but is attached to the original textile business
He talks in detail about natural fibres, the texture of cloth, mirrorwork and embroidery
Buxani lives by a simple philosophy – do good to all
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
