Dubai, Apr 10 (AFP) War-torn Yemen reported its first case of coronavirus Friday in a southern province under the control of the government, raising fears of an outbreak in a country with few resources left to respond.<p>The announcement comes on the second day of a unilateral two-week ceasefire announced by the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government in what it said was a move to help fight the pandemic.</p><p>"The first confirmed case of coronavirus has been reported in Hadramawt province," Yemen's supreme national emergency committee for COVID-19 said on Twitter.</p><p>The committee, run by the internationally recognised government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, said the infected patient was in stable condition and receiving care.It said medical teams and concerned authorities had taken all necessary precautions and promised to release further details later Friday.</p><p>Following years of war and Saudi-led military intervention, Yemen already faces what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.</p><p>Aid groups have warned that when the coronavirus does hit the country's broken healthcare system, the impact is likely to be catastrophic.</p><p>Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed over the past five years in the war between the coalition and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who control large parts of Yemen including the capital Sanaa.</p><p>Millions have been displaced and diseases including cholera are widespread due to the scarcity of clean water.</p><p>Despite two decades of air and drone strikes by the  United States, Yemen also still hosts a significant jihadist presence, with a longstanding Al-Qaeda network challenged in recent years by militants loyal to the Islamic State group.</p><p>Control of Hadramawt province, where the first coronavirus case was reported, has long been divided. </p><p>Coalition-backed government forces control the coastal towns but parts of the interior remain in the hands of Al-Qaeda.</p><p>The coalition said it was observing a unilateral ceasefire to help efforts to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak in Yemen.</p><p>"The coalition is determined... to support efforts towards combatting the spread of (the) COVID-19 pandemic," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on Wednesday.</p><p>The move was welcomed by the United States but dismissed by the Huthi rebels who charged that continued air strikes by the coalition showed its announcement was a coronavirus public relations stunt.</p><p>"We consider the ceasefire a political and media manoeuvre," Huthi spokesman Mohamed Abdelsalam told Al Jazeera news network.</p><p>The United Arab Emirates, a key Saudi ally, said that the battle against the coronavirus trumped all other concerns.</p><p>"The COVID-19 crisis eclipses everything -- the international community must step up efforts &amp; work together to protect the Yemeni people,"  UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted.</p><p>UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly appealed for ceasefires in conflicts around the world to facilitate the battle against the coronavirus.</p><p>The UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said last week he was engaged in talks to secure a nationwide ceasefire.</p><p>Griffiths said he was in regular contact with both sides "on reaching agreements on a nationwide ceasefire, humanitarian and economic measures to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people".</p><p>"This process further aims to foster joint efforts to counter the threat of COVID-19," he said.</p>Saudi Arabia is also scrambling to limit the spread of the disease at home. Its health ministry has reported more than 3,200 coronavirus infections and 44 deaths from the illness.(AFP)  RUPRUP

War-torn Yemen reports first coronavirus case

(Eds: Updating with fresh details) <p>Dubai, Apr 12 () The UAE plans to impose "strict restrictions" on countries reluctant to take back their nationals working in the Gulf country in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and restructure its cooperation and labour relations with them, a state-run media report said on Sunday.</p><p> Indian expatriate community of nearly 33 lakh is the largest ethnic community in UAE constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country's population. Among the Indian states, Kerala is the most represented followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. </p><p>The options being considered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation include "imposing strict future restrictions on the recruitment" of workers from these countries and activating the "quota" system in recruitment operations, state-run WAM news agency reported, citing an official.</p><p>It said the options also include suspending memoranda of understanding signed between the ministry and concerned authorities in these countries.</p><p>Citing the unnamed official, it said these options are being considered after many countries did not respond to requests by their nationals to return home following the coronavirus outbreak.</p><p> The official made it clear that all countries of foreign workers in the UAE should be responsible for their nationals wishing to return to their countries as part of the humanitarian initiative launched recently by the ministry.</p><p> Earlier this month, the ministry launched the initiative to enable residents who work in the UAE and wish to return to their countries to do so during the period of precautionary measures undertaken in the UAE to contain the spread of the coronavirus.</p><p>Employees will be asked to submit their annual leave dates or agree with their employers on unpaid leave.</p><p> UAE's Ambassador to India Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Banna has said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) had sent out a "note verbale" to all the embassies in the UAE, including the Indian mission, during the past couple of weeks on the issue.</p><p> "We have sent the note verbale and all the embassies have been informed including the Indian embassy in the UAE and even the Ministry of External Affairs in India," Al Banna told Gulf News over phone on Saturday.</p><p> He said the UAE has offered to test those who want to be evacuated.</p><p> "We are assuring everybody that we have the best of the facilities, the best of the testing centres and we have tested more than 500,000 people," he said.</p><p> "We are assuring them also of our cooperation to fly those who got stranded in the UAE for some reasons. Some got stuck because of the lockdown and closure of airports in India. Some were visiting the UAE."</p><p> "We are offering our system and making sure that they are good (to fly) by doing all the tests and transport them according to the request of their own government," he said.</p><p> The envoy said those who test positive for COVID-19 will remain in the UAE. "They will be treated in our home facilities," he added.</p><p> The Kerala High Court on Saturday sought the central government's response to a petition seeking a direction to bring back Indians stranded in the UAE in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the gulf nation.</p><p> Considering the plea by Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) in Dubai, the court directed the Centre to file an affidavit on the steps taken by it to ensure the safety of Indians living there and bring back those stuck in the Gulf countries.</p> In its plea, KMCC, the organisation for non-resident Indians from Kerala, sought directions to the Ministries of External Affairs and Civil Aviation to provide exemptions in the international air travel ban to bring back those Indians stranded in the UAE.  PMS/ZH  ZHZH

COVID-19: UAE plans 'strict restrictions' on countries reluctant to take back their nationals

Dubai, Apr 16 () India is fast-tracking procedures to supply hydroxychloroquine, a drug considered to be efficient in fighting the coronavirus, to the UAE after a request from the country's government, media reports here quoted the Indian envoy as saying.<p>India's Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor said there is a huge demand for the anti-malarial drug from many countries and India is considering it on a case to case basis.</p><p>"As the drug is on the restricted list, we are obviously giving exception to the UAE, given the friendly relations between the two countries," Khaleej Times quoted Kapoor as saying.The global demand for hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) manufactured by India got a boost after some studies indicated that the drug, when paired with azithromycin, helped clear patients of the virus at a much faster rate than seen usually.</p><p>"There was a request from the government of the UAE to help out with the supply of HCQ," the Gulf News quoted Kapoor as saying.</p><p>Kapoor said a few companies in the UAE requested the government to import the drug to the country.</p><p>"We received a note verbale from the UAE government also seeking support for the supply through those companies," he said.</p><p>"Whatever requests were made, we made sure that they reached the right authorities in the right format since this is a restricted medicine," Kapoor said.</p><p>He said India is permitting the export of HCQ on a case-by-case basis on the request from governments of friendly countries. With the UAE government backing up the local companies' request for import for the medicine, he said, India is fast-tracking the procedures.</p><p>The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Wednesday announced 432 new cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases to 5,365.The country has reported 33 deaths, including five expats of different nationalities. </p><p>  In a humanitarian gesture, India on Wednesday gifted life-saving drugs, including Hydroxychloroquine tablets, to Mauritius and Seychelles to help them deal with the coronavirus pandemic that has infected 2 million people worldwide.</p><p>Mauritius Vice Prime Minister Leela Devi Luchoomun Dookun received the consignment of half a million Hydroxychloroquine tablets that arrived here on Wednesday evening through a special Air India cargo flight from Delhi, the Indian High Commission in Port Louis said in a statement. </p>Mauritius is one of the first countries to receive supplies of this medicine after a special exemption was granted for a few countries.   NSA

India fast-tracks Covid-19 fighting drug supplies to UAE

<ul><li>An <keyword id="158286" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-India-Express-plane">Air India Express plane</keyword> overshot the runway and crash landed at the Kozhikode airport in the Indian state of Kerala at around 7:45 pm on Friday evening.</li><li>It fell 35 feet into a valley and split into two, however, there was no fire onboard.</li><li>Air India Express has confirmed that both pilots perished in the plane crash.</li><li>Overall, the crash has left at least 18 dead, including two crew members, according to Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. </li><li>Puri added that two investigative teams of professionals from Air India, AAI and AIIB will leave for Kozhikodhe at 2:00 am and 5:00 am.</li><li>One of the pilots, Captain Deepak Sathe, was a <keyword id="9719074" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="former-air-force-pilot">former Air Force pilot</keyword> who used to fly the MiG 21 fighter aircraft.</li><li>The evacuation process has been completed and all injured are currently being treated at nearby hospitals.</li></ul>An Air India Express plane (IX 1344) coming to India from Dubai overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday evening and crash landed in a valley. The incident occurred at around 7:45 pm. <br /><br />                                                          <div type="image" title="ians_air india 2." msid="77419977" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The crashed Air India plane on lies off the runway at Kozhikode airport in Kerala&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div><br />According to aviation minister Hardeep Puri at least 18 people are dead."Relief teams from Air India &amp; AAI [Airport Authority of India] are being immediately dispatched from Delhi &amp; Mumbai. All efforts being made to help passengers," he said in a tweet adding that a formal inquiry will be conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).<br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="HardeepSPuri" handlename="Hardeep Singh Puri" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1176854328184692737/P6qL9CFp_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1140" retweetcount="330" status="As per the flight manifest there were 190 people on flight AXB-1344 including 174 adult passengers,10 infants, 4 ca… https://t.co/W9plSo2Fmf" createdat="1596824766000" id="1291802817456254976"></div><br />The black box records the conversation between the pilots as well as with the air traffic control tower, apart from the flight data. According to aviation guidelines, the DGCA will conduct a detailed probe and identify the real cause of the accident.<br /><br />Two special relief flights have been arranged from Delhi and one from Mumbai for rendering humanitarian assistance to all the passengers and the family members.<br /><br />According to news agency PTI, one of the 18 passengers has tested positive for COVID-19. Health Minister K K Shailaja has asked all the people who were engaged in the rescue operations should report to the health authorities and go on self quarantine as a precautionary measure and get themselves tested.<br /><br />Air India express has also announced compensation for the victims. "To provide immediate relief, as an interim compensation AI Express will give Rs 10,00,000 to the next kin of the deceased passenger 12 years and above, Rs 5,00,000 to the passengers below the age of 12 years, Rs 200,000 to critically injured passenger and Rs 50,000 to the passenger who are injured in the incident," the statement said.<br /><br /><strong>Why did the plane crash?<br /></strong><br />The plane had 174 passengers on board, including 10 infants, 6 crew members and two pilots.  "We must remember that it is a tabletop runway at Kozhikode," said National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) chief DG SN Pradhan. He explained that the plane landed on Runway 10 amid heavy rain leaving it with a visibility of 2,000 metres.<br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="ANI" handlename="ANI" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1497864299/ani_mic_logo_normal.jpg" favoritecount="80" retweetcount="25" status="#WATCH Kerala: Dubai-Kozhikode Air India flight (IX-1344) with 190 people onboard, skidded during landing at Karipu… https://t.co/gxSHF0vqVW" createdat="1596815169000" id="1291762564251004931"></div><br />The flight skidded off the runway and plunged deep into a valley, where it then broke into two pieces, according to both the Air India spokesperson and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Puri estimates that the valley was around 35 feet deep.<br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="FlyWithIX" handlename="Air India Express" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1280066495960068100/1UnZqFin_normal.png" favoritecount="59" retweetcount="34" status="Air India Express Statement regarding incident involving Air India Express at Kozhikode https://t.co/UPOE0y5TEr" createdat="1596819951000" id="1291782619537928192"></div><br />A local resident told IANS, "I live around 20 meters away from the compound wall of the airport. Hearing the loud sound a few of us came rushing. We saw the cockpit of the aircraft jutting out of the compound wall."According to Pradhan, there seem to be injuries among all the passengers and some have been rendered unconscious. <br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="DrSJaishankar" handlename="Dr. S. Jaishankar" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1252214301076709377/AnmXu-ff_normal.jpg" favoritecount="2175" retweetcount="312" status="Deeply distressed to hear about the Air India Express tragedy at Kozhikode. Prayers are with the bereaved families… https://t.co/Ceu5CZqn1l" createdat="1596816132000" id="1291766604183683072"></div><br /><b>Both pilots perish in plane crash<br /></b>Air India Express has confirmed that the two pilots who were at the helm of the plane lost their lives during the crash landing, Captain Deepak Sathe and Captain Akhilesh Kumar. <br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="alphonstourism" handlename="Alphons KJ" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1119144645500366848/Wwc-otYq_normal.jpg" favoritecount="646" retweetcount="279" status="Second tragedy of the day in Kerala : Air India Express skids off the run way at Kozhikode, front portion splits ,… https://t.co/6Lg4OfEEjR" createdat="1596813252000" id="1291754524126806016"></div><br />Captain Deepak Sathe was a former Air Force Pilot and flew the Airbus 310 for Air India before piloting the Air India Express on the Boeing 737. While with the 17 Squadron in Ambala, also known as the Golden Arrows, Sathe flew the MiG 21 figher aircraft.<br /><br /><b>Investigation of the crash underway<br /></b>Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on the incident on Twitter. He spoke to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on phone about Karipur plane crash. Vijayan informed Modi that a team of officials including Kozhikode &amp; Malappuram District Collectors &amp; IG Ashok Yadav have arrived at the airport and are participating in the rescue operations.<br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="narendramodi" handlename="Narendra Modi" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1249934092994375680/xX66NSZP_normal.jpg" favoritecount="8444" retweetcount="1789" status="Pained by the plane accident in Kozhikode. My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured re… https://t.co/egvwN91Xr1" createdat="1596818200000" id="1291775276599263233"></div><br />The evacuation process of the crash has been completed, according to the Kerala chief minister. "All have been transferred to hospitals in Malappuran and Kozhikode," he said. <br /><br />The DGCA has ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter. Two investigative teams of professionals from Air India, AAI and AIIB will leave for Kozhikodhe at 2:00 am and 5:00 am, respectively, according to Puri. <br /><br />Home Minister Amit Shah has also instructed the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) to help with the rescue operations. <br /><br /><div type="twitter" handle="AmitShah" handlename="Amit Shah" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1180491411172413440/AunoqDQW_normal.jpg" favoritecount="7893" retweetcount="1366" status="Distressed to learn about the tragic accident of Air India Express aircraft in Kozhikode, Kerala.Have instructed… https://t.co/t1AqcksQ9G" createdat="1596815135000" id="1291762421661667328"></div><br />Air India Express has only Boeing 737 planes in its fleet. <br /><br />For more information about the crash the Consulate in Dubai has issued the following helpline numbers<br /><ul><li>056-546-3909</li><li>054-309-0572</li><li>054-309-0575</li></ul>The Ministry of Exernal Affairs can also be reached locally at the following numbers<br /><ul><li>1800 118 797</li><li>+91 11 23012113</li><li>+91 11 23017905</li><li>+91 11 23014104</li></ul>The Kerala state government has also established helplines for people in India to reach out.<br /><ul><li>Airport control room: 0483-2719493</li><li>Malappuram Collectorate: 0483-2736320</li><li>Kozhikode Collectorate: 0495-2376901</li><li>054-309-0572</li></ul><em>(With agency inputs)</em><br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:</strong><strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/netflix-launches-hindi-user-interface-in-india-two-years-after-amazon-prime-video/articleshow/77414233.cms">Netflix launches Hindi user interface in India — two years after Amazon Prime Video</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/serum-institute-of-india-to-produce-100-million-doses-of-covid-19-vaccine-for-less-than-250/articleshow/77411882.cms">Serum Institute of India to produce 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for less than ₹250 a dose</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/pakistan-violates-ceasefire-for-the-fifth-consecutive-day-along-the-line-of-control/articleshow/77410596.cms"><strong>Pakistan violates ceasefire for the fifth consecutive day along the Line of Control</strong></a><em></em><br />

Air India Express plane crash death stands at 18 - a deceased passenger tests positive for COVID-19, rescue officials asked to go on self-quarantine

Most of the <keyword id="639956" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="individuals">individuals</keyword> of the Gen X (born between 1965 to 1980) especially from middle class families, have spent majority years of their lives saving up for retirement, getting their children married and after meeting all of these responsibilities, have finally ended up buying a residential <keyword id="6354553" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="real-estate">real estate</keyword> restricted to their domestic markets.<br /><br />On the other end of the demographic, are the millennials (born between 1981 to 1996), who often think of starting their real estate investments around the age of 28-30, but even then, have to begin their investments with huge down payments and seek big loans with lengthy tenures that take years to pay back. And once they finally own the property, there are ongoing expenses like mortgage payments, property maintenance, property taxes and insurance.<br /><br />From the years 1990 to 2010, post globalisation and liberalisation, travelling across countries and continents became more frequent and individuals began to recognise themselves as global citizens. This changed further from the years 2010 to 2020, when these individuals began investing in real estate across the globe. It was more after 2008, the global financial crisis, when<br />investors went beyond their traditional residential investments and started venturing into different asset classes globally like commercial, warehouses, <keyword id="6368036" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="hotels">hotels</keyword> etc. However, in 2020, the world was presented with an unprecedented economic, humanitarian and healthcare challenge.<br /><br />The <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="pandemic">pandemic</keyword> affected everyone and changed nearly everything. We have advanced by almost a decade because of the ongoing pandemic in terms of technology usage and the world is closer, now more than ever. So what now? This is where <keyword id="5034071" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="fractional">fractional</keyword> ownership in real estate comes in the picture. For the first time, investors can buy a share of a property anywhere across the globe, through a fully-compliant, fractional, tokenized ownership.<br /><br />FracAssets is a tech-backed distribution platform that enables investors to identify fractions of real estate across the globe. FracAssets now gives investors an opportunity to diversify their real estate portfolio by investing in fractions of commercial, residential, warehouses, hotels, second homes, senior living and co-living across the globe.<br /><br />So what is fractional ownership? Fractional Ownership, in simple terms, is when a number of investors, not necessarily known to <br />each other, join together to invest in a real estate asset so that all of them can benefit from a share of the income that the asset generates, and any appreciation in the value of the real estate. For example, a 3,500 square feet office space which costs approximately ₹10 crore in the commercial hub of Mumbai, can be owned by 100 diverse and unrelated individuals who each invest <br />an amount of ₹10 lakh. This way, every investor earns <keyword id="11052140" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="returns-proportional">returns proportional</keyword> to his respective share from the total rental yield, enjoys currency appreciation and can exit the investment at the prevailing market value of the property once it appreciates.<br /><br />Future of real estate investing is only Fractional -- investments beyond boundaries and nationalities – so what’s happening globally? Fractional ownership might be a fairly new concept in <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, however, we believe that the idea is here to stay and the future of real estate investing is only fractional. If you look at global markets like the USA, Canada, China, Singapore and Hong Kong, fractional investments have shown significant traction. Fractional ownership in real estate is expected to become a dominant investment trend in Indian markets as well in the coming years, as it provides accessibility for every generation of Indians to invest and diversify their real estate which was previously limited through the traditional route and most did not have the financial means to do so.<br /><br /><strong>Key benefits of fractional ownership:</strong><br /><strong>Low ticket size:</strong><br />Investments in fractional real estate globally start from as low as $10 in USA, CAD 50 in Canada and AED 2500 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Fractional ownership of a Grade A property is a great solution for someone who is looking for a pocket-friendly<br />investment, outside the volatility of share markets and low interest rates on fixed deposits. Thus, providing a completely new investment asset class to investors, who can now own a real estate asset according to their budget and location preference.<br /><br /><strong>Asset class and location diversification:</strong><br />Like the adage goes - “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” with fractional ownership an investor with a budget of say ₹50 lakh, can allot the investment amount across fractions of properties and receive returns from a hotel apartment in Dubai, a senior living in Ontario or a warehouse in India, in turn diversifying their portfolios.<br /><br /><strong>Currency diversification:</strong><br />Investors unlock a whole new path to earn returns -- currency appreciation, beyond the traditional rental yields and capital appreciation. Investing across multiple locations and currencies enables investors to earn returns in dollars, dirhams, euros etc., thus diversifying their currency portfolio and reducing the risk of investing in only one or two currencies. For example, a 23 year old, just starting off her career, can save up and invest in a fractional residential property in the UAE and benefit from a rental yield of approximately 6% to 7% along with capital appreciation. The investor is also benefiting from currency appreciation as dirham is pegged to the US dollar.<br /><br /><strong>Accessibility:</strong><br />Fractional ownership provides access to premium properties which were previously only available to high net-worth individuals and large institutions with very high ticket sizes.<br /><br /><strong>Pre-vetted properties:</strong><br />All the properties listed on the platform have a stringent screening criteria and undergo thorough due diligence. Fractional real estate products are professionally managed assets and in general a fully supported end-to-end process where investors have hardly any headache to take. An investor only requires to have their know your customer (<keyword id="167905" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KYC">KYC</keyword>) documents and an online bank account to start investing. We at FracAssets, identify assets from different platforms that are ready, fully constructed properties and are pre-leased. This mitigates the risk involved in dealing with real estate that is under development or not constructed.<br /><br /><strong>How are the investments structured?</strong><br />For each property, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is created, which makes such co-ownership in real estate possible.<br /><br />An SPV is just “a separate new entity” – it’s no different than setting up a new business. An SPV is a distinct company created for a specific purpose with its own assets and liabilities. Properties are owned in newly formed SPVs and the customers are shareholders or partners of the SPV. SPVs only purpose is to hold the property on behalf of the customers and no other operational activities are carried out in them.<br /><br /><strong>Investment opportunities</strong><br />FracAssets uses various global fractional platforms to regularly provide investors investment options in real estate across commercial, residential, warehouses, hotels, second homes, senior living and co-living. A few opportunities on our platform are a residential apartment in Dubai, UAE, an office space in Mumbai, India, a second home in Paphos, Cyprus etc.<br /><br /><strong>To summarise for millennials, the future of investing in real estate is only Fractional</strong><br />Individuals can no longer be restricted to a particular nationality as decided on paper or by their birthplace. Technology has been disrupting every industry and real estate is no different. Now with technology and social media each one of us is a global citizen -- one world. An individual who wasn’t thinking beyond residential real estate is now not only looking at investing globally<br />but investing across commercial, warehouses, hotels, second homes, senior living and co-living globally. Fractional ownership is a trend that has entered the Indian market recently and has since then made real estate a more lucrative and feasible investment option for all generations of Indians. Fractional ownership is gaining great acceptance and traction from both the investors as well <br />as the overall real estate industry and is here to stay.<br /><br /><strong><em>About the authors</em></strong><br /><em>The authors include Hitesh Dhankani, chief executive officer (CEO) of Analah21 and FracAssets and was assisted by Fazilat Reshamvala.</em><br /><br /><em><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> </em><em>Prior to making any investment decisions, any recipient of this document or the information should take steps to understand the risk and return of the investment and seek individualised advice from his or her personal financial, legal, tax and other professional advisors. Investments in real estate and unlisted shares carry a risk and may not provide the anticipated returns and there is a possibility of losing the entire capital as well. Past performance is not a guarantee of future return, nor is it necessarily indicative of future performance.</em><br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/pepperfry-co-founder-ashish-shah-gets-candid-about-its-ipo-plans-says-profitability-is-right-around-the-corner/articleshow/81908005.cms">Pepperfry co-founder gets candid about its IPO plans, says profitability is right around the corner</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/lg-electronics-exits-smartphone-business-world-wide-lg-smartphone-timeline-history/articleshow/81908186.cms">LG Electronics exits the smartphone business – here’s how its mobile fortunes swayed over the last two decades</a><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/tcs-hcl-tech-infosys-q4-earnings-preview-and-guidance/articleshow/81908765.cms"><strong>Record breaking quarter for Indian IT services is a given ⁠— all eyes are now on guidance</strong></a><br />

OPINION: The future of real estate investing is Fractional

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5dc0791de0ee7e38645d5d57-2000/tynthia-spencer-diptych.jpg" border="0" alt="Tynthia King - Spencer Ingley - Diptych - Airbnb 2019 Antarctica Sabbatical" data-mce-source="Images courtesy of Airbnb" data-mce-caption="Tynthia King and Spencer Ingley are among the five people chosen from an applicant pool of 140,000 to travel to Antarctica with Airbnb this December." /></div></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/airbnb">Airbnb</a> received 140,000 applications this fall for its all-expenses-paid <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/d/sabbatical">expedition to Antarctica</a> in December.</li><li>Five individuals were selected for the trip. Among those are two Americans: Tynthia King from Arizona and Spencer Ingley from Hawaii.</li><li>Together with citizen scientists from Dubai, Norway, and India, King and Ingley will study the impact of microplastics alongside scientist Kirstie Jones-Williams.</li><li>The "Antarctic Sabbatical" follows Airbnb's inaugural <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/d/sabbatical">sabbatical</a> trip to Italy earlier this year.</li><li>King and Ingley told Business Insider that they hope to use the trip to inspire a larger conversation about the effects of waste on the environment.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Earlier this fall, Airbnb announced that it would be accepting applications for a month-long, <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/d/sabbatical">all-expenses-paid research expedition</a> to the most remote destination on Earth: Antarctica. In total, 140,000 people hailing from 200 countries and territories applied - and five were selected to go.<br /><br />The five expedition members, <a href="https://news.airbnb.com/five-applicants-chosen-from-over-140000-hopefuls-for-antarctic-sabbatical/">announced on October 30</a>, include Tynthia King, a 35-year-old loan officer from Phoenix, Arizona, and Spencer Ingley, a 33-year-old assistant professor of biology at BYU-Hawaii. </p><p>King and Ingley will be joined by citizen scientists from Dubai, Norway, and India to study the presence of microplastics in Antarctica alongside scientist Kirstie Jones-Williams.</p><p>The expedition members will first <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/d/sabbatical">attend</a> immersion training for two weeks in Punta Arenas, Chile. They will then fly to Union Glacier Camp in Antarctica to collect snow samples and measure the presence of foreign microplastics over the course of 10 days. During the final week of their sabbatical, they will return to Chile to review their findings and partner with the Ocean Conservancy to communicate their findings.</p><p>The trip comes on the heels of Airbnb's <a href="https://italiansabbatical.com/">inaugural sabbatical</a> program this spring, which sent five individuals to help revitalize the historic town center of Grottole in southern Italy. The overarching goal of the sabbatical trips, according to <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/d/sabbatical">Airbnb</a>, is to provide "eye-opening opportunities for people around the world to travel with purpose and do good."</p><p>Business Insider spoke with King and Ingley about what inspired them to apply to the sabbatical program.</p><h2>Tynthia King is a loan officer whose efforts at reducing waste, from Ghana to her office in Phoenix, brought her to the sabbatical program </h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5dc42f9f7eece551d95f3b73-739/tynthia.jpg" border="0" alt="Tynthia King Airbnb Antarctica Sabbatical" data-mce-source="Courtesy of Tynthia King" /></div></div></div></p><p>King's interest in the environment started on the humanitarian side, she told Business Insider.</p><p>King grew up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago and spent much of her childhood homeless. "I'm actually the only one of my siblings that hasn't been in federal prison," she told Business Insider. "I know a lot about what it is to grow up without things, and that kind of drove me to be passionate about youth - having been a homeless youth." </p><p>A few years ago, an opportunity opened up for King to volunteer at an orphanage in Ghana. The purpose of the trip was to help build a composting bathroom.</p><p>Initially, King didn't know much about how composting bathrooms worked. "I am absolutely not an engineer," she said with a laugh.</p><p>Once she learned more about the process, she began to reflect on humans' environmental footprint.</p><p>After volunteering at the orphanage, King decided to explore more of Ghana and was aghast at what she saw in the fishing villages along the coast. "When you go to the beautiful Atlantic-side beaches, they're just littered with all types of old fishing equipment. They have bottles, they have plastic, and it's just filthy," she told Business Insider.</p><p>There was no clean-up effort around the beaches, so she started to clean them up herself.</p><p>King now works as a loan officer in Phoenix, Arizona, and has become "hyper-aware" of the impact of her everyday actions on the environment since her Ghana trip. Recently, a small Amazon order came to her office enclosed in a massive box wrapped in what King likened to "20,000 pieces of bubble wrap plastic." This level of excess prompted King to approach her COO and begin a recycling program. </p><p>King heard of the Airbnb Antarctic Sabbatical amid discussions of reducing office waste and was surprised to learn that microplastics would reach such a remote region.</p><p>Antarctica has also been on King's travel list since childhood. "When I was a kid, I knew that I wanted to visit every continent," she said. "I never wanted to spend the money halfway across the world to take some pictures in a bikini on a beach somewhere. I wanted to make my time wherever I was going important or worth it or to take something away from that experience."</p><h2>Spencer Ingley is an assistant professor of biology who sees parallels between Hawaii and Antarctica</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5dc432f73afd3756a6233fe4-2400/spencer with tortoises in el chato preserve isla santa cruz galapagos.jpg" border="0" alt="Spencer Ingley (Airbnb Antarctica Sabbatical) in El Chato Preserve, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos" data-mce-source="Courtesy of Spencer Ingley" data-mce-caption="Ingley in El Chato Preserve, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos." /></div></div></div></p><p>Growing up near a lake in Gainseville, Florida, Ingley developed a love of nature at an early age. Today, he shares his passion for the outdoors with Brigham Young University-Hawaii students as an assistant professor of biology.</p><p>BYU-Hawaii has a <a href="https://about.byuh.edu/">student body</a> of 2,500 with students from 70 countries and countries. Many of these students come from Asia and the Pacific, which presents a unique teaching opportunity, according to Ingley. "These are the countries that are having some of the biggest impacts on environmental issues like ocean plastic pollution, and also they're the countries that are being most impacted by these issues," he said.</p><p>"Our students can go back to their home countries across the Pacific and throughout Asia and be leaders in their community," he added.</p><p>Ingley told Business Insider that one of his favorite classes to teach is an introductory biology course that focuses, in part, on conservation issues in Hawaii and across the Pacific. </p><p>Ingley's students are often surprised to learn that the trash washing up on beaches of Oahu is by and large not from the island. "Virtually none of the pollution that we find on our shores is local," said Ingley. "Almost all of it is coming from Asia and from the west coast of North America."</p><p>In this sense, Ingley noted, Antarctica is not all that different from Hawaii. "It's incredibly remote, but it's threatened. It's being bombarded with these outside forces, such as plastics coming in," he said.</p><p>One thing that is quite different, however, is the weather. While Ingley has spent time in cold locations before, Antarctica is in a league of its own. "I'm not sure there's anything that you could do to prepare for Antarctica other than being in it," he said.</p><p>Ingley learned about the Airbnb sabbatical program through one of his students and hopes that his experience will encourage future students, and others around the world, to be stewards of their environment.</p><p>Ingley also calls himself "an explorer at heart."</p><p>Though preparing to be off the grid for a month will be a challenge, fieldwork is par for the course in his profession, Ingley said, and he plans to be in touch with his students as much as possible during the trip. "I'm thrilled about the adventure and work that awaits," he told Business Insider.</p>

Meet the 2 Americans who were chosen from a pool of 140,000 people to spend 10 days on a mini-sabbatical in Antarctica with Airbnb this winter

How small-town Maine embraced a family that fled the Taliban

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57bc4397dd08956b1a8b4907-719/syria-kids-2.jpg" alt="syria kids 2" data-mce-source="Getty Images" /><p class="source"><span>Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Syria is suffering from the seemingly never-ending cycle of civil war and terrorism.</p><p>The country has become a recruiting hotspot for ISIS, also known as the Islamic State and Daesh, ever since Syria descended into internal conflict in 2011.</p><p>But despite ISIS' apparent religious convictions, the spiral of violent extremism in Syria is not driven by religion, according to Syrian businessman Zaid Al Rayes.</p><p>"Extremism is a complex issue and while there are no exact or clear roots, there are two sides to the problem," Al Rayes told Business Insider. "Educational and economic."</p><p>"Some say that religious roots are the cause of the problem but if you look in depth into extremism, we see that people join these groups when they've lost hope, have no jobs, and no rights. I have visited Syrian refugee camps and I feel there is a great passion for them to want to work. But a lot of them do not have job opportunities and this is why I established a social entrepreneurship project as I wanted to create opportunities for Syrians."</p><p>Al Rayes is one of the 10 people involved in "Extremely Together," an initiative launched by the Kofi Annan Foundation and One Young World aimed at countering violent extremism within communities.</p><p>"At 'Extremely Together,' we are 10 different people from 10 different backgrounds and each of us has different experiences in witnessing extremism," Al Rayes says.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57bc4397dd08956b1a8b4908-1600/zaid1.jpg" alt="zaid1" data-mce-source="Extremely Together" /><p class="source"><span>Extremely Together</span></p><p class="caption">Zaid Al Rayes works for 'Extremely Together."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"Extremism is not a new issue but why are we only talking about it for the last few years? I think this is because of the [9/11] attacks," he added.</p><p>"But let's take the example of the massacre in Rwanda and what's happening with Boko Haram. These are not new kinds of violence, these have been happening in places where people are in extreme poverty and have no rights. We only start talking about it now because it is touching the West."</p><p>Al Rayes initially tried to join <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword> as part of the Syrian opposition early in his career. However, he found that no matter what type of good work he tried to do, "there were also big forces trying to push their own agenda."</p><p>He now runs the Al Rayes Group, an umbrella company that employs over 1,900 people across 16 companies, involved in industries like gas and trade.</p><p>Al Rayes believes that he can make a difference in Syria by offering economic and educational opportunities to people who would otherwise be driven to extremism by a sense of hopelessness.</p><p>He says: "People aren't thinking about the economic issues because security is the first priority. At the moment people don't know if a bomb is going to drop on their house. But the reason why I look at this from an economic point of view is because economics provide a future for people."</p><p>Syria is suffering through one of the most devastating civil wars in recent history. Bashar al-Assad has been at war with his own people since 2011. In August 2013, Assad killed 1,400 of his own citizens after he unleashed chemical weapons in the suburbs of Damascus. Now, the Syrian government is bombing rebel strongholds in the city which is still home to 250,000 people.</p><p>Meanwhile, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/russian-us-airstrikes-difference-2016-8">Britain, the US, Denmark, and others</a>, are bombing Syria to try and target ISIS soldiers and assets. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/syrian-first-responders-risk-their-lives-to-save-people-from-disasters-2016-8">The bombing is also killing civilians as the coalition try to rid the region of ISIS</a>.</p><p>Al Rayes believes it is this maelstrom of violence that has created the perfect breeding ground for terrorism, adding that <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/us-led-coalition-airstrikes-against-isis-in-manjib-syria-2016-8">Western military action</a> to try and stop the spread of ISIS over parts of the region in fact "absolutely" exacerbates extremism.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57bc4397dd08956b1a8b4909-1625/syriaisisbombingmap.jpg" alt="syriaisisbombingmap" data-mce-source="Reuters" /><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Syria itself is too dangerous for Al Rayes to operate in, so his focus through "Extremely Together" is on helping the refugee population.</p><p>At last count, there were 65.3 million people around the world who have been displaced by conflict, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Of those, 4.8 million are registered Syrian refugees abroad while 6.6 million are people that have been forced to flee their homes in Syria but still live within the country.</p><p>Jordan has one of the biggest populations of Syrian refugees and Al Rayes focuses on helping out Syrian refugees in camps spread across the United Arab Emirates. These camps "in Jordan and Lebanon are far worse than those in Europe," he says. "We have limited resources but we give help to those much needed people."</p><p>There is currently a humanitarian crisis in <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/jordans-closed-borders-are-creating-a-humanitarian-nightmare-for-syrian-refugees-2016-6">Jordan because the army shut down some of the country's borders, making it difficult for international relief workers to help refugees</a>. This has meant that while much-needed food and care is being blocked, with only makeshift shelters and little central organisation.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57bc4397dd08956b1a8b490a-872/unchr1.jpg" alt="unchr1" data-mce-source="UNCHR" /><p class="source"><span>UNCHR</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Al Rayes offers three ways to improve conditions for these Syrian refugees, in a bid to show them they have a bright future and do not need to turn to extremism.</p><p>"We do business in food supply and we try to provide job opportunities to refugees this way. We bring them to countries in the UAE, such as Dubai, Azerbaijan, and Saudi Arabia and provide work, so they are able to support their families," says Al Rayes.</p><p>Giving one Syrian a job can end up helping an entire family, he says.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57bc4397dd08956b1a8b490b-1517/ap_16215514930974.jpg" alt="Aleppo Syria" data-mce-source="Aleppo Media Center / AP" data-mce-caption="In this Tuesday, July. 26, 2016 photo, provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), shows Syrian citizens inspect damaged buildings after airstrikes hit Aleppo, Syria." /><p class="source"><span>Aleppo Media Center / AP</span></p><p class="caption">In this Tuesday, July. 26, 2016 photo, provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), shows Syrian citizens inspect damaged buildings after airstrikes hit Aleppo, Syria.</p></div><p></p></div></div>One of his most touching moments he has had since getting involved with "Extremely Together" was seeing how providing a job for a refugee called Halid, impacted the entire family tree. Al Rayes met Halid in a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, where he was living with 23 family members. He had lost a sister and a brother in the bombings.</p><p>After Halid was offered an assistant chef job in Dubai he was able to provide for his family and his niece ended up returning to education.</p><p>Another way Al Rayes helps Syrian refugees is by giving grants for projects that directly help them. So far, 3 have been granted in Jordan and 4 in Lebanon.</p><p>Finally, Al Rayes also helps by supporting education initiatives for Syrian refugees in Jordanian and Lebanese camps.</p><p>"When people are in extreme poverty, not allowed to work, and have no sources of funds, they turn to extremism as it provides a future," said Al Rayes. "However, to counter this, we need to show people that they have a future and will be able to provide for themselves and a family, elsewhere."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kobe-bryant-stibel-nba-stars-new-venture-capital-fund-tech-video-games-players-tribune-2016-8">Kobe Bryant is starting a $100-million venture capital fund </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ZhbDdoNTE6pxSP3e0rgio_omuyYJ3ofw" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'ZhbDdoNTE6pxSP3e0rgio_omuyYJ3ofw',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Stopping the cycle of violent extremism in Syria has nothing to do with religion

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5267dec969bedd1423441818-1200-858/rtr1yc1z.jpg?maxY=800" border="0" alt="Iran's Interior minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi talks during a news conference in Tehran March 15, 2008." height="800" /><p class="source">REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah</p></div><p></p></div></div>DUBAI (<keyword id="76338" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Reuters">Reuters</keyword>) - <keyword id="41896" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iran">Iran</keyword>'s justice minister said a move to execute a convicted Iranian drug offender who has already survived a hanging is ill-advised, suggesting he would not face <keyword id="134562" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="capital-Punishment">capital punishment</keyword> again.</p>
<p>The statement by Justice Minister <a>Mostafa Pourmohammadi</a>, who does not run Iran's judiciary, followed <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> calls for Iran to spare the man, a 37-year-old named only as Alireza M.</p>
<p>New Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, has sought to project a friendlier image to the West than his predecessor, the hardline conservative <a>Mahmoud Ahmadinejad</a>.Iran released prominent political prisoners, including human-rights lawyer <a>Nasrin Sotoudeh</a>, in September to wide global praise.</p>
<p>Iran carried out a hanging sentence on the man earlier this month in the northeast city of Bojnourd, according to human rights group <a>Amnesty</a> International. He was declared dead by a doctor but found a day later still alive in the morgue.</p>
<p><a>Amnesty</a> has urged the Islamic Republic to halt the man's <keyword id="6400667" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="execution">execution</keyword> as well as all other death penalties.</p>
<p>Pourmohammadi said on Tuesday evening that efforts had been made to prevent another hanging.</p>
<p>"With great efforts made to not carry out a new execution of this convict ... we received a positive reply," Pourmohammadi said, according to state news agency IRNA. "The convicted individual who remained alive after execution is currently under an oxygen device, and if he remains alive, it is no longer expedient for the execution order to be carried out again."</p>
<p>Under the constitution, Iran's judiciary sentences criminals and confirms their punishment, not government ministers.</p>
<p>The head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah <a>Sadeq Larijani</a>, said on Wednesday the man could be spared on humanitarian grounds.</p>
<p>"One of the ways to deal with someone sentenced to execution who has seen death and tolerated hardships is a pardon, and such an individual who has specific conditions can be granted mercy and forgiveness by the Islamic system, and I ... will definitely do this," Larijani was quoted as saying by the <a>ISNA</a> news agency.</p>
<p>But Larijani said there were also legal grounds in favor of carrying out the death sentence again.</p>
<p>Iran carries out almost the highest number of executions of any country in the world, and rights groups have criticized the country for its use of the death penalty to dispense justice, especially for drug-related cases.</p>
<p><a>Amnesty</a> said this month that Iran is believed to have executed at least 508 people in 2013, though 221 of them have not been officially confirmed.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Jon Hemming and Mark Heinric</p>

Iranian Man Who Survived A Hanging Probably Won't Be Executed Again

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cac984c6b52654cd8786eab-2400/2019-03-22t123550z917094894rc1a66f75ea0rtrmadp3saudi-oil-prices.jpg" border="0" alt="U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 20, 2018." data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 20, 2018." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 20, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Investing directly in Saudi Arabia is becoming easier than ever before.</strong></li><li><strong>Global index giants FTSE Russell, S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices, and MSCI are in the <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/ae/news-releases/saudi-arabia-inclusion-to-ftse-russell-and-s-amp-p-dow-jones-into-emerging-market-indices-886264629.html">process</a> of folding Saudi Arabia's stock market into accessible emerging-market indices this year.</strong></li><li><strong>That inclusion could see investors pump billons of dollars into the kingdom.</strong></li><li><strong>Saudi Arabia meanwhile stands accused of murdering a prominent critic, confirmed a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/saudi-arabia-puts-to-death-37-people-in-largest-mass-execution-in-past-three-years/2019/04/23/43a063e0-65d7-11e9-a698-2a8f808c9cfb_story.html?noredirect=on">mass execution</a> as recently as last week, and is ranked among the world's most <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-women-dangerous-poll-saudi-exclusive/exclusive-saudi-arabia-among-most-dangerous-countries-for-women-despite-drive-for-change-poll-idUSKBN1JM02Q">dangerous</a> countries for women.</strong></li><li><strong>The expected surge of capital has experts raising questions about investing in the controversial market, particularly as socially-responsible investing grows in popularity.</strong></li><li><strong><span><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/">Visit Markets Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</span></strong></li></ul><hr /><p>Prominent business leaders were quick to pull out of the "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-diane-greene-wont-attend-saudi-investment-event?utm_content=buffer8d13b&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer-bi">Davos in the desert</a>" summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last fall as the disappearance and, as it was eventually determined, brutal murder of the Washington Post journalist <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-jamal-khashoggi-turkey-accuses-saudi-arabia-of-murdering-reporter-2018-10">Jamal Khashoggi</a> inside Saudi's consultate in Istanbul prompted an international uproar.</p><p>As high-profile executives like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and news organizations like The New York Times publicly withdrew from the event, the Saudi stock market <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-stocks/mideast-stocks-saudi-falls-as-khashoggi-killing-weighs-on-investors-idUSL8N1X21GJ">dropped</a> and investors dumped their government <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/0336fe78-d05d-11e8-a9f2-7574db66bcd5">bonds</a>. </p><p>How times have changed.</p><p>The kingdom's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-aramco-oil-company-stuns-with-100-billion-demand-for-debut-bond-2019-4">Saudi Aramco debut bond sale</a> last month, run partly by US firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, drew $100 billion in orders. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and JPMorgan co-president Daniel Pinto were among those who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/undeterred-by-khashoggi-murder-global-executives-return-to-saudi-arabia-2019-4">attended</a> a finance conference there in late April. </p><p>And Saudi's stock market, the Tadawul, is now in the process of being <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/ae/news-releases/saudi-arabia-inclusion-to-ftse-russell-and-s-amp-p-dow-jones-into-emerging-market-indices-886264629.html">incorporated</a> into emerging-market indices provided by S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices, FTSE Russell, and MSCI in the coming months, which could trigger an influx into those equities in a way never seen before.</p><p>Goldman Sachs analysts estimated in a report this week that FTSE and MSCI could draw $55.6 billion in flows once Saudi Arabia's market is included in their respective emerging market indices. They estimate that's split between $6 billion in passive FTSE flows, and nearly $50 billion in MSCI flows split (between active and passive investment).</p><p>The inclusion into various indices comes four years after the kingdom's markets were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/saudi-bourse-investment/saudi-arabia-to-open-stock-market-to-foreigners-on-june-15-idUSL5N0XD35P20150416">opened to foreign investors</a> for the first time.</p><p>What could soon be a surge of international capital into Saudi Arabia has some environmental, social, and governance-minded investors and experts questioning how investors can square the opportunity to capitalize on an emerging oil-rich economy with the country's well-chronicled humanitarian law <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/saudi-arabia">violations</a>.</p><h2>'In the end, they're going to do what they want'</h2><p>The Saudi Arabian government under King Salman and his son, the influential <span>Crown Prince </span>Mohammed bin Salman, is so tied to the kingdom's big-business ecosystem that it can be difficult to determine where one ends and the other begins.</p><p>Saudi Aramco is the kingdom's national oil company. With a net income last year of $111.1 billion, it's the world's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/business/saudi-aramco-profit.html">most-profitable company</a>. Aramco in March bought a 70% stake in the Riyadh-based <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-aramco-sabic-m-a/saudi-aramco-to-buy-sabic-in-69-billion-chemicals-megadeal-idUSKCN1R81QU">SABIC</a>, among the world's largest petrochemical manufacturers - also state-controlled.</p><p>And the standards for listing and disclosures on the Tadawul aren't nearly as stringent as, say, exchanges like the London Stock Exchange or the New York Stock Exchange, said Ellen Wald, the president of Transversal Consulting and author of "Saudi Inc." To be sure, that can also be said for exchanges in emerging economies like China, where transparency is limited relative to US standards, she added.</p><p>Shareholders in individual equities or index funds should bear in mind that investing in the Saudi market is akin to putting money to work in the government, Wald said.</p><p>"<span>In many respects, you're talking about an absolute monarchy," she said in an interview this week. "In the end, they're going to do what they want."</span></p><p>"As an investor, you have to realize that the biggest say in the Saudi economy and the Saudi market is always going to be the government, the monarchy," Wald said.</p><p>"It's always going to be the government. They're always going to have the biggest say. Not you as an investor, or a shareholder, or a fund manager. You're never going to be able to have the biggest say."</p><p>To be sure, foreign investment in the Tadawul is still quite small - but it's grown steadily in recent months.</p><p>Foreigners own about 2.4% or $14 billion of the exchange's shares, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis. That's up from 1.6% in December. And the percentage of foreign investment is set to increase to $30.5 billion, or 5.3%, in foreign ownership, the firm estimates.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ccc6747021b4c10c255a449-1076/screen shot 2019-05-03 at 120654 pm.png" border="0" alt="Foreign ownership expectations, according to Goldman Sachs analysts." data-mce-source="Goldman Sachs" data-mce-caption="Foreign ownership expectations, according to Goldman Sachs analysts." /><p class="source"><span>Goldman Sachs</span></p><p class="caption">Foreign ownership expectations, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Saudi money, Western firms</h2><p>The influx of investment comes as the kingdom's young crown prince seeks to diversify the oil-rich economy. His efforts are particularly visible in Silicon Valley.</p><p>Saudi's Public Investment Fund - which has invested in shiny US startups like WeWork and Slack - owns 5% of Uber, expected to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-ipo-documents-filed-what-could-be-biggest-stock-offering-years-2019-4">debut on the New York Stock Exchange</a> this month in one of the largest public offerings in years.</p><p><strong><em>Read more:</em></strong><em> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-ipo-saudi-tied-2019-4">The Uber IPO exposes how Saudi cash drives Silicon Valley innovation, and even the biggest tech companies can't stop it</a></em></p><p><span>"Despite the assertive, some would say crazy, regional policies, despite the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi, despite the misjudgments about the interactions with Washington, the one thing MBS is really committed to that we should invest in is a vision of Islamic reform," said Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, during a Council on Foreign Relations <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/what-do-about-saudi-arabia">panel</a> in February.</span><span></span></p><p>Crown Price <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-saudi-arabia-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-2017-11">Mohammad bin Salman</a>, or "MbS," is widely seen as aiming to reshape and expand the reach of Saudi's oil-heavy economy since <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-rise-to-power-2017-6">coming to power</a> in June 2017.</p><p>He's met with <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/6/17206358/saudi-crown-prince-visit-tech-silicon-valley">Western business leaders</a> like Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz over the last year. And he was thought to be the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happened-in-saudi-arabia-2017-11">driving force</a> of a sweeping corruption crackdown in the kingdom that year that saw the arrests of princes and business figures.</p><p>Still, questions remain over whether he was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-the-mysteries-of-khashoggis-murder-have-rocked-the-us-saudi-partnership/2019/03/29/cf060472-50af-11e9-a3f7-78b7525a8d5f_story.html?utm_term=.247ef33028dd">aware</a> of Khashoggi's murder.</p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ccb4945021b4c2735230ca6-2400/2018-10-23t100800z1202347194rc1e93d2c9b0rtrmadp3saudi-investment.jpg" border="0" alt="Saudi Arabia investment conference" data-mce-source="Reuters/Faisal Al Nasser" data-mce-caption="Prime Minister and Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan,Saudi Arabia Minister of State Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, attend the investment conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." /><p class="source"><span>Reuters/Faisal Al Nasser</span></p><p class="caption">Prime Minister and Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan,Saudi Arabia Minister of State Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, attend the investment conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Meanwhile, issues over individual companies' corporate governance, which influences ESG rankings, hangs over Saudi Arabia like a cloud.</span></p><p><span>"It comes back to this idea that even if these reforms are fully transparent, and that's all great news, you still have this dilemma behind morality," said Doug Heske, the CEO of <a href="https://newdayimpact.com/">Newday Impact Investing</a>, a San Francisco-based investment platform focused on social responsibility.</span></p><p><span>"You've got an organization or a country that seems to have endorsed in some way the murder of a journalist, and whose primary economic export is energy, when </span><span>we're trying to do so much in terms of addressing climate change."</span></p><h2><span>'We are not excluding Saudi Arabia because of that one event'</span></h2><p>But for many investors, the opportunity might be too good to miss. And to be sure, Saudi Arabia is far from the only investable emerging market that faces questions over its environmental and human rights track records - with robust investor appetite to match.</p><p>Consider China, an emerging market Human Rights Watch <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/china-and-tibet">categorized</a> most recently as a country seeing "broad and sustained offensive and human rights" under President Xi Jinping.</p><p>That does little to keep investors at bay. BlackRock's iShares China Large-Cap ETF sees a 20-day average <a href="https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239536/ishares-china-largecap-etf">volume</a> of 25.5 million shares traded across US exchanges, or about eight times the volume seen in the firm's large-cap US equity-tracking <a href="https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239726/ishares-core-sp-500-etf">fund</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/expos-on-russian-money-laundering-operation-entangles-banks-2019-3">Russia</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-bolsonaro-vows-a-corruption-free-prosperous-safe-brazil-2018-12">Brazil</a> are two other emerging markets that have fallen under scrutiny for their lack of government transparency, but their equity markets by way of liquid ETFs have long been accessible to US investors. VanEck created its Russia-tracking ETF in 2007, and BlackRock created its Brazil-tracking ETF in 2000.</p><p>Gerardo Zamorano is one fund manager who's keen on investing in Saudi. He visited Riyadh earlier this spring, and liked what he saw.</p><p>Zamorano, who along with Louis Lau comanages the $1.5 billion Brandes Emerging Markets Value fund at Brandes Investment Partners, looks to invest in emerging-market companies, sectors, and regions that may have fallen out of favor with the broader market.</p><p>His fund hasn't been exposed to Saudi equities for about a year, but that's mostly due to valuations. Investors' excitement for the stocks have boosted prices, he said.</p><p>Zamorano said he met with between 15 and 18 companies while he was in the kingdom, and came away with a positive view on the healthcare, car rental, and dairy industries. He was encouraged by what he classified as some firms with "excellent" disclosure standards and more women entering the workforce. He wasn't deterred by Khashoggi's murder.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong></em><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamal-khashoggi-killing-a-timeline-of-the-saudis-shifting-story-2018-10">How the Saudi government's story on slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi has shifted over time</a></em></p><p>"At the moment, we are looking at the entire investable universe, and we are not excluding Saudi Arabia because of that one event," he said in an April interview, cautioning investors not to brush the country's companies with the same risks. </p><p>Zamorano is far from alone in his view of the market's potential. <span>Ultimately, experts expect foreign investors to keep coming back for more.</span></p><p>"A lot of people who cancelled appearances are more than willing to entertain investment possibilities with Saudi Arabia," Tranversal's Wald said.</p><p>Of course, that doesn't mean investors are going to necessarily "jump into index funds in Tadawul" anytime soon, she added. But if there's the potential for Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to invest in a fund, "I don't think that's going to stop a lot of people. It will stop some. But I do think that money is a very strong motivator."</p><p><em>Are you planning to invest in Saudi Arabia's market? Share your thoughts with this reporter at rungarino@businessinsider.com.</em></p><p><strong><em>Now read related coverage from Markets Insider and INSIDER:</em></strong></p><p><em><a href="https://www.insider.com/apple-google-criticised-for-saudi-government-app-activists-say-fuel-discrimination-2019-2">Apple and Google accused of helping 'enforce gender apartheid' by hosting Saudi government app that tracks women and stops them leaving the country</a></em></p><p><em><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/saudi-arabia-economy-facts-2019-5-1028161696">12 mind-blowing facts about Saudi Arabia's economy</a></em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/avengers-endgame-end-credits-hidden-meaning-behind-mobius-strip-2019-4">The hidden meaning behind the 'Avengers: Endgame' end credits</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/MHRzKlRX-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Billions of dollars are pouring into Saudi Arabia as investing in the kingdom becomes easier than ever. That has Wall Street grappling with a major ethical dilemma.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/551ea462ecad04ea5bd01305-1200-858/rtr4vwbn.jpg" border="0" alt="Garissa"><p class="source"><span>Noor Khamis/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">A Kenya Defense Force soldier keeps residents at bay to prevent them from moving in the direction where attackers are holding up at a campus in Garissa April 2, 2015. </p></img></div><p></p></div></div>In the wake of the massacre in Garissa, the Kenyan government has been <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/kenya-garissa-university-attack-president-faces-fury-over-failure-to-tackle-terror-threat-10154866.html">harshly criticized by its citizens</a> for missing the clues of an impending attack by the Somali al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab. Gunmen from the group killed 147 people dead at a university in the eastern Kenyan city of Garissa on April 2nd.</p><p>Now, it's clear that Nairobi's initial reaction to the attack is to go after the country's sizable Somali minority.</p><p>On April 4th, the government published a list of "<a href="https://twitter.com/SomaliaNewsroom/status/585817640800690176">entities suspected to be associated with Al Shabaab</a>", including 13 of the largest Somali-operated money transfer companies working in Kenya. On April 8th, the government <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-freezes-bank-accounts-suspected-terrorism-links-112256723.html">ordered those companies' activities to cease</a> and froze all of their accounts.</p><p>A number of them have offices in the US, where they're subjected to some of the world's most comprehensive anti-terror financing regulations. The Kenyan list also included the Dubai-based Dahabshiil, which is Africa's largest money-transfer company. The closures hit prominent financial institutions that have been allowed to operate in far stricter legal environments than Kenya's.</p><p>Kenya has <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130810185221/http://www.knbs.or.ke/docs/PresentationbyMinisterforPlanningrevised.pdf">around 2.5 million</a> citizens who are of Somali ethnicity, and hosts <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e483a16.html">464,000 Somali refugees</a>. Dadaab, the largest refugee camp on earth, is home to <a href="http://data.unhcr.org/horn-of-africa/region.php?id=3&amp;country=110">around 335,000 Somalis</a> who have fled the country's recent famine and armed conflict. </p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"This is a decision which significantly impacts on the entire Somali remittance industry," Adan Hasaan, <span>a US-based compliance manager of the </span><a href="http://www.kaahexpress.com/">Kaah Express</a> money transfer company, told Business Insider. Kaah is one of the services affected the closures, and Hasaan estimates that between 30 and 40% of the money his company handles is sent to Kenya. That means that remittance flows to Somalis from Kenya could actually be comparable with the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31168615">$1.6 billion</a> sent to Somalia from outside the country each year.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/51e94a786bb3f7584f00000b-1200-800/ap12022013050.jpg" border="0" alt="AP12022013050"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Somalia-Kenya/f007382f074e4bc6812d72fc4b56807a/34/0">Associated Press</a></span></p><p class="caption">Two Somali girls.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hasaan says that the decision to shut down the transit companies was totally unexpected and was not preceded by any investigation that he knew of - it was "not a gradual decision," says Hasaan</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. The companies were publicly linked to a notorious terrorist group by the Kenyan government and then ordered to stop operating.</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hasaan doesn't have a timetable for restoring service to Kenya. But he's confident that the government's order couldn't survive legal scrutiny. "You </span><span style="color: #000000;">can't just shut down an entire industry without evidence, without even credible suspicious," Hassan said. "It's just so ridiculous."</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">Kenya's decision to go after Somali money transfer companies so immediately after the Garissa attack suggests that the government's immediate reaction to the atrocity isn't to reexamine its counter-terror practices but to sate popular anger by pressuring its Somali population. </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55222be46bb3f711574441f1-640-418/kenya school attacks_mill.jpg" border="0" alt="Kenya university attack"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>This is a potentially dangerous course. There is a notable contingent of Kenyan Somalis fighting with Al Shabaab and the group has used longstanding grievances over Somali political and social marginalization in Kenya to drive recruitment there. </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">And there's existing hostility towards Kenya's Somali population. There was an <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/11/2012112021333440883.html">outbreak of anti-Somali rioting</a> in 2012, and the government's actions in recent years, particularly after the 2013 Shabaab attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/02/2013251139463500.html">have only raised tensions</a>. </span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;">As Rahma Dualeh, a senior consultant with the Nairobi-based think tank Sahan Research, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/al-shabaabs-survival-is-a-chilling-precedent-2015-4">told Business Insider</a>, </span><span style="color: #000000; line-height: 1.5em;">"People who are talking about economic and political inclusion are being labeled as terrorists," while the government is trying "to make their narrative easier" by associating regional or ethnic autonomy movements in the country's northern and eastern regions with the Shabaab threat.</span></p><p>The decision to shut down the money transfer companies puts the Kenyan government on a course that will onl deepen the ethnic and religious divisions that allow extremist groups to thrive, while also cutting millions of people off from their livelihood.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">As Scott Paul, a</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> senior humanitarian policy advisor at Oxfam America, explained to</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> Business Insider, if it turns out the transfer companies really are a security threat, the Kenyan authorities should have to prove it first.</span></p><p class="p1">"While Kenya faces a genuine terror threat, its response must not undercut the legitimate flows of money that Somalis in Kenya and Somalia depend on to survive and develop communities," says Paul. "Instead of shutting down the whole remittance sector, Kenya should vet remittance companies on a case-by-case basis to ensure they're preventing illicit transactions and complying with the law."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trailer-point-and-shoot-documentary-libyan-revolution-2015-2">This 26-year-old from Baltimore took a 35,000-mile road trip and ended up fighting in the Libyan revolution</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="szNGZoczpV6FOp_YiVp_j5fNW4DvFIZ8" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'szNGZoczpV6FOp_YiVp_j5fNW4DvFIZ8',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

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