Monsoon rains battered down on Manila this week as a tropical storm - the ninth this year - howled nearby.
Schools, courts and the senate were shut for two days; roads were flooded; public transport was affected.
It could have been worse.
That the Philippine capital is one big ocean wave away from disaster isn’t news to climate scientists or economists. After analyzing 393 cyclone-vulnerable coastal cities in 31 countries, World Bank economists have concluded that 40 percent of the burden of storm-surge catastrophes would fall on just three Asian cities - Manila, Karachi and Jakarta.
Unlike the former British rulers of Pakistan and the erstwhile Dutch masters of Indonesia, the Americans have left the Philippines with a viable alternative. The Clark Air Base played an important role during the Vietnam War. It stayed under American control until 1991.
But what the US left behind offers a chance to build something new and durable at least for the next 473 years. (The nearby volcano of Mount Pinatubo tends to erupt once in 500 years; the last blast was in 1991, hastening the American departure.)
The highest point in metropolitan Manila is 40 metres above sea level; in New Clark City, where office blocks are being constructed to move a host of government departments from the congested capital, the maximum elevation is 800 metres. (Even the lowest point is 54 metres above sea level.) Royal Pineda, the architect rushing to meet tight deadlines for construction of a sports complex ahead of next year’s South East Asian games, says the right metaphor for Clark is iCloud - a back-up for when Manila fails.
Clark should have been redeveloped long ago, agrees Vivencio Dizon. The Bases Conversion and Development Authority, which Dizon heads, has already tasted success with Fort William McKinley. Bonifacio Global City, the Manila financial and lifestyle district that’s replaced the old army base, was developed by tycoon Manuel Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments, which sold it in 2002 to Campos Group and Ayala, among the handful of family-run conglomerates that control economic life in the Philippines.
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Read more:
Philippines leads way on Asia-Pacific female economic participation
UAE's Filipino expats cash in with best exchange rates for a decade
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Breaking the jinx of tycoons’ inattention toward Clark is Dennis Uy, a businessman from the home province of President Rodrigo Duterte. The president’s pal is now a big-league deal maker who has even managed to rope in as a partner the flagship investment arm of billionaire Henry Sy, the Philippines’ richest man. Last year, he bought the firm that’s building a $1 billion, 177-hectare commercial and business centre in Clark’s free-port zone.
There’s more investment coming. Chinese internet entrepreneur Jack Ma may set up a 20-hectare, fully automated warehouse next to the Clark airport for his Lazada Group’s e-commerce operations, if negotiations over lease rates conclude successfully.
For now, though, the Chinese are outgunned in Clark by the Koreans, who’ve been coming in droves after Asiana Airlines started a flight in 2003 between Incheon and Clark. What drew them initially was the opportunity to play golf on a course made famous by a young Tiger Woods. But now there’s also gambling at Widus Hotel and Casino, whose Korean owner Daesik Han will soon open a Marriott-branded hotel.
In the works: an integrated Widus resort. Meanwhile, more than two-fifths of the $7bn in exports from the free-port zone is on account of one South Korean chip maker. SFA Semicon started making embedded multimedia cards, used in smartphones and GPS systems, when it expanded its factory earlier this year.
Why do I think Clark will succeed when many other planned cities - from Putrajaya and Cyberjaya in Malaysia to Lavasa in India - have been failures? Clark’s most obvious draw is that it’s solving a real problem: lack of connectivity. The 2,300 hectares of dedicated airport land left by the Americans is five times the size of cramped Manila airport. But even with that advantage, Clark’s isn’t a mad “build-it-and-they-will-come” model, where vast empty infrastructure awaits tenants.
It’s only now that 158 international and 338 domestic flights are taking off every week from Clark that the plan to build a new terminal is being set in motion. The free-port zone, which includes the airport, is being developed first so it can serve as the nerve centre of the upcoming New Clark City, spread over an area six times bigger. Besides, Mr Dizon’s bases conversion authority has both the power and the capacity to execute large projects. The 949 business tenants get all their regulatory approvals and day-to-day services from Clark Development. Red tape is minimal, says Evan McBride, the CEO of Global Gateway Development, the builder now owned by Mr Uy.
Finally, the project is being impelled by both push and pull. Mr Duterte is promoting Clark, but for many of the 13 million residents of metro Manila, there’s enough attraction in the notion of putting a little distance between themselves and nature’s fury.
Bloomberg
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
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This is an info box
- info goes here
- and here
- and here
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
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.”
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
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UAE finals day
Friday, April 13
Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
3pm, UAE Conference: Dubai Tigers v Sharjah Wanderers
6.30pm, UAE Premiership: Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5