Mina Sue Choi, a communications student representing South Korea, has won the Miss Earth 2022 crown, beating 85 other contestants from around the world at a gala event in Manila.
The contest places "elemental" titles on the rest of the finalists — Miss Fire, Miss Water and Miss Air. Nadeen Ayoub, who made history as the first person to represent Palestine in the Miss Earth contest, was crowned Miss Earth Water.
The environment-focused pageant is one of the Big Four beauty contests, the others being Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss International. It has been held mostly in the Philippines since its beginning in 2001, although Vienna and Bali have also hosted in the past.
Contestants of Miss Earth 2022 began arriving in Okada Manila, the casino resort and hotel complex, on November 12, with all 86 presented at an event on November 14. However, preliminary events have been held virtually since October 24.
Last year's winner Destiny Wagner from Belize, the first woman from her country to win a major international pageant, passed on her crown to Choi a the event held at Cove Manila. Both Miss Earth 2020 and 2021 were held virtually, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ayoub, a fitness coach, nutrition consultant and entrepreneur, was a favourite to win, advancing to the final four. She was one of only two Arabs in the competition, along with Jihan Majid, 20, who represented Iraq.
The decisive final question for the final four was: "What is one thing you want to right in this world and how would you right it?"
"I would want to fight the ignorance and selfishness of people," Ayoub said, drawing loud cheers. "Because I think that is the main problem that we are facing today, with all of the issues including environmental catastrophes, which are made by humans.
"It starts with education," she added. "That's how we can solve the selfishness and ignorance that we see today, and save planet Earth."
Andrea Aguilera of Colombia was crowned Miss Earth Fire, while Sheridan Mortlock from Australia was named Miss Earth Air.
The first on-ground preliminary competition was the swimsuit round on November 16, which was jointly won by Esther Ajayi of Nigeria, Aguilera of Colombia, Liliya Levaya of Belarus and Choi of South Korea.
Choi became an early favourite, also winning the beachwear competition, as well as the long gown competition. She also placed third in the resort wear competition, which was won by Oriana Pablos of Venezuela.
Choi shares the beachwear top prize with Aguilera of Colombia, Daniela Riquelme of Chile and Jessica Pedroso of Brazil; and the long gown competition winner's title with Chile's Riquelme, Sheyla Ravelo of Cuba and Susan Toledo of Ecuador.
Nigeria's Ajayi shares the top prize in the talent competition with Ekaterina Velmakina of Russia, Cuba's Ravelo and Alannah Larkin of Ireland.
Miss Earth takes its advocacy about environmental awareness and conservation seriously, with reigning titleholders dedicating their year to promoting specific projects. Each Miss Earth winner becomes a spokeswoman for the Miss Earth Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme and commits to working with the World Wildlife Fund.
At this year's pageant, the theme was ME Loves Fauna "to emphasise the importance of caring for animal life", organisers said.
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Jawan
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAtlee%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shah%20Rukh%20Khan%2C%20Nayanthara%2C%20Vijay%20Sethupathi%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How to donate
Text the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
6025 - Dh 20
2252 - Dh 50
2208 - Dh 100
6020 - Dh 200
*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, six-cylinder
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 395bhp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: from Dh321,200
On sale: now
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
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.”
