Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visits soldiers at the Miguel de Cervantes base in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun. AFP
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visits soldiers at the Miguel de Cervantes base in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun. AFP
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visits soldiers at the Miguel de Cervantes base in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun. AFP
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visits soldiers at the Miguel de Cervantes base in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun. AFP

Spanish PM emphasises support for Unifil during Lebanon visit after death of Irish soldier


Jamie Prentis
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has emphasised his support for the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon after an Irish soldier was killed in the country this month.

Mr Sanchez made the comments after holding talks with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miktati during a visit to Beirut.

Spain is one of the largest contributors to the peacekeeping mission, with 664 troops from the country stationed in Lebanon.

Unifil commander Maj Gen Aroldo Lazaro is Spanish.

Mr Sanchez repeated his country's "willingness to support the work of Unifil" in southern Lebanon.

His visit to Beirut comes two weeks after Irish peacekeeper Pvt Sean Rooney, 24, was killed when his convoy came under fire.

Investigations into the killing are under way and a suspect has reportedly been handed over to the army.

The shooting happened in the village of Al Aqbiya, where Iran-backed Hezbollah is highly influential. The group denies involvement in the attack.

Mr Mikati told Mr Sanchez that the Lebanese authorities would not hesitate to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Mr Sanchez also visited Spanish soldiers at the Miguel de Cervantes base in Marjayoun, southern Lebanon.

“Your participation in this United Nations mission in Lebanon is a tangible expression of our country's contribution to world peace,” he told the soldiers.

“Your daily effort is aimed at providing well-being to the entire Lebanese society.

"With your work you contribute to saving lives, to improve the present and future of the Lebanese and, above all, to give a horizon of an expectation of peace to the new generations of Lebanese.”

French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu is expected in Lebanon on Friday to show his support for the country's peacekeepers.

About 11,000 UN peacekeepers are stationed in Lebanon, where the interim force has overseen a ceasefire with Israel.

More than 300 Unifil troops have been killed since 1978.

How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now

Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.

The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.

1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):

a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33

b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.

2. For those who have worked more than five years

c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.

Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.

How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press

Points tally

1. Australia 52; 2. New Zealand 44; 3. South Africa 36; 4. Sri Lanka 35; 5. UAE 27; 6. India 27; 7. England 26; 8. Singapore 8; 9. Malaysia 3

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Updated: December 29, 2022, 1:55 PM