• Wife and daughter of one of Bashar Al Assad’s cousins arrested at Beirut airport
  • Silent rally calls for action on disappeared Syrians
  • Ukraine sends shipment of grain to Syria
  • Israeli jets struck seven crossing points along the Syria-Lebanon border
  • Iran denies interfering in Syria
  • Mission to defeat ISIS mission remains top US priority
  • Syrians search for relatives whom they believe were detained in secret cells beneath Sednaya prison near Damascus. EPA
    Syrians search for relatives whom they believe were detained in secret cells beneath Sednaya prison near Damascus. EPA
  • Rescue efforts to find prisoners at Sednaya prison continue. EPA
    Rescue efforts to find prisoners at Sednaya prison continue. EPA
  • Israeli soldiers in southern Syria. Reuters
    Israeli soldiers in southern Syria. Reuters
  • Mohammed Bashir, head of US-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham's Salvation Government, at a press conference in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib in November. AFP
    Mohammed Bashir, head of US-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham's Salvation Government, at a press conference in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian city of Idlib in November. AFP
  • Crowds gathering at Saadallah Al Jabiri Square in Aleppo. AP
    Crowds gathering at Saadallah Al Jabiri Square in Aleppo. AP
  • Senior insurgent commander Abu Mohammed Al Julani addresses a crowd at Ummayad Mosque in Damascus. Reuters
    Senior insurgent commander Abu Mohammed Al Julani addresses a crowd at Ummayad Mosque in Damascus. Reuters
  • Members of the Syrian government security forces are herded into a field by gunmen in Homs, Syria. EPA
    Members of the Syrian government security forces are herded into a field by gunmen in Homs, Syria. EPA
  • A hall inside the presidential palace gutted by fire after Syrian rebels took over Damascus. EPA
    A hall inside the presidential palace gutted by fire after Syrian rebels took over Damascus. EPA
  • A Syrian rebel fighter fires rounds as people celebrate in Homs after the city's liberation from the stranglehold of the Assad regime. AFP
    A Syrian rebel fighter fires rounds as people celebrate in Homs after the city's liberation from the stranglehold of the Assad regime. AFP
  • People gather to celebrate the Syrian government's fall at a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. AP
    People gather to celebrate the Syrian government's fall at a mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. AP
  • People gather around Umayyad Square in Damascus. AFP
    People gather around Umayyad Square in Damascus. AFP
  • Rebel fighters cheer from the back of a pick-up truck at Umayyad Square having stormed into the centre of Damascus, Syria. AFP
    Rebel fighters cheer from the back of a pick-up truck at Umayyad Square having stormed into the centre of Damascus, Syria. AFP
  • Syrian government forces cross the border into Iraq at Al Qaim. Reuters
    Syrian government forces cross the border into Iraq at Al Qaim. Reuters
  • A multi-barrel rocket launcher fires at regime troops, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama. AFP
    A multi-barrel rocket launcher fires at regime troops, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama. AFP
  • Syrian Kurds flee their homes in the outskirts of Aleppo. AFP
    Syrian Kurds flee their homes in the outskirts of Aleppo. AFP
Gothia Cup 2025

4,872 matches 

1,942 teams

116 pitches

76 nations

26 UAE teams

15 Lebanese teams

2 Kuwaiti teams

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

School uniforms report
On Women's Day
The biog

Name: Sari Al Zubaidi

Occupation: co-founder of Cafe di Rosati

Age: 42

Marital status: single

Favourite drink: drip coffee V60

Favourite destination: Bali, Indonesia 

Favourite book: 100 Years of Solitude 

How to invest in gold

Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.

A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.

Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”

Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”

Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”

By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.

You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.

You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.

RACE CARD

6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,900m

7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 2,000m

8.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,600m

8.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

Racecard

6pm: Mina Hamriya – Handicap (TB) $75,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

6.35pm: Al Wasl Stakes – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (Turf) 1,200m

7.10pm: UAE Oaks – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,900m

7.45pm: Blue Point Sprint – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,000m

8.20pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (T) 2,810m

8.55pm: Mina Rashid – Handicap (TB) $80,000 (T) 1,600m

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE SQUAD

Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Ahmed Raza, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Chirag Suri , Zahoor Khan

Updated: December 29, 2024, 6:11 AM