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Dozens of protesters wearing keffiyehs gathered outside City Hall in central Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, waving Palestinian flags and calling on the US to end its military support for Israel.
A short distance away, Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump took to the stage for their highly anticipated head-to-head debate.
“Free, free Palestine,” chanted the protesters, many of them wearing face masks.
“There is no debating genocide,” one sign read.
Many protesters were from Philadelphia or elsewhere in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
But Seif, a Palestinian American, took the train from southern New Jersey to participate in the protest. He said he has distant relatives in Gaza, and the last he heard from them was in February when they fled to the south.
“The debate is in town and it’s between two genocidal choices,” he told The National.
“So we’re out in rejection of this two-party nonsense, of this idea that either one can be voted for.”
Many Arab Americans and progressives, angered by Democrats’ and Republicans' unequivocal support for Israel, say they will vote for a third-party candidate in November in a symbolic protest.
Laura Sherry took the train from Delaware with her fiance.
Ms Sherry, who is Jewish, held a sign reading: “Please help my friend in Gaza.”
She met 11-year-old Yousof on social media at the beginning of the war, and she is now helping his family raise funds to leave Gaza.
“I do not like that we are using tax dollars to fund a genocide,” Ms Sherry told The National. “That money can be better spent taking care of the community and not harming others.”
Several streets away, dozens of people gathered at a bar to watch the debate. When the candidates appeared on stage, people cheered.
Some people played a game of bingo that they had created, with boxes displaying the topics that could be raised.
“I think Harris held her own, I was nervous because I've never seen her debate Trump before,” Philadelphia resident Paulina Harris said.
“I wanted to hear about immigration, abortion as well as Israel and Palestine – because that's where she gets a lot of criticism.”
People at the venue said they were proud that the debate is being held in Pennsylvania, the most populous battleground state, and recognised that their vote carries a lot of weight.
They chuckled when Mr Trump answered questions and cheered when Ms Harris spoke.
Isabella Pagana has been living in Philadelphia for the past 10 years. She said she appreciated that, unlike the last debate, this was being fact-checked by the moderators.
“I think she's doing a good job but I was disappointed by her comments on Israel and Palestine, but it wasn't shocking to me,” Ms Pagana told The National. “I just wish it wasn't so one-sided.”
Yasmine Hamou, who is half Egyptian and half black, has been canvassing the streets of the city to register people to vote.
She said many people in Philadelphia were looking to see what Ms Harris would say about Gaza, but they were also concerned about bread-and-butter issues.
“People are very well aware of the power of their vote, but there is still quite a bit of apathy,” she said, pointing to the high poverty rate in the state and high incarceration rates, especially of black men.
“People are going to be really concerned with what she's going to say about immigration in our city, what she’s going to say about her record on incarceration,” Ms Hamou told The National.
“People want to hear why they should choose her over Trump.”
'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
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.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Letswork%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EOmar%20Almheiri%2C%20Hamza%20Khan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20co-working%20spaces%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.1%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20with%20investors%20including%20500%20Global%2C%20The%20Space%2C%20DTEC%20Ventures%20and%20other%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20about%2020%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mrs%20Chatterjee%20Vs%20Norway
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ashima%20Chibber%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rani%20Mukerji%2C%20Anirban%20Bhattacharya%20and%20Jim%20Sarbh%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
