Latest updates: Follow our full coverage on the US election
Jenny Zhang knocks on the white door of a modest home in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, hoping to convince its residents to go out and vote for Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s presidential election.
The diverse municipality bordering Philadelphia voted overwhelmingly for President Joe Biden in 2020, and if Ms Harris is to take the much-sought-after swing state, she’ll need big margins in urban areas like this.
“There is a pretty big Bangladeshi community here, and they are very strong Democrats,” Ms Zhang, who works for the organisation Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, which advocates for the needs of the community, told The National. In this election, it has thrown its support behind Ms Harris.
“We want to make sure our Asian community members are voting in this election.”
The group has knocked on more than 315,000 doors and made roughly 5.5 million phone calls in an effort to persuade Pennsylvanians to vote for Ms Harris, who is of Indian descent.
“Kamala Harris is a member of our community,” said Mohan Seshadri, executive director of APIPA. “She's someone we believe will actually make progress on things like housing, justice, health care, access, support for caregivers.”
Pennsylvania has been at the centre of the 2024 election, with both Ms Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to advertisements and huge portions of their hectic schedules.
“There's been over a billion dollars in campaign and election related spending by campaigns and by outside groups in Pennsylvania this cycle,” said Daniel Mallinson, an associate professor of public policy and administration at Penn State Harrisburg.
“We are inundated daily with text messages and phone calls and constant television ads, YouTube ads, Pandora ads, mailing, physical mailing to our houses, There has been a crush of campaign attention on Pennsylvania.”
Both Ms Harris and Mr Trump spent time in Pennsylvania on Monday making last-minute efforts to shore up support and urge more people to the polls.
While analysts believe there are seven swing states that either candidate could win on Tuesday, Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral college votes is perhaps the most important, as the candidate who wins 270 electoral college votes will move into the White House in January.
“It's a coin flip in the Rust Belt states and those states are probably more important to Harris right now than to Trump, said David Paleologos, director of Suffolk University’s Political Research Centre. “All three of our polls last week, we had the results within the margin of error, and we polled the statewide numbers plus the bellwethers, so really, it's going to depend on who gets their vote out and who stays home.”
Thirty minutes outside of Philadelphia in suburban Bucks County, which Mr Trump narrowly lost in both 2016 and 2020, Monica Domanico is busy ringing up a customer who bought more than $100 worth of Trump merchandise.
Ms Domanico owns The Trump Store in Bensalem and she said Monday was one of her busiest days – a reflection, she hopes, of what might happen on Tuesday.
“People need to be able to purchase this stuff and to show their support for Trump because they love this man. This man is just awesome, what a great guy,” she told The National.
One customer, who wished only to be identified as Janice, said she was voting for Mr Trump because she did not believe Ms Harris’s economic policies would work.
“People can't afford to sell their home or move up, move down, do whatever. It's just that mortgage payment is insane these days,” the estate agent said.
Both Ms Domanico and Janice said they were not sure if they would trust the results of Tuesday’s election if Mr Trump were to lose.
The former president has refused to say whether or not he would honour the results. After the 2020 election, which he said was stolen, he spent four years claiming that Democrats had cheated to win.
“I'm hoping we made it too big to rig and we flooded them with votes and they can’t take it from us because I’ll put it right on the camera – it was stolen in 2020,” Ms Domanico said.
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
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.”
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
