Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo said marking his 200th international appearance with the winner against Iceland in Euro 2024 qualifying on Tuesday was an "unbelievable achievement".
Portugal appeared to be heading towards a goalless draw in Reykjavik until Willum Thor Willumsson was sent off late on.
Al Nassr striker Ronaldo repaid coach Roberto Martinez's faith by slotting home from Goncalo Inacio's knock-down in the 89th minute.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star's record-extending 123rd international goal was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded by VAR.
“So happy. It's that kind of moment that you never expect to do it, 200 caps. For me it's an unbelievable achievement,” Ronaldo told Uefa's website. “Of course, to score the winning goal, it's even more special.”
Portugal remain two points clear of Slovakia at the top of Group J after a fourth straight win.
Slovakia, who are Portugal's next opponents in September, won 1-0 away to Liechtenstein to stay unbeaten.
Luxembourg gave their unlikely bid to reach a maiden major tournament a boost with a 2-0 away victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina to move third, just three points behind Slovakia.
The top two from each group qualify automatically for next year's finals in Germany.
Manchester City's treble-winning striker Erling Haaland netted twice for Norway in a 3-1 win over Cyprus in Group A to get their campaign back on track after a shock 2-1 home defeat to Scotland in their previous game.
The win lifts the Norwegians to third in the five-team group on four points from four matches, behind second-placed Georgia on goal difference while Scotland, who are hosting Georgia on Tuesday, top the group with nine points from three games.
Norway broke the deadlock in the 12th minute as Alexander Sorloth's cross from the right flew just over Haaland's head but dropped perfectly for Ola Solbakken to blast home his first international goal.
Haaland converted a penalty in the 56th minute and followed that up with another powerful finish on the hour to take his season tally to 56 goals, the most of any player in the top five European leagues and two more than France's Kylian Mbappe.
Grigoris Kastanos scored a stoppage-time consolation for the visitors to reduce the deficit but it could not spoil the party as the Norwegians chalked up their first win in the group.
Belgium brushed aside the Thibaut Courtois captaincy row by seeing off Estonia thanks to a Romelu Lukaku double in Tallinn.
Belgium goalkeeper Courtois had said he was "surprised" that coach Domenico Tedesco told a press conference he had refused to travel to Estonia after being overlooked for the stand-in captaincy last week.
Tedesco had wanted to hand Lukaku the armband for Saturday's 1-1 draw with Austria and give Courtois the honour in Tallinn, with regular captain Kevin de Bruyne absent.
But with Courtois instead back home, Lukaku was named skipper again and responded by scoring two goals in a 3-0 success which helped Belgium stay second in Group F.
Lukaku's brace extended his Belgium goalscoring record to 75 goals in 108 caps.
Austria remained three points clear in first place, albeit having played a game more than Belgium, as Christoph Baumgartner scored twice in the last 10 minutes to clinch a 2-0 win over Sweden.
The Scandinavians are in danger of failing to reach a Euro tournament for the first time since 1996, sitting four points behind Belgium.
Poland fell to fourth place in Group E after blowing a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Moldova in Chisinau.
Moldova, who had won only one of their last 43 Euro and World Cup qualifying matches, appeared to have been safely dispatched by first-half goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Robert Lewandowski.
But Ion Nicolaescu's double left Poland reeling and Vladyslav Baboglo, who plays his club football for Ukrainian team Oleksandriya, headed past Wojciech Szczesny to score a dramatic 85th-minute winner.
Moldova, 171st in the Fifa rankings, are now third in the group standings, a point behind second-placed Albania who saw off the Faroe Islands 3-1.
Hungary moved top of Group G by cruising past Lithuania 2-0, level on points with Serbia after their 1-1 draw with Bulgaria.
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
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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.”
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Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
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