Following a successful third staging of the NBA Abu Dhabi Games, top management in the league are looking to strengthen the relationship between the NBA and the Gulf region.
The last two NBA champions, the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets, squared off in two preseason games at Etihad Arena last week, as part of a wider six-day visit that included a host of community events, clinics, grassroots initiatives, and entertainment activations organised by the NBA in collaboration with DCT Abu Dhabi.
The UAE capital has established itself as a hub for world-class basketball in the region, having attracted top NBA teams, as well as national sides like USA, Serbia, and Australia, who have all come to Abu Dhabi to hold training camps and compete in exhibition games over the past two years.
It’s all thanks to a multi-year deal signed between DCT Abu Dhabi and the NBA, whose commissioner Adam Silver believes the agreement is only just the start for the league in this part of the world.
“We're particularly excited about, not just the opportunity here in Abu Dhabi, but the Gulf region generally,” Silver said during a roundtable discussion at Etihad Arena last week.
“We're seeing rapid growth here, and it's our hope that we not only continue playing games here in Abu Dhabi, but we play in other countries in the Gulf region, and ultimately bring over WNBA games as well. That's something we'd like to see here.”
Silver chose to defer the revelation of any concrete plans to his counterpart Cathy Engelbert, the commissioner of the WNBA, but says the interest is certainly there from Abu Dhabi as hosts.
The WNBA’s popularity has exploded in North America this year with the advent of star rookies like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, which is something the league wants to capitalise on.
“We've been in discussions with our hosts here in the past. There's no question there's interest in bringing a WNBA game as well,” said Silver.
“It's fascinating for me because we've been working on the WNBA – it’s in its 28th season, so it may not be quite the overnight sensation that it appears to be, but nevertheless, it's remarkable to see the spike in interest we're experiencing now.
“Which I think it's in part, of course, with this rookie class of tremendous players, led by Caitlin Clark. But in addition, it's a larger movement that we're seeing in women's sports. We certainly saw it in Paris at the Olympics. We're seeing it in football, in tennis and volleyball, many other sports. It’s long overdue.
“I will leave it to Commissioner Engelbert to work through the issues on behalf of the WNBA with her players as well. But it's certainly something I would love to see happen.”
The NBA brought its Her Time to Play programme to Abu Dhabi last week, where 130 girls aged between 11 and 14 were coached by the likes of two-time WNBA champion Sylvia Fowles and former WNBA All-Star Allison Feaster.
Silver says that overall, through their Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA programmes on the ground throughout the week, they connected with 7,000 kids, and also held workshops for 450 coaches coming from inside and outside the UAE.
According to figures released by the NBA, the Jr. NBA Abu Dhabi League has reached more than 11,000 boys and girls since 2022.
Since the inaugural NBA Abu Dhabi Games in 2022, NBA fandom in the Middle East has reportedly grown by more than 25 per cent and basketball participation has grown by 60 per cent in the UAE and by more than 50 per cent in the Middle East.
These numbers are making a compelling case for the NBA to launch an academy in Abu Dhabi, similar to those already established in Australia, Mexico and Senegal.
Khaman Maluach is the latest success story to come out of the NBA Academy in Saly, Senegal. The 18-year-old was recruited by Duke University, where he just started his freshman year, and has been ranked by ESPN as the third-best prospect in the 2025 NBA draft.
Maluach represented South Sudan at the 2023 FIBA World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We’re looking at focusing on some elite training here,” said Silver. "Abu Dhabi has become a sports and entertainment hub for the whole region and we see an opportunity, potentially, with an elite academy here to bring in young people from the region, broadly described – maybe as far away as India, as far away as Africa as well – and take some of the best youth players and bring them here to train together and to develop to play at the highest levels for their national teams, and potentially in professional competition as well.”
The full list of 2020 Brit Award nominees (winners in bold):
British group
Coldplay
Foals
Bring me the Horizon
D-Block Europe
Bastille
British Female
Mabel
Freya Ridings
FKA Twigs
Charli xcx
Mahalia
British male
Harry Styles
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Michael Kiwanuka
Stormzy
Best new artist
Aitch
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Mabel
Sam Fender
Best song
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - I Don’t Care
Mabel - Don’t Call Me Up
Calvin Harrison and Rag’n’Bone Man - Giant
Dave - Location
Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
AJ Tracey - Ladbroke Grove
Lewis Capaldi - Someone you Loved
Tom Walker - Just You and I
Sam Smith and Normani - Dancing with a Stranger
Stormzy - Vossi Bop
International female
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish
Camila Cabello
Lana Del Rey
Lizzo
International male
Bruce Springsteen
Burna Boy
Tyler, The Creator
Dermot Kennedy
Post Malone
Best album
Stormzy - Heavy is the Head
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent
Dave - Psychodrama
Harry Styles - Fine Line
Rising star
Celeste
Joy Crookes
beabadoobee
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh189,700
On sale: now
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Jaguar E-Pace First Edition
Price, base / as tested: Dh186,480 / Dh252,735
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 246hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 365Nm @ 1,200rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
EA Sports FC 24
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
The essentials
What: Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
When: Friday until March 9
Where: All main sessions are held in the InterContinental Dubai Festival City
Price: Sessions range from free entry to Dh125 tickets, with the exception of special events.
Hot Tip: If waiting for your book to be signed looks like it will be timeconsuming, ask the festival’s bookstore if they have pre-signed copies of the book you’re looking for. They should have a bunch from some of the festival’s biggest guest authors.
Information: www.emirateslitfest.com
