Swimming
Medals for Al Nasr at Portugal meet: University of Wollongong graduate student Sarra Lajnef moved closer to qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympics after winning gold and silver at the VII Meeting Internacional da Povoa de Varzima meet in Portugal. Representing Al Nasr Club, Lajnef clinched the women's 200m individual medley and was runner-up in the 200m breaststroke. The Tunisian will take part in another competition in Athens from March 4-6 with the aim of registering a qualifying time for the Olympics. "My times are getting closer to Olympic qualifying times and I'm extremely satisfied," Lajnef said.
Emirati duo to be in action at World Cup: Two Emirati swimmers, Abdulla Hatem Al Balooshi, 19, and Amer Eissa Abdullah, 22, will be part of the field on Friday in the Fina/Hosa 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup on Abu Dhabi Corniche. "Amer and Abdulla are both promising, and with Amer reaching the Kazan World Championship in 2015, we are confident that he will achieve great results in Abu Dhabi on Friday," said Mohammed Al Zanati, UAE swimming team coach. The World Cup is part of a weekend of action which also sees Abu Dhabi hosting the High Diving World Cup competitions and the Fina Open Water Mass Participation Swim.
Cricket
Openers clinch big win for Touchmate: Muhammadullah Khan and Mohammed Gayaz hammered centuries to power Touchmate to a resounding 107-run win over Wollongong in the Asianet Premier League T20 tournament. Sent in to bat first, Muhammadullah (108 not out) and Gayaz (101 not out) went on the rampage to post 222 for no loss. In reply, Wollongong could muster only 115 for eight at The Sevens grounds in Dubai. Rig Power Technical Construction downed RAK Insurance by eight wickets and Alubond Tigers won by 38 runs over Globelink West Star in the other games.
Triathlon
UAE trio will take on the field: An all-Emirati team will compete in the ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi next week when the second edition of the season-opening World Series event takes place on Abu Dhabi Corniche on March 5. The three-man team – swimmer Obeid Al Jasmi from Abu Dhabi, cyclist Badr Ali Thani from Dubai and Fujairah-born runner Khalifa Al Nuaimi – will race in the Age Group category on the Olympic Distance course alongside participants from 44 countries.
Equestrian
Big turnout expected at the show jumping: Over 120 competitors in both the professional and amateur categories will vie for honours in the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Academy (FBMA) Show Jumping Cup at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club (Adec) on Friday and Saturday. With a prize purse of Dh400,000 up for grabs, the event has drawn professional riders from the United States, Europe and the Middle East. The other two categories are the open and juniors. "One of the main goals of this competition is to encourage and provide more competition opportunities for young Emirati female riders from FBMA," said Adnan Sultan Al Nuaimi, the Adec secretary general.
Motorsport
Emirati drivers Atef Al Barwani and Rashid Al Dhaheri emerged as outright winners in Round 3 of the SWS Sprint races held at the Dubai Kartdrome on Monday night.
Multiple SWS champion Al Barwani sparkled under the Kartdrome floodlights, qualifying second before becoming embroiled in a four-way battle for top honours with pole winner Ahmed Al Hammadi, Rami Azzam and Dubai schoolgirl Abigail Birch.
In the end, Al Barwani took the win by a mere 0.326 of a second over Al Hamamdi and Birch, who turned seventh on the grid to third place when the chequered flag dropped to end the race.
In Race 2, Umid Ali and Romaldo Labrooy slugged it out for top honours in race two with Umid Ali edging victory by 0.693 of second. Al Barwani finished fourth to be the overall winner.
Earlier in the evening, Abu Dhabi schoolboy Rashid Al Dhaheri qualified in pole position for the SWS Junior Sprint race.
In Race 1, Jad Charaffudine powered to his first SWS win by two seconds over Al Dhaheri who bounced back to win the second race after a long battle with Danny Shields, the pair crossing the line separated by 0.756 of a second.
University sport
The New York University Abu Dhabi Falcons women football team overcame Zayed University Z 5-0 to book their passage in the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi Inter-University League.
The NYUAD were also successful in basketball with both their men and women teams emerging winners. In the men’s division-1, they got the better of UAE University 54-20 with Hussein Karzoumi (18 points/15 rebounds), Will Young (10/12) and Tima Akimtegi (13/10) chipping in with the major contributions. They also defeated Zayed University 1-22 in the division-2 while the women’s team emerged 22-7 winners over Abu Dhabi University
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
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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.”
The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
Princeton
RESULTS
Bantamweight: Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Azizbek Satibaldiev (KYG). Round 1 KO
Featherweight: Izzeddin Farhan (JOR) beat Ozodbek Azimov (UZB). Round 1 rear naked choke
Middleweight: Zaakir Badat (RSA) beat Ercin Sirin (TUR). Round 1 triangle choke
Featherweight: Ali Alqaisi (JOR) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB). Round 1 TKO
Featherweight: Abu Muslim Alikhanov (RUS) beat Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG). Unanimous decision
Catchweight 74kg: Mirafzal Akhtamov (UZB) beat Marcos Costa (BRA). Split decision
Welterweight: Andre Fialho (POR) beat Sang Hoon-yu (KOR). Round 1 TKO
Lightweight: John Mitchell (IRE) beat Arbi Emiev (RUS). Round 2 RSC (deep cuts)
Middleweight: Gianni Melillo (ITA) beat Mohammed Karaki (LEB)
Welterweight: Handesson Ferreira (BRA) beat Amiran Gogoladze (GEO). Unanimous decision
Flyweight (Female): Carolina Jimenez (VEN) beat Lucrezia Ria (ITA), Round 1 rear naked choke
Welterweight: Daniel Skibinski (POL) beat Acoidan Duque (ESP). Round 3 TKO
Lightweight: Martun Mezhlumyan (ARM) beat Attila Korkmaz (TUR). Unanimous decision
Bantamweight: Ray Borg (USA) beat Jesse Arnett (CAN). Unanimous decision
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
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.
Greatest Royal Rumble match listing
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
