All things going to plan, February might be a very special month indeed for Sofyan Amrabat and Hannibal Mejbri. The target: two finals in 14 days. The aim: gold medals at the end of them, one for country, one for club. On the second aspiration, the pair have a common focus.
On Tuesday at Old Trafford, Amrabat made his first start for Manchester United, and by the time he was substituted, a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace to begin United’s defence of the English League Cup secured, he could hear sustained, heartfelt applause for a performance of resourcefulness and authority.
Hannibal, meanwhile, was making his first home start for United. He distinguished the landmark occasion with trademark energy.
The 20-year-old has been part of United’s set-up, rising through the youth ranks, long enough to be recognised and admired for his high work-rate.
He knows that being in the line-up at the start of this senior League Cup campaign gives him a chance of still being there when it ends. If United make the final, that’s at Wembley on February 25.
Two weeks earlier in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, there’s the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, and for Morocco’s Amrabat, a star of the last World Cup, pursued by United keenly since then and finally transferred from Serie A’s Fiorentina on loan at the tail-end of August, the intention is to be at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium that evening.
In his mind's eye, he'll be commanding midfield and extending Morocco’s momentum from Qatar 2022, when they became the first African or Mena team to reach a World Cup semi-final.
Morocco are ranked the best men’s national side in Africa by Fifa; Hannibal’s Tunisia are two spots behind. Both countries are on the rise, with ambitions to win next year’s Afcon, their managers attentive to the impact their key midfielders make in this, a career-threshold season at a club with global resonance and a huge worldwide following.
So far, so promising. Amrabat and Hannibal look like the catalysts for what United manager Erik ten Hag believes is a turning point for United, after a rickety start to the current campaign, with four defeats in the first six competitive games and issues, offstage, that have left some younger players, such as Jadon Sancho and Antony, distanced from the first team.
Enter Hannibal, young and fearless, to galvanise midfield. At home to Brighton 12 days ago, he came off the bench to score a fabulous long-range goal, a happy memento from an otherwise deflating afternoon, a 3-1 defeat. His elevation to the starting XI then coincided with successive wins at Burnley and against Palace.
Enter Amrabat, who made his United debut as a late substitute at Burnley and against Palace was asked to show sides to his game previously concealed to an expectant Old Trafford.
Short of fit left-backs, Ten Hag turned to Amrabat to cover the position. “I’m not a traditional left-back,” Amrabat, 27, gently reminded an English audience more acquainted with his mastery of central midfield during his excellent World Cup and similar contributions to Fiorentina’s run to last season’s Europa Conference League final.
But the United manager and the new signing know each other’s instincts and capabilities intimately. Ten Hag worked with Amrabat at Utrecht in the Netherlands when the Dutch-born Moroccan was in his early 20s.
Back then, he sometimes asked him to play at full-back, noting his comfort with either foot meant he could marshal the left flank as ably as the right, that his judicious tracking and timing of challenges would look after the defensive aspects of the role.
Man United player ratings against Palace
Some of the finest wide forwards in the game would testify to that. Up against Amrabat, Kylian Mbappe, playing for France, and Rafael Leao, playing for AC Milan against Fiorentina, have both in the last 12 months felt forcefully that Amrabat the tackler will always regard covering the full-back’s space as part of his main job, as midfield patroller.
His temporary return to left-back against Palace featured key interceptions and blocks, loudly cheered, and, in a confident Old Trafford debut, they dovetailed with precise long passing. As United took control of the cup tie, the new signing moved more and more into midfield.
“He brings quality, energy and dynamism,” beamed Ten Hag afterwards. “He’s a warrior, he will play where the team needs him.”
“If he needs me as goalkeeper I’ll play there,” joked Amrabat in a broadcast interview after a night he said he had been looking forward to for years, a fresh peak in a career that has climbed through the leagues of the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. “United is a huge club, the pressure is high, but this is what we want. I’ve worked very hard for this.”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 20: 11am to 7pm - Abu Dhabi World Jiu-Jitsu Festival and Para jiu-jitsu.
Sunday, April 21: 11am to 6pm - Abu Dhabi World Youth (female) Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Monday, April 22: 11am to 6pm - Abu Dhabi World Youth (male) Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Tuesday, April 23: 11am-6pm Abu Dhabi World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Wednesday, April 24: 11am-6pm Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Thursday, April 25: 11am-5pm Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Friday, April 26: 3pm to 6pm Finals of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Saturday, April 27: 4pm and 8pm awards ceremony.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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.”
Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
