Celtic's Leigh Griffiths, left, scored his side's equaliser in the Uefa Champions League qualifier against Astana. Graham Stuart / Action Images
Celtic's Leigh Griffiths, left, scored his side's equaliser in the Uefa Champions League qualifier against Astana. Graham Stuart / Action Images

Brendan Rodgers ‘not getting carried away’ after Leigh Griffiths strike puts Celtic in Champions League driving seat



PARIS // Leigh Griffiths levelled 12 minutes from time to give struggling Celtic a 1-1 draw at Astana in their Uefa Champions League third qualifying round first leg clash on Wednesday.

The result gave Brendan Rodgers’s side the upper hand ahead of their return clash in Glasgow next week, but the Kazakh side were unfortunate not to have finished with the advantage.

Astana hit the woodwork twice while Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon pulled off a number of fine saves.

Yuri Logvinenko headed Astana in front in the 19th minute when the defender was first to a corner.

But Scottish striker Griffiths equalised after 78 minutes with a shot from the edge of the box to give his team hope of making the play-off round.

See also:

• Gallery: Nigeria's Emmanuel Emenike bests Radamel Falcao and fires up Fenerbahce

• Poll: Will Celtic get past FC Astana in Champions League qualifying?

• Kolo Toure, set for Celtic after Liverpool stint, to bring 'big experience' says Rodgers

Before Celtic levelled, the Kazakh champions saw Azat Nurgaliyev hit the crossbar while Junior Kabananga had also seen a shot come back off the post.

“A huge amount of credit goes to the players,” Rodgers told the BBC.

“I think we were all written off before the game. But we are not getting too carried away. We’ve got another game against a very good side.”

Griffiths’s goal was Celtic’s only strike on target while Astana had seven attempts.

The result came after a second qualifying round which had seen the Scottish champions beat Gibraltar’s part-timers Lincoln Red Imps 3-0 but only after embarrassingly losing the first leg 1-0.

Monaco's goalkeeping woes continued as the French side fell 2-1 at Fenerbahce with Italian keeper Morgan De Sanctis forced off injured after 13 minutes.

Already without No 1 goalkeeper Danijel Subasic through injury, Loic Badiashile, 18, stepped in between the posts in Turkey.

The hosts took the lead in Istanbul after Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike got the first of his two goals on 39 minutes. But Radamel Falcao got Monaco back into the tie three minutes later.

Monaco dominated the start of the second period, but it was Emenike who doubled the hosts advantage on 61 minutes when against the run of play he picked up a volley and coolly shrugged off three Monaco defenders.

The return legs take place on August 2-3.

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.

A Bad Moms Christmas
Dir: John Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines
Two stars

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.”

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.

Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history

4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon

- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.

50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater

1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.  

1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.

1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.

-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.

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History's medical milestones

1799 - First small pox vaccine administered

1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery

1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases

1895 - Discovery of x-rays

1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time

1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1953 - Structure of DNA discovered

1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place 

1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill

1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.

1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out

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Andor
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