Sunderland, United Kingdom // Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has warned his side that they are not yet safe as they close in on a fourth consecutive late-season escape from Premier League relegation.
The northeast club will secure a 10th successive season of top-flight football with victory at home to Roberto Martinez’s drifting Everton on Wednesday.
Fourth-bottom Sunderland have pulled off similar last-gasp escapes in the past three seasons and set up a chance to do it again with a stirring 3-2 comeback victory over Chelsea at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
Their 48,000-capacity home will again post the ‘Sold out’ signs as they look to secure back-to-back wins for the first time since November, which would see them safe and condemn neighbours Newcastle United and Norwich City to the Championship alongside bottom club Aston Villa.
Online poll: Sunderland, Newcastle United or Norwich City? Who will survive?
Photo gallery: Jermain Defoe and Sunderland fight for their lives against Chelsea
A draw will leave their relegation rivals with slim hopes of staying up and Allardyce is keen to finish the job to avoid going into the final day with matters still unresolved.
Sunderland visit Watford on Sunday, with Newcastle hosting Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich travelling to Everton.
“Our destiny is in our own hands,” Allardyce said.
“But we can’t go into the Everton game with the expectation that it’s job done, because it isn’t. We need a repeat of the performance and support we had against Chelsea, particularly in the second half.”
Everton humiliated Sunderland 6-2 earlier in the season and have lost only once in 11 visits to Wearside.
Despite that, they travel to the northeast woefully out of form, but Allardyce does not expect them to roll over, even though his side start as favourites.
“There will be an instinctive response from Everton,” he said. “So it’s by no means a forgone conclusion.”
Allardyce confirmed that defender Lamine Kone is available after being forced off against Chelsea with a thigh problem.
Sunderland have taken eight points from their last four matches and Allardyce added: “We want to give another good account of ourselves, but of course this match for us is all about the result.”
Everton arrive at the Stadium of Light desperate to end a season that has gone from bad to worse, ramping up speculation about the future of embattled manager Martinez.
The Spaniard, who has been in charge since 2013, has overseen a run of just one win in nine Premier League games, which is likely to condemn his side to a bottom-half finish.
The former Swansea City and Wigan Athletic manager has pointed to Everton’s cup exploits -- reaching the semi-finals of both domestic knockout competitions -- and some reasonable away form as evidence that he is still making progress with a talented squad.
But the Merseyside club have won on the road only twice in the league since the turn of the year and disgruntled supporters are calling in increasing numbers for a change of management.
Martinez admitted that Saturday’s abject 3-1 defeat at champions Leicester City was not good enough and that it will take a major change in attitude and application to prevent Sunderland from securing victory.
Wing-back Bryan Oviedo concurred, saying: “We need to focus on Sunderland now and see what we can do better. It’s important to try and finish strongly in these last two games and focus on next season.”
Everton are again without first-choice defenders Phil Jagielka and Seamus Coleman through injury, while winger Gerard Deulofeu is also out with a hamstring problem.
Centre-back Ramiro Funes Mori is available after suspension.
Premier League fixtures (in UAE time)
Tuesday
West Ham v Manchester United, 10.45pm
Wednesday
Norwich City v Watford, 10.45pm
Sunderland v Everton, 10.45pm
Liverpool v Chelsea, 11pm
Sunday
Swansea City v Manchester City, 6pm
Southampton v Crystal Palace, 6pm
Arsenal v Aston Villa, 6pm
Watford v Sunderland, 6pm
Everton v Norwich City, 6pm
Stoke City v West Ham, 6pm
Manchester United v Bournemouth, 6pm
West Brom v Liverpool, 6pm
Newcastle v Tottenham, 6pm
Chelsea v Leicester City, 6pm
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Brief scores:
Newcastle United 1
Perez 23'
Wolverhampton Rovers 2
Jota 17', Doherty 90' 4
Red cards: Yedlin 57'
Man of the Match: Diogo Jota (Wolves)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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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Race 3
Produced: Salman Khan Films and Tips Films
Director: Remo D’Souza
Cast: Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah, Saqib Salem
Rating: 2.5 stars
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Brief scores:
Toss: South Africa, chose to field
Pakistan: 177 & 294
South Africa: 431 & 43-1
Man of the Match: Faf du Plessis (South Africa)
Series: South Africa lead three-match series 2-0
What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
UAE Premiership
Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes
Final
Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, Friday, March 29, 5pm at The Sevens, Dubai
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
The specs: Audi e-tron
Price, base: From Dh325,000 (estimate)
Engine: Twin electric motors and 95kWh battery pack
Transmission: Single-speed auto
Power: 408hp
Torque: 664Nm
Range: 400 kilometres
The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.
They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.
