Sheffield United chairman Prince Musa'ad bin Khalid Al Saud had stepped down from his position. Getty
Sheffield United chairman Prince Musa'ad bin Khalid Al Saud had stepped down from his position. Getty
Sheffield United chairman Prince Musa'ad bin Khalid Al Saud had stepped down from his position. Getty
Sheffield United chairman Prince Musa'ad bin Khalid Al Saud had stepped down from his position. Getty

Sheffield United chairman Prince Musa'ad steps down for personal reasons


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Sheffield United announced that their chairman Prince Musa'ad bin Khalid Al Saud has resigned from his position for personal reasons.

The 28-year-old became the Premier League's youngest chairman when he was appointed by his father-in-law, club owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa'ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, in September 2019.

Prince Musa'ad leaves as the Blades sit bottom of the Premier League with 14 points from 31 games – with a possibility their relegation will be confirmed on Saturday.

"It has been an absolute pleasure and a real privilege to be chairman of this great club and I have always tried to uphold the values of the club and act as a true custodian," he said in a statement.

"To say I am disappointed of how things turned out this season is an understatement. I have great faith that we have a bright future and I look forward to seeing everyone back at Bramall Lane in good health and cheering on our Blades."

Last month manager Chris Wilder left his role after five years in the job, during which he guided them from League One to the Premier League.

Club owner Prince Abdullah said: "On behalf of the board of directors, I offer our thanks to Prince Musa'ad for his efforts, he has made a valuable contribution to the development of the football club."

Vice chairman Yusuf Giansiracusa will take on the role of interim chairman.

Highest paid players at Sheffield United

  • Phil Jagielka was the Blades' top earner, according to spotrac, on £50,000 a week. EPA
    Phil Jagielka was the Blades' top earner, according to spotrac, on £50,000 a week. EPA
  • Sander Berge, £32,692 a week. EPA
    Sander Berge, £32,692 a week. EPA
  • David McGoldrick, £28,846 a week. Getty
    David McGoldrick, £28,846 a week. Getty
  • Rhian Brewster, £27,500 a week. Reuters
    Rhian Brewster, £27,500 a week. Reuters
  • Lys Mousset, £25,000 a week. PA
    Lys Mousset, £25,000 a week. PA
  • Aaron Ramsdale, £22,212 a week. PA
    Aaron Ramsdale, £22,212 a week. PA
  • Michael Verrips, £20,000 a week. PA
    Michael Verrips, £20,000 a week. PA
  • Oli McBurnie, £20,000 a week. AFP
    Oli McBurnie, £20,000 a week. AFP
  • Jayden Bogle, £16,500 a week. AP
    Jayden Bogle, £16,500 a week. AP
  • Oliver Norwood, £15,000 a week. AP
    Oliver Norwood, £15,000 a week. AP
  • Jack Rodwell, £13,200 a week. Getty
    Jack Rodwell, £13,200 a week. Getty
  • Billy Sharp, £12,000 a week. AP
    Billy Sharp, £12,000 a week. AP
  • Jack Robinson, £11,000 a week. AFP
    Jack Robinson, £11,000 a week. AFP
  • Jack O'Connell, £10,000 a week. PA
    Jack O'Connell, £10,000 a week. PA
  • Chris Basham, £9,365 a week. Getty
    Chris Basham, £9,365 a week. Getty
  • Oliver Burke, £8,800 a week. Getty
    Oliver Burke, £8,800 a week. Getty
  • John Fleck, £8,000 a week. Reuters
    John Fleck, £8,000 a week. Reuters
  • Ethan Ampadu (on loan from Chelsea), £7,500 a week. PA
    Ethan Ampadu (on loan from Chelsea), £7,500 a week. PA
  • John Egan, £7,500 a week. PA
    John Egan, £7,500 a week. PA
  • Wes Foderingham, £5,500 a week. Getty
    Wes Foderingham, £5,500 a week. Getty
  • Max Lowe, £4,400 a week. AP
    Max Lowe, £4,400 a week. AP
  • George Baldock, £4,000 a week. AFP
    George Baldock, £4,000 a week. AFP
  • John Lundstram, £4,000 a week. EPA
    John Lundstram, £4,000 a week. EPA
  • Ben Osborn, £4,000 a week. Getty
    Ben Osborn, £4,000 a week. Getty
  • Enda Stevens, £4,000 a week. Getty
    Enda Stevens, £4,000 a week. Getty
  • Kean Bryan, £3,000 a week. AFP
    Kean Bryan, £3,000 a week. AFP

THE SPECS

Aston Martin Rapide AMR

Engine: 6.0-litre V12

Transmission: Touchtronic III eight-speed automatic

Power: 595bhp

Torque: 630Nm

Price: Dh999,563

The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS

AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas

DevisionX – manufacturing

Event Gates – security and manufacturing

Farmdar – agriculture

Farmin – smart cities

Greener Crop – agriculture

Ipera.ai – space digitisation

Lune Technologies – fibre-optics

Monak – delivery

NutzenTech – environment

Nybl – machine learning

Occicor – shelf management

Olymon Solutions – smart automation

Pivony – user-generated data

PowerDev – energy big data

Sav – finance

Searover – renewables

Swftbox – delivery

Trade Capital Partners – FinTech

Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment

Workfam – employee engagement

Key developments

All times UTC 4

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Final scores

18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

What is a robo-adviser?

Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.

These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.

Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.

Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
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  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
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  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
AUSTRALIA SQUAD

Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle

MATCH INFO

Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')

Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)

New UK refugee system

 

  • A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
  • Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
  • A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
  • To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
  • Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
  • Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds

Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press

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The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands

The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands

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 Chris Jericho

Singles match John Cena v Triple H

Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba

Europe's top EV producers
  1. Norway (63% of cars registered in 2021)
  2. Iceland (33%)
  3. Netherlands (20%)
  4. Sweden (19%)
  5. Austria (14%)
  6. Germany (14%)
  7. Denmark (13%)
  8. Switzerland (13%)
  9. United Kingdom (12%)
  10. Luxembourg (10%)

Source: VCOe 

Queen

Nicki Minaj

(Young Money/Cash Money)

ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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%3Cp%3E-%20Congress%20is%20one%20of%20three%20branches%20of%20the%20US%20government%2C%20and%20the%20one%20that%20creates%20the%20nation's%20federal%20laws%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20Congress%20is%20divided%20into%20two%20chambers%3A%20The%20House%20of%20Representatives%20and%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%C2%A0The%20House%20is%20made%20up%20of%20435%20members%20based%20on%20a%20state's%20population.%20House%20members%20are%20up%20for%20election%20every%20two%20years%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20A%20bill%20must%20be%20approved%20by%20both%20the%20House%20and%20Senate%20before%20it%20goes%20to%20the%20president's%20desk%20for%20signature%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20A%20political%20party%20needs%20218%20seats%20to%20be%20in%20control%20of%20the%20House%20of%20Representatives%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20The%20Senate%20is%20comprised%20of%20100%20members%2C%20with%20each%20state%20receiving%20two%20senators.%20Senate%20members%20serve%20six-year%20terms%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E-%20A%20political%20party%20needs%2051%20seats%20to%20control%20the%20Senate.%20In%20the%20case%20of%20a%2050-50%20tie%2C%20the%20party%20of%20the%20president%20controls%20the%20Senate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:

Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona

Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate

Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

THE TWIN BIO

Their favourite city: Dubai

Their favourite food: Khaleeji

Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach

Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll

Company profile

Name: Dukkantek 

Started: January 2021 

Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani 

Based: UAE 

Number of employees: 140 

Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service) 

Investment: $5.2 million 

Funding stage: Seed round 

Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office  

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