Nets claim their first for the season

The New Jersey Nets ended the NBA's longest season-opening losing run on Friday, clinching their first win after 18 defeats to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 97-91. The Nets scored nine successive points after the game was tied 86-86 with 2mins 22secs remaining to set up the victory and give the home crowd something to cheer about after five weeks of losing.

The crowd gave the 1-18 Nets a standing ovation at the final buzzer as the players celebrated on court. "You know what felt good, was how hard our guys played," said the interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe, the Nets general manager who was making his debut on the bench. "This was a team win. I was very pleased with the effort." The centre Brook Lopez led the Nets with 31 points and 14 rebounds, while guard Courtney Lee contributed 27 points. Stephen Jackson and Raymond Felton both scored 28 points for the Bobcats.

Charlotte suffered from a poor percentage from the free-throw line, making just 18 of 30, while New Jersey scored 24 of 29. Lee put New Jersey on their way with a pair of free throws that put them up 88-86. Lee then stole the ball from Boris Diaw and streaked down the floor for a slam dunk. Guard Devin Harris was fouled by Felton while attempting a three-pointer and made all three free throws to make it 93-86. Lopez then converted two more free throws on a fast break following a turnover to give a 95-86 cushion.

Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to seven games with a 105-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Kevin Garnett scored 23 points for the Celtics, who never looked back after establishing a 31-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. Hedo Turkoglu netted with 8.1 seconds left in overtime to give Toronto a 109-107 victory over the Washington Wizards which ended a five-game run of defeats.

Cleveland won for the 11th time in 13 games, defeating the Chicago Bulls 101-87 on the back of 23 points from LeBron James, while the New Orleans Hornets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-89. Carlos Boozer scored a season-high 35 points to lead the Utah Jazz to their fourth win in a row, 96-87 over the Indiana Pacers. The New York Knicks edged out the Atlanta Hawks 114-107, while the Memphis Grizzlies saw off the Dallas Mavericks 98-82.

Rodney Stuckey scored 19 points as the Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks 105-96, and Kobe Bryant netted 33 points for the Los Angeles Lakers as they beat the Miami Heat 108-107. * Reuters

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg

Rating: 4/5

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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.”

What are the main cyber security threats?

Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.

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'Panga'

Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta

Rating: 3.5/5

The Settlers

Director: Louis Theroux

Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz

Rating: 5/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Kumulus Water

Started: 2021

Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid

Based: Tunisia

Sector: Water technology

Number of staff: 22

Investment raised: $4 million