Neymar, Javier Pastore and 15 stars missing Copa America



Ahead of the 2016 Copa America, which starts on Friday in the United States, Jonathan Raymond examines some of the biggest names who won’t be making an impact:

Neymar, Brazil

The Barcelona star is the highest-profile in a handful of big-name Brazilians who are out of this one. He has opted to spearhead the attack for his country at the Olympics they are hosting in August, understandably, leaving Dunga’s options up front rather threadbare. Hulk is here, again, but perhaps Neymar’s absence most interestingly will open up a place for the kid some are calling the next Neymar, 19-year-old Santos striker Gabriel Barbosa.

Javier Pastore, Argentina

The 26-year-old Paris Saint-Germain midfielder is out with injury, adding to a disappointing stretch of health that saw him play just 16 Ligue 1 matches for the French champions this season. A shame, especially, after he had appeared to be growing into his playmaking best a year ago, when he racked up 12 assists for PSG in 34 league appearances.

Paulo Dybala, Argentina

The all-action 22-year-old Juventus striker had a breakout seasons of sorts, with 19 Serie A goals for the Italian champions after coming over from Palermo. He was somewhat inexplicably denied by Argentina coach Gerard Martino, but it may have made more sense when he was named to the country’s Olympics preliminary players list.

Douglas Costa, Brazil

The winger was one of the breakout stars around the world this season, blazing down touchlines for Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich and forming maybe the fastest wing pairing in the world with French teammate Kingsley Coman. Injury, unfortunately, keeps him out of this tournament. Didn’t get a real chance at last year’s Copa America, either.

Thiago Silva, Brazil

Was kind of unfairly scapegoated in many respects as the captain of Brazil’s disastrous 2014 World Cup run. He had held a creaky defence together until his injury (as evidenced by the 7-1 thrashing they took from Germany without him) and they will be worse without the 31-year-old at this Copa America, too.

Jorge Valdivia, Chile

The mercurial 32-year-old midfielder with a magic touch was one of the key ingredients in his country’s win on home soil last year, but his attitude issues and an inconsistent season this year with Al Wahda here in the UAE probably left new Chile coach Juan Antonio Pizzi with the feeling that he was more trouble than he is worth.

Keylor Navas, Costa Rica

One of the key figures in Costa Rica’s remarkable World Cup quarter-final march two years ago, the Real Madrid keeper will not have a chance to spark his side on another surprise run after sustaining an injury.

Marcelo, Brazil

A delightfully talented player and a rightful club legend at Real Madrid, Marcelo's penchant for bombing forward along the wings nonetheless has never quite worked internationally, and he was one of the main culprits in that infamous Mineirazo loss. Missed out last year too with injury.

Jackson Martinez, Colombia

Life comes at you fast, huh? A year ago he was coming off another successful season at FC Porto and headed to greater fame and fortune at Atletico Madrid, who had paid a fine price for him. Then he couldn’t score, then Atletico sold him to China’s Guangzhou Evergrande, and now Colombia coach Jose Pekerman has decided he is expendable too.

David Luiz, Brazil

He, like Marcelo, has managed to have a productive and entertaining club career as his international usefulness has been, well, questionable at best. Was perhaps Brazil’s worst defender in that 7-1 shaming, and Dunga apparently feels he can do without the Paris Saint-Germain man’s free-kick expertise.

Fredy Guarin, Colombia

Another Colombian talent who traded a leading European club (Inter Milan) for China (Shanghai Shenhua). Jose Pekerman, it appears, is none too impressed with the Chinese Super League.

Giovani dos Santos, Mexico

The former Barcelona turned Tottenham turned thrice-loaned turned Mallorca turned Villarreal striker now plies his trade for LA Galaxy, a fairly steep decline for someone who once really did look like a future international star. Mexico, simply, have better options.

Jozy Altidore, United States

Remember Jozy Altidore? Of course you remember Jozy Altidore! Say what you will about his club career (it won’t be good), but he has always been a strangely effective presence for the US. Not this year, though, with an injury keeping him away from proceedings.

Jefferson Farfan, Peru

The small, speedy winger had long, productive stints at both PSV Eindhoven and Schalke before arriving in Abu Dhabi with Al Jazira a year ago. He never looked quite in top form in the UAE capital, then got hurt and now has faded out of the international picture.

Felipe Caicedo, Ecuador

Another with ties to Al Jazira, where he played briefly in 2014, he has done reasonably well for Espanyol in La Liga the past two seasons, but won’t get the chance to keep up his production at international level with an injury the cause for his absence here.

From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases

A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.

One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait,  Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.

In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.

The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.

And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.

 

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Biog

Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara

He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada

Father of two sons, grandfather of six

Plays golf once a week

Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family

Walks for an hour every morning

Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India

2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business

 

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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How to apply for a drone permit
  • Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
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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.”

SCORES IN BRIEF

New Zealand 153 and 56 for 1 in 22.4 overs at close
Pakistan 227
(Babar 62, Asad 43, Boult 4-54, De Grandhomme 2-30, Patel 2-64)