Australian Caleb Ewan claimed his second victory in this year's Tour de France when he prevailed in a tightly-contested sprint to win Stage 11 on Wednesday.
The Lotto-Soudal rider threw his bike over the line to beat triple world champion Peter Sagan, who was later demoted to last place in the peloton after barging into Wouth van Aert in the sprint finish.
Belgian Van Aert made it clear he was unhappy making an angry gesture at the Bora-Hansgrohe rider on the line after he was pushed back into fourth place.
Ireland's Sam Bennett, who won Tuesday's Stage 10 and was hoping for a victory in Poitiers where compatriot Sean Kelly won on the Tour in 1978, had to settle for third. Bennett and Van Aert, though, were boosted up a place after Sagan's demotion.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after a quiet day in the main bunch.
Ewan admitted his latest victory was far from easy. "It was very, very hectic," he said. I was really close to the front with three and then one kilometre to go, I was more forward than I wanted to be, especially with a headwind finish.
"I dropped back into the bunch but from there it was quite crazy. I knew from the first stage that I won that I had to stay calm and wait for the right time and right gap to open it did in the end.
"I didn’t really know I’d won, I saluted just in case. I did a big throw and you’re basically looking down at the road, so you don't see if you win or not. Sometimes you can feel it and I felt quite close.
"I’m super happy with two stage wins; one takes the pressure off and after the first one, you want a second. Now I want another, especially in Paris. I hope to get through the mountains alright and have another sprint in Paris."
After being shown footage of the Sagan incident, Ewan said: "Wow. Yeah, I mean, you know, in the end, we’re all really in the heat of the moment and it’s a Tour de France stage on the line.
"You’re not always thinking about safety, all you’re thinking about is getting to the line first. I’m sure Peter when he did that he meant no harm. Ok, it looks quite bad on TV and maybe he shouldn’t have done it but I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm by it."
Sagan's hopes of winning an eighth green jersey took a severe blow after Tour organisers relegated him down to 85th place on the stage and deducted all 43 points he gained.
The Slovak now lies on 175 points, 68 behind Deceuninck-Quick Step's Bennett who leads the points classification on 243.
UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar finished 13th in the bunch sprint and remains 44 seconds behind leader Roglic.
Thursday's 12th stage is a 218-km ride from Chauvigny to Sarran.
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
MATCH INFO
Jersey 147 (20 overs)
UAE 112 (19.2 overs)
Jersey win by 35 runs
The years Ramadan fell in May
The President's Cake
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Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
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Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
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1.5 stars
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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
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Best Asian Player: Massaki Todokoro (Japan)
Best European Player: Adam Wardzinski (Poland)
Best North & Central American Player: DJ Jackson (United States)
Best African Player: Walter Dos Santos (Angola)
Best Oceanian Player: Lee Ting (Australia)
Best South American Player: Gabriel De Sousa (Brazil)
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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
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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.”
