Tom Brady helps Patriots deal Eagles playoff blow

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots dealt a heavy blow to Philadelphia's NFL playoff hopes on Sunday with a 38-20 rout of the ailing Eagles.

In a re-match of the 2005 Super Bowl, Brady threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns, while the Eagles' Vince Young, standing in for injured signal-caller Michael Vick, had a career-best 400 passing yards in defeat.

In a season that began with Super Bowl expectations, the Eagles retain just a slim mathematical chance of reaching the post-season.

By the second half, Eagles fans had turned their anger on coach Andy Reid, chanting "Fire Andy!"

"The way we played, I can understand," said Reid, whose reigning NFC East division champions fell to 1-5 at home.

Vick broke two ribs in a loss to Arizona on November 13. He hasn't trained in a fortnight and it wasn't clear if he would be able to play when the Eagles visit Seattle on short rest on Thursday.

Young, who led the Eagles to a victory against the New York Giants as he filled in for Vick last week, delivered a creditable performance, and the Eagles took an early 10-0 lead.

But the Eagles defence couldn't stop Brady and the AFC East division-leading Pats, who improved to 8-3.

Brady completed 24 of 34 passes. Deion Branch had 125 yards receiving and Wes Welker caught eight passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

Brady's favorite targets, tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, also delivered, Gronkowski catching his 11th touchdown pass and Hernandez with six catches. BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed for two touchdowns.

"It was more balanced today," Brady said. "That's how it needs to be. You have to run it. You have to throw it to everybody. We did a good job maximizing all the guys."

The Oakland Raiders took advantage of three interceptions from another fill-in quarterback - Chicago's Caleb Hanie - in a 25-20 victory over the Bears.

Hanie struggled in his first career start in place of Jay Cutler, who broke his right thumb in a victory last week.

Houston inched closer to the AFC South division title with a 20-13 victory over Jacksonville. But the Texans suffered a blow when quarterback Matt Leinart left the game shortly before halftime with a shoulder injury that he said he thought could be a broken collar bone.

Leinart was already filling in for injured starter Matt Schaub, leaving the Texans with no experienced options at quarterback if Leinart's injury is serious.

The Jets' Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Santonio Holmes with little more than a minute to play as the Jets beat Buffalo 28-24.

The Jets improved to 6-5 to keep their hopes of a late playoff push alive.

Surprising Cincinnati engineered a second-half comeback capped by a field goal in the final minute for a 23-20 victory over Cleveland.

The Bengals improved to 7-4 to stay in touch with Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the AFC North.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, playing with a broken thumb, threw for one touchdown and Pittsburgh's defence came up big in a 13-9 victory at Kansas City.

Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko - another backup standing in for injured Matt Cassel - had four turnovers, including Keenan Lewis's interception of a Palko pass with 29 seconds left that sealed the victory.

Pittsburgh improved to 8-3, as Baltimore did with a win over San Francisco on Thursday.

Denver's Matt Prater kicked a 37-yard field goal with 29 seconds left in overtime to lift the Broncos to a 16-13 victory over reeling San Diego.

In other games, Washington scored 16 points in the fourth quarter to rally for a 23-17 victory over Seattle, Atlanta beat Minnesota 24-14, Tennessee forced five turnovers and overcame five turnovers in a 23-17 victory over Tampa Bay, and Arizona defeated St. Louis 23-20.

The misery continued for Indianapolis, with Carolina defeating the Colts 27-19.

The Panthers ended a 12-game road losing streak that stretched back to December 2009, while the Colts, who have been without superstar quarterback Peyton Manning all season as he recovers from neck surgery, fell to 0-11 for the first time since 1986.

Tips to avoid getting scammed

1) Beware of cheques presented late on Thursday

2) Visit an RTA centre to change registration only after receiving payment

3) Be aware of people asking to test drive the car alone

4) Try not to close the sale at night

5) Don't be rushed into a sale

6) Call 901 if you see any suspicious behaviour

LA LIGA FIXTURES

Friday (UAE kick-off times)

Levante v Real Mallorca (12am)

Leganes v Barcelona (4pm)

Real Betis v Valencia (7pm)

Granada v Atletico Madrid (9.30pm)

Sunday

Real Madrid v Real Sociedad (12am)

Espanyol v Getafe (3pm)

Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao (5pm)

Eibar v Alaves (7pm)

Villarreal v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)

Monday

Real Valladolid v Sevilla (12am)

EXPATS

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On Women's Day

Dr Nawal Al-Hosany: Why more women should be on the frontlines of climate action

Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

Samar Elmnhrawy: How companies in the Middle East can catch up on gender equality

The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?

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.”