Follow live updates from the UN General Assembly
World leaders will be back in New York this week as they address the world at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.
It is the first time that those attending will convene in person since the Covid-19 pandemic led to most addresses being delivered by video link.
Numbers have been stripped back, with smaller delegations and fewer journalists given access.
The annual meeting will be held at the UN’s headquarters in New York and top officials will discuss the yearly agenda and global issues. The war in Ukraine is expected to dominate discussions, along with the rising cost of living globally and the energy crisis, both of which have been exacerbated by the war.
The UN’s 193-member states will be provided with a platform and 15 to 20 minutes to address the international community.
As is customary, Brazil's leader Jair Bolsonaro will make the famous first address on Tuesday to begin the proceedings. US President Joe Biden is due to make his address the following day, due to his attendance at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London.
After that will be a quick succession of world leaders over the course of the following six days.
This is the complete updated schedule of countries speaking at the 77th UN General Assembly in New York:
Tuesday, September 20
Morning: Brazil, Senegal, Chile, Jordan, Colombia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Paraguay, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia and France.
Afternoon: Honduras, Philippines, Lithuania, Romania, Bolivia, Peru, Marshall Islands, Costa Rica, Seychelles, Argentina, Poland, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Japan, Germany, Morocco and Italy.
Wednesday, September 21
Morning: Nigeria, Iran, Mongolia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Suriname, United States of America, Latvia, Ecuador, Zambia, Madagascar, Libya, Republic of Moldova, Namibia, Slovenia, Kenya, Gabon and Guyana.
Afternoon: Hungary, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Estonia, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Eswatini, Ukraine, Serbia, Monaco, Dominica, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Cuba, Czech Republic, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Palau.
Memorable moments at the UNGA
Thursday, September 22
Morning: Niger, Botswana, Gambia, Yemen, Kiribati, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, Comoros, Liberia, Somalia, Burundi, Sudan, Israel, Papua New Guinea, Georgia and Norway.
Afternoon: Malawi, Micronesia, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Panama, Portugal, Armenia, Barbados, Ireland, Malta, Kuwait, Spain, Jamaica, Guinea, Austria, and Mexico.
Friday, September 23
Morning: Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, Burkina Faso, Cyprus, State of Palestine, European Union, Fiji, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Cambodia, Saint Lucia, Andorra, Belgium, Mauritius, Tonga and Greece.
Afternoon: Antigua and Barbuda, Iraq, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Croatia, Samoa, Montenegro, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Belize, Tuvalu, Maldives, Australia, Equatorial Guinea, Liechtenstein, Togo and Chad.
Saturday, September 24
Morning: Bahamas, Mali, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, North Macedonia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Albania, Holy See, China, Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand, Ethiopia, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, India, Sweden, Bulgaria and Egypt.
Afternoon: Azerbaijan, Singapore, Belarus, UAE, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Trinidad and Tobago and Iceland.
Monday, September 26
Morning: Syria, Congo, Eritrea, Uruguay, Mauritania, Indonesia, Algeria, Nicaragua, Tunisia, Bhutan, Canada, Cameroon, Nepal, Benin, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Angola, Oman, Djibouti and Nauru.
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
The five pillars of Islam
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
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UAE v United States, T20 International Series
Both matches at ICC Academy, Dubai. Admission is free.
1st match: Friday, 2pm
2nd match: Saturday, 2pm
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Rameez Shahzad, Amjad Gul, CP Rizwan, Mohammed Boota, Abdul Shakoor, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Amir Hayat
USA squad: Saurabh Netravalkar (captain), Jaskaran Malhotra, Elmore Hutchinson, Aaron Jones, Nosthush Kenjige, Ali Khan, Jannisar Khan, Xavier Marshall, Monank Patel, Timil Patel, Roy Silva, Jessy Singh, Steven Taylor, Hayden Walsh
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BIOSAFETY LABS SECURITY LEVELS
Biosafety Level 1
The lowest safety level. These labs work with viruses that are minimal risk to humans.
Hand washing is required on entry and exit and potentially infectious material decontaminated with bleach before thrown away.
Must have a lock. Access limited. Lab does not need to be isolated from other buildings.
Used as teaching spaces.
Study microorganisms such as Staphylococcus which causes food poisoning.
Biosafety Level 2
These labs deal with pathogens that can be harmful to people and the environment such as Hepatitis, HIV and salmonella.
Working in Level 2 requires special training in handling pathogenic agents.
Extra safety and security precautions are taken in addition to those at Level 1
Biosafety Level 3
These labs contain material that can be lethal if inhaled. This includes SARS coronavirus, MERS, and yellow fever.
Significant extra precautions are taken with staff given specific immunisations when dealing with certain diseases.
Infectious material is examined in a biological safety cabinet.
Personnel must wear protective gowns that must be discarded or decontaminated after use.
Strict safety and handling procedures are in place. There must be double entrances to the building and they must contain self-closing doors to reduce risk of pathogen aerosols escaping.
Windows must be sealed. Air from must be filtered before it can be recirculated.
Biosafety Level 4
The highest level for biosafety precautions. Scientist work with highly dangerous diseases that have no vaccine or cure.
All material must be decontaminated.
Personnel must wear a positive pressure suit for protection. On leaving the lab this must pass through decontamination shower before they have a personal shower.
Entry is severely restricted to trained and authorised personnel. All entries are recorded.
Entrance must be via airlocks.
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Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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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.”
