Supporters of President Trump gather in Freedom Plaza on Tuesday evening, ahead of all-day demonstrations on Wednesday, the day Congress is meeting to certify the 2020 election results. Mr Trump is slated to speak at a rally Wednesday. AFP
Supporters of President Trump gather in Freedom Plaza on Tuesday evening, ahead of all-day demonstrations on Wednesday, the day Congress is meeting to certify the 2020 election results. Mr Trump is slated to speak at a rally Wednesday. AFP
Supporters of President Trump gather in Freedom Plaza on Tuesday evening, ahead of all-day demonstrations on Wednesday, the day Congress is meeting to certify the 2020 election results. Mr Trump is slated to speak at a rally Wednesday. AFP
Supporters of President Trump gather in Freedom Plaza on Tuesday evening, ahead of all-day demonstrations on Wednesday, the day Congress is meeting to certify the 2020 election results. Mr Trump is sl

Donald Trump to speak at DC rally as Congress meets on election


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President Donald Trump will address a gathering of his supporters in Washington DC on Wednesday as he seeks to rally support for his last-ditch efforts to overturn his loss to president-elect Joe Biden.

The White House confirmed Tuesday that Mr Trump would speak at a rally on the Ellipse, south of the White House.

He made the appearance official with a tweet on Tuesday evening.

The protests coincide with Wednesday's congressional vote expected to certify the electoral college results, which Mr Trump continues to dispute.

The rallies have local officials bracing for potentially violent street clashes.

With Washington businesses boarding up their windows, Mayor Muriel Bowser has requested a limited National Guard force to bolster the Metropolitan Police Department.

On Monday, Ms Bowser urged local residents to stay away from the city centre and avoid confrontations with anyone who is “looking for a fight".

But she said: “We will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.”

Election officials from both parties, governors in battleground states and Mr Trump's former attorney general, William Barr, have said there was no widespread fraud in the election.

Nearly all the legal challenges from Mr Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two rejected by the Supreme Court.

A pro-Trump rally on December 12 ended in violence as hundreds of his supporters, wearing the black and yellow of the Proud Boys faction, sought confrontations with local activists trying to bar them from Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House.

At least two local black churches had Black Lives Matter banners torn down and set ablaze.

On Monday, police arrested the leader of the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, after he arrived in Washington before this week’s protests.

Mr Tarrio was accused of burning one of the Black Lives Matter banners in December.

Organisers planned to rally on Tuesday evening at Freedom Plaza and all day Wednesday on the Ellipse, including a 1pm Wednesday march to the Capitol.

Expected attendees include high-level Trump supporters such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican strategist Roger Stone, a long-time devotee whose three-year prison sentence was commuted by the president.

Mr Stone was convicted of repeatedly lying to Congress during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

A November pro-Trump rally drew about 15,000 participants. The December 12 rally drew smaller numbers, but a larger contingent of Proud Boys.

At previous protests police sealed off Black Lives Matter Plaza, but confrontations spilt into the surrounding streets.

Acting police chief Robert Contee on Monday said sealing the area again was “a very real possibility” but said that decision would depend on the circumstances.

“We know that historically over the last few demonstrations that BLM Plaza has been a focal point,” Mr Contee said.

“We want to make sure that that is not an issue.”

How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now

Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.

The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.

1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):

a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33

b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.

2. For those who have worked more than five years

c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.

Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.

How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press

Points tally

1. Australia 52; 2. New Zealand 44; 3. South Africa 36; 4. Sri Lanka 35; 5. UAE 27; 6. India 27; 7. England 26; 8. Singapore 8; 9. Malaysia 3

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor Cricket World Cup Dubai 2017

Venue Insportz, Dubai; Admission Free

Fixtures - Open Men 2pm: India v New Zealand, Malaysia v UAE, Singapore v South Africa, Sri Lanka v England; 8pm: Australia v Singapore, India v Sri Lanka, England v Malaysia, New Zealand v South Africa

Fixtures - Open Women Noon: New Zealand v England, UAE v Australia; 6pm: England v South Africa, New Zealand v Australia