When Donald Trump Jr was first asked about his meeting with a Russian lawyer during the election campaign he crafted a statement explaining it had been held to discuss adoption policy.
As more details emerged, he admitted that Natalia Veselnitskaya had said she had compromising information on Hillary Clinton, his father’s election opponent, but that she was vague on specifics and the offer amounted to nothing.
Since then the drip, drip, drip of information has continued.
E-mails showed how he leapt at the chance to meet a woman carrying compromising material as part of a Russian government effort to help his father — the first time a Trump campaign member has been shown as a willing collaborator with the Kremlin — and the cast of characters in the meeting has expanded to include a lobbyist suspected of being a former Russian counter-intelligence officer.
By Saturday morning, the total number of people in the room during that June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower had grown to eight. Alongside Mr Trump Jr, there was Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, Mr Trump's then campaign manager, Paul Manafort, Ms Veselnitskaya, Rinat Akhmetshin, the lobbyist who denies ever having been trained as a Russian spy, Rob Goldstone, a British publicist who brokered the meeting, a translator and an unnamed member of the Russian family who helped set up the get-together.
The never-ending stream of revelations highlights how the White House has been unable to shrug off allegations that the campaign worked with Russia to gain an advantage over Mrs Clinton in last year’s election.
It has emboldened the president’s critics, left his administration struggling to advance its legislative agenda and mystified political strategists.
Lanny Davis, who worked as special counsel to president Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings, said: "No successful crisis management model works the way they are doing things.
"If your mission is to control a story or try to end a story, you need to tell it early, tell it all and tell it yourself."
Instead, the result is that every new revelation is treated by half of America's voracious cable news networks as the latest sensational twist in Mr Trump’s downfall, and as evidence of journalists’ bias against the president by the other half.
Although Republicans say they still see no evidence of collusion with Russia other than amateurish and incompetent efforts to hide details of the meetings, Democrats scent blood.
They have turned their attention to Mr Kushner, who they believe may be the most vulnerable member of the president’s core team.
He has twice had to update information submitted on security clearance application form SF-86 after omitting to mention contacts with foreign governments.
Intentionally concealing or falsifying answers is a criminal offence subject to up to five years in prison.
Mr Kushner’s lawyers insist it was an innocent mistake but Democrats are demanding he lose his security clearance.
Nancy Pelosi, who leads Democrats in the House of Representatives, said there was now “cold, hard, evidence” that the Trump family “eagerly intended” to collude with outsiders — possibly with Russia — to influence the elections.
“I … call for the revoking of the security clearance for Jared Kushner. It's absolutely ridiculous that he should have … that clearance,” she said.
Don Beyer, a Democratic congressman from Virginia, went further. "Jared Kushner must resign. If he will not, he should be fired."
Some Republicans have also expressed their exasperation at the way the crisis is being handled. In particular, they have focused on the way family members and figures with no previous political experience have allowed themselves to be caught out through naivety.
Bill Flores, a Republican congressman from Texas, said: "I'm going out on a limb here, but I would say I think it would be in the president's best interest if he removed all of his children from the White House. Not only Donald Trump Jr, but Ivanka and Jared Kushner."
Campaigners familiar with the Russian cast of characters say the Trump campaign allowed itself to be targeted by the Kremlin as part of Moscow's efforts to get the US to lift sanctions contained in the Magnitsky Act.
The legislation was designed to punish officials responsible for the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian prison in 2009.
Bill Browder, a hedge fund manager who asked Magnitsky to investigate a corruption scandal, said repealing the act was Russian president Vladimir Putin’s priority in relations with Washington.
He added that the presence of Mr Akhmetshin, the Russian-American lobbyist, showed the importance of the Trump Tower meeting.
“Basically, it only makes it more clear that the Russians were trying as hard as they could to pursue the agenda of getting rid of the Magnitsky Act by sending in one of their trusted agents,” he said.
Key developments in maritime dispute
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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.”
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The five pillars of Islam
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
if you go
The flights
Direct flights from the UAE to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, are available with Air Arabia, (www.airarabia.com) Fly Dubai (www.flydubai.com) or Etihad (www.etihad.com) from Dh1,200 return including taxes. The trek described here started from Jomson, but there are many other start and end point variations depending on how you tailor your trek. To get to Jomson from Kathmandu you must first fly to the lake-side resort town of Pokhara with either Buddha Air (www.buddhaair.com) or Yeti Airlines (www.yetiairlines.com). Both charge around US$240 (Dh880) return. From Pokhara there are early morning flights to Jomson with Yeti Airlines or Simrik Airlines (www.simrikairlines.com) for around US$220 (Dh800) return.
The trek
Restricted area permits (US$500 per person) are required for trekking in the Upper Mustang area. The challenging Meso Kanto pass between Tilcho Lake and Jomson should not be attempted by those without a lot of mountain experience and a good support team. An excellent trekking company with good knowledge of Upper Mustang, the Annaurpuna Circuit and Tilcho Lake area and who can help organise a version of the trek described here is the Nepal-UK run Snow Cat Travel (www.snowcattravel.com). Prices vary widely depending on accommodation types and the level of assistance required.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
STAGE 4 RESULTS
1 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 4:51:51
2 David Dekker (NED) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal
4 Elia Viviani (ITA) Cofidis
5 Matteo Moschetti (ITA) Trek-Segafredo
General Classification
1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 12:50:21
2 Adam Yates (GBR) Teamn Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:43
3 Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:03
4 Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:43
5 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
Ready Player One
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
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