Four arrested over racist tweets sent to England footballers


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Four people have been arrested over racist abuse sent to England football players after the defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

Police on Thursday said they had made dozens of data applications to social media companies as part of a hate crime investigation led by detectives from the UK Football Policing Unit.

Abusive posts sent to black footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after each missed a penalty in the decisive shootout drew widespread condemnation.

Chief Constable Mark Roberts, who leads the National Police Chiefs' Council football policing, said investigators were sifting through "a large number of reports from across the country".

"The UKFPU investigation is well under way and work continues to identify those responsible. We are working very closely with social media platforms, who are providing data we need to progress enquiries," he said.

"If we identify that you are behind this crime, we will track you down and you will face the serious consequences of your shameful actions."

He said the England team were full of "true role models" who showed "professionalism and dignity".

"I'm disgusted there are individuals out there who think it's acceptable to direct such abhorrent abuse at them, or at anybody else," he said.

The specialised unit said it was receiving information from various channels including local police, charities and football clubs.

On Wednesday, Greater Manchester Police said estate agent Andrew Bone was arrested on suspicion of sending malicious communications.

Mr Bone denies sending the posts and claims his account was hacked. He was released pending further investigation.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday the government would be extending the scope of football banning orders to include online abuse.

He pressured social media companies to take stronger action against perpetrators of abuse.

A petition on the UK government website urging ministers to remove anonymity for social media users has gathered more than 680,000 signatures.

A separate petition by football fans Shaista Aziz, Amna Abdullatif and Huda Jawad has collected more than one million signatures.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson defended his government's response to tackling abuse after footballer Tyrone Mings accused Home Secretary Priti Patel of "stoking the fire" by refusing to back the England team for taking the knee in a symbolic gesture against racism at this summer's tournament.

Ms Patel said taking the knee was "gesture politics". But under fire in the House of Commons, the prime minister said his government was taking “practical steps” to combat racist abuse.



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Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

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Name: Capt Shadia Khasif

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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.”

 

 

Updated: July 15, 2021, 11:35 AM