• A family photo of ISIS beheading victim Alan Henning.
    A family photo of ISIS beheading victim Alan Henning.
  • Aine Davis was arrested in 2015 near Istanbul and was part of the four-man ISIS cell nicknamed the Beatles. Shutterstock
    Aine Davis was arrested in 2015 near Istanbul and was part of the four-man ISIS cell nicknamed the Beatles. Shutterstock
  • Carl Mueller - the father of Kayla Mueller who was killed by ISIS militants - hugs one of Kayla's friends, Rodwan Safar Jalani, after the announcement of the guilty verdict for ISIS member El Shafee Elsheikh. AFP
    Carl Mueller - the father of Kayla Mueller who was killed by ISIS militants - hugs one of Kayla's friends, Rodwan Safar Jalani, after the announcement of the guilty verdict for ISIS member El Shafee Elsheikh. AFP
  • Mr Mueller speaks to reporters outside a courthouse after the announcement of the guilty verdict for Elsheikh. AFP
    Mr Mueller speaks to reporters outside a courthouse after the announcement of the guilty verdict for Elsheikh. AFP
  • Diane Foley - mother of James Foley, an American journalist who was kidnapped and later beheaded by ISIS members in Syria in 2014 - speaks after the announcement of the guilty verdict for Elsheikh. AFP
    Diane Foley - mother of James Foley, an American journalist who was kidnapped and later beheaded by ISIS members in Syria in 2014 - speaks after the announcement of the guilty verdict for Elsheikh. AFP
  • Ms Foley speaks after Elsheikh was convicted by a US federal jury of assisting in the kidnapping and deaths of four Americans. AFP
    Ms Foley speaks after Elsheikh was convicted by a US federal jury of assisting in the kidnapping and deaths of four Americans. AFP
  • Freelance journalist James Foley was murdered by group known as the ISIS Beatles on August 19, 2014. The National
    Freelance journalist James Foley was murdered by group known as the ISIS Beatles on August 19, 2014. The National
  • Carl Mueller speaks to reporters outside of the Albert V Bryan US Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. AFP
    Carl Mueller speaks to reporters outside of the Albert V Bryan US Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. AFP
  • El Shafee Elsheikh was found guilty of engaging in lethal hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder. Reuters
    El Shafee Elsheikh was found guilty of engaging in lethal hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder. Reuters
  • Mohammed Emwazi was one of four British members of ISIS who were known as 'The Beatles'. AP
    Mohammed Emwazi was one of four British members of ISIS who were known as 'The Beatles'. AP
  • Diane Foley (centre) stands alongside Carl Mueller and Marsha Mueller as well as other family members of two other killed ISIS hostages. AFP
    Diane Foley (centre) stands alongside Carl Mueller and Marsha Mueller as well as other family members of two other killed ISIS hostages. AFP
  • Members of ISIS group known as 'The Beatles', Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, were captured in northern Syria in January 2018 and had their UK citizenships revoked. Reuters
    Members of ISIS group known as 'The Beatles', Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, were captured in northern Syria in January 2018 and had their UK citizenships revoked. Reuters
  • Alexanda Kotey (left) and El Shafee Elsheikh were accused of being part of a group of four British extremists who made up an ISIS cell known as 'The Beatles'. AP
    Alexanda Kotey (left) and El Shafee Elsheikh were accused of being part of a group of four British extremists who made up an ISIS cell known as 'The Beatles'. AP
  • Mike Haines, the brother of murdered aid worker David Haines, speaks to the news media. Reuters
    Mike Haines, the brother of murdered aid worker David Haines, speaks to the news media. Reuters

'ISIS Beatle' sentenced to life in prison by US court


Willy Lowry
  • English
  • Arabic

A US judge on Friday sentenced a member of the so-called ISIS Beatles to life in prison for his role in the kidnapping and killing of four Americans.

London-born Alexanda Kotey, 38, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and hostage-taking resulting in the deaths of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

US District Judge TS Ellis sentenced him to eight concurrent life sentences, telling Kotey he would go to prison “for the rest of your natural life”.

Mr Ellis told Kotey that his crimes were “egregious” in nature and that his victims, enduring months of captivity and inhumane treatment, were all “soldiers for good” who represented the very best the US had to offer.

Kotey was joined in court by co-accused El Shafee Elsheikh, who was convicted this month on several charges and will be sentenced at a later date.

The family of several victims had come to court in the Virginian city of Alexandria outside Washington for Kotey's sentencing.

Often accompanied by spouses for support, the family members of those murdered by the terror cell, called “The Beatles” because of their English accents, told Mr Ellis about their collective loss.

Shirley Sotloff, Steven Sotloff’s mother, angrily demanded that the green-jumpsuit-clad convicts look at her.

“Open your eyes and look at me,” she said. “The pain is beyond words … You destroyed our lives.”

Carl Mueller, whose daughter, Kayla, was held captive for 18 months before being killed in February 2015, told the court that his daughter's torment robbed him of his faith in God and country.

But the fact the US government brought Kotey and Elsheikh to justice had restored his belief in his country, Mr Mueller said.

Peter Kassig's mother Paula told Mr Ellis that the terror group had stolen her only child and robbed her of the possibility of becoming a grandparent.

Despite her grief and anger, she told the accused, while fighting back tears, “I will not hate you. I chose to let my heart be broken open, not broken apart.”

As part of his plea deal, Kotey will spend 15 years in US custody and, if certain conditions are met, will then be transferred to Britain to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

The ISIS terror cell was made up of presumed ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, also known as “Jihadi John”, Aine Davis, Elsheikh and Kotey.

Apart from the US victims, the group is responsible for the brutal killings of a number of Japanese citizens and Britons Alan Henning and David Haines.

Haines's daughter, Bethany, told the court she wondered “why monsters like these men are on the earth while my dad isn't".

Ms Haines's uncle Michael also spoke. He focused on forgiveness.

“I will not let terrorists claim my soul. I forgive you. You no longer have power over my mind.”

Speaking to the victims' families after their statements, Mr Ellis's voice cracked with emotion as he told them their loved ones were “heroes” who should be “celebrated” as inspirations.

In a court filing, Kotey's lawyers urged Mr Ellis to take into consideration Kotey's acceptance of guilt and his agreement to provide information to US investigators.

Because capital punishment is outlawed in the UK, US prosecutors told British officials they would not seek the death penalty.

Kotey was a citizen of the UK but the British government withdrew his citizenship.

After The Beatles took the journalists and aid workers hostage, they tortured them and circulated videotapes of gruesome beheadings on the internet.

Kotey admitted to inflicting torture on hostages, including waterboarding and electric shocks with a stun gun.

After four hours of deliberations during Elsheikh's trial last month, a federal jury in Virginia found him guilty on several charges including lethal hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder.

Emwazi, thought to be the man seen clad in black battle fatigues who beheaded Foley and others, was killed in a US-British missile strike in Raqqa, Syria, in 2015.

Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
​​​​​​​Bloomsbury Academic

FIGHT CARD

Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)

Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)

Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)

Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)

Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)

Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)

Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)

Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)

Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)

Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)

Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)

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.”

MATCH INFO

Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)

Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, kick-off 10.45pm
Live: On BeIN Sports HD

Tips for taking the metro

- set out well ahead of time

- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines

- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on

- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers

England World Cup squad

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

'Panga'

Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta

Rating: 3.5/5

MATCH INFO

Champions League quarter-final, first leg

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)

Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

Other key dates
  • Finals draw: December 2
  • Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
  • Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
  • Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014%20PLUS
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The Africa Institute 101

Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction. 

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

THE BIO

Favourite author - Paulo Coelho 

Favourite holiday destination - Cuba 

New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field

Role model - My Grandfather 

Dream interviewee - Che Guevara

UAE%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3EMen%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Saif%20Al%20Zaabi%2C%20Salem%20Al%20Marzooqi%2C%20Zayed%20Al%20Ansaari%2C%20Saud%20Abdulaziz%20Rahmatalla%2C%20Adel%20Shanbih%2C%20Ahmed%20Khamis%20Al%20Blooshi%2C%20Abdalla%20Al%20Naqbi%2C%20Khaled%20Al%20Hammadi%2C%20Mohammed%20Khamis%20Khalaf%2C%20Mohammad%20Fahad%2C%20Abdulla%20Al%20Arimi.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EWomen%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mozah%20Al%20Zeyoudi%2C%20Haifa%20Al%20Naqbi%2C%20Ayesha%20Al%20Mutaiwei.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Scoreline

Abu Dhabi Harlequins 17

Jebel Ali Dragons 20

Harlequins Tries: Kinivilliame, Stevenson; Cons: Stevenson 2; Pen: Stevenson

Dragons Tries: Naisau, Fourie; Cons: Love 2; Pens: Love 2

Look%20Both%20Ways
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Wanuri%20Kahiu%3Cbr%3EStars%3A%20Lili%20Reinhart%2C%20Danny%20Ramirez%2C%20David%20Corenswet%2C%20Luke%20Wilson%2C%20Nia%20Long%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

ACC%20T20%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Championship
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20fixtures%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EFriday%2C%20June%2017%20v%20Oman%3Cbr%3ESaturday%2C%20June%2018%20v%20Singapore%3Cbr%3EMonday%2C%20June%2020%20v%20Malaysia%3Cbr%3EWednesday%2C%20June%2022%20v%20Qatar%3Cbr%3EFriday%2C%20June%2024%2C%20semi-final%3Cbr%3ESaturday%2C%20June%2025%2C%20final%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20squad%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Chaya%20Mughal%20(captain)%2C%20Esha%20Oza%2C%20Indhuja%20Nandakumar%2C%20Kavisha%20Kumari%2C%20Khushi%20Sharma%2C%20Lavanya%20Keny%2C%20Priyanjali%20Jain%2C%20Rithika%20Rajith%2C%20Samaira%20Dharnidharka%2C%20Sanchin%20Singh%2C%20Siya%20Gokhale%2C%20Suraksha%20Kotte%2C%20Theertha%20Satish%2C%20Vaishnave%20Mahesh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

 

 

STAY%2C%20DAUGHTER
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYasmin%20Azad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESwift%20Press%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE%20SPECS
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Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

The Brutalist

Director: Brady Corbet

Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn

Rating: 3.5/5

'O'
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zeina%20Hashem%20Beck%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20112%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Penguin%20Books%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20Sandman
%3Cp%3ECreators%3A%20Neil%20Gaiman%2C%20David%20Goyer%2C%20Allan%20Heinberg%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStars%3A%20Tom%20Sturridge%2C%20Boyd%20Holbrook%2C%20Jenna%20Coleman%20and%20Gwendoline%20Christie%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Updated: April 29, 2022, 7:48 PM