Former US first lady, Michelle Obama, said she detested being asked if she would run for president as she revealed her future plans in a BBC interview.
Mrs Obama, attorney, author and wife of former US President Barack Obama, spoke to the BBC to mark the release of her new book The Light We Carry.
The interviewer Naga Munchetty asked her: "Which question do you detest being asked?"
"Are you going to run for president?" answered Mrs Obama, who was in the White House with her husband from 2009 to 2017.
"Answer?" asked Munchetty.
"I detest it," replied Ms Obama. "No, I am not going to run."
Five years after the pair left the White House, Mrs Obama still polls favourably and a former adviser to Donald Trump said in February that it would put Republicans “in a very difficult position” if she were to run in 2024.
If incumbent Joe Biden decides not to stand for a second term, a 2021 poll found Mrs Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris led the field of survey options with 10 per cent of responders saying they backed the former first lady – more than double the next contender from the list of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls.
Ms Obama also revealed in the interview "it still hurts" that Mr Trump was the man to replace her husband in the White House.
In the book, Mrs Obama said the most anxious she had been was when her husband told her he wanted to run for president.
"It's strange to think I could have altered the course of history with my fear," she wrote.
She told the BBC it was "absolutely worth taking that leap of faith".
"I lived through the legacy of too many people, particularly African-American people, my grandfathers included, whose lives were constricted by their fear of something different," she said.
Speaking about her time in the White House, she said: "That's that point in time when you have to ask yourself, was it worth it?
"Did we make a dent? Did it matter? And when I'm in my darkest moment, my most irrational place, I could say, well, maybe not. Maybe we weren't good enough.
"But then I look around, and when there is more clarity, when I'm able to unpack those feelings and think more rationally, I think, well, my gosh, there's a whole world of young people who are thinking differently about themselves because of the work that we've done.
"Did everything get fixed in the eight years that we were there?” she added. “Absolutely not. That's not how change happens. But we laid a marker in the sand.
“We pushed the wheel forward a bit. But progress isn't about a steady climb upward. There are ups and downs and stagnation. That's the nature of change.
"And that's why the work that we're doing today is about empowering the next generation."
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
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.”
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
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What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
