A man shot and killed at least five people and injured 18 late on Saturday after opening fire at a Colorado nightclub, in the latest mass shooting in the US.
Police received first reports of the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs just before midnight on Saturday.
A man was in custody, police said, and had been treated for injuries.
“Heroic customers” overpowered the gunman during the “senseless” attack, the nightclub wrote on Facebook.
Police said “a 22-year-old gunman” immediately began firing from a “long rifle”.
Police Chief Adrian Vasquez confirmed that two patrons confronted the gunman and stopped the shooting.
“We owe them a great debt of thanks,” said Mr Vasquez.
The attack is the sixth mass killing in the US this month and comes in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Condolences came flooding in as Americans woke up to the news on Sunday morning.
US President Joe Biden mourned for "yet another community ... torn apart by gun violence" and reiterated his calls to address America's gun violence epidemic as a public health crisis.
"Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence," Mr Biden said.
"When will we decide we’ve had enough?"
Among others to react was actress Mia Farrow, who expressed “so much love and heartbreak”.
The motive behind the shooting was not immediately known. There have been increased warnings from the federal government about right-wing domestic terrorism.
Just last week, Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a new report that indicated Washington was “not adequately addressing the rise” in white supremacist, anti-government domestic terrorism.
Many, including American anti-gun activist and founder of the “Moms Demand Action Group” Shannon Watts, pointed to increased extremist hate in the US, which has fuelled a slew of mass shootings in recent years.
They include the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2019, a shooting at an El Paso Walmart in the same year that targeted Mexicans, and the shooting of Black Americans in Buffalo in May by an assailant who was radicalised online.
“What do these shooting attacks have in common? Extremists' hateful rhetoric and easy access to guns,” Ms Watts tweeted.
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff echoed those sentiments on Sunday morning, warning that “attacks like these will only become more common if we don’t fight back”.
Far-right, pro-gun Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert called for an end to “lawless violence” and expressed condolences for the Club Q victims and their families.
This was not the western state of Colorado's first mass shooting to make national headlines.
The state endured the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, and in 2012, a gunman killed 12 at a cinema in Aurora during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.
The perpetrator, James Holmes, was sentenced to life without parole in 2015.
A gay nightclub in Florida was the target of one of the country's most deadly attacks in 2016.
Forty-nine people were killed and 53 injured when a gunman opened fire on patrons at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
FIXTURES
Fixtures for Round 15 (all times UAE)
Friday
Inter Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Saturday
Atalanta v Verona (6pm)
Udinese v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Juventus (11.45pm)
Sunday
Lecce v Genoa (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (6pm)
SPAL v Brescia (6pm)
Torino v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Parma (9pm)
Bologna v AC Milan (11.45pm)
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
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.”
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
INFO
What: DP World Tour Championship
When: November 21-24
Where: Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae.
The years Ramadan fell in May
more from Janine di Giovanni
Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Tuesday (UAE kick-off times)
Leicester City v Brighton (9pm)
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (11.15pm)
Wednesday
Manchester United v Sheffield United (9pm)
Newcastle United v Aston Villa (9pm)
Norwich City v Everton (9pm)
Wolves v Bournemouth (9pm)
Liverpool v Crystal Palace (11.15pm)
Thursday
Burnley v Watford (9pm)
Southampton v Arsenal (9pm)
Chelsea v Manchester City (11.15pm)
Normal People
Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
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