Americans woke up on Monday to the news that President Joe Biden was visiting Ukraine, a risky stopover in a war zone that the White House had stressed was not going to follow his trip to neighbouring Poland.
"Are there plans for President Biden to cross into Ukraine?" White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked last Friday.
"No," Mr Kirby replied.
In fact, the unprecedented and highly secret visit had been months in the making.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had extended an open invitation to Mr Biden to visit Kyiv, as a string of western leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy's then-prime minister Mario Draghi did last year.
The visit marked the first trip Mr Biden has made to a war zone since taking office two years ago.
Predecessors such as George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump all made trips to Afghanistan or Iraq, but these were to American military bases in countries with significant US presence and security.
Ukraine, by contrast, does not host US troops.
So, how did Mr Biden and the White House pull off such a visit?
After meeting his top security advisers on Friday, Mr Biden finally made the decision to proceed.
Saturday appeared to be a normal day in his schedule and on Sunday night, the White House released a statement saying Mr Biden would be in Washington until Monday evening before boarding Air Force One and heading to Warsaw.
But the President was already well on his way to Ukraine, having left earlier in the day, at 4.15am, aboard an Air Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used for domestic trips to smaller airports.
He landed in Poland on Sunday evening and then took a 10-hour overnight train to Kyiv, arriving there at 8am local time on Monday.
Shortly before Mr Biden arrived in Kyiv, the US told Moscow that he was making a surprise trip to the city to avoid any chance of conflict, a senior White House aide said.
"We did notify the Russians that President Biden will be travelling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes," said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
"Because of the sensitive nature of those communications, I won't get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was."
"The President proceeded with the confidence that his security team was able to bring risk to a manageable level, and that was what ultimately led him to make the call to go," Mr Sullivan said.
He arrived in the Ukrainian capital at 8am local time and left about five hours later.
“It’s good to be back in Kyiv,” Mr Biden declared as he was greeted on arrival by the US ambassador, Bridget Brink.
The presidential motorcade arrived at Mariinsky Palace shortly after 8.30am local time, where he was greeted at the entrance by Mr Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska.
“Thank you for coming," Ukraine's President said as he shook Mr Biden’s hand.
Mr Sullivan said the trip "required a security operational and logistical effort from professionals across the US government to take what was an inherently risky undertaking and make it a manageable level of risk".
"Of course, there was still risk and is still risk in an endeavour like this and President Biden felt that it was important to make this trip," he said.
Only two journalists were allowed to accompany the US President.
After handing over their devices, journalists were made aware of his presence on Air Force One just 15 minutes before the plane took off.
It was the first visit by a US president to Ukraine since 2008.
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
T20 World Cup Qualifier
Final: Netherlands beat PNG by seven wickets
Qualified teams
1. Netherlands
2. PNG
3. Ireland
4. Namibia
5. Scotland
6. Oman
T20 World Cup 2020, Australia
Group A: Sri Lanka, PNG, Ireland, Oman
Group B: Bangladesh, Netherlands, Namibia, Scotland
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
From this question, a new beginning.
From this question, a new destiny.
For you are a world, and a meeting of worlds.
Our dream is to unite that which has been
separated by history.
To return the many to the one.
A great story unites us all,
beyond colour and creed and gender.
The lightning flash of art
And the music of the heart.
We reflect all cultures, all ways.
We are a twenty first century wonder.
Universal ideals, visions of art and truth.
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Here, through art, new possibilities are born. And
new answers are given wings.
Why are you, you?
Because we are mirrors of each other.
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We connect, we inspire, we multiply illuminations
with the unique light of art.
Ben Okri,
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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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.”
Uefa Nations League
League A:
Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, Croatia, Netherlands
League B:
Austria, Wales, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Turkey
League C:
Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Slovenia, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Norway, Montenegro, Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania
League D:
Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Gibraltar
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
The Written World: How Literature Shaped History
Martin Puchner
Granta
