Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday entered the 2024 US presidential race, but his campaign got off to a rocky start thanks to technical problems during a live audio launch event on Twitter.
“I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback,” Mr DeSantis said on Twitter Spaces, after a 25-minute delay caused by repeated glitches on the platform.
“We know our country is going in the wrong direction. We see it with our eyes, and we feel it in our bones.”
Mr DeSantis also posted a campaign video, but his launch will be remembered primarily for the problems on Twitter Spaces. The platform's owner Elon Musk said the volume of people online had caused the servers to begin "straining somewhat."
President Joe Biden's team was quick to capitalise on the glitches, tweeting a link to a fundraising page and stating: "This link works."
Mr DeSantis, who was briefly a Republican Party darling after the 2022 midterm elections, has suffered after attacks by Mr Trump and now massively trails the former president in conservative polls.
Mr DeSantis spoke about Twitter, the Covid-19 pandemic, immigration, crime, digital currencies, his state-run challenges against Disney and what he believed to be federal government overreach.
"Our president, well, he lacks vigour, flounders in the face of our nation's challenges and he takes his cues from the woke mob," Mr DeSantis said of Mr Biden.
"I don't think it has to be this way. American decline is not inevitable. It is a choice. And we should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to American revitalisation. We must restore sanity to our nation."
Mr Musk said the launch event should not be viewed as an endorsement of Mr DeSantis and added that the social media platform would remain neutral.
“I've said publicly that my preference, and I think the preference of most Americans, is … to have someone fairly normal in office,” he said.
Mr Trump was reinstated on Twitter last year after a majority of respondents voted in favour of the idea in a poll launched by Mr Musk, but the former president has shunned the platform and only posts on his own Truth Social.
Mr DeSantis made a television appearance on Fox News after the Twitter streaming event.
The Republican has tried to strengthen his conservative image by opposing several Covid-19 guidelines and signing dozens of laws that take aim what he has called “woke indoctrination”, such as teaching on race and sexual orientation in classrooms.
The Republican ticket is growing increasingly crowded and Mr DeSantis will have to overcome a significant polling gap.
"My pledge to you is this: If you nominate me, you can set your clock to January 20, 2025, and high noon, because on the west side of the US Capitol, I will be taking the oath of office as the 47th President of the United States," he said.
He trails Mr Trump by about 30 points, FiveThirtyEight's polling aggregator shows.
"It is about delivering results," Mr DeSantis said in the Twitter event.
"And our results in Florida have been second to none. We can and we must deliver big results for America."
He is known for his hard-right policies in the state of Florida, where recently passed legislation has taken aim at black, Latino and LGBTQ communities. Prominent rights groups have advised against travel to the state.
The Florida Governor is also leading efforts to control the theme parks run by Disney, which has started a legal fight and already caused some financial losses for the tourism-dependent Sunshine State.
When it comes to foreign affairs, Mr DeSantis has a mixed record of traditional Republican and Trump-style isolationist posturing.
Mr DeSantis recently travelled abroad to visit US allies, including Israel, calling that country one of America's “most valued and trusted” partners.
Having served in Iraq during his time as a Navy lawyer, he has been a sharp critic of Iran and has voiced support for the US relationship with its Kurdish regional allies.
As a conservative congressman, he once endorsed arming Ukraine against Russia.
But he recently drew criticism for calling Russia's invasion of Ukraine a “territorial dispute” – a comment he later retreated from.
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
All Black 39-12 British & Irish Lions
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New Zealand 57-0 South Africa
Tries: Rieko Ioane, Nehe Milner-Skudder (2), Scott Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Ofa Tu'ungfasi, Lima Sopoaga, Codie Taylor. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (7). Penalty: Beauden Barrett
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.”
Profile
Company: Libra Project
Based: Masdar City, ADGM, London and Delaware
Launch year: 2017
Size: A team of 12 with six employed full-time
Sector: Renewable energy
Funding: $500,000 in Series A funding from family and friends in 2018. A Series B round looking to raise $1.5m is now live.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
Dunki
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