President Joe Biden is set to deliver a crucial speech on Thursday night as he tries to convince a sceptical America that the country is on the right track and that he deserves a second term in the White House.
During the annual State of the Union address, presidents give a primetime address to the US Congress to outline priorities and tout achievements.
With the presidential election looming in November, an unpopular Mr Biden will try to shift public opinion on his presidency and address domestic and global issues, as well as lay out what his second term might look like.
“It's a major address, it's an important speech,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday.
“He's going to be delivering it to millions of Americans who are going to be tuning in and we appreciate that. And the President takes that very, very seriously.”
Mr Biden, 81, is already the oldest president in US history. He faces low approval ratings and questions about his age as well as his cognitive acuity.
His agenda on Russia's war on Ukraine has faced significant pushback from Republicans, and he has drawn criticism – even within his own Democratic Party – over his handling of the Israel-Gaza war and immigration along the US-Mexico border.
A new poll by the Associated Press-Norc Centre for Public Affairs Research showed that only 38 per cent of Americans approve of Mr Biden's handling of his job and 63 per cent say they are not very or not at all confident in the President’s mental capability to serve effectively.
The White House said Mr Biden spent the weekend at Camp David, where he prepared for the speech with the help of senior aides.
“He's going to continue to fine tune the speech – this is something that he was personally involved in,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.
“This is something that comes straight from having conversations with the American people that he's had over the past year leading to the process.”
One of the top issues for US voters this year is the economy, which a majority of Americans are unhappy with even though unemployment is down and inflation is under control.
A CBS poll released on Sunday found that 57 per cent of voters believe that the US economy is currently either bad or fairly bad.
While Mr Biden has credited his administration's economic revival plan – Bidenomics – for dampening inflation, Republican officials have still blamed the White House for high prices faced by consumers.
Voters also say they are increasingly concerned over the growing number of migrants arriving at the US border with Mexico, with many citing it as their number one issue.
Donald Trump, who has essentially locked in the Republican nomination, has seized on this issue to make a case that he will do a better job of securing the border.
Most polls in recent weeks have shown Mr Biden trailing Mr Trump by a small margin in a head-to-head contest.
While the speech is typically focused on domestic issues, Mr Biden will take the podium on Thursday, for the third time as president, amid stalled efforts to get a ceasefire in Gaza and get much-needed humanitarian aid into the besieged strip.
His unequivocal military, political and diplomatic support for Israel since October 7, as well as his refusal to back a permanent ceasefire in Gaza has sparked widespread criticism among Arab and Muslim-American communities as well as progressive and young voters.
Not only have his policies caused disenchantment among those voting blocs that were critical in his 2020 victory, they have also led to campaigns aimed at ensuring he is not re-elected.
A poll by Data for Progress found that 67 per cent of Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza.
The discontent came into sharp focus in recent weeks when hundreds of thousands of voters in Michigan and Minnesota – states that are home to sizeable Arab and Muslim populations – and elsewhere cast “uncommitted” protest votes in their primary elections, citing their disapproval of Mr Biden's handling of the war.
Mr Biden has also sought to continue to support the Ukrainian military's ability to defend itself against Russia's invasion.
But his efforts have been challenged by Trump-aligned Republican officials who question the continued US involvement in that conflict.
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Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
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Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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.”
