If you were not using Twitter in the past week, you might have missed out on some interesting conversations. Some of the major developments that took place in the UAE and neighbouring countries kept the twitteratti busy.
The most prominent among them was the visit by the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, to Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This was followed by the announcement of Martyrs’ Day.
The spread of the Mers Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia also sparked some interesting conversations on various social networks.
Modi’s visit
Mr Modi’s visit was a momentous occasion for the Indian diaspora here, especially because this was the first such visit by an Indian premier in more than three decades.
The euphoria of the Indian community was a measure of Mr Modi’s popularity.
In fact, as @RajanKumarSing6 said, “such a humongous enthusiasm for a political leader” is extremely rare.
People like @MissSonalChadha were surprised to see the sheer number of Indians cheering for the prime minister at the Dubai cricket stadium. The last time a stadium heard a cheer this loud was when Sachin Tendulkar came to play, she wrote.
@Sanjay_Vis tweeted: “Wherever this man goes, he makes us feel proud.”
@MahaveerM_ expressed his disappointment that the Times of India did not cover this historic event in the same way as Emirati newspapers did.
Others followed Mr Modi in lauding the decision by the UAE to allocate land for the building of the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi.
@madhukishwar called it a “historic achievement”.
It was heartening to see tweets from Indian Muslims such as @shahid_siddiqui, who thanked the UAE government for this gift to the Hindus.
Hareb(@DAlmansoori1) applauded the UAE’s tolerance towards every religion.
Martyrs’ Day
Twitter users thanked the President, Sheikh Khalifa, for declaring that, from this year, November 30 would be marked as a national holiday in honour of Emirati soldiers who laid down their lives in the line of duty.
“There will be a ceremony and public activities where different organisations will take part to mark occasion,” reported Faris @farisf9.
Others such as @mmalshamsi were patriotic, saying that the “least we can do is honour the souls of these men who fought to help save the safety of Yemen”.
@TheUAETRA said the soldiers’ sacrifice would never be forgotten.
Mers in Saudi
The declaration that the Saudi health ministry had registered 21 new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) Coronavirus angered many people on social media.
Some of them took to Twitter to question the government why this outbreak could not be contained.
“It’s been five years and the virus is not cleared,” pointed out @abuogian502. “Korea took just two months to tackle this problem.”
He wondered whether hospital employees were taking enough safety precautions.
@999Mf123 had a suggestion: “Bring the Korean health minister to help solve this issue.” Perhaps, he added sarcastically, the ministry of health needed treatment before anyone else.
@SAForSale1 said that the World Health Organisation had criticised Saudi Arabia for being negligent over this matter.
salalawi@thenational.ae
On Twitter: @SarahKhamisUAE
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
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Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
CHELSEA SQUAD
Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
The Farewell
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma
Four stars
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Contracted list
Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine, Matt Renshaw, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
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Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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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.”
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
