Jayson Tatum struck with 1.5 seconds remaining as the Boston Celtics survived blowing a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 122-121 in their NBA season opener.
Tatum's shot capped a 30-point night while Jaylen Brown top scored for Celtics with 33 points and Jeff Teague added 19 off the bench on his debut. Fellow newcomer Tristan Thompson scored 12.
Philadelphia 76ers 113 - Washington Wizards 107
Joel Embiid scored 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lift host Philadelphia past Washington in head coach Doc Rivers' debut with the 76ers.
Shake Milton added 19 points while Ben Simmons had 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the 76ers. Simmons' dunk in the final 30 seconds sealed the victory. Seth Curry chipped in 13 points.
Russell Westbrook led the Wizards with 21 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds to become the first player in franchise history to post a triple-double on his debut. Bradley Beal scored 31 points and Davis Bertans added 14 for the Wizards.
New Orleans Pelicans 113 - Toronto Raptors 99
Brandon Ingram scored 24 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds as New Orleans overcame an 11-point, third-quarter deficit to defeat Toronto in the season opener at Tampa.
Ingram, who shot 10-for-19 from the field, just missed his first career triple-double. The Raptors are playing their home games at Amalie Arena because of travel restrictions in Canada.
JJ Redick added 23 points and six 3-pointers for the Pelicans. Eric Bledsoe scored 18 points, Lonzo Ball 16 and Zion Williamson 15 points and 10 rebounds. Pascal Siakam scored 20 points for the Raptors while Kyle Lowry amassed 18 points and 10 assists.
Minnesota Timberwolves 111 - Detroit Pistons 101
Malik Beasley added 23 points and Minnesota scored the last 10 points to rally past Detroit at Minneapolis in the opener for both teams.
Karl-Anthony Towns supplied 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists and D'Angelo Russell tossed in 18 points for Minnesota. Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, the top pick in the 2020 draft, contributed 15 points, four rebounds and four assists in his debut.
Josh Jackson led Detroit with 19 points and six rebounds. Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose had 15 points apiece and Mason Plumlee added 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Cleveland Cavaliers 121 - Charlotte Hornets 114
Collin Sexton scored 27 points and Darius Garland added 22 to fuel host Cleveland to a victory over Charlotte in the season opener for both teams.
Cleveland's Andre Drummond collected 14 points and 14 rebounds, and Larry Nance Jr 13 of each to go along with eight assists. Nance was picked in the starting line-up in place of Kevin Love, who sat out due to a right calf strain.
Charlotte's Terry Rozier sank 10 shots from 3-point range to highlight a 42-point performance, with 36 of those coming in the second half. Gordon Hayward scored 28 in his first game since breaking a finger on his right hand on December14. Hornets forward Cody Zeller sustained a fractured left hand in the fourth quarter and did not return.
Orlando Magic 113 - Miami Heat 107
Evan Fournier scored 25 points and Aaron Gordon chipped in with 20 despite battling foul trouble to lift Orlando to a victory over Miami in both teams' season-openers.
Terrence Ross came off the bench and scored 19 points, while Nikola Vucevic added a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double for the host Magic.
Miami, coming off an NBA Finals appearance back in October, were led by Bam Adebayo who scored 25 points and 11 rebounds. Goran Dragic added 20 points and Jimmy Butler also scored 19 in the season-opening loss.
Indiana Pacers 121 - New York Knicks 107
Domantas Sabonis had game highs of 32 points and 13 rebounds, and T.J. Warren scored all five of his points midway through the third quarter to give Indiana a win over New York at Indianapolis in the season opener for both teams.
Myles Turner flirted with an unusual triple-double (10 points, eight rebounds, eight blocks) for the Pacers, who won on head coach Nate Bjorkgren's debut and improved to 4-1 in their last five season openers. Victor Oladipo scored 22 points and Malcolm Brogdon finished with 21 points and eight assists.
RJ Barrett hit all eight of his shots in the first half and finished with 26 points and eight rebounds for the Knicks, who lost in head coach Tom Thibodeau's first game at the helm. Alec Burks scored 22 points off the bench while Julius Randle had 17 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
San Antonio Spurs 131 - Memphis Grizzlies 119
DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points as visiting San Antonio beat Memphis in the season opener for both teams.
All five of the San Antonio starters scored at least 16 points and seven Spurs finished in double figures. Dejounte Murray hit 21 points, LaMarcus Aldridge 20, and Keldon Johnson and Lonnie Walker IV each scored 16. Patty Mills scored 13 points while Rudy Gay tallied 10. DeRozan added nine rebounds and nine assists.
The Spurs' display overshowed a monster game from Memphis' Ja Morant, who scored 44 points. Dillon Brooks added 16 points for Memphis while Jonas Valanciunas scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Atlanta Hawks 124 - Chicago Bulls 104
Trae Young scored 37 pointsas Atlanta coasted to a win over host Chicago in the season opener for both teams.
Seven players scored in double digits for the Hawks, who raced to a double-figure lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Cam Reddish and Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 15 points apiece, John Collins had 14 and Danilo Gallinari added 13 in his team debut.
Zach LaVine scored 22 points to lead Chicago, and Lauri Markkanen finished with 21 to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. It marked the first game for the Bulls under new head coach Billy Donovan.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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.”
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Off-roading in the UAE: How to checklist
Sunday's games
Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
Brief scores:
Scotland 371-5, 50 overs (C MacLeod 140 no, K Coetzer 58, G Munsey 55)
England 365 all out, 48.5 overs (J Bairstow 105, A Hales 52; M Watt 3-55)
Result: Scotland won by six runs
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (All UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (11.30pm)
Saturday
Union Berlin v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
FA Augsburg v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Werder Bremen (6.30pm)
SC Paderborn v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Monchengladbach (9.30pm)
Sunday
Cologne v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
Mainz v FC Schalke (9pm)
