Paris in summer is the place to be. More so this time as elite athletes from all over the world will gather for the Olympic Games.
The last Olympics was played in the shadows of the pandemic. This time there will be no constraints as the Summer Games return to the French capital for the third time after 1900 and 1924.
The Games will comprise 329 events in 32 disciplines. While the 'core' Olympic sports will be held as usual, fans will get a chance to witness some extraordinary newcomers such as breaking – competitive dance sport – and kitesurfing.
That will not be the only unique aspect of these Games. The event, which runs from July 26 to August 11, has mainly been scheduled around existing venues to keep costs down, which routinely runs into billions of dollars and causes the host nation financial pain for many years.
More than 90 per cent of the Olympic venues are facilities that either already exist or have been assembled just for the event and will be dismantled later.
The Olympic Village has been designed to be turned into a new residential neighbourhood, with more than 2,800 apartments. A quarter of these will become public housing, while the rest will become affordable flats for low-income individuals.
Even the Opening Ceremony is unique. About 10,000 athletes are set to be paraded on more than 90 boats on the Seine river for six kilometers in an open-air ceremony to be held during sunset and last nearly four hours.
Here is everything you need to know.
How many venues are there?
The Olympics will be held in at 35 venues across France, mainly in and around Paris.
Apart from the more traditional and existing venues, athletes will get to compete at some unique locales – like beach volleyball beneath the Eiffel Tower and equestrian events at the Palace of Versailles.
The idea of this Olympics is to utilise or redevelop existing infrastructure and make it as accessible as possible; nearly all venues in the Paris area are within 10 kilometres of the city centre.
How to watch the Olympics in UAE?
The Paris Olympics will be shown live on beIN Sports across the Mena region.
Prize money
Another reason that makes this Olympics unique is that track and field will become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Games.
World Athletics announced it will pay $50,000 to gold medalists in Paris – a symbolic break with the amateur past of the Games.
The governing body of athletics said it has set aside $2.4 million to pay the gold medalists across the 48 men’s, women’s and mixed events on the track and field programme. Relay teams will split the winner's cheque. Silver and bronze medalists will receive rewards from the 2028 LA Olympics onwards.
Security concerns
Safety remains a big concern though. Extremists pose an ever-present danger and French President Emmanuel Macron has said the Opening Ceremony could be shifted to a more traditional venue like the Stade de France if the security threat is deemed too high.
However, organisers are moving forward with their open-air ceremony plans. About 45,000 security personnel will be deployed. Also, the airspace and all airports within a 150km radius around Paris will be closed for the ceremony.
Athletes
At the end of the day, the spotlight will be on athletes. American gymnast Simon Biles and track star Sha'Carri Richardson will be some of the biggest names on the field. Tennis greats Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will be seen together for possibly the last time at Roland Garros, aiming for glory among a vast pool of over 10,000 athletes.
The Arab world will be well represented across various disciplines.
In track and field, three-time high jump world champion and reigning Olympic gold medallist Mutaz Barshim of Qatar will look to continue his reign in the discipline.
Saudi Arabian taekwondo standout Donia Abu Taleb has realistic medal hopes in the women's event, as does Jordan's Julyana Al Sadeq.
In tennis, Egypt's Mayar Sherif and Tunisia's Moez Echargui will be going for glory at Roland Garros.
The UAE will be there at the games as well, having qualified for equestrian showjumping and judo.
Safiya Al Sayegh, 22, sealed a historic qualification for the Paris Games. The 22-year-old is the first Emirati woman, and just the second rider from the country, to qualify for the road race at the Olympics.
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Full list of Emmy 2020 nominations
LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Ramy Youssef, Ramy
LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
OUTSTANDING VARIETY/TALK SERIES
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria
OUTSTANDING REALITY/COMPETITION PROGRAM
The Masked Singer
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice
LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True
LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES/TV MOVIE
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere
OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES
Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek
What We Do In The Shadows
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession
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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.”
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Qualifier A, Muscat
(All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv)
Fixtures
Friday, February 18: 10am Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm Semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm Final
UAE squad:Ahmed Raza(captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The Programme
Saturday, October 26: ‘The Time That Remains’ (2009) by Elia Suleiman
Saturday, November 2: ‘Beginners’ (2010) by Mike Mills
Saturday, November 16: ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ (2013) by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Tuesday, November 26: ‘All the President’s Men’ (1976) by Alan J Pakula
Saturday, December 7: ‘Timbuktu’ (2014) by Abderrahmane Sissako
Saturday, December 21: ‘Rams’ (2015) by Grimur Hakonarson
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
