KABUL // Protests over the burning of a Quran in the United States engulfed Afghanistan for a third day yesterday, leaving at least two Afghan policemen dead and another 20 people injured in demonstrations in the country's eastern and southern provinces.
The two policemen were killed during demonstrations in Kandahar city, the Taliban's spiritual homeland in southern Afghanistan, just a day after at least 10 people were killed in similar protests there. The circumstances surrounding the two Kandahar policemen's deaths remained unclear late yesterday.
In Jalalabad, in the east, students peacefully blocked the city's main motorway to the capital Kabul in protest.
Since Friday, 23 people, including seven foreigners, have been killed across Afghanistan in protests against the Florida pastor Terry Jones's burning of the Quran on March 20.
The most recent riots were set off by a particularly violent demonstration in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after prayers on Friday.
Afghans protesting against the Quran burning stormed a United Nations compound and killed seven of the organisation's foreign staff, including four Nepalese guards. Five Afghan protesters also died.
Idris, a 34-year-old patron at a Kabul restaurant, said yesterday: "I didn't know a man in the United States had burnt the Quran until there were demonstrations in Mazar. I still don't know if he actually burnt it, or just said he was going to burn it."
The UN's top envoy in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, speaking to reporters on Saturday, said the UN employees who died in Friday's attack "were killed when they were running out of the bunker.
"One was pulled out alive because he pretended to be Muslim," Mr de Mistura said, according to the Associated Press.
The US president, Barack Obama, released a statement on Saturday condemning the violence, calling the killing of innocent people "an affront to human decency and dignity".
In Kabul, where protests were expected yesterday but failed to materialise, the streets of the bustling capital were abnormally quiet as international aid agencies and other organisations with foreign staff restricted their movement around the capital.
With about 4.5 million Afghan residents, Kabul is also home to thousands of foreign workers. Despite the rising violence elsewhere in the country, Kabul has managed to remain relatively safe, both for Afghans and foreigners.
"It feels like we're all waiting for chaos to break out here in Kabul," one western aid worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said. But for the city's Afghan inhabitants, yesterday was business as usual.
Policemen joked casually at checkpoints, while men sipped tea in the shade of shop fronts. Women lunched at the park, and farmers sold produce on the dusty streets.
One shop owner, Salqai, 42, said: "We are Muslims, and we have the right to demonstrate to say this [the burning of the Quran] is an insult to our religion. But we want peace and security. This is the capital, this is not Kandahar. We don't want these kinds of problems."
Kabul residents were uniform in their condemnation of the burning of the Quran, calling it "cowardly" and a "crime against humanity" and demanding that the United States arrest and punish Mr Jones.
"Whoever burnt the book, he should be punished," Idris, at the restaurant, said. "And if America won't punish him, give him to the Muslims. Let us decide."
Another local resident, an engineer at an electronics shop, said the protests were not only about the Quran, but were the result of years of humiliation at the hands of foreign armies.
"There are foreigners here, soldiers, and we don't know what their motives are," Ishoq, the engineer, said. "They are bombing villages, killing civilians. What other man would accept this in his own country?"
Despite the anger, local residents largely rejected attacks against foreigners as retaliation.
"When someone burns our holy book, we are ready to sacrifice," said 25-year-old Farid, an Afghan policeman on duty in Kabul. "But if someone attacks innocent foreigners in the name of Islam, I will push him back. We should demonstrate, but we should not kill."
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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
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Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
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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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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
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What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
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Uefa Champions League, last-16. first leg
Atletico Madrid v Juventus, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
