Officials in Britain and Europe have all but given up hope of a special summit this month to agree the terms of the country’s departure from the bloc in March next year.
Briefing the EU’s Foreign Ministers on Monday morning, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said talks remain “intense” adding that “an agreement has not been reached yet”. One British official told reporters on Monday that the possibility of a summit was receding. “There’s no breakthrough at the moment,” the official said.
Sterling dropped to an 11-day low of $1.285, a decline of almost one per cent on the day, as uncertainty rose over the ability of the two sides to complete the deal.
“Some key issues remain under discussion, in particular a solution to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland,” he added.
Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney also attested to the significance of the current stage of negotiations, describing them as being at "a very critical and sensitive stage".
"The withdrawal agreement must include a legally operable backstop for avoiding a hard border that must be in place unless and until another solution is found," he added.
Gernot Blümel, Austria’s minister for the EU, emphasised the unity of the EU member states regarding negotiations."In these final stages of the negotiations, ministers showed again today that we are determined to keep the unity of the EU 27. We have reconfirmed our trust in the negotiator. And we support his efforts to continue working towards a deal,” he said.
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UK minister resigns over Brexit, calls for referendum to avoid Brexit chaos
Brexit will change the shape of Europe – it's time both leavers and remainers face that fact
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Mr Barnier’s comments come as disarray sweeps all sides of divide in British politics. Theresa May’s government is scrambling to shore up support for any parliamentary vote on the final brexit deal.
Last week saw the resignation of her transport minister Jo Johnson, who called for a second public vote on the issue – more than 50 of her MPs have publicly said they would vote against the so called Chequers arrangement.
Pouring further scorn on the Prime Minister's negotiation efforts, Mr Johnson told a British newspaper on Monday "We are being presented with a ridiculous choice: ‘my way or the highway’ vassalage with the Prime Minister’s deal, or the chaos of ‘no deal’.”
Mrs May’s Northern Irish allies, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have also said they would vote against any deal that would see an invisible border in the Irish sea.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown also added to the increasing pressure on Mrs May, he told an audience in London that he believed there would be a second referendum.
Disenchantment with the looming deal in Northern Ireland goes beyond just the DUP, with a cross party delegation of Northern Irish political leaders arriving in London on Monday to demonstrate united front against any sort of hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and rally against the DUP’s positions in Brexit negotiations.
The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the European Union is essentially invisible under the present circumstances, and critics of Brexit say it’s re-imposition could put the Northern Irish peace agreement in jeopardy.
Michelle O'Neil, vice president of Sinn Fein, said a majority of elected politicians from the region were against Brexit and the DUP were intentionally misrepresenting local views.
“They [DUP] do not speak for the majority of the people," she told a press conference held by four leaders of political parties in the province. “We collectively represent majority of people in NI – 50 seats in NI assembly.
“There is no good to come from Brexit, nothing positive in Brexit for people in the north.
“We requested to meet with the PM, she refused to meet the pro-remain parties, it’s about her relationship with the DUP.”
Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
'The Lost Daughter'
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson
Rating: 4/5
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
The Transfiguration
Director: Michael O’Shea
Starring: Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine
Three stars
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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.”
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Los Angeles, from Dh4,975 return, including taxes. The flight time is 16 hours. Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico and Southwest all fly direct from Los Angeles to San Jose del Cabo from Dh1,243 return, including taxes. The flight time is two-and-a-half hours.
The trip
Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic’s eight-day Whales Wilderness itinerary costs from US$6,190 (Dh22,736) per person, twin share, including meals, accommodation and excursions, with departures in March and April 2018.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
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