A skilled player is needed to take charge of the ball



In the olden days of football, less than 20 years ago, there was a skill, possessed by only a few priceless players, that has largely been forgotten. It was this: the ability to put a foot on the ball, calm the bedlam that was ensuing around him, and redirect play in a more fruitful way. Manchester United's Bobby Charlton had this ability, as did Pele, Glenn Hoddle and Michel Platini. Zinedine Zidane could do this, before he took up head-butting as a more insightful way to make an impact.

In the world of finance, this skill also seems to be a largely lost art. Alan Greenspan used to be able to still the markets with his gnomic sayings, but his successor at the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, does not have the same presence.

Barack Obama can sometimes make himself heard over the melee, but as he has the habit of saying two different things twice, in a rather repetitive rolling way, it is very hard to know exactly what he thinks.

Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the UN, cannot control the play as effectively as Ghana's Kofi Annan did. Some high-profile investors, notably George Soros and Mark Mobius, are occasionally able to pause and reflect, but even they seem caught up in the bustle, heard but hardly heeded.

David Cameron, the UK prime minister, is on a tour of the Middle East, but he seems more like one of those travellers who go on visits to slums in Mumbai or favelas in Rio de Janeiro on their gap year. Yes Dave, you have seen Tahrir Square. Now what does it mean?

With trading now taking place around the world throughout the day and night, seldom has the need for somebody to put a foot on the ball been as great as in the past few days. Turmoil in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain, and now the uprising in Libya, must be making investors from Tokyo to New York ask the same simple question: what is going on in the Middle East?

The problem they face is whom to ask. Economic commentators are trying to make sense of all the indicators, while the market is taking its own direction. The result has been fairly predictable. Oil has soared. Stock markets have tanked, with more than US$1.2 trillion (Dh4.4tn) wiped out since last Friday, according to Bloomberg News.

Normally you might expect the dollar also to benefit from uncertainty, as it did in the autumn of 2008, but this time around, that hasn't happened, maybe because traders know that when oil goes up, the dollar goes down. It fell even against sterling, for heaven's sake.

The Middle East seems pretty evenly split between those countries that have protesters at every roundabout and those that are either well governed or can afford to spend money on subsidies and job-creation schemes.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia returned home on Wednesday and announced a package of measures worth $36 billion. The country can afford it: with the price of oil surging, he could probably afford to be more generous. The measures he announced include a 15 per cent pay rise for public-sector workers and financial aid for students and the unemployed. He is also creating 300 jobs in the Royal Court to "communicate with citizens and find out their needs".

John Sfakianakis, the chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, wrote in a note on Wednesday: "Jump-starting private-sector job creation will be the key to resolving the unemployment dilemma. Currently, only one out of every 10 employees working for a Saudi private-sector company is a Saudi citizen. The public sector can no longer act as the employer of last resort for Saudis. Saudi Arabia has to exit from the comfort zone of offering low-paid and low-incentive public-sector employment."

Or as people in Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign were fond of saying: "It's the economy, stupid." It is fairly obvious what citizens want the world over: jobs, houses, education and a stable environment. What they don't want is oppression and, perhaps worst of all, inflation. Germans still recoil in horror at the thought of having to take a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. It is the reason they fear putting the European Central Bank in the hands of an Italian, however well-intentioned or qualified he might be.

Where does this end? Inflation could be good for Dubai's property market, although there is still a drastic oversupply in the sector. What is also needed is a period of calm. Apparently there is talk of Tunisian-style protests in China, taking place every Sunday in 12 cities. Someone, somewhere, needs to put a foot on the ball.

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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher:  Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5

The specs: 2018 Mazda CX-5

Price, base / as tested: Dh89,000 / Dh130,000
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 188hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 251Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
​​​​​​​Fuel consumption, combined: 7.1L / 100km

HEADLINE HERE
  • I would recommend writing out the text in the body 
  • And then copy into this box
  • It can be as long as you link
  • But I recommend you use the bullet point function (see red square)
  • Or try to keep the word count down
  • Be wary of other embeds lengthy fact boxes could crash into 
  • That's about it
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year
How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

UAE rugby in numbers

5 - Year sponsorship deal between Hesco and Jebel Ali Dragons

700 - Dubai Hurricanes had more than 700 playing members last season between their mini and youth, men's and women's teams

Dh600,000 - Dubai Exiles' budget for pitch and court hire next season, for their rugby, netball and cricket teams

Dh1.8m - Dubai Hurricanes' overall budget for next season

Dh2.8m - Dubai Exiles’ overall budget for next season

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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Sinopharm vaccine explained

The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades. 

“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.

"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."

This is then injected into the body.

"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.

"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."

The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.

Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.

“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.

Pathaan
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Company Profile 

Founder: Omar Onsi

Launched: 2018

Employees: 35

Financing stage: Seed round ($12 million)

Investors: B&Y, Phoenician Funds, M1 Group, Shorooq Partners

Buy farm-fresh food

The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.

In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others. 

In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food. 

In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra. 

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6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 (PA) | US$95,000 | (Dirt) 2,000m
7.05pm: Meydan Classic Listed (TB) ) | $175,000) | (Turf) 1,600m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) ) | $135,000 ) | (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy Group 3 (TB) ) | $300,000) | (T) 2,810m
8.50pm: Curlin Handicap Listed (TB)) | $160,000) | (D) 2,000m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB)) | $175,000) | (T) 1,400m
10pm: Handicap (TB) ) | $135,000 ) | (T) 2,000m