ALGIERS //For nearly two weeks, Hamou Benhamou has spent his days protesting outside the Algerian presidential administration and his nights sleeping on a strip of cardboard on the pavement.
The sit-in that Mr Benhamou is holding with about 200 other teachers is one of dozens of protests around the Algerian capital that have unsettled a government wary that unrest will spread to Algiers.
The government's tactic so far has been to promise political reform, but also to give handouts to groups who strike or protest, usually over pay and conditions. This has encouraged more demonstrations.
"Everybody's had a pay rise. Why not us? We are teachers," said Mr Benhamou, 31, who travelled to the protest by bus from his home in Bordj Badji Mokhtar, a town in the Sahara desert about 2,000 kilometres from Algiers.
"We are educating the young, so we deserve a minimum of attention."
Mr Benhamou is part of a broader wave of protests and strikes that has become a daily phenomenon across all sectors of the economy and all strata of society - though to date they have not challenged the government's grip on power.
Legal clerks, blind people, oil workers, Muslim clerics, students, doctors, military veterans, municipal police officers and government drivers have all staged protests.
During the day, Mr Benhamou and the other protesters stand on the pavement diagonally opposite the president's palace chanting slogans including, "dignity equals a decent salary", and "we are teachers, respect us".
The protesters are usually surrounded by about 300 police in riot gear, while there are a dozen police vans parked nearby.
At about 1pm each day, Mr Benhamou and his fellow protesters, who include several women, try to push past the police cordon and block the road between them and the president's offices.
On Monday, when they attempted to block the road, the police used force to stop them, protesters said.
The following day, one person had a leg in plaster, and another had a bruise on his face.
When darkness falls, they lay out their cardboard mats, spread out their blankets, and sleep on the pavement.
They eat bread and cheese bought in nearby shops and local residents sometimes give them food. The owner of a garage lets them use the toilets and gives them access to water for washing.
The protesters are some of Algeria's 20,000 substitute teachers who work on temporary contracts, many of them for years. They want their status changed so they can have the same salary and benefits as full-time teachers.
Another protester, Mohammed Messaoudi, 34, travelled from Adrar region, 1,200 kilometres from the capital.
He said local officials told him they could not help with his demands, and the only way to be heard was to travel to Algiers.
"The problems are always solved at the central level. Locally, nobody cares about us. This is why we are here at the presidency," said Mr Messaoudi, who teaches Arabic in the village of Talmine.
"I have been working as a part-time teacher for seven years now with a salary of 19,000 Algerian dinars (Dh970)," he said. He said he hoped that the country's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, would notice them from his office window. "We do not trust anybody but the president. This is why we are here," Mr Messaoudi said.
However, if Mr Bouteflika, 74, has heard them, he has not responded.
Indeed, he has not made a speech or been shown speaking in public for three months, prompting calls from some of his political allies for him to break his silence and make a statement about the situation.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Company%20Profile
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Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Company%20Profile
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
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.”
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women & the Food That Tells Their Stories
Laura Shapiro
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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.
Race card
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3pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1.950m
3.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,800m
4pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 68,000 (D) 1,000m