EDINBURGH // Ronny Deila said he was looking forward to a long stay at Celtic after his side cruised into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup following an emphatic 4-0 win over 10-man Hearts.
The Hoops looked to have turned the corner following a stuttering start to the campaign under their new Norwegian manager which saw the Scottish Champions stumble out of the Champions League in qualifying and drop points to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Dundee and Hamilton in the league.
However, the Glasgow giants have now won seven domestic matches in a row to move top of the Premiership for the first time while securing a place in the semi-finals of the League Cup.
Despite a defeat to Salzburg in midweek, Celtic also booked their spot in the final 32 of the Europa League and Deila, who celebrates six months in the job next week, is happy with the progress his side have been making.
“I think it has been a fantastic journey so far. I’m looking forward to more months and hopefully years here,” a delighted Deila said after his side’s win at Tynecastle on Sunday.
“We are improving more and more all the time and I’m settling in well and enjoying the job.
“We are through in every competition we want to be in, except the Champions League, but I hope we can get a new chance at it next year.”
At Tynecastle, Hearts captain Morgaro Gomis was handed a straight red for an early reckless challenge before Virgil van Dijk fired Celtic into a 29th minute lead.
The contest remained tight until referee Willie Collum awarded a controversial 52nd minute penalty when John Guidetti went down under pressure from Brad McKay in the box, although there appeared to be no contact between the pair.
The Swedish striker took the kick himself and buried it past Neil Alexander before Anthony Stokes and Van Dijk completed the scoring.
Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson, whose side are the runaway leaders in the Scottish Championship this season, was furious at the penalty decision.
“My players have worked hard all season and I don’t want one person’s performance to overshadow the hard work we have done here,” Neilson said of referee Willie Collum.
“I think there is only one person who thinks it was a penalty and it totally changed the game for us.
“I’d like to think the referee has got a wee bit about him and he gives me a phone and explains it to me. I’m sure he’ll watch it and I’m sure he will realise what the decision should have been.
“It was very difficult after that. At 1-0 you are always in the game, even down to 10 men, but as soon as the second goal goes in Celtic could start popping the ball about.
“It had a huge bearing on the game but it’s done now and we must move on.
“It’s disappointing but the main aim for us has always been the league and this will be huge motivation for my players.”
The Hoops will be joined in Monday’s draw for the fifth round by Old Firm rivals Rangers, who easily saw off Premiership side Kilmarnock 3-0 at Ibrox thanks to a Kris Boyd strike and a Nicky Law double.
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Civil%20War
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
more from Janine di Giovanni
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.”
