New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to meet US President Donald Trump in the White House on Friday, in what could be a confrontation between two leaders who have been at odds for months.

In a media conference on Thursday, Mr Mamdani, 34, a Democratic socialist who swept the city’s mayoral election this month, said he was not concerned about the meeting.

“I know that for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, this meeting is between two very different candidates who they voted for the same reason: they wanted a leader who would take on the cost of living crisis that makes it impossible for working people to afford living in the city,” he said.

Mamdani becomes New York City’s first Muslim mayor

“I’m not concerned about this meeting. I view this meeting as an opportunity for me to make my case.”

In a post on Truth Social late on Wednesday, Mr Trump announced the meeting, saying it came at Mr Mamdani’s request.

Mr Mamdani won the mayor’s race in a campaign heavily focused on the city’s cost-of-living crisis, promising to lower housing and food prices to help working-class families in New York. He also vowed to fight against the policies of the Trump administration, including his ant-immigration stance.

The mayor-elect has also been an outspoken critic of Israel’s war on Gaza, which he has called a genocide.

The Republican US President, meanwhile, has been railing against Mr Mamdani, calling him a “communist lunatic” and warning that New York City, his hometown, would descend into chaos should he win.

Mr Trump has threatened to withhold federal money from the city and to deport Mr Mamdani, a Muslim-American citizen who was born in Uganda.

Donald Trump berates Ukrainian President at White House

Previous Oval Office meetings between Mr Trump and world leaders have descended into full-on confrontations. He berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskkyy in February, saying he was not thankful enough to the US. In May, he ambushed South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, claiming falsely that there was a “white genocide” in South Africa.

“I have many disagreements with the President,” Mr Mamdani told journalists. “And I believe that we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that could make our city affordable for every single New Yorker.

“I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday declined to offer more details of the coming meeting.

“It speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House, because that’s who the Democratic party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country,” Ms Leavitt told journalists. “I think it’s very telling, but I also think it speaks to the fact that President Trump is willing to meet with anyone and talk to anyone, and to try to do what’s right on behalf of the American people.”

FA Cup fifth round draw

Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City
Reading/Cardiff City v Sheffield United
Chelsea v Shrewsbury Town/Liverpool
West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United/Oxford United
Leicester City v Coventry City/Birmingham City
Northampton Town/Derby County v Manchester United
Southampton/Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City
Portsmouth v Arsenal 

In-demand jobs and monthly salaries

Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000

Key recommendations

Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
Living in…

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

The struggle is on for active managers

David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.

The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.

Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.

Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.

Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.

At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn. 

Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term). 

• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.

Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years’ performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent “the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit” Mr Hodgins added.

Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015

– At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany– At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people– Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed– Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest– He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France

Six large-scale objects on show

Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
Torrijos Palace dome