Who is this Bree Tanner, I hear you thinking. Is she that red-haired, smug one from Desperate Housewives? Nope. That's Bree Van de Kamp. Do try to keep up with your cultural references, people. Bree Tanner is the latest sensation to fall from the pen of Stephenie Meyer.
Ah, Stephenie Meyer you say. That's an easy one. She's the author of all those vampire books, Sunrise or Penumbra. Or whatever they're called. Twilight, that's the one you're groping for. And surprise, surprise, even though we all thought Meyer had wrapped up the series with Breaking Dawn, she's decided to push out another one.
Apparently, being the author of a series that has sold approximately 60 gazillion copies across the world isn't enough. Last week, Meyer announced on her website that she wants to reward her fans with a little extra nugget of vampire gold, a 200-page novella entitled The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. And the best news of all for all you freaky vampire obsessives? This novella will be available free on the internet for download from June 5, as a "gift" says Meyer.
"My publisher was awesome and embraced this idea," she says of the charitable move, although the publisher doesn't appear to have been totally convinced. A traditional, hard copy will also be released for sale two days later at the pocket-money price of US$13.99 (Dh51). Someone has to put food on the table, eh Stephenie?
Bree Tanner will be a name unfamiliar to all but the most diehard Twilight fans, (the sort who have read every book 20 times and wish that Edward Cullen was their boyfriend). She is one of the newborn army that crops up in book number three, Eclipse.
What is this newborn army? Well, you mythical dullard, think back to Victoria. We meet her in book one, Twilight. She is the evil, flame-haired vampire who wants to carry out revenge on that drippy heroine, Bella, for the murder of her mate, James. In order to do so, we learn in Eclipse that Victoria has taken herself to Seattle, and is busy nipping people in the neck to turn them into vampires because fresh, young vampires are the most bloodthirsty and uncontrollable. With their help, Victoria aims to destroy Bella and the Cullen family back in Forks.
The trouble is, Bree is a rubbish newborn vampire. She is the sort of anaemic human being who would be a vegan, so she tries to join the Cullen clan instead of kill them. This they accept, but she is then killed by the head vampire clan, the Volturi.
In fact, so irrelevant does Bree seem in Eclipse, that she is killed a mere 10 pages after she is introduced.
Happy news, then, that she is now to have her own moment in the sunlight (metaphorically-speaking, silly; obviously Twilight vampires can't step into the sunshine without their skin going all sparkly).
"This story was something that I worked on, off and on for a while, just for fun, in between the times I was writing or editing other Twilight novels," explains Meyer on her website.
"Later, when the concept for The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide came up, I thought that might be a good place for Bree," she adds.
"Her story is a nice complement to Eclipse; it explains a lot of the things that Bella never knew." But as Bree's wittering extended to 200 pages, it was deemed too long for the guide. Hence a separate release all of her own. Good news for those of us who would rather poke our eyes out than read more of Bella's self-indulgent waffle.
In the novella, we will learn the background of Victoria's activities in Seattle and the creation of the army. There will presumably be little room for teenage angst over vampires and werewolves, although it's perhaps advisable to brace yourself for a tiny bit of that just in case Meyer squeezes some in.
And would you believe it, the timing of this release coincides almost perfectly with the arrival of the third Twilight film, which is out in July. Isn't that the most marvellous coincidence?
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.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Company%20Profile
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What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
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.”
The five pillars of Islam
