The British singer Adele holds up her Grammy Awards in the press room on Sunday night. She won six Grammys for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Short Form Music Video.
The British singer Adele holds up her Grammy Awards in the press room on Sunday night. She won six Grammys for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Show more

Adele cleans up at the Grammys amid heartfelt tributes to Whitney Houston



It was a clean sweep for Adele at Sunday night's Grammy Awards. The British soul singer scooped all the awards she was nominated for, including the Album of Year for 21 and Record of the Year for Rolling in the Deep.

The 23-year-old's joyous night was held among an event full of tributes to the late Whitney Houston, who was found dead in the Beverly Hilton hotel on Saturday afternoon before a pre-Grammy gala.

With the stars still reeling from the tragedy, the host LL Cool J did a sterling job easing the crowd into the event.

The rapper and actor began the event with a solemn prayer for the fallen star that was direct and not at all mawkish. "How do we speak to this time, to this day? There's no way around this: we've had a death in our family," he said. "So at least for me - for me - it only feels right to begin with a prayer for a woman who we loved, for our fallen sister Whitney Houston."

Such an introduction would have been difficult if a comedian was in the hosting seat.

But one understands why LL Cool J was given the role. For one thing, he is not Ricky Gervais. Actors can do a better job disguising contempt than musicians. The thought of a Gervais-type compère taking potshots at the likes of musical treasures Stevie Wonder or Paul McCartney would have surely sent a shiver down the spine of event organisers. LL Cool J's easy charm and optimism was the kind of steady stewardship the event needed in light of the recent tragedy.

Despite the mournful beginning, the event was full of dazzling performances by a variety of pop stars and legends, including the return of the Beach Boys with Brian Wilson.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off the proceedings with the rocking new single, We Take Care of Our Own.

Bruno Mars maintained his retro-shtick with a soul-fuelled performance channelling James Brown, while Rihanna was assisted by Coldplay in We Found Love before the UK group took over to perform their latest chart topper, Paradise.

The comeback of the reformed Beach Boys was among the most eagerly awaited of the night and the group demonstrated they haven't totally lost their sunny demeanour; their classic Good Vibrations had the audience on their feet in no time. Still, the return of Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, although authentic, lacked the necessary ingredient to persuade punters that a Beach Boys 50th anniversary tour is a good idea.

The same can be said of the Houston tribute performed by Jennifer Hudson. While time constraints prohibited the segment from being a full-blown tribute, Hudson's choice to lovingly cover I Will Always Love You seemed too safe. Perhaps a medley of Houston's songs would have been a better choice.

It was a great evening for the Foo Fighters, who walked away with five Grammys, including Best Rock Album for Wasting Light and Best Hard Rock Performance for White Limo.

But the night belonged to Adele, who despite her winnings remained endearingly humbled by the whole affair. "Thank you so much. This is ridiculous," she blurted when receiving the gong for Record of the Year. "I want to say thank you to every radio programmer and broadcaster that has been playing Rolling in the Deep ... because I know it's not really a pop record."

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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Info

What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

When: December 27-29, 2018

Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823

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MATCH INFO

Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 18', 24')

Brighton 1 (Dunk 79')

Red card: Alisson (Liverpool)

Traits of Chinese zodiac animals

Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent   

The specs

  Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

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Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode

Directors: Raj & DK

Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon

Rating: 4/5

The Lowdown

Kesari

Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra

 

THE DRAFT

The final phase of player recruitment for the T10 League has taken place, with UAE and Indian players being drafted to each of the eight teams.

Bengal Tigers
UAE players: Chirag Suri, Mohammed Usman
Indian: Zaheer Khan

Karachians
UAE players: Ahmed Raza, Ghulam Shabber
Indian: Pravin Tambe

Kerala Kings
UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Abdul Shakoor
Indian: RS Sodhi

Maratha Arabians
UAE players: Zahoor Khan, Amir Hayat
Indian: S Badrinath

Northern Warriors
UAE players: Imran Haider, Rahul Bhatia
Indian: Amitoze Singh

Pakhtoons
UAE players: Hafiz Kaleem, Sheer Walli
Indian: RP Singh

Punjabi Legends
UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Sandy Singh
Indian: Praveen Kumar

Rajputs
UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed
Indian: Munaf Patel

'Operation Mincemeat' 

Director: John Madden 

 

Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton

 

Rating: 4/5

 
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
Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.