Holly to Bolly: Sully flies ahead at box office, Kanye joins Instagram and more

Sully soars over Blair Witch, Bridget releases at box office

It was a big weekend at the box office for new releases but Blair Witch, Bridget Jones's Baby and Snowden were not able to stop Sully from taking flight. The dramatisation of the Miracle on the Hudson, which was directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Tom Hanks, who plays Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, remained at No. 1 for the second week in a row with $22 million in takings. A trio of newcomers failed to fly close to the haul of Sully. The horror revival Blair Witch nabbed $9.7 million and the No. 2 spot, while highly-anticipated comedy Bridget Jones's Baby starring Renee Zellweger as the lead crawled away with $8.2 million. Snowden, the story of NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, opened at No. 4 and netted $8 million. The debut marks the lowest opening weekend in filmmaker Oliver Stone's career. — AP

Kanye West finally joins Instagram

You either love him or you hate him but Kanye West has proved once again he is a man with a following. The 39-year-old rapper and fashion designer has just opened an Instagram account and within just a few hours managed to amass 234,000 followers. Until now, Twitter has been the musician's preferred social media platform. E! News reports that West first toyed with the idea of trying another medium in March, when he Tweeted: "I was thinking about getting an Instagram but only on one condition ... no one can ask me or try to tell me what to Instagram ... It's my art ..." At the time, he also called his Tweets "a form of contemporary art only compromised by people trying to tell me what to tweet and not to tweet ... on artist trying to grab the paint brush ..." Over the years, posers have pretended to be West on Instagram, much to his chagrin. He often set the record straight however. In 2013 he Tweeted: "I DO NOT HAVE AN INSTAGRAM". Things change. — The National staff

Sound of Music star Charmian Carr dies at age 73

Charmian Carr, who was love by her fans the world over for her role as rebellious daughter Liesl Von Trapp in the Academy Award-winning film The Sound of Music, has died at the age of 73, it was reported on Sunday. Carr died on Saturday from complications associated with a rare form of dementia. She passed away in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, her family said in a statement. Carr was in her early-20s when she played Liesl, the eldest of the seven children of stern widower Captain Von Trapp, played by Christopher Plummer, in the 1965 musical starring Julie Andrews. Her romantic dance scene with on-screen boyfriend, Rolfe, in a gazebo during a thunderstorm while singing Sixteen Going On Seventeen was considered one of the movie's most charming scenes. Carr also wrote two books — Forever Liesl, in 2000, in which she detailed the making of the movie, and Letters to Liesl in 2001, which was inspired by the fan mail she received from around the world. She is survived by two children and four grandchildren. — Reuters

Guy Ritchie may direct the next Bond movie

English filmmaker Guy Ritchie is in talks to direct the next 007 movie, Bond 25, according to reports. The mirror.co.uk says the 48-year-old star is currently in Los Angeles where he is set to hold talks with producer Michael G. Wilson about taking over the franchise from Sam Mendes. A source said that Ritchie has moved up the shortlist and is now the front-runner for Bond 25. Mendes has directed Skyfall and Spectre in the James Bond spy franchise, but revealed in May he would not return for another movie as he wanted to work on something new. — IANS

Anil Kapoor ready for ‘24’ season 3

Actor-producer Anil Kapoor, who is receiving rave reviews for 24: Season 2, says he's open to doing more work on the television drama series. During a question-answer chat with his Twitter fans on Sunday, Kapoor was asked whether he would like to do more seasons of the show. Anil replied: "Yes, I will be doing '24' three for sure, but will be doing something as exciting or more soon". The second season of 24, an Indian adaptation of the popular American TV show 24, features the actor as Jai Singh Rathod. The espionage thriller also features Sikandar Kher, Surveen Chawla, Sakshi Tanwar and Ashish Vidyarthi. — IANS

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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.”