La La Land, the candy-coloured love letter to movie musicals, has landed a record-equalling 14 Academy Awards nominations, matching the record jointly held by Titanic (1997) and All About Eve (1950).
It earned Oscar nods for Best Picture, for its stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, its songs and 32-year-old writer-director, Damien Chazelle.
The other nominees for Best Picture are: Moonlight, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Lion, Fences, Hidden Figures and Hacksaw Ridge.
Following two years of "#OscarsSoWhite" controversy, the Academy of Motion Pictures unveiled a noticeably more diverse list of nominees, led by Barry Jenkins' luminous coming-of-age drama Moonlight, as well as Fences, directed by and starring Denzel Washington, and Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures.
Moonlight and Denis Villeneuve's cerebral science fiction thriller Arrival tied for the second-highest number of nominations, with eight each.
The biggest surprise, perhaps, was the strong support for Mel Gibson, shunned in Hollywood for the past decade. Not only did his World War Two drama Hacksaw Ridge land a Best Picture nod, but Gibson scored an unexpected Best Director nomination.
The nominees for Best Actor are: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) and Denzel Washington (Fences).
In the running for best supporting actor are: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) and Dev Patel (Lion).
Fairly or not, this year’s nominations were being closely watched as a test for the revamped film academy. These are the first Oscars voted on since academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs ushered in new membership rules and added 683 new members in an attempt to diversify what was a predominantly white, male and elderly group. The membership now numbers 6,687.
__________________________________
The full list: Oscar nominations 2017
__________________________________
The Oscars also rejigged its nominations format. Instead of announcing the nominees live in Los Angeles, pre-recorded videos of previous winners introduced each category.
This year's group of Best Picture nominees is one of the lowest grossing. Though La La Land and some other nominees, including Arrival and (less certainly) Hidden Figures are close to earning US$100 million (Dh367m) at the North American box office, none of them has yet broken through that barrier.
After an unlikely awards season run, tongue-in-cheek superhero movie Deadpool (which made $363.1m in North America) failed to crash the Oscars party.
The regular blockbuster business of corporate-driven Hollywood is increasingly set apart from the awards season, where smaller, critically adored films such as 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, Boyhood and Spotlight have dominated in recent years.
Only one major studio – Paramount, which distributed Arrival and Fences – scored a best picture nomination.
Amazon landed its first Best Picture nomination, for Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea, for which the streaming service partnered with Roadside Attractions to distribute.
The dearth of blockbuster nominees will be a test for host Jimmy Kimmel, who will present the Academy Awards for the first time on February 26.
While the ceremony is still one of the most-watched TV broadcasts of the year, ratings have been in decline the past two years. Last year’s ceremony, hosted by Chris Rock, attracted 34.4 million viewers, an eight-year-low. That show, which he introduced as “the White People’s Choice Awards”, was at the heart of Hollywood’s diversity debate.
This year’s ceremony – where politics seems likely to feature prominently – will surely be seen as an improvement. But many have long held that the industry’s inclusivity problems are rooted not in its award shows, but in its power brokers: the executives, agents and producers.
* Associated Press
Warlight,
Michael Ondaatje, Knopf
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
Fiorentina v Torino (8pm)
Hellas Verona v Roma (10.45pm)
Sunday
Parma v Napoli (2.30pm)
Genoa v Crotone (5pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (8pm)
Juventus v Sampdoria (10.45pm)
Monday
AC Milan v Bologna (10.45om)
Playing September 30
Benevento v Inter Milan (8pm)
Udinese v Spezia (8pm)
Lazio v Atalanta (10.45pm)
Fixtures (all times UAE)
Saturday
Brescia v Atalanta (6pm)
Genoa v Torino (9pm)
Fiorentina v Lecce (11.45pm)
Sunday
Juventus v Sassuolo (3.30pm)
Inter Milan v SPAL (6pm)
Lazio v Udinese (6pm)
Parma v AC Milan (6pm)
Napoli v Bologna (9pm)
Verona v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Monday
Cagliari v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
SPEC SHEET
Display: 6.8" edge quad-HD dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity-O, 3088 x 1440, 500ppi, HDR10 , 120Hz
Processor: 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200, 8-core
Memory: 8/12GB RAM
Storage: 128/256/512GB/1TB
Platform: Android 12
Main camera: quad 12MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 108MP wide f/1.8, 10MP telephoto f/4.9, 10MP telephoto 2.4; Space Zoom up to 100x, auto HDR, expert RAW
Video: 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60fps, HD@30fps, super slo-mo@960fps
Front camera: 40MP f/2.2
Battery: 5000mAh, fast wireless charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC
I/O: USB-C
SIM: single nano, or nano and SIM, nano and nano, eSIM/nano and nano
Colours: burgundy, green, phantom black, phantom white, graphite, sky blue, red
Price: Dh4,699 for 128GB, Dh5,099 for 256GB, Dh5,499 for 512GB; 1TB unavailable in the UAE
Match info
Newcastle United 1
Joselu (11')
Tottenham Hotspur 2
Vertonghen (8'), Alli (18')
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.”
Ponti
Sharlene Teo, Pan Macmillan
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
