Another British actor with the posh charm of Bond, Chiwetel Ejiofor (CBE) is a Shakespearean actor with a bucket-load of range - he'd bring elements to Bond that we didn't even know existed. In fact, we bet he'd really work on and illuminate Bond's childhood pain, which is something that seems to be constantly danced around but never really dealt with. He's 41, so has at least a decade of Bond-dom ahead of him, and he has the pathos of an actor far beyond his years. We love it - casting directors, we've done your work for you.
Another British actor with the posh charm of Bond, Chiwetel Ejiofor (CBE) is a Shakespearean actor with a bucket-load of range - he'd bring elements to Bond that we didn't even know existed. In fact, we bet he'd really work on and illuminate Bond's childhood pain, which is something that seems to be constantly danced around but never really dealt with. He's 41, so has at least a decade of Bond-dom ahead of him, and he has the pathos of an actor far beyond his years. We love it - casting directors, we've done your work for you.
Another British actor with the posh charm of Bond, Chiwetel Ejiofor (CBE) is a Shakespearean actor with a bucket-load of range - he'd bring elements to Bond that we didn't even know existed. In fact, we bet he'd really work on and illuminate Bond's childhood pain, which is something that seems to be constantly danced around but never really dealt with. He's 41, so has at least a decade of Bond-dom ahead of him, and he has the pathos of an actor far beyond his years. We love it - casting directors, we've done your work for you.
Another British actor with the posh charm of Bond, Chiwetel Ejiofor (CBE) is a Shakespearean actor with a bucket-load of range - he'd bring elements to Bond that we didn't even know existed. In fact,

McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave is the big winner at this year’s Baftas

Also, Moss sisters make London Fashion Week appearance; Chennai film festival to debut on Thursday; Clean Bandit stay at top of charts.

The National staff with agencies

February 17, 2014

  • English
  • Arabic

Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave was the big winner at the Baftas on Sunday, with a huge pre-Oscars boost. Adapted from Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir, the drama took the coveted Best Film prize at a star-studded ceremony at London's Royal Opera House. The film's lead star, the British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, walked away with the Best Actor prize. Philomena, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, won in the Adapted Screenplay category. Jennifer Lawrence won Best Supporting Actress for her role in American Hustle; Barkhad Abdi was named Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a Somali pirate in Captain Phillips. McQueen missed out on the Best Director award, which instead went to the Mexican Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity. The Australian actress Cate Blanchett paid tribute to her late colleague Philip Seymour Hoffman, calling him "a continual profound touchstone", as she claimed her Best Actress award for her part in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine. – AP

For the complete list of winners and a picture gallery, visit www.thenational.ae/arts-culture

Moss sisters make London Fashion Week appearance

London Fashion Week wouldn't be complete without an appearance by Britain's most famous model. Just don't expect Kate Moss to stop and shoot the breeze with reporters. Moss stirred a brief commotion on Sunday when she arrived as a front row guest at Topshop's catwalk show, causing everyone to raise their smartphone cameras. But Moss ignored journalists' pleas for a quick word about the clothes, the weather, or anything at all. She was happy, though, to pose for pictures with her 16-year-old sister Lottie, who's just starting out in the modelling industry. They both sat beside American Vogue's editor Anna Wintour. – AP

Look out for our round-up of the best from London Fashion Week in Thursday’s Arts&Life

Chennai film festival to commence on Thursday

As many as 138 films from 19 countries will be screened at the first edition of the Chennai International Short Film Festival (CISFF). The three-day extravaganza will begin in the Tamil Nadu capital on Thursday. "The festival received over 350 entries from 19 countries, out of which we have shortlisted 138 films which will be screened. The festival will feature three competition and five non-competition sections, with total prize money worth 80,000 rupees [Dh4,744]," read a statement from CISFF. The three competition sections are for short fiction films, short documentaries and animation shorts. In the non-competition categories, the focus will be on Indian panorama and world cinema. A three-member jury comprising the actors Rohini and Abhishek and the film editor Akkineni Sreekar Prasad will judge the entries in the competition section. – IANS

Clean Bandit stay at top of charts

The British electronic group Clean Bandit have held on to the No 1 spot in the British music charts with their song Rather Be, seeing off stiff competition to make it four weeks running at the top, said the Official Charts Company. Stay the Night by Zedd and Hayley Williams placed second, pushing Pharrell Williams's Happy into third. Katy B entered the album charts at No 1 with her second studio album, Little Red. – Reuters

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

RACE CARD

6.30pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 Group 1 (PA) Dh119,373 (Dirt) 1,600m

7.05pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 1,200m

7.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Turf) 1,800m

8.15pm UAE 1000 Guineas Trial (TB) Dh183,650 (D) 1,400m

9.50pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,600m

9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,000m

Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.

A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.

Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.

A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.

On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.

The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.

Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.

The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later. 

More from this package
Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species

Camelpox

Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.

Falconpox

Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.

Houbarapox

Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.

U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES

UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)

  • Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs 
  • Thursday 20 January: v England 
  • Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh 

UAE squad:

Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith  

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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.”

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