One Direction
Take Me Home
Sony
****
The popularity of boy bands is often bewildering to those of us not in their target demographic, but One Direction's rise is particularly startling.
They were seemingly just another group created by a UK talent show, but their debut album, Up All Night, was the first by a British act to debut at No 1 on the US charts, and many now refer to them as the biggest band in the world. If you typed the letter "o" into Google a few days after last week's US election, the first result was not "Obama".
Unsurprisingly, there are no dramatic changes on One Direction's second album. Vocally versatile, the youthful quintet happily leap from frat-boy punk-pop (Kiss You) to Katy Perry-style confections (I Would), but also hark back to their homeland. There are musical nods to The Clash and Queen, while two lower-key tracks co-written by the popular English singer Ed Sheeran reference tea and "the showers that are British" - the album's most amusingly awkward lyric.
Generally, though, this is polished, upbeat, cheerleader-friendly pop: the sound of a gleeful American high school breaking up for the holidays.
COMPANY PROFILE
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MATCH INFO
Leeds United 0
Brighton 1 (Maupay 17')
Man of the match: Ben White (Brighton)
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
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Titan Sports Academy:
Programmes: Judo, wrestling, kick-boxing, muay thai, taekwondo and various summer camps
Location: Inside Abu Dhabi City Golf Club, Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Telephone: 971 50 220 0326
The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: From Dh1 million
On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022
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While you're here
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If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
SPECS
Plastic tipping points
SPECS
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE
ACL Elite (West) - fixtures
Monday, Sept 30
Al Sadd v Esteghlal (8pm)
Persepolis v Pakhtakor (8pm)
Al Wasl v Al Ahli (8pm)
Al Nassr v Al Rayyan (10pm)
Tuesday, Oct 1
Al Hilal v Al Shorta (10pm)
Al Gharafa v Al Ain (10pm)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble
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Rashmee Roshan Lall: Sound of silence in South Asia
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Company%20Profile
Long read
Mageed Yahia, director of WFP in UAE: Coronavirus knows no borders, and neither should the response
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
'Spies in Disguise'
Director: Nick Bruno and Troy Quane
Stars: Will Smith, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan and Roshida Jones
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
COMPANY PROFILE
Opinions on Lebanon
Kareem Shaheen: Lebanon is being forced to relive its traumas
Michael Young: Hezbollah is losing its ability to intimidate anyone
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
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Martin Puchner
Granta
A Prayer Before Dawn
Director: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
Starring: Joe Cole, Somluck Kamsing, Panya Yimmumphai
Three stars
THE%20SWIMMERS
Bharatanatyam
A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.
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