Anil Kapoor will remake the revered American TV series 24. AFP
Anil Kapoor will remake the revered American TV series 24. AFP
Anil Kapoor will remake the revered American TV series 24. AFP
Anil Kapoor will remake the revered American TV series 24. AFP

Today's entertainment news: Bollywood's Anil Kapoor channels Jack Bauer


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The Bollywood actor and producer Anil Kapoor revealed details of his forthcoming Indian remake of the revered American TV series 24, while speaking to the press on Tuesday in Dubai.

He said he hoped his version would hit screens next year, but admitted that he hadn't yet thought of a name for the Indian Jack Bauer character.

Avatar 3D expert to go to Bollywood

Hollywood's 3D specialist Joe Hagg, the man behind James Cameron's Avatar, has been invited to do the visual effects of the Mahesh Bhatt-produced horror flick Raaz 3, which would be made in 3D.

"Joe Hagg, the 3D man who crafted Avatar, is here in Mumbai to shoot for Raaz 3," Bhatt tweeted this week, even posting a photograph of Hagg and the Fox Star team in a creative meeting with Bhatt's technicians at Vishesh Films. The third film in the Raaz series would be directed by Vikram Bhatt, who directed the first one. Raaz 3 will see the return of the actress Bipasha Basu, who made her debut with Mahesh Bhatt's films such as Jism and Raaz, both big hits, for the Bhatt production house after 2003.

Alec Baldwin kicked off plane

Alec Baldwin says he was kicked off a plane on Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport after having words with a flight attendant over an "addicting" word game he was playing on his mobile phone, according to reports from the Associated Press.

The 30 Rock actor was asked to get off a New York City-bound flight for playing Words With Friends while the plane idled at a gate, said Baldwin's spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik.

"He loves Words With Friends so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it," said Hiltzik, who added that Baldwin boarded another American Airlines flight to New York.

Baldwin, a prolific Twitter user, took to the social media site to vent, saying a "flight attendant on American reamed me out 4 playing Words With Friends while we sat at the gate, not moving."

Ted Hughes in Poets' Corner

The British poet Ted Hughes has been honoured with a memorial stone in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, joining a line of great British writers going back to Chaucer.

The stone in the abbey floor, unveiled on Tuesday, is next to one honouring TS Eliot, Hughes' mentor and publisher.

Hughes's stone is inscribed with his name and words from That Morning, one of his River poems: "So we found the end of our journey / So we stood alive in the river of light / Among the creatures of light, creatures of light."

Some 300 people were at the ceremony, including Hughes's widow Carol and daughter Frieda. The Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney delivered an address.

Hughes died of cancer in 1998, months after publishing Birthday Letters, a powerful collection reflecting on his troubled first marriage to the poet Sylvia Plath. Plath killed herself in 1963, after the couple had separated. A letter Hughes wrote to her in 1956 was chosen as one of the readings for the ceremony.

Jeremy Piven confirms Entourage movie

Yet another popular TV show is making its way to the silver screen, joining the likes of 24, Dr Who and Battlestar Galactica.

Since Entourage ended last September, fans have been hoping for a feature film adaptation of the HBO series, which ran for eight years.

The actor Jeremy Piven himself broke the good news on the talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last week, announcing that an Entourage film is in the works. Piven plays the obnoxious talent agent Ari Gold on the show.

The producer Mark Wahlberg has also confirmed the news: "We're working on it as we speak," he told People magazine. "I said if I had to finance it myself, I'd do it."

The film's script is now being commissioned.

Tom Cruise signs on for sci-fi flick

Fresh from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the actor Tom Cruise is wasting no time and has signed on for another project, a sci-fi time-warp film called All You Need Is Kill.

The Warner Bros movie, an adaptation of the Japanese novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, tells the story of a soldier getting killed in battle with aliens, but suddenly wakes up with an opportunity to change his fate.

Aside from this new project, Cruise is also working on the film Oblivion opposite the actress Jessica Chastain, the Christopher McQuarrie-directed One Shot and the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages.

Test series fixtures

(All matches start at 2pm UAE)

1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday

2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18

3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31

4th Test Manchester from August 4-8

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.”

What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women & the Food That Tells Their Stories
Laura Shapiro
Fourth Estate

Schedule:

Friday, January 12: Six fourball matches
Saturday, January 13: Six foursome (alternate shot) matches
Sunday, January 14: 12 singles

The specs: 2018 Honda City

Price, base: From Dh57,000
Engine: 1.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 118hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 146Nm @ 4,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
  1. Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
  2. Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
  3. Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
  4. Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
  5. Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
  6. The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
  7. Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269

*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year

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Everton%20Fixtures
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Skoda Superb Specs

Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol

Power: 190hp

Torque: 320Nm

Price: From Dh147,000

Available: Now

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants

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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The Vile

Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah

Director: Majid Al Ansari

Rating: 4/5

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.” 

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If you go

The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.

The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.