Albert Pujols impressed as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Texas Rangers 6-2 on close the gap on their opponents in the National League West division.
Pujols hit two home runs while Jered Weaver gave up two runs in six 1/3 innings as the Angels moved to within three games of Texas in the standings.
The Cincinnati Reds survived a scare before defeating the San Diego Padres 7-6 for their 18th win in 21 games.
The Reds, who saw their 10-game winning streak ended by San Diego on Monday, looked to be cruising to victory as they raced into a 6-0 lead by the third inning, but they saw that advantage wiped out in one go in the fourth inning as the Padres levelled the scores up at 6-6.
The National League Central leaders recovered from that shock though to clinch the victory when Brandon Phillips hit a solo shot in the seventh inning off the final pitch by Jason Marquis
American League East pacesetters the New York Yankees were not so lucky after losing a big lead of their own against the Baltimore Orioles, though.
The Yankees tied a season-worst run of four successive losses after surrendering a five-run advantage en route to a 11-5 loss.
In a thrilling start to the match, Baltimore's Chris Davis hit a go-ahead grand slam in a seven-run second inning.
The Atlanta Braves were celebrating their seventh straight win as they downed the Miami Marlins 7-1 to close to within two 1/2 games of Washington at the top of the NL East after the Nationals slumped to an 8-0 loss at the hands of Philadelphia Phillies.
Cliff Lee produced a fine performance to help the Phillies end their three-match losing streak in style, pitching seven scoreless innings, allowing just one walk and striking out seven in the victory, while he also hit a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning.
Boston claimed their fourth successive win after beating Detroit 4-1 in a match stopped by rain in the top of the sixth inning.
AJ Pierzynski hit a two-run homer in the ninth as the Chicago White Sox saw off Minnesota 4-3 while Kansas City brought to an end a five-game losing streak with an 8-3 win over Cleveland.
In other matches, AJ Burnett pitched a shutout as the Pittsburgh Pirates downed the Chicago Cubs 5-0, while Matt Holliday homered, doubled and drove in four runs as St Louis beat Colorado 11-6.
Also, NL West leaders San Francisco beat the New York Mets 4-1 to extend their advantage over second-placed Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost 8-2 against Arizona, Seattle won 7-2 against Toronto, Milwaukee thrashed Houston 10-1 and Tampa Bay were similarly convincing in defeating Oakland 8-0.
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
Captain Marvel
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn
4/5 stars
‘FSO Safer’ - a ticking bomb
The Safer has been moored off the Yemeni coast of Ras Issa since 1988.
The Houthis have been blockading UN efforts to inspect and maintain the vessel since 2015, when the war between the group and the Yemen government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition began.
Since then, a handful of people acting as a skeleton crew, have performed rudimentary maintenance work to keep the Safer intact.
The Safer is connected to a pipeline from the oil-rich city of Marib, and was once a hub for the storage and export of crude oil.
The Safer’s environmental and humanitarian impact may extend well beyond Yemen, experts believe, into the surrounding waters of Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Eritrea, impacting marine-life and vital infrastructure like desalination plans and fishing ports.
'Gold'
Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Olive Gaea
Started: 2021
Co-founders: Vivek Tripathi, Jessica Scopacasa
Based: Dubai
Licensed by: Dubai World Trade Centre
Industry: Climate-Tech, Sustainability
Funding: $1.1 million
Investors: Cornerstone Venture Partners and angel investors
Number of employees: 8
MORE ON INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books
It’ll be summer in the city as car show tries to move with the times
If 2008 was the year that rocked Detroit, 2019 will be when Motor City gives its annual car extravaganza a revamp that aims to move with the times.
A major change is that this week's North American International Auto Show will be the last to be held in January, after which the event will switch to June.
The new date, organisers said, will allow exhibitors to move vehicles and activities outside the Cobo Center's halls and into other city venues, unencumbered by cold January weather, exemplified this week by snow and ice.
In a market in which trends can easily be outpaced beyond one event, the need to do so was probably exacerbated by the decision of Germany's big three carmakers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – to skip the auto show this year.
The show has long allowed car enthusiasts to sit behind the wheel of the latest models at the start of the calendar year but a more fluid car market in an online world has made sales less seasonal.
Similarly, everyday technology seems to be catching up on those whose job it is to get behind microphones and try and tempt the visiting public into making a purchase.
Although sparkly announcers clasp iPads and outline the technical gadgetry hidden beneath bonnets, people's obsession with their own smartphones often appeared to offer a more tempting distraction.
“It's maddening,” said one such worker at Nissan's stand.
The absence of some pizzazz, as well as top marques, was also noted by patrons.
“It looks like there are a few less cars this year,” one annual attendee said of this year's exhibitors.
“I can't help but think it's easier to stay at home than to brave the snow and come here.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
Scoreline:
Barcelona 2
Suarez 85', Messi 86'
Atletico Madrid 0
Red card: Diego Costa 28' (Atletico)
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Alaan
Started: 2021
Based: Dubai
Founders: Parthi Duraisamy and Karun Kurien
Sector: FinTech
Investment stage: $7 million raised in total — $2.5 million in a seed round and $4.5 million in a pre-series A round
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
AL BOOM
Director:Assad Al Waslati
Starring: Omar Al Mulla, Badr Hakami and Rehab Al Attar
Streaming on: ADtv
Rating: 3.5/5
SPECS: Polestar 3
Engine: Long-range dual motor with 400V battery
Power: 360kW / 483bhp
Torque: 840Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 628km
0-100km/h: 4.7sec
Top speed: 210kph
Price: From Dh360,000
On sale: September
