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The first Oscars of the 86th Academy Awards were bestowed to heavy favourites, with Jared Leto named best supporting actor, Lupita Nyong'o as best supporting actress and Frozen best animated film, in a night expected to yield few surprises apart from the tight race for best picture.
Dressed in a tuxedo, returning host Ellen DeGeneres opened the live telecast taking friendly jabs at the star-studded audience and nominees, from Jennifer Lawrence for her tripping on the stage last year to Meryl Streep, nominated for the 18th time.
Leto, who returned to acting after a six-year break with his portrayal of the transgender woman Rayon in the AIDS drama Dallas Buyers Club, thanked his mother and paid tribute to all those who have perished from worldwide HIV epidemic.
“This is for the 36 million people out there who have lost the battle to AIDS,” Leto said in his acceptance speech.
Leto also brought international political unrest into the Dolby Theatre by voicing his support for protesters battling their governments in Ukraine and Venezuela.
Dallas Buyers Club also won the Oscar for makeup and hairstyling in representing the characters from the real-life story of AIDS activists in the 1980s.
The remake of the classic The Great Gatsby claimed the trophy for best costume design, a category that film was heavily favoured to win.
It was the first Oscar nomination for the 31-year-old Nyong’o, and she won it for her film debut. Not just a breakout movie star, the Mexican-born actress of Kenyan descent has also made a huge splash in the fashion world.
In one of the strongest years for film in recent memory, the 6,000-plus voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were expected to scatter golden Oscar statuettes widely among the many acclaimed movies in contention.
But two distinct films have dominated the race for the coveted best picture Oscar, the final award of the night: the slavery drama 12 Years a Slave from British director Steve McQueen was the presumed front-runner, while the space thriller Gravity from Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron was seen as having a chance to win.
The Oscars was the culmination of an unusually long awards season, extended by the Winter Olympics, and for many of the nominees it spelled the end to months of campaigning and years of work on a film.
Bedecked in gowns, tuxedos and even shorts, the world’s top actors and actresses strode down the red carpet right after the sun broke through four days of heavy rain that threatened to put a damper on Hollywood’s biggest night.
One of the most notable names on the awards season fashion radar this year, best supporting actress nominee Lupita Nyong’o, wore a blue custom-made Prada.
"It's a blue that reminds me of Nairobi, and I wanted to have a little bit of home," said the Kenyan actress who plays the slave Patsey in 12 Years a Slave.
Her co-star, British best actor nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film’s main protagonist, showed up in the classic tuxedo, while singer Pharrell Williams wore a Lanvin tux with shorts rather than trousers.
* Reuters and AP
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
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Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
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SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Byblos iftar in numbers
29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month
50 staff members required to prepare an iftar
200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly
160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total
500 litres of soup is served during the holy month
200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes
350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes
5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat