Actor Nicolas Cage has agreed to give back a national treasure stolen from Mongolia. A publicist for the star said that Cage was the unwitting buyer of a stolen dinosaur skull. Prosecutors in New York announced last week that they were seeking court approval to seize the 32-inch fossil and return it to the Asian nation, but did not name the buyer. Cage bought the skull at auction from the LA-based I M Chait gallery and auction house, and it came with a certificate of authenticity, publicist Alex Schack said. After being notified last year that authorities suspected it was stolen, the actor "fully cooperated with the investigation, including arranging an inspection of the fossil by agents", and agreed to forfeit it, Schack added. Investigators believe the skull was looted from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and shipped to Florida in June 2006. Cage bought it at an auction in Manhattan in 2007 for US$230,000 (Dh844,824) plus commission that raised the total to $276,000. It was marketed as an "extremely rare" Tyrannosaurus skull from the late Cretaceous period, which is 65 per cent complete. – AP
Star Wars takes China by storm
After a mammoth marketing campaign, growing online chatter in China about Star Wars: Episode VII –The Force Awakens suggests the latest instalment of the sci-fi saga has a shot at breaking box- office records in the world's second-largest movie market. Success in China is crucial if Disney's first foray into the world of Jedi knights – after buying the rights to the franchise from George Lucas for US$4 billion (Dh14.6bn) – is to earn a spot among the top-grossing films of all time. The movie, partly filmed in Abu Dhabi and the seventh in a saga that began in 1977 with the release of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, has already surged past this summer's Jurassic World to set a global opening-weekend record of $529 million. Disney has had to work hard for its Star Wars buzz in China. Though the first film came out a year after the end of the Cultural Revolution and the death of China's founding leader Mao Zedong, the original films weren't shown in Chinese cinemas until June this year. However, after promotions that included from 500 model Stormtroopers on the Great Wall to a pop-star dubbed China's version of Justin Bieber, an analysis of posts on Chinese microblog Sina Weibo reveals that Star Wars has been mentioned about 700,000 times this month, outpacing other big Hollywood releases in China this year. – Reuters
SRK hits back at critics of Dilwale
With elements of comedy, action, romance and drama, some critics have said that Dilwale has turned out to be a Bollywood potboiler. Its star, Shah Rukh Khan, says the film never pretended to be anything else and if audiences want something different, they should wait for his upcoming film, directed by Maneesh Sharma. "If you're looking for novelty, then you should watch out for Fan," Khan says. "It's a different kind of film, supposed to be a niche. It's not meant to be a blockbuster releasing ahead of Christmas." Also starring Kajol, in her first film alongside Khan for five years, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Sanjay Mishra and Johnny Lever, Dilwale was released on Friday and despite lukewarm reviews, has been a box-office hit. "Dilwale is an unabashedly popular commercial film." says Khan. "It's not pretending to be something else. It's meant to be watched by everyone. It has romance, comedy, drama. I don't even think that having Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan is a novelty factor, as it's just that we are doing a film together after a long time." – IANS
Stream The Beatles for free from today
Songs by The Beatles will be available across streaming music services from today, tech news and analysis website Re/code reported. Streaming music services including Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play and Amazon Prime Music are among the those set to stream the band's songs, it reported. Unlike artists such as Adele, Coldplay and Taylor Swift, who decided to not release some of their music to the free versions of music-streaming services, The Beatles will be available for free to its users, Re/code said. – Reuters
Rohit Bal to close LakmÉ Fashion Week
New Delhi designer-to-Bollywood-stars Rohit Bal will bring the curtain down on Lakmé Fashion Week Summer-Resort 2016. The 54-year-old will stage the grand-finale show at The St Regis Mumbai from March 30 to April 3. Bal, who last presented the closing show in 2012, said: "Great to be back again! Always a pleasure to work with the Lakmé team. The most incredible part about doing Lakmé Fashion Week is the carte blanche the designer is given. A complete and uninterrupted creative flow is what Lakmé has given me. That in itself makes doing the finale precious and priceless. I am thrilled to be given this opportunity." – IANS
Telugu singer records song for Kannada film
Telugu actor, singer and dancer Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr, is to record a song this week for the upcoming Kannada film Chakravyuha. "Despite his busy schedule, he has agreed to sing," a source close to the actor said. "The song will be recorded in a studio in the city. It will be the first time he will be singing in a language apart from Telugu." Chakravyuha stars Puneeth Rajkumar and the song is rumoured to be the title track. In addition to lending his voice to Chakravyuha, NTR is also dubbing the Telugu film Nannaku Prematho, which is scheduled for release during the Hindu festival of Sankranti next year. – IANS
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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.”
Afghanistan fixtures
- v Australia, today
- v Sri Lanka, Tuesday
- v New Zealand, Saturday,
- v South Africa, June 15
- v England, June 18
- v India, June 22
- v Bangladesh, June 24
- v Pakistan, June 29
- v West Indies, July 4
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