Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood celebrates arrival of twins



Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has become a father again at age 68 after his wife, Sally Humphreys, gave birth to twin girls. Wood’s publicist Karen McNamara said that the couple “are delighted to announce the birth” of Gracie Jane, who weighed 6 pounds (2.7kg), and Alice Rose, who weighed 5.7 pounds (2.58kg). The twins are the fifth and sixth children for Wood, who turned 69 yesterday, and the first for 38-year-old Humphreys, who married Wood in 2012. – AP

Indian police demand removal of ‘disrespectful’ comedy video

Police in India have asked Facebook and YouTube to remove a video posted by comedian Tanmay Bhat that mocks a legendary Indian singer and a cricket player. Bhat posted a Snapchat video last week using the app’s face swap feature to impersonate cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and singer Lata Mangeshkar and show them arguing with each other. The 43-year-old Tendulkar retired from the sport in 2013, but still has iconic status. Mangeshkar is one of India’s most famous singers, having performed thousands of Bollywood songs in a career that has spanned more than six decades. Neither celebrity has commented on the video or the angry response it prompted. Bhat is a member of the popular comedy collective All India Bakchod, which pushes the boundaries of humour in a country where such jokes are often deemed disrespectful. – AP

Emily Blunt lands title role in Mary Poppins sequel

Into the Woods star Emily Blunt will take over the role of Mary Poppins from Julie Andrews in a sequel to the 1964 Disney classic, alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda – creator of smash-hit Broadway show Hamilton – also in the cast as new character Jack, a street lamplighter. The film, Mary Poppins Returns, will centre on a now-grown Michael Banks and his three children in the aftermath of a tragedy and the help they get from Mary Poppins and Jack in Depression-era London. Rob Marshall is set to direct and the script is by Finding Neverland writer David Magee. The film is scheduled for release on December 25, 2018. – AP

After 50 years of acting, Jodie Foster is focusing on directing

Hollywood star Jodie Foster is setting her sights on directing more movies as she marks half a century in the spotlight, but says she has no plans to quit acting completely. The 53-year-old, who was in Sydney this week to promote her latest directorial effort, Money Monster, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, made her debut behind the camera in her 20s with Little Man Tate but has only directed a handful of films since. "It's crazy," she said. "I started [directing] when I was 27 and I've only made four movies." She said bringing up two children and difficulties in getting films funded had hindered her. A former child star, Foster said it was "kind of an amazing thing" that she had been acting for 50 years, but her life was now more focused on directing. In addition to films, the two-time Academy Award winner has directed episodes of critically-acclaimed Netflix series Orange Is The New Black and House of Cards. – AFP

The Little Prince painting sells for 133,000

An original watercolour painting from classic French book Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) was sold at auction for €133,200 (Dh544,300) this week. Six buyers battled it out for the painting, which fetched more than double its list price. Guillaume Romaneix, a books and manuscripts specialist at Artcurial, said, "The price obtained for this iconic image is a measure of the status of this universal work of art and its international fame." The painting shows the prince in the desert, standing on a dune with his scarf and hair blowing in the wind. It was used for the first US edition of the classic illustrated book by aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The author had escaped to America during the Second World War after Germany's invasion of France and wrote the book there in 1942. It was published in 1943. The Little Prince has sold 145 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 270 languages. – AFP

New Wally Lamb novel will appear first as multimedia app

Author Wally Lamb's new novel, I'll Take You There, will come out on paper in November, but first it will be released as a multimedia app. Metabook and HarperCollins said the book will appear on November 20 as an app and two days later in paper, audio and e-book editions. Metabook, a digital start-up that helped design the app, acquired the novel in 2013 and licensed rights to the other editions to HarperCollins. The app will feature a soundtrack, short movies and images based on Lamb's novel, which tells the story of a film professor and a haunted theatre. Lamb is known for such best-sellers such as I Know This Much is True and She's Come Undone. Other authors who have published app versions of their work include Rick Riordan and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. – AP

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Points to remember
  • Debate the issue, don't attack the person
  • Build the relationship and dialogue by seeking to find common ground
  • Express passion for the issue but be aware of when you're losing control or when there's anger. If there is, pause and take some time out.
  • Listen actively without interrupting
  • Avoid assumptions, seek understanding, ask questions
Company%20Profile
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Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5

The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape

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Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5

SPECS
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Company profile

Company: Rent Your Wardrobe 

Date started: May 2021 

Founder: Mamta Arora 

Based: Dubai 

Sector: Clothes rental subscription 

Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded 

The specs

  Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

 

 

It

Director: Andres Muschietti

Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor

Three stars

DMZ facts
  • The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
  • It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
  • The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
  • It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
  • Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
  • Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
  • Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012. 
  • Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.

Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.

"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."

The Two Popes

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce 

Four out of five stars

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

Directed by: Shaka King

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons

Four stars

MATCH INFO

Iceland 0 England 1 (Sterling pen 90 1)

Man of the match Kari Arnason (Iceland)

The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Power: 268bhp / 536bhp
Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
On sale: Later this year