The big reveals from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con



Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice full trailer airs

The world is in turmoil in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – at least that how it seems in the first full trailer for the superhero film. Audiences at Comic-Con International, which ended yesterday in San Diego, were treated to an extended look at how Ben Affleck's Batman decides to fight Henry Cavill's Superman in Zack Snyder's film. The powerful and godlike Superman is blamed for a massive tragedy and deemed a threat to society. The vigilante Batman attempts to take control of the situation.

Affleck, Cavill and Snyder were joined on the Hall H stage by co-stars Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg and Amy Adams to talk about the legacy of their characters. Gadot plays Wonder Woman, Eisenberg is Lex Luthor and Adams reprises her role as Lois Lane.

Affleck said if he thought too hard about the actors who’d played the part of Batman before, he wouldn’t have taken the job. His Batman is different. As Snyder told him, he’s older and a burnt-out.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theatres on March 25, 2016.

Suicide Squad

The first footage of director David Ayer's Suicide Squad was shown at Comic-Con to thunderous applause. Audiences saw the misfit supervillains being recruited by Viola Davis's Amanda Waller to conduct shadowy missions.

As Deadshot, Will Smith says in the trailer: “So that’s it, we’re the patsies. We’re some kind of suicide squad. So let’s save the world.”

The trailer also showed a sinister, snivelling Jared Leto as The Joker.

The cast, including Smith, Margot Robbie and Davis walked on stage, waved, and exited quickly.

Suicide Squad opens on August 5 of next year.

X-Men

Bryan Singer revealed that X-Men: Apocalypse takes place in 1983, 10 years after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

He said in this world, “mutants are for the most part accepted and embraced by society”.

The filmmakers also showed the first footage, compiled from about five weeks of shooting. Fans got a peek at the villain Apocalypse, played by Oscar Isaac. The trailer hinted at the threats facing the mutants and showed a bald James McAvoy as Professor X and Sophie Turner as a young Jean Grey.

Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Raven/Mystique, said her character is a little more Raven in this outing.

X-Men: Apocalypse hits theatres on May 27.

Quentin Tarantino’s latest

Quentin Tarantino says that even though he "screamed and yelled" when his script for The Hateful Eight leaked early last year, it didn't affect his process.

He debuted a seven-minute reel of the Civil War-era Western starring Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bruce Dern.

About the script leak, Tarantino said he was mainly dismayed that it was a first draft that still needed to be worked on.

After the incident, Tarantino filed a lawsuit against Gawker Media, when one of the company’s blogs published a link to download the script.

He said: “It just got more public than I wanted it to get.”

Boyhood – Simpson style

Springfield is welcoming a few new celebrity residents.

The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean told fans at Comic-Con that Stephen Merchant, Michael York, Kate McKinnon and "all the girls from Girls" will be among the celebrity voices appearing next season.

Guillermo del Toro, who directed an opening sequence for the show’s Halloween special, joined Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson) and the producers on stage.

Del Toro later petitioned Simpsons creator Matt Groening on stage to cast him as Bumblebee Man's brother.

The producers also teased that Bart Simpson will be the focus of a Boyhood-inspired episode, featuring Bart at various ages of his life.

“That was one of the hardest episodes I’ve ever voiced,” said Cartwright. She demonstrated for the crowd of about 5,000 fans what Bart sounded like saying “eat my shorts” at age 2, 14, 22 and 40.

Lily James shows off zombie slayer side

Lily James has transformed from a princess into a zombie slayer.

The star of Cinderella was at Comic-Con on Saturday to show off footage from her latest film, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

The fairy-tale princess and zombie-killer have more in common than it might seem, James said.

“Both of them are so strong and independent and fierce,” she said. “And to get to play women like that is just so wonderful because it doesn’t always happen and they don’t always exist in film.”

In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, set for release next year, James plays Elizabeth Bennett, one of five killer zombie-slayers "who push the men aside and stride into a horde of the undead."

The 26-year-old actress said she enjoyed learning to fight and perform stunts for the role, adding, "I'm hoping that Cinderella 2 might have zombies in it."

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).

Second leg

Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm

Games on BeIN Sports

The specs

Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6

Power: 400hp

Torque: 475Nm

Transmission: 9-speed automatic

Price: From Dh215,900

On sale: Now

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Klopp at the Kop

Matches 68; Wins 35; Draws 19; Losses 14; Goals For 133; Goals Against 82

  • Eighth place in Premier League in 2015/16
  • Runners-up in Europa League in 2016
  • Runners-up in League Cup in 2016
  • Fourth place in Premier League in 2016/17
Company%20profile
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The specs

Engine: 5.2-litre V10

Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm

Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm

Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto

Price: From Dh1 million

On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022 

The biog

Hometown: Cairo

Age: 37

Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror

Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing

Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition

The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

Sunday:
GP3 race: 12:10pm
Formula 2 race: 1:35pm
Formula 1 race: 5:10pm
Performance: Guns N' Roses

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Results:

First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15

Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24

Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

The team

Videographer: Jear Velasquez 

Photography: Romeo Perez 

Fashion director: Sarah Maisey 

Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory 

Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG 

Video assistant: Zanong Maget 

Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud  

Honeymoonish
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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.”

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5