Truly immortal children's characters are those who transport but also transcend. Not only do they chime with young readers around the world, they continue to strike a chord with us in adulthood.
The Little Prince, Heidi, Pippi Longstocking and Tom Sawyer captivate all ages both within and beyond their native lands. Peter Pan appeals to everyone everywhere with a simple, universal message: make the most of youthful adventures and, if possible, don’t grow up.
In 1968, one such literary character was born in Brazil. Based on the author's own childhood in Rio de Janeiro, José Mauro de Vasconcelos's My Sweet Orange Tree relates the scraps, the scrapes, the wisdom and the perseverance of a 5-year-old tearaway Zezé.
The novel was a phenomenal success at home. Since its publication it has been adapted for television, cinema and theatre, and has become something of a classic. It has gone on to magic the world, selling millions of copies in 19 languages including Turkish, Thai and Korean.
There is one notable exception. For more than 40 years the book has been out of print in English. But Pushkin Press has rectified that by reissuing it in an elegant new translation by Alison Entrekin.
Although originally written as a novel for children, this is a book that can be read on two levels, exploring as it does both the innocence of childhood and the cruel blows of fate.
New readers, young and old, will delight in the beautifully bittersweet tale. Zezé lives with his family in Bangu, a poor district on the outskirts of Rio. They lead a hardscrabble existence.
His father has lost his job. His mother works the looms at the English Mill until all hours. Older sister Lalá toils at a factory which for Zezé is “a dragon that gobbled up people every morning and spewed them out, very tired, at night”.
For his part, Zezé earns pocket money as a shoeshine. He whiles away the rest of his time by playing either games in the backyard with his little brother Luís or plays pranks on unsuspecting family members and neighbours.
These pranks include setting fire to fences and hammocks, smashing street lights with his slingshot, and making a neighbour’s cat swallow a marble.
When he crosses the line and his naughtiness becomes “devil’s work” he receives a “paddling” from an angry parent with a flip-flop. But then he starts school and this “devil’s godson” shows his angelic side through random acts of kindness – sharing food with a classmate who is poorer than him or stealing flowers to give to his teacher.
Two very different friends turn Zezé’s life around. The first is the eponymous orange tree which stands in the garden of the family’s new house, and becomes if not a conversation partner then a good, solid sounding-board.
The second is a rich Portuguese man – given the childish nickname “Portuga” – who takes Zezé under his wing, allows him to “piggyback” on the back of his car, and instils in him a much needed sense of self-worth.
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My Sweet Orange Tree is rich in charm and tenderness. In places it veers towards the sentimental and whimsical but is always saved in time by the release of carefully accrued tension or pathos. Those sunnier episodes or frivolous escapades are counterbalanced with shocks, disappointments and violence.
Many physical punishments are doled out (one chapter is entitled “Two Memorable Beatings”), including a particularly heavy-handed corrective measure which leaves Zezé unconscious.
A cancelled Christmas due to the family’s financial woes results in keenly felt sorrow and resentment. An out-of-the-blue tragedy in the book’s final act manages to floor both its hero and reader.
Zezé narrates the novel and also carries it. While his antics prove relentlessly entertaining it is his mindset that keeps us emotionally invested. For all his precociousness, he regularly questions older siblings about the ways of the world (“are children retired?”) and finds himself routinely thwarted by adult logic.
Why, he wonders, can’t Portuga buy him from his father? “I’d be one less mouth for them to feed.”
He shares gimlet-eyed observations (the winking candles in a church “made the saints wink too”) and a range of skewed assumptions.
“Funny thing was, she had a man’s moustache,” Zezé notes. “She must have been the headmistress because
of that.” Or: “No one had taken a single flower to my teacher, Dona Cecília Paim. It must have been because she was ugly.”
We gradually come to agree with Portuga that Zezé is “a complicated little chap” but an endearing one too.
There is the odd blemish: what does it mean to be "supping on the same tattered sadness"? Otherwise My Sweet Orange Tree is a near-perfect child's-eye view of life, one that has the power to both warm and break hearts, whatever the age of the reader.
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Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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FA CUP FINAL
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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.”
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
The five pillars of Islam
Specs
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
What is Genes in Space?
Genes in Space is an annual competition first launched by the UAE Space Agency, The National and Boeing in 2015.
It challenges school pupils to design experiments to be conducted in space and it aims to encourage future talent for the UAE’s fledgling space industry. It is the first of its kind in the UAE and, as well as encouraging talent, it also aims to raise interest and awareness among the general population about space exploration.
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Result
Crystal Palace 0 Manchester City 2
Man City: Jesus (39), David Silva (41)
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