Logan Thibault, a US marine, finally returns home after serving three tours in Iraq.
Although he is safely back in familiar territory, his spirit is wounded following the death of friends on the battlefield and the difficulty of readjusting to the so-called "real" world. While in Iraq, Thibault finds a picture, covered in dirt, of a mysterious smiling woman and believes it brings him luck. At home, he cafnnot seem to shake off an overwhelming sense of curiosity and determination to locate the subject of the photograph. The journey he then embarks on changes his life.
The Lucky One is the latest novel by the international bestselling American writer Nicholas Sparks, to be adapted by Hollywood for an April release. Sparks, who is in Dubai for the first time taking part in the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, will tomorrow morning host a film panel discussion entitled "From Page to Screen" at the InterContinental hotel in Dubai Festival City. He will be joined by the British crime author Mark Billingham and the Chinese writers Chan Koonchung and Bi Feiyu.
Sparks says that Logan Thibault, played by the actor Zac Efron in the film, is unlike any other character he created, making The Lucky One a story close to his heart and cementing the author's hopes to always surprise his readers.
"He [Thibault] is a very stoic character. He is someone who spent time in a theatre of war, watched friends die and it profoundly changed him. He thinks the photograph kept him alive," says Sparks, just before heading into the festival's opening ceremony on Tuesday morning. "It's a way for him to deal with the stress and to find some sort of meaning in his own life. He's a wounded character as he moves through this story. As he falls for her, it starts to heal him."
Seeing individuals who struggle to cope with the experience of war is an all too familiar scene to Sparks, who lives in North Carolina with his family near two major military bases – Fort Bragg and Fort Lejeune.
"We have 200,000 active military and their families nearby. They are part and parcel of my town and life. We see them and I remember every single one of them had either gone to Iraq or Afghanistan and when they come back – they are all changed.
"All different. Some very shaken," says Sparks.
"It's a novel that really captures the challenges of readjusting to the real world. The Hurt Locker, which won Academy Awards, did that also very well."
Sparks's books have been translated into 45 languages and grossed more than US$80 million (Dh294m) in international sales. During the panel discussion, he hopes to share his experiences, in a bid to encourage writers and to tackle the primary difference between the novel and the film adaptation.
Message in a Bottle was the first of his novels to be made into a film. It was adapted into a 1999 movie starring Kevin Costner, Robin Wright and Paul Newman. It was followed by A Walk to Remember with Mandy Moore in 2002. To date, seven of his books have been adapted for the big screen and all have featured A-list celebrities.
"I've had experience from different angles: I'm a producer, writer, screenwriter and also had others adapt my work, so I will offer advice that hopefully will make the process clearer for people who want to be writers and have their project adapted to film. I'll be there to answer any questions they have," Sparks says. When he is not attending the festival's sessions or sightseeing in Dubai, Sparks says he will be in his hotel room writing his latest book.
"I never really talk about my books before publication and I don't have a title yet, but I am about 20 per cent done. By the end of this week, I'll probably be 30 per cent done, so it's exciting," he says. "It's a love story set in North Carolina and one I think people will love."
The book is expected to be completed in June and will go on sale by August.
Sparks usually pens at least one book a year. Forthcoming projects include a film version of Safe Haven, filming for which will begin late May. The Best of Me will start filming in September, leaving him with three films in various production stages this year alone. He is also developing a TV series for 2013.
"I'm in a position where I have a choice with where I want to go. I could sell a novel before writing it for film. I could wait until it's finished or I can sell it at the halfway point, so there is a lot of different things," says Sparks. "With every novel, we figure out the story and then the best path."
It was only for The Last Song, starring Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth, that Sparks wrote the screenplay before the novel.
"When I know it's going to be a film and who's going to be in it, then their face comes to mind. For instance, I knew Miley Cyrus would play Ronnie in The Last Song, so it was easy to picture her going through the scenes as I'm creating the novel."
So, with all the love stories under his belt and a seemingly healthy recipe for success, has it made Sparks fully understand the mystery of love?
"I try," he laughs. "I'm very happy, I love my wife very much and feel fortunate to have married her. People who see us together would say we have a very good relationship. She's still my best friend and that's what a lot of it comes down to."
In fact, it was the true story of his wife's grandparents that became the inspiration for perhaps his most famous novel, and 2004's hit movie The Notebook, starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. "The film was wonderfully made and the performances were extraordinary throughout. I think it goes to the core of what it means to be human, of that dream that there is someone out there who will love you no matter what," says Sparks.
In the meantime, he hopes to continue to surprise and inspire his fans.
"If you pick up one of my novels, you have no idea how it's going to end – unless you take a peek at the end," he says.
Nicholas Sparks's From Page to Screen panel discussion is tomorrow at 10am. He will also hold a 7.30pm session tomorrow, also at the InterContinental hotel in Dubai Festival City. For more information, visit www.emirateslitfest.com. Follow Sparks on Twitter: @SparksNicholas
melshoush@thenational.ae
Oppenheimer
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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.
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.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Lewis Hamilton in 2018
Australia 2nd; Bahrain 3rd; China 4th; Azerbaijan 1st; Spain 1st; Monaco 3rd; Canada 5th; France 1st; Austria DNF; Britain 2nd; Germany 1st; Hungary 1st; Belgium 2nd; Italy 1st; Singapore 1st; Russia 1st; Japan 1st; United States 3rd; Mexico 4th
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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
ANATOMY%20OF%20A%20FALL
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Brief scores:
Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
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.”
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Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Company%20Profile
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
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The Specs
Price, base Dh379,000
Engine 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 503bhp
Torque 443Nm
On sale now
'Jurassic%20World%20Dominion'
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More coverage from the Future Forum
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Key Points
- Protests against President Omar Al Bashir enter their sixth day
- Reports of President Bashir's resignation and arrests of senior government officials
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
