"I am an invisible man", wrote Ralph Ellison in 1952. Invisible, in this case, refers not to science fiction trickery but to being out of society's sight.
"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."
All the Invisible Children, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2005, is "a cry for all the children of the world that are victims of jailing, war, neglect, disease and abuse". By bringing together seven renowned directors, including Ridley Scott, John Woo and Spike Lee, to each make a short film, the project's organisers hope to drag such children out of the shadows, to highlight their plight - as the phrase goes - and ensure they are no longer "invisible" simply because people refuse to see them.
This all sounds a bit heavy, struck with emotion, weighed down with a message and freighted with righteousness for a worthy cause.
In some senses, it is: watching all seven vignettes in a single viewing is at first intense and harrowing and then gradually numbing - the exact opposite of the film's stated intention. By the time you reach the end of Spike Lee's Jesus Children of America, the third piece and for me the nadir of sequence, you will have seen orphaned kids with guns roaming around in a makeshift militia, young children become veterans in the cycle of imprisonment and release, and a child realising her drug-addicted parents have infected her with HIV.
Rather than creating a single film with a resounding impact, the project's structure sets up the vignettes as rivals, at times seemingly competing as to which one can portray the most appalling situation unflinchingly.
Fortunately, some of the pieces stand alone as superb short films.
The opening piece, Tanza, directed by Mehdi Charef, is sparse and beautiful. In an unspecified country in Africa, a group of orphaned children are forced to become soldiers. In one sequence, the children are running up a railway track at night. The position of the moon and its glimmer on the steel tracks gives the impression of them ascending a stairway to heaven. The film is full of such powerful and haunting images. But these carefully choreographed scenes are not simply for show. At the end of the film, when Tanza, the 12-year old protagonist, realises the building he has been ordered to blow up is a school, he is transformed into an Everyman - or perhaps more appropriately an Everychild - faced with the forked path of vengeful destruction or difficult peace. This brilliant film alone makes it worth buying the DVD.
The other excellent piece is Ciro, directed by Stefano Veneruso, set in Naples. In a smash and grab robbery, Ciro and another boy steal a Rolex watch from a man sat in a car jammed in traffic. They trade the watch for money and tokens for rides at an amusement park. This film is brimming with youthful exuberance, thrust along by the sounds of buskers and street drumming. And in its quieter moments, such as when Ciro mimes blowing his brains out in the shadows on a graffiti-crammed wall, the film succeeds in conveying the despair behind the bravado and the near-random events driven by volleys of brash and youthful energy.
"People need to see this stuff, you know," says Kelly Macdonald's character to Jonathon, the shell-shocked photographer in Ridley Scott's piece. "You show them what's going on," she says.
This project, while ultimately not more than the sum of its parts, includes some excellent short pieces on subjects often maligned by mainstream filmmakers. For that alone it is worth watching.
Stage 2 results
1 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 04:18:18
2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:02
3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:04
4 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates
5 Rick Zabel (GER) Israel Start-Up Nation
General Classification
1 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal 07:47:19
2 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:12
3 Arnaud Demare (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:16
4 Nikolai Cherkasov (RUS) Gazprom-Rusvelo 00:00:17
5 Alexey Lutsensko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
'Joker'
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix
Rating: Five out of five stars
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: seven-speed PDK dual clutch automatic
Power: 375bhp
Torque: 520Nm
Price: Dh332,800
On sale: now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 480hp at 7,250rpm
Torque: 566Nm at 4,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: L/100km
Price: Dh306,495
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 380hp at 5,800rpm
Torque: 530Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Price: From Dh299,000 ($81,415)
On sale: Now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Forced%20Deportations
%3Cp%3EWhile%20the%20Lebanese%20government%20has%20deported%20a%20number%20of%20refugees%20back%20to%20Syria%20since%202011%2C%20the%20latest%20round%20is%20the%20first%20en-mass%20campaign%20of%20its%20kind%2C%20say%20the%20Access%20Center%20for%20Human%20Rights%2C%20a%20non-governmental%20organization%20which%20monitors%20the%20conditions%20of%20Syrian%20refugees%20in%20Lebanon.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%9CIn%20the%20past%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20General%20Security%20was%20responsible%20for%20the%20forced%20deportation%20operations%20of%20refugees%2C%20after%20forcing%20them%20to%20sign%20papers%20stating%20that%20they%20wished%20to%20return%20to%20Syria%20of%20their%20own%20free%20will.%20Now%2C%20the%20Lebanese%20army%2C%20specifically%20military%20intelligence%2C%20is%20responsible%20for%20the%20security%20operation%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20Mohammad%20Hasan%2C%20head%20of%20ACHR.%3Cbr%3EIn%20just%20the%20first%20four%20months%20of%202023%20the%20number%20of%20forced%20deportations%20is%20nearly%20double%20that%20of%20the%20entirety%20of%202022.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ESince%20the%20beginning%20of%202023%2C%20ACHR%20has%20reported%20407%20forced%20deportations%20%E2%80%93%20200%20of%20which%20occurred%20in%20April%20alone.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EIn%20comparison%2C%20just%20154%20people%20were%20forcfully%20deported%20in%202022.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Violence%20
%3Cp%3EInstances%20of%20violence%20against%20Syrian%20refugees%20are%20not%20uncommon.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EJust%20last%20month%2C%20security%20camera%20footage%20of%20men%20violently%20attacking%20and%20stabbing%20an%20employee%20at%20a%20mini-market%20went%20viral.%20The%20store%E2%80%99s%20employees%20had%20engaged%20in%20a%20verbal%20altercation%20with%20the%20men%20who%20had%20come%20to%20enforce%20an%20order%20to%20shutter%20shops%2C%20following%20the%20announcement%20of%20a%20municipal%20curfew%20for%20Syrian%20refugees.%3Cbr%3E%E2%80%9CThey%20thought%20they%20were%20Syrian%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20the%20mayor%20of%20the%20Nahr%20el%20Bared%20municipality%2C%20Charbel%20Bou%20Raad%2C%20of%20the%20attackers.%3Cbr%3EIt%20later%20emerged%20the%20beaten%20employees%20were%20Lebanese.%20But%20the%20video%20was%20an%20exemplary%20instance%20of%20violence%20at%20a%20time%20when%20anti-Syrian%20rhetoric%20is%20particularly%20heated%20as%20Lebanese%20politicians%20call%20for%20the%20return%20of%20Syrian%20refugees%20to%20Syria.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
FULL%20FIGHT%20CARD
%3Cp%3EFeatherweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Abdullah%20Al%20Qahtani%20v%20Taha%20Bendaoud%0D%3Cbr%3EBantamweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Ali%20Taleb%20v%20Nawras%20Abzakh%0D%3Cbr%3EBantamweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Xavier%20Alaoui%20v%20Rachid%20El%20Hazoume%0D%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Islam%20Reda%20v%20Adam%20Meskini%0D%3Cbr%3EBantamweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Tariq%20Ismail%20v%20Jalal%20Al%20Daaja%0D%3Cbr%3EBantamweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Elias%20Boudegzdame%20v%20Hassan%20Mandour%0D%3Cbr%3EAmateur%20Female%20Atomweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Hattan%20Al%20Saif%20v%20Nada%20Faheem%0D%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Maraoune%20Bellagouit%20v%20Motaz%20Askar%0D%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Ahmed%20Tarek%20v%20Abdelrahman%20Alhyasat%0D%3Cbr%3EShowcase%20Featherweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Mido%20Mohamed%20v%20Yazeed%20Hasanain%0D%3Cbr%3EShowcase%20Flyweight%20Bout%3A%0D%20Malik%20Basahel%20v%20Harsh%20Pandya%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
MATCH INFO
Championship play-offs, second legs:
Aston Villa 0
Middlesbrough 0
(Aston Villa advance 1-0 on aggregate)
Fulham 2
Sessegnon (47'), Odoi (66')
Derby County 0
(Fulham advance 2-1 on aggregate)
Final
Saturday, May 26, Wembley. Kick off 8pm (UAE)
Racecard
%3Cp%3E6pm%3A%20The%20Madjani%20Stakes%20%E2%80%93%20Group%202%20(PA)%20Dh97%2C500%20(Dirt)%201%2C900m%3Cbr%3E6.35pm%3A%20Graduate%20Stakes%20%E2%80%93%20Conditions%20(TB)%20Dh100%2C000%20(D)%201%2C400m%3Cbr%3E7.10pm%3A%20Longines%20Dolcevita%20Collection%20%E2%80%93%20Maiden%20(TB)%20Dh82%2C500%20(D)%201%2C400m%3Cbr%3E7.45pm%3A%20Longines%20Legend%20Driver%20Collection%20%E2%80%93%20Maiden%20(TB)%20Dh82%2C500%20(D)%201%2C600m%3Cbr%3E8.20pm%3A%20Longines%20Master%20Collection%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh105%2C000%20(D)%201%2C200m%3Cbr%3E8.55pm%3A%20Longines%20Record%20Collection%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh87%2C500%20(D)%202%2C200m%3Cbr%3E9.30pm%3A%20Longines%20Spirit%20Collection%20%E2%80%93%20Handicap%20(TB)%20Dh87%2C500%20(D)%201%2C600m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tomb%20Raider%20I%E2%80%93III%20Remastered
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20Aspyr%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Aspyr%0D%3Cbr%3EConsole%3A%20Nintendo%20Switch%2C%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20series%20X%2FS%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.
THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
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
DUBAI%20BLING%3A%20EPISODE%201
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENetflix%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKris%20Fade%2C%20Ebraheem%20Al%20Samadi%2C%20Zeina%20Khoury%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Aggro%20Dr1ft
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Harmony%20Korine%3Cbr%3EStars%3A%20Jordi%20Molla%2C%20Travis%20Scott%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
