The first look at Hrithik Roshan's much-anticipated period film, Mohenjo Daro, has been released. The Bollywood actor teased fans with a motion poster for the epic adventure-romance drama directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The poster features the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro in the era of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Hrithik tweeted on Tuesday: "Often the greatest of men have the smallest of beginnings. His name..? Only the truly vulnerable can be truly powerful!! Are u ready?" A few hours later, he shared the poster with the caption: "Manifestation of love and power." Co-written, co-produced and directed by Gowariker, the film is due for release in August. – The National
Dhawan ready to go solo
Varun Dhawan is ready to fly solo after sharing the big screen with John Abraham in Rohit Dhwan's action adventure film Dishoom, which was partly filmed in AbuDhabi with the help of twofour54. Entertainment website Bollywoodhungama.com quoted a source close to Dhawan as saying that after movies including Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and ABCD2, Dhawan, 29, was confident of carrying off a film as the sole lead. Another factor that led to this decision was his disappointment in Dilwale. It was reported in April that Dhawan was unhappy with the final edit of the film, from which a lot of his scenes were cut. In other news from Dishoom, its trailer, which was released on June 1, has crossed the 10-million views mark. Abraham celebrated this milestone by tweeting a specially created poster thanking viewers for their overwhelming support. – Sonali Kokra
Padukone teams up with footballer
Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, who is set to make her Hollywood debut in January alongside Vin Diesel in xXx3: The Return Of Xander Cage, will share screen time with footballer Neymar Jr in the movie, the third in the xXx franchise. Diesel made the announcement on Instagram, after the Brazilian and FC Barcelona striker completed his first day's filming. The film will be Neymar Jr's Hollywood debut. The footballer also posted about the film on his Instagram account, saying that he was excited to be a part of the movie. www.instagram.com/p/BGNXM68GPiM/?taken-by=vindiesel www.instagram.com/p/BGNETAiRtnt/?taken-by=neymarjr – Sonali Kokra
Anger over Udta Punjab censorship
Bollywood film Udta Punjab has been mired in controversy ever since the Examining Committee of the Central Board of Film Certification demanded 40 cuts due to its depiction of the drug problem in Punjab and its use of expletives. A screening was held for the Censor Board's Revising Committee on and it recommended that the word Punjab be dropped from the title and all references of the state removed. On Monday, Times Now reported that the censor board had demanded 89 cuts, which the makers have refused to make. Bollywood stars and filmmakers came out strongly in support of the film, which was directed by Abhishek Chaubey, condemning the the political pressure that has led to the demands. Karan Johar, Shekhar Gupta, Mahesh Bhatt, Arjun Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Ram Gopal Varma, Soha Ali Khan, Nikhil Advani and many others tweeted in support of the right to free speech and creative expression. Johar wrote: "Udta Punjab speaks of the reality of our times... Censoring reality amounts to delusion. The fraternity has to stand by what's right." Bhatt also took to social media, directing his comments at Pahlaj Nihalani, head of the Central Board of Film Certification, as he wrote: "Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Is Pahlaj Nihalani listening?" – Sonali Kokra
Franzioni faces backlash over Rumi film
Oscar-winning screenwriter, David Franzioni, of Gladiator fame, is facing a backlash over his announcement of a biopic about the life of the 13th-century Persian poet, Rumi. Franzioni's suggestion that he would like to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as Rumi and Robert Downey Jr as his spiritual mentor Shams of Tabriz led to a storm of criticism on Twitter over what is being considered another case of Hollywood "whitewashing". The hashtag #RumiWasntWhite quickly spread across Twitter, with many users pointing out that the poet was born in present-day Afghanistan and emphasising the lack of cultural diversity in Hollywood and the problem with casting white actors to play characters of other races. – Sonali Kokra
Christo unveils latest work on Italian Lake
Residents of a rural area of northern Italy will be able walk on water for the next 16 days, thanks to a giant installation created by the artist Christo. Known for his large-scale works – such as wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont Neuf in Paris, which he completed with his late wife Jeanne-Claude – this is the artist's 23rd large installation. It is set up in Lake Iseo in northern Italy. Since November, Christo and his team have been overseeing the assembly and anchoring of 220,000 floating poly-ethylene cubes to create a three-kilometre undulating runway connecting the mainland with a pair of islands. The Floating Piers is expected to attract half a million visitors during the longest days of the year to northern Italy's least-known big lake. – AP
Banksy gifts painting to schoolkids
Street artist Banksy, whose works of art have sold for more than US$1 million, (Dh3.67m) surprised primary schoolchildren in his native Bristol in south-west England by painting a mural on the side of one of their classrooms during half-term. The 14ft piece, showing a child with a stick chasing a burning tyre, was discovered at Bridge Farm Primary in Bristol on Monday. The school’s site manager Jason Brady found the artwork, which has been confirmed as genuine, with a letter in an envelope entitled “Dear Caretaker”. The letter stated that the pupils at the school had written him a letter and named a house after him, so the artist gifted them a picture. He added: “If you don’t like it feel free to add stuff, I’m sure the teachers won’t mind.Remember – its always easier to get forgiveness than permission. Much love, Banksy.” – The National
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
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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'Morbius'
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona
Rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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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