Oh, my achy breaky heart, Billy Ray, what is going on? The pictures that appeared recently of the Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus's sister, Noah, have certainly stirred up a storm. The clothes that she has been spotted wearing are from the line launched by her best pal and fellow child star, Emily Grace Reaves, aged nine, which has attracted criticism in the US for being too similar to women's lingerie. This is not the first time Noah has caused a stir. She was shown posing on the red carpet at Jamie Lee Curtis's Halloween party wearing a short strappy dress and knee-high PVC boots. An outfit all black and purple; all the better to complement her berry lipstick and black eyeliner. It sounds like the average celebrity's bad stylist day, but the controversial part of this is that Noah is just 10 years old.
Noah's older sister, Miley, came in for her fair share of criticism as did their father, over a photo shoot for Vanity Fair in June 2008. Miley, then 15, posed topless for the photographer Annie Leibovitz wearing just a bed sheet to protect her modesty. It seems the Cyruses haven't learnt from the furore that caused, which led Miley to issue a press release apologising to her legions of fans. But it's not just the Hannah Montana crew who err on the controversial side of style. Just last week, the British glamour model Katie Price, aka Jordan, was criticised by her ex-husband, Peter Andre, for posting pictures of their two-year-old daughter on Facebook wearing lip gloss, eyeshadow and what appears to be her mother's false eyelashes. Andre was reported to be fuming, having previously objected to Price using hair straighteners on their daughter and dyeing their four-year-old son's hair blonde. And let's not forget the pictures of Suri Cruise wearing nail varnish at the age of two and this year tottering around in high heels.
It's fair to say that parents come under a lot of pressure from their daughters to allow them to dress a certain way. Cosmetics and clothes are marketed directly to young girls through children's magazines, plastered with pictures of their style icons Hannah Montana, Selena Gomez and the cast of High School Musical, and in shops. Even in the UAE, where we are spared the worst excesses of such displays of pre-pubescent girls dressed provocatively, there are opportunities for young girls to dress like, and do things previously reserved for, their mothers.
Nearly every nail bar in Abu Dhabi and Dubai offers a "princess" manicure or pedicure for girls as young as two. In Dubai, a children-only spa opened four months ago. Here, young girls are offered manicures and pedicures as well as facials and makeovers. Although the nail polishes used are non-toxic and water-based, is the message these little girls receiving really so harmless? Dr Roghy McCarthy, a clinical psychologist at the Counselling and Development Clinic in Dubai, says that young girls who habitually leave the house wearing make-up and adult-style clothes are missing out on opportunities to play what psychologists refer to as "symbolic games" or pretend play. "Children used to take a little bit of Mummy's make-up to play with, but they knew it was pretend games, trying to be like Mummy. But now it has become real," says McCarthy. "It's not: 'I want to be like my mum', it is now 'I am like Mum'."
Symbolic games are important, McCarthy says, because "it teaches them to understand and empathise being like someone else. When a child takes a doll in their arms and rocks it like Mummy, this imitation helps them develop and become a normal adult in society. If children miss out on this, there can be serious communication and adjustment problems." She is particularly worried by the messages that young girls send out, albeit unwittingly, by wearing such provocative clothes. "Parents are pushing sexuality without realising the consequences. They are putting innocent children in a dangerous situation, making them more vulnerable," McCarthy warns.
She adds that she sees increasing numbers of children suffering from anxiety. "I see a lot of children with low self-esteem, who are anxious about being accepted by others and who are being bullied." A lot of that bullying relates to girls who are picked on for not being up to date with the latest trends, McCarthy says. "There are girls as young as eight or nine who are bullied at school for not following the fashion, for not going to the nail parlour and buying the right clothes."
Kristy Warneford, an Australian who lives with her family in Abu Dhabi, has two daughters, aged seven and three. She thinks parents need to acknowledge responsibility for what their children wear, but at the same time should be cut some slack to adjust to the realities of modern life. "You have to look at it in the context of how we live. When it's really hot, we take them to play centres and to mani-pedi places. It really is a lesser evil; they're not wearing fishnets and long boots."
There's no point hankering after some 1950s ideal, Warneford says "The days of floral pinafores and traipsing through fields of daisies are not realistic and not going to be recaptured. You've got to move with the times. My daughter likes to wear skinny jeans and rock 'n' roll T-shirts. It's an expression of who she is and what she likes. As long as she's not going out in lairy gear, I don't mind."
The companies selling children's cosmetics and scaled-down adult clothes are playing on young girls' desires to be like Mummy. But ultimately, the companies' goals are sales. As parents, our goals are to protect our children and enable them to grow into healthy and balanced adults. As McCarthy says: "If you do all these things by the time you are 18, then what are you going to do when you are in your twenties?"
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.
Mobile phone packages comparison
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: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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
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
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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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
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Book%20Details
%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EThree%20Centuries%20of%20Travel%20Writing%20by%20Muslim%20Women%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEditors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiobhan%20Lambert-Hurley%2C%20Daniel%20Majchrowicz%2C%20Sunil%20Sharma%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIndiana%20University%20Press%3B%20532%20pages%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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.
