Features

LOS ANGELES — Universal’s “Minions” overran the box office over the weekend as audiences in the US and Canada shelled out $115.7 million to see the evil-master-serving horde frolic on the big screen.

It was the second-biggest opening ever for an animated film and an easy win for the sidekicks who took the spotlight after playing supporting roles in two previous “Despicable Me” movies. The bright, babbling baldies have become key characters in the franchise from Universal’s Illumination Entertainment.

Directed by Peter Coffin, who co-directed both “Despicable Me” movies and voices the Minions, the movie easily beat “Jurassic World”, another Universal picture that grossed $18.2 million in its fifth weekend after release, according to box office tracker Rentrak.

Disney’s “Inside Out” ranked third with $17.7 million in its fourth weekend.

“Minions” was a hit overseas as well, taking the No. 1 spot in 29 of the 30 other countries in which it debuted over the weekend, including Mexico, Russia, France and Venezuela. Internationally, the movie has grossed $280.5 million so far.

“Given that they seek to work for the most evil people on the planet, they give off this incredible happiness,” said Duncan Clark, Universal’s president of international distribution. “I think the quality they’re proving to have is a common denominator appeal across all cultures.”

Only DreamWorks Animation’s “Shrek The Third” opened to a bigger gross in North America in 2007, with $121.6 million, according to Rentrak. “Minions” beat out Disney’s “Toy Story 3”, which took in $110.3 million on its opening weekend in 2010.

Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s senior media analyst, said the Minions captured most of the buzz among “Despicable Me” fans from the start.

“It’s always been about these crazy, irreverent, funny characters,” Dergarabedian said.

Other studios have created successful spinoffs, such as DreamWorks’ “Shrek” side story from 2011, “Puss in Boots”. There are also the multi-layered spinoffs in Disney’s Marvel universe, including “Ant-Man”, which opens next weekend.

“It seems like a foregone conclusion there will be more ‘Minions’ because of the millions they made”, Dergarabedian said.

Universal is planning to unleash “Despicable Me 3” in the summer of 2017 and plans a gaggle of other films by Illumination Entertainment. Led by founder and CEO Chris Meledandri, the animated movie studio has become one of Hollywood’s most successful.

Ahead of “Minions”, Universal showed a trailer from a release for next summer, “The Secret Life of Pets”, which explores what pets do when their owners leave them at home unattended. It’s also planning to release a holiday 2017 version of Dr Seuss’ “Grinch”.

Universal’s domestic distribution president, Nicholas Carpou, credits Meledandri with creating movies whose outlandish characters are relatable.

“They’re very heartwarming, they’re very charming. You think of Gru [the villain from ‘Despicable Me’] — even a villain has a huge heart. I think we’re seeing the results of that in the ‘Minions’ right now,” he said.

Other movies debuting in the Top 10 this past weekend were “The Gallows”, an ad-libbed high-school horror movie from Blumhouse Productions, the creator of the “Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious” franchises, and “Self/less”, a sci-fi thriller about a near-death billionaire who transmits himself into a younger body.

Taking the fourth spot was action-packed sci-fi fantasy “Terminator Genisys”, which brought in $13.8 million in its second weekend. 

Debuting in fifth place was Hollywood producer Jason Blum’s latest spine-tingler, “The Gallows”, which earned $9.8 million.

The movie, which recalls 1999’s “The Blair Witch Project” for its hand-held camera technique, gives young actors Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos and Cassidy Gifford their first substantial roles. 

In sixth position was “Magic Mike XXL”, a dance-themed drama about a former stripper starring Channing Tatum. It pulled in $9.6 million in theatres over the weekend. 

“Ted 2”, the raunchy sequel to Seth MacFarlane’s comedy about a foul-mouthed teddy bear came in seventh place, bringing in $5.7 million. 

Sci-fi movie “Self/less” about a dying wealthy man whose consciousness is transferred into the body of a younger man, debuted in eighth place with $5.4 million. 

In ninth place was “Max”, a family-friendly feel-good movie about a service dog who worked with US Marines in Afghanistan, which earned $3.5 million. 

Rounding out the top 10 was CIA comedy “Spy” starring Melissa McCarthy, which took in $3.1 million. 

Sophisticated and smooth, quick and confident, and well equipped and elegant but uncomplicated, the Audi A6 is a well thought out and executed premium executive car. Driven in its top sub-super saloon A6 50 TFSI Quattro guise, the Audi executive saloon is refined, spacious and comfortable, with tidy handling and reassuring all-weather roadholding.

First launched in 2012 and revised for the current model year, the A6’s receives a subtle aesthetic facelift, upgraded infotainment features, and more sophisticated, better integrated and networked driver assistance and other systems. Perhaps more significant is the A6’s revised drivelines, which include engines better honed for increased power and improved fuel efficiency.

Cerebral yet stylish

Cerebral yet stylish and sinewy, the A6 now features a more defined and assertive single-frame trapezoidal grille, bumper, side air intakes and sills. Slim, browed and moody headlights now feature sharper LED strips, while rear lights are slimmer and the air diffuser inserts includes wider exhaust tips to emphasise the A6’s width.

Muscular and bold yet sleek and balanced, the A6’s design features strong bonnet and flank character lines and muscular shoulders. A relatively level and low waistline, un-exaggerated body surfacing and upright glasshouse provide good visibility and allow one to easily place and manoeuvre the A6 through tight winding roads and in town.

With flowing, low and rakish roofline the A6’s aerodynamic drag co-efficient is as low as 0.26. Driven with sportier S-Line guise, the A6 sits 20mm lower and has a more chiselled appearance, including more aggressive side intakes. Meanwhile, large low profile optional 235/35R20 footwear lends a sportier and road hugging stance.

Sophisticated supercharging

Powered by a 3-litre supercharged engine tuned for more power and less fuel consumption, the 2015 A6 50 TFSI develops 22BHP more and is 0.4-second quicker to 100km/h. Producing 328BHP at 5300-6500rpm and the same 325lb/ft torque over a broader 2900-5300rpm band, it can sprint through 0-100km/h in 5.1 seconds and onto 250km/h.

Situated between its cylinder banks for short airflow paths and given its direct mechanically driven nature, the A6’s supercharger allows for excellent responsiveness. Innovative, the A6’s supercharger also automatically de-couples when not needed to save fuel. Also de-coupling in “sport” driving mode, the supercharger, however, operates so fluently and responsively that this is practically imperceptible. 

Eager, smooth, responsive and with generous mid-range grunt and flexibility, the A6 is also punchy reaching for its top-end plateau. And with slippery aerodynamics, smart supercharger, stop/go system and coasting feature that disengages the gearbox on declines to further save fuel, the A6 returns just 7.4l/100km/h fuel consumption and 172g/km CO2 on the combined cycle.

Composed and confident

Driven through a swift and slick shifting 7-speed dual clutch automated S-Tronic gearbox, the A6 powers all four wheels through its Quattro system. With 60 per cent rear drive bias and brake-based torque vectoring subtly nudging it into corners the A6’s inherent front weigh bias, owing to its in-line engine position ahead of the front axle is offset.

Tidy and composed with quick and precise adjustable steering assistance, the A6 is surprisingly agile through tight winding country lanes. Cornering with taut body control and able to vary power distribution front to rear — and optionally right-to-left at the rear — the A6 delivers tenacious traction and vice-like roadholding over gravelly and low traction surfaces.

Dynamically confident with intuitive and easy to modulate handling, even if nearing its front grip limits, the A6 Quattro is particularly reassuring among peers in that it doesn’t throw up unwanted dynamic surprises. Smooth and slightly firm riding with its optional wide, grippy, low profile tyres and buttoned down rebound control, the A6 S-Line is a natural motorway chariot.

Classy and comfortable

Despite its firm tyres, the A6 S-Line’s fluency and refinement over rough gravelly routes was an unexpected bonus, while optional adaptive air suspension further enhances comfort. Using high strength structural steel and some light aluminium bodywork and underpinnings for lower un-sprung mass, the A6 is stiff with superb cabin refinement, and includes optional acoustic laminated glass. 

Classy, uncluttered and airy, the A6 features quality leathers, metals, woods and soft textures, and sleek user-friendly layouts and instrumentation. With upright seating and flanks and level waistline, good visibility promotes easy manoeuvrability. Front space and seat and steering adjustability and support are good, while rear space and boot volume are among the in-segment best. 

Well-equipped with convenience and safety features, the revised A6 features updated MMI infotainment system with 8-inch retractable touchscreen and WiFi hot spot. Bang and Olufsen stereo is optional. Advanced semi-autonomous systems are numerous and better networked, including adaptive cruise control working with stop and go, and side and active lane assists working in cooperation.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3-litre, supercharged, in-line V6 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84.5 x 89mm

Compression ratio: 10.8:1

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 7-speed dual clutch automated, four-wheel drive

Top gear/final drive ratios: 0.52:1/4.09:1

Power distribution, F/R: 40 per cent/60 per cent

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 328 (333) [245] @ 5300-6500rpm

Specific power: 109.5BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 187.4BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 325 (440) @ 2900-5300rpm

Specific torque: 146.9Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 251.4Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 5.1 seconds

Top speed: 250km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 9.8/6/7.4 litres/100km 

CO2 emissions, combined: 172g/km

Fuel capacity: 75 litres

Length: 4933mm

Width: 1874mm

Height: 1435mm

Wheelbase: 2912mm

Track, F/R: 1627/1618mm

Overhangs, F/R: 930/1091mm

Headroom, F/R: 1046/962mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 530/995 litres

Unladen weight: 1750kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.9 metres

Suspension: Multi-link

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 255/35R20 (optional)

Chief Complaint: A Country Doctor’s Tales of Life in Galilee

Hatim Kanaaneh

US: Just World Books, 2015

Pp. 255

History and individual dreams meet in Hatim Kanaaneh’s new book, a collection of short stories. Though tales are considered to be works of fiction, in this case, they convey no less truth than did Kanaaneh’s 2008 memoir, “A Doctor in Galilee”, wherein he chronicled decades of striving to meet the health needs of Galilee’s population. 

In “Chief Complaint”, medicine is no longer the main subject, but serves as a metaphor to tell the story of the people of Arrabeh, the author’s home village, and by extension, the Galilee and all those Palestinians who remained in their homeland after 1948.

Relying on his experience as the first trained doctor in Arrabeh, Kanaaneh invents a set of vibrant characters, “composite personalities concocted out of multiple individual patients of mine”. (p. 18)

They appear in vignettes organised around recurring complaints he heard over the years — the “chief complaint” being the Israeli occupation that rendered them “strangers in their own land”. 

The stories vividly convey the human impact of Israeli policies — the massive land confiscations and new laws that undercut ancient Palestinian patterns of communal farming, and how people survived in this topsy-turvy world. All this has been recorded in facts and statistics, but nothing compares to how Kanaaneh brings people’s spirit alive. 

His characters are by turn defiant and defeated, idiosyncratic and compassionate, heroic and conniving, ambitious and dysfunctional, lulled by the Israeli policy of imposed ignorance or jealously guarding their inherent wisdom. Above all, they are humans caught up in an extremely unjust and paradoxical situation that has left them no choice, but to adjust — or leave the land that anchors their very being.

In this rendition, land confiscation is not just a technical intervention, but has broad social implications. With the hills topped by fortress-like settlements and common grazing land fragmented, shepherds lost their meeting place in the valley where they had practiced and composed folk songs. As one man related, “the valleys have lost their echo.” (p. 236)

Knowing that Israeli laws undermined Palestinian agriculture is one thing, but it is more poignant to hear elderly peasants tell how they were forbidden to plant certain crops, collect zataar in the mountains, barter produce, slaughter livestock or roll their own cigarettes. Many stories also attest to the Shin Bet’s meddling in Palestinians’ affairs. 

Popular history and folk wisdom abound.

To Kanaaneh, an old man with a long-running infection is not merely a pitiful patient but a survivor — a legendary figure who fought in the 1936 uprising. Some tell harrowing tales of the nakba and the immediate aftermath when villagers kept trying to return to their land, or about early efforts at communist organising in the village. Other tales recount the abrupt transition to modern life styles.

Kanaaneh has great respect for his fellow villagers even when he disagrees with them. He gives due consideration to their own explanations for their ailments; even if they sound whacky, they have a certain rationale, like the elderly cousin who doesn’t consider his hearing loss a problem, since nothing being said “these days” is worth hearing.

Among families and married couples, there are great loves and sacrifices, but also cases of abuse. Kanaaneh doesn’t sanitise the villagers’ reminiscences, but lets them speak their mind. There are tales of those who retreated into exaggerated religiosity, of formidable women who defied tradition, of families who tried to make a life in the Israeli context and others who stayed fiercely independent.

In the preface, Kanaaneh states his intention to “bring our existence to light, to sing out our pleasures and pain, to echo our sense of alienation and dispossession, to face up to the dilemma of our schizophrenic identity, and to hail our occasional successes and our trust in the future.” (p. 14)

And he succeeds remarkably in both human and literary terms. By interweaving memory, contemporary dialogue, beautiful descriptions of the natural environment and how it has changed, popular culture, and the up’s and down’s of individual lives, he presents a quasi-oral history of his community that cannot fail to move any reader.

AVON, North Carolina — It’s the golden hour, right before sunset, when the light is soft and pretty. The landscape looks like a postcard. Tourists stroll, kids run.

No one is in the water. No one wants to be a feast for a shark.

“This is a very sharky place,” mused 56-year-old John Kane as he stood on the Avon Pier and stared into the crashing surf.

They’re out there, somewhere, in the murky, antifreeze-green water. There are sharpnose and black tips, bulls and tigers. Maybe even a great white or two, if Twitter is to be believed. Always lurking, always swimming, always eating.

And too often, of late, their prey has been human: In a 28-day span, eight people have been bitten by sharks in North Carolina, a new high for the 80 years in which records have been kept.

The attacks have spanned a hundred-mile stretch of coastline, three of them along the barrier islands of the Outer Banks. Most of them occurred in shallow water. Injuries have ranged widely, from an 8-year-old boy who had only minor wounds to his heel and ankle to at least two others who had limbs amputated.

Authorities don’t blame the same shark, or even the same type of shark. They struggle to explain the sudden spate of attacks.

But there is no need to explain the fascination with this creature, or the fear it inspires.

Kane was hoping to catch a tarpon or mackerel. He’s fished these waters for some 30 years. The only thing he snagged on Tuesday afternoon was a shark.

“About this big,” Kane said, holding his hands some three feet apart. “I just cut ‘em loose. We have an understanding. I don’t eat them and they don’t eat me.”

If only people and sharks did have that kind of pact, maybe people would be swimming and bodyboarding and not cancelling surf lessons.

Everyone is talking about sharks along the Outer Banks. At the sushi bar in Buxton. On the radio. At the beaches, of course.

Chuck Bangley, a shark researcher at East Carolina University, said unseasonably warm water brought more turtles and fish closer to shore, which means the sharks that eat those creatures are also drawn to shore. And the hot temperatures drew more people to the beach.

Also, the Continental Shelf is narrow in the area near the Outer Banks — like another area popular for shark bites, near New Smyrna Beach in Florida — which means sharks are “pushed closer to shore” there, said Bangley.

“Any time you’re in the water, the odds are good a shark is a few hundred yards away,” he said.

There have been similar shark alarms before. The last Summer of the Shark was in 2001 — or so proclaimed the media at the time (see Time Magazine, July 3 of that year). It culminated on September 10, 2001, when a man from Russia died and his girlfriend was seriously injured by a shark, not far from the Avon Pier.

It was North Carolina’s only fatal shark attack in recent memory — there was another in 1957 — but it was quickly overshadowed by larger events. People forgot about sharks along much of the East Coast, and sharks apparently forgot about people — at least until this year.

Popular culture feeds the fear. There’s “Jaws” — which is, by the way, 40 years old this summer. And there’s Shark Week on the Discovery Channel — which runs, coincidentally, this week.

It is easy to overstate the risk that sharks pose. Some 5 million people visit the Outer Banks annually, which means that the odds that any one of them will be bitten by a shark are small. There are usually more shark attacks in Florida than any other state, according to experts. They’re rarer than rip currents, jellyfish stings and stingray attacks, and much less common than man-made calamities.

After all, there’s no denying this year’s attacks. And judging from Salken’s tale of being nipped on the ankle, there have been other, lesser incidents that have gone unreported. Maybe 2015 has been a banner year for attacks, but local swimmers and surfers say they’re used to seeing at least a few sharks each year.

“Sharks have always been here,” said lifeguard Michael Morris, as he admired as osprey diving for fish. “This is an ocean. You can’t control an environment like that. It’s not Disney.”

Has e-mail software really improved after all these years? After all it is one of the earliest Internet applications, well before there was cloud computing, social networking, online banking or shopping and even simple web browsing. An estimated 100 billion (no misprint) e-mail messages are sent on a typical day, in the world. Doesn’t this figure make it an essential element of all that takes place in the web?

To date no e-mail client (i.e. the software application or programme that you use to write, send and receive e-mail) completely satisfies users. From MS-Outlook to Google’s Gmail, from Microsoft’s Hotmail to Yahoo mail, they all have flaws and shortcomings.

First there are the imperfections that pertain to those services that come to you free of charge and that are more or less understandable, acceptable, but that you have to be aware of. If you use Gmail for one, and as popular as it may be, you know that you are letting the system do some background data mining with the messages you send and receive.

Though data mining (global analysis of messages contents) does not exactly affect your identity or link the results of the analysis to your name, it is still an analysis of your messages that is done and then used to target ads and other promotional action, albeit not too aggressively when it comes to Gmail one must admit. Therefore somehow, in some way and up to a certain extent, there’s a clear sacrifice in confidentiality here. Your writing patterns, your subjects, your shopping habits, the frequency of the e-mails you send to this or that person, etc… they all are analysed and subsequently put to “good” use.

Still, users’ major concern doesn’t seem to be confidentiality and privacy these days, but features and functionality. In a word, users want features and ease of use – privacy comes after.

So, which e-mail client provides good anti-spam filtering and the possibility to unsend/undo a message just after you clicked the send button (the unavoidable “ooops”)? Not forgetting a nice auto-reply system that doesn’t require a degree in IT to understand, plus the ability to pre-set a date and time to send a message automatically after you wrote it and saved it. Which e-mail software gives you a powerful and comfortable contacts management and a flexible, meaningful filing system for the thousands of message you would keep? I don’t know of any that does all this and that does it well. 

Perhaps the unsend/undo is the trickiest of all the above features. Of course you’d like to have the possibility to recall a message after clicking send, in cases where you realise that you didn’t want to send it in the first place. However, there’s a contradiction between wanting e-mails to quickly reach your recipient and the wish to unsend a given message. Once the message is in the inbox of your correspondent recalling it becomes either impossible or meaningless. Usually, and this is how Gmail works, you are given up to 30 seconds after sending a message to be able to unsend it. This is short and doesn’t leave much time for thinking deeply, but then again, recalling a message long after it has been sent doesn’t mean much either.

The IT industry and the programmers who work for it seem more concerned about increasing cloud usage one way or another, and are not giving enough attention and time to improving e-mail client software. At one point however, they should wake up and take good care of it.

HONG KONG — Concern is mounting among some scientists that China’s reclamation work in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has done severe harm to one of the most important coral reef systems in Southeast Asia.

China’s use of dredged sand and coral to build artificial islands on seven reefs had also damaged reef systems beyond the outposts, meaning the affected area could be greater than first thought, several scientists who have studied satellite images of the Spratlys told Reuters.

Those concerns contrast with repeated official Chinese statements that Beijing is committed to protecting reefs and the broader marine environment in the South China Sea in keeping with its obligations under United Nations conventions.

John McManus, a prominent University of Miami marine biologist who has worked with Philippine scientists to research the South China Sea, told fellow experts this month that China’s reclamation “constitutes the most rapid rate of permanent loss of coral reef area in human history”.

Beyond the outposts, a wider area of reef had been destroyed by the dredging of sand from lagoons for use on the new islands and the dredging of shipping channels to access them, he wrote in an online oceanographic forum operated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency.

McManus urged claimants to put aside their disputes and create a marine “peace park” to preserve what was left.

“I can’t help but use the phrase overused for forestry... they’ve paved paradise,” he said.

Most foreign criticism of China over its new islands has focused on the spike in tensions their creation has caused or the possible impact on freedom of navigation, especially since Beijing has said the outposts will have undefined military purposes.

Only the Philippines has publicly accused China of causing ecological damage. On Monday, Manila said China’s reclamation had caused annual economic losses of $281 million to regional coastal nations.

Asked to respond to the scientists’ concerns, China’s foreign ministry referred Reuters to a statement last week from the State Oceanic Administration, the maritime regulator, which said numerous environmental protection measures were in place.

“Impact on coral reef ecology is localised, temporary, controllable and restorable,” the agency said.

It did not respond to a request for further comment.

Biologically diverse

Chinese dredgers in the Spratlys have reclaimed some 8 square kilometres of land since reclamation began in late 2013, US officials say.

Other claimants, particularly Vietnam, have reclaimed land to support existing outposts or extend piers and runways but on a much smaller scale. The remaining claimants to the Spratlys waters are the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

While the Spratly reefs are relatively small compared to major global reef systems, they are considered biologically diverse and could help propagate threatened coastal reefs with coral larvae and fish, scientists said.

They are also home to endangered sea creatures including giant clams, dugongs and several species of turtle.

In a study in April for Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, marine science and law expert Youna Lyons found that beyond the seven reefs, other unoccupied shallow features had been dredged to provide building material for the nearby reclamations.

“Coral reefs that have been left untouched for centuries by virtue of their isolation are now gone,” Lyons wrote after research that included surveys of high-resolution satellite photographs.

Lyons, of the National University of Singapore, told Reuters this week that she had since seen further evidence of Chinese-style dredging on reefs away from the reclamations but wanted more detail on what was happening and who was behind it.

“The scale of the ongoing dredging of insular, uninhabited coral formations in the South China Sea is unprecedented in scale and nature in recent human history,” she said.

“Chinese dredgers appear to be responsible for massive destruction, but we don’t know how much destruction has been done, overall, and by the others before the current artificial island construction started.”

‘No one cares more than China’

Chinese officials have said facilities on the islands would help environmental preservation, along with search and rescue and weather observation.

“No one cares more than China about the ecological preservation of relevant islands, reefs and sea areas,” Ouyang Yujing, the head of the foreign ministry’s department of boundary and ocean affairs, told the official Xinhua news agency last month.

Equal importance had been given to “construction and protection”, he said, adding China would honour its obligations under the UN conventions on Biological Diversity and International Trade in Endangered Species.

One marine biologist, Terry Hughes from James Cook University in Queensland, said the reclamation work was “locally devastating” but the Spratlys still might face bigger threats from long-term overfishing and climate change.

A study he produced with Chinese scientists in 2012 showed a steep decline in coral cover in the area due to such pressures, which are affecting reefs globally.

While Chinese construction was visually dramatic, some reefs were largely untouched, he added.

“Some of them are still in pretty good condition,” he said.

There was a time when celebrities lived secluded lives. These popular personalities were very seldom spotted in public places and there was a planned method to this deliberate isolation. The small doses of sightings by the adoring public helped to keep their spot on a pedestal and preserved the myth of them being different from the rest of us. 

They understood the adage that “familiarity breeds contempt”. So they erected large boundary walls around their palatial homes, installed darkened windows in their limousines and kept their persona hidden behind oversized sunglasses. 

It was a self-marketing technique at its finest. The more exclusive they were the more was the curiosity of their fans. The strategy of never answering their telephones was also a deliberate one. It helped them to invent excuses about their own unavailability. 

Once, as a fresh reporter I was chasing a story. This was more than two decades back in Dubai where I was assigned to interview a film star who was visiting from India. It was a big challenge for me at the time and I did not want to let my editor down. I was provided with all the details of the megastar, like his landline phone number, name of the hotel he was staying in and so on. I thought my assignment was as easy as a walk in the park. I soon realised that I was living in a fool’s paradise. 

My first call to him was on a Saturday morning. His assistant who picked up the phone told me that the film star was sleeping. An afternoon call, answered by the same voice, said that the actor was in the bathroom. 

A later call informed me that the celebrity was in the hotel gym. Still later in the evening, I was told that he went swimming, followed by a visit to the sauna, after which he was taking a nap and then again, he had disappeared to the bathroom. 

The next few days we established a similar sort of pattern. I dialled his number and the assistant would answer. We greeted each other and exchange some witty banter, but I never got through to the film star. The excuses were more and more authentic and his favourite place of disappearance was the bathroom where the actor spent large chunks of leisure hours. 

As time passed and my deadline loomed large, I was compelled to use drastic measures. I finally drove to the hotel where he was putting-up and after a bit of an argument with the concierge I was allowed to meet the film star. It was then that I made a shattering disclosure. The assistant and the actor were one and the same person and for the duration of that entire week, I was talking on the phone to the man himself. The superstar would simply change his voice and pretend to be his own assistant in order to enhance his exclusivity. 

But these days there is no such mystery about anyone. On the contrary, there is an avalanche of information about every public figure that is supplied by them through their individual Twitter feed. 

“Battery died on trimmer so part of beard still on face,” read a superstar’s Twitter entry recently. 

“His beard is dead? How did that happen?” questioned my spouse. 

“The battery of his trimming machine ran out,” I clarified. 

“Who cares?” my husband asked. 

“Trivial pursuits,” I said. 

“Long live his moustache!” he exclaimed.

NEW YORK — Chips made out of broccoli, chickpeas and kale. Wine-spiked ice cream. Popcorn that didn’t quite fulfil its destiny.

Those were some of the alternate-universe products at this week’s 61st annual Fancy Food Show. Many have limited distribution and aren’t easy to find, but could signal coming trends.

Buyers for places like supermarkets milled about the trade show at the sprawling Jacob Javits Centre in New York City, tasting the treats on display and stuffing bags with free samples.

“It’s like a secret wonderland of food,” said Louise Kramer, a spokeswoman for the Specialty Food Association, the trade group that puts on the show. The expo, which featured more than 100,000 products, is not open to the public.

Here are five potential foods of the future exhibitors were showing off:

Wine ice cream

Instead of a glass, this wine can be served in a cone.

Mercer’s, a dairy in upstate New York, was offering tastes of its “wine ice cream”, which has up to 5 per cent alcohol. The ice creams come in eight flavours including “Strawberry Sparkling” and “Chocolate Cabernet”.

Roxaina Hurlburt, a co-owner of Mercer’s, said the dairy has been making traditional ice cream for 60 years and started packaging the wine ice cream in 2008. She said it’s sold online and in a couple of hundred locations around the country, including places like casinos and wineries.

Maple water

Is maple water the next coconut water?

Drink Maple, based in Concord, Massachusetts, sells bottles of maple water it says is tapped from maple trees.

It’s the same stuff that’s boiled down into maple syrup, but don’t expect a thick and sticky drink. The clear liquid has the consistency of water and a lightly sweetened taste, with a .35-litre bottle labelled as having 30 calories and 7 grammes of sugar. The product also seems to hit on all the prevailing dietary trends: the company’s website notes maple water is “low calorie, gluten-free, dairy-free and non-GMO”.

It also says “no trees are harmed” in the collection process.

The company says it’s sold in about 800 stores throughout the Northeast, including at select Whole Foods and small health food stores.

‘Sexy’ snacks

Holding a bag of chips with the word “Sexy” in big letters can cure shyness. At least that’s what Sexy snacks founder Robert Ehrlich told visitors to his booth.

“When you hold a bag, you are sort of empowering yourself,” he says.

The most notable aspects of the snacks may be the name and Ehrlich, whose claim to fame is his founding of Pirate’s Booty. Ehrlich says the snacks are a way for people to brand themselves, as they might with sneakers or handbags. The company, based in Sea Cliff, New York, says its products are sold in about 1,500 locations.

The popcorn comes in flavours like “Bangin’ Cheddar” and “Brazilian Coconut”, and the chips in flavours including “Spinach & Matcha Tea”.

Half-popped kernels

Do you think those half-popped kernels at the bottom of the popcorn bag are the best part? Now two companies are selling bags of just those bits.

HalfPops and Pop’d Kerns offer the snacks in different flavours, with a 28g serving containing between 130 and 160 calories, depending on the flavour.

HalfPops, based in Bellevue, Washington, says it uses a proprietary process to cook the kernels. Six-ounce bags of HalfPops are available online and at about 2,000 locations, including some Whole Foods and Wegman’s, said Mike Watts, the company’s vice president of marketing.

Broccoli Bites

A prevalent theme at the expo was snacks made from unusual ingredients; think bags of roasted chickpeas, cheese puffs made out of beans and chips made out of seaweed.

Another example that fell into that category was Broccoli Bites from Rhythm Foods, which also makes kale chips. Before they’re dehydrated, the broccoli is tossed in a dressing made with seeds, herbs and spices to add flavour and prevent crumbling. Each 42.5g bag has 150 calories.

Even though kale has surged in popularity in recent years, Rhythm Foods CEO Scott Jensen said he expects the broccoli snacks to be a lot easier to explain and sell to buyers.

And he’s already working the next vegetable snack: cauliflower.

AKAGERA, Rwanda — Groggy on their paws after waking from tranquillisers, lions have returned to Rwanda for the first time since the endangered animal was wiped out following the country’s 1994 genocide.

Seven lions — two males and five females — were transported in a marathon 30-hour journey from South Africa — first by air, then the final stretch by road to Rwanda’s eastern Akagera National Park.

Schoolgirls sang outside the park in Akagera, a 112,000-hectare park bordering Tanzania, welcoming the predators as they ended their journey.

One by one, they were released into a giant pen — where they will stay for initial quarantine of around two weeks, before being allowed out into the wild of the park itself.

“It is a huge conservation milestone, it is a beginning of a fantastic chapter for lions in Rwanda,” Akagera park director Jes Gruner said.

Lions in Rwanda were stamped out in the years following the 1994 genocide, which left an estimated 800,000 people dead.

Fleeing refugees and displaced people occupied part of the park, with the lion being driven out or killed as people tried to protect their livestock.

“I still have the pictures of the last three lions that were poisoned... it was very sad,” said vet Tony Mudakikwa.

So the return of lions symbolises more than a conservation success.

“We are excited as a nation,” said Yamina Karitanyi, the head of tourism at the Rwanda Development Board. “We are proud to welcome the lions.”

Some two hours by vehicle from the capital Kigali, it is an important tourist destination, with some 28,000 visitors in 2014, and the return of the lions is hoped to give an important boost.

Much preparation was needed: the park is ringed with electric fencing, and the cats are equipped with satellite collars to reduce the risk of them entering inhabited areas.

Rhinos next?

“Of course, a lion can kill a cow, but now that there is the fence there is less risk,” said cattle herder Phocus Rukundo. “The people can no longer kill the lions because they understand the importance of their conservation for tourism.”

Still, much work was needed to persuade people living nearby that the return of the top predator should be welcomed.

“I am sure there are still people nervous about it,” Sarah Hall said, in charge of tourism for Africa Parks, a conservation group which works in Akagera.

Educational plays were put on for communities bordering the park, as well as a football tournament called “The Lion King”, Hall said, adding that five per cent of park income in Rwanda was donated to community projects, such as funding schools or health centres.

The lion remains listed as vulnerable at a global level, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said last month in an update to its “Red List” of threatened species.

The IUCN warns that trade in bones and other body parts for traditional medicine in Africa and in Asia is a new and emerging threat to the species.

But Akagera offers a safe space, with plenty of food for the top predator, and is home to multiple antelope species, buffaloes, giraffes and zebras, as well as leopards and elephants.

Park officials are now working to reintroduce rhinos in Akagera.

“Without the lions, it was as if I had just a hand with three fingers, now I have four,” said park official Eugene Mutangana. “With rhinos, my hand is complete.”

Joining Mercedes’ ever-expanding, diversifying and extensive model line-up since the 2014, the GLA-Class is the German brand’s compact crossover offering. Based on the same front  drive derived platform as the A-Class family hatchback, the GLA addresses seemingly contrary market demands for sporty, aggressive jacked-up SUV-like vehicles and more efficient and smaller urban-oriented vehicles.

A compromise between hatchback and crossover SUV, the GLA may well be a trend-driven vehicle, but in Jordan finds real purpose. In addition to a family hatchback’s agility, efficiency and compact practicality, the GLA’s raised ride height and all-wheel drive — as tested — however allow it to take road lumps, bumps and imperfections in its stride.

Rugged and rakish

Slightly longer, wider and taller than its A-Class sister, the GLA-Class dimensions and raised height emphasise its width, which a wide snouty and round-edged trapezoidal grille framed by tilted stretched headlights adds to this impression. An LED light strip extends to a side character line and concave surfacing to create a sense of urgency.

With black lower cladding extending up the lower bumpers for a sturdy SUV-style appearance, the GLA’s dual bonnet ridges and rakish profile, however, lend a sporty flavour. With low roofline, high waistline, muscular body surfacing and thick rakish pillars, the GLA’s parking assistance package with reverse camera and sensors is handy in tight spots. 

Though not a dedicated off-road SUV, the GLA’s raised ride height, wide track and relatively short wheelbase provide enhanced clearance and angles for light off-road driving and dirt roads. Meanwhile variable power distribution four-wheel drive ensures good traction on loose surfaces and features an off-road driving mode and Downhill Speed Regulation to prevent slippage.

Generous and efficient

Powered by a transversely mounted 2-litre direct injection turbocharged petrol 4-cylinder engine, the GLA250 4Matic version driven proved muscular, versatile, punchy and efficient. Developing 208BHP at 5500rpm and 258lb/ft torque throughout 1200-4000rpm, the GLA250 accelerates through the 0-100km/h benchmark in 7.1 seconds and onto a 230km/h top speed, yet returns 5.5l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

With little by way of low-end turbo lag, the GLA250 is responsive and with four-wheel drive traction digs in tight when launching from standstill. Refined and smooth, the GLA250’s early, broad and generous torque band allows for confident yet relaxed cruising and on-the-move and in-gear versatility for overtaking, hauling and inclines.

Muscular in mid-range, the GLA250’s wide torque sweet spot underwrites a confident punchy build-up to maximum power. Meanwhile, drive is delivered through a 7-speed dual-clutch automated gearbox. Well compromised for smoothness and timeliness, the GLA’s gear box features relaxed and efficient or sporty and more alert settings, and a steering-mounted paddle shift actuated manual mode.

Tidy and taut

Compact and with wide track and short wheelbase, the GLA250’s agility and handling are closer to those the hatchback it’s based on rather than a less wieldy larger crossover SUV. With quick and direct but refined steering, it tucks tidily into corners, with a slight natural instinct for under-steer only apparent if pushed too hard into too narrow a corner.

A natural through winding and sprawling country lanes, the driven GLA250 featured an optional “dynamic handling package” with 15mm lower ride height, which provided taut body control through switchbacks. Meanwhile, its four-wheel drive diverts reallocates more power rearwards when required for improved traction and grip, and so the GLA250 both pulls and when needed pushes out of corners.

Fitted with optionally larger 235/50R18 tyres, the GLA250 hard, while run-flat design frees up luggage space and are convenient for continued temporary mobility when deflated. Smooth but slightly on the firm side owing to sportier stiff sidewall run-flat tyres and lowered suspension, the GLA250 handles well but standard 215/60R17 tyres and suspension would provide more comfort.

Refined and confident

Stable and confident at speed, the GLA250 feels settled and buttoned down on rebound and is composed and unruffled — if slightly but unpunishingly firm — over particularly harsh, pocked and cracked highway sections. Refined inside and with a robust feel, the GLA is well insulated for noise and vibrations. Seats and steering adjustability provide a good driving position and front visibility. 

Fun and quick, the GLA’s cabin reflects its sporty driving characteristics with round crosshair vents. With user-friendly layouts, big dials and the prominent use of soft textures, the GLA has a quality feel, but warmer colours would complement its airy panoramic roof to lend a more inviting ambiance than the driven model’s grey upholstery. 

Spacious in front, the GLA’s column gear lever frees up console space. Rear seats better accommodated large and tall occupants than expected, but a rear centre armrest would have been welcome. Well-equipped, the driven GLA250 featured dual-zone climate control, CD, USB and Bluetooth enabled infotainment system, collision prevention and blindspot assists, Isofix childseat latches and numerous other convenience and safety features.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged transverse 4 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 92mm

Compression ratio: 9.8:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection,

Gearbox: 7-speed automatic, four-wheel drive

Top gear / final drive ratios: 0.84:1 / 4.6:1

0-100km/h: 7.1 seconds

Top speed: 230km/h

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 208 (211) [155] @5500rpm

Specific power: 104.5BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 138.2BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 258 (350) @1200-4000rpm

Specific torque: 175.79Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 232.55Nm/tonne

Fuel consumption, combined: 5.5 litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 151-154g/km

Fuel capacity: 56 litres

Length: 4417mm

Width: 1804mm

Height: 1494mm

Wheelbase: 2699mm

Track, F/R: 1569/1560mm

Overhang, F/R: 906/812mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.32

Kerb weight: 1505kg

Headroom, F/R: 1015/971mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1391/1350mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 421/1235 litres

Steering: Variable electric-assisted rack and pinion

Turning circle: 11.84 metres

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson strut/multi-link

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tires: 235/60R18

Price, on-the-road, no insurance, as tested: JD57,000*

*Price range: JD57,000-63,000