TOM CRUISE WEARS AN IWC WATCH

At multiple events, including the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise has been wearing his Ingenieur Automatic Vintage watch from IWC. A throwback model of the original, first produced in 1955, the timepiece sells at retail for AED 139,460 ($38,000).

Tom Cruise, the star of cult films like Top Gun and Mission Impossible and box-office hits like Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral, War of the Worlds and numerous other films recently appeared with actress Cameron Diaz in the BBC episode Top Gear where he briefly raced a car on two wheels beating a record set by Harry Potter star Rupert Grint.

Tom Cruise is one of the highest paid and most sought after actors in screen history. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences.

Within five years of his big screen debut, Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top grossing films of the decade including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s and 2000s he was one of the highest paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible II (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), and Jerry Maguire (1996) - for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor.

IWC Vintage Collection - Jubilee Edition Ingenieur Automatic Ref. IW3233

A tribute to the first Ingenieur from 1955 in a white gold this IWC watch features an IWC manufactured 80111 calibre automatic movement with Pellaton winding system and integrated shock absorbers. The watch has a 44-hour power reserve, an antireflective sapphire glass and is water-resistant to 12 bars.

Emirates Sparks A380 Activity Across the Globe

DUBAI, U.A.E. - 1st September 2010 - Emirates' expanding A380 fleet is generating interest from airports across the world as Manchester becomes the latest city to be served by the superjumbo.

The international airline of the United Arab Emirates is now the world's largest operator of the A380 with 12 in the fleet.

A further order for 32 A380s, announced during the Berlin Air Show in June, has prompted a flurry of enquiries from airports around the world.

Maurice Flanagan, Executive Vice Chairman Emirates Airline & Group, who was born in the North West of England and joined the first Manchester A380 flight said: “This is a historic moment for Emirates as we bring our 21st century superjumbo to the North West twenty years after our first flight from the region. Our Manchester service has been an incredible success story, and we’re delighted to be opening the next chapter today.”

Mr Flanagan added: "People are realising that this is the passenger aircraft of the future. As a result of our announcement in Berlin, we have had enquiries from more than 20 airports across the world, asking whether Emirates would fly the A380 to their airports. These aircraft are a dream to travel in and a dream to have at your disposal for expansion. They are extremely popular with our passengers and where we deploy them, they fill up almost immediately - running at over 90 percent load factor."

Information from Airbus shows that the A380 has now flown to more than 100 airports across the globe, either commercially or for events or test flights.

The start of A380 flights to Manchester from today is the first time the world's largest airliner has operated a scheduled service to a regional airport. It is also the first time Emirates has brought its First Class cabin to the route.

Manchester Airport's Managing Director, Andrew Cornish, said: "The start of daily A380 services from Manchester to Dubai is a moment in history for our airport and the wider region. It's of such significance that we're expecting thousands of people to visit the airport on September 1st to catch a glimpse of her first flight. We've invested around £10m to upgrade the airport's infrastructure to accommodate the flagship of the Emirates fleet and are very much looking forward to welcoming her for the first time."

EK017 leaves Dubai daily at 0755hrs and arrives in Manchester at 1225hrs. EK018 departs Manchester at 1410hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0015hrs the next day.

Emirates’ A380 is renowned for its First Class Private Suites, Onboard Shower Spas and Onboard Lounge for First Class and Business Class passengers, offering a wide range of drinks and canapés, as well as space to socialise or simply relax.

Passengers in all classes can lose themselves in the quietness of the aircraft and the award-winning ice in-flight entertainment system. There are more than 1,200 channels of on-demand entertainment, including 200 movies from around the world, 100 TV channels, more than 500 audio channels, 100 video games and news headlines.

Emirates now operates A380s on the following routes: London Heathrow, Manchester, Paris, Sydney, Auckland, Toronto, Bangkok, Seoul, Jeddah and Beijing. Hong Kong will be added to that list from 1st October and on 31st October,  the A380 will make a much-anticipated return to New York.

Emirates is the world's largest customer for the superjumbo and its total A380 order book is 90 - with 78 aircraft still to come.

Emirates brings West Africa closer with launch of new Dakar route

Dubai, U.A.E., 1st September, 2010: Emirates has strengthened its links to West Africa with the launch of a new direct service to Dakar.

EK 797 took off this morning for the airline's 105th destination, creating the only non-stop, scheduled passenger link between Dubai and Senegal. The new route will cut current journey times to Dakar by around the equivalent of an eight hour working day, creating an easy, fast and convenient service for business and leisure travellers.
Nigel Page, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations, Africa & the Americas said: “Today marks a new chapter in air travel between the Middle East and West Africa. No more will passengers travelling to and from Senegal face long detours to Europe or other parts of Africa to reach their final destination.
“Instead, they can enjoy the convenience of a non-stop air link with Dubai, seamless connections to key centres in the Middle East, the Indian Sub-continent, Asia and the Far East through our state-of-the-art Terminal 3, a very competitive baggage allowance and the award-winning in-flight service for which Emirates is renowned."
EK 797 departs Dubai at 0955hrs every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and arrives in Dakar at 1600hrs. EK 798 leaves the Senegalese capital at 1740hrs and gets into Dubai at 0715hrs the following day.
An Airbus A340-300 is being deployed on the route, offering 12 seats in First Class, 42 in Business and 213 in Economy.
On the cargo side, Emirates will be transporting 65 tonnes of goods a week from various points on its global network, including oil industry equipment from the UAE; textiles from Asia, electronics from East Asia and Europe; and a number of products and garments from India.
One of the key imports from Senegal will be seafood, with Emirates SkyCargo expecting to transport up to 3,500 tonnes of seafood a year in the belly-hold of the A340-300. Fresh produce – such as lobster, shrimp and sea bream – will be landing in supermarkets and restaurants throughout the UAE and the rest of the GCC, as well as various destinations across the Emirates network, including Athens, Larnaca, Rome, Milan, Madrid, Paris and Beirut. 
The new Dakar route caps an exceptionally busy few months for the airline. Since the start of the summer, Emirates has announced orders for an additional 30 Boeing 777-300ER and 32 A380 aircraft; and placed a US$2.0 billion order for GE90-115B Engines to power the new 777s. With 12 A380 aircraft now in service, Emirates has instated its flagship A380s on its Beijing and Manchester routes, with the latter also commencing today, 1^st September.
Mr Page added: “Our new Dakar service is a further demonstration of Emirates’ commitment to investing in and supporting the development of its pan-African footprint.  Not only is the service already paying dividends through the creation of new jobs, such as our first Senegalese cabin crew and sales staff, but it will provide a significant long-term boost to trade and commerce in both the Middle East and West Africa.”
Trade between the UAE and Senegal has climbed from USD 14.2 million (AED 52.1 million) in 2003 to USD 184 million (AED 676 million) in 2009, according to figures from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Dakar is the fifth new route to be launched by Emirates this year. The others are Tokyo, which launched o

TEFAL’S QUICK CUP SAVES ENERGY

Tefal, the inventors and market leaders of easy to clean Teflon coated pots and pans, have given the kettle a complete makeover to keep up with a fast moving lifestyle and conserve energy.



Tefal’s Quick Cup was launched recently in the Gulf countries after a successful introduction of the product in many countries across Europe including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia and more recently in Russia.



What this revolutionary special product offers is quick and convenient hot water on demand in just three seconds. Quick Cup is the only water heater of its kind to offer instant hot water which does not need any pre-heating thanks to the Opti Quick heating element system.



Quick Cup from Tefal cuts the waiting time with the use of a pump and Upstream Cartridge system where water is sucked through the cartridge by the pump in three seconds.



Other benefits of the product are the reduction in lime scale which improves longevity of the product. This also removes temporary hardness. With the use of the Claris filtration system, the heater also reduces the water’s chlorine content which makes for better tasting water.



Quick Cup also reduces copper lead and pesticide content for healthier water. Moreover, the product saves water as only the required quantity is heated. Users are also offered a choice of hot or ambient water temperature.

CITIZEN OPENS 100TH STORE IN THE GULF

Citizen Watch Company, the world’s largest watchmaker from Japan, opened its first exclusive boutique in the UAE at Lamcy Plaza, Dubai, recently. The outlet is part of the Japanese Brand’s ongoing expansion in the region with several stores opening in countries like Oman and Egypt.



Speaking during the inauguration of the new 50 M2 boutique in Lamcy Plaza, Mr. Toshio Tokura, Senior Managing Director of Citizen Watch Co. Ltd., said the inauguration coincided with the 35th anniversary of Citizen in the UAE. “The Middle East and the UAE has always been an important market for Citizen and thanks to our partner Juma Al Majid, we have been successfully present in the UAE for 35 years.”



Along with this new boutique, the company maintains 400 point of sales (POS) across the Gulf countries which are strategically located in shopping malls and prime retail streets.



During the inauguration, Citizen’s Global Radio Controlled Chronograph was introduced. The watch is the first analogue chronograph capable of receiving time signals on radio wave and automatically adjusts the time to the most accurate time which is the atomic time. This watch is powered by Eco Drive movement, the revolutionary concept from Citizen where the watch harnesses the power of light from any natural or artificial source and converts it into electrical energy.



During the last 80 years Citizen has expanded its business throughout the world and has achieved recognition as a global brand. The past 30-year period has coincided with the company’s dramatic rise to its current position as the world’s largest watchmaker, a distinction Citizen has held every year since 1986. Beyond sheer size, Citizen is also recognized as a worldwide leader in advanced technology and with the introduction of the Global Radio Controlled Watch, Citizen reaffirms its position in the watch making industry.

MONTBLANC SUPPORTS THE YOUNG DIRECTORS PROJECT

For the ninth time in succession, the MONTBLANC YOUNG DIRECTORS PROJECT took place as part of the Salzburg Festival 2010. The MONTBLANC YOUNG DIRECTORS AWARD is endowed with prize money amounting to €10,000 and the Montblanc Max Reinhardt Pen, which was exclusively designed for this project.



The theatre project was again sponsored entirely by the International Culture Brand Montblanc. As in previous years, the sale of the Salzburg special edition “Hommage à Max Reinhardt” generated additional sponsorship funds and, once again, allowed a fourth production to be staged.



For this year’s competition, Dr. Thomas Oberender, Artistic Director of the Salzburg Festival, and Martine Dennewald, Curator, selected four young directors and their ensembles from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. The nominees were:



The Swedish-born director Jakop Ahlbom, who has worked in the Netherlands for several years, with INNENSCHAU – a theatre thriller, a journey under the surface of the human psyche into a realm of secret wishes and bizarre fantasies which are revealed in layers during the performance to become more and more visible until the audience are left sitting in the dark – swallowed by the unfathomableness of a strange world.



Sylvain Creuzevault and his company d’ores et déjà from Paris with their production NOTRE TERREUR – a play about how the theatre can look at and contemplate the terror of the French Revolution. The play shows the incredible willpower of Robespierre and his fellow members of the revolutionary government in their attempts to reinvent democracy, but also focuses on their desperation at failing in the face of the revolution’s ideals.



Angela Richter from Germany with TOD IN THEBEN, a play written by the Norwegian author Jon Fosse, which comprises the three great tragedies about the rise and fall of King Oedipus, his exile on Colonus and the dire fate of his daughter Antigone in a terse drama of great emotional density. Angela Richter sets this most primeval of family dramas inside a light installation in which the mythical protagonists Oedipus and Antigone appear and make us question our concepts of blame, silence and solitude, and examine what they mean for our contemporary world.



Claude Schmitz from Brussels with MARY MOTHER OF FRANKENSTEIN – a piece about the old dream of creating a human being in our own image. The show presents a living nightmare which narrates the life and works of the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and also references the incredible pace of biotechnology we are witnessing today.





The Young Directors Award 2010 is unanimously given to Sylvain Creuzevault and his company d’ores et déjà. With NOTRE TERREUR, the jury values in particular the impressive performance of an accomplished ensemble in which the actors are turned into co-directors and the director himself becomes a primus inter pares. The company has made the story of the French Revolution and its implications for the present accessible for youthful enthusiasm; they show the failure of the highest ideals and the dangers of a dictatorship of the virtuous. The company succeeded with sparse means and in direct contact with the audience, through clever use of the space and increasing dramatic force.

Emirates to go Daily to Al Medinah al Munawarah

DUBAI, U.A.E 31st August 2010: Emirates will increase services to Al Medinah al Munawarah to seven flights per week from 31st October 2010 underscoring the important economic and cultural ties between the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.



The airline remains committed to the Kingdom with a total of 25 flights per week operating through its four gateways. These three new services will bring the number to 28 flights per week as well as increasing additional capacity to the Kingdom by 15 percent.



“Saudi Arabia is an important market for Emirates and our new daily service to Al Medinah al Munawarah is key to our continued growth there. In the last two years we have increased operations to the Kingdom from 17 to 25 weekly flights and we will continue to work closely with the Saudi Authorities to implement additional services,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran.



Mr. Khoory continued: “This daily service will offer our customers in the Kingdom with even more choice, helping to connect both business and leisure travellers not only to Dubai but also our extensive worldwide network. There is significant demand for travel in and out of Al Medinah al Munawarah from across our network and we are confident that these new flights will be well received by our customers.”



Emirates’ first flight to Al Medinah al Munawarah landed on July 2nd 2010. The service remains on a temporary schedule until 26th March 2011.



From 31st October the seven weekly flights to Al Medinah al Munawarah will depart Dubai each day at 0115 hours and will arrive in Al Medinah al Munawarah at 0315 hours. On the return journey the flight will depart Al Medinah al Munawarrah at 0445 hours, arriving in Dubai at 0815 hours. Emirates’ currently has four scheduled flights to the city departing on a Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.



The service is operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, offering 12 seats in First class, 42 seats in Business Class and 183 seats in Economy.