Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart and Elton John: All names you’d expect to find on any rocker’s list of influences. Not so much. But for Chris Daughtry, who performs at Gulf Bike Week in Dubai on Friday, the caped crusader played as big a role in his development as Page and Plant. That’s because before he found stardom by losing on American Idol, Daughtry’s formative years in North Carolina were coloured with Batman’s crime fighting ways.

Cloth retailer Mohammad believes outside forces are responsible for simmering tensions.

If you thought Eminem and Elton John performing ‘Stan’ at the 2001 Grammy Awards was an unusual musical collaboration, how about Nickelback, the hard rock post-grunge band, touring with teen heartthrob baby faced Justin Bieber? Speaking to tabloid! while walking the streets of Paris, Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger was quick to say it’s unlikely.

Here’s hoping there will be more concerts like Gotye’s in Dubai soon.

Animal Kingdom and his fellow thoroughbreds were not the only winners at Saturday’s Dubai World Cup: earlier in the evening, it was the turn of fashionistas, out in full force as every year, to take part in the hotly-contested Jaguar Style Stakes. Colour appeared to be the order of the day with many entrants sporting lime green, lemon yellow, turquoise blue, fuchsia pink and burnt orange, but the top prize of the night went to a demure pink suit and its wearer, Ilona Saleski.

Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Diane Kruger, Gisele Bundchen and Alessandra Ambrosio: they all had to start their modelling journeys somewhere; and that somewhere was with Elite Model Look, an annual modelling competition. It might sound a world away from the streets of Dubai, but don’t toss out that portfolio yet: a leg of the contest — world’s largest model search — will this year be held on our shores.

The Script last performed in the UAE in 2011 and that gap has seen the band get on a one-way train to dizzying heights. They’ve released a new album, #3, from which the lead single ‘Hall of Fame’, a collaboration with lead singer Danny O’Donoghue’s ‘The Voice’ co-judge Will.i.am, gave the trio their first UK number one.

Being a journalist has many perks – the chance to chat to some of the world’s biggest stars and access to glamorous events. However, it also comes with some serious waiting around. After standing two hours backstage in the cold waiting to chat to Nicki Minaj, possibly one of the biggest personalities around right now, it would have been really easy to give up.

“National Identity is the inherent pride for your country. I consider myself a naturalised Emirati since I have lived here for more than 20 years in a local family and have my kids are Emirati,” said American Dedra Stevenson who is married to an Emirati, and is the author of the children’s trilogy The Hakima’s Tale .

It’s been 60 years since the inception of Fred Perry. And like all iconic fashion brands, this British label’s history can be traced alongside various subcultures that flourished with it in the past few decades. To celebrate its 60th milestone, the brand has employed the expertise of Grammy Award-winning filmmaker Don Letts to create a series of six films that looks at the evolution of the brand.