Elon Musk late on Sunday posted a poll asking users if he should step down from his role as head of Twitter, the social media platform he bought in October that has been surrounded by controversy ever since.
Early results from the poll showed about 57 per cent of respondents were in favour of Mr Musk standing down.
He posted the 12-hour survey after apologising for banning links to several “prohibited” social media platforms including Facebook in a move that drew fierce condemnation.
“My apologies. Won’t happen again,” Mr Musk tweeted around the same time he launched the poll, whose results he promised to abide by.
Mr Musk's tenure at Twitter has seen him hand several key decisions over to users, including whether former president Donald Trump's banned account should be reinstated or whether journalists accused of “doxxing” personal information should have their bans reversed.
But Mr Musk seemed to massively raise the stakes at a personal level by placing his own position at the company that cost him an initial $44 billion, and billions more since, in the hands of Twitter users.
Several poll respondents claimed Mr Musk knew it would probably oppose him remaining.
“As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it,” he tweeted, adding that he did not have a successor picked out.
Since walking into Twitter's head office in San Francisco carrying a sink in late October, barely a day has gone by without Mr Musk drawing global headlines from decisions he made, many seemingly on a whim, at the platform.
Shortly after he arrived, he fired most of the staff and openly criticised the working culture of his new company as being too “woke” and not industrious enough.
Mr Musk, who runs several other companies including Tesla and SpaceX, gave what amounted to a real-time glimpse into his combative managerial style and hit back at claims staff were sleeping in the headquarters building.
His tweets took a new turn last week as he toyed with several journalists using Twitter by banning them, then sometimes reinstating them after a backlash.
Those bans came after he shut down a Twitter account that was tracking the flights of his private jet.
Then on Sunday, in the move he later apologised for, he banned accounts linking to mainstream websites such as Facebook and Instagram, and upstart rivals Mastodon, Tribel, Nostr, Post and Mr Trump's Truth Social.
Mr Musk has also frequently tweeted his right-wing political views, alienating a large chuck of his liberal Tesla customer base and triggering a seemingly unending sell-off in stocks of the electric car maker that has cost Mr Musk tens of billions of dollars.
Earlier this month, he attacked Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading US expert on infectious diseases in a move that the White House branded “dangerous” and “disgusting”.
A look at former president Donald Trump's Truth Social feed — in pictures
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
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
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
More on animal trafficking
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
Funk Wav Bounces Vol.1
Calvin Harris
Columbia
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
