Surrounded by Williams jackets and Sauber shirts, Nike rucksacks and Reebok running shoes, the gap-toothed hawker peddling counterfeit goods from his modest market stall in Jalan Petaling was unequivocal in his answer.
"Ferrari and Red Bull," said the young man in response to being asked which of the Formula One race teams' merchandise was selling best ahead of today's Malaysia Grand Prix.
This afternoon's race has been billed as a "home" event for three of the 12 teams in the paddock with Team Lotus, Renault and Mercedes-GP all having ties to Malaysia. But it would appear any plans to capture local support from the sport's traditional European powerhouses will take time.
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More on Formula One
• Button ready to close in on Red Bull
• Vettel delighted to snatch pole from Hamilton
• F1 notebook from Malaysia
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"I guess the Malaysia influence holds a little bit of sway, but I still support McLaren," said Adly Mohamed, an affable gent braving the searing heat at Sepang International Circuit yesterday in a black McLaren-Mercedes T-shirt. "I've followed them since the days of Niki Lauda and my family and I have been coming here every year since 1999."
Malaysia's involvement in Formula One has grown exponentially since the country first joined the calendar 13 years ago, but never has the relationship been as strong as it is this season.
Mercedes is sponsored by Petronas, the Kuala Lumpur-based oil and gas company whose twin towers have dominated the capital's skyline since 1998. Team Lotus's chief is the Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, who launched the outfit last year. And in December 2010, Renault were rebranded Lotus-Renault GP following heavy investment from Lotus Group, whose parent company is the Malaysian government-owned car manufacturer Proton.
The presence of two Lotus-named teams on the grid has brought confusion to proceedings already this season. In Australia for the first race, Melbourne's Herald-Sun ran a story focusing on Team Lotus and asked what impact the absence of Robert Kubica, the Renault driver, would have on the team.
In a quest to clear the confusion and increase market share, all three teams have been on the charm offensive this week with drivers visiting local primary schools, oil refineries and radio and television studios.
A controversial legal battle is ongoing between the two Lotus teams, who are separately owned entities. It did not, however, stop Fernandes, the chief executive of budget airline carrier Air Asia, saying earlier this week that Team Lotus is "the only team that has Malaysian blood running deep in its veins".
Mohamed in the McLaren shirt agreed and said he would be giving any leftover support to his compatriot.
"Team Lotus with Tony Fernandes, Heikki [Kovalainen] and Jarno [Trulli] is the real Malaysian team. They started first and gained some recognition and then this 'Lotus-Renault' came from nowhere," he said, refuting that his decision to back Team Lotus was influenced by their Finnish driver Kovalainen's two-year spell with McLaren.
"Lotus-Renault has a more experienced team and more money, but you have to always support the underdog, not the conglomerates. What Renault did was just wrong and Mercedes have enough support; they can buy friends."
Of the three teams, Mercedes certainly seem to have the most fans willing to wear their hearts on their sleeves. The Petronas-branded Mercedes shirts have been dotted around the circuit the past few days, while the green-and-yellow livery of Team Lotus and the black-and-gold of Renault have been a rare sight outside of the paddock.
Hafizun Kahapah, a twenty-something from Kuala Lumpur with no immediately noticeable affiliation to any particular team, said he was supporting Mercedes - although dismissed the notion his allegiance was linked to their Petronas sponsorship.
"Schumacher is my idol," Kahapah said, gazing around the busy stands through reflective Ray-Ban sunglasses. "I loved him at Ferrari and I hope Mercedes do the best this weekend, but I don't really care about the Malaysian connection. I just love Schumacher."
Kahapah added he was not aware of Lotus-Renault's Malaysian influence and would support Team Lotus only when they found some much-needed pace. "Who wants to support a slow team?"
Karmun Chan and his girlfriend, dressed head-to-toe in Scuderia red including Ferrari World caps - "one day we will visit Abu Dhabi" - said they too would support Mercedes this weekend courtesy of a certain seven-time champion's involvement.
"I have supported Ferrari since I was very young and Schumacher started racing with them," Chan said.
"I hope he does well this weekend with Mercedes - but not as good as Ferrari."
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Opening Premier League fixtures, August 14
- Brentford v Arsenal
- Burnley v Brighton
- Chelsea v Crystal Palace
- Everton v Southampton
- Leicester City v Wolves
- Manchester United v Leeds United
- Newcastle United v West Ham United
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Tottenham v Manchester City
- Watford v Aston Villa
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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
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
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Belong%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Askew%20and%20Matthew%20Gaziano%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243.5%20million%20from%20crowd%20funding%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE - India ties
The UAE is India’s third-largest trade partner after the US and China
Annual bilateral trade between India and the UAE has crossed US$ 60 billion
The UAE is the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil for India
Indians comprise the largest community with 3.3 million residents in the UAE
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first visited the UAE in August 2015
His visit on August 23-24 will be the third in four years
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited India in February 2016
Sheikh Mohamed was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January 2017
Modi will visit Bahrain on August 24-25
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Results:
5pm: Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Tahoonah, Richard Mullen (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,400m | Winner: Ajwad, Gerald Avranche, Rashed Bouresly
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m | Winner: RB Lam Tara, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m | Winner: Duc De Faust, Szczepan Mazur, Younis Al Kalbani
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 2,200m | Winner: Shareef KB, Fabrice Veron, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh90,000 1,500m | Winner: Bainoona, Pat Cosgrave, Eric Lemartinel
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
