The policy of hiring and firing managers is not unusual among the teams and Al Wahda's Josef Hickersberger suffered no different fate.
The policy of hiring and firing managers is not unusual among the teams and Al Wahda's Josef Hickersberger suffered no different fate.

The Pro League coaches came, but they soon went



The policy of hiring and firing managers is not unusual among the teams from the Gulf region and it is an approach that is carrying on regardless. The Pro League had a slightly better record in its second season since the game turned professional, with five managers - Josef Hickersberger, Abel Braga, Alexandre Guimaraes, Manuel Cajuda and Lutfi al Benzarti - staying the distance compared to just three who survived in the first year.

Hickersberger, who led Al Wahda to the league title, left the club a few days after the end of the season amid allegations he demanded his salary be doubled as he was ready to move to Al Sadd, the Qatar league champions, who failed to go beyond the group stage of the Asian Champions League. Braga, the Al Jazira manager, has had his contract extended until June 2011. The Brazilian will be hoping to lead his side, who were runners-up in the league, to a consolation prize in tomorrow's Etisalat Cup final against Ajman.

Guimaraes, the Brazilian manager of Al Wasl, and Cajuda, the Portuguese in charge at Sharjah, both completed their one-year contracts and may be retained as they have done pretty well in improving the positions of their clubs. Toninho Cerezo, who led Al Shabab to the league title in 2007/08, became the first casualty of the season. He later took charge of Al Ain, but was fired after the team's exit from the Asian Champions League following a 3-2 defeat to Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan on April 13.

Ze Mario, another Brazilian, was next to go at Ajman followed by Ioan Andone, the Romanian, at Al Ahli. Mahdi Ali, who was given permission by the Football Association to take over Ahli, primarily to prepare them for the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, did not have much success and returned to national duty with the youth team. Ahli continued the remainder of the season under Noureldine al Obaidi, the Tunisian, as caretaker coach. The casualty list also includes the Germans, Winfried Schaefer (Al Ain) and Frank Pagelsdorf (Al Nasr), Laurent Banide, the Frenchman, at Al Dhafra, and Ahmed al Ajlani, the Tunisian, at Emirate. Schaefer's sacking came as a surprise as his team were only four points behind Jazira in second place in the league. He had led them to the cup double in the previous season, but the shock defeat to Ajman in the President's Cup, followed by a loss to Wahda in the league in their next game, sealed the German's fate. @Email:apassela@thenational.ae

Toninho Cerezo - Al Shabab, Al Ain The Brazilian was fired from Al Shabab before replacing Winfried Schaefer at Al Ain where he was dealt a similar fate. Winfried Schaefer - Al Ain The German led them to the cup double last year but his one-year term in the second season ended in December after successive defeats to Ajman and Al Wahda. Ze Mario - Ajman The Brazilian coach was sacked following eight straight defeats. Ioan Andone - Al Ahli The Romanian was dismissed after a string of poor results for the Dubai-based club. Mahdi Ali - Al Ahli The UAE Under 20 coach was given the task of preparing the team for the Club World Cup. They made a first round exit, beaten by Auckland City, an amateur side from New Zealand. Henk Ten Cate - Al Ahli The Dutchman resigned after one month in charge. Frank Pagelsdorf - Al Nasr Lost the support of the fans and was replaced by Helio dos Angos. Laurente Banide - Al Dhafra The Frenchman was fired after a poor return of results. Ahmed al Ajlani - Emirate Lost the support of the fans and was replaced by Helio dos Angos. Josef Hickersberger - Al Wahda Ended the club's five-year trophy drought by winning the Pro League but left immediately afterwards.

Sinopharm vaccine explained

The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades. 

“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.

"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."

This is then injected into the body.

"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.

"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."

The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.

Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.

“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.

The%20team
%3Cp%3E%0DFashion%20director%3A%20Sarah%20Maisey%0D%3Cbr%3EPhotographer%3A%20Greg%20Adamski%0D%3Cbr%3EHair%20and%20make-up%3A%20Ania%20Poniatowska%0D%3Cbr%3EModels%3A%20Nyajouk%20and%20Kristine%20at%20MMG%2C%20and%20Mitchell%0D%3Cbr%3EStylist%E2%80%99s%20assistants%3A%20Nihala%20Naval%20and%20Sneha%20Maria%20Siby%0D%3Cbr%3EVideographer%3A%20Nilanjana%20Gupta%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the most popular virtual currency in the world. It was created in 2009 as a new way of paying for things that would not be subject to central banks that are capable of devaluing currency. A Bitcoin itself is essentially a line of computer code. It's signed digitally when it goes from one owner to another. There are sustainability concerns around the cryptocurrency, which stem from the process of "mining" that is central to its existence.

The "miners" use computers to make complex calculations that verify transactions in Bitcoin. This uses a tremendous amount of energy via computers and server farms all over the world, which has given rise to concerns about the amount of fossil fuel-dependent electricity used to power the computers. 

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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alaan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Parthi%20Duraisamy%20and%20Karun%20Kurien%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%247%20million%20raised%20in%20total%20%E2%80%94%20%242.5%20million%20in%20a%20seed%20round%20and%20%244.5%20million%20in%20a%20pre-series%20A%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

MATCH INFO

Mainz 0

RB Leipzig 5 (Werner 11', 48', 75', Poulsen 23', Sabitzer 36')

Man of the Match: Timo Werner (RB Leipzig)

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA

Price, base / as tested Dh150,900 / Dh173,600

Engine 2.0L inline four-cylinder

Transmission Seven-speed automatic

Power 211hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque 350Nm @ 1,200rpm

Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km