This is a big week in London for the NFL but not in America, where there is only one marque game - the clash between the undefeated Minnesota Vikings (6-0) and the revived Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2).
Traditionally, this should be a game of pounding defence and thunderous runs, but those are your grandfathers' Steelers and Vikings. They are now two of the most prolific passing teams in the league with the Steelers producing 75 per cent of their offence with the pass while the Vikings have thrown more than they have run in each of their last five games.
Adrian Peterson has run well enough to lead the NFL with 618 yards but the Vikings quarterback Brett Favre has done far more than was probably expected of him, throwing 12 TD passes and only two interceptions - the fewest over any six-game span in his career - so it is unlikely the Steelers can totally shut Minnesota down.
That means the Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger must continue his hot hand against a defence tied for the NFL lead with 21 sacks.
Roethlisberger is completing a remarkable 72.5 per cent of his throws but the edge goes to the more balanced Vikings at home.
The New Orleans Saints (5-0) could be tested by the Miami Dolphins (2-3), who have won two in a row with their "Wildcat" offence, which snaps the ball directly to running backs Ronnie Brown or Ricky Williams.
The Wildcat is averaging 200.5 yards and will challenge the Saints' fifth-ranked run defence. That test will be no stiffer than the one Miami have trying to stop quarterback Drew Brees and the NFL's No 1 offence.
The difference is the Saints are more balanced, averaging 159.6 yards rushing as well.
Combine that with a defence forcing a league-high 15 turnovers and you have a team on their way to another win.
A player with ties to both the Chicago Bears (3-2) and the Cincinnati Bengals (4-2) is this game's deciding factor. Four years ago the Bears made running back Cedric Benson the fourth player taken in the college draft but it was not until he ended up in Cincinnati that he blossomed. Now he is the NFL's third leading rusher (531 yards).
Chicago's stingy defence is sixth in run defence. The side which dominate that aspect prevail.
Around the rest of the NFL, the undefeated Indianapolis Colts (5-0) hope to stay that way playing the winless St Louis Rams (0-6); the Atlanta Falcons (4-1) should handle the Dallas Cowboys (3-2), whose three victories have all come against winless teams, if they can protect their quarterback Matt Ryan; and the Arizona Cardinals (3-2) can make a statement against the New York Giants (5-1), who are smarting from the thumping they took last weekend in New Orleans.
"It's going to be an opportunity to see where we are at," the Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald said.
Where that will be is the wrong side of the score.
The Buffalo Bills (2-4) take on the Carolina Panthers (2-3) in a battle of sinking ships but the Bills' starting quarterback Trent Edwards is out with a concussion and will be replaced by Harvard graduate Ryan Fitzpatrick. This is one area of life where a Harvard education will not help.
Meanwhile London is excited about the New England Patriots (4-2), the three-times Super Bowl champions, playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-6) at Wembley Stadium.
The Tampa head coach Raheem Morris said: "I'm sure [the Patriots coach] Bill Belichick is licking his chops. He should be."
That is no vote of confidence.
Elsewhere, the New York Jets (3-3) are in disarray as they travel to face the Oakland Raiders (2-4). The Jets have lost three in a row and their rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez has thrown eight interceptions and only one touchdown in those defeats. The Raiders' JaMarcus Russell has been worse so this is likely to be a defensive struggle decided by turnovers.
The Kansas City Chiefs (2-3) were supposed to be terrible but what is the San Diego Chargers' (2-3) excuse? Lose again and they will be out of them. The Green Bay Packers (3-2) have significant offensive line problems but the undermanned Cleveland Browns (1-5) have 12 players with the flu, so go with the team without the sniffles; the San Francisco 49ers (3-2) visit the Houston Texans (3-3) with running back Frank Gore back from injury and rookie wide receiver Michael Crabtree likely to make his debut, but it will not be enough to beat the improving Texans; and on Monday the Philadelphia Eagles (3-2) face division rivals the Washington Redskins (2-4) at the right time.
The Eagles were stunned by the Raiders, 13-9, last Sunday so the turmoil-ridden Redskins are the right opponents with their head coach Jim Zorn stripped of the right to call the plays by the owner Daniel Snyder.
Consultant Sherm Lewis, who has been retired since 2004, is now in charge. Bad idea.
@Email:rborges@thenational.ae
The specs: 2018 Maxus T60
Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder
Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm
Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.1L / 100km
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Racecard
2pm Handicap Dh 90,000 1,800m
2.30pm Handicap Dh120,000 1,950m
3pm Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
3.30pm Jebel Ali Classic Conditions Dh300,000 1,400m
4pm Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
4.30pm Conditions Dh250,000 1,400m
5pm Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
5.30pm Handicap Dh85,000 1,000m
The National selections:
2pm Arch Gold
2.30pm Conclusion
3pm Al Battar
3.30pm Golden Jaguar
4pm Al Motayar
4.30pm Tapi Sioux
5pm Leadership
5.30pm Dahawi
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 480hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 570Nm from 2,300-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 10.4L/100km
Price: from Dh547,600
On sale: now
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
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Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
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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
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
PSL FINAL
Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi
8pm, Thursday
Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
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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.
