Arsenal will be without Thomas Vermaelen for six weeks


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Thomas Vermaelen's father expects his son to be out for up to six weeks after revealing that the Arsenal defender underwent surgery on an Achilles injury yesterday.

The Gunners are yet to publicly confirm how long the Belgian will be sidelined for.

Vermaelen's father claims the 25 year old flew to Sweden to have the surgery on his left ankle yesterday.

He told Belgian website Sporza: "The doctor in Stockholm, where Thomas was operated on last time too, recognised the problem now.

"He would not take any chances and immediately operated on Thomas. He expects a five to six weeks of unavailability."

Vermaelen suffered the injury against Udinese two weeks ago and the club had hoped he would not require surgery given his key role within the Gunners defence.

Should he be sidelined for six weeks, he will miss Arsenal's opening two Champions League group stage games and the north London derby at Tottenham Hotspur on October 2.

The former Ajax man missed eight months of last season with a similar Achilles injury on his right foot, although his current injury is not thought to be as serious.

Vermaelen missed the Gunners' 8-2 mauling at Manchester United nine days ago but has otherwise been an ever present at the heart of Arsene Wenger's defence this term.

Per Mertesacker, who signed just before the transfer window shut last week, is now likely to have to step up to fill Vermaelen's place in the team over the next two months.

The German, who arrived at Arsenal from Werder Bremen for £8 million (Dh47.85m), also has competition from Laurent Koscielny, Johan Djourou and Sebastien Squillaci at centre-back.

The London club have conceded 11 goals so far this season and currently sit fourth from bottom of the Premier League table with one point.

Concrete and Gold
Foo Fighters
RCA records

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How to apply for a drone permit
  • Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
  • Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
  • Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
  • Submit their request
What are the regulations?
  • Fly it within visual line of sight
  • Never over populated areas
  • Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
  • Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
  • Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
  • Should have a live feed of the drone flight
  • Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Scores

New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan 219 all out in 47.2 overs 

New Zealand win by 47 runs

'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

Rating: 1 out of 4

Running time: 81 minutes

Director: David Blue Garcia

Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

Most match wins on clay

Guillermo Vilas - 659

Manuel Orantes - 501

Thomas Muster - 422

Rafael Nadal - 399 *

Jose Higueras - 378

Eddie Dibbs - 370

Ilie Nastase - 338

Carlos Moya - 337

Ivan Lendl - 329

Andres Gomez - 322

Race card

5.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m

6.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,400m

6.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

7.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 1,200m

7.50pm: Longines Stakes – Conditions (TB) Dh120,00 (D) 1,900m

8.25pm: Zabeel Trophy – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (T) 1,600m

9pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 2,410m

9.35pm: Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (T) 2,000m

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

What is the definition of an SME?

SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.

A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors. 

Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

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Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
​​​​​​​Bloomsbury Academic

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