Nottingham, United Kingdom // Joe Root has replaced Steven Smith as the world No 1 ranked batsman in Test cricket after playing a key role in England regaining the Ashes.
The 24-year-old Yorkshireman struck a superb 130, his second hundred of the series, in England’s innings and 78-run win in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
Victory, completed inside three days, gave England an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
Root has scored 443 runs in the series, with two hundreds and two half-centuries, at an average of 71.79.
Read more:
– Cricket Australia to review their continued flops on foreign pitches
– England trounce Australia by an innings at Trent Bridge to reclaim The Ashes
The latest edition of the International Cricket Council’s rankings published Sunday saw Root on top of the batting standings, with Australia’s Smith, out for six and five in Nottingham, dropping down to third place.
South Africa’s AB de Villiers was second in the standings.
Meanwhile the equivalent bowling rankings saw England’s Stuart Broad climb to a career-high second place on the back of a stunning first-innings return of eight for 15 on his Nottinghamshire ground that was behind Australia’s collapse to 60 all out.
The 29-year-old pacemen’s ninth wicket of the match, taken in the second innings, saw him edge past fast bowling great Fred Trueman into fourth place in England’s list of all-time leading Test wicket-takers.
Broad has taken 308 wickets in 83 Tests to date and is 17 behind former England fast bowler Bob Willis.
A combination of Broad’s form and the absence at Trent Bridge of the injured James Anderson has seen the Lancashire paceman drop to third in the ICC standings, still headed by South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn.
Australia fast bowler Michell Johnson moved down two places to seventh.
Victory at Trent Bridge also produced a statistical landmark for Alastair Cook as he became only the third English captain, after W.G. Grace and Mike Brearley, to twice win the Ashes on home soil.
Leading ICC Test player rankings as of August 9 after the fourth Ashes Test at Trent Bridge (rank, change in ranking, player, team, ranking points, average, highest ranking points):
Batting
01 (+2) Joe Root ENG 917 56.58 917 v AUS at Trent Bridge 2015
02 (-) AB de Villiers RSA 890 52.09 935 v AUS at Port Elizabeth 2014
03 (-2) Steven Smith AUS 884 54.66 936 v ENG at Lord’s 2015
04 (-) Hashim Amla RSA 881 52.48 907 v PAK at Abu Dhabi 2013
05 (-) Kumar Sangakkara SRI 874 58.04 938 v ENG at Kandy 2007
06 (-) Angelo Mathews SRI 860 51.67 877 v NZL at Christchurch 2014
07 (-) Younus Khan PAK 829 54.07 880 v SRI at Lahore 2009
08 (-) Kane Williamson NZL 813 45.70 860 v ENG at Lord’s 2015
09 (-) Chris Rogers AUS 763 42.86 793 v ENG at Lord’s 2015
10 (+1) Virat Kohli IND 755 45.73 784 v NZL at Wellington 2014
Bowling
01 (-) Dale Steyn RSA 905 22.48 909 v WIS at Centurion 2014
02 (+3) Stuart Broad ENG 852 28.97 852 v AUS at Trent Bridge 2015
03 (-1) James Anderson ENG 815 29.38 847 v WIS at Barbados 2015
04 (-1) Trent Boult NZL 814 27.12 825 v ENG at Lord’s 2015
05 (-1) Yasir Shah PAK 810 24.81 810 v SRI at Pallekele 2015
06 (+1) Vernon Philander RSA 770 22.13 912 v IND at Johannesburg 2013
07 (-2) Mitchell Johnson AUS 765 28.03 849 v PAK at Dubai 2014
08 (-) Rangana Herath SRI 752 30.17 851 v PAK at Colombo (SSC) 2014
09 (-) Tim Southee NZL 713 31.63 799 v WIS at Jamaica 2014
10 (-) Morne Morkel RSA 705 29.66 776 v AUS at Cape Town 2011
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Where can I submit a sample?
Volunteers can now submit DNA samples at a number of centres across Abu Dhabi. The programme is open to all ages.
Collection centres in Abu Dhabi include:
- Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
- Biogenix Labs in Masdar City
- Al Towayya in Al Ain
- NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City
- Bareen International Hospital
- NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
- NMC Royal Medical Centre - Abu Dhabi
- NMC Royal Women’s Hospital.
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CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
A German university was a good fit for the family budget
Annual fees for the Technical University of Munich - £600
Shared rental accommodation per month depending on the location ranges between £200-600
The family had budgeted for food, books, travel, living expenses - £20,000 annually
Overall costs in Germany are lower than the family estimated
As proof that the student has the ability to take care of expenses, international students must open a blocked account with about £8,640
Students are permitted to withdraw £720 per month
MATCH INFO
Borussia Dortmund 0
Bayern Munich 1 (Kimmich 43')
Man of the match: Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Mountain%20Boy
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 2 (Mahrez 04', Ake 84')
Leicester City 5 (Vardy 37' pen, 54', 58' pen, Maddison 77', Tielemans 88' pen)
Man of the match: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Women%E2%80%99s%20Asia%20Cup
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PAKISTAN v SRI LANKA
Twenty20 International series
Thu Oct 26, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
Fri Oct 27, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
Sun Oct 29, 3rd T20I, Lahore
Tickets are available at www.q-tickets.com
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
