The UAE rally champion, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has become the first Arab to be elected to the ruling body of world motorsport.
Sulayem, president of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE), was elected vice-president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and co-opted on to its World Motorsport Council during the general assembly in Paris.
"I'm honoured and very happy to have been elected to the FIA World Motor Sport Council," said Sulayem. "I'm looking forward to playing my part in shaping the future of motorsport, and there are some exciting, and challenging, times ahead."
The World Motorsport Council meets at least four times a year to decide on rules, regulations, safety and development of motorsport at every level, from karting to Formula One. Headed by Max Mosley, the FIA president, its membership is chosen by the general assembly, which contains representatives from national automobile clubs throughout the world.
Mosley is expected to step down in the near future, leaving Sulayem in pole position to take over as president, possibly in time for next year's Formula One programme, the climax of which will be the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next November.
In a remarkable rallying career, Sulayem won 14 FIA Middle East Rally Championship titles and more than 60 international rallies. In 1991, he launched the UAE Desert Challenge, and quickly established it as the Middle East's first world championship motorsport event.
The Desert Challenge, staged for the 18th time last week, was admitted into the FIA World Cup for cross-country rallies for cars in 1993, and two years later was welcomed into the cross-country rallies world championship for bikes.
When Sulayem took charge of the ATCUAE two-and-a half years ago, only 90 competitors in the UAE had official licences to compete in motorsport, most of them in rallying, and there were fewer than 20 official events staged each year.
Now, the ATCUAE has more than 1,200 licensed competitors and oversees a calendar of 140 events. It is the sole official representative of the FIA in the UAE and will have an important role to play in the staging of the first Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix next year. Emphasising his regional influence, Sulayem was an adviser behind Bahrain's bid for a place in the Etihad FIA Formula One world championship.
After the first Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004, he was awarded a Medal of Honour by King Hamad bin Isa of Bahrain. He was also a strong supporter of Jordan's successful bid to break into the World Rally Championship.
This year he played a pivotal role in the formation of the Arab Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs, which was set up to unite the FIA Clubs of the Arabic-speaking territories.
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Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
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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
