Fredy Guarin is the latest high-profile player to leave Europe for the Chinese Super League. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
Fredy Guarin is the latest high-profile player to leave Europe for the Chinese Super League. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
Fredy Guarin is the latest high-profile player to leave Europe for the Chinese Super League. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
Fredy Guarin is the latest high-profile player to leave Europe for the Chinese Super League. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP

Ramires from Chelsea, Gervinho from Roma, now Inter Milan’s Guarin heads to China


  • English
  • Arabic

Inter Milan’s Colombian international Fredy Guarin has signed for Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, the Chinese club said, the latest in a stream of European-based players to head east.

Shenhua have had high-profile foreign players before, including Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka of France, although the team have been eclipsed more recently and finished sixth in the Chinese Super League last year despite having Australia’s Tim Cahill in their squad.

“We believe Guarin’s joining will greatly enhance Greenland Shenhua’s midfield defensive strength in the new season,” the club said in a statement on their verified microblog late Wednesday.

It did not give a fee but Guarin will reportedly earn €11 million (Dh43.95m) plus bonuses.

COMMENT: Ramires, the rise of Chinese football riches, and the bad news it spells for UAE and the rest of Asia

Guarin is the latest in a series of arrivals in China during the current European transfer window as the increasingly wealthy league flexes its financial muscles.

Brazilian midfielder Ramires moved from Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning on Wednesday.

Jiangsu Suning said on their microblog that they paid €28m for the 28-year-old, making him the biggest-ever signing by a Chinese club.

Ramires joined Chelsea from Benfica in 2010 and won the Uefa Champions League and the Premier League in 251 appearances for the London club, during which he scored 34 goals.

He was a favourite under Jose Mourinho but struggled to get a game in recent months.

Suning, based in Nanjing and coached by another former Chelsea player, Dan Petrescu, have also signed Australian international Trent Sainsbury from Dutch side PEC Zwolle in recent days.

Ivory Coast and former Arsenal striker Gervinho moved this week from Roma to Hebei Fortune, which did not disclose a fee.

According to a Fifa report released last week, China was the sixth biggest transfer spender in 2015 and the biggest outside the major European leagues in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.

The $168m spent by Chinese Super League clubs in 2015 was 68 per cent higher than in 2014 and observers said the Ramires transfer is a sign that the record will be smashed again this year.

In an intra-Chinese deal, Asian football champions Guangzhou Evergrande last week sold their Brazilian top scorer Elkeson to rivals Shanghai SIPG for as much as €20m, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

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UNSC Elections 2022-23

Seats open:

  • Two for Africa Group
  • One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
  • One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
  • One for Eastern Europe Group

Countries so far running: 

  • UAE
  • Albania 
  • Brazil 
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Chris%20Jordan%20on%20Sanchit
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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
War and the virus
Results

5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (Dirt) 1,000m, Winner: Hazeem Al Raed, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)

5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 85,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: Ghazwan Al Khalediah, Hugo Lebouc, Helal Al Alawi

6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,400m, Winner: Dinar Al Khalediah, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi.

6.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Faith And Fortune, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Only Smoke, Bernardo Pinheiro, Abdallah Al Hammadi.

7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: AF Ramz, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi.

8pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mass, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.

Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStage%202%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Soudal%E2%80%93Quick-Step%20-%2018%E2%80%9911%E2%80%9D%3Cbr%3E2.%20EF%20Education%20%E2%80%93%20EasyPost%20-%201%22%3Cbr%3E3.%20Ineos%20Grenadiers%20-%203%22%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EGeneral%20classification%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Lucas%20Plapp%20(AUS)%20Ineos%20Grenadiers%3Cbr%3E2.%20Remco%20Evenepoel%20(BEL)%20Soudal%E2%80%93Quick-Step%20-%20ST%3Cbr%3E3.%20Nikias%20Arndt%20(GER)%20Bahrain%20Victorious%20-%203%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

While you're here
PROFILE OF SWVL

Started: April 2017

Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport

Size: 450 employees

Investment: approximately $80 million

Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

ARM%20IPO%20DETAILS
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Who has been sanctioned?

Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.

Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.

Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.

Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.

Second Test, Day 2:

South Africa 335 & 75/1 (22.0 ov)
England 205
South Africa lead by 205 runs with 9 wickets remaining

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20Profile
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