In the old Bur Hoaz neighbourhood of central Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Noor Al Khoury is always the first to raise the flag above his house.
His two-storey flag was unfurled in October, a week before Flag Day and a full month before his neighbours will begin to think about National Day celebrations on December 2.
"We've always done this," says Mr Al Khoury, 78, when asked about Flag Day, which will be marked on Thursday.
“Since the establishment of this country, I have always hung the flag.”
Flag Day has more recent origins.
Celebrations began in 2013 after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, called for a national Flag Day on November 3, to mark the accession of Sheikh Khalifa as president.
Even draping multi-storey flags from rooftops is a new tradition, sparked during celebrations for the country's 40th anniversary in 2011 by a young Emirati, Hasan Al Mazrouei, who launched the Twitter campaign "Fog Baitna Alam", or 'A Flag Above Our House'.
Of course, Mr Al Khoury has always been ahead of his time. He says his driving school, Al Nasr Driving, was the capital’s first when he opened it 42 years ago. He is still a master at the wheel. “I can drive a trailer,” he says.
“I have great vision. Look at how old I am and I don’t wear glasses. Even my daughter, she wears glasses.”
It is not just the transition to modernity that brought Mr Al Khoury profit, but the symbol of a modern country - the flag itself.
Mr Al Khoury and his brother, Abdullatif, opened the One Dirham Shop together 18 years ago and sell “five or six thousand” flags for occasions like National Day.
It is one of the many businesses he has run in his lifetime, first as a grocer in Madinat Zayed, where he was raised, and later as trader in Al Ain.
“People didn’t work for just one company like nowadays,” says Mr Al Khoury.
Seven flags hang from the walls and gates of house of Mr Al Khoury, drawing attention to its lush garden and his pet chickens, which roam free but know never to cross the road. In this house, built on land to his family given by the government 32 years ago, Mr Al Khoury and his wife have raised 13 children.
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Read more:
[ Raise the UAE flag with dignity or risk fines and jail time, say officials ]
[ Ten facts about the UAE flag ahead of Flag Day celebrations ]
[ Labour of love: Emirati grandmother hand stitches UAE flags to show her patriotism ]
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Elsewhere in Abu Dhabi, companies and schools were preparing for Flag Day events, which mark an early the start of National Day celebrations.
“Today it’s starting,” says Abdulaziz Diaf, the manager of Chocolate Boutique. His sweet shop is one of several trying to capitalise on Flag Day. Three-kilogram platters of chocolates wrapped in the colours of the UAE flag are selling slowly but the season has just begun.
At Technical Scissors, one of the largest national tailoring companies for military uniforms, Flag Day starts a lucrative month as dozens of requests for children's military customs are made every day.
As for flags, their order for the patriotic season will arrive on Flag Day itself, with 550 pieces of four by two metre flags, retailing for a total of Dh30,250.
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
Palestine and Israel - live updates
SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Tomb Raider I–III Remastered
Developer: Aspyr
Publisher: Aspyr
Console: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, PC and Xbox series X/S
Rating: 3/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Stan Lee
Director: David Gelb
Rating: 3/5
The flights: South African Airways flies from Dubai International Airport with a stop in Johannesburg, with prices starting from around Dh4,000 return. Emirates can get you there with a stop in Lusaka from around Dh4,600 return.
The details: Visas are available for 247 Zambian kwacha or US$20 (Dh73) per person on arrival at Livingstone Airport. Single entry into Victoria Falls for international visitors costs 371 kwacha or $30 (Dh110). Microlight flights are available through Batoka Sky, with 15-minute flights costing 2,265 kwacha (Dh680).
Accommodation: The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel by Anantara is an ideal place to stay, within walking distance of the falls and right on the Zambezi River. Rooms here start from 6,635 kwacha (Dh2,398) per night, including breakfast, taxes and Wi-Fi. Water arrivals cost from 587 kwacha (Dh212) per person.
SPEC SHEET: SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FLIP5
Display: Main – 6.7" FHD+ Dynamic Amoled 2X, 2640 x 1080, 22:9, 425ppi, HDR10+, up to 120Hz; cover – 3/4" Super Amoled, 720 x 748, 306ppi
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, 4nm, octa-core; Adreno 740 GPU
Memory: 8GB
Capacity: 256/512GB
Platform: Android 13, One UI 5.1.1
Main camera: Dual 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2) + 12MP wide (f/1.8), OIS
Video: 4K@30/60fps, full-HD@60/240fps, HD@960fps
Front camera: 10MP (f/2.2)
Battery: 3700mAh, 25W fast charging, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless
Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Samsung Pay)
I/O: USB-C
Cards: Nano-SIM + eSIM; no microSD slot
Colours: Cream, graphite, lavender, mint; Samsung.com exclusives – blue, grey, green, yellow
In the box: Flip 4, USB-C-to-USB-C cable
Price: Dh3,899 / Dh4,349
Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
Company profile
Company name: Ogram
Started: 2017
Founders: Karim Kouatly and Shafiq Khartabil
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: On-demand staffing
Number of employees: 50
Funding: More than $4 million
Funding round: Series A
Investors: Global Ventures, Aditum and Oraseya Capital
Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization
Author: Kenneth W Harl
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Pages: 576
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Alaan
Started: 2021
Based: Dubai
Founders: Parthi Duraisamy and Karun Kurien
Sector: FinTech
Investment stage: $7 million raised in total — $2.5 million in a seed round and $4.5 million in a pre-series A round
The biog
Favourite colour: Brown
Favourite Movie: Resident Evil
Hobbies: Painting, Cooking, Imitating Voices
Favourite food: Pizza
Trivia: Was the voice of three characters in the Emirati animation, Shaabiyat Al Cartoon
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.