• Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
  • Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters
    Iranian workers collect altered Israeli flags at a large factory that males US and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn in Khomein City. West Asia News Agency via Reuters

Flags to burn: business booming at Iranian factory


  • English
  • Arabic

Business is booming at Iran's largest flag factory, which makes US, British and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn.

At the factory in the town of Khomein, south-west of the capital Tehran, young men and women print the flags by hand then hang them up to dry. The factory produces about 2,000 US and Israeli flags a month in its busiest periods, and more than 1.5 million square feet of flags a year.

Tensions between the United States and Iran have reached the highest level in decades after top Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, prompting Iran to retaliate with a missile attack against a US base in Iraq days later.

In state-sponsored rallies and protests in Iran, demonstrators regularly burn the flags of Israel, the US and Britain.

Ghasem Ghanjani, who owns the Diba Parcham flag factory, said: "We have no problem with the American and British people. We have a problem with their governors. We have a problem with their presidents, with the wrong policy they have.

"The people of America and Israel know that we have no problem with them. If people burn the flags of these countries at different rallies, it is only to show their protest."

Rezaei, a quality control manager, who declined to give her first name, said, "Compared to the cowardly actions of the United States, such as General Suleimani's assassination, this [burning an American flag] is a minimal thing against them. This is the least that can be done."

For hardliners, anti-American sentiment has always been central to Iran's Islamic Revolution, and Iran's clerical rulers continue to denounce the United States as the Great Satan.

Last November, however, many Iranians took to the streets to protest against the country's top authorities, chanting "our enemy is not the US, our enemy is here".

During protests this month that erupted after Tehran belatedly admitted shooting down a passenger plane by mistake, young demonstrators in Tehran refused to step on the American flag painted on the street.

North Pole stats

Distance covered: 160km

Temperature: -40°C

Weight of equipment: 45kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 0

Terrain: Ice rock

South Pole stats

Distance covered: 130km

Temperature: -50°C

Weight of equipment: 50kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300

Terrain: Flat ice
 

Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Packages which the US Secret Service said contained possible explosive devices were sent to:

  • Former first lady Hillary Clinton
  • Former US president Barack Obama
  • Philanthropist and businessman George Soros
  • Former CIA director John Brennan at CNN's New York bureau
  • Former Attorney General Eric Holder (delivered to former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz)
  • California Congresswoman Maxine Waters (two devices)
FFP EXPLAINED

What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.

What the rules dictate? 
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.

What are the penalties? 
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.

While you're here
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Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

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Gulf Under 19s final

Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B

My Country: A Syrian Memoir

Kassem Eid, Bloomsbury

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Power: 181hp

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Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

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