KARBALA, Iraq // A deadly mortar attack on Friday near the Iraqi city of Karbala stoked security concerns as millions of Shiite pilgrims gathered for one of the largest religious gatherings in the world.
A day before the Arbaeen commemoration reached its climax, a sea of black-clad devotees filled the streets of the holy city, waving flags, beating their chests and chanting.
“There were one person killed and four wounded when mortar rounds hit an area on the western side of the city” shortly after midnight, a police colonel said.
“They crashed into an area called Souk Al Basra, around seven kilometres from the city centre,” he said, adding the victims were residents and not pilgrims.
Record numbers of Shiite faithful have been converging on Karbala from across Iraq and other countries for Arbaeen, which marks the end of a 40-day period of mourning following the anniversary of Imam Hussein’s death.
Imam Hussein is one of the most revered figures for Shiites, who are the largest community in Iraq and the overwhelming majority in neighbouring Iran.
The Iraqi defence minister Khaled Al Obeidi said on Thursday that more than 17 million pilgrims had come to Karbala for Arbaeen, which in a normal year is already considered one of the largest religious gatherings in the world.
Brigadier General Qais Khalaf Rahim, head of operations command for the Karbala area, said “the number of visitors is far greater than last year’s”.
“We had to open more routes to Karbala and double the number of cars, buses and trucks transporting pilgrims to the city.”
This year’s pilgrimage has taken on a political dimension as it is the first since ISIL launched a devastating offensive in Iraq in June.
The militant group – led by Sunni extremists – considers Shiites to be heretics and has made targeting the community one of its main objectives.
Millions of faithful have for days been converging on the holy city where Imam Hussein was killed in battle and beheaded in 680AD, entire families trekking for days on the roads and sleeping in the open.
Central Baghdad has been in lockdown mode for much of the week as authorities restricted access and movement in order to avoid a complete logjam and minimise the risks of major bomb attacks.
Three people were killed and four wounded earlier this week, according to security and medical sources, when a bomb went off in north-eastern Baghdad near one of the thousands of tents set up to serve food and beverages to marching pilgrims.
Three people also died on Friday in a stampede as they crossed the border from Iran, a spokesman for the Iraq Red Crescent said.
However, given how exposed the pilgrims are and what a prime target they are for ISIL fighters, very few incidents have been reported so far.
Iraqi officials have stressed how crucial a recent military victory against the militants in the Jurf Al Sakhr area has been in making the pilgrimage possible.
The continued presence there of ISIL fighters would have exposed the millions of southbound pilgrims walking through an area which has seen some of the worst sectarian violence of the past decade and been dubbed the “triangle of death”.
Shiite militias have played a leading role in the battle for Jurf Al Sakhr, an area between Baghdad and Karbala where militants were supplied from their strongholds in the western Anbar province and which has seen some of the fiercest fighting since June.
The Iraqi communications minister, Hassan Al Rashed, said earlier this week that fighters who took over former ISIL positions in Jurf Al Sakhr found evidence that the militants had been planning to target Karbala.
The bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra in February 2006 was the main trigger for a bloody sectarian war between Iraq’s Sunnis and Shiites.
* Agence France-Presse
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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.”
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
TOUCH RULES
Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.
Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.
Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.
A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.
After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.
At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.
A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.
