Joint Arab media action to face challenges ‘vital’, says info min
‘Full-scale approach to overhaul sports’
KUWAIT CITY, June 15, (KUNA): Minister of Information and Culture and Minister of State for Youth Abdulrahman Al-Mutairi stressed on Tuesday the importance of joint Arab media action to enhance the ability to face the challenges in the Arab region.
Al-Mutairi said in a statement to KUNA before traveling to Cairo to head the Kuwaiti’s official delegation to the Arab Information Ministers council meeting, which will discuss the enhancement role of Arab media and take the necessary measures in this regard.
He added that the Arab information ministers will discuss the Palestinian issue, the Arab media strategy and the Arab Committee for E-Media, in addition to the issue of the Arab media capital, stressing the Kuwaiti media’s firm support for all Arab causes.
Al-Mutairi expressed hope that the meeting, which will be held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League, will result decisions that serve the Arab media and those working in this field.
Overhaul
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Minister of Information, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Chairman of the Public Authority for Sport (PAS), Abdulrahman AlMutairi, affirmed on Tuesday that tangible and fullfledged measures would be taken to back up sports and overhaul the sector.
In a statement to KUNA, Minister Al-Mutairi said the PAS board adopted the general framework of sport professionalism for Kuwaiti athletes, noting dedication of their full time for the sport would nudge them to enhance their performance.
The board has also decided to back up the Kuwaiti players who would partake in the Olympic games, set in Tokyo this summer, in line with instructions by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
Elaborating, Minister Al-Mutairi said the Government would cooperate with the National Assembly to enact required legislations and amend relevant existing laws as part of the approach to support sports, indicating that the government would not intervene in the sector affairs.
DUBAI, June 15, (AP): The Middle East’s largest airline, Emirates, announced on Tuesday a net loss of $5.5 billion over the past year as revenue fell by more than 66% due to global travel restrictions sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
It marks the first time in more than three decades that the Dubai-based airline’s parent group has not churned out a profit, underscoring just how dramatic an impact COVID-19 has had on the aviation industry. Emirates Group, which also operates dnata travel and ground services at airports, reported a total loss of $6 billion.
The Dubai-based airline said revenue had declined by $8.4 billion, even as operating costs decreased by 46%. The company has furloughed a third of its staff due to the effect of the pandemic on its bottom line.
Revenue as a whole for the company, including its dnata services, stood at $9.7 billion, compared to $28.3 billion the year before.
Emirates’ success is seen as integral to the health of Dubai’s economy, which relies heavily on travel, tourism, real estate and investment to thrive. In a clear indication of just how important Emirates Air is to Dubai, the state-owned carrier was thrown a $2 billion lifeline from the government to stave off a liquidity crunch in 2020. The move underscored how dire the situation had become for one of the world’s leading airlines amid the pandemic.
The International Air Transport Association has said it expects airlines to continue to suffer financial losses in 2021, despite vaccination rollouts in many developed countries around the world. The aviation industry’s largest trade association estimated that airline losses reached as wide as $126 billion in 2020.
“Sadly, our industry is not recovering as quickly as hoped,” said Emirates CEO and chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. “Many countries are battling new variants and a third or fourth wave of COVID19 infections, and international travel is still severely restricted in almost all markets.”
Emirates, which flies to more than 150 cities including several in the U.S., said its total passenger and cargo capacity declined by 58% over the year marking April 2020March 2021. The long-haul carrier carried just 6.6 million passengers last year, a staggering decline of nearly 90% from the previous year.