Will Smith resigned from the motion picture academy after slapping Chris Rock on Oscar night and said he would accept any further punishment the organization might impose. Smith said in a statement that he will accept any and all consequences of his conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable. Film Academy President David Rubin said Smith’s resignation was accepted. “We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18.” “I betrayed…
Author: menewscast.com
A record number of visitors flocked to the ancient city of Petra in March, marking a 292 per cent increase over the previous month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors to Petra in March included 43,533 foreign nationalities, 3,859 Arabs, and 6,504 Jordanians, according to figures released by the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA). February drew 21,557 visitors of all nationalities to red rose city. Jordan’s main tourism attraction received only 4,656 visitors from all nations in March, 2021, and it received 74,413 visitors in the same month of 2019. PDTRA Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Suleiman…
The statement of the UN special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundeng, included an announcement of a two-month nationwide truce that began on Saturday in Yemen, which was welcomed by Egypt, Jordan, and Djibouti. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry stated in Cairo that it looks forward to the armistice contributing to efforts for a comprehensive resolution of the Yemeni crisis, and supporting political solutions initiatives such as the consultations currently underway in Riyadh based on Security Council resolutions and the Gulf initiative. By preserving Yemen’s unity and independence and conserving its people’s aspirations for security, stability, and prosperity by the executive branch of…
Emirates will introduce 25 mobile Check-in Ports at Dubai International Airport (DXB) Terminal 3 as part of its commitment to continuously innovate at every customer touchpoint and to improve the customer experience. Portable units will be set up throughout the check-in areas at the terminal. Developed in the UAE, check-in agents at the Check-in Ports will help customers with check-in, bag weighing, and tagging as well as providing boarding passes. Once luggage has been tagged, porters will place it on a dedicated belt for each aircraft. Check-in Ports are equipped with scales to weigh luggage, and Emirates agents are also…
Following approval from UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced it had exercised its right to increase the number of shares offered in the First Tranche (Retail Tranche) of its Initial Public Offering (IPO). Taking into account the significant demand and oversubscription from retail investors, the Government of Dubai – as the selling shareholder – decided to increase the number of shares in the Retail Tranche from 260 million to 760 million. Accordingly, the number of ordinary shares offered in the DEWA IPO has increased from 8.5 billion to 9 billion, resulting in a…
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, declared a state of emergency in the country beginning on April 1. In the wake of the country’s most severe economic crisis in decades, citizens have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the problem. As a result of violent protests outside President Rajapaksa’s residence, the Sri Lankan police imposed a curfew in many parts of Colombo on Friday. Sri Lanka’s constitution stipulates that the President may declare a state of emergency by proclamation and that the announcement cannot be challenged in court. The proclamation may be in effect for a month. In…
The Kingdom of Bahrain and South Korea held their fourth round of political consultations today in Seoul. The meeting was led by the Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, Dr. Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, and the Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs of South Korea, Yeo Seung Bae. The Undersecretary for Political Affairs commended the development of friendly relations between the two countries since they established diplomatic relations 46 years ago. He praised the steady development of bilateral relations at various levels. This was with the support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa,…
Approximately 16 million residents of Shanghai are being tested for COVID-19 during the second stage of the lockdown, which moved to the western half of China’s biggest city and financial capital on Friday. In the meantime, residents of Shanghai’s eastern districts who were due to be released from isolation after four days have been warned that their lockdowns could be extended if cases of COVID-19 are found in their compounds. China’s two-phase lockdown, which has taken place over a period of eight days to allow testing of its entire population, has rattled global markets. A monthly survey showed decreased manufacturing…
The Oman Ministry of Finance (MOF) will reduce its public debt by more than RO 2.85 billion (US$ 7.4 billion) by the end of April 2022 as part of its Debt Management Strategy. A further initiative of the MOF is to minimize the fiscal deficit and shrink the public debt portfolio’s cost and risk by using surpluses (from the uptake of oil prices average rates). Budget 2022 allocated RO 1.3 billion for loan interest refunds, but did not affect a commitment to repay maturing premiums of RO 2.7 billion. According to the MOF, steps are under way to tap other…
Naser Shraideh, Jordan’s Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, announced that pledges from donor countries and funding institutions for the National Water Carrier Project now total $1.830 billion in grants and loans. The Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Transport Project is geared towards mobilizing support and funding for this vital and strategic project. It would desalinate about 300 million cubic meters (MCM) of water from the Gulf of Aqaba, with water delivered to various governorates. The purpose of this project is to fill the existing water deficits and meet the growing demand as a result of several factors, the most important…