Latest news with #Centraland
Observer
5 days ago
- Business
- Observer
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi to cease operations from Sept 1
Muscat: Wizz Air Holdings (Wizz Air) on Monday announced a strategic realignment that reinforces the company's core strength and focus in Central and Eastern Europe and select Western European markets. This decision follows a comprehensive reassessment of market dynamics, operational challenges, and geopolitical developments in the Middle East. As a result of the suspension of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi operations as part of this strategic realignment, Win Air will suspend all locally based flight operations effective September 1, 2025, and intends to exit from the Joint venture going forward and will focus on its core markets, the official statement said. While popular for offering ultra low fares to popular tourist destinations,Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has faced increasing operational challenges over the past year, including, engine reliability constraints, particularly in hot and harsh environments, which have impacted aircraft availability and operational efficiency; geopolitical volatility, which has led to repeated airspace closures and operational disruptions across the region, as well as wreaking consumer demand; regulatory barriers, which have limited the company's ability to access and scale in key markets. These factors have significantly impacted the viability of Wizz Air's ultra-low-cost model in the region and its ability to deliver profitability In line with its core European operations. Win Air will intensify its focus on its core Central and Eastern European markets, as well as select Western European countries such as Austria, Italy and the UK, the company said. This strategic realignment to core markets will enable the company to redeploy resources to regions with greater long-term potential for sustainable growth and profitability. Jersof CEO of Wizz Air, said, "We have had a tremendous Journey in the Middle East and are proud of what we have built. I thank our highly dedicated employees for their relentless efforts and commitment to developing the WIZZ brand in new and dynamic markets. However, the operating environment has changed significantly. Supply chain constraints, geopolitical Instability, and limited market access have made it increasingly difficult to sustain our original ambitions. While this was a difficult decision, it is the right one given the circumstances. We continue to focus on our core markets and on initiatives that enhance Wizz Air's customer proposition and build shareholder value." Passengers with existing bookings beyond August 31, 2025, will be contacted directly via email with options for refunds or alternative travel arrangements. Customers who booked through third-party providers are advised to contact their respective agents. The above suspensions do not affect other flights of the Wizz Air group. Wizz flight to Salalah Oman Airports recently welcomed the launch of a new direct international route operated by Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, linking Salalah Airport with Abu Dhabi International Airport. According to a statement by Oman Airports, the low-cost carrier will operate seven weekly flights between the two cities, marking a significant addition to the growing connectivity of the Dhofar Governorate, particularly during the popular Khareef season.
Atlantic
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Birth-Rate Crisis Isn't as Bad as You've Heard—It's Worse
First, the bad news: Global fertility is falling fast. The aging populations of rich countries are relying on ever fewer workers to support their economy, dooming those younger generations to a future of higher taxes, higher debt, or later retirement—or all three. Birth rates in middle-income countries are also plummeting, putting their economic development at risk. Practically the only countries set to continue growing are desperately poor. By about 2084, according to the gold-standard United Nations 'World Population Prospects,' the global population will officially begin its decline. Rich countries will all have become like Japan, stagnant and aging. And the rest of the world will have become old before it ever got the chance to become rich. Sorry, did I say 'bad news'? That was actually the good news, based on estimates that turn out to be far too rosy. Every two years, the UN's demographers revise their population projections, and for the past 10 years, they've always had to revise in the same direction: down. Next year, they'll do so again. In reality, the worldwide population decline is set to begin decades ahead of their expectations. Because global fertility trends are much worse than they, and probably you, think. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, a University of Pennsylvania macroeconomist, studies how poor countries develop. This development usually happens alongside a fertility transition. As people move from rural areas to cities, their economic opportunities expand, and kids become less crucial as a source of agricultural labor. Women gain access to contraception and education. They go from having about six kids, on average, to two. Fernández-Villaverde calls this 'the standard modernization story,' and he's been teaching it for decades. Much of Fernández-Villaverde's research focuses on Latin America, an economically middling region where one would expect middling fertility rates. In recent years, however, births in some Central and South American countries have plummeted to rates far lower than most rich countries', in defiance of the standard modernization story. Each year, Fernández-Villaverde updates his data on Latin American birth rates, which he gathers from the countries' official birth statistics, in preparation for a class he teaches about the region's economic history. He first began noticing in 2019 that the UN was too optimistic, but only in the past few years did the discrepancies become downright alarming. For 2024, the UN had projected 701,000 births in Colombia; it had put the chance of the number of births being lower than 553,000 at only 2.5 percent. In the end, Colombia saw only 445,000 births in 2024. That translates to a fertility rate of 1.06 births per woman, down more than half from 2008. Chile's is even lower: At current rates, 100 reproductive-age Chileans can expect to have 52 children and only 27 grandchildren. (Demographers generally consider a birth rate of about 2.1 to be 'replacement level,' or the point at which a society doesn't shrink from one generation to the next.) Olga Khazan: An unexpected argument from the right The discrepancies were not limited to South America. In 2024, Poland's births were also below the 2.5-percent probability cutoff, as were Estonia's and Cuba's and Azerbaijan's and Sri Lanka's and Egypt's. These supposed outlier results aren't outliers at all—the world is just not having as many babies as the UN had thought it would. Digging into the UN's model, Fernández-Villaverde found something even stranger. For nearly every low-fertility country, the UN projects either one of two outcomes: The fertility rate will flatten, or it will rise to a number somewhere between one and two births per woman—still below replacement level, but not quite as catastrophic. The United States is in the first category. Our fertility rate has fallen steadily since the Great Recession, from 2.1 to 1.6. One might therefore expect the decline to continue. But the UN projects that the U.S. birth rate will stay flat, not just this year but also in 2026 and 2030 and 2060 and 2090, never rising above 1.7 or dipping below 1.6. In the other category are countries such as Thailand, whose fertility rate has been falling for 72 years and has never stopped for longer than a single year. Nonetheless, there the UN projects a demographic miracle: Starting in two years, the country's birth rate will begin to climb, first slowly and then a little more quickly, finishing out the century with a birth rate of 1.45, up from its projected 2024 low of 1.20. Every part of that appears to be wrong. In reality, Thailand's reported birth rate last year was 0.98, and preliminary 2025 data show the decline continuing. In a country the size of Thailand, the difference between the UN's projection and the real fertility rate throughout the 21st century will amount to millions of people who will never be born. All in all, as Fernández-Villaverde recently explained at a research symposium in London, humanity won't start to shrink in 2084. It will start to shrink in 2055, if not sooner. 'There are two types of people,' Alice Evans, a British professor who studies falling fertility around the world, posted on X after reading Fernández-Villaverde's presentation: those 'not bothered about demographics' and 'those who've read Jesus's slides.' The UN has a simple explanation for its optimistic projections: Fertility has rebounded in the past, so it will rebound again. In Belarus, for example, the fertility rate in 1988 was at replacement level; it fell to an abysmal 1.22 only nine years later. But then it rebounded, all the way up to 1.73 by 2015. Australia's birth rate fell to 1.7 in 2001, only to bounce back to 2.0 in 2008. France's rate followed a similar trajectory during the same period, as did Italy's and Sweden's. 'To the extent you think the 'World Population Prospects' are wrong, that is the extent to which you are saying, 'This time is different,'' Lyman Stone, a Ph.D. student and birth-rate consultant, told me. The thing is, this time really does look different. Birth rates in Australia and France and Italy and Sweden have now fallen to all-time lows (excluding during World War I, in France's case). Belarus, a onetime redemption story, recorded a fertility rate of just 1.1 last year, lower than the lowest lows the country experienced in the 1990s. Deaths outnumbered births by nearly two to one. If a rebound is coming, there are no signs of it yet. Fernández-Villaverde estimates that the world is already below replacement fertility: The population is not just projected but guaranteed to shrink if things don't change. That was not the case in the 1990s. Elizabeth Bruenig: Why the left should embrace pronatalism The UN's model hasn't adjusted to the new normal. If a country has ever experienced a fertility increase (as Australia and France and Belarus have), then its birth rate is assumed to be stable. If a country has never experienced an increase, then the model assumes that it will at some point, once fertility gets low enough. In other words, the model assumes as its end state a stable and modest number of births. This is perhaps a reflection of humanistic optimism. 'There is, at some point, a minimum social capacity to adapt and eventually at least address some of the concerns or challenges that exist in that country,' Patrick Gerland, the chief author of 'World Population Prospects,' told me. 'The people living in those countries don't necessarily want their country to totally disappear.' To his point, the model comes with a hard-coded minimum: No country can ever be projected to have a fertility rate less than 0.5 children per woman. Like the rest of the model, this, too, might need to be revised. Macau (which the UN analyzes separately from mainland China) had a fertility rate of 1.2 a decade ago. Last year, it fell to 0.58, and it looks set to fall even further: In the first four months of 2025, births were down another 13 percent. If you're not sure why this is all so alarming, consider Japan, the canonical example of the threat that low fertility poses to a country's economic prospects. At its peak in 1994, the Japanese economy made up 18 percent of world GDP, but eventually, the country's demographics caught up with it. Now Japan's median age is 50 years old, and the country's GDP makes up just 4 percent of the global economy. Measured per hours worked, Japan's economic growth has always been strong, but at some point, you just don't have enough workers. The fertility rates that doomed the Japanese economy ranged from 1.3 to 1.5. So imagine what's in store for modern-day Colombia (1.06) and Chile (1.03). How will they grow with so few workers? How will they ever become rich if each worker is expected to provide for so many elderly people? The overly optimistic UN estimates have obscured just how urgent these questions really are. Because if the birth rate continues to drop around the world at its current pace, economic growth and workers' retirement prospects will go the way of those projections: adjusting every few years to a smaller, sadder, poorer future.
DW
02-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Russia and Ukraine agree new prisoner exchange after talks – DW – 06/02/2025
Skip next section Zelenskyy says Ukraine, Russia preparing new POW exchange after Istanbul talks 06/02/2025 June 2, 2025 Zelenskyy says Ukraine, Russia preparing new POW exchange after Istanbul talks The second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul ended after lasting just over an hour. "It didn't end negatively," said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keseli. Following the conclusion of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine and Russia are working on a new prisoner exchange. The delegations "exchanged documents through the Turkish side, and we are preparing a new release of prisoners of the war," Zelenskyy said while attending a meeting of Central and Northern European states in Vilnius, Lithuania. Meanwhile, Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, said that Ukrainian delegates at the Istanbul peace talks handed a list of children that Kyiv wants Moscow to return to Russian negotiators. According to Ukrainian officials, hundreds of children were forcibly removed from Ukrainian territory by Russian forces, and Ukraine wants them returned as part of a peace deal. Moscow claims the children were relocated for their safety. Expectations were low before the talks began, as both parties submitted written proposals laying out their demands, showing them far apart from any agreement on ending the war. Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years, wants an internationally monitored 30-day ceasefire as a starting point for peace talks. The solution is based on a US proposal. Moscow, for its part, has set out preconditions that include halting mobilization and renouncing Western arms deliveries, aiming to stop Ukraine from using any ceasefire to regroup militarily.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Central Asian countries push for regional development at Termez Dialogue
Representatives of Central Asian countries have come together to maximise the region's economic opportunities and make an effort to support Afghanistan, which is now signalling a business-oriented international outreach after years of isolation. The Termez Dialogue on Connectivity Between Central and South Asia, which included leaders from Central Asian countries along with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, was held in the southern Uzbek city of Termez. The meeting was initiated by Uzbekistan, a strong supporter of the economic integration of its neighbour Afghanistan, which is now in the fifth year of the Taliban government. The Central Asian countries have for years been pushing for what they call "acceptance of reality" in the region and engagement with Afghanistan. In 2022 Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, proposed a platform for Central and South Asian countries to collaborate, which was later reflected in a UN General Assembly resolution. The meeting in Termez is an effort to turn the ideas presented in the resolution into a reality. "The main goal of this dialogue is to create a permanent, functional platform within which the representatives of Central and South Asian countries can discuss a wide range of cooperation issues, from interconnectivity, trade and economic cooperation to humanitarian exchange," Eldor Aripov, Director of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies, said. Most of the region's countries have already started their first infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. There are now high-voltage power lines to Afghanistan running from both from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Through them Afghanistan receives regular aid in the form of electricity. Turkmenistan's deputy foreign minister Temirbek Erkinov pointed out a new road and a railway from his country to Afghanistan projects are in the planning for the route to be extended as far as the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The participants in the Termez talks repeatedly pointed out the cultural and historic ties between the countries in the region and were all clear about one thing. Since they became independent from the Soviet Union, the landlocked countries of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, were cut off both from the nearest deep sea ports in Pakistan and from the vast markets of Pakistan and India due to ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. No pipeline, road or railway line was viable through the vast swathes of Afghanistan that were deemed unsafe. That situation has changed and Afghanistan now has a government which seems to be able to provide security for major projects. An opportunity not to be missed, in the opinion of Central Asian leaders. "We want active engagement on a number of concrete infrastructure projects, first of all Afghan Trans Railway Corridor. You know that all the countries of the region are land-locked, Uzbekistan is double-land locked as we have to cross two borders to reach the nearest sea," explained Aripov. "This is why the question of transport communication is the most important topic for all the central and south Asian countries. We are committed to the Trans Afghan corridor above all because it will connect Pakistani ports to the countries of Central Asia." "Right now, trade between Central and South Asia is worth five billion dollars. That is nothing. It does not remotely reflect the potential that's there. Europe is much further away and our trade exchange with them is ten times higher," he added. Afghanistan's deputy foreign minister Mohammad Naeem Wardak joined the summit to announce Kabul's intentions to get involved in trade, transit and stronger regional economic cooperation, to act what he called "a regional connector and a transit route." "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is making efforts to make Afghanistan the connectivity point in this region. Afghanistan's position is to the benefit of all the countries around us in the region," he said. He insisted that Afghanistan is already providing security in the region by tackling drug trafficking, eradicating poppy fields and fighting organised crime and terrorism. But his government is eager to engage more, economically, he said. "Afghanistan is centrally located and is the bridge between Central and South Asia. As such, it represents a bridge. Unfortunately, we had 40 years of fighting and the opportunity did not exist. Now, thanks to Allah, with the return of the Islamic Emirate, the opportunities for development are in place," he told Euronews. The city of Termez, situated on the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan on the bank of the Amu Darya river, has been a logistics hub for the caravans travelling between east and west along the ancient Silk Road. During Soviet times it was reduced to a distant outpost and served as the Red Army's entry point to Afghanistan in 1979. A project which envisions the city regaining some of its former glory and bringing the prosperity of a trade hub is under way. On a patch of land on the border, Uzbekistan built a free trade zone in 2024 for Afghan companies and a logistics centre. Afghan nationals can enter the zone as part of a 15-day visa-free regime. Almost half a million Afghans have already made use of the opportunity, opening businesses thanks to a simplified registration procedure and enjoying duty free trade. Around 100 shops are currently active there and a further 500 have been announced. A cargo centre within the zone is used to load more than 70 lorries, and a daily train transports goods to both sides of the border. A modern hospital, opened last year, with 380 doctors working in 15 different areas has treated around 48,000 Afghan patients, paid for by the Uzbek government. Related The race for Central Asia's transport routes: Who will dominate the new Silk Roads? Samarkand's celestial legacy: Tracing Ulugh Beg's astronomical achievements on the Silk Road The New Silk Road: What is it and why has Italy abandoned the project with China? Around 300 complicated surgeries were performed that patients were unable to have in Afghanistan. A business school for medium and small enterprises was also opened and teaches some 500 shop owners how to run and develop their business. "We have seen the surge of trade contracts in the last year. Last year the increase was 160%, and they are now worth $560 million (€494 million)," said the governor of the Surkhandarya region, Ulugbek Kosimov. He also hopes that the development of trade routes from Russia in the north to India in the south and from Iran in the west and China in the east, with all the countries along the road, will see his province prosper in what he called a "new renaissance."
Euronews
21-05-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Dutch citizens advised to keep cash on hand in case of emergency
The Netherlands' Central Bank (DNB) has advised citizens to keep enough cash on hand to last them three days in case of disaster or emergency, citing rising geopolitical tensions and cyber threats that could jeopardise the country's payment system. Citizens should keep €70 per adult and €30 per child in cash as a precautionary measure, the bank warned this week. The money should be enough to cover necessary expenses for 72 hours "such as for water, food, medicine, and transportation", it said. "Think of a power failure, a technical disruption at your bank or the Wi-Fi going down. Then you might not be able to pay the way you are used to. But paying with cash is almost always possible," the DNB's advisory said. The recommendation "was prompted by increased geopolitical tensions and cyber threats that could challenge our payment system", it added. In addition to holding hard cash, the DNB said people should consider having a debit card and using contactless with their phone or smartwatch. The bank's warning follows a massive power outage that hit Spain and Portugal on 28 April. The causes of the blackout are still being investigated. Card payment systems went offline and ATMs were out of order, meaning that many people in the two countries had to rely on cash to buy water, food, torches and battery-powered radios to stay up-to-date with the news. The European Commission released a preparedness plan in March that encouraged the public to maintain sufficient supplies for at least 72 hours in case of emergencies such as natural disasters or conflict. The plan listed items including cash, medication, a power bank and a radio. Representatives of Central Asian countries have come together to maximise the region's economic opportunities and make an effort to support Afghanistan, which is now signalling a business-oriented international outreach after years of isolation. The Termez Dialogue on Connectivity Between Central and South Asia, which included leaders from Central Asian countries along with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, was held in the southern Uzbek city of Termez. The meeting was initiated by Uzbekistan, a strong supporter of the economic integration of its neighbour Afghanistan, which is now in the fifth year of the Taliban government. The Central Asian countries have for years been pushing for what they call "acceptance of reality" in the region and engagement with Afghanistan. In 2022 Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, proposed a platform for Central and South Asian countries to collaborate, which was later reflected in a UN General Assembly resolution. The meeting in Termez is an effort to turn the ideas presented in the resolution into a reality. "The main goal of this dialogue is to create a permanent, functional platform within which the representatives of Central and South Asian countries can discuss a wide range of cooperation issues, from interconnectivity, trade and economic cooperation to humanitarian exchange," Eldor Aripov, Director of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies, said. Most of the region's countries have already started their first infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. There are now high-voltage power lines to Afghanistan running from both from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Through them Afghanistan receives regular aid in the form of electricity. Turkmenistan's deputy foreign minister Temirbek Erkinov pointed out a new road and a railway from his country to Afghanistan projects are in the planning for the route to be extended as far as the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The participants in the Termez talks repeatedly pointed out the cultural and historic ties between the countries in the region and were all clear about one thing. Since they became independent from the Soviet Union, the landlocked countries of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, were cut off both from the nearest deep sea ports in Pakistan and from the vast markets of Pakistan and India due to ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. No pipeline, road or railway line was viable through the vast swathes of Afghanistan that were deemed unsafe. That situation has changed and Afghanistan now has a government which seems to be able to provide security for major projects. An opportunity not to be missed, in the opinion of Central Asian leaders. "We want active engagement on a number of concrete infrastructure projects, first of all Afghan Trans Railway Corridor. You know that all the countries of the region are land-locked, Uzbekistan is double-land locked as we have to cross two borders to reach the nearest sea," explained Aripov. "This is why the question of transport communication is the most important topic for all the central and south Asian countries. We are committed to the Trans Afghan corridor above all because it will connect Pakistani ports to the countries of Central Asia." "Right now, trade between Central and South Asia is worth five billion dollars. That is nothing. It does not remotely reflect the potential that's there. Europe is much further away and our trade exchange with them is ten times higher," he added. Afghanistan's deputy foreign minister Mohammad Naeem Wardak joined the summit to announce Kabul's intentions to get involved in trade, transit and stronger regional economic cooperation, to act what he called "a regional connector and a transit route." "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is making efforts to make Afghanistan the connectivity point in this region. Afghanistan's position is to the benefit of all the countries around us in the region," he said. He insisted that Afghanistan is already providing security in the region by tackling drug trafficking, eradicating poppy fields and fighting organised crime and terrorism. But his government is eager to engage more, economically, he said. "Afghanistan is centrally located and is the bridge between Central and South Asia. As such, it represents a bridge. Unfortunately, we had 40 years of fighting and the opportunity did not exist. Now, thanks to Allah, with the return of the Islamic Emirate, the opportunities for development are in place," he told Euronews. The city of Termez, situated on the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan on the bank of the Amu Darya river, has been a logistics hub for the caravans travelling between east and west along the ancient Silk Road. During Soviet times it was reduced to a distant outpost and served as the Red Army's entry point to Afghanistan in 1979. A project which envisions the city regaining some of its former glory and bringing the prosperity of a trade hub is under way. On a patch of land on the border, Uzbekistan built a free trade zone in 2024 for Afghan companies and a logistics centre. Afghan nationals can enter the zone as part of a 15-day visa-free regime. Almost half a million Afghans have already made use of the opportunity, opening businesses thanks to a simplified registration procedure and enjoying duty free trade. Around 100 shops are currently active there and a further 500 have been announced. A cargo centre within the zone is used to load more than 70 lorries, and a daily train transports goods to both sides of the border. A modern hospital, opened last year, with 380 doctors working in 15 different areas has treated around 48,000 Afghan patients, paid for by the Uzbek government. Around 300 complicated surgeries were performed that patients were unable to have in Afghanistan. A business school for medium and small enterprises was also opened and teaches some 500 shop owners how to run and develop their business. "We have seen the surge of trade contracts in the last year. Last year the increase was 160%, and they are now worth $560 million (€494 million)," said the governor of the Surkhandarya region, Ulugbek Kosimov. He also hopes that the development of trade routes from Russia in the north to India in the south and from Iran in the west and China in the east, with all the countries along the road, will see his province prosper in what he called a "new renaissance."
