ISTANBUL: A video promoting tourism in Turkey amid the pandemic has caused an uproar on social media for showing tourism employees wearing masks that read “Enjoy, I’m vaccinated.”
The video, in English, was published Thursday on the social media accounts of official travel guide Go Turkiye linked to the country’s tourism ministry and was taken down later that day without explanation. It aimed to promote travel to Turkey as a “safe haven” for foreigners and showed unmasked tourists being served in hotels on the Turkish coast.
Opposition parties and critics on social media said the promotional video was an insult to Turks. A hashtag calling for the tourism minister to resign was trending on Twitter Friday. Users likened the masks to branding cattle and interpreted the ad’s message as Turks being subservient to foreigners.
Friday, May 14th, 2021
Oil prices rebounded on Friday after a midweek selloff. Neither the bullish nor bearish narratives are taking hold at the moment, and Brent crude is trading in the upper-$60s.
Colonial pipeline restarts. The Colonial Pipeline restarted product flows on Wednesday, although localized shortages will take time to ease. The company reportedly paid the ransom, but the operator of the ransomware group Darkside said on Friday it had lost control of its servers and some of the money it had made through ransom payments.
Exxon ratchets up Guyana production.
ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) has boosted its 2025 forecast for oil production in Guyana to 800,000 bpd, with plans for a fourth project in the Stabroek block. “Production is expected to begin at year end 2025 with an expected field life of at least 20 years,” Exxon told Guyana regulators.
Brazil’s Petrobras records Q1 profit
May 14, 2021 4:07:pm
Summary
by: Daniel Graeber
Posted in:
Brazil’s Petrobras records Q1 profit
Brazilian energy company Petrobras reported May 13 that it returned to profit during the first quarter after a hefty loss during the same period last year.
The company, known formally as Petroleo Brasileiro, reported net income attributable to shareholders of $231mn in Q1 2021, a marked improvement from a $732mn loss recorded during the same period last year, but well below the $5.4bn in Q4 2020 profits.
“The figures show the capacity of our team to deliver sustainable results to our investors and to society, even in a challenging environment,” CEO Joaquim Silva e Luna said. “Petrobras will continue down the path of value generation, with its management based on transparency, dialogue and rationality and with investments concentrated in assets in which we are recognized as global leaders.”
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Small businesses pay big price for pandemic protection measures in MENA
Small, medium-sized enterprises have spent a fortune on cleaning, testing and PPE while absorbing the cost of lost custom
Lockdowns and social distancing rules have forced companies to adopt digital tools to ensure their long-term survival
Updated 6 min 15 sec ago
Jumana Al-Tamimi
May 14, 2021 18:42
DUBAI: Staying in business through the COVID-19 pandemic has not been cheap for retailers, hoteliers or eateries to name just a few types of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). All over the world, including the Arab region, SMEs have suffered the double whammy of lost custom combined with new expenditure on cleaning, testing, protective equipment and hand sanitizers.