New Zealand rejected calls by business leaders today, Thursday, June 4, to restart flights to Australia within a month, as too short a time frame.
An Australian and New Zealand business lobby group said it intended to take a proposal to governments this week to kick off a travel bubble between the pair's capital cities with a test flight as soon as Wednesday, July 1.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said no plans had been agreed as the two countries continue to work on a blueprint to resume travel, saying that date "was too early."
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said earlier this month that September was a more realistic date for the resumption of flights.
Peters told reporters: "It will be over to the Australians more than us because they have got the federal system and they are still not flying interstate." He added it was unlikely the first flights would be the Wellington-Canberra route, given there were more populous cities in each country.
"I have nothing against Canberra but I am for mass population movement by way of demand rather than capital cities," he said.
Falling numbers of active and new coronavirus cases in both countries have paved the way for the proposed easing of travel restrictions. New Zealand reported no new Covid-19 cases for a 13th consecutive day on Thursday and has only one active case. Australia has reported daily single-digit and low double-digit numbers of new cases in recent weeks and has 490 active cases, with only 25 people in hospital.
Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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Rating: 2/5
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Champions League quarter-final, first leg
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