From the Editors: The urge to travel during Eid Al Fitr

THAT UNMISTAKEABLE URGE TO SET SAIL THIS EID: Eid Al Fitr is here and it is time for UAE residents, as well as for people all around the world, who are celebrating the festival and even those who are simply enjoying an extended break from work, to once again savour the get-set-go way of life! Moreover, advance airline and hotel bookings for this summer season have already seen a very encouraging surge almost all over the world. Two years of the pandemic had enforced travel curbs of unprecedented proportions in human history. Fortunately, with vast portions of the global population now having been administered at least two doses of anti-COVID vaccines and with the infection rate having come down to manageable limits just about everywhere, people have once again begun to soak up the joys of travel -- the first tangible signs of which are being noticed during these ongoing Eid Al Fitr holidays. It is indeed heartening to see the global community returning to pre-pandemic levels of engagement so far as travel is concerned and we hope and pray the trend gets even stronger in the days and months ahead. Let this Eid be the harbinger of a return to normality in the most definitive terms. - Sanjib Kumar Das, Assistant Editor

EID SALES RIDE UAE'S POST EXPO BOUNCE: More than a month on from the closing of the Expo 2020, UAE’s retail sector has maintained the sales momentum rather than going into a steep drop. If the first-half of April was relatively weak on activity, on account of Ramadan, that’s being compensated by a brisk second-half and peaking nicely during the Eid holidays. Fashion and car sales are leading the way, according to market feedback, while gold and jewellery sales are performing better than one could reasonably hope for given the steep prices of gold. Some of that demand is also being absorbed by gadgets, with tech and electronics retailers helping shoppers with instalment plans. Can post-Eid provide more momentum? For an easy answer, retailers will need to keep tabs on visitor numbers to the country. Residents are already doing their bit to keep the retail numbers ticking... - Manoj Nair, Business Editor

CAN THE WEST SALVAGE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL? After 11 months of talks, negotiators in March appeared close to striking a deal to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. But the negotiations have been complicated by a then last-minute demand from Russia for “written guarantees” from the US that Western sanctions targeting Moscow over its military intervention in Ukraine would not affect its cooperation with Iran. Also, the talks were thrown into disarray over whether Washington might remove the Iran Guards from terror list. As the war grinds on western officials are largely losing hope that the deal can be resurrected and are forced to weigh how to stop Iran from accelerating its nuclear programme even as the war has divided the big powers. Amid uncertainty, US officials still believe that getting back into compliance with the nuclear agreement would be the best way to address the nuclear challenge posed by Iran. But the question is can the West salvage the deal? - Stephen N.R., Senior Associate Editor

KIM KARDASHIAN CHANNELS INNER MARILYN MONROE AT MET GALA: Trust reality TV star Kim Kardashian to steal the thunder at the annual Met Gala last night. If you thought her 2021 Met Gala look -- where she poured herself into a face-to-toe covering black Balenciaga gown -- was outlandish, then check out her look this year. She channeled her inner Marilyn Monroe and made sure that she lived up to the iconic siren’s sartorial legacy. The theme of the Met Gala – dubbed as Oscars of the East Coast – this year was ‘gilded glamour’ and the bodacious Kim K made good the theme with a feisty flourish. She famously evoked American history by donning a sparkling gold gown that Marilyn Monroe wore six decades ago when she serenaded President John F. Kennedy with "Happy birthday, Mr. President." And she lost 8 kilos in three weeks to squeeze into that iconic dress. While we aren’t advocates of crash dieting and peddling impossible beauty standards, we must give credit where it’s due. When it comes to fashion, Kim K truly believes in ‘no pain, no gain’ philosophy.- Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Assistant Editor Features