cancels

Riyadh postpones flagship investment conference until 2027, orders government staff to work from home.

Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference has been postponed until next year, according to a statement on the official website, as deadly strikes by the Iran-backed Houthis against the kingdom continue.

The annual event was due to start next week on October 26 and run through October 29, with a date next year to be announced “very soon”, the statement released on Tuesday said.

FII Institute chief executive officer Dr Maha Bint Mishari Al Saud said the decision “comes from a deep commitment to our partners, members, speakers and delegates”.

“Because this is our landmark tenth edition, we want to ensure it delivers the full scale, extraordinary quality, and unforgettable impact that our community has come to expect and truly deserves,” she said.

Informally dubbed “Davos in the Desert”, a nod to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland, the state-backed conference showcases the kingdom’s ambitious investment plans in a bid to attract billions of dollars needed to fund its economic transformation away from hydrocarbons towards tourism, sport and technology.

Expected speakers included: Alphabet & Google’s president and chief information officer, Ruth Porat; Goldman Sachs Group chairman and CEO David Solomon; and BlackRock chairman and CEO Laurence Fink, according to the FII website.

Fighting between a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Iran-aligned Houthis has escalated in recent weeks.

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have hit military, energy and civilian infrastructure across Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh’s international airport, killing at least 18 people and injuring hundreds more.

Government staff to work from home

Government agencies in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, have told employees to work from home, one worker and two consultants told the AFP news agency, as the city comes under repeated attack from the Houthis.

The Kingdom Centre, a 99‑storey tower in downtown Riyadh that houses the International Monetary Fund’s regional office, also requested workers stay away until further notice.

On Sunday, an employee of a government agency in the capital received a message saying, “It has been decided to implement remote work from Monday to Thursday this week”. The message added: “We ask everyone to continue their activities as normal.”

Companies based in the King Abdullah Financial District, which hosts offices of major United States firms, have also asked employees to work from home, according to other sources.

Move comes as haze from Indonesian fires makes Singapore and Kuala Lumpur the world’s most polluted cities.

Firefly, a Malaysian low-cost airline, has extended the suspension of its flights between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore through Wednesday as smoke from fires in Indonesia continued to blanket the region.

The announcement came as IQAir, an air quality monitor, ranked Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as the world’s two most polluted cities on Tuesday.

Firefly said in a statement that flights between the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB) near Kuala Lumpur and the Seletar Airport in Singapore (XSP) have been cancelled up to Wednesday due to “weather and haze conditions”.

It called the action a “proactive safety measure”.

The fires, mostly on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, are the country’s most intense in 11 years. They have been spurred by El Nino, a weather pattern expected to be among the strongest in four decades.

IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company, said Air Quality Index in Singapore stood at 199 on Tuesday and 183 in Kuala Lumpur. Readings above 150 are generally considered unhealthy, and those above 300 are classified as hazardous.

Firefly, a subsidiary of Malaysia Aviation Group, which includes Malaysia Airlines, first announced the flight cancellations on October 10, citing “low visibility” due to the haze conditions.

Firefly said that affected passengers were being rebooked on Malaysia Airlines flights between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Singapore’s Changi Airport, subject to seat availability.

The Singapore government has reintroduced subsidised care for haze-related illnesses, as it last did in 2015, when smoke from Indonesian fires hung over the region for weeks.

In Malaysia, schools reopened in most states on Tuesday as air quality improved slightly, but they remain closed in three states, one federal territory and several districts.

Malaysia’s foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, said on Monday that he would press for stronger regional mechanisms when foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet next month.

“We already have an ASEAN mechanism for natural disasters, but haze is not included or classified as a natural disaster,” he told reporters in Sepang, according to Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency.

The Philippines, which chairs the bloc this year, confirmed that the issue would be on the agenda.

“It’s in the agenda,” Dominic Xavier Imperial, a spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, said of the November meeting, which will precede the 49th ASEAN summit in Manila.

Mohamad, the Malaysian minister, said Indonesia had deployed about 60,000 personnel to fight the fires, but thick smoke had grounded 34 aircraft, including planes and helicopters.

Remote terrain and limited water supplies have also hindered the effort, he said, and cloud seeding is not possible without suitable rain clouds. He acknowledged Indonesia’s efforts but urged more effective action, citing the toll on Malaysian communities.

As swiftly as Barry Manilow returned to the stage following a health-related hiatus, he has stepped away.

On Friday, Manilow cut his concert short just two songs after it began. The 83-year-old crooner abruptly told the crowd to talk among themselves as he walked off stage, according to concertgoers who detailed the incident on social media. The curtain dropped, and a few moments later the audience was told the show was a wrap. Manilow’s performance slated for Saturday was subsequently nixed.

The day before, on Thursday, the “Copacabana” singer had returned after a six-week break to perform at the International Theater at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, telling the audience, “I’m back!” Manilow appeared to be spry and energetic throughout the show. “God, I feel like I’m a teenage idol again,” he joked when a couple of audience members tossed underwear onto the stage. He picked up a pair of full-coverage briefs and asked if they needed to go to the laundry, then a pink lacy thong and joked, “I’ll keep this pair.”

“After a triumphant welcome-back concert on Thursday, Barry got hit with bronchitis and had to cancel his Friday and Saturday shows,” reps for Manilow told Paste Magazine.

Last year, Manilow revealed that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and that surgery would require him to postpone several performances. In May, he told The Times that, since he had surgery, he was getting winded just walking down the hallway. “Ninety minutes of screaming in tune, which is what I do for a living — I’m not up for that yet,” he said at the time. “I will be, but it’s taking a long time to get my voice back. They warned me that I’d have to learn to breathe again. So these days, I get up, I go to my piano and I try to be creative. Before I know it, the afternoon’s over.”

The star returned to the stage in June following a six-month hiatus, in support of his latest album, “What a Time,” his first LP loaded with new material in almost 15 years.

But in August, Manilow canceled shows because of vocal and technical problems before telling fans he needed to pause. “We just finished a fantastic summer tour, 29 shows in 68 days,” the singer said. “The shows were fantastic. The audiences were fantastic. And I sounded fantastic. But it seems that we were pushing a little too hard.

“Now we all need to sit down and shut up,” Manilow said.

Ryanair gave an update on Friday morning

Budget carrier Ryanair has issued an update, confirming that it cancelled 1,000 flights.

It partly attributed the recent “collapse” of Britain’s air traffic control system for the scrapping more than 1,000 flights in September. The Irish airline said the cancellations stemmed from two separate air traffic control (ATC) failures within a fortnight of one another last month, alongside ATC strikes in Belgium and widespread disruption across Europe caused by volcanic ash clouds from eruptions at Mount Etna.

The head of Britain’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats), Martin Rolfe, has faced mounting calls to quit following a string of air traffic failures that led to thousands of flight cancellations across the industry last month, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.

The most recent incident was triggered by a “connectivity issue” at its Prestwick centre in Scotland, which was unrelated to an ATC software fault on September 8 that sparked widespread travel chaos.

Ryanair has been among those demanding Mr Rolfe’s resignation, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has arranged a meeting with Nats chairman Sir Warren East, the former chief executive of Rolls-Royce, in the coming weeks to address the ongoing issues.

Latest Ryanair figures

Ryanair’s most recent traffic statistics revealed the airline operated over 111,700 flights last month, carrying 20.1 million passengers, a rise of 4% year on year. Wizz Air also released passenger data showing a 24% increase year on year in passengers flown last month, reaching 7.78 million, with capacity up 25.3%.

Yet Wizz announced recently it would slash its flight schedule by 5% over the second half of 2026 owing to broader Iran war pressures on the travel sector and spiralling fuel costs.

Following the latest disruption, easyJet said it “calls into question the resilience of Nats’ systems” and Jet2 said customers and airlines need “action, accountability and proper resilience”.

Calls to resign

On September 21, chief operations officer for Ryanair Neal McMahon said: “Martin Rolfe has presided over repeated system failures, repeated passenger disruption and repeated failures to deliver an effective back-up system.

“Enough is enough. Martin Rolfe should resign today.”

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, said ATC was “critical national infrastructure” which “must be resilient enough to keep people moving”.

He added: “Yet another Nats failure is causing delays and disruption for passengers and airlines alike, and comes just days after its report into the most recent major outage. Passengers and airlines deserve better and the independent CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) report, together with the forthcoming Civil Aviation Bill, must address the underlying weaknesses in the system so that these failures stop happening.”

EASYJET is set to strike tomorrow at several major airports in a popular European country.

EasyJet flight crew will walk out of airports across Portugal from tomorrow, with flights expected to be cancelled.

The airports include Lisbon, Porto and Faro.

The strike will run from October 2 to 6 and has been called by the SNPVAC union, which the airline’s cabin crew in Portugal belongs to.

Overall, it is estimated that the strike over the coming days could ground around 500 flights which includes 35 to and from the UK.

This includes two return flights and one outbound flight from London Southend Airport.

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EasyJet operates from a number of UK airports including Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, London Gatwick and London Luton.

The strike comes due to an ongoing dispute with the airline about pay, rostering and working conditions for cabin crew in Portugal.

Any travellers due to fly to or from Portugal during the strike dates are being advised to check their easyJet app or emails for updates.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese government has promised that there will be a minimum of one Lisbon to London and then London to Lisbon flight per day during the strike.

On the other hand, it appears that no UK flights to or from Faro or Porto remain protected.

The SNPVAC union has announced further walkouts later on in the year in December between 19–23.

A spokesperson for easyJet told Sun Travel: “We are extremely disappointed that the union representing our Portugal-based cabin crew has announced an industrial action from 2 to 6 October, despite our willingness to continue a constructive dialogue and reach an agreement to meet our employees’ requests and protect the sustainability of easyJet business in Portugal.

“We are sorry for the impact the unnecessary action will have on our customers and we are doing all we can to minimise disruption, including actioning some cancellations in advance to allow our customers to rearrange their travel plans.

“Customers whose flights are cancelled have been informed directly and offered options including a free transfer or a refund.

“We advise customers travelling to or from Portugal between 2 and 6 October to check the status of their flight via our Flight Tracker.”

CATANIA Airport has been forced to cancel more flights until later today after a volcanic eruption on Mount Etna.

Volcanic ash drifting in the airspace means that flights have been suspended for safety.

The airport briefly opening this morning, but has since suspended “all flight operations have been suspended until 3pm today, Tuesday, 29 September.

“Passengers are kindly requested to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport.”

Catania Airport did reopen temporarily this morning and flights resumed, but since the closure these have started being diverted or cancelled.

One easyJet flight heading into Catania from London Gatwick at 10am has been delayed.

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A Ryanair flight departing from London Stansted at 10.45am remains on the schedule with a few minutes of delay.

An easyJet flight returning to London Gatwick at 10.35am is delayed by almost an hour.

A Ryanair flight heading to London Stansted is running a few minutes late from its scheduled departure time at 11.10am, at the moment.

The airport first stopped incoming flights on Saturday due to ash in the airspace with limitations also placed on departures.

Some passengers over the weekend had to travel across to Palermo Airport instead to get a flight home.

It’s only been two weeks since the last time that Catania Airport had to close due to volcanic ash after an eruption.

Previously in August, ongoing eruptions from Mount Etna forced the airport to shut for five days in a row resulting in hundreds of cancelled flights.

MORE flights are being cancelled at a major airport in Europe due to continued strike action.

Charleroi Airport in Brussels is expecting to cancel around 34 flights today with a further 21 flights set to be rescheduled.

So far, 16 departures have already been cancelled including one to the UK.

Around 20 arrivals have also been cancelled including one from the UK.

It comes as the air traffic controllers have been carrying out strike action since September 16 regarding the management of night-shift bonuses.

The unions for the air traffic controllers have warned that strike action could continue until October 10.

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Strike action takes place during every night shift from 10pm to 8am the following morning.

Since the strike began, around 160 flights have been cancelled.

Last week, Ryanair confirmed that it had cancelled at least 30 flights so far.

The budget airline flies to the airport from Newcastle, Manchester and Edinburgh.

So far one flight to the UK has been cancelled today, which is to Manchester with Ryanair at 7:40pm.

The airport said in a statement: “We are monitoring the situation very closely and sharing verified general information through our official channels.

“For information regarding your specific flight, we encourage you to regularly check the communications from your airline.

“We share our passengers’ frustration and hope that the social conflict at Skeyes will be resolved quickly.”