UAE’s First Gaming Resort to Cost $3.9 Billion

The United Arab Emirates’ first “gaming” resort will open in four years and cost $3.9 billion to build, said US casino operator Wynn Resorts, while sharing details of the flamboyant project. Wynn operates casinos in Las Vegas and Boston as well as Macau.

The resort will feature “exceptional entertainment and gaming amenities,” the operator said. Preliminary construction work has begun on Wynn Al Marjan Island, set on a man-made, hotel-studded promontory off Ras Al-Khaimah. The resort, with 1,500 rooms, 24 dining and lounge areas, spa facilities, high-end shopping and nightly laser and light shows, will open in early 2027.

Artists’ impressions of the site, which is about an hour’s drive from the commercial hub of Dubai, showed a brown-gold high rise towering above a beach area and circular marina, as well as a luxuriously appointed lobby.

Foreigners make up 90 percent of UAE’s population. The country has made a series of liberalising moves in recent years. Gambling is generally prohibited under Islamic laws in the oil-rich Gulf state, but Ras Al-Khaimah’s tourism development authority last year announced a new body to regulate “integrated resorts,” including gaming facilities.

Turkey Gifts Mexico Puppy after Rescue Dog Died on Quake Duty

Turkey has gifted the Mexico army a new search puppy after the death of a Mexican rescue dog that helped in finding survivors of February’s massive earthquake.

Mexico deployed rescue dogs to Turkey after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook a huge area near the southern border with Syria, causing at least 54,000 deaths across both nations.

The three-month-old German Shepherd will join Mexico’s famous canine unit specialised in helping locate survivors in a country prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters. After an online vote, the black and beige canine was named Arkadas, which means ‘friend’ in Turkish. Arkadas will be trained by the same trainer who cared for Proteo, the German Shepherd rescue dog that died on mission in Turkey. Mexico paid homage to Proteo at a military funeral earlier this year.

Wearing a padded green harness with a tiny Mexican flag on it, Arkadas was welcomed to the force in a formal ceremony at a military base in Mexico City on May 3. The excited pup barked as Mexico’s national anthem played.

“Thanks to my friends from Mexico who welcomed me with great affection, I promise to do my best to be a great search and rescue dog,” the Mexican defense ministry tweeted on behalf of Arkadas.

UK Enters Era of King with the Coronation of King Charles

King Charles’ and his wife Queen Consort Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6. Charles III was on Saturday crowned monarch of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth nations after a lifetime as heir apparent to his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Camilla, his wife, was crowned immediately after.’

The coronation — a symbolic coming together of the monarchy, church and state — was attended by dignitaries from around the world, and thousands of people gathered in London to take in all the pageantry. It was Britain’s first coronation in 70 years.

Cries of “God Save the King” rang out from the 2,300-member congregation, which included foreign royalty and political leaders. Trumpet fanfares sounded along with gun salutes across Britain and beyond. King Charles III and Queen Camilla greeted rain-drenched crowds with smiles and waves, alongside other British royals from the balcony of Buckingham Palace shortly after their coronations. Rishi Sunak — Britain’s first prime minister of colour, who gave a reading from the Bible at the service — has described the coronation as “a proud expression of our history, culture and traditions”. On May 7, thousands of events took place across the country as part of the Coronation Big Lunch.

The Coronation of King Charles III will serve as an “enormous economic boost to the nation”, Buckingham Palace had said earlier. A spokesperson said that the global interest in the celebration would more than repay the money spent on the occasion. According to reports, more than £1 billion is expected to flow into UK’s economy as a result of Coronation.

2,000-Year-Old Society Discovered in Bandhavgarh National Park

An ancient structure, which provides an evidence of a “modern society” that existed thousands of years ago, has been discovered from Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India

In a survey that started on April 1, archeologists found many archaeological treasures from the national park. The researchers found paintings from the past, man-made water bodies used to collect rainwater, and a few other pieces of evidence to suggest that a modern society once existed here. The team said that the famous tiger reserve was once most likely part of an old trade route where travelling traders used rock-cut caves as shelters. It found evidence that there was some renovation 1,000 years ago to the 1,800-2,000-year-old water bodies. The team also discovered a roughly 1,500-year-old rock painting, possibly depicting an animal.

The discovery is the latest in a series of discoveries made at the Bandhavgarh National Park. Last year, The Archaeological Survey of India shared the information of unearthing 26 Buddhist caves here after a long summer exploration. It was noted that the caves would date back to the 2nd-5th century BCE.

Enormous 900-Foot-Deep ‘Blue Hole’ Revealed in Western Caribbean

Researchers have discovered an over 900-foot-deep ‘blue hole’ in the Western Caribbean off the Mexican coast. Spread over an area of 13,660 square meters, the giant, underwater cavern is located in Chetumal Bay and has been named Taam Ja’, which means ‘deep water’ in Mayan.

Taam ja’ Blue Hole is now the world’s second-deepest known blue hole, after the Great Blue Hole in Belize. The newly discovered blue hole has a nearly circular shape at its surface.

The blue holes found on coastal karst platforms around the world, including the Caribbean Sea and the Yucatán Peninsula, contain unique environments within them. The new, massive sinkhole off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico has a nearly circular shape at its surface with steep sides that form a large conic structure covered by biofilms, sediments, limestone, and gypsum ledges.

The blue hole first discovered in 2021 could offer a glimpse of how life evolved through the millennia in the marine world. In the past, researchers found bacteria at such depths in blue holes in the Caribbean, where no other life form was found, indicating the evolution of life at those depths. A series of irregular terraces were detected at water depths, near the eastern and northwestern walls of the blue hole before developing steep and almost vertical slopes.

Researchers from the Department of Observation and Study of the Land, the Atmosphere, and the Ocean, Chetumal, Mexico have published their findings about the blue hole in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Glaciers Melted at Dramatic Speed in 2022, Says UN

The United Nations has said that the world’s glaciers dissipated significantly last year and many of them will disappear. It added that saving the glaciers is essentially a lost cause as climate change indicators have reached record highs. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) underlined that the last eight years have been the warmest ever observed and greenhouse gas concentrations, such as carbon dioxide, have increased tremendously.

“Antarctic sea ice fell to its lowest extent on record and the melting of some European glaciers was, literally, off the charts,” the WMO said in its annual climate overview. Sea levels have also reached a new high, increasing by an average of 4.62 millimetres annually between 2013 and 2022 – twice as rapidly as it did between 1993 and 2002. The oceans, where around 90 per cent of the heat trapped on the planet by greenhouse gases winds up, had record-high temperatures. The global mean temperature in 2022 was 1.15 C higher than the 1850–1900 average, said the WMO study.

Between October 2021 and October 2022, the average thickness of the world’s reference glaciers—those for which long-term measurements are available—decreased by more than 1.3 metres, a loss far greater than the average over the previous ten years. Since 1970, there has been a total loss of about 30 metres of thickness. The WMO experts said that because of a combination of insufficient winter snow, a Saharan dust invasion in March 2022, and heat waves between May and early September, the Alps broke records for glacier melt in Europe.

Dubai’s Jumeirah Bay Island Empty Plot Sold for $34M

A 24,500-square-feet plot in Jumeirah Bay in Dubai has sold for 125 million dirham ($34 million or ₹278 crore), making it the most expensive plot to be sold in the UAE, says a report. Worth 5,100 dirham per square foot, the plot has been sold to an international buyer, who will build a mansion on the plot, the report adds.

Earlier, the most expensive land deal in the UAE was 91 million dirham ($24 million), according to property consultant Knight Frank. The sale “solidifies the island’s status as a super-prime destination,” Knight Frank said in a press release announcing the deal.

The deal is making news because of the small size of the plot of sand. Andrew Cummings, Partner and Head of Prime Residential at Knight Frank, in a statement said, “A $34 million real estate deal in Dubai would normally represent a spectacular penthouse or palatial mansion. However, Jumeirah Bay’s exclusivity means that this only buys you the sand on which to build your dream home.”

The seahorse-shaped Jumeirah Bay Island is home to the Bulgari Resort and Residences and the Bulgari Yacht Club.

Severe Solar Storm Triggers Auroras across North and South of the Planet

Skywatchers in Europe, Asia and North America were treated on the night of April 23 to witness the most widespread displays of the aurora borealis (northern lights or) since the autumn solar storms of 2003. Similar impressive shows of the aurora australis (southern lights) were seen in Australia and New Zealand. The widespread international display of lights was due to a severe solar storm.

An intense solar storm has the northern lights gracing the skies farther south than usual. A blast of superhot material from the sun recently threw sweltering gases known as plasma towards Earth at about 3 million kph. This led to auroras across parts of Europe, North America and Asia.

This was the third severe geomagnetic storm since the current 11-year solar cycle began in 2019, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency expects the cycle to peak in 2024.

The farther north has the better chance of a show, as the energised particles interact with the atmosphere closer to Earth. In farther south, the curvature of the Earth cuts off the possibility for dazzling scenes as the particles interact higher in the atmosphere. The NOAA said that there could be more opportunities to witness auroras, as the solar cycle ramps up.

Kochi Water Metro Transports Over 6,500 Passengers on First Day

India’s first water-based metro, Kochi Water Metro recorded a footfall of 6,559 passengers on the first day of service.

The water metro was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, April 25. The commercial operations started at 7 am on Wednesday and closed at 8 pm. Initially, the service — an eight electric-hybrid boats — will ply on two routes of High Court-Vypin and Vyttila- Kakkanad. On its first day, the water metro operated every 15 minutes in the High Court-Vypin route from both terminals. The service on the Vyttila-Kakkanad route began on Thursday.

A one-of-its-kind project connecting Kochi’s islands, the metro fare is economical. The single journey ticket fare for the High Court-Vypin route is Rs 20. The fare for Vyttila- Kakkanad route is Rs 30. Other than single-journey tickets, Kochi Water Metro will also have weekly, monthly and quarterly passes. As an inaugural offer, commuters can enjoy discounts on the purchase of various trip passes.

A weekly trip pass with 12 trips is priced at Rs 180, while the monthly trip passes are valid for 30 days, enabling 50 trips at a cost of Rs 600. The quarterly pass is priced at Rs 1,500 and would enable passengers to avail 150 trips within the period of 90 days.

Commuters would also be able to use the ‘Kochi One Card’ for travelling in the Kochi Water Metro. The Mobile QR tickets could be booked through Kochi One app.

UK Prohibits Export of Painting of 2 Indian WWI Soldiers

A portrait by Anglo-Hungarian painter Philip de Laszlo of two Indian soldiers who fought in World War-I was placed under a temporary export bar by the government of the United Kingdom. It has been done to allow time for a UK institution to acquire the work to prevent it leaving the country. The ₹6.6-crore unfinished painting depicts cavalry officers Jagat Singh and Man Singh.

The unfinished portrait is valued at around GBP 650,000. The painting is extremely rare in depicting active Indian participants in the First World War. It shows cavalry officers Risaldar Jagat Singh and Risaldar Man Singh – junior troop commanders in the British Indian Army’s Expeditionary Force who served at the Battle of the Somme in France and supposed to have died in action.

Around 1.5 million Indian soldiers were deployed during World War I and according to records, the two soldiers in the painting sat for the artist in London two months before being sent to France to fight in the trenches. It is seen as a fine example of a portrait, capturing an important moment in British history as soldiers from across the British Empire came to fight in Europe. The art work appears to have been created for de László’s own collection and it remained in his studio until he died in 1937.