HANOI: Tourists and cafe owners along Hanoi’s “train street” spoke of their disappointment Friday as the hotspot was closed due to safety concerns, just weeks after reopening following a long Covid-19 closure. The narrow corridor in the Vietnamese capital drew hordes of tourists before the pandemic, each eager to grab a selfie or watch a train rumble past one of the fashionable eateries set just a meter from the track. Safety concerns prompted the street’s shutdown in 2019 but many businesses quietly opened in recent weeks, keen to cash in on the tourist revival after Vietnam reopened to visitors earlier this year. Nguyen Thi Thu had begun to see her cafe recover. “The tourists had come back and we were earning enough to make a living,” she said. Built by colonial rulers, the railway once transported goods and people across French Indochina and is still in use by communist Vietnam’s state-run rail company. The stretch of tracks on “train street,” once in an area occupied by drug users and squatters, was transformed after social media users began sharing photos and locals realized the business potential. On Friday, the kilometer-long line was blocked off by police — though a nearby section of track remained open. A local official told state media the businesses along the street were violating railway safety rules. Jay Arriola, from the UK, said he was miffed that the cafes were closed after being told about the site by his girlfriend. “It is a bit of a disappointment,” he said. “I wanted to go to a cafe that has a top level... (to have) a perspective on the train going through that trail between the houses,” adding that “a top deck might be safer.” Keeping customers safe had been part of cafe owner Thu’s daily routine. “When it was time for the train to pass by, we asked all guests to move in, there was no danger at all.”
WINDHOEK, Namibia: Eight Namibian cheetahs were on Friday airlifted to India, part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the big cats after they were driven to extinction there decades ago, officials and vets said. The wild cheetahs were moved by road from a game park north of the Namibian capital Windhoek to board a chartered Boeing 747 dubbed “Cat plane” for an 11-hour flight. They will be personally welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, his 72nd birthday. He will swing open the gates of Kuno National Park, a new sanctuary created for the cats, 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Delhi. The 750-square-kilometer (290-square-mile) protected park was selected as a home because of its abundant prey and grasslands. The project is the world’s first inter-continental translocation of cheetahs, the world’s fastest land animal, according to the Indian high commissioner to Namibia, Prashant Agrawal. “This is historic, global first. Game-changing,” he told AFP. “We are all the more excited because it is happening in the 75th year of Indian independence.” Critics have warned that the Namibian cheetahs may struggle to adapt to the Indian habitat and may clash with the significant number of leopards already present. But organizers are unfazed. “Cheetahs are very adaptable and (I’m) assuming that they will adapt well into this environment. So I don’t have a lot of worries,” said Dr. Laurie Marker, founder of the Namibia-based charity Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), which has been central to the project logistics. The project has been in the making for more than a decade. Initial discussion started in the 1990s, she told AFP. India was once home to the Asiatic cheetah but it was declared extinct there by 1952. The critically endangered subspecies, which once roamed across the Middle East, Central Asia and India, are now only found, in very small numbers, in Iran. New Delhi has since 2020 been working to reintroduce the animals after the Supreme Court announced that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, could be settled in a “carefully chosen location” on an experimental basis. The five females and three males, aged between two and five and a half, will each be fitted with a satellite collar. They are a donation from the government of Namibia, one of a tiny handful of countries in Africa where the magnificent creature survives in the wild. Negotiations are ongoing for similar translocation from South Africa, a government official told AFP on Friday, with vets suggesting 12 cats could be moved. Cheetahs became extinct in India primarily because of habitat loss and hunting for their distinctive spotted coats. An Indian prince, the Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo, is widely believed to have killed the last three recorded cheetahs in India in the late 1940s. One of the oldest of the big cat species, with ancestors dating back about 8.5 million years, cheetahs once roamed widely throughout Asia and Africa in great numbers, said CCF. But today only around 7,000 remain, primarily in the African savannas. The cheetah is listed globally as “Vulnerable” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. In North Africa and Asia it is “Critically Endangered.” Their survival is threatened primarily by dwindling natural habitat and loss of prey due to human hunting, the development of land for other purposes and climate change.
DUBAI: Two years after the signing of the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between the UAE and Israel, the UAE rabbi got married on Wednesday at the Hilton Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
Rabbi Levi Duchman, 29, tied the knot with Lea Hadad, 27, the daughter of Rabbi Menachem Hadad, the chabad chief rabbi in Brussels.
The event, which purposefully coincided with the second anniversary of the accords, highlighted the growing presence of Jewish life in the Emirates where until just a few years ago Jews would have to keep their services almost hidden from the public.
About 1,500 guests attended the ceremony, including high-ranking officials from the UAE government and more than 20 ambassadors from France, Japan, South Korea, Finland and elsewhere. Prominent businessmen, including Emirati entrepreneur Mohamed Alabbar were also at the event, as were male and female Catholic priests, reflecting the UAE’s growing commitment to interfaith and co-existence.
“We are most fortunate to be in this great place the United Arab Emirates,” Rabbi Levi Banon of the chabad of Morocco — Duchman’s brother-in-law and master of ceremonies for the evening — told guests from the chuppah, or wedding canopy.
“We feel your motto of excellence and hospitality. Thank you for making us feel at home.”
While the exact number of Jews residing in the UAE is unknown, estimates range from 500 to 3,000 or more since the Abraham Accords were signed. Since normalization, the UAE has welcomed over 200,000 Jewish tourists, a figure that is on the rise given the increasing number of Israelis and Jews living in the UAE and establishing businesses there.
The welcoming ceremony in Abu Dhabi was attended by friends and family from around the world, some making their first trips since the start of the pandemic. During the ceremony, the mothers of the bride and groom “broke the glass,” — the Jewish tradition representing goodwill for a long-lasting marriage between their children.
Hundreds of guests watched as the couple were united in marriage in the chuppah, which symbolizes the home they will build together. Emiratis, Israelis, Americans and other nationalities mingled and conversed as they watched the young couple take their vows.
Rabbi Levi, who has lived in the UAE since 2014, is committed to serving the country’s growing Jewish community. Since his arrival, he has established communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including numerous places of worship, and founded Mini Miracles, the country’s only kosher multilingual nursery and preschool in the Jumeirah neighborhood of Dubai. A second branch is set to open in Abu Dhabi.
He also established a Hebrew supplemental school, a mikvah for the Jewish rite of purification and the government-licensed kosher agency, as well as bringing several rabbis to the UAE to join him in serving the community.
He also set up a training program for rabbinical interns and has helped Israeli and Jewish businesses take root in the Emirates following the accords.
“The couple’s commitment to get married in Abu Dhabi demonstrates their long-term commitment to serving the UAE’s growing Jewish community,” said a Jewish New Yorker who flew in for the occasion.
Rabbi Levi was born in Brooklyn and spent two years in Morocco with his sister Chana and her family. It was there that he was inspired to help grow Jewish life in the Arab world.
His father, Rabbi Sholom Duchman, is the director of the Colel chabad, which was founded in 1788 and is the oldest operating charity in Israel.
Hadad is of Moroccan heritage and was born and raised in Belgium. She is the daughter of Chief Rabbi Menachem Hadad. Her grandfather began the tradition of emissary work when he set up the chabad community in Milan.
“Rabbi Levi and Lea are a perfect couple,” said Alan Kay, a Jew from the UK who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 11 years.
“The fact that they chose their marriage to take place in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, is testament to their commitment to the country and to building the Jewish community here.”
NEW YORK: New York City’s latest celebrity visitor is stopping traffic even in this jaded, larger-than-life town. Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee, is on a 17-day blitz through every corner of the Big Apple as part of a theater project hoping to raise awareness about immigration. “When we talk about migration and refugees, we tend to forget that more than half of the people we’re talking about are children,” said playwright and director Amir Nizar Zuabi, the artistic director of Little Amal Walks NYC. “The reality is they’re children and all children are beautiful in their own special way. And I think that’s what Amal brings to the table.” She will visit tourists meccas — Times Square, Grand Central Station, the American Museum of Natural History and Central Park, among them — and also communities far from the glitz of Manhattan, like Corona in the Queens borough and Bedford–Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. “The role of the project is to talk about displacement, to talk about immigration, to talk about vulnerability in different contexts and, of course, each locality,” said Zuabi. At each of the 55 planned stops, organizers have reached out to community artists and leaders to create a special event anchored by the place visited. So, Amal will join kids her age to hear a reading of the inclusive picture book “Julián Is a Mermaid” at the Brooklyn Public Library. And when she goes to Harlem she will listen to a drum circle performed by students from the Harlem School of the Arts and be accompanied by a stilt walker from Kotchenga Dance Company. Yazmany Arboleda, a Colombian American artist who is creative producer of the New York visit, calls it one of the largest scale theatrical experiences ever built in the city: “This is the biggest stage on Earth and it comes from all the pluralism, of all the stories, of all the people who live here.” The puppet comes to the city after completing a 5,000-mile trek across Europe, from the Syrian-Turkish border to Manchester in northwest England. She has traveled through 12 countries — including greeting refuges from Ukraine at a Polish train station and stopping at refugee camps in Greece — and met with Pope Francis. “New York is interesting because it is a city built from displacement, forced migration and migration. These are the elements that created the city. And the city looms tall and has a very, very interesting engine of creativity, of innovation, of audaciousness. So, bringing this project here is very interesting for us,” said Zuabi. During a recent rehearsal at the performing arts institution and project co-producer St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, Zuabi stressed the core idea with his 10 puppeteers, four of which are needed to manipulate the puppet at any one time. “She is a 10-year-old lost in the city. Whenever you are in doubt, go back to that,” he told them as they stretched in a circle. “She’s never safe in this city. If we understand that, I think we can make real magic.” Some other stops for the puppet — designed and built by Handspring Puppet Company — include salsa dancing in Washington Heights, walking along the Coney Island boardwalk and listening to drummers in Jackson Heights. At Grand Central Station on Thursday, she loomed over admiring pedestrians, who gazed up and took pictures. “We often focus on the plight of the immigrant or the refugee, and I think what this work does is really bring our attention to the promise and the beauty,” said Arboleda. “As she walks through New York, we’re all going to be learning along.” One of Amal’s stops will be Liberty Island, where she’ll come face-to-toe with the Statue of Liberty, who welcomes the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” “The core of this project is empathy, is to fight indifference, because indifference is like a stone. You can’t turn it. It’s what it is. The minute you start cracking indifference, something happens,” said Zuabi.
LONDON: Google’s latest phone, the Pixel 7, is set to be unveiled to the public in early October and the tech giant’s Japanese division has come up with a tasty way to ramp up interest ahead of the launch.
A new marketing campaign, titled “Google Original Chips,” will give 2,000 people the chance to win one of four limited edition potato chip boxes created specifically for the event.
Exclusively available in Japan, people have until Friday, Sept. 23 to enter a lottery via Google’s website.
The boxes come in a range of colors that match the Pixel 7 series, while the chips come in Snow Cheese, Obsidian Pepper, Hazel Onion and Salty Lemon flavors.
While Snow Cheese and Obsidian Pepper are offered across both models, Salty Lemon is available only for the Pixel 7 and Hazel Onion exclusively for the Pixel 7 Plus.
Last year, Google put together a similar campaign to support the launch of its Pixel 6, though the choice of flavors was limited to just one, Google Salty.
The visual feel of the potato chip boxes is inspired by the new model and features the visor of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro on the front.
Google is using the buzz created by the campaign to highlight the phone’s new features, including the Tensor G2 chipset and its photographic and video capabilities.
People took to Twitter to comment on the marketing stunt with some suggesting it be rolled out to other countries.
This is an ever so Japanese, genius marketing gimmick! Wish it could make its way to the west. #marketing #pixel7 #Japan
This is not the first time Google has used food to promote its products. In 2019 it delivered its Pixel 4 devices in a cereal box-style package with marshmallows inside.
The latest promotion comes as Google struggles to find a place in the competitive smartphone market. The company is still a small player in the sector, with Japan being its most successful market outside the US.
MEXICO CITY: A prehistoric human skeleton has been found in a cave system that was flooded at the end of the last ice age 8,000 years ago, according to a cave-diving archaeologist on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Archaeologist Octavio del Rio said he and fellow diver Peter Broger saw the shattered skull and skeleton partly covered by sediment in a cave near where the Mexican government plans to build a high-speed tourist train through the jungle. Given the distance from the cave entrance, the skeleton couldn’t have gotten there without modern diving equipment, so it must be over 8,000 years old, Del Rio said, referring to the era when rising sea levels flooded the caves. “There it is. We don’t know if the body was deposited there or if that was where this person died,” said Del Rio. He said that the skeleton was located about 8 meters (26 feet) underwater, about a half-kilometer (one third of a mile) into the cave system. Some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered in the sinkhole caves known as “cenotes” on the country’s Caribbean coast, and experts say some of those caves are threatened by the Mexican government’s Maya Train tourism project. Del Rio, who has worked with the National Institute of Anthropology and History on projects in the past, said he had notified the institute of the discovery. The institute did not immediately respond to questions about whether it intended to explore the site. But Del Rio said Tuesday that institute archaeologist Carmen Rojas told him that the site was registered and would be investigated by the institute’s Quintana Roo state branch Holocene Archaeology Project. He stressed that the cave — whose location he did not reveal because of a fear the site could be looted or disturbed — was near where the government has cut down a swath of jungle to lay train tracks, and could be collapsed, contaminated or closed off by the building project and subsequent development. “There is a lot more study that has to be done in order to correctly interpret” the find, Del Rio said, noting that “dating, some kind of photographic studies and some collection” would be needed to determine exactly how old the skeleton is. Del Rio has been exploring the region for three decades, and in 2002, he participated in the discovery and cataloguing of remains known as The Woman of Naharon, who died around the same time, or perhaps earlier, than Naia — the nearly complete skeleton of a young woman who died around 13,000 years ago. It was discovered in a nearby cave system in 2007. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is racing to finish his Maya Train project in the remaining two years of his term over the objections of environmentalists, cave divers and archaeologists. They say his haste will allow little time to study the ancient remains. Activists say the heavy, high-speed rail project will fragment the coastal jungle and will run often above the fragile limestone caves, which — because they’re flooded, twisty and often incredibly narrow — can take decades to explore. Caves along part of the coast already have been damaged by construction above them, with cement pilings used to support the weight above. The 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) Maya Train line is meant to run in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites. The most controversial stretch cuts a more than 68-mile (110-kilometer) swath through the jungle between the resorts of Cancun and Tulum. Del Rio said the route through the jungle should be abandoned and the train should be built over the already-impacted coastal highway between Cancun and Tulum, as was originally planned. López Obrador abandoned the highway route after hotel owners voiced objections, and cost and traffic interruptions became a concern. “What we want is for them to change to route at this spot, because of the archaeological finds that have been made there, and their importance,” said Del Rio. “They should take the train away from there and put it where they said they were going to build before, on the highway ... an area that has already been affected, devastated.”