Dubai opened the Arabian Peninsula’s first metro system on Wednesday, hoping to capture the world’s spotlight on the catchy date of 9/9/09 — whether the sleek system is fully ready to go or not.
The rapid transit line has been slotted together at breakneck speed, much like the often traffic-clogged city it aims to serve. In true Dubai style, it even promises a VIP section for higher-paying customers who don’t want to mix with the rest of the public.
Officials are eager to portray the US$7.6 billion project as a rare piece of good news amid the negative press that’s swamped the sheikdom, which has seen its once-buzzing economy hit hard by the global downturn.
In the inaugural run — which began at 9:09 pm on Wednesday — Dubai’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, stepped onto the train as its first passenger followed by VIPs and officials. The train whizzed through six stations, stopping at each for celebrations, including recitations of poetry.
For many of Dubai’s foreign guest workers, the rail project could mean far quicker commutes in a sprawling city-state where shared taxis, packed vans and creaky wooden boats are among the most visible forms of public transportation.
Wednesday’s opening, however, had the feel of being rushed. Invitations to the unveiling ceremony were only sent out Monday. The inaugural run went through several unfinished stations that looked like dark construction sites.
Only 10 of the inaugural red line’s 29 stations were ready for opening day.
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
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