Travel

Oklahoma City, 26 years after the bombing that killed 168 people

As April marks the 26th Anniversary of the bombing of Alfred P Murrah Federal Building, Eagle News Service correspondent Nenita Manaois takes us on a tour of the memorial landmark in Oklahoma City, while also highlighting the area attractions that make this city so unique. Watch it in this report in Eagle News America. The domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, happened on April […]

British Airways eyes greener jet fuel from 2022

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Airways on Tuesday unveiled a partnership with US startup LanzaJet to produce jet fuel aimed at cutting carbon emissions from 2022. The announcement comes  as the global aviation industry is looking to bounce back from a collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic grounding planes. “Despite the crisis in global aviation, it is vital for our future that we continue to address climate change and we remain focused […]

Oil giant Shell follows rivals into huge annual loss

by Ben PERRY Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday became the latest oil major to reveal huge annual losses as the coronavirus pandemic slashed energy demand and prices in 2020. Shell dived into a net loss of $21.7 billion (18.1 billion euros) last year as factories shut and planes were grounded. The Anglo-Dutch group’s loss compared with a net profit of $15.8 billion in 2019, the company said in […]

Tourism on track in the world’s largest cave

by Nhac NGUYEN PHONG NHA, Vietnam (AFP) — Vast rock formations the size of multi-storey buildings loom above Ho Minh Phuc, as he picks a path through the gloom inside the world’s largest cave. Phuc, who once earned a living through illegal logging, is a porter for the small tour groups that explore Vietnam’s Son Doong — a cave so large it has its own ecosystem and weather patterns. Home to flying foxes and a […]

World migration down 30 percent due to pandemic: UN

  UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The coronavirus pandemic has slowed global migration by nearly 30 percent, with around two million fewer migrants between 2019 and 2020, according to a UN report released on Friday. Some 281 million people were living outside their country of origin in 2020. The report, entitled “International Migration 2020,” showed that two-thirds of registered migrants lived in just 20 countries, with the United States at the top of the list, with […]

New virus restrictions threaten Hong Kong’s last true junk boat

  by Celia CAZALE Agence France Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — The red sails of the “Dukling” junk boat have glided across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour for more than six decades. But the wooden ship has been docked after new measures to stem a fourth wave of the coronavirus were introduced earlier this month, threatening the city’s last remaining antique junk. Strict social distancing rules were brought back after daily cases repeatedly spiked to […]

World’s deepest diving pool opens in Poland

  MSZCZONOW, Poland (AFP) — A 45.5-metre (150-foot) deep diving pool with artificial underwater caves and Mayan ruins, the world’s deepest such structure, opened near Warsaw this weekend. The complex, named Deepspot, even includes a small wreck for scuba and free divers to explore. It has 8,000 cubic metres of water — more than 20 times the amount in an ordinary 25-metre pool. Unlike regular swimming pools, Deepspot can open despite coronavirus restrictions in Poland […]

Swiss urged to ‘hit the slopes’ to save ski season

by Agnès PEDRERO Agence France-Presse VERBIER, Switzerland (AFP) — The coronavirus crisis shuttered Switzerland’s ski resorts in the spring, but they are banking on tighter precautions and the Swiss love of the mountains to save them as the winter season kicks off. A cable car ride to the top of the slopes at Verbier, where staff wear plastic face shields, reveals the extent to which the pandemic has impacted even the furthest reaches of the […]

Dubai breaks world record for largest fountain

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The glitzy emirate of Dubai broke the record for the world’s largest fountain on Thursday, as the Gulf city seeks to boost its hard-hit tourism sector amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Palm Fountain, which covers an area of 14,366 square feet (1,335 square metres), is located at The Pointe shopping and dining district on Palm Jumeirah, a man-made palm-shaped island. Mask-clad people, in keeping with coronavirus safety measures, gathered […]

Cathay Pacific to cut workforce by nearly a quarter

  by Jerome TAYLOR / Su XINQI Agence France Presse Cathay Pacific announced plans Wednesday to cut its workforce by nearly a quarter and close one of its short-haul airlines in an effort to survive the “devastating” impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Across the globe, airlines have been hammered as the pandemic has slashed international travel, and they face a long, hard winter after a much-hoped-for rebound failed to materialise. Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flag […]

The underground ‘Parthenon’ protecting Tokyo from floods

by Shingo ITO KASUKABE, Japan (AFP) — It has been called Japan’s underground “Parthenon”, a cavernous complex charged with protecting Tokyo and surrounding areas from catastrophic flooding — a risk experts warn is growing as climate change advances. Above ground, there is little to give away the cathedral-like feat of engineering that forms the main reservoir of the Kasukabe flood tank, the largest facility of its kind in the world. The immense structure — deep […]

‘Making of Harry Potter’ park to open in Tokyo in 2023

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Muggles in Japan can discover how the Harry Potter films were made at a new amusement park opening in 2023 in Tokyo, Warner Bros said Tuesday, in the latest expansion of the multibillion-dollar wizarding franchise. The attraction, offering visitors a behind-the-scenes look into the production of the eight-hit movies, is the second of its kind, modeled on the original permanent studio exhibition in Britain. “The Studio Tour Tokyo” will stretch across […]