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Jordan Completes Renovation of Longest Roman Water Tunnel

A Jordanian leads a caravan of camels in Jordan's ancient city of Petra AFP
A Jordanian leads a caravan of camels in Jordan's ancient city of Petra AFP
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Jordan Completes Renovation of Longest Roman Water Tunnel

A Jordanian leads a caravan of camels in Jordan's ancient city of Petra AFP
A Jordanian leads a caravan of camels in Jordan's ancient city of Petra AFP

The US Embassy in Amman announced the completion of the project to renovate and conserve the Roman tunnel in the Umm Qais northern Jordan, with a $160,000 fund from the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).

Through its partnership with the Faculty of Archeology and Anthropology at Yarmouk University, the US Embassy has managed to restore the valuable historic site so that Jordanians, visitors, and tourists can enjoy its beautiful ancient architecture. The Yarmouk University, in cooperation with the US Embassy, ​​hosted a ceremony to announce the official opening of the site.

The Roman tunnel in Umm Qais is the longest Roman aqueduct known in the world, extending to 170 km from Jordan to Syria, which is nine times longer than the second longest water tunnel in Italy.

The AFCP grant had been allocated between 2015 and 2018. It enabled the Department of Conservation and Management of Heritage Resources at Yarmouk University to rehabilitate and promote the tunnel to host visitors and boost tourism in the site. The Ambassadors Fund for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage supports the protection of sites and cultural features around the world. Since 2001, Jordan has received more than $2 million grants to finance 18 projects to preserve cultural heritage in places such as Petra, Al-Baydha, Umm Al-Jimal, Abila, the Jordan Valley and the heart of the country.

US Chargé d’Affaires Jim Barnhart said the United States is proud to stand as a partner in preserving and protecting Jordan’s heritage sites, noting that tourism remains one of the foundations of Jordan’s economy. In 2016, the Faculty of Archeology and Anthropology at Yarmouk University launched the project aiming to maintain and renovate the water tunnel at the site of Umm Qais, northern Jordan, and one of the ten commercial cities of the Decapolis. Dr. Ziad Al Saad, the university's vice president for academic affairs, explained that this tunnel is the tallest of its kind in the ancient world.

It is a network of underground 170 km long tunnels, which was inaugurated by the Roman engineers in 90 AD to transport drinking water from an ancient lake in Syria to Umm Qais in northern Jordan. The AFCP project was dedicated to preserve and rehabilitate 2-3 kilometers of the tunnel located below the archaeological site on Umm Qais hill.

Saad explained that the importance of the project is emphasized in preserving and maintaining the cultural value of this water engineering system. It contributes to enhancing the cultural and historical identity of Umm Qais, and boosting the role of tourism and archeology in achieving sustainable development of the community.

He added that the project's executive procedures included the architectural documentation of the tunnel through modern techniques such as photogrammetry, 3D laser survey and the geographic information system (GIS), as well as the documentation of the damages in caused by environmental factors and the previous maintenance procedures using cement at the entrance to the tunnel.

The second phase of the project saw the maintenance and restoration works with minimal intervention in accordance with international standards for the restoration of historic sites.

These procedures had been accompanied by the renovation of infrastructure and mechanics that enable people to move in the tunnel, in order to offer a unique experience that takes visitors to the past and introduce them to the creativity of those who built this tunnel.

Saad stressed that the completion of this project will provide the required conditions to qualify Umm Qais tunnel to be added on the World Heritage List, which will give the site an added value and enhanced protection.

It will also pave the road for the implementation of future works to maintain the remaining parts of the tunnel. This responsibility requires more cooperation and coordination between the concerned local, regional and global institutions. Saad noted that the project remains subject to stability in the area of ​​the historic triangle in the north.

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Varieties

Australia Says the World Will Follow Social Media Ban as Meta Starts Blocking Teens

(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)
(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)
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Australia Says the World Will Follow Social Media Ban as Meta Starts Blocking Teens

(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)
(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)

Australia's internet regulator said a teen social media ban would be the first domino to fall in a global push to rein in Big Tech, as Meta's Instagram, Facebook and Threads began locking out hundreds of thousands of accounts ahead of a deadline next week.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said she had initially expressed concern about the "blunt-force" approach of blocking under-16s from social media but she had come to embrace it after incremental regulatory changes were not effective enough. "We've reached a tipping point," Inman Grant said on Thursday at the Sydney Dialogue, a cyber summit.

"Our data is the currency that fuels these companies, and there are these powerful, harmful, deceptive design features that even adults are powerless to fight against. What chance do our children have?"

Governments around the world were watching as the Australian law takes effect on December 10, and "I've always referred to this as the first domino, which is why they pushed back", she added, referring to the platforms. After more than a year campaigning against the ban which carries a fine of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million), platforms owned by Meta, TikTok, Snap's Snapchat and Alphabet's YouTube have said they will comply. Some 96% of Australian teenagers under 16 - more than a million of the country's 27 million population - have social media accounts, according to eSafety.

Although the law takes effect on December 10, Meta's Instagram, Facebook and Threads began deactivating accounts from Thursday, according to screenshots seen by Reuters.

Most other affected platforms have started contacting underage users advising them to download their photos and contacts and offering the choice of deleting their accounts or freezing them until they turn 16.

"It's a great thing and I'm glad that the pressure is taken off the parents because there's so many mental health implications," said Jennifer Jennison, a Sydney mother.

"Give my kids a break after school and they can rest and hang out with the family." At the conference, Inman Grant said lobbying by the platforms had apparently involved taking their case to the US government, which has asked her to testify at its congressional House Judiciary about what it called an attempt to exert extra-territorial power over American free speech.

Inman Grant didn't say if she would agree to the request but noted that "by virtue of writing to me and asking me to appear before the committee, that's also using extra-territorial reach".

Varieties

Altitude Sickness: Don’t Let Your Mountain High Lay You Low

Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)
Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)
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Altitude Sickness: Don’t Let Your Mountain High Lay You Low

Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)
Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)

Be it on Mount Kilimanjaro, in the Andes, Himalayas or somewhere else, mountaineering can give you an unforgettable high. But it comes with a risk that's often underestimated though: altitude sickness.

According to the German press agency (dpa), climbing too quickly can cause serious health problems, experts said.

“The risk of getting altitude sickness significantly increases at an elevation of about 2,500 meters,” said Dr. Tomas Jelinek, scientific director of Germany's Center for Travel Medicine (CRM).

Symptoms include headache, nausea, fatigue and dizziness.

Depending on the region, the number of affected climbers can be quite high.

According to the CRM, as many as 21% of climbers develop symptoms in Nepalese high mountain areas, and from 45 to 75% on Kilimanjaro.

“Altitude sickness is a serious but avoidable problem,” remarked Jelinek, the cause of which is lower oxygen levels in the ambient air: at 5,000 meters they're only about half those at sea level.

“The most effective way to prevent it is to take precautions,” he said.

He recommended that mountaineers plan their climbing tour carefully, get travel medicine advice before setting off and critically examine bookable tours - also with an eye to the ascent profile of the climb.

To help your body adapt to lower oxygen levels, Jelinek said it's good to prepare with high-elevation day treks so long as you sleep at lower elevations afterwards.

Train high, sleep low, in other words.

Rest for a day after every elevation gain of 1,000 meters at the latest.

Beginning at an elevation of 2,500 meters, the elevation at which you sleep shouldn't increase more than 300 to 600 meters daily.

And be sure to drink sufficient fluids, since dehydration can aggravate altitude sickness symptoms.

Increased breathing and heart rates are a normal reaction when acclimating to mountain ascents and have no pathological significance, according to the Institute of International Health at Charité University Hospital in Berlin.

Experts there said signs of an early stage of altitude sickness are headache, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness and difficulty sleeping.

If you have symptoms such as headache or dizziness, which usually occur six to 12 hours after quick climbs at elevations over 2,000 meters, you should stop your ascent. The symptoms then typically disappear within one to three days.

If they don't, or your condition worsens, you should descend immediately. The symptoms generally abate after an elevation drop of 500 to 1,000 meters, the health experts said.

In severe cases, you should receive medical assistance if possible. Transport to lower elevations is then imperative. At worst, altitude sickness can be life-threatening, causing your lungs to fill with fluid or your brain to swell.

The experts also pointed out that certain medications, such as acetazolamide and dexamethasone, can help prevent symptoms of altitude sickness. Both are available by prescription only.

Varieties

China's Landspace Fails to Complete Reusable Rocket Test

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
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China's Landspace Fails to Complete Reusable Rocket Test

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS

The maiden flight of LandSpace's next-generation Zhuque-3 ended in failure on Wednesday, dashing the Chinese firm's hopes of becoming the third company after Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to successfully test a reusable rocket.

The rocket was not able to complete the crucial controlled landing following an initial launch, state news agency Xinhua reported.

"An abnormal combustion event occurred during the process, preventing a soft landing on the recovery pad," Xinhua said. "The recovery test failed and the specific cause is still under further analysis and investigation."

The failure of Zhuque-3's maiden flight highlights the difficulty of developing a rocket that can be recovered and reused after being launched into orbit, Reuters reported.

A Chinese reusable orbital rocket, if successfully brought to market, would accelerate Beijing's growth in space, allowing for a quicker cadence of missions and lower launch costs as the country pushes to deploy large satellite constellations to rival SpaceX's Starlink.

SpaceX pioneered commercial rocket reusability about a decade ago with its workhorse Falcon 9, disrupting an established US launch industry that relied primarily on expendable boosters that are discarded in the ocean or remain in space after their mission.

The reusable Falcon 9 core stage allowed SpaceX to start launching its Starlink satellites in 2019 far faster than its rivals, becoming the world's largest operator the following year and disrupting the global satellite communications industry.

In October, Musk praised Zhuque-3's design, saying on X that the Chinese rocket could even beat Falcon 9.

But the gap is still wide and there is no guarantee that LandSpace will catch up. SpaceX had its first successful Falcon booster landing in 2015 after two failed attempts. Much of the global rocket industry has since gradually sought to mimic the company's reusability model.

Nevertheless, Zhuque-3's maiden flight puts LandSpace ahead of domestic rivals like iSpace, Galactic Energy and Deep Blue Aerospace, which are working on smaller or less mature systems. And it marks the first time that a Chinese firm has come close to a Falcon 9-class reusable vehicle.