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UAE Inaugurates ‘Qasr Al Watan’ at Presidential Palace

Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) walks with Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the presidential palace in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on July 20, 2018. AFP
Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) walks with Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the presidential palace in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on July 20, 2018. AFP
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UAE Inaugurates ‘Qasr Al Watan’ at Presidential Palace

Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) walks with Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the presidential palace in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on July 20, 2018. AFP
Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) walks with Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the presidential palace in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on July 20, 2018. AFP

The UAE has inaugurated "Qasr Al Watan" within the Presidential Palace compound in Abu Dhabi. The new landmark is aimed at highlighting the humanitarian and cultural role of the country.

The inauguration ceremony was led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid stressed that the United Arab Emirates' cultural legacy is a precious asset that must be treasured by both present and future generations, and a power source that is driving the leadership's aspirations.

He also said the opening of "Qasr Al Watan" reflects the leadership's dedication to offer the community the opportunity to learn about the important aspects of this heritage in all its humanitarian and creative values that should be revived and maintained for the coming generations.

For his part, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed reaffirmed the leadership's dedication to preserving the nation's cultural and intellectual legacy by instilling a deep sense of national pride that has strengthened the loyalty and belonging of successive generations, and represented a source of inspiration and motivation for further efforts towards the country's aspiration and development.

"Qasr Al Watan" includes several wings, including the "Diplomatic Gifts Pavilion", which, for the first time, publicly displays the special gifts introduced to the UAE, to highlight the friendly relations it has with many countries around the world.

It also features the "Cooperation Spirit Hall", an open theater dedicated to hosting meetings, official summits, and regular sessions of the Federal Supreme Council; and "Al Barza Majlis" inspired by the historical heritage of the UAE. It hosts the social gatherings and discussions of the country's overall issues.

The Palace also houses the "Qasr Al Watan" Library featuring over 50,000 books and resources about the UAE, along with the "Knowledge House" including many exhibits and rare artifacts highlighting the golden era of the Arabic civilization and its contributions in the different fields such as art, literature and science.

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Varieties

Killer Whales Spotted Grooming Each Other with Seaweed

This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbour. (Photo by Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)
This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbour. (Photo by Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)
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Killer Whales Spotted Grooming Each Other with Seaweed

This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbour. (Photo by Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)
This handout frame grab taken from video footage provided by whale rescue group Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) on June 9, 2025 shows a distressed humpback whale tangled in a rope swimming south of Sydney Harbour. (Photo by Handout and Clay Sweetman / ORRCA / AFP)

Killer whales have been caught on video breaking off pieces of seaweed to rub and groom each other, scientists announced Monday, in what they said is the first evidence of marine mammals making their own tools.

Humans are far from being the only member of the animal kingdom that has mastered using tools. Chimpanzees fashion sticks to fish for termites, crows create hooked twigs to catch grubs and elephants swat flies with branches.

Tool-use in the world's difficult-to-study oceans is rarer, however sea otters are known to smash open shellfish with rocks, while octopuses can make mobile homes out of coconut shells.

A study published in the journal Current Biology describes a new example of tool use by a critically endangered population of orcas., AFP reported.

Scientists have been monitoring the southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea, between Canada's British Columbia and the US state of Washington, for more than 50 years.

Rachel John, a Masters student at Exeter University in the UK, told a press conference that she first noticed "something kind of weird" going on while watching drone camera footage last year.

The researchers went back over old footage and were surprised to find this behavior is quite common, documenting 30 examples over eight days.

One whale would use its teeth to break off a piece of bull kelp, which is strong but flexible like a garden hose.

It would then put the kelp between its body and the body of another whale, and they would rub it between them for several minutes.

The pair forms an "S" shape to keep the seaweed positioned between their bodies as they roll around.

Whales are already known to frolic through seaweed in a practice called "kelping".

They are thought to do this partly for fun, partly to use the seaweed to scrub their bodies to remove dead skin.

The international team of researchers called the new behavior "allokelping," which means kelping with another whale.

They found that killer whales with more dead skin were more likely to engage in the activity, cautioning that it was a small sample size.

Whales also tended to pair up with family members or others of a similar age, suggesting the activity has a social element.

The scientists said it was the first known example of a marine mammal manufacturing a tool.

Janet Mann, a biologist at Georgetown University not involved in the study, praised the research but said it "went a bit too far" in some of its claims.

Bottlenose dolphins that use marine sponges to trawl for prey could also be considered to be manufacturing tools, she told AFP.

And it could be argued that other whales known to use nets of bubbles or plumes of mud to hunt represent tool-use benefitting multiple individuals, another first claimed in the paper, Mann said.

Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research and the study's lead author, said it appeared to be just the latest example of socially learned behavior among animals that could be considered "culture".

But the number of southern resident killer whales has dwindled to just 73, meaning we could soon lose this unique cultural tradition, he warned.

"If they disappear, we're never getting any of that back," he said.

The whales mainly eat Chinook salmon, whose numbers have plummeted due to overfishing, climate change, habitat destruction and other forms of human interference.

The orcas and salmon are not alone -- undersea kelp forests have also been devastated as ocean temperatures rise.

Unless something changes, the outlook for southern resident killer whales is "very bleak," Weiss warned.