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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

British Climber Summits Everest for Record 20th Time, 2 Die on Mountain

Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
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British Climber Summits Everest for Record 20th Time, 2 Die on Mountain

Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha
Climbers walk in a long queue as they head to summit Mount Everest in the Solukhumbu district, also known as the Everest region, Nepal, May 18, 2026. REUTERS/Purnima Shrestha

A Briton improved his own Everest record on Friday and notched his 20th ascent to the world’s highest peak, as two Indian climbers died on the mountain, taking the season's toll to five, hiking officials said.

Kenton Cool, 52, climbed the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak before dawn and was descending to lower camps. He was expected to reach the base camp over the weekend, his expedition organizers said, according to Reuters.

An Indian climber died at Camp II and another at the Hillary Step, Nivesh Karki of their expedition organizing company Pioneer Adventure said. Both had climbed the summit on Thursday but ⁠died during descent, ⁠he said on Friday.

Hillary Step is located below the summit in the "death zone", so called because of the dangerously low level of natural oxygen.

Details of their deaths were not available.

"One body is at very high altitude and we are trying to bring the second body from camp II," Karki told Reuters.

Cool, the ⁠British climber, is “quietly rewriting the record books,” said four-time Everest climber and expedition organizer Lukas Furtenbach of the Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures company.

“More Everest summits than any non-Sherpa ever... and still making it look like just another walk in the hills. Absolute legend," Furtenbach told Reuters from the base camp. Cool climbed with one of Furtenbach's teams.

Cool, who first climbed Everest in 2004 and has since repeated the feat every year except some years when authorities closed the mountain due to various reasons, said scaling the height of Everest was ⁠not routine.

“It ⁠never gets any easier or any less frightening. It’s the tallest mountain in the world and with it comes an incredible sense of majesty,” Cool said in a statement.

“I rely on every bit of experience I have to move safely in this environment. Standing on the summit for the twentieth time is incredibly special.”

The record for the highest number of summits at Everest is held by a Nepali Sherpa, Kami Rita, at 32.

Everest has been climbed by more than 8,000 people, many of them multiple times, since it was first scaled by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Varieties

SpaceX Scrubs Launch of Upgraded Starship from Texas, to Retry Friday

(FILES) The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) headquarters on January 28, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP)
(FILES) The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) headquarters on January 28, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP)
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SpaceX Scrubs Launch of Upgraded Starship from Texas, to Retry Friday

(FILES) The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) headquarters on January 28, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP)
(FILES) The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) headquarters on January 28, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP)

SpaceX on Thursday scrubbed the launch of its 12th Starship rocket from Texas and said it will attempt the high-stakes test flight again on Friday, as Elon Musk's space company nears a record-breaking public listing.

Starship V3, uncrewed and featuring dozens of upgrades tailored for rapid Starlink satellite launches and NASA moon missions, was to be a key test for the vehicle following months of testing delays. It is also poised to affect investor confidence ahead of what might be the biggest initial public offering in history, where SpaceX is targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion.

SpaceX had ⁠spent months redesigning ⁠Starship after a streak of failures last year, culminating in the V3 design that was meant to launch on Thursday. It called off Thursday's launch seconds before its planned liftoff, after multiple pauses to the countdown triggered by fuel temperature and pressure readings. Musk said on X that the hydraulic pin on one of the ⁠launch tower's giant mechanical arms did not retract as designed.

"If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow," Musk said of the faulty arm, according to Reuters.

SpaceX said it is preparing to launch Starship during a 90-minute launch window which opens at 5:30 p.m. Central Time (2230 GMT) on Friday. The fully reusable Starship, which SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing, is key to Musk's goals of cutting launch costs, expanding his Starlink satellite business and pursuing ambitions ranging from deep-space exploration to orbital ⁠data centers - all ⁠factored into his IPO valuation.

Before the launch attempt on Thursday, Musk sought to temper expectations in case of failure, saying, "There is a large pipeline of V3 ships and boosters in the factory." He said a failure would not affect the cadence of future Starship test launches "by more than a month or so."

SpaceX's engineering culture, considered more risk-tolerant than many of the aerospace industry's more established players, is built on a flight-testing strategy that pushes newly developed spacecraft to the point of failure, then fine-tunes improvements through frequent repetition.

Varieties

'Dread': Coral Scientists Fear Bleaching El Nino Could Bring

(FILES) This underwater photo taken on April 5, 2024, shows bleached and dead coral around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, located 270 kilometres (167 miles) north of the city of Cairns. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
(FILES) This underwater photo taken on April 5, 2024, shows bleached and dead coral around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, located 270 kilometres (167 miles) north of the city of Cairns. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
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'Dread': Coral Scientists Fear Bleaching El Nino Could Bring

(FILES) This underwater photo taken on April 5, 2024, shows bleached and dead coral around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, located 270 kilometres (167 miles) north of the city of Cairns. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
(FILES) This underwater photo taken on April 5, 2024, shows bleached and dead coral around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, located 270 kilometres (167 miles) north of the city of Cairns. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

The arrival of a potentially powerful El Nino weather system this year could devastate coral reefs around the world already weakened by back-to-back rounds of bleaching, scientists warn.

Forecasters are increasingly convinced that this year will see a return of the weather phenomenon, and that it could be exceptionally strong.

El Nino, which occurs around every two to seven years, shifts normal weather patterns on land, bringing drought to some places and heavy rains elsewhere.

It is associated with warmer seawater and, in some places, reduced cloud cover, both of which are bad news for global coral reefs.

"Every global coral bleaching event has been during an El Nino year," said Clint Oakley, a coral scientist at Victoria University of Wellington.

He described feeling "dread, although not surprise", at the prospect of a strong El Nino, which could prove "serious and devastating for many reefs around the world".

Coral's survival depends on a special relationship with a kind of algae.

The algae reside in the structure built by corals, and in return produce nutrients for their host by photosynthesis.

But for reasons that still elude scientists, this arrangement falls apart when seawater warms too much and the algae leave or are expelled.

The algae provide coral's characteristic colors, and their departure leaves behind a ghostly white structure that is gradually starving.

If the waters cool quickly enough, the coral can survive on food stores until algae resume residence.

But even if that happens, it will be malnourished, vulnerable to infection and less able to devote the energy needed for reproduction.

"And if it takes too long for the waters to cool down, or if the heat is too extreme, then they will essentially starve and they'll die," explained Jen Matthews, a coral scientist at University of Technology Sydney.

 

(FILES) This underwater photo taken on June 14, 2024 shows bleached corals around Koh Tao island in the southern Thai province of Surat Thani. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

Periodic, localized bleaching is a natural and even healthy process for reefs.

The problem is repeated mass bleaching, which has become the norm with rising sea temperatures caused by climate change.

"If you're being bleached before you've even recovered and been able to produce juveniles again, then that's only a downwards trajectory from there," said Oakley.

The last global mass bleaching event was declared in 2024.

In the Caribbean, some types of coral are now "functionally extinct", while Australia's Great Barrier Reef -- the only living creature visible from space -- lost between 15 and 40 percent of its coral cover in different locations between 2024 and 2025.

A super El Nino would push sea temperatures up, from a baseline that is already often too warm for corals.

"The average sea temperature for the last few years is the same as what it was at the peak of the 1998 global bleaching event," said Oakley.

There are some corals globally that have proven resilient to warmer waters, but they cannot make up for the losses caused by rounds of bleaching.

Scientists are also experimenting with techniques ranging from nutritional gel to feed corals to shading techniques and genetic engineering to protect reefs.

"There's a lot of really important and innovative management strategies out there," Matthews said, "but they're all just buying time."

There are still uncertainties about El Nino's arrival and impacts, and scientists caution that forecasts should be interpreted with that in mind.

"An El Nino is likely, but the strength and duration are still uncertain," said Kimberley Reid, a research fellow in atmospheric sciences at the University of Melbourne.

"El Nino is one piece of the puzzle that affects the weather at a certain location, but there are other factors like local ocean temperatures and winds across the Indian Ocean," she added.

Even without an El Nino, the long-term prospects look dire for coral.

Up to 50 percent of the world's coral has been lost in recent decades, diminishing ecosystems that provide nurseries for fish that feed the world, and protect coastlines from storm surges.

It is a sobering reality, said Matthews.

"If we don't get our act together on climate change, then all we're doing is buying time until our reefs, as we know them, disappear."