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Egypt Pledges to Protect 'Rare Trees' in Giza Zoo

An Egyptian zoo keeper feeds a giraffe at Giza Zoo in Cairo, on 20 February 2019 (AFP)
An Egyptian zoo keeper feeds a giraffe at Giza Zoo in Cairo, on 20 February 2019 (AFP)
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Egypt Pledges to Protect 'Rare Trees' in Giza Zoo

An Egyptian zoo keeper feeds a giraffe at Giza Zoo in Cairo, on 20 February 2019 (AFP)
An Egyptian zoo keeper feeds a giraffe at Giza Zoo in Cairo, on 20 February 2019 (AFP)

The Egyptian government has pledged to protect the “rare plants” in the Giza Zoo. In an official press release on Saturday, the Egyptian Council of Ministers addressed the news circulating on some websites and social media pages about “the uprooting of rare trees in the Giza Zoo as part of its development project.”

The Giza Zoo was built by Khedive Ismail, who used the royal land, first to host Egypt’s guests for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and then, to establish the first zoo in the country and the second in the world following the London Zoo (established in 1828). The Giza Zoo was officially opened by Khedive Tewfik, who continued the project and inaugurated it in 1891.

Stretching over 80 acres, the zoo includes some “rare” trees and plants exported from different regions around the world, as well as animals, historic establishments and museums including the animal museum, which displays a collection of embalmed birds hunted and gifted by King Farouk.

The council of ministers said in a statement on Saturday, “the reports on uprooting ‘rare’ trees are groundless, and all the rare trees and plants in the zoo will remain intact.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called for “a development project that meets the international standards in the Giza Zoo”. During a demonstration of the project with government officials in January, Sisi stressed “the importance of adopting international environmental standards in the zoo, and turning it into an attractive destination that accommodates visitors from all Egyptian governorates.”

“The Giza Zoo is witnessing an inclusive development plan that aims at improving all its services, preserving rare plants and trees, recalling its historic aspect, and transforming it into a high-standard, barrier-free, open zoo while maintaining the highest international security measures to ensure the safety of the visitors. The plan, which also consists of linking the zoo to the Orman Garden with the help of global experts, has been set by one of the best specialized consultants in the world,” said the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in a statement.

The Giza Zoo has been a touristic entertainment center for years. Under the rule of King Farouk, it served as royal rest house that received visitors and high-profile guests, including the late Saudi King Abdulaziz Al Saud, whose picture are displayed there.

The zoo includes the animal museum, which displays a collection of embalmed birds gifted by King Farouk, as well as a collection of “rare” animals that were embalmed after their deaths, the last of which was a rhinoceros that died in 2020. The zoo also embraces about 38,000 trees, including ‘rare’ species.

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World’s Largest Particle Smasher Halts for Upgrade to Boost Hunt for Dark Matter

Some of the 1232 dipole magnets that bend the path of accelerated protons are pictured in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in a tunnel of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), during maintenance works on February 6, 2020 in Echenevex, France, near Geneva. (AFP)
Some of the 1232 dipole magnets that bend the path of accelerated protons are pictured in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in a tunnel of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), during maintenance works on February 6, 2020 in Echenevex, France, near Geneva. (AFP)
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World’s Largest Particle Smasher Halts for Upgrade to Boost Hunt for Dark Matter

Some of the 1232 dipole magnets that bend the path of accelerated protons are pictured in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in a tunnel of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), during maintenance works on February 6, 2020 in Echenevex, France, near Geneva. (AFP)
Some of the 1232 dipole magnets that bend the path of accelerated protons are pictured in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in a tunnel of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), during maintenance works on February 6, 2020 in Echenevex, France, near Geneva. (AFP)

The world's most powerful particle accelerator will Monday shutter operations for four years of renovations to dramatically boost its collision-capacity and the potential for unlocking one of the greatest mysteries of the Universe: dark matter.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) -- a 27-kilometer proton-smashing circular tunnel at the heart of Europe's physics lab CERN near Geneva -- has most famously been used to prove the existence of the Higgs boson.

In the tunnel, running about 100 meters below the French-Swiss border area, superconducting magnets and accelerating structures propel particles to extreme energies and then smash them together at phenomenal speeds.

But from Monday, activity will stop, as the extraordinary device undergoes upgrades aimed to further increase the precision and intensity of particle collisions.

Once completed, the enhanced particle smasher, donning the enhanced name of High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), is scheduled to begin operations in June 2030, and to run for about a decade.

- 'Many discoveries' await -

"This is a very important moment. From Monday, we will be entering a new phase," HL-LHC project chief Markus Zerlauth told reporters.

"We still have lots of physics questions without answers. There are still many discoveries to be made."

The goal is to increase the "luminosity" -- that is, the total number of collisions produced over a given period -- by a factor of 10 compared to the LHC.

The total cost of the upgrade is expected to tick in at 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.5 billion).

That will be covered by CERN membership fees, along with in-kind contributions, making up 10-15 percent of the total, including from the United States, Japan, Canada and China.

The upgrade will require fully replacing the components in 1.2 kilometers of the 27-kilometer tunnel.

New superconducting magnets, capable of further concentrating the particle beams, will be installed to increase the number of collisions.

Once operational, between 140 and 200 collisions will occur each time two packets of particles meet inside detectors in the tunnel, up from 60 currently.

Overall, "the increased number of collisions will allow us to collect up to 100 times more data", Zerlauth said.

The number of collisions will be so high -- several billion per second -- that it will be impossible to store all the data produced.

Which collisions should be recorded will need to be selected in real time -- a task that will be entrusted to artificial intelligence systems capable of identifying the most promising events.

But "AI does not replace physicists", insisted Nedaa-Alexandra Asbah, a research physicist at CERN's ATLAS experiment, which helped discover the Higgs Boson using the LHC.

"It is a powerful tool that helps us make better use of the data."

- Big Bang -

The HL-LHC aims to deepen fundamental knowledge, which is CERN's primary mission.

"We want to look for new particles," said Filip Moortgat, the operations coordinator for CMS -- and the LHC detector designed to explore a wide range of physics fields, including the search for other dimensions and the quest for dark matter particles.

Scientists believe that ordinary matter -- such as stars, gases, dust, planets and everything on them -- accounts for just five percent of the universe.

The rest is believed to consist of dark matter (27 percent) and dark energy (68 percent) -- two invisible components that scientists have yet to detect or directly observe.

The 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson provided an important piece of the puzzle: it broadened science's understanding of how particles acquire mass and earned physicists Peter Higgs and Francois Englert the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Once the upgrade is completed, CERN hopes to dramatically expand its understanding of how the particle works, with the HL-HLC expected to produce around 380 million Higgs bosons over its lifetime, compared to 55 million found since LHC operations began in 2008.

The lab's main hope meanwhile is to produce two Higgs Bosons simultaneously, which would be a first, and see them interact, Asbah said.

This, she said, "may provide clues about how our Universe evolved shortly after the Big Bang".

Varieties

Germany Hit by Record Temperatures as Heatwave Moves East

A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)
A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)
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Germany Hit by Record Temperatures as Heatwave Moves East

A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)
A boy jumps into the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Dortmund, western Germany on June 26, 2026 during a heatwave in Europe. (AFP)

Germans braced for sweltering conditions on Saturday as a heatwave linked to dozens of deaths in Western Europe was expected to move east after temperatures broke records above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Britain, France, Switzerland and Germany have all experienced record heat in June, and the weather system could test more records as it rolls across Germany towards Poland.

On Friday, a new German record of 41.3 C was reached near the city of Saarbruecken close to the French border, a spokesperson for Germany's National Meteorological Service said, noting ‌the reading was ‌still preliminary.

In France, dozens of people both young and ‌old have ⁠died during the heatwave. ⁠Temperatures above 40 C have disrupted rail travel and power generation, suspended schools and postponed outdoor events.

"The heatwave is going to peak at the weekend, well over 40 degrees in some parts of Germany," said Karsten Brandt, a meteorologist at weather forecasting site Donnerwetter.de.

The Ironman European Championship long-distance triathlon taking place on Sunday in Frankfurt shortened the cycling and running courses due to the heat, organizers said.

Struggling with the prospect of damage to ⁠infrastructure like buckling roads and swelling train tracks, some major public service ‌providers have sought to reduce traffic.

FREE CANCELLATIONS TO ‌REDUCE RAIL TRAVEL

German national rail operator Deutsche Bahn has given customers the option of cancelling ‌long-distance travel bookings into early next week without charge due to the heatwave.

The company ‌said its infrastructure is under particular strain because of sun exposure and additional risk to signals, tracks and overhead wires stemming from thunderstorms and wildfires.

Parts of Germany, mainly in the southwest, have already experienced a much hotter June than usual.

The most extreme heat is forecast to begin fading at ‌the weekend, with heavy thunderstorms expected on Sunday.

Across Europe, cultural landmarks have had to close, farming has suffered, and some hospitals have ⁠struggled to cope.

The ⁠heatwave has pushed temperatures up to 18 C above their seasonal average, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor, and is being driven by a phenomenon known as an Omega block.

This weather pattern traps a bulging ball of hot air over regions for extended periods, with cooler air on its fringes.

Demand for electric fans has shot up, and Asian air conditioning makers have reported a European sales boom.

Most of the housing stock in Northern Europe is not built to temper heat but rather to keep it in.

The present heatwave will begin shifting by the end of the month, hitting Central Europe and the Balkans, the World Meteorological Organization said.

Scientists said the heatwave would have been virtually impossible without man-made climate change, which has made this week's night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been even two decades ago.

Varieties

Farmers Fear Drought as Italy's Longest River Runs Dry

The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP
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Farmers Fear Drought as Italy's Longest River Runs Dry

The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP

Seawater is seeping into Italy's longest river as the waterway starts to run dry in the heatwave, hitting a farming heartland that produces the milk for Parmesan cheese.

The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year, raising fears of a devastating drought in July in this corner of northern Italy, AFP said.

On the bank of one of its branches, farmer Federica Vidali looked anxiously at her sunflower field. The first bloom of the season has appeared, but part of the field is already dry and starting to crack.

One of the two canals that irrigate it has been shut because the seawater would enter and damage the crops.

"We're left with the water that others are willing to leave us. But we're not second-division farmers!" Vidali told AFP.

The Po River's flow has collapsed in a matter of days, dropping below 300 cubic meters per second, compared with an average of around 1,500 in June, according to Aipo, the interregional river agency.

"It has never dropped so fast, so early," said Stefano Calderoni of the Italian irrigation association (Anbi).

Sandbanks are multiplying, depths fall to barely one meter in places, and the river's few remaining fishermen swelter in the heat.

"Before, we used to pass on the left; now the passage is to the right of the sandbank, and it's very, very narrow," said Daniela Cuoghi, a surveyor for Aipo.

The many Alpine lakes that feed the Po Valley, Italy's agro-industrial heartland, are still about 60 percent full. But farmers are drawing heavily from the waterways to irrigate fields parched by the heat.

It rained this winter, but the mountain snow that used to replenish the lake has already melted due to climate change.

"We're not in a drought situation yet, but at this rate, there's less than three weeks of water left in reserve," said Damiano Di Simine, an expert with environmental group Legambiente.

Drought last struck the Po Valley in 2022 -- but only at the end of July.

- 'Really big problems' -

Further downstream, at the river's mouth, the situation is already serious: seawater has pushed about 20 kilometers upstream.

Saltwater is beginning to contaminate farmland reclaimed over the past five centuries from the delta marshes.

Barriers have been placed in the river to stop seawater, but they only work if river's flow is strong enough.

"We'd need almost double the current flow for them to work," said Rodolfo Laurenti, the engineer in charge of irrigation in the delta.

Laurenti called for cooperation and solidarity between regions to manage water in the event of a crisis.

Farmers are also considering new dams or water retention basins, but "we're afraid that all these structures will still never be enough," Laurenti said.

A few kilometers closer to the sea, clam fishermen are also struggling with soaring June temperatures. The heat has warmed the lagoons, boosting the growth of algae that cover the shellfish.

They must also clear algae from the nets protecting clams from invasive blue crabs, which arrived from North America in recent years.

"On top of all the problems we already have, we now have this crazy, long, and unexpected heat," said Paolo Mancin, head of the local fishermen's cooperative, standing with in water at 31C.

"Macroalgae are forming, there's a high mortality rate among clams... If it were something that lasted a week, we could get through it.

"But this prolonged heat is now causing really big problems."