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Saudi Arabia Breathes Life into Newcastle Tourism

Newcastle: The City of Bridges (Shutterstock)
Newcastle: The City of Bridges (Shutterstock)
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Saudi Arabia Breathes Life into Newcastle Tourism

Newcastle: The City of Bridges (Shutterstock)
Newcastle: The City of Bridges (Shutterstock)

In a monumental occurrence within the sports world, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) finalized its acquisition of Newcastle Football Club on October 7, 2021, for an astounding £240 million.

 

Saudi Arabia saw in this move a tremendous opportunity to restore the glory of one of England’s most prestigious clubs, which clinched the English Premier League title in seasons spanning from 1904 to 1909 and last claimed it in 1926.

 

The club has also lifted the FA Cup on six occasions but has failed to secure any official championships since their FA Cup triumph in 1955.

 

Two years after the club’s ownership transferred to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the renowned “Black and White Army,” also known as the Magpies, is reclaiming its glory. This week, they reached the cup final for the first time in 47 years, securing a spot in the Champions League.

 

With hopes set high, the city of Newcastle, along with its residents, anticipates a promising future encompassing sports, economic growth, and tourism.

 

Saudi Arabia's involvement has played a pivotal role in breathing new life into this northeastern English city, propelling it towards the status of an appealing destination for tourists hailing from the Gulf nations and beyond.

 

Presently, diligent endeavors are in progress to establish state-of-the-art training facilities, accompanied by significant investments in the construction of opulent hotels.

 

This ambitious development plan not only aims to elevate the city’s allure but also holds the potential to generate a multitude of employment opportunities for both local inhabitants and surrounding communities.

 

Newcastle, often hailed as the “City of Bridges,” owes its title to an impressive assortment of seven bridges, each boasting a distinctive and diverse design. Among these architectural marvels, the Tyne Bridge claims the status of an iconic landmark.

 

Moreover, Newcastle is renowned for its vibrant nightlife, rivaling that of London. It is also celebrated as a city with prestigious universities, particularly in the field of medicine. Institutions such as Newcastle University and Northumbria University attract students from all corners of the globe, including Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

 

The people of Newcastle are widely known for their remarkable hospitality but speak a dialect that can be quite challenging even for native English speakers, as it incorporates terms not found in the English dictionary.

 

Newcastle also became renowned for its coal trade, serving as a prominent industrial hub for coal mining and exporting it to London and neighboring cities. Additionally, the city played a pioneering role in shipbuilding, engineering, weapon manufacturing, and even witnessed the birth of railways.

 

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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Climate Change Causing More Change in Rainfall, Fiercer Typhoons, Scientists Say 

People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People and vehicles wade through the water along a street that was flooded by Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday, which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.

Taiwan, the Philippines and then China were lashed by the year's most powerful typhoon this week, with schools, businesses and financial markets shut as wind speeds surged up to 227 kph (141 mph). On China's eastern coast, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of landfall on Thursday.

Stronger tropical storms are part of a wider phenomenon of weather extremes driven by higher temperatures, scientists say.

Researchers led by Zhang Wenxia at the China Academy of Sciences studied historical meteorological data and found about 75% of the world's land area had seen a rise in "precipitation variability" or wider swings between wet and dry weather.

Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal.

"(Variability) has increased in most places, including Australia, which means rainier rain periods and drier dry periods," said Steven Sherwood, a scientist at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales, who was not involved in the study.

"This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods."

FEWER, BUT MORE INTENSE, STORMS

Scientists believe that climate change is also reshaping the behavior of tropical storms, including typhoons, making them less frequent but more powerful.

"I believe higher water vapor in the atmosphere is the ultimate cause of all of these tendencies toward more extreme hydrologic phenomena," Sherwood told Reuters.

Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.

While it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, models predict that global warming makes typhoons stronger, said Sachie Kanada, a researcher at Japan's Nagoya University.

"In general, warmer sea surface temperature is a favorable condition for tropical cyclone development," she said.

In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.

Taiwan also said in its climate change report published in May that climate change was likely to reduce the overall number of typhoons in the region while making each one more intense.

The decrease in the number of typhoons is due to the uneven pattern of ocean warming, with temperatures rising faster in the western Pacific than the east, said Feng Xiangbo, a tropical cyclone research scientist at the University of Reading.

Water vapor capacity in the lower atmosphere is expected to rise by 7% for each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures, with tropical cyclone rainfall in the United States surging by as much as 40% for each single degree rise, he said.