Crown Prince Camel Festival Breaks Participation Record

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA
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Crown Prince Camel Festival Breaks Participation Record

Photo by SPA
Photo by SPA

The Crown Prince Camel Festival has set a new record, with its sixth edition attracting an impressive 21,637 participating camels.
This figure marks a 93.5% increase over the first edition, and brings the total number of camels registered in all six editions to 98,929.
The festival's first two editions, in which 11,178 and 13,377 camels participated, respectively, were recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest camel races in the world, according to SPA.

The third, fourth, and fifth editions saw registrations of 14,843, 17,669, and 20,216 camels, respectively.
The latest record was registered just as 2024 was designated the "Year of the Camel" to celebrate the unique cultural significance of camels in life on the Arabian Peninsula.
The festival reinforces the camel's established position as a cultural heritage and an essential component of civilizational development.



Japan Urges 200,000 People to Evacuate Due to Heavy Rain

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water. (AFP)
Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water. (AFP)
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Japan Urges 200,000 People to Evacuate Due to Heavy Rain

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water. (AFP)
Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water. (AFP)

Nearly 200,000 people in western Japan were urged to evacuate on Saturday as authorities warned of landslides and floods, while the remnants of a tropical storm trickle over the country.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said "warm, moist air... was causing heavy rainfall with thunderstorms in western Japan" partly due to Kong-rey, which was downgraded to an extratropical low-pressure system from a typhoon.

The city of Matsuyama "issued the top-level warning, urging 189,552 residents in its 10 districts to evacuate and immediately secure safety", a city official told AFP.

While the evacuation was not mandatory, Japan's highest-level warning is typically issued when it is extremely likely that some kind of disaster has already occurred.

Forecasters warned that landslides and floods could affect western Japan on Saturday and eastern Japan on Sunday.

Due to rain, Shinkansen bullet trains were briefly suspended between Tokyo and southern Fukuoka region in the morning before resuming on a delayed schedule.

Kong-rey smashed into Taiwan on Thursday as one of the biggest storms to hit the island in decades.

It claimed at least three lives and injured 690 people, according to the National Fire Agency, which added a migrant worker death to the toll on Saturday.

The storm knocked out power to 957,061 households, 27,781 of which were still in the dark as of Saturday.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.