DPA The last few minutes of Oetzi’s life were brutal: he was hit in the back with an arrow, he fell bleeding, and also suffered a head injury. As the Iceman lay dying, it’s possible he gave a final cry of pain. But despite being one of the most thoroughly examined murder victims in the world, no one knows how ...
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Nigeria bets on jumbos and springs to woo tourists
AFP A luxury safari is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when potential tourists think of Nigeria but that’s exactly what Yankari Game Reserve is hoping to change. In Africa’s largest economy, suffering from the collapse in global oil prices, tourism is being touted as a panacea to slow growth and a depreciating naira. Leading the charge ...
Read More »Print now, digital dark ages loom
Justin Fox / bloomberg Read a history that spans times ancient and modern, as I’ve been doing lately, and you encounter a striking shift in the late Middle Ages. Until that point, documentary information is scarce, and narratives must be pieced together from smatterings of written matter and archaeological evidence. Afterward, historians face a growing surfeit of information, and their ...
Read More »Drought makes food a luxury for Africa’s poor
Bloomberg The corn that is a food staple for much of southern Africa is now so expensive it has become something many can’t afford, after the worst drought in three decades damaged crops from Ethiopia to South Africa. In Malawi, one of a dozen nations affected by the dry spell, Meleniya Mateyu says she has to forage for wild water-lily ...
Read More »Bike rental services pick up pace in Tokyo
DPA Bicycle rental services are expanding and becoming easier with the introduction of such conveniences as reservations by smartphone, delivery of a bike to a user’s desired location, and payment via prepaid IC cards. In the past, bike rental services mainly targeted tourists, and most were based in well-known sightseeing areas. In recent years, however, bicycle rentals have become more ...
Read More »Vintage wheels drive tourism in Cuba
DPA The coach carrying tourists passes its third tractor, then a cyclist and horse-drawn cart on the six-lane highway running from Havana towards Vinales some 180 kilometres to the west. The driver brakes to give way to four cows crossing the wide strip of asphalt. “What a highway!†grins John Johnson, one of a party of tourists from California and ...
Read More »Chuck E. Cheese brings more play to UAE
Dubai / EMIRATES BUSINESS Chuck E. Cheese has launched its second UAE destination at Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai. Launched in the US during the 1970s, the life-sized animated mouse Chuck E. and his friends have been entertaining kids across the world for nearly four decades, thanks to the safe, family-friendly environment that kids and parents just love coming back to. ...
Read More »â€˜I was here’ art goes digital in Florence
DPA The days of scribbling “I woz here†on Florence’s historic monuments are gone: from now on would-be vandals will be able to graffiti via app instead, with their messages kept for posterity. “Welcome to Giotto’s Campanile!†reads a message on a digital tablet for visitors scaling the Gothic white, green and pink marble tower by the famed Italian architect, ...
Read More »Japan apparels take a tech leap
AFP From ready-to-wear knits manufactured instantly to customised dresses produced on inkjet printers, Japan’s apparel industry is turning to state-of-the-art technology in a bold bid to cut labour costs and secure its future. At manufacturing giant Shima Seiki’s factory in western Japan, garments materialise in minutes, thanks to digitally-programmed automated machines that can turn out a sample seam-free pullover in ...
Read More »Of little wings and sweet chirps!
RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business A little bird, with plumage brown, beside my window flutters down…… But we, in traffic’s rush and din, Too deep engaged to let them in, with deadened heart and sense plod on Nor know our loss till they are gone. While in school, I knew the above poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar by heart. Least ...
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