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Abu Dhabi has secured its place within the top 25 maritime cities worldwide, jumping an impressive 10 spots since 2022, ranking 22, the highest jump among all cities, according to the prestigious 2024 Leading Maritime City (LMC) Report, unveiled in Singapore, WAM reports.

The LMC report, a bi-annual benchmarking study jointly produced by DNV and Menon Economics, assesses the performance of 50 leading maritime cities across key sectors such as shipping, finance and law, maritime technology, and port and logistics. This year marks the sixth edition of the report, providing invaluable insights for maritime administrations, industry stakeholders, and the global maritime community.

Abu Dhabi’s growth has been driven by strong gains in the "Attractiveness and Competitiveness" and "Enhancement in Shipping" indicators. It also achieved impressive rankings across all other key indicators and scored favourably in terms of projected growth as a leading maritime centre of the world, continuing Abu Dhabi's growing prominence in the global maritime landscape.

A major contributor to this success is Abu Dhabi Maritime, established in 2020 via an agreement between AD Ports Group and The Department of Municipalities and Transport to manage the growth and development of Abu Dhabi’s maritime domain. Abu Dhabi Maritime was committed through its dedicated efforts to positioning the emirate as a leading global maritime hub. This was reflected in Abu Dhabi entering the LMC ranking for the first time in 2022, and its outstanding ascent in overall ranking to 22ndtoday.

AD Ports Group has invested heavily across a number of areas which fall under the ranking criteria. Bolstering commercial and leisure maritime infrastructure, enhancing digital capabilities and augmenting the maritime regulatory framework, have contributed significantly to this success, as have initiatives such as the launch of Maritime Hub Abu Dhabi, expansion of public water transportation networks and sustainability projects.

Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Managing Director and Group CEO of AD Ports Group, said, "We are delighted to see Abu Dhabi's remarkable progress recognised in the 2024 Leading Maritime City Report. This achievement serves as a testament to the forward-thinking approach of our wise leadership, and the dedication and hard work of Abu Dhabi Maritime alongside the maritime community. It also underscores AD Ports Group’s unwavering commitment to continued investment, innovation, and environmental responsibility in the maritime sector. Through strategic initiatives and collaborative efforts, we are confident in our efforts to further elevate Abu Dhabi’s status as a global maritime hub."

Benjamin Dineshkar, Head of Maritime Advisory, Middle East and Africa, and co-author of the report, said, "Abu Dhabi has made the most remarkable progress, moving 10 places from 32 to 22. Compared to the cities that were in the top 50 for both 2022 and 2024, Abu Dhabi has achieved the biggest leap among the cities. This is a result of strategic public policies and consistent investment, reflected in the strong performance in many indicators and the overall LMC ranking. For Abu Dhabi to have only entered the top 50 of the Leading Maritime City Report in 2022, this is a tremendous achievement."

 

At least 40 people have been confirmed dead, with several others still missing, after a dam burst in a town north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, following heavy rains across the country, local police said Monday, Xinhua reports.

Naivasha Police Commander Stephen Kirui said that they had recovered 40 bodies from the debris on Monday, with a major search and rescue operation ongoing in the Mai Mahiu area, about 60 kilometers north of Nairobi, after a nearby river overflowed due to flash floods.

The Kenya Red Cross Society, a charitable organization, said that the floodwaters originated from a nearby river that burst its banks on Sunday night.

 

China on Thursday launched the Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship to send three taikonauts to its orbiting Tiangong space station for a six-month mission, Xinhua reports.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

The Shenzhou-18 crew members are Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu, with Ye as the mission commander, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The Shenzhou-18 mission marks Ye's second journey into space, following his previous role as a crew member during the Shenzhou-13 mission from October 2021 to April 2022. Li Cong and Li Guangsu are both on their first-ever space adventure.

The crew will utilize the scientific experiment cabinets and extravehicular payloads to carry out more than 90 experiments in the fields of basic physics in microgravity, space material science, space life science, space medicine and space technology, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA, at Wednesday's press conference.

A unique task for the three pilot-turned taikonauts is to create an "aquarium" and raise fish in zero gravity.

They will create a simplified version of an aquatic ecosystem using zebrafish and algae to study how the space environment affects their growth and system balance.

The "aquarium" is 1.25 liters in volume and can accommodate four small fish. But if the experiment succeeds, it will be a significant breakthrough to cultivate vertebrates in China's space program. Not only will the taikonauts find joy in the space "aquarium," but it may also pave the way for their future counterparts to enjoy nutritious fish from their own in-orbit harvests.

Taikonauts in orbit will also be involved in an experiment of cultivating plants. The purpose is to analyze the changes in the function and gene expression of plant stem cells in a microgravity environment. According to scientists, this research will provide theoretical support for designing crops that can adapt to outer space conditions.

More than 100 Arabidopsis seeds will be grown and nurtured in space for approximately four weeks. The crew aboard the space station will freeze them at minus 80 degrees Celsius in real-time and bring them back to Earth for further analysis and research.

In addition to the two experiments related to fish and plant, the crew will also conduct molecular research on the co-origin of proteins and nucleic acids, as well as the origin of codons. Furthermore, they will test a newly developed spacecraft coating material.

 

The number of unemployed people registered with the state employment service in search of work as of April 1, 2024 amounted to 84 thousand people, according to the material of the National Statistical Committee, Kabar reports.

According to the document, the figure is 15% less compared to the same date last year, of which 61.7 thousand people are registered unemployed, or 17.3% less.

Of the total number of registered unemployed, 44.7% were women.

The level of registered unemployment in the total labor force was 2.3%.

 

A total of 11 people are missing after continuous heavy rainfall hit many parts of south China's Guangdong Province in recent days, the provincial emergency management department said Monday, Xinhua reports.

The search and rescue operations are still underway, the department said, adding that six of the missing individuals are from Jiangwan Township, Shaoguan City while the other five are from Dalong Village, Qingyuan City.

The recent heavy rainfall has affected many cities including Shaoguan, Guangzhou, Heyuan, Zhaoqing, Qingyuan, Meizhou and Huizhou, resulting in damaged houses, blocked roads and landslides.

A total of 53,741 people have been relocated across the province, with 12,256 people being urgently resettled, the department said.

So far, 36 houses have collapsed, 48 houses have been severely damaged, resulting in a direct economic loss of nearly 140.6 million yuan (about 19.8 million U.S. dollars).

 

Dubai Airports has announced the reopening of check-in procedures at Terminal 3 for Emirates and Flydubai, WAM reports.

In a recent update regarding airport and flight operations, Dubai Airports has announced that the departure hall at Terminal 3 is experiencing a significant influx of passengers, urging customers to make their way to the airport only if they have a confirmed flight booking.

Dubai Airports also advised passengers to contact their respective airlines for the latest updates on their flights.

 

China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, has identified more than 900 new pulsars since its launch in 2016, its operator said Wednesday, Xinhua reports.

Pulsars, or fast-spinning neutron stars, originate from the imploded cores of massive dying stars through supernova explosions.

Han Jinlin, a scientist with the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), said that the pulsars included over 120 binary pulsars, more than 170 millisecond pulsars, and 80 faint and intermittent pulsars.

Han added that over the past 50-plus years since the discovery of the first pulsar, less than 3,000 pulsars were discovered worldwide, and the number of new pulsars discovered by FAST is more than three times the total number of pulsars found by foreign telescopes during the same period.

Pulsar observation is an important task for FAST, which can be used to confirm the existence of gravitational radiation and black holes, and help find answers to many other major questions in physics.

Jiang Peng, chief engineer of the FAST, said that all staff members make every effort to improve the performance of the telescope. At present, the annual observation time of the telescope is about 5,300 hours, and it plays an important role in the continuous output of scientific research achievements.

Located in a deep and round karst depression in southwest China's Guizhou Province, FAST started formal operation in January 2020. It is believed to be the world's most sensitive radio telescope.

 

The World Future Energy Summit (WFES), taking place from 16th-18th April 2024, has kicked off at the ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi, WAM reports.

Hosted by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), the three-day summit aims to promote innovation and investment to bring about a global transition to clean energy, and lay down plans to build a sustainable future by attracting investors and providers of advanced energy solutions.

Drawing in over 30,000 visitors from around the world, WFES is a world-class future energy and sustainability event, with its role encompassing a drive to accelerate the global energy transition and align the efforts of industry leaders, policymakers and startups, setting in motion a collaborative drive to secure a more environment-friendly future.