#iconic tower egypt 2022

[realestate-egypt-masharf]

Iconic Tower New Capital - سنترال ايكونيك تاور العاصمة الادارية

All you need to know about Iconic Tower New Capital tallest building in Africa, The Iconic Tower is a skyscraper in the New Administrative Capital of Egypt. With a total structural height of 393.8 meters - كل ماتريد معرفته عن سنترال ايكونيك تاور العاصمة الادارية اطول برج في قارة افريقيا, يقع في قلب العاصمة في حي المال والأعمال 

► For More About Iconic Tower New Capital Tallest Tower in Egypt: http://bit.ly/3i7tEFn 

----- Iconic Tower New Capital Contact: 

► Iconic Tower New Capital Phone Number: [phone] 

► Iconic Tower New Capital Whatsapp Directly: https://wa.me/201270970000

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Central Iconic Tower Egypt Skyscrapercity: 

- About the Iconic Tower Egypt: It is one of the most important commercial towers in the administrative capital built by Modon Real Estate Development Company, which provides all services of interest to Arab and foreign investors. 

- Central Iconic Tower Location: It is located in the New Administrative Capital in the MU7 area. 

- Iconic Tower space: a large space as the tower consists of 18 floors. 

- Iconic Tower Units Type: commercial and administrative units and hotel apartments. 

- Iconic Tower Units Space: starts from 40 square meters. 

- Iconic Tower Price per meter: starts from 33,000 Egyptian pounds. 

- The real estate developer of Iconic Tower developer: Modon Developments 

- Iconic Tower Payment methods: The company executing the project provides convenient payment systems and payment periods of up to 20 years. 

- Iconic Tower Full Details on the cheapest Offices for sale in New Capital City: https://bit.ly/3i7tEFn 

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Iconic Tower New Capital Units For Sale: (Available Soon On Website) 

► At an Attractive Price, Office 42m² In Central Iconic Tower With A Great View 136 m²: https://masharf.com/en/contact-us 

► Office for sale in Iconic Tower New Capital 60 m²: http://bit.ly/3EWy4Ys 

► Office In Central Iconic Tower New Capital 72m²: https://masharf.com/en/contact-us 

► Administrative Office for sale in Iconic Tower in New Capital 100 m²: https://masharf.com/en/contact-us 

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For More Info about Iconic Tower New Capital: [phone] للمزيد من المعلومات والاستفسار عن الأسعار والمساحات المتاحة: [phone] Whatsapp Directly:

  https://wa.me/201270970000 اسم المشروع: سنترال ايكونيك تاور. -

 عن مشروع سنترال ايكونيك تاو : من اهم الابراج التجارية في العاصمة الادارية من انشاءات شركة مدن للتطوير العقاري والذي يوفر جميع الخدمات التي تهم المستثمرين العرب والاجانب. 

- موقع سنترال ايكونيك تاور: يقع في العاصمة الادارية الجديدة في منطقة MU7. 

- مساحة مشروع سنترال ايكونيك تاور- مساحة البرج الايقوني : 4104 متر مربع. - أنواع وحدات سنترال ايكونيك تاور: وحدات تجارية وادارية وشقق فندقية. 

- مساحة وحدات سنترال ايكونيك تاور: تبدأ من 40 متر مربع. 

- اسعار وحدات سنترال ايكونيك تاور - اسعار البرج الايقوني : يبدأ من 1,200,000 جنيه مصري. 

- اسم ائمطور العقاري لسنترال ايكونيك تاور - مطور البرج الايقوني : شركة مُدن للتطوير العقاري. 

- طرق سداد سنترال ايكونيك تاور انظمة دفع البرج الايقوني : توفر الشركة المنفذة للمشروع انظمة سداد مريحة وفترات سداد تصل إلى 20 سنة. 

 Masharf Real Estate Social Media: 

► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masharfonline 

► Website: https://masharf.com 

► E-Mail: [email protected] 

► Whatsapp Directly: https://wa.me/201270970000 

 Iconic Tower Real Estate Developer: Modon Developments is The Developer of Iconic Tower Egypt ترتيب البرج الأيقوني, طول البرج الأيقوني, تكلفة البرج الايقوني, شقق للبيع في البرج الايقوني, البرج الأيقوني ويكيبيديا, لماذا سمي البرج الأيقوني, العاصمة الإدارية الجديدة, أطول برج في أفريقيا, 

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[badass-at-fandoming]

I posted 6,055 times in 2022

179 posts created (3%)

5,876 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@violettduchess

@ryttu3k

@missn11

@fictifgames

@aquagirl1978

I tagged 6,053 of my posts in 2022

#vtm - 2,653 posts

#vampire oc - 1,157 posts

#ikevamp - 875 posts

#lovestruck - 670 posts

#ikerev - 586 posts

#fictif - 389 posts

#vtmb - 307 posts

#cuthbert beckett - 296 posts

#text post - 291 posts

#lol - 282 posts

Longest Tag: 68 characters

#i re-read the date night short and all these feels came rushing back

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

List of Amusing Beckett Facts We Learn in the Year of the Scarab Trilogy, which I read so you don't have to (really, it's Bad Art)

About mid-March, I finished the Year of the Scarab Trilogy and…honestly, it's second worst White Wolf book I've ever read. To save everyone the pain of drudging through it, I wanted to share screenshots, but typing those up inflicted psychic damage. So, instead, here's a list of cool Beckett fun facts. If you have a specific question about the Trilogy and its plot, characters etc, my ask box is open.

Beckett gets ensnarled in the novel's plot because he wants to interview Mother Inyanga about her personal history and the history of Kindred, as she knows it. She agrees to the interview if Beckett writes a book report on the Chicago hunter community.

Beckett handles his financials through a "small, private Swiss bank" in Geneva. It's called Witz-Kohn, which I think translates to "joke?" Anyway, Manfred Von Reis handles his account. The bank wires Beckett money on demand and auto-pays off his credit card bill every month. Cuthbert has a credit card!

Beckett flies American Airlines, first class preferred. I'm guessing Cesare's character was invented later. For reference, the novels take place February 2001 to March 2001. Don't worry: there IS a prophecy-written-on-the-subway-walls-esque joke of "hehe what if an iconic American tower blew up would that be fucked up or what"

Beckett has learned "some thaumaturgical rites." Unclear how many. He uses two rituals in the book. One's a tracking spell, which he uses to find a person who previously ingested his blood. The other enchants a murder victim's finger to point at whoever murdered them. That ritual sounds creepy, and the author intended the scene to be a ~creepy blood magic~ moment. But what happens is Beckett pinky promises to avenge this dead Gangrel, and braids his own hair into a necklace, so he can wear the pinky close to the skin. That's like Addams Family wholesome, bro.

Beckett thinks email is pretty neat. He frets that laptops are too big to meld into him when he transforms, so he hasn't purchased one yet.

Beckett (on accident!) finds Menele's haven, and our Gangrel boyo just. Turns right the fuck back around. He goes through all this effort to find who's emitting this massive, looming Presence over Chicago, only to decide he will Not Mess With That, No Thank You.

Beckett lectures not once but /twice/ on how Caine can't possibly be real. He gets miffed when someone inevitably interrupts him.

Becket clarifies he's not after the Heart of Osiris (the book's MacGuffin) for power, but for knowledge. His ultimate goal is to repatriate the Heart to the Egyptian supernatural community. Once it's clear the Heart's headed to Egypt anyway, he ends his pursuit.

Beckett starts the novel with No Fear and ends the novel with One Fear that Menele's influencing his actions. Like, he has a whole crisis over it, as a treat. Given what happens in the Diary, Beckett and Chicago really don't mix well.

Beckett has a cabin in upstate New York, not far from the Stillwater Reservoir. The cabin stands on an outcropping far from the nearest road and is only accessible via game trails. The nearest town is Big Moose. Towards the end of the story, Beckett spends upwards of a month there, recovering from a weird ghost stabbing. He's cranky about it.

Beckett gets his first mobile phone in March 2001. He asked Von Reis to shop around for satellite phones, buy what Von Reis thought best, and ship the phone to Beckett at his PO Box in Big Moose. I didn't realize that was a thing you could ask a bank to do for you(?). After carefully reading the instructional booklet front to back, Beckett made his first call to Nola.

I'm mildly dazzled by Beckett's Look™️ throughout the book. He wears a sheepskin jacket, which he changes to a leather one once it gets too ratty. Of course there's the little round, red sunglasses. His hair is long enough to braid, loop around his chest to the opposite shoulder, and dangle an enchanted pinky from. Nola gives him a silver charm bracelet, which he likes aesthetically. My brain shorted out.

In the novel's epilogue, Beckett searches for hidden tomes around the fjords of Norway. The books belong to an elder Kindred, and nobody knows exactly what they're about. Theories include (a) journals of the Kindred's contemporaries from the time of Carthage's fall; (b) a translation of the precursor to the Book of Nod; (c) Lapplander mating customs; or (d) musings on vitae's powers, a treatise that might bestow insight as to where Kindreds' abilities came from and what else Kindred might be capable of. Beckett thinks (d).

Thanks for reading! Onto Nights of Prophecy.

107 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

#4

Hello???

HELLO????

"William Shakespeare loves waking up to the sight of Vincent's face" and "Leonardo fucks Comte to the point of exhaustion" is not what I thought I'd learn today, but here we are.

109 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

#3

Source: https://twitter.com/outstarwalker/status/1016805107986587653

Artist: https://twitter.com/outstarart

112 notes - Posted March 26, 2022

#2

Jean's route: You have atoned enough. You deserve love and joy.

Arthur's route: Failure neither defines, nor determines the worth of, a life.

Will's route: Your productivity doesn't determine your value. We love you for you, not your art.

Charles's route, probably: Some people deserve to get murdered.

333 notes - Posted February 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Have you ever wanted to run away from your problems? Kiss girls?? Become a werewolf???

Now you can!!!*

Experience the heartwarming terror of Moonrise! In a video game made by a queer woman and for queer women and sapphic folk, this supernatural celebration of queer femininity takes you into the darkness and lets you own it. Use your compassion and sense of responsibility to make connections and fall in love. Or use your newfound fangs and claws to rip, shred, and tear through your problems. Is this the start of a satisfying, shape-shifting life full of romance, or the blood-soaked birth of a new deity of the forest? You decide!

Play as a trans woman, cis woman, or nonbinary person; lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, or asexual. Polyamory options included!

Date your nonbinary best friend, the ruthless Rogue leader, or the lycanthropic goddess amongst werewolves.

Build up your Empathy, Bloodthirst, Snark, Responsibility, Uncanny Valley, and Defense to survive lethal encounters and protect those you hold dear.

Pledge allegiance to the tradition of the Masquerade or the desperate, volatile Rogues.

Expose the supernatural underground to the blistering light or keep their secrets in the deep dark.

Embrace the feral monster within or hold fast to your humanity.

Get your spooky time on for the low, low price of $1.99. Available on iOS and Android, plus inside the Hosted Games app!

Play the demo here: https://www.choiceofgames.com/user-contributed/moonrise/

*Moonrise is a 49,000-word urban fantasy interactive novel by Natalie Cannon, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Cannot guarantee real life girls or werewolf transformation.

337 notes - Posted October 25, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[identybeautynet]

Famous Tourist Destinations 2022

Famous Tourist Destinations 20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Travelers are always looking for inspiration to guide their adventures. Coming up with a list of places to visit can be challenging when you're staring at a globe. What are the top tourist attractions in the world? The most iconic sites that all travelers have on their bucket-list of things to see around the globe? Some destinations just stand out above the rest. Many are the type of places where you can take a photo, and it requires no explanation to identify the location: the Eiffel Tower or the Colosseum. But some places are less well known to new travelers or those who have not yet ventured out to the more exotic destinations. These can often be the most rewarding to visit. For many of these attractions, it's what they symbolize and the destinations they represent that make them so significant. In other cases, it is the site itself that makes it worth visiting the country. Some of these are the more popular UNESCO World Heritage sites. If you're looking to start your own checklist of places to visit during your life, begin with our list of the top tourist attractions in the world. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. 1. Eiffel Tower, Paris   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Eiffel Tower at night | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The symbol of Paris and one of the most photographed structures in the world, a visit to the Eiffel Tower is a must for all travelers. Few landmarks inspire such a passion for travel as this single iron structure. Young travelers heading out on the road for the first time, couples looking for a special getaway, artists looking to spur their creativity, and romantics of all types are all drawn to Paris. This is a city where history and culture collide and where travelers of all kinds can find the experience they're after.   2. The Colosseum, Rome   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World The Colosseum   The most famous and largest structure still standing from the Roman Empire, the Colosseum is also the biggest attraction of modern-day Rome. It's been a bucket-list destination of travelers for generations. And it does not disappoint. Set in the heart of the city, the Colosseum is an easy place to visit. Direct flights from around the world land in Rome daily, making it a destination you can visit in a weekend if you choose. Wander through Rome's ancient streets, tour the colosseum, and if time allows, plan a trip to other areas of Italy.   3. Statue of Liberty, New York City   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Statue of Liberty   America is full of great sights and places to visit, but it's the Statue of Liberty that represents the United States like no other place. This symbol of freedom in New York City was gifted by the French to the American people in 1896. Of all the attractions in New York City, this is one every tourist must see. The best thing to do at the Statue of Liberty is to take a ride up to her crown and soak up the view over the city. Access to the statue is via ferry, also a highlight of a visit.   4. Machu Picchu, Peru   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Machu Picchu | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If you are planning to see only one attraction in South America, this is the place to come. The ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu is arguably the most impressive ruined city in the world. Much of the attraction comes from its location, high in the jungle-clad mountains of Peru. Set on a high plateau with soaring green mountains, the setting is surreal. The sheer tenacity of the original builders to create this amazing place in what would have been impenetrable jungle, is, in itself, impressive. Visitor numbers are now limited to a maximum per day, so the experience has been greatly enhanced. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Peru   5. The Acropolis, Athens   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World The Acropolis in Athens | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   Perched above present day Athens, the Acropolis draws you up and in. Follow in the footsteps of ancients as you walk up the same steps that have been walked on since 438 BC - 2,500 years. Views out over the city are incredible as you walk between the meticulously restored ancient buildings. Near the end of the day, you'll want to linger and watch the sunset from the stairs near the entrance. This is a nightly ritual in Athens. The site is also impressive looking up at it from the city below. Spend an evening dining on a rooftop patio to soak in the view of the hilltop ruins lit up at night.   6. The Taj Mahal, India   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Taj Mahal | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The Taj Mahal is the one sight in India that all travelers need to see. The country is filled with incredible cities and fabulous places to visit, but the 17th-century Taj Mahal is the one place that says you've been to India. This mausoleum, commissioned by the Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, is known internationally as a symbol of love. This fantastic structure, made with inlaid precious and semi-precious stones, has to be visited to be fully appreciated. Its riverfront setting, surrounding gardens, and reflecting pools are also what make the Taj Mahal so special. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in India   7. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Pyramids of Giza | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If you've visited places like the Colosseum in Rome or the Acropolis in Athens, built over 2,000 years ago, you may think you have a good handle on ancient sites. But the Pyramids of Giza take ancient to a whole other level. These were built over 4,500 years ago. Tourists were coming to see these magnificent structures literally thousands of years ago. Located just outside Cairo, the pyramids, which is also where you'll find the Sphinx, are easy to get to, and tours are easy to arrange. A sunset camel ride around the structures is a wonderful experience.   8. Great Wall of China   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Great Wall of China   In a land of modern cities and towering skyscrapers, the Great Wall of China, built between the 14th and 17th centuries, is a stark contrast but a striking image that all visitors to China should see. A stroll along the top of the wall provides an incredible view of the structure snaking off into the distance. The wall stretches an astounding 21,196 kilometers, through some remote areas. Many travelers seeing the sights of China choose to visit the wall on easily organized tours from Beijing, a relatively short motorcoach ride away.   9. Angkor Wat, Cambodia   Stone faces at Angkor Wat | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   Surrounded by jungle and, in some cases, overgrown with huge trees and roots, the ancient structures of the Angkor complex may look like a movie set to some visitors. Wandering through Angkor Wat, the main centerpiece of the complex, it's easy to feel like you've entered another era. This is without a doubt, one of the most impressive sites in Southeast Asia and the main reason many people visit Cambodia. The stone faces peering out over the buildings and gates are images that you won't soon forget.   10. Petra, Jordan   Petra   You may have an Indiana Jones feeling as you walk through a 1.2-kilometer-long narrow crack in the sandstone hills and emerge into a hidden city. First built over 2,000 years ago and lost to the outside world for 600 years, the city was only discovered in 1812. Stunning buildings are carved directly into the red rock walls and are wonderfully preserved, just begging to be explored and photographed. If you arrive early, an eerie silence, coupled with long shadows, give this abandoned city a special feel. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Jordan   11. Grand Canyon, USA   Grand Canyon | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The greatest natural attraction in the United States, the Grand Canyon is a key sight for all travelers planning their lifetime of adventures. Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon, looking out over the carved landscape, will awaken your senses. Several hikes in the canyon and along the rim offer unique perspectives. Walk even a short distance down the Bright Angel trail to gain additional views and to experience what the canyon is like below the rim. For even more adventure plan a rafting trip down the Colorado River through the canyon. The Grand Canyon looks different throughout the day and at different times of the year. One trip is never enough. If you are going to add this place to your to-see list, consider what you want to do here to determine the best time to visit.   12. Stonehenge, England   Stonehenge   Stonehenge is one of those places that makes you ponder what went on here over 4,500 years ago. It's long been a mystery to historians, and has captured the imagination of countless visitors. Despite the large number of tourists that descend on Stonehenge, the place still has a mystical feel. At the site, giant stones, some standing, some fallen, are set in two roughly circular patterns that are oriented to highlight the summer and winter solstices. For a truly memorable experience, plan your visit during one of these times. An easy day trip from London, Stonehenge can easily be worked into your UK itinerary.   13. Borobudur, Indonesia   Sunrise at Borobudur   Set in a steamy jungle with three volcanoes providing the backdrop, Borobudur is Indonesia's top tourist attraction. Borobudur dates from the 9th century and is one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world. It's a fascinating place to wander about. Over 500 Buddhas are spread around the site, some of which sit under ornate stupas. Try to visit early in the morning when you'll have the best chance of experiencing a bit of early mist, and the view to the volcanoes will be the clearest.   14. Niagara Falls, Canada & USA   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Niagara Falls in winter | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   On the border between the United States and Canada, these great falls have been drawing explorers and travelers for centuries. Just over an hour from the city of Toronto, Niagara Falls is easy to get to, and the town is a fun place to spend a night or two. Walk up to the edge of the falls, stroll along the paved walk lining the gorge for different views, or take a boat tour for a close-up look at the water pouring over the lip of the gorge above you. For a bird's-eye view, head up the Skylon Tower to look out over the falls. At night, see the falls lit in different colors. If you're visiting in winter, watch the huge plume of mist rising into the sky above the falls. 15. Bagan, Myanmar   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Bagan, Mayanmar | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   While this ancient site may not be on the average traveler's radar, it's another of Southeast Asia's bucket-list attractions. Spread out over a lush plain are more than 10,000 sacred structures dating from 1044 through to 1287. Hire a bicycle and pedal your way from one amazing structure to the next, or take a tour. Some of the structures can be entered, but the real beauty is the sheer number that dot the landscape. For an aerial view, consider taking a hot air balloon tour at dawn.   16. Sydney Opera House   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Sydney Harbour   Like many other attractions around the world, the Sydney Opera House is one of those places that is easy to identify and obviously associated with Australia. A photo of yourself in front of the white sails screams Australia. The Sydney Opera House was built in several stages and officially opened in late 1973. To fully experience the building, take a tour inside to see the unique shape and hear the exceptional acoustics. Soak up the view from the Opera House area back towards the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.   17. Mount Kilimanjaro   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Mount Kilimanjaro   The highest peak in all of Africa, this majestic mountain - a dormant volcano - is one of the most recognizable symbols of the continent. The snowcapped peak is often the backdrop to photographs of the wild animals that roam Amboseli National Park and other areas. You can see this beautiful sight from afar or tackle the multi-day hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro for the fantastic views over the land and to watch the sunrise. - Read More - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Tanzania   18. The Louvre, Paris   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World The Louvre, Paris | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If there is one museum in the whole world that you absolutely must see in your life, it's the Louvre. Even if you are not a fan of museums, this one is worth the trip to Paris to see. Although most people know it as the home to the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, this is just one of the reasons to visit the Louvre. The museum holds countless masterpieces by the greatest artists that have ever lived. But even the building itself is an icon. The glass pyramids and the 18th-century building are recognizable to almost everyone, and have been shown in countless movies.   19. Forbidden City, China   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Forbidden City   Like the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Beijing is one of the top places to visit in China. The sprawling complex dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and is a spectacular example of historical China. Over the centuries, the palace has housed 24 Ming and Qing Emperors. Inside the city, the Palace Museum holds over 340,000 artifacts showcasing the treasures of China's dynasties. In front of the Forbidden City is Tiananmen square.   20. Prague Castle, Czech Republic   Famous Tourist Destinations - IDENTYBEAUTY Prague Castle   Sitting atop a hill across the river from the center of the city, Prague Castle casts an imposing aura over its surroundings. The castle is an incredible collection of buildings constructed from the 9th to 14th century. Stroll over the ornate 14th-century Charles Bridge spanning the Vltava River and head up the hill to wander the narrow, twisty streets in the castle complex. The castle is one of the largest in the world, and around almost every corner is a historical building, church, or open square. Famous Tourist Destinations - IDENTYBEAUTY Read the full article

[marviinmelton]

Inside Ford’s plan to remake Detroit–and itself

Ford has a problem: The 110-year-old company has a reputation for being slow to innovate, and that’s not only hurting its stock price, it’s also preventing Ford from attracting big talent.

To help position itself as a 21st-century innovator, Ford has scooped up 1.2 million square feet of property in a Detroit neighborhood called Corktown, a historic district that borders the industrial west side of the city, and hired architecture firm Snøhetta to do the design work. Executive chairman Bill Ford says he wants to create a thrumming commercial center aimed at both reviving the neighborhood’s local economy and drawing better talent to Ford.

The timing couldn’t be more auspicious. Big tech companies like Uber and Google are telling Americans that, in the not too distant future, self-driving cars will whisk them away with the touch of the button. Oh, and no one will own their car; we’ll all just share a fleet of multipurpose vehicles. Car sales in the United States have grown significantly since 2009, but in the past three years, rates have stagnated, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Ford has been steadily investing in self-driving cars and electric vehicles since the mid-aughts, and the company has proven it can cut costs, grow revenue, and deliver earnings. Still, its stock price has been steadily trending downward since 2013. Investors have questions about where Ford fits into the future of transportation.

The Corktown project is both a symbolic and a literal manifestation of Ford’s quest to reinvent itself. As for Detroit: The project represents a major investment by a large corporation in a city that has seen its share of renewal efforts. The question is whether Ford can strike a balance between revitalizing the city enough to draw talented workers–without making it unaffordable for everyone else.

[Photo: courtesy Ford]

A sunny vision

Ford’s last big urban renewal project was Ford Field, the Lion’s football stadium that opened in 2002. Bill Ford and his father wanted to bring sports fans back from the suburbs and into the city. But as is the case with many sports complexes, it’s unclear how much the new stadium has actually contributed to economic growth in the city.

The Corktown development has different aims. As part of the new complex, Ford is fixing up Detroit’s marble columned Michigan Central Station, a Beaux Arts train station and office tower that’s fallen into disrepair over the more than 30 years it’s been abandoned. In addition to the train station, Ford has bought an old brass factory; an already refurbished factory, the former Detroit Public Schools Book Depository; and another two-acre parcel of land. Ford is moving quickly, too. Though the development isn’t expected to be complete until 2022, the company has already started moving workers into the renovated factory.

When I talked about the Michigan Central Station with Bill Ford, in May, he said the plan was to turn the old train station into a mixed use space with shops, restaurants, public spaces, and offices for both Ford and a selection of startups. He cited San Francisco’s iconic Ferry building as an inspiration. Ford has previously worked with startup accelerator Techstars, investing in the organization’s mobility unit. The company hopes that creating an inspiring space for young entrepreneurs to commune with Ford employees working on some of company’s most cutting-edge projects will prove a colorful lure to engineers and business grads typically drawn to the more fashionable coastal cities.

A city to inspire innovation

Ford has already put a lot of energy into becoming the kind of company that talented tech workers might like. In January it launched an incubator called Ford X, a sort of a test kitchen for transportation in the company’s Palo Alto facility. In addition to developing electrified vehicles and autonomous cars, Ford is also building a platform for connecting a spate of different transportation operations with the help of two companies it acquired, Autonomic and Transloc, both of which run software and logistics for transit services. Last winter the company invested $1 billion into Argo AI’s artificially intelligent self-driving technology.

To complement these initiatives, Bill Ford says the company needs an inspiring city for its workers to live in. “Detroit’s got a real buzz about it,” says Ford. “But, the city still has big issues.” The city’s school system is in distress, with over 200 positions unfilled. Detroit also ranks as the most dangerous city in America, according to data from the FBI’s 2016 crime report. But it does have one thing that most metros don’t: affordable housing. Ford is in the tricky position of  wanting Detroit’s best assets–but also being poised to diminish them if it isn’t careful about how it approaches the new development. 

The Snøhetta touch 

Enter Snøhetta. The architecture firm is known for its thoughtful, site-specific approach to design, and it has already done some thinking around the future of urban spaces. Its Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a 2002 revival of the famed Library of Alexandria, in Egypt, was an international sensation. So was Snøhetta’s Oslo Opera House, the roof of which doubles as scenic walkway. Between 2010 and 2017, the firm transformed Times Square in New York from a series of high-traffic streets into a network of pedestrian plazas that made the hordes of tourists there bearable. With the project in Corktown, Craig Dykers, founding partner for Snøhetta, says he and his team are trying to ensure that the existing community is incorporated in their design plans. They are interviewing people in the region and thinking about what kind of training and other programming the new Ford complex will ultimately house.

[Photo: courtesy Ford]

Details of the project are still being worked out. But intriguingly, Dykers sees it as an opportunity to confront Ford’s history. “The vehicle or car or automobile has overtaken the city experience,” says Dykers. “They’ve created a great deal of congestion, displaced large numbers of people where freeways were built, they’ve taken away from vegetative landscapes in order to create more parking lots—all of these kinds of things. Although the idea of the automobile was very positive when it was invented, eventually it grew to become one of the more imposing characters of daily life.” These days the car, once used for private travel, is being recast as something that can be shared. There is an opportunity, he says, for the Michigan Central Train Station to find new life not just as a center for transit research, but as a transportation hub of some sort. Whether that means it will be a train station, pick up and drop off point for a bus system, or a destination for some other form of communal transit is unclear. (Snøhetta is also charged with modernizing Ford’s Dearborn headquarters for a post-personal vehicle future.) What better way to symbolize Ford’s transformation into a mobility company, not just a car company, than by revamping a historic hub of communal transportation? The challenge, Dykers says, is to not build some abstract fictional utopian place that has no character; it’s to create a space that is reflective of both the company that Ford is and the one it wants to be. “We do not feel that creating a Tabula Rasa and putting a super sexy object in the middle of a field is going to help anyone,” he says.

The gentrification question

Will injecting money into Corktown displace old-time residents? That’s certainly happened in other cities when companies with lots of cash came in. Since 1998, median home prices have roughly tripled in parts of Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, the Bay Area has gentrified so dramatically, not only are long-time residents being pushed out, but even highly paid tech workers can’t afford to live there. 

Robert Silverman, professor of Urban and Regional planning at the University of Buffalo, says there’s always a concern that a flood of money will lead to swift gentrification, but because the train station has been abandoned for over 30 years, he believes there’s less of a likelihood that locals will been shunted out so quickly. “The area has been teetering between revitalizing and falling by the wayside for years,” he says. “There are definitely places that will develop slower around the old station, so there’s probably still space for things like affordable housing and business development that smaller mom and pop and local businesses can be involved in.”

Ford sees the Corktown project as a renewed effort to bring back wealth for all, and Silverman seems to think this will bear out. “When Ford’s doing well, people in the metropolitan area of Detroit are doing well, as well,” says Silverman. “It really does spread around more broadly than people might think.”

Inside Ford’s plan to remake Detroit–and itself published first on https://petrotekb.tumblr.com/

[newstfionline]

Tiny, Wealthy Qatar Goes Its Own Way, and Pays for It

By Declan Walsh, NY Times, Jan. 22, 2018

DOHA, Qatar--For the emir of Qatar, there has been little that money can’t buy.

As a teenager he dreamed of becoming the Boris Becker of the Arab world, so his parents flew the German tennis star to Qatar to give their son lessons. A lifelong sports fanatic, he later bought a French soccer team, Paris Saint-Germain, which last summer paid $263 million for a Brazilian striker--the highest transfer fee in the history of the game.

He helped bring the 2022 World Cup to Qatar at an estimated cost of $200 billion, a major coup for a country that had never qualified for the tournament.

Now at age 37, the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, has run into a problem that money alone cannot solve.

Since June, tiny Qatar has been the target of a punishing air and sea boycott led by its largest neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Overnight, airplanes and cargo ships bound for Qatar were forced to change course, diplomatic ties were severed and Qatar’s only land border, a 40-mile stretch of desert with Saudi Arabia, slammed shut.

Not even animals were spared. Around 12,000 Qatari camels, peacefully grazing on Saudi land, were expelled, causing a stampede at the border.

Qatar’s foes accuse it of financing terrorism, cozying up to Iran and harboring fugitive dissidents. They detest Al Jazeera, Qatar’s rambunctious and highly influential satellite network. And--although few say it openly--they appear intent on ousting Qatar’s young leader, Tamim, from his throne.

Tamim denies the accusations, and chalks up the animosity to simple jealousy.

“They don’t like our independence,” he said in an interview in New York in September. “They see it as a threat.”

The boycott turned out to be the first strike of a sweeping campaign by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, that has electrified the Middle East. Obsessed with remaking his hidebound country and curbing the regional ambitions of its nemesis, Iran, the young, hard-charging Saudi has imprisoned hundreds of rivals at a five-star hotel in Riyadh, strong-armed the prime minister of Lebanon in a failed stab at Iran and stepped up his devastating war in Yemen.

The Saudi prince has shaped the Trump administration’s approach to the Middle East and his endeavors could have far-reaching consequences, potentially driving up energy prices, upending Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and raising the chances of war with Iran.

The Qatar dispute is perhaps the least understood piece of the action, but it has a particularly nasty edge.

In September, at a normally soporific meeting of the Arab League in Cairo, Saudi and Qatari diplomats exchanged barbed epithets like “rabid dog” and heated accusations of treachery and even cruelty to camels. “When I speak, you shut up!” yelled Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi.

“No, you are the one who should shut up!” his Saudi counterpart shouted back.

The highly personalized rancor has the unmistakable air of a family feud. Qataris, Saudis and Emiratis stem from the same nomadic tribes, share the same religion and eat the same food. So their dispute has shades of quarreling cousins, albeit ones armed with billions of dollars and American warplanes.

The crisis took an alarming turn last week when the Emirates accused Qatar’s warplanes of harassing two Emirati passenger airliners as they crossed the Gulf. Untrue, said Qatar, which fired back with its own accusation that Emirati warplanes had already breached its airspace twice.

That the other Gulf countries even care about Qatar enough to despise it is a relatively new development.

For much of the 20th century, the country was a barren Persian Gulf backwater where pirates once lurked. Its people were desperately poor, typically diving for pearls in the summer and herding camels in the winter. For decades they lagged far behind their Saudi neighbors, who were in the midst of a heady oil boom. The ruling al-Thani family was riven by vicious internecine squabbles and periodic coups.

Then, in 1971, Qatar struck gas.

The discovery of the world’s largest gas field was initially a source of bitter disappointment. “People hoped for oil,” said Ahmed bin Hamad al-Attiyah, a former energy minister. But by the 1990s, new technology allowed gas to be liquefied and exported in tanker ships.

The emir, Tamim’s father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, took a huge gamble. Ignoring naysayers, he poured $20 billion into a sprawling liquefaction plant at Ras Laffan, on Qatar’s north coast, with help from the energy giant Exxon Mobil. The company was then headed by Rex W. Tillerson, who is now secretary of state.

The bet paid off spectacularly. Gas boomed, and by 2010 Qatar accounted for 30 percent of the global market.

Since then, Qatar’s citizens, today numbering 300,000, have become very rich, very fast. Their average income of $125,000 is the highest in the world, over twice that of the United States or Saudi Arabia. The state cocoons them with free land, cushy jobs and American universities. Gleaming supercars and limousines cruise along Doha’s palm-lined corniche. Poor Qataris are hard to find.

The metamorphosis was equally dramatic for the Thanis. Once the lords of a desolate peninsula of sand dunes and salt flats, they have become strutting sophisticates on the global stage: style icons who are celebrated in Vanity Fair and Vogue; art titans who splurge hundreds of millions on a Cézanne or a Gauguin; and media moguls who built Al Jazeera, the groundbreaking television network that helped fan the Arab Spring in 2011.

In June, Qatar’s national colors lit up the Empire State Building, in which it owns a stake, a mark of its punchy ambition.

But Qatar’s swagger is deeply contentious among its neighbors. In their reach for global influence, the Thanis have pursued ambidextrous, sometimes contradictory policies--preaching the virtues of peace, education and women’s rights while bankrolling Islamist extremists in Syria and hosting the biggest United States military base in the Middle East.

To Saudi Arabia and the Emirates--and Bahrain and Egypt, who have joined them in the boycott--Qatar is a nation of vexatious meddlers, intoxicated by its own wealth, that needs to be cut down to size.

Three dueling, headstrong royals are at the center of the dispute.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed, 32, is leading a campaign to overhaul and energize his stultified society, including with outlandish proposals such as a $500 billion city on the Red Sea run by robots. He has a staunch ally in Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, 56, the hawkish crown prince of the Emirates, who has built a formidable military and shares his Saudi counterpart’s deep hostility toward Iran.

Both princes are arrayed against Tamim, the emir of Qatar. A towering man with a diplomatic mien, Tamim is in many respects a classic Gulf potentate: educated like his father at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England, he has three wives and 10 children, and lives in several luxurious palaces in Doha, a futuristic city of glass towers and curling highways.

His rise to power in 2013, at the age of 33, offered a stark contrast with the gerontocracy of Saudi Arabia, where rulers clung to their thrones till reaching their deathbeds. And his easy manner belies a stubborn streak that his neighbors see as the mark of a dangerous gadfly.

The baroque feuding among the three leaders--a twisting tale of cyberespionage, propaganda salvos, palace intrigue and high-stakes desert hunts--is worthy of an ancient Gulf power drama. Played by rich men in flowing white robes known as thobes, it has been called the “Game of Thobes.” But it also represents a profound moment of reckoning for the glimmering city-states of the Gulf.

In downtown Doha, behind the imposing palace where the emir holds court twice a week, lies a discreet new museum that tells an ugly story with bracing honesty.

Through a series of polished exhibits, the museum, the Bin Jelmood House, delves into Qatar’s ignominious history of slavery, which was not abolished here until 1952. An evocative video recreates the suffering of the African slaves shipped from Zanzibar to dive for pearls, the mainstay of Qatar’s economy until the mid-20th century. A price list outlines the trade’s heartless calculations: 1,200 rupees, then about $550, for a driver in 1926; 1,500 rupees for a cook in 1909.

The museum, in its willingness to openly address the sins of the past, mirrors the image the Thanis seek to project for their country--open and enlightened, less dour than archconservative Saudi Arabia, more restrained than freewheeling Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

While Saudi women will finally be allowed to drive in June, Qatari women have been driving for decades. In Qatar, there are cinemas, bars and even female race jockeys. Christians can worship openly. Although Qataris share the puritanical Wahhabi strand of Islam with Saudi Arabia, there are no public beheadings.

Tamim lauds his country’s democratic values. In 50 years, he recently predicted, Al Jazeera will be seen to have “changed the whole idea of free speech in the region.” In many respects, it already has.

But the openness goes only so far.

In 2012, a Qatari poet was sentenced to life in prison for insulting the royal family. (Tamim pardoned him in 2016.) Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel offers blistering coverage of other Arab heads of state but treats Qatar’s royals with kid gloves. Since 2016, the authorities have blocked Doha News, a rare online news outlet that provides critical reporting. In 2005, the government stripped 5,000 tribesmen, accused of disloyalty, of their Qatari nationality.

Although foreign workers make up 90 percent of Qatar’s three million residents, they have paltry rights, and Qatar’s World Cup preparations have been marred by a stream of reports by human rights organizations about abuses of migrant workers. A new law announced in October could significantly improve the situation if it is put in place.

For over a century, Qatar’s rulers were plagued by insecurity, usually at the hands of their own relatives.

Tamim’s grandfather toppled a cousin as emir in 1972, only to be pushed from the throne himself by his son, Hamad, in 1995. The ousted emir, who learned of his fate while on vacation in Switzerland, denounced his son as an “ignorant man” and then retreated into exile.

Once the gas billions flowed, starting in about 2000, family tensions eased, paving the way for an ambitious, reform-minded cast of royals.

Tamim’s mother, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned, 58, is one of the most famous people in the Arab world, known for her glittering gowns, ageless looks and advocacy of education and social issues. Sheikha Mozah, as she is known, behaves like a Western-style first lady, speaking at United Nations conferences and touring refugee camps in safari wear with a lightly bound scarf over her head.

She carved out her own power base through a multibillion-dollar foundation that created a philharmonic orchestra by recruiting musicians from 30 countries, built an $8 billion research hospital and brought branches of American universities, including Georgetown, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M, to Qatar.

Tamim’s younger sister, Mayassa, is Qatar’s culture czarina--an art world behemoth who, at the age of 30, had an estimated annual budget of $1 billion. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York typically spends about $30 million on new acquisitions.) In 2008 she cajoled the architect I. M. Pei out of retirement to build the acclaimed Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, and later snapped up major works by Gauguin, Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst. When she bought Cézanne’s “Card Players,” with its un-Islamic scene of drinking and gambling, for an estimated $250 million in 2011, it was the world’s most expensive painting.

In Europe, Qatari royals have a reputation as high rollers with a yen for ostentatious real-estate and aristocratic prestige. After the 2008 financial crash, they bought Greek islands, French castles and so many iconic London properties--including Harrods department store, a share in Heathrow Airport and the Shard, western Europe’s tallest building--that it periodically induces anxious headlines in the British press about Qatar’s owning “more of London than the Queen.”

That much is true, British officials say, but Queen Elizabeth II doesn’t seem to mind: She has repeatedly dined at the $400 million Park Lane mansion of Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani, a suave, thirtysomething cousin of the emir whose staff members are said to be dressed in the period style of the television series “Downton Abbey.”

In the Middle East, though, Qatar’s rulers have deployed their wealth to assert their independence from their larger neighbors.

For decades, Saudi Arabia, which is 186 times as large, treated Qatar as a virtual vassal state. In the 1940s, Saudi rulers took a slice of Qatar’s modest oil revenues; later they nibbled at Qatar’s territory and dictated its foreign and defense policy.

Tamim’s father, Hamad, accused the Saudis of trying to oust him in a failed coup in 1996--a bitter episode that has framed the decades of simmering rivalry ever since.

Striking out on their own, the Qataris at first played the role of regional peacemaker, turning Doha into a sort of Geneva-on-the-Gulf where protagonists from wars in Sudan, Somalia and Lebanon could hash out their differences in five-star hotels. They embraced America, hosting a vast air base since 2003, the year of the Iraq war, and won popular influence through Al Jazeera, whose provocative style irked just about every Arab government.

The Qataris hosted leaders from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, causing Israeli officials to call Doha a “Club Med for terrorists.”

But it was the Arab Spring in 2011 that truly set Qatar apart. As grass-roots movements rose up against the established order across the Middle East, the Saudis and Emiratis were alarmed by the growing strength of political Islamists, like Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which they feared could spread chaos in their own countries.

Qatar supported the Islamists.

“We stood by the people,” Tamim told “60 Minutes” in October. “They stood by the regimes. I feel that we stood by the right side.”

The emir could afford to be bold. Qatar had vast wealth, a sprawling American air base just a few miles from his palace and no domestic opposition to speak of.

“There was a feeling they could do anything they wanted, as long as they threw enough money at the problem,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, the author of “Qatar and the Arab Spring.” “Their self-confidence was at a peak.”

But in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, frustration was brewing.

Fittingly, the alliance between the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, and his Emirati counterpart, Mohammed bin Zayed, was cemented with a falcon hunt, a cherished rite of Gulf royalty that involves elaborate entourages and great expense--a single hunting falcon can cost $250,000.

In February 2016, the two princes traveled to the eastern desert of Saudi Arabia on a hunting safari, followed by summer shooting expeditions in France and Wales, trips that bonded the hyperactive 32-year-old Saudi and the older, like-minded Emirati. As well as a modernizing vision for their countries, they share a penchant for Shakespearean drama.

After Mohammed bin Salman ousted his rival for the throne in June, royal photographers filmed the prince kissing his rival’s hand, then his knee, in a sign of respect. Hours later the man was locked in his palace.

Their military alliance has drawn accusations of overreach. In Yemen, where they lead a devastating yet ineffective air war against the Iran-aligned Houthi faction, their forces face accusations of committing war crimes and stoking famine.

“They are two peas in a pod who see the need for unusual action in unusual times,” said David B. Roberts, a Gulf expert at King’s College London.

They are also united by a desire to put Tamim in his place.

Until recently, the royal rivalry was most evident in their global contest for the most expensive and attention-grabbing ventures. In the Emirates, Dubai has the world’s tallest building, while Qatar has the 2022 World Cup and a number of American universities.

In the art world, a Saudi royal bought Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” for $450 million in November, eclipsing Qatar’s Cézanne purchase. The da Vinci painting, reported to have been bought for the crown prince, will hang in Abu Dhabi, which recently opened an extension to the Louvre.

They flame each other through their media. Al Jazeera gives free rein to Saudi dissidents, while Sheikha Mozah is the object of lurid, often misogynistic insults in the Saudi, Emirati and Egyptian media, where she is portrayed as a power-hungry manipulator of weak men.

But at its core the rivalry is political. It matters little that Qatar lost its Arab Spring bets: Across the region, Islamist forces bankrolled by Doha are vanquished or in retreat. Still, Qatar’s neighbors view it with near pathological suspicion.

That mistrust burst into the open in 2014 when Saudi Arabia and the Emirates withdrew their ambassadors from Doha, setting off a diplomatic crisis that ended nine months later with a smooth reassurance from Tamim that he would meet their concerns.

Then last year, without warning, those tensions spiked again.

The crisis that set off the Gulf’s biggest confrontation in decades started with a series of random, seemingly unrelated events. And in vintage 2017 fashion, they involved fake news and the new American president, Donald J. Trump.

In March, a sulfurous dispute erupted over the fate of Alaa Alsiddiq, an Emirati dissident who has been living in Doha since 2013. After she published an article on Al Jazeera’s website about women’s rights in the Gulf, the Emiratis, who had canceled her passport, renewed longstanding demands that Tamim send her home.

The emir refused, telling one Western ambassador that he feared she could be tortured or killed. Emirati fury grew.

Even before Mr. Trump landed in Saudi Arabia in May, on the first foreign trip of his presidency, he appeared to be firmly in the Saudi camp. For months, the Saudi and Emirati leadership had cultivated a close relationship with Jared Kushner, the president’s adviser and son-in-law.

Mr. Kushner, a foreign policy neophyte, absorbed the princes’ views on the region, including their hostility to Qatar, a senior State Department official said, describing the relationships as very close.

In Riyadh, Mr. Trump signaled his burgeoning relationship by posing alongside 81-year-old King Salman with their hands on a glowing orb--an image that was meant to project solidarity but which gave them the appearance of movie villains and inspired a rash of internet memes.

Mr. Trump also met with Tamim, and the Qatari leader thought it went well. But two days later, back in Doha, the emir was shaken from his sleep with disturbing news: Someone had hacked the state-run Qatar News Agency and posted on its website a report of the emir calling Iran a “superpower,” lauding Hamas and speculating that Mr. Trump might not last long in power.

The report was pure fiction, but Qatar’s neighbors pounced on it as the real thing. Within minutes, pundits at Emirati and Saudi television stations were expounding on the perfidy of Qatar and issuing heated denunciations. Tamim frantically called his ministers and had the article taken down.

Thinking the problem solved, he settled in to watch a big National Basketball Association game, the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs. In fact, his troubles had just started.

Over the following weeks, Emirati and Saudi news outlets accelerated their attacks on Qatar, accusing it of threatening Gulf stability. Several conservative think tanks in Washington joined the chorus. Then on June 5, without warning, the four-country boycott crashed onto Qatar.

Mr. Trump was eager to take credit.

“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” he wrote in a tweet the next day. “Leaders pointed to Qatar--look!”

American intelligence officials determined that the planting of the fake news story had been orchestrated by the Emirates, which had been quietly pushing for a boycott of Qatar since 2016, a United States official told The New York Times.

“The smoking gun leads to Abu Dhabi,” the seat of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, he said, citing briefings from intelligence officials. “There is no ambiguity.” Moreover, the official said, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had prior knowledge of the ruse and had signaled his approval.

Yousef al-Otaiba, the Emirates’ ambassador to Washington, said his country “categorically denied” any involvement in the hack. The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment.

One afternoon last August, I drove to Aqua Park, a water park in the desert 20 minutes outside Doha, to see how Qatar was surviving the boycott. Inside the park, where midday temperatures reached 120 degrees, men and women wearing swimsuits mingled freely, although bikinis were discouraged. Screaming children barreled down the Boomerango, the park’s largest ride. American warplanes rumbled overhead, bound for battle zones in Iraq and Syria.

Aqua Park is a few hundred yards from Al Udeid, the American air base whose runway lights glitter in the distance. The base, with 10,000 American service personnel, has been Qatar’s strategic jewel for over a decade, one major reason it could defy its neighbors. Now the Emirates was pressuring the United States to close it.

The park is a typical Qatari business in that no Qataris work there: The park’s manager, Mohammed Firdous Raj, is Malaysian, the lifeguards are Kenyan and other employees are Lebanese and Egyptian. Before the boycott, one quarter of its business came from Saudi tourists, who made the 25-minute drive from the border. But now the desert highway was half-empty, as were many hotels in Doha.

“We’d like them to come back,” Mr. Raj said of the Saudis. But the park’s owner, a former Qatari government minister, had allowed him to discount ticket prices, so business was about the same. “It’s a pity about the Saudis,” he said with a shrug. “Either way, we will manage.”

The boycott has inflicted some pain on Qatar. With its only land border closed, its ships blocked from passing through Emirati ports and its planes restricted from flying over neighboring airspace, import costs have soared. The stock exchange lost one-fifth of its value last year. Foreign workers, unable to party in Dubai on weekends, grumble about the claustrophobia of buttoned-up Doha. And the travel bans have torn apart families, whose relatives have straddled borders for centuries.

But for the most part, daily life in Doha is largely unchanged. Pricey wine flows in five-star hotels, work continues on a new metro system, and a striking National Museum, shaped as a series of giant intersecting discs, is set to become the city’s latest architectural marvel.

On weekends, young Qatari men go “dune bashing”--riding tricked-out four-wheel drive vehicles at high speed along mountainous dunes, sometimes flipping over. Qatar’s central bank says it has a $340 billion war chest to help weather the crisis.

And the boycott has backfired in some respects. The trade restrictions have forced Qatar into deeper economic ties with Iran, while Tamim has become the object of a fervent personality cult. The emir’s image adorns billboards draped off skyscrapers, and he is lionized in saccharine songs hailing his steely leadership. “He’s the embodiment of the philosopher king,” said Dana al-Fardan, one such balladeer.

His ministers, making a virtue of necessity, are developing new trade and transportation links. To make up for lost Saudi milk, they created a new dairy industry from scratch in the desert.

A strident nationalism has displaced the old talk of “brotherly” ties between the countries. Qatari pilgrims claimed they had been prevented from traveling to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and showing sympathy for Qatar has become a criminal offense in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.

Any hopes that the Trump administration could end the crisis were scuppered by its chaotic policy. Mediation efforts by Mr. Tillerson, who had decades of experience in Qatar as an energy executive, were repeatedly undercut by Mr. Trump, who at a Washington fund-raiser mocked the way that Qatar is pronounced.

Although Mr. Trump has since stopped his attacks on Qatar, presenting himself as a mediator, some senior advisers continue the fight. Breitbart News Network, which until recently was run by Mr. Trump’s onetime ideological firebomber Stephen K. Bannon, has published dozens of articles attacking Qatar as a rogue ally.

Is Qatar soft on terrorism? Some of the charges are red herrings, American officials say. Tamim cut funding to most extremist militias in Syria and Islamist groups in Libya in 2015, at the urging of the Obama administration. His cordial ties with Iran are a matter of necessity because the two countries share the giant gas field that is the source of Qatar’s wealth.

Where Qatar does have a case to answer, officials say, is in its treatment of Qatari citizens accused of financing terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. Trials of accused financiers, when they take place, occur in secret, making it hard to know what punishment, if any, is imposed.

Abd al-Rahman al-Nuaymi, a former university professor and financier who has been designated a terrorist by the United Nations and the United States, was tried secretly in 2015 and acquitted. He now lives openly in Doha, albeit with restrictions on his banking and ability to travel, said a former United States treasury official who was briefed on the case. A senior Qatari official said that prosecutors were preparing to try him again.

But similar charges can be laid at the feet of Qatar’s foes. The Saudis have long been accused of exporting radical Islam across the world through hard-line madrassas. Iran’s biggest trading partner in the region is not Qatar but Dubai. Human rights abuses and press freedom restrictions are far harsher in the Emirates.

For Qatar’s supporters, the hypocrisy reveals what they say is the boycott’s true goal: to cut down or take out Qatar’s youthful emir, the royal who refuses to go along to get along.

For Tamim, the ultimate aim of his neighbors is to oust him from power. In the interview with The Times, he cited as precedent the 1996 Saudi-sponsored coup attempt against his father. “This was always the warning at the back of our heads,” he said.

His fears may be justified. In the early days of the boycott, two American officials said, Saudi and Emirati leaders mulled possible military action against Qatar. The precise details were unclear, but the talk was deemed serious enough for Mr. Tillerson to personally warn the Saudi and Emirati leaders against precipitous action. Mr. Trump later repeated that advice in a call to Saudi leaders.

Yousef al-Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador to Washington, denied in an interview that there was ever a military plan. “We never contemplated it,” he said.

But even the suggestion of military action highlighted how the old rules have been shattered in the Gulf. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, the regional body that is supposed to resolve such disputes, has been invisible during the crisis. Instead the Saudis have promoted a string of exiled Qatari businessmen as potential political rivals to Tamim.

The Qataris appear to have returned fire on the hacking front. For months American news media outlets have received stolen emails intended to embarrass Mr. Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador. The emails appear to come from Russia, but Saudi media reports say Qatar was behind them.

Qatar denied any involvement in the hacking. “Qatar, as a matter of policy and principle, does not engage in cyber crimes or traffic in ‘fake news,’” the government said in a statement to The Times on Sunday.

Nothing suggests that the dispute will be resolved anytime soon. Although the Saudis and Emiratis may have overestimated the boycott’s ability to pressure Qatar, they may feel they have little to lose by continuing it.

“I think they are content to bleed Qatar,” said Mr. Roberts, the analyst. “There’s an indignant anger at what they see as a rich, cocooned, perfidious little state that is finally feeling the consequences of its actions.”

But as the dispute moved to the skies last week, with accusations of Qatari warplanes buzzing Emirati commercial jets, it highlighted how easily the crisis could escalate.

Both sides are bolstering their militaries. Since June, Tamim has ordered 36 F-15 warplanes from the United States, 24 Typhoon jets from Britain and 24 Rafale fighter jets from France--a sevenfold increase for an air force that currently has just 12 aircraft.

In December, his foes announced a new Saudi-Emirati military and economic alliance that further sidelines the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Qatar.

Days later, Tamim hosted a lavish banquet for President Emmanuel Macron of France at Idam, a French restaurant on the top floor of the Museum of Islamic Art that offers a shimmering panorama over the Doha skyline.

Over a sumptuous meal prepared by the celebrity chef Alain Ducasse, the two leaders toasted the deals they had signed that morning. The emir had ordered another 12 French fighter jets.

In a few decades, Qatar has been transformed from a pirate-infested backwater to the world’s wealthiest nation.

#Qatar #emir of Qatar #Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani

[clusterassets]

New world news from Time: Fireworks, Crystal Ball Help Usher in 2018 Around the World

From spectacular fireworks in Hong Kong and Australia to a huge LED lightshow at the world’s tallest building in Dubai, a look at how revelers around the world rang in 2018:

CALIFORNIA

The Golden State went green when the calendar turned to 2018.

Starting at midnight, California joined the growing list of states to legalize recreational marijuana. The moment is significant but will not be met with a non-stop pot party.

California has allowed medical marijuana for two decades, and the state is generally tolerant of the drug, so major changes are not expected as the laws are further eased. At least not on New Year’s Day.

More than 90 outlets received licenses to sell in time for Jan. 1. None of those outlets is holding a midnight opening, but some in San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area will be open for business starting at 6 a.m. Monday.

Some cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, will have to wait at least until later in the week before licensed outlets start selling there.

Still, some Californians ushered in the new year with marijuana.

Johnny Hernandez was celebrating legalization — which he described as “something we’ve all been waiting for” — by smoking “Happy New Year blunts” with his cousins in Modesto.

___

LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas police officers surrounded hundreds of thousands of tourists gathered to welcome the new year on the Strip, where just three months earlier 58 people died in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Police cruisers, dump trucks and other large vehicles blocked key intersections to try to prevent anyone from plowing into crowds filled with people wearing glittery hats, tiaras and other 2018-themed paraphernalia.

The Nevada National Guard activated about 350 soldiers and airmen, while federal authorities also deployed additional personnel.

A roughly eight-minute fireworks display at the top of seven of the city’s world-famous casino-hotels started ten seconds before midnight Monday. Sprays of gold, red and green lightened the sky on time for 2018.

Tourism officials expected 330,000 people to come to Sin City for the festivities on the Las Vegas Strip and downtown’s Fremont Street.

Rosy-cheeked visitors took selfies and livestreamed the celebration amid temperatures in the mid-40s (4 Celsius), much warmer than most of the U.S.

___

NEW YORK

With a burst of confetti and fireworks, throngs of revelers ushered in 2018 in a frigid Times Square as the glittering crystal ball dropped.

It was the second-coldest on record, with the temperature only 10 degrees (minus 12 degrees Celsius) in New York at midnight.

Partygoers bundled up in extra layers, wearing warm hats and face masks, dancing and jogging in place to ward off the cold.

There was also tighter security than ever after two terrorist attacks and a rampaging SUV driver who plowed into a crowd on the very spot where the party takes place. The party went off with no major problems.

“Auld Lang Syne” and “New York, New York” played as the crowds cheered.

The coldest ball drop celebration was in 1917, when it was only 1 degree (minus 17 Celsius).

___

BRAZIL

Rio de Janeiro’s main party was celebrated with fireworks erupting on Copacabana beach after the clock struck midnight to usher in the new year.

After 17 minutes of a multicolored show in the skies, singer Anitta led the party on stage with her single “Vai Malandra,” a song that scored 84 million views on YouTube in two weeks. Some of the city’s most traditional Carnival samba schools performed later.

New Mayor Marcelo Crivella said he believed the celebrations would bring 3 million people to the iconic beach, which would mean nearly half of Rio’s population. But locals said Brazil’s economic crisis is still impacting one of the city’s biggest parties. In 2017, 2 million people showed up at Copacabana beach, a number that hasn’t changed much over the years.

Almost 2,000 policemen patrolled the Copacabana region after yet another violent year on the streets. Rio’s hotel association said occupation is nearly total, but mostly by Brazilian tourists.

___

GERMANY

Germans rang in 2018 under tight security from police mindful of widespread sexual abuse of women in Cologne two years ago and of a terrorist attack on a Christmas market about a year ago.

Police in Berlin added 1,600 officers on duty and said that large bags and knapsacks would not be allowed on the Party Mile leading from Brandenburg Gate, where thousands of people celebrated at midnight. Police in Frankfurt imposed similar restrictions in the celebration area along the Main River in the country’s financial capital.

Two people died from fireworks injuries, but the country avoided a repeat of the mass groping in Cologne from 2016.

Two years ago, New Year’s in Cologne was marred by groping and theft committed against hundreds of women, in most cases by migrants. On Dec. 19, 2016, Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri drove a stolen truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people.

___

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, has again served as the focal point of New Year’s Eve celebrations — though this year authorities decided against fireworks and chose a massive LED lightshow on it.

That was in part due to safety in the city-state in the United Arab Emirates, which saw a massive skyscraper fire on New Year’s Eve in 2015.

The display, running down the east side of the 828-meter-tall (2,716-foot-tall) tower, showed Arabic calligraphy, geometric designs and a portrait of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s first president.

But a display of neighboring nations’ flags didn’t show Qatar’s flag. The UAE joined Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in boycotting the tiny energy-rich nation in June over allegations Doha supports extremists and has too close ties to Iran. Qatar, which will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, denies supporting extremists and shares a massive offshore natural gas field with Tehran.

___

VATICAN

Bidding 2017 farewell, Pope Francis has decried wars, injustices and environmental decay which he says have “ruined” the year.

Francis on Sunday presided at a New Year’s Eve prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica, a traditional occasion to say thanks in each year’s last hours.

He says God gave to us a 2017 “whole and sound,” but that “we humans in many ways ruined and hurt it with works of death, lies and injustices.”

But, he added, “gratitude prevails” thanks to those “cooperating silently for the common good.”

In keeping with past practice, the pope on New Year’s Day will celebrate Mass dedicated to the theme of world peace.

___

AUSTRALIA

Fireworks lit up the sky above Sydney Harbor, highlighting the city’s New Year’s celebrations.

The massive fireworks display included a rainbow waterfall cascade of lights and color flowing off the harbor’s bridge to celebrate recently passed legislation legalizing gay marriage in Australia.

More than 1 million people were expected to gather to watch the festivities. Security was tight, but officials said there was no particular alert.

Sydney officials said the event would generate about $170 million for the city and “priceless publicity.” Nearly half the revelers were tourists.

___

NEW ZEALAND

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders took to streets and beaches, becoming among the first in the world to usher in 2018.

As the new year dawned in this southern hemisphere nation, fireworks boomed and crackled above city centers and harbors, and party-goers sang, hugged, danced and kissed.

In Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, tens of thousands gathered around Sky Tower as five minutes of nonstop pyrotechnics exploded from the top of the structure.

But on nearby Waiheke Island, 30 kilometers (20 miles) away, authorities canceled the planned fireworks display because of drought conditions and low water supplies for firefighters.

___

UGANDA

Thousands of Ugandans gathered at churches across the country to mark the end of 2017.

The raucous events, during which some preachers are known to make dubious predictions, have become such a staple of New Year’s Eve festivities that the country’s longtime president, Yoweri Museveni, sometimes makes time to make an appearance at a church.

Still, many in this East African country prefer to celebrate at crowded beaches on the shores of Lake Victoria or in darkened halls listening to the music of pop stars who take turns offering crowd pleasers until midnight.

Police warned revelers not to burn car tires in celebration, citing safety reasons, to discourage a favorite activity of those, especially in the countryside, who cannot afford fireworks.

___

RUSSIA

As Russians counted down the last moments before 2018 ticked over into each of the country’s 11 time zones, President Vladimir Putin called on them to be considerate and conciliatory with each other in the new year.

“Say the most cherished words to each other, forgive mistakes and resentment, admit love, warm up with care and attention,” Putin said in a televised message broadcast on Sunday just before midnight.

Moscow had fireworks and outdoor gatherings despite weather that was less than festive. Usually festooned with snow at New Year’s Eve, the Russian capital slogged through a long spell of intermittent rain and constant gray skies.

___

JAPAN

Many Japanese celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Dog in the traditional way of praying for peace and good fortune at neighborhood Shinto shrines and eating New Year’s food such as noodles, shrimp and sweet black beans.

Barbecued beef and octopus dumpling stalls were out at Tokyo’s Zojoji Temple, where people took turns striking the giant bell 108 times at midnight, an annual practice repeated at other Buddhist temples throughout Japan.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs cast a shadow over Japan’s hopes for peace, said cab driver Masaru Eguchi, who was ready to be busy all night shuttling shrine visitors.

“The world situation has grown so complex,” Eguchi said, adding that he also worried about possible terrorism targeting Japan. “I feel this very abstracted sense of uncertainty, although I really have no idea what might happen.”

___

INDIA

Security was tight in the southern Indian city of Bangalore to prevent a repeat of incidents of groping and molestation of several women during New Year’s Eve celebrations a year ago.

Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar said at least 15,000 police officers were on duty and were being aided by drones and closed-circuit television cameras.

A year ago, police first denied that any sexual harassment had taken place during the celebrations in Bangalore, India’s information technology hub. But later, police detained at least six men after several video clips of women being attacked by groups of men spread on social media.

___

PHILIPPINES

Scores of people were injured by celebratory firecrackers in the Philippines, which has some of the most raucous New Year’s celebrations in Asia.

Although the number of injuries has tapered off in recent years, largely due to hard economic times and government scare campaigns, the figures remain alarming. President Rodrigo Duterte signed an order confining the use of firecrackers to community-designated areas, such as near shopping malls and parks.

Many Filipinos, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, believe that noisy New Year’s celebrations drive away evil and misfortune. But they have carried that superstition to extremes, exploding dangerously large firecrackers and firing guns to welcome the new year despite threats of arrest.

___

TURKEY

Security measures were ramped up across Turkey, which a year ago was hit by a New Year’s attack that killed dozens of people.

In Istanbul, 37,000 officers were on duty, with multiple streets closed to traffic and large vehicles barred from entering certain districts. Several New Year’s Eve street parties were canceled for security reasons.

Early on Jan. 1, 2017, an assailant shot his way into Istanbul’s Reina nightclub, where hundreds of people were celebrating New Year’s. Thirty-nine people, mostly foreigners, were killed, and 79 were wounded. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

On Sunday, about 100 people gathered outside the nightclub to remember the victims of the attack.

___

LAS VEGAS

Tens of thousands of revelers will ring in the new year in Las Vegas under the close eye of law enforcement just three months after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Tourism officials expect about 330,000 people to visit Las Vegas for the festivities, which are anchored by a roughly eight-minute fireworks display at the top of seven casino-hotels.

Acts including Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Celine Dion and the Foo Fighters will keep partiers entertained before and after midnight at properties across Sin City.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had every officer working Sunday, while the Nevada National Guard activated about 350 soldiers and airmen.

The federal government sent dozens of personnel to assist with intelligence and other efforts.

January 01, 2018 at 01:23AM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com

#Time #world #news #ClusterAssets #ClusterAsset #Cluster Asset Inc. #ClusterAssets Inc.

[identybeautynet]

Famous Tourist Destinations 2022

Famous Tourist Destinations 20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Travelers are always looking for inspiration to guide their adventures. Coming up with a list of places to visit can be challenging when you're staring at a globe. What are the top tourist attractions in the world? The most iconic sites that all travelers have on their bucket-list of things to see around the globe? Some destinations just stand out above the rest. Many are the type of places where you can take a photo, and it requires no explanation to identify the location: the Eiffel Tower or the Colosseum. But some places are less well known to new travelers or those who have not yet ventured out to the more exotic destinations. These can often be the most rewarding to visit. For many of these attractions, it's what they symbolize and the destinations they represent that make them so significant. In other cases, it is the site itself that makes it worth visiting the country. Some of these are the more popular UNESCO World Heritage sites. If you're looking to start your own checklist of places to visit during your life, begin with our list of the top tourist attractions in the world. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. 1. Eiffel Tower, Paris   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Eiffel Tower at night | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The symbol of Paris and one of the most photographed structures in the world, a visit to the Eiffel Tower is a must for all travelers. Few landmarks inspire such a passion for travel as this single iron structure. Young travelers heading out on the road for the first time, couples looking for a special getaway, artists looking to spur their creativity, and romantics of all types are all drawn to Paris. This is a city where history and culture collide and where travelers of all kinds can find the experience they're after.   2. The Colosseum, Rome   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World The Colosseum   The most famous and largest structure still standing from the Roman Empire, the Colosseum is also the biggest attraction of modern-day Rome. It's been a bucket-list destination of travelers for generations. And it does not disappoint. Set in the heart of the city, the Colosseum is an easy place to visit. Direct flights from around the world land in Rome daily, making it a destination you can visit in a weekend if you choose. Wander through Rome's ancient streets, tour the colosseum, and if time allows, plan a trip to other areas of Italy.   3. Statue of Liberty, New York City   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Statue of Liberty   America is full of great sights and places to visit, but it's the Statue of Liberty that represents the United States like no other place. This symbol of freedom in New York City was gifted by the French to the American people in 1896. Of all the attractions in New York City, this is one every tourist must see. The best thing to do at the Statue of Liberty is to take a ride up to her crown and soak up the view over the city. Access to the statue is via ferry, also a highlight of a visit.   4. Machu Picchu, Peru   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Machu Picchu | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If you are planning to see only one attraction in South America, this is the place to come. The ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu is arguably the most impressive ruined city in the world. Much of the attraction comes from its location, high in the jungle-clad mountains of Peru. Set on a high plateau with soaring green mountains, the setting is surreal. The sheer tenacity of the original builders to create this amazing place in what would have been impenetrable jungle, is, in itself, impressive. Visitor numbers are now limited to a maximum per day, so the experience has been greatly enhanced. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Peru   5. The Acropolis, Athens   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World The Acropolis in Athens | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   Perched above present day Athens, the Acropolis draws you up and in. Follow in the footsteps of ancients as you walk up the same steps that have been walked on since 438 BC - 2,500 years. Views out over the city are incredible as you walk between the meticulously restored ancient buildings. Near the end of the day, you'll want to linger and watch the sunset from the stairs near the entrance. This is a nightly ritual in Athens. The site is also impressive looking up at it from the city below. Spend an evening dining on a rooftop patio to soak in the view of the hilltop ruins lit up at night.   6. The Taj Mahal, India   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Taj Mahal | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The Taj Mahal is the one sight in India that all travelers need to see. The country is filled with incredible cities and fabulous places to visit, but the 17th-century Taj Mahal is the one place that says you've been to India. This mausoleum, commissioned by the Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, is known internationally as a symbol of love. This fantastic structure, made with inlaid precious and semi-precious stones, has to be visited to be fully appreciated. Its riverfront setting, surrounding gardens, and reflecting pools are also what make the Taj Mahal so special. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in India   7. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Pyramids of Giza | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If you've visited places like the Colosseum in Rome or the Acropolis in Athens, built over 2,000 years ago, you may think you have a good handle on ancient sites. But the Pyramids of Giza take ancient to a whole other level. These were built over 4,500 years ago. Tourists were coming to see these magnificent structures literally thousands of years ago. Located just outside Cairo, the pyramids, which is also where you'll find the Sphinx, are easy to get to, and tours are easy to arrange. A sunset camel ride around the structures is a wonderful experience.   8. Great Wall of China   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Great Wall of China   In a land of modern cities and towering skyscrapers, the Great Wall of China, built between the 14th and 17th centuries, is a stark contrast but a striking image that all visitors to China should see. A stroll along the top of the wall provides an incredible view of the structure snaking off into the distance. The wall stretches an astounding 21,196 kilometers, through some remote areas. Many travelers seeing the sights of China choose to visit the wall on easily organized tours from Beijing, a relatively short motorcoach ride away.   9. Angkor Wat, Cambodia   Stone faces at Angkor Wat | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   Surrounded by jungle and, in some cases, overgrown with huge trees and roots, the ancient structures of the Angkor complex may look like a movie set to some visitors. Wandering through Angkor Wat, the main centerpiece of the complex, it's easy to feel like you've entered another era. This is without a doubt, one of the most impressive sites in Southeast Asia and the main reason many people visit Cambodia. The stone faces peering out over the buildings and gates are images that you won't soon forget.   10. Petra, Jordan   Petra   You may have an Indiana Jones feeling as you walk through a 1.2-kilometer-long narrow crack in the sandstone hills and emerge into a hidden city. First built over 2,000 years ago and lost to the outside world for 600 years, the city was only discovered in 1812. Stunning buildings are carved directly into the red rock walls and are wonderfully preserved, just begging to be explored and photographed. If you arrive early, an eerie silence, coupled with long shadows, give this abandoned city a special feel. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Jordan   11. Grand Canyon, USA   Grand Canyon | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The greatest natural attraction in the United States, the Grand Canyon is a key sight for all travelers planning their lifetime of adventures. Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon, looking out over the carved landscape, will awaken your senses. Several hikes in the canyon and along the rim offer unique perspectives. Walk even a short distance down the Bright Angel trail to gain additional views and to experience what the canyon is like below the rim. For even more adventure plan a rafting trip down the Colorado River through the canyon. The Grand Canyon looks different throughout the day and at different times of the year. One trip is never enough. If you are going to add this place to your to-see list, consider what you want to do here to determine the best time to visit.   12. Stonehenge, England   Stonehenge   Stonehenge is one of those places that makes you ponder what went on here over 4,500 years ago. It's long been a mystery to historians, and has captured the imagination of countless visitors. Despite the large number of tourists that descend on Stonehenge, the place still has a mystical feel. At the site, giant stones, some standing, some fallen, are set in two roughly circular patterns that are oriented to highlight the summer and winter solstices. For a truly memorable experience, plan your visit during one of these times. An easy day trip from London, Stonehenge can easily be worked into your UK itinerary.   13. Borobudur, Indonesia   Sunrise at Borobudur   Set in a steamy jungle with three volcanoes providing the backdrop, Borobudur is Indonesia's top tourist attraction. Borobudur dates from the 9th century and is one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world. It's a fascinating place to wander about. Over 500 Buddhas are spread around the site, some of which sit under ornate stupas. Try to visit early in the morning when you'll have the best chance of experiencing a bit of early mist, and the view to the volcanoes will be the clearest.   14. Niagara Falls, Canada & USA   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Niagara Falls in winter | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   On the border between the United States and Canada, these great falls have been drawing explorers and travelers for centuries. Just over an hour from the city of Toronto, Niagara Falls is easy to get to, and the town is a fun place to spend a night or two. Walk up to the edge of the falls, stroll along the paved walk lining the gorge for different views, or take a boat tour for a close-up look at the water pouring over the lip of the gorge above you. For a bird's-eye view, head up the Skylon Tower to look out over the falls. At night, see the falls lit in different colors. If you're visiting in winter, watch the huge plume of mist rising into the sky above the falls. 15. Bagan, Myanmar   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Bagan, Mayanmar | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   While this ancient site may not be on the average traveler's radar, it's another of Southeast Asia's bucket-list attractions. Spread out over a lush plain are more than 10,000 sacred structures dating from 1044 through to 1287. Hire a bicycle and pedal your way from one amazing structure to the next, or take a tour. Some of the structures can be entered, but the real beauty is the sheer number that dot the landscape. For an aerial view, consider taking a hot air balloon tour at dawn.   16. Sydney Opera House   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Sydney Harbour   Like many other attractions around the world, the Sydney Opera House is one of those places that is easy to identify and obviously associated with Australia. A photo of yourself in front of the white sails screams Australia. The Sydney Opera House was built in several stages and officially opened in late 1973. To fully experience the building, take a tour inside to see the unique shape and hear the exceptional acoustics. Soak up the view from the Opera House area back towards the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.   17. Mount Kilimanjaro   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Mount Kilimanjaro   The highest peak in all of Africa, this majestic mountain - a dormant volcano - is one of the most recognizable symbols of the continent. The snowcapped peak is often the backdrop to photographs of the wild animals that roam Amboseli National Park and other areas. You can see this beautiful sight from afar or tackle the multi-day hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro for the fantastic views over the land and to watch the sunrise. - Read More - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Tanzania   18. The Louvre, Paris   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World The Louvre, Paris | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If there is one museum in the whole world that you absolutely must see in your life, it's the Louvre. Even if you are not a fan of museums, this one is worth the trip to Paris to see. Although most people know it as the home to the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, this is just one of the reasons to visit the Louvre. The museum holds countless masterpieces by the greatest artists that have ever lived. But even the building itself is an icon. The glass pyramids and the 18th-century building are recognizable to almost everyone, and have been shown in countless movies.   19. Forbidden City, China   Famous Tourist Destinations ,20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Forbidden City   Like the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Beijing is one of the top places to visit in China. The sprawling complex dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and is a spectacular example of historical China. Over the centuries, the palace has housed 24 Ming and Qing Emperors. Inside the city, the Palace Museum holds over 340,000 artifacts showcasing the treasures of China's dynasties. In front of the Forbidden City is Tiananmen square.   20. Prague Castle, Czech Republic   Famous Tourist Destinations - IDENTYBEAUTY Prague Castle   Sitting atop a hill across the river from the center of the city, Prague Castle casts an imposing aura over its surroundings. The castle is an incredible collection of buildings constructed from the 9th to 14th century. Stroll over the ornate 14th-century Charles Bridge spanning the Vltava River and head up the hill to wander the narrow, twisty streets in the castle complex. The castle is one of the largest in the world, and around almost every corner is a historical building, church, or open square. Famous Tourist Destinations - IDENTYBEAUTY Read the full article

[identybeautynet]

Famous Tourist Destinations 2022

Famous Tourist Destinations 20 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in the World Travelers are always looking for inspiration to guide their adventures. Coming up with a list of places to visit can be challenging when you're staring at a globe. What are the top tourist attractions in the world? The most iconic sites that all travelers have on their bucket-list of things to see around the globe? Some destinations just stand out above the rest. Many are the type of places where you can take a photo, and it requires no explanation to identify the location: the Eiffel Tower or the Colosseum. But some places are less well known to new travelers or those who have not yet ventured out to the more exotic destinations. These can often be the most rewarding to visit. For many of these attractions, it's what they symbolize and the destinations they represent that make them so significant. In other cases, it is the site itself that makes it worth visiting the country. Some of these are the more popular UNESCO World Heritage sites. If you're looking to start your own checklist of places to visit during your life, begin with our list of the top tourist attractions in the world. Note: Some businesses may be temporarily closed due to recent global health and safety issues. 1. Eiffel Tower, Paris   Eiffel Tower at night | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The symbol of Paris and one of the most photographed structures in the world, a visit to the Eiffel Tower is a must for all travelers. Few landmarks inspire such a passion for travel as this single iron structure. Young travelers heading out on the road for the first time, couples looking for a special getaway, artists looking to spur their creativity, and romantics of all types are all drawn to Paris. This is a city where history and culture collide and where travelers of all kinds can find the experience they're after.   2. The Colosseum, Rome   The Colosseum   The most famous and largest structure still standing from the Roman Empire, the Colosseum is also the biggest attraction of modern-day Rome. It's been a bucket-list destination of travelers for generations. And it does not disappoint. Set in the heart of the city, the Colosseum is an easy place to visit. Direct flights from around the world land in Rome daily, making it a destination you can visit in a weekend if you choose. Wander through Rome's ancient streets, tour the colosseum, and if time allows, plan a trip to other areas of Italy.   3. Statue of Liberty, New York City   Statue of Liberty   America is full of great sights and places to visit, but it's the Statue of Liberty that represents the United States like no other place. This symbol of freedom in New York City was gifted by the French to the American people in 1896. Of all the attractions in New York City, this is one every tourist must see. The best thing to do at the Statue of Liberty is to take a ride up to her crown and soak up the view over the city. Access to the statue is via ferry, also a highlight of a visit.   4. Machu Picchu, Peru   Machu Picchu | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If you are planning to see only one attraction in South America, this is the place to come. The ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu is arguably the most impressive ruined city in the world. Much of the attraction comes from its location, high in the jungle-clad mountains of Peru. Set on a high plateau with soaring green mountains, the setting is surreal. The sheer tenacity of the original builders to create this amazing place in what would have been impenetrable jungle, is, in itself, impressive. Visitor numbers are now limited to a maximum per day, so the experience has been greatly enhanced. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Peru   5. The Acropolis, Athens   The Acropolis in Athens | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   Perched above present day Athens, the Acropolis draws you up and in. Follow in the footsteps of ancients as you walk up the same steps that have been walked on since 438 BC - 2,500 years. Views out over the city are incredible as you walk between the meticulously restored ancient buildings. Near the end of the day, you'll want to linger and watch the sunset from the stairs near the entrance. This is a nightly ritual in Athens. The site is also impressive looking up at it from the city below. Spend an evening dining on a rooftop patio to soak in the view of the hilltop ruins lit up at night.   6. The Taj Mahal, India   Taj Mahal | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The Taj Mahal is the one sight in India that all travelers need to see. The country is filled with incredible cities and fabulous places to visit, but the 17th-century Taj Mahal is the one place that says you've been to India. This mausoleum, commissioned by the Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, is known internationally as a symbol of love. This fantastic structure, made with inlaid precious and semi-precious stones, has to be visited to be fully appreciated. Its riverfront setting, surrounding gardens, and reflecting pools are also what make the Taj Mahal so special. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in India   7. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt   Pyramids of Giza | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If you've visited places like the Colosseum in Rome or the Acropolis in Athens, built over 2,000 years ago, you may think you have a good handle on ancient sites. But the Pyramids of Giza take ancient to a whole other level. These were built over 4,500 years ago. Tourists were coming to see these magnificent structures literally thousands of years ago. Located just outside Cairo, the pyramids, which is also where you'll find the Sphinx, are easy to get to, and tours are easy to arrange. A sunset camel ride around the structures is a wonderful experience.   8. Great Wall of China   Great Wall of China   In a land of modern cities and towering skyscrapers, the Great Wall of China, built between the 14th and 17th centuries, is a stark contrast but a striking image that all visitors to China should see. A stroll along the top of the wall provides an incredible view of the structure snaking off into the distance. The wall stretches an astounding 21,196 kilometers, through some remote areas. Many travelers seeing the sights of China choose to visit the wall on easily organized tours from Beijing, a relatively short motorcoach ride away.   9. Angkor Wat, Cambodia   Stone faces at Angkor Wat | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   Surrounded by jungle and, in some cases, overgrown with huge trees and roots, the ancient structures of the Angkor complex may look like a movie set to some visitors. Wandering through Angkor Wat, the main centerpiece of the complex, it's easy to feel like you've entered another era. This is without a doubt, one of the most impressive sites in Southeast Asia and the main reason many people visit Cambodia. The stone faces peering out over the buildings and gates are images that you won't soon forget.   10. Petra, Jordan   Petra   You may have an Indiana Jones feeling as you walk through a 1.2-kilometer-long narrow crack in the sandstone hills and emerge into a hidden city. First built over 2,000 years ago and lost to the outside world for 600 years, the city was only discovered in 1812. Stunning buildings are carved directly into the red rock walls and are wonderfully preserved, just begging to be explored and photographed. If you arrive early, an eerie silence, coupled with long shadows, give this abandoned city a special feel. - Read More: - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Jordan   11. Grand Canyon, USA   Grand Canyon | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   The greatest natural attraction in the United States, the Grand Canyon is a key sight for all travelers planning their lifetime of adventures. Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon, looking out over the carved landscape, will awaken your senses. Several hikes in the canyon and along the rim offer unique perspectives. Walk even a short distance down the Bright Angel trail to gain additional views and to experience what the canyon is like below the rim. For even more adventure plan a rafting trip down the Colorado River through the canyon. The Grand Canyon looks different throughout the day and at different times of the year. One trip is never enough. If you are going to add this place to your to-see list, consider what you want to do here to determine the best time to visit.   12. Stonehenge, England   Stonehenge   Stonehenge is one of those places that makes you ponder what went on here over 4,500 years ago. It's long been a mystery to historians, and has captured the imagination of countless visitors. Despite the large number of tourists that descend on Stonehenge, the place still has a mystical feel. At the site, giant stones, some standing, some fallen, are set in two roughly circular patterns that are oriented to highlight the summer and winter solstices. For a truly memorable experience, plan your visit during one of these times. An easy day trip from London, Stonehenge can easily be worked into your UK itinerary.   13. Borobudur, Indonesia   Sunrise at Borobudur   Set in a steamy jungle with three volcanoes providing the backdrop, Borobudur is Indonesia's top tourist attraction. Borobudur dates from the 9th century and is one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world. It's a fascinating place to wander about. Over 500 Buddhas are spread around the site, some of which sit under ornate stupas. Try to visit early in the morning when you'll have the best chance of experiencing a bit of early mist, and the view to the volcanoes will be the clearest.   14. Niagara Falls, Canada & USA   Niagara Falls in winter | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   On the border between the United States and Canada, these great falls have been drawing explorers and travelers for centuries. Just over an hour from the city of Toronto, Niagara Falls is easy to get to, and the town is a fun place to spend a night or two. Walk up to the edge of the falls, stroll along the paved walk lining the gorge for different views, or take a boat tour for a close-up look at the water pouring over the lip of the gorge above you. For a bird's-eye view, head up the Skylon Tower to look out over the falls. At night, see the falls lit in different colors. If you're visiting in winter, watch the huge plume of mist rising into the sky above the falls. 15. Bagan, Myanmar   Bagan, Mayanmar | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   While this ancient site may not be on the average traveler's radar, it's another of Southeast Asia's bucket-list attractions. Spread out over a lush plain are more than 10,000 sacred structures dating from 1044 through to 1287. Hire a bicycle and pedal your way from one amazing structure to the next, or take a tour. Some of the structures can be entered, but the real beauty is the sheer number that dot the landscape. For an aerial view, consider taking a hot air balloon tour at dawn.   16. Sydney Opera House   Sydney Harbour   Like many other attractions around the world, the Sydney Opera House is one of those places that is easy to identify and obviously associated with Australia. A photo of yourself in front of the white sails screams Australia. The Sydney Opera House was built in several stages and officially opened in late 1973. To fully experience the building, take a tour inside to see the unique shape and hear the exceptional acoustics. Soak up the view from the Opera House area back towards the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.   17. Mount Kilimanjaro   Mount Kilimanjaro   The highest peak in all of Africa, this majestic mountain - a dormant volcano - is one of the most recognizable symbols of the continent. The snowcapped peak is often the backdrop to photographs of the wild animals that roam Amboseli National Park and other areas. You can see this beautiful sight from afar or tackle the multi-day hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro for the fantastic views over the land and to watch the sunrise. - Read More - Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Tanzania   18. The Louvre, Paris   The Louvre, Paris | Photo Copyright: Lana Law   If there is one museum in the whole world that you absolutely must see in your life, it's the Louvre. Even if you are not a fan of museums, this one is worth the trip to Paris to see. Although most people know it as the home to the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, this is just one of the reasons to visit the Louvre. The museum holds countless masterpieces by the greatest artists that have ever lived. But even the building itself is an icon. The glass pyramids and the 18th-century building are recognizable to almost everyone, and have been shown in countless movies.   19. Forbidden City, China   Forbidden City   Like the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Beijing is one of the top places to visit in China. The sprawling complex dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and is a spectacular example of historical China. Over the centuries, the palace has housed 24 Ming and Qing Emperors. Inside the city, the Palace Museum holds over 340,000 artifacts showcasing the treasures of China's dynasties. In front of the Forbidden City is Tiananmen square.   20. Prague Castle, Czech Republic   Prague Castle   Sitting atop a hill across the river from the center of the city, Prague Castle casts an imposing aura over its surroundings. The castle is an incredible collection of buildings constructed from the 9th to 14th century. Stroll over the ornate 14th-century Charles Bridge spanning the Vltava River and head up the hill to wander the narrow, twisty streets in the castle complex. The castle is one of the largest in the world, and around almost every corner is a historical building, church, or open square. Famous Tourist Destinations - IDENTYBEAUTY Read the full article