A highly addictive drug that became Syria’s economic lifeline over a decade of isolation may now be serving as a bargaining chip as it tries to normalize ties with neighboring states, analysts say.

Captagon, a drug that is relatively unknown outside the Middle East, helped Syria turn into a narco-state after much of the international community cut off its economy due to its brutal crackdown on an uprising in 2011.

It is a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant, fenethylline, which goes by the trade name captagon, and has become the center of an increasing number of drug busts across the Middle East. Experts say the vast majority of global captagon production occurs in Syria, with the Gulf region being its primary destination.

The growth of the industry has raised alarms in the international community. Last year, the US introduced the 2022 US Captagon Act, which linked the trade to the Syrian regime and called it a “transnational security threat.”

After more than a decade of boycotting him, Syria’s Arab neighbors are now in talks to bring President Bashar al-Assad in from the cold. The Syrian leader has been received in some Arab capitals, but he is yet to be awarded the ultimate normalization with Saudi Arabia, one of Syria’s staunchest foes – and the biggest market for its drugs.

Following the deadly February 6 earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, Saudi relief planes landed for the first time in a decade at regime-controlled airports. And last month, Saudi state media reported Riyadh was in talks with Damascus to resume providing consular services between the two countries.

Analysts say captagon is likely to be high on the agenda in attempts at normalization.

Saudi media has been sounding the alarm lately over the rise in drug use. In September, Saudi authorities announced the largest seizure of illicit drugs in the country’s history after nearly 47 million amphetamine pills were hidden in a flour shipment and seized at a warehouse in the capital Riyadh. Millions more pills have been intercepted since. The UN says amphetamine seizures in the region refer predominantly to captagon.

“Captagon has been touted as a ‘card’ in rapprochement talks between the Syrian regime and counterparts pursuing normalization,” said Caroline Rose, director of the New Lines Institute’s Project on the Captagon Trade in Washington, DC.

Exported by several actors, including Syrian smugglers, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and pro-Iranian Iraqi militias, “the captagon smuggling is worth more than Syria’s legal export,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and an expert on the topic. Hezbollah has denied ties to any drug trades.

The United Kingdom, which last month imposed new sanctions on Syrians connected to the trade, said the Assad regime has benefited from the captagon trade to the tune of $57 billion. It described it as a “financial lifeline” for Assad that is “worth approximately three times the combined trade of the Mexican (drug) cartels.”

Syrian state media regularly reports on captagon drug busts, saying that the interior ministry is cracking down on its trade as well as that of other narcotics.

Smugglers ‘get military training’

Salah Malkawi, a Jordanian analyst who follows the trade closely, says that despite Syria’s denial, it is impossible for the drug to cross borders without the involvement of several actors closely tied to Assad and his regime.

“Commanders of militias, security agencies, military forces are involved in the drug smuggling operation,” Malkawi said. “The drugs cannot reach these areas without passing through dozens of barriers and checkpoints that fall under the Fourth Division, which is under the leadership of Maher al-Assad, the brother of the Syrian president.”

“I’ve spoken to several (smugglers),” he said. “They have received military training … using war tactics … to carry out sophisticated raids.”

Jordan, which supported anti-regime groups at the start of the Syrian civil war, has in recent months also been on the road to rapprochement with Assad.

Its foreign minister this year made his first visit to Damascus since the start of the Syrian civil war and has been sending humanitarian aid following the February 6 earthquake.

Jordan has been directly impacted by Syria’s captagon trade due to the prevalence of its use in border regions in the northeast of the country, said Saud Al-Sharafat, a former brigadier general in the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate, as well as founder of the Shorufat ِCenter for the Study of Globalization and Terrorism in Amman, Jordan.

He welcomed the US Captagon Act as “the first serious international effort” to prevent the regime from expanding its use of the drug “to destabilize security in the region and the world.” Syria could potentially flood Europe and Western countries with the drug through Turkey and use it as a bargaining chip against them, he said.

But even if agreements are reached between Syria and its neighbors over stopping exports of the drug, experts say it is unlikely that Assad will fully abandon the trade.

“That’s asking the key trafficker to stop his business,” Felbab-Brown said. “It is very unlikely that the Assad regime would give up on its crucial revenue source.”

At best, he may offer cosmetic solutions to the problem, experts say, promising tighter restrictions and tougher law enforcement at home on producers and traders, whom the regime denies it is involved with.

Rose of the New Lines Institute said that the regime may maintain its captagon businesses as a form of long-term leverage against its neighbors, while maintaining “some level of plausible deniability with the trade, blaming opposition forces and non-state actors, while undertaking a wave of cosmetic seizures at home to shift the blame away from the government.”

Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report.

The digest

Israeli’s spy agency encouraged protests against government, leaked US report says

A leaked US intelligence report about Israel has sparked outrage in Jerusalem. The report, produced by the CIA and sourced to signals intelligence, says that Israel’s main intelligence agency, the Mossad, had been encouraging protests against the country’s new government – “including several explicit calls to action.” The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office responded on the Mossad’s behalf Sunday morning, calling the report “mendacious and without any foundation whatsoever.” It added: “The Mossad and its senior officials did not – and do not – encourage agency personnel to join the demonstrations against the government, political demonstrations or any political activity.”

Saudi and Omani delegations arrive in Yemen for talks with Houthi leaders

Delegations of Saudi and Omani negotiators arrived in Yemen’s capital Sana’a on Saturday for talks with Houthi leaders, according to the Houthi-run news agency Saba. The Saudi and Omani delegations will meet with the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi Al-Mashat, to discuss “lifting the siege with all its repercussions, stopping the aggression, and restoring all the rightful rights of the Yemeni people, including the payment of salaries of all state employees from oil and gas revenues,” Saba reported, citing sources. Houthi officials also said 13 prisoners released by Saudi authorities as part of a prisoner swap had arrived at Sanaa International Airport on Saturday.

Controversial Israeli minister joins thousands of settlers marching to illegal outpost in occupied West Bank

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir joined thousands of Israeli settlers marching to an illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank on Monday afternoon. The rally was organized by activist groups who want to legalize the outpost at Evyatar. A spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas described the march as an “invasion of settler militias, led by ministers from the Israeli occupation government,” that “does not change the fact that it is Palestinian land,” according to the Palestinian News Agency WAFA.

$400 million

Abu Dhabi technology company e& has agreed to take a 50.3% stake in a super app managed by Careem, Uber’s Middle East subsidiary, in a transaction valued at $400 million, Reuters cited the company as saying on Monday. The ride-hailing business will be separated from the Careem super app business and will be fully owned by Uber. The super app offers services outside its core ride-hailing business such as food delivery, bike rentals, digital payments and courier services.

Around the region

A video of an imam leading prayer in a mosque as a surprise furry guest abruptly joins his congregation went viral on social media, with many praising the Muslim prayer leader for keeping his cool as the cat climbs up his chest and rests on his shoulder.

The clip of imam Walid Mehsas, which was captured at a mosque in Algeria, garnered millions of views and was picked up by international media channels.

The video even triggered a cartoon drawing of the moment by artist Karim Saidi, which was also shared widely on social media, and started a debate about Islam’s position on cats. Unlike dogs, Islam considers cats to be clean enough to be allowed into mosques, and the felines can often be seen roaming around worshippers.

Speaking in a video published on his official Facebook page, Mehsas on Saturday said the incident was spontaneous. He also urged worshipers to remember that Islam dictates mercy towards all animals, and denied rumors that the Algerian government rewarded him for his kindness to the animal.

Photo of the day

Golden State forward Draymond Green was ejected for an apparent stamp on the chest of Sacramento forward Domantas Sabonis in the Warriors’ Game 2 loss to the Kings in the NBA playoffs on Monday.

In the fourth quarter of the game – which the Kings eventually won 114-106 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series – Sabonis fell to the ground after a coming together and appeared to wrap his arms around Green’s leg.

As the Warriors ran in the opposite direction down the court with the ball, Green appeared to stamp on Sabonis’ chest, with the Lithuanian left writhing on the ground in a significant amount of discomfort.

After a lengthy review by the officials – which Sabonis spent the majority laying on the court receiving treatment – the Kings big man was handed a technical foul for holding Green’s leg while Green was given a flagrant 2 foul, resulting in an automatic ejection.

In an already hostile atmosphere at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center, Green was the subject of jeers from the Kings faithful; the 33-year-old enflamed those emotions by cupping his hand to his ear, waving his hands and standing on a chair.

Green defended himself after the contest, pointing to an incident in Game 1 of the series on Saturday involving Sacramento’s Malik Monk which he believed was similar.

“My leg got grabbed. The second time in two nights with the referees just watching,” he told reporters.

“I got to land my foot somewhere and I am not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far. I can only step so far and pulling my leg away, so it is what it is.”

When asked what the referees had told him, Green said: “The explanation was I stomped too hard. It was Monk last game so either you’re going to stop it.

“(Referee) John Goble was looking at Monk hold my leg the last game and he just let it go, and Zach (Zarba) was clearly watching my leg get held this game and let it go, so I guess ankle grabbing is okay.”

Green posted on his Instagram story later a photo of the incident with the caption: “Nothing wrong here. Solid basketball play!!”

Sabonis himself downplayed the incident after the victory in which he racked up 24 points and nine rebounds.

“We’re both fighting for the rebound,” Sabonis said in his postgame interview on TNT. “We fell on each other. Stuff happens. It’s basketball. We’ve got to move on to the next play.”

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Sabonis underwent X-rays on his ribs and lungs to determine if the stamp had caused any serious injuries; Wojnarowski later tweeted that those scans had come back negative.

The incident came during what was a pulsating Game 2 of the series between the two California teams in front of a raucous crowd in Sacramento.

Having won its first playoff game in 17 years in the opening game of the series, it got even better for the Kings on Monday night behind Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox – who pitched in 24 points, five rebounds and nine assists.

Kings guard Monk added 18 points off the bench as the reigning champion Warriors struggled to cope with the intensity of Sacramento.

Warriors stars Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins scored 28 points and 22 points respectively, but it wasn’t enough to overcome 20 turnovers and foul trouble.

The result means that Golden State have fallen into a 0-2 hole in a playoff series for the first time since 2007.

Game 3 will take place at the Warriors’ Chase Center on Thursday.

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who has been cleared to resume football activities, said Tuesday his cardiac arrest during an NFL game in January was caused by commotio cordis.

Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle and appearing to be hit with a helmet in his chest during the first quarter of the Bills’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2.

Commotio cordis can occur when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s electrical charge and causes dangerous fibrillations.

“I died on national TV in front of the whole world,” Hamlin said in his first session with reporters since the injury. “I lost a bunch of people in my life. I know a bunch of people who lost people in their lives. I know that feeling. That right there is the biggest blessing of it all – for me to still have my people and my people to still have me.”

The 25-year-old has been at the Bills’ practice facility in Orchard Park, New York, participating in voluntary offseason workouts this week, according to the team.

“He is fully cleared,” Bills General Manager Brandon Beane told reporters. “He’s here.”

Hamlin said he was blessed to have a wonderful medical staff who “treat me with the care of their children.”

The safety said his heart is still in the game and he was announcing his comeback to the NFL.

“I just want to show people that fear is a choice. You can keep going at something without having the answers and without knowing what’s at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “You might feel anxious – you might feel any type of way – but you just keep putting that right foot in front of the left one and you keep going. I want to stand for that.”

Beane said that Hamlin had seen three separate specialists over the offseason, who all agreed that the player “is clear to resume full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury.”

“(Hamlin’s) in a great headspace to come back and make his return,” Beane added.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott said the team is happy that Hamlin is back.

“We’re super excited for Damar. He’s moving forward one step at a time here. He’s been cleared from a physical standpoint,” McDermott said.

“We’ll provide all of the mental help we can from a mind, body and spirit standpoint so just happy for him that he’s been able to check some of those boxes to this point and we’re moving forward taking it one day at a time.”

According to the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, if no underlying cardiac abnormalities are discovered through testing, athletes who have been resuscitated from commotio cordis may return to playing.

Hamlin likely went through a lot of tests, including electrocardiograms and echocardiograms, before doctors cleared him to return to training.

A protester disrupted the World Snooker Championship on Monday by climbing onto the table and throwing a bag of orange powder paint over the playing surface.

Video footage shows the man – who was wearing a ‘Just Stop Oil’ t-shirt – running from the crowd and leaping onto the table during the game between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry.

While kneeling on the table, he then managed to empty a pack of orange powder paint on the green surface before being bundled away by security.

At the same time, another protester could also be seen trying to disrupt the other game between Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi, but she was stopped by the referee and quickly taken away by security.

Despite the incident lasting no more than a few seconds, the clean up operation took a while longer.

The game between Milkins and Perry was postponed until Tuesday as the table needed to be re-clothed, while the game between Allen and Fan restarted after a 40-minute delay.

Protest group Just Stop Oil named the two activists as Margaret Reid, 52, and Eddie Whittingham, 25, and said the pair were “demanding” UK sporting institutions to “join in civil resistance” against the use of fossil fuels.

In a press release, the organization said the pair had been taken away by security and arrested.

‘It’s a first’

“I have never seen that before at a snooker event. It’s a first,” former world champion and current pundit Stephen Hendry told the BBC during its coverage of the tournament. “It’s scary, actually.”

The World Snooker Tour, who organizes the tournament, tweeted on Monday: “This is the Crucible. The show will go on.”

In addition to sporting events, Just Stop Oil activists have targeted art galleries. In 2022, members of the protest group threw soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in the National Gallery in London.

The World Snooker Championship is being played at the iconic Crucible Theater in Sheffield, UK, and is now the latest high-profile sporting event to be disrupted by activists.

Saturday’s Grand National horse race was also delayed after animal rights protesters managed to breach the security barriers and run onto the track.

Police said more than 100 people were arrested as a result.

A scientific expedition has discovered a previously unknown coral reef with abundant marine life off Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, the country’s environment ministry said on Monday.

“A deepwater scientific expedition has found the first totally pristine coral reef, approximately two kilometers (1.2 miles) long, at 400 meters (deep), on the summit of a submarine mountain,” Environment Minister Jose Davalos said on Twitter. “Galapagos surprises us again.”

Scientists had believed that the only Galapagos reef to survive El Nino weather in 1982 and 1983 was one called the Wellington reef, along the coast of Darwin Island, but the new discovery shows other coral has persisted, the ministry said in a statement.

The reef has more than 50% living coral.

“This is very important at a global level because many deepwater systems are degraded,” said Stuart Banks, senior marine researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation, who participated in the expedition. The coral is several thousand years old at least, he added.

The South American country last year expanded the Galapagos marine reserve by 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles), an extension of the 138,000 square kilometers already in place, to protect endangered migratory species between the Galapagos and the Cocos Island in Costa Rica.

The Galapagos, which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, are also home to giant tortoises, albatrosses, cormorants and other species, some of which are endangered.

High speed trains have proved their worth across the world over the past 50 years.

It’s not just in reducing journey times, but more importantly, it’s in driving economic growth, creating jobs and bringing communities closer together. China, Japan and Europe lead the way.

So why doesn’t the United States have a high-speed rail network like those?

For the richest and most economically successful nation on the planet, with an increasingly urbanized population of more than 300 million, it’s a position that is becoming more difficult to justify.

Although Japan started the trend with its Shinkansen “Bullet Trains” in 1964, it was the advent of France’s TGV in the early 1980s that really kick-started a global high-speed train revolution that continues to gather pace.

High-speed train revolution

But it’s a revolution that has so far bypassed the United States. Americans are still almost entirely reliant on congested highways or the headache-inducing stress of an airport and airline network prone to meltdowns.

China has built around 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) of dedicated high-speed railways since 2008 and plans to top 43,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) by 2035.

Meanwhile, the United States has just 375 route-miles of track cleared for operation at more than 100 mph.

Many Americans have no concept of high-speed rail and fail to see its value. They are hopelessly stuck with a highway and airline mindset.

William C. Vantuono, editor-in-chief of Railway Age

“Many Americans have no concept of high-speed rail and fail to see its value. They are hopelessly stuck with a highway and airline mindset,” says William C. Vantuono, editor-in-chief of Railway Age, North America’s oldest railroad industry publication.

Cars and airliners have dominated long-distance travel in the United States since the 1950s, rapidly usurping a network of luxurious passenger trains with evocative names such as “The Empire Builder,” “Super Chief” and “Silver Comet.”

Deserted by Hollywood movie stars and business travelers, famous railroads such as the New York Central were largely bankrupt by the early 1970s, handing over their loss-making trains to Amtrak, the national passenger train operator founded in 1971.

In the decades since that traumatic retrenchment, US freight railroads have largely flourished Passenger rail seems to have been a very low priority for US lawmakers.

Powerful airline, oil and auto industry lobbies in Washington have spent millions maintaining that superiority, but their position is weakening in the face of environmental concerns and worsening congestion.

Billions for rail improvements

US President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes an unprecedented $170 billion for improving railroads.

Some of this will be invested in repairing Amtrak’s crumbling Northeast Corridor (NEC) linking Boston, New York and Washington.

There are also big plans to bring passenger trains back to many more cities across the nation – providing fast, sustainable travel to cities and regions that have not seen a passenger train for decades.

Add to this the success of the privately funded Brightline operation in Florida, which has been given the green light to build a $10 billion high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas by 2027, plus schemes in California, Texas and the proposed Cascadia route linking Portland, Oregon, with Seattle and Vancouver, and the United States at last appears to be on the cusp of a passenger rail revolution.

Bigger investment

“Every president since Ronald Reagan has talked about the pressing need to improve infrastructure across the USA, but they’ve always had other, bigger priorities to deal with,” says Scott Sherin, chief commercial officer of train builder Alstom’s US division.

“But now there’s a huge impetus to get things moving – it’s a time of optimism. If we build it, they will come. As an industry, we’re maturing, and we’re ready to take the next step. It’s time to focus on passenger rail.”

Sherin points out that other public services such as highways and airports are “massively subsidized,” so there shouldn’t be an issue with doing the same for rail.

High-speed rail is not the solution for everything, but it has its place.

Scott Sherin, CCO of Alstom’s US division

“We need to do a better job of articulating the benefits of high-speed rail – high-quality jobs, economic stimulus, better connectivity than airlines – and that will help us to build bipartisan support,” he adds. “High-speed rail is not the solution for everything, but it has its place.”

Only Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor has trains that can travel at speeds approaching those of the 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph) TGV and Shinkansen.

Even here, Amtrak Acela trains currently max out at 150 mph – and only in short bursts. Maximum speeds elsewhere are closer to 100 mph on congested tracks shared with commuter and freight trains.

New generation of trains

This year, Amtrak plans to introduce its new generation Avelia Liberty trains to replace the life-expired Acelas on the NEC.

Capable of reaching 220 mph (although they’ll be limited to 160 mph on the NEC), the trains will bring Alstom’s latest high-speed rail technology to North America.

The locomotives at each end – known as power cars – are close relatives of the next generation TGV-M trains, scheduled to debut in France in 2024.

Sitting between the power cars are the passenger vehicles, which use Alstom’s Tiltronix technology to run faster through curves by tilting their bodies, much like a MotoGP rider does. And it’s not just travelers who will benefit.

“When Amtrak awarded the contract to Alstom in 2015 to 2016, the company had around 200 employees in Hornell,” says Shawn D. Hogan, former mayor of the city of Hornell in New York state.

“That figure is now nearer 900, with hiring continuing at a fast pace. I calculate that there has been a total public/private investment of more than $269 million in our city since 2016, including a new hotel, a state-of-the-art hospital and housing developments.

“It is a transformative economic development project that is basically unheard of in rural America and if it can happen here, it can happen throughout the United States.”

Alstom has spent almost $600 million on building a US supply chain for its high-speed trains – more than 80% of the train is made in the United States, with 170 suppliers across 27 states.

“High-speed rail is already here. Avelia Liberty was designed jointly with our European colleagues, so we have what we need for ‘TGV-USA’,” adds Sherin.

“It’s all proven tech from existing trains. We’re ready to go when the infrastructure arrives.”

And those new lines could arrive sooner than you might think.

Incoming high-speed lines

In March, Brightline confirmed plans to begin construction on a 218-mile (351-kilometer) high-speed line between Rancho Cucamonga, near Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, carving a path through the San Bernardino Mountains and across the desert, following the Interstate 15 corridor.

The 200 mph line will slash times to little more than one hour – a massive advantage over the four-hour average by car or five to seven hours by bus – when it opens in 2027.

Mike Reininger, CEO of Brightline Holdings, says: “As the most shovel-ready high-speed rail project in the United States, we are one step closer to leveling the playing field against transit and infrastructure projects around the world, and we are proud to be using America’s most skilled workers to get there.”

Brightline West expects to inject around $10 billion worth of benefits into the region’s economy, creating about 35,000 construction jobs, as well as 1,000 permanent jobs in maintenance, operations and customer service in Southern California and Nevada.

It will also mark the return of passenger trains to Las Vegas after a 30-year hiatus – Amtrak canceled its “Desert Wind” route in 1997.

Brightline hopes to attract around 12 million of the 50 million one-way trips taken annually between Las Vegas and LA, 85% of which are taken by bus or car.

Another California project

Meanwhile, construction is progressing on another high-speed line through the San Joaquin Valley.

Set to open around 2030, California High Speed Rail (CHSR) will run from Merced to Bakersfield (171 miles) at speeds of up to 220 mph.

Coupled with proposed upgrades to commuter rail lines at either end, this project could eventually allow high-speed trains to run the 350 miles (560 kilometers) between Los Angeles to San Francisco metropolitan areas in just two hours and 40 minutes.

CHSR has been on the table as far back as 1996, but its implementation has been controversial.

Disagreements over the route, management issues, delays in land acquisition and construction, cost over-runs and inadequate funding for completing the entire system have plagued the project – despite the economic benefits it will deliver as well as reducing pollution and congestion. Around 10,000 people are already employed on the project.

Costing $63 billion to $98 billion, depending on the final extent of the scheme, CHSR is to connect six of the 10 largest cities in the state and provide the same capacity as 4,200 miles of new highway lanes, 91 additional airport gates and two new airport runways costing between $122 billion and $199 billion.

With California’s population expected to grow to more than 45 million by 2050, high-speed rail offers the best value solution to keep the state from grinding to a smoggy halt.

Corridors for the greatest potential

Brightline West and CHSR offer templates for the future expansion of high-speed rail in North America.

By focusing on pairs of cities or regions that are too close for air travel and too far apart for car drivers, transportation planners can predict which corridors offer the greatest potential.

“It’s logical that the US hasn’t yet developed a nationwide high-speed network,” says Sherin. “For decades, traveling by car wasn’t a hardship, but as highway congestion gets worse, we’ve reached a stage where we should start looking more seriously at the alternatives.

“The magic numbers are centers of population with around three million people that are 200 to 500 miles apart, giving a trip time of less than three hours – preferably two hours.

“Where those conditions apply in Europe and Asia, high-speed rail reduces air’s share of the market from 100% to near zero. The model would work just as well in the USA as it does globally.”

Pipe dream?

Sherin points to the success of the original generation of Acela trains as evidence of this.

“When the first generation Acela trains started running between New York City and Washington in 2000, Amtrak attracted so many travelers that the airlines stopped running their frequent ‘shuttles’ between the two cities,” he adds.

However, industry observer Vantuono is more pessimistic.

“A US high-speed rail network is a pipe dream,” he says. “A lack of political support and federal financial support combined with the kind of fierce landowner opposition that CHSR has faced in California means that the challenges for new high-speed projects are enormous.”

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), urban and high-speed rail hold “major promise to unlock substantial benefits” in reducing global transport emissions.

Despite the advent of cars and airplanes, rail of all types has continued to evolve and thrive.

Fatih Birol, IEA executive director

Dr. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, argues that rail transport is “often neglected” in public debates about future transport systems – and this is especially true in North America.

“Despite the advent of cars and airplanes, rail of all types has continued to evolve and thrive,” adds Birol.

Globally, around three-quarters of rail passenger movements are made on electric-powered vehicles, putting the mode in a unique position to take advantage of the rise in renewable energy over the coming decades.

Here, too, the United States lags far behind the rest of the world, with electrification almost unheard of away from the NEC.

Rail networks in South Korea, Japan, Europe, China and Russia are more than 60% electrified, according to IEA figures, the highest share of track electrification being South Korea at around 85%.

In North America, on the other hand, less than 5% of rail routes are electrified.

The enormous size of the United States and its widely dispersed population mitigates against the creation of a single, unified network of the type being built in China and proposed for Europe.

Air travel is likely to remain the preferred option for transcontinental journeys that can be more than 3,000 miles (around 4,828 kilometers).

But there are many shorter inter-city travel corridors where high-speed rail, or a combination of new infrastructure and upgraded railroad tracks or tilting trains, could eventually provide an unbeatable alternative to air travel and highways.

These days, Jeddah looks like many other modern cities: busy shopping malls packed with international luxury brands, a thriving café and coffee shop culture and a walkable oceanfront district where families socialize on the weekends.

But the beating heart of this city, Al-Balad, is more than a thousand years old, and it has been immaculately preserved as a reminder of Saudi Arabia’s history – specifically, Jeddah’s role as a key point of entry for religious pilgrims.

“Saudi Arabia is one of the most fascinating countries in the world. It’s a country of both East and West. It’s a country that is connected to Africa. You see that in Balad,” says Sean Foley, professor of Middle East and Islamic history at Middle Tennessee State University

“It’s a place of a unique cultural intersection, kind of almost like Singapore is, or Hong Kong. It’s a port city.”

Centuries before the arrival of online travel booking sites and tour buses teeming with selfie stick-wielding holidaymakers, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city was a bona fide tourism hot spot.

From the town to the city

One of the most notable features of buildings in Al-Balad – which simply means “the town” in Arabic – is a form of intricate wooden latticework known as rawasheen.

These wooden window coverings and balconies weren’t just popular for aesthetic reasons – although many are beautiful, with intricate designs of circles, crescent moons, arrows or stars and often painted in shades of blue or green.

Quite simply, they were practical for desert life. Rawasheen (rowshan, in singular) blocked the worst of the midday sun, while the louvered designs and slats allowed breezes to float through.

In addition to being beautiful, these rawasheen – often made with fine materials not local to the area – are examples of Jeddah’s dynamic culture.

“What made Jeddah very wealthy was the trade across the Red Sea to Egypt, which was a very big market,” explains James Parry, author of the book “Jeddah Al Balad.”

“So, Jeddah’s merchants were like brokers, and they became super rich and they built themselves magnificent houses, decked out in expensive materials, lots of imported teak and mahogany from south of Asia, India and also some from East Africa.”

For a long period, the city was surrounded by walls. As more and more people moved to Jeddah, space quickly became an issue. One solution was to keep building upward, so there were houses with as many as eight or nine stories.

One of the oldest and most famous homes, once owned by a family called Nassif and now owned by the Saudi government and converted into a museum, wasn’t just tall – its interior staircase was wide enough for a camel to tote water up to the top floors.

Then, in the 7th century, came a reason to split buildings into multiple homes or rooms: tourists.

That was when Caliph Uthman ibn Affan decreed that Jeddah would be the official port for those making a pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holiest site. The second-holiest city, Medina, is also nearby.

“Balad and Jeddah in general and the western regions of the Kingdom are unique because of the presence of Mecca and Medina and the hajj,” says Foley. “They have an outward connection to the rest of the world and a very diverse sense of communities.”

What to see

The former home of the Nassif family – the one with camel-wide stairs – is a museum called Bait (Arabic for “house”) Nassif. It’s a favorite place for photo ops thanks to the large tree that grows in front of – and partially through – the building.

There are other notable buildings in the neighborhood that should be on a traveler’s list as well, namely Shafi’i Masjid, the oldest mosque in Jeddah, which dates back to the 13th century, and the Bab Makkah, or Mecca gate, which is one of the only remaining sections of the ancient city’s walls.

But perhaps the best thing to do in Al-Balad is the simplest: just go walk around in the warren of slender alleys.

The ideal times to visit are in the mornings and early evenings, as many businesses shut down during the hottest hours of the day.

If you need a break from exploring, stop in at one of the many coffee shops in the neighborhood. Medd Café & Roastery, with immaculate tile floors and bright fairy lights along its ceiling, has English-speaking staff and tea served in locally made cups.

From there, it’s a short walk to the Bait Alhodaif art gallery and artist studios, which is easy to spot with its hand-painted Arabic script in red, blue, and black on the front and a blue door inspired by rawasheen designs.

Balad’s new life

Many locals credit Mohammed Said Farsi, who was mayor of Jeddah from 1972-1986, for rejuvenating Al-Balad.

By the time he was elected, the old district was no longer the shimmering jewel it had been in centuries past.

Houses were neglected and abandoned. Buildings were unsafe, many lacking electricity or running water. Local families opted to move into modern neighborhoods with air-conditioning and car parking.

During one period in the 20th century, many large-scale textile makers took over buildings in Al-Balad. Some of them installed enormous industrial sewing machines that rattled the already-delicate walls all day, exacerbating structural problems.

Farsi came from an old Jeddawi family and was an avid collector of Western art. He devoted city resources to the remaining Al Balad buildings and prevented some from being torn down, Parry says.

And Farsi’s leadership paid off.

The Al-Balad area was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2014 as Historic Jeddah, the Gate to Mecca.

These days, some of the better-preserved buildings have shops, cafes and other businesses operating on the ground floors.

The proprietors may have smartphones and Apple watches now, but there are still rug vendors and spice shops lining the narrow alleyways.

And Al-Balad is still an important meeting place for Saudis, but in different ways. MDLBEAST, a music entertainment company, held a music festival called Balad Beast in December 2022.

Over two nights, Al-Balad’s old buildings were lit up while acts like Busta Rhymes, Xzibit and Lupe Fiasco performed alongside some of the Arab world’s biggest musicians.

Parry, the historian and author, has been to Jeddah a dozen times but says he always finds himself returning to Al-Balad.

“Although there used to be very tall buildings in other cities like Mecca, they’ve largely been taken away now. And it’s only, I think, in Jeddah where when you stand in Al-Balad, that you feel that you’re in a historic place.”

Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed after technical issues that prompted the airline to temporarily halt its operations on Tuesday morning.

Southwest said the flight delays were the result of “data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure,” a problem that led to a brief ground stop.

The Federal Aviation Administration initiated the ground stop at the airline’s request, citing “equipment issues.” The ground stop was soon lifted, and in a tweet at 11:35 a.m. ET Southwest said it had resumed operations.

“Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost,” spokesman Dan Landson said in a statement.

Southwest had delayed 1,820 flights or 43% of its schedule as of just after noon Tuesday, according to FlightAware. The airline has canceled only nine flights on Tuesday, according to FlightAware. Southwest says its workers “worked quickly to minimize disruptions.”

Southwest reported technology issues Tuesday morning and said it would “hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible.”

The problems come months after the airline was forced to cancel more than 16,700 flights between December 20 and 29, roughly half its schedule during that period. The airline attributed the meltdown in part to changes to its staff scheduling computer systems. Southwest last month unveiled an “action plan” to prevent another operational meltdown.

Southwest called the latest problem “intermittent technology issues” in a social media post to customers. Several took to social media to complain about delayed flights.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we’re hoping to get everyone going ASAP,” the airline wrote in another social media post.

A massive winter storm started the service problems during the holiday season, but Southwest had a much tougher time recovering because of an antiquated crew scheduling system that was quickly overwhelmed, leaving the airline unable to get the staffing it needed to locations to operate flights. Nearly half of its schedule was canceled during from December 20 to December 29. Some days, as many as 75% of its scheduled flights were grounded.

Part of what created worse problems at Southwest than at other airlines is that crew members had to call in to the airline, rather than notify it electronically, to let them it of their availability.

Computer glitches. Awful weather. Staffing shortages. Holiday crunches. So many things can cause a flight to be delayed or canceled.

In the latest widespread incident, almost 2,000 Southwest Airlines flights were delayed as of 3:15 p.m. ET Tuesday, April 18, because of “data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure.” The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop, which was lifted around 11 a.m. ET.

In a news release, the airline asked that affected “travelers use Southwest.com to check flight status or visit a Southwest Airlines Customer Service Agent at the airport for assistance with travel needs.”

If you’ve been affected by this disruption, click here to get rebooking details and phone numbers you can call.

Beyond Tuesday’s incident, here’s some general advice to help travelers navigate the system when flights are delayed or canceled. Actionable tips are highlighted in bold:

Check the weather forecasts

Days ahead of the December 2022 bomb cyclone, many US airlines offered their passengers a chance to change their flights for no fee.

When you know a major weather event is forecast, hop on those waiver offers quickly, said Scott Keyes, the founder of Going.com (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights). The early birds have the best choices of the remaining worms (that is seats and flights).

Avoid getting trapped at the airport

As bad as it is to find out your flight has been delayed for a long time, or worse, canceled, it’s better to find out from the comfort of home or a hotel room and make new arrangements from there.

“Check your flight status before you go the airport. Most of these notifications are not happening at the last minute,” said Keyes. “Save yourself the drive to the airport.”

You can also put your airline and flight number directly into a Google search bar to retrieve the status that way. That’s also handy for friends or family who are on standby to pick you up.

Keyes also suggested checking the website FlightAware to track larger flight trends across the country.

If you’re at the airport already

Sometimes, the delays and cancellations happen after you’ve arrived at the airport. Once the bad news has been delivered, what should you do?

Keyes said to head fast as you can to the airline agents’ desk – and get ready to multitask while you’re in line.

Fast is a key word here. “It’s going to make a difference who arrives first. It’s first-come, first-serve. Positioning yourself close to the desk can pay off,” Keyes said.

Then you might want to call up your carrier while you’re waiting. Depending on your spot in line, it might be faster to get through to a call center. “Whatever happens first, great,” he said.

Calls to US domestic numbers might have really long waits. Keyes suggested trying an international call center for your carrier instead.

“Most US-based travelers aren’t thinking to call the Canadian help line for Delta. You might get through to an agent much quicker. They can all handle your reservations just the same.”

You can also use a self-serve kiosk, American Airlines says. “Scan your boarding pass or enter your record locator to see your updated trip details. From there you can also switch your flight and print your new boarding passes.”

The travel advice website Travel Lens suggests using social media to your advantage.

“Airlines value their reputation on social media and platforms like Twitter are a great way to get in contact with an employee. If you do use Twitter to reach out, then it’s important to remain polite and calm as this will work in your favor.”

Attitude and research matter

Whether you’re dealing with an agent in person or over the phone, how you approach things can make a big difference. That starts with attitude.

“Honey attracts more flies than vinegar,” Keyes said. “Look at this from the airline agents’ perspective. They’ve been dealing with irate customers really since the pandemic began. The agent is the one who has the most ability to help you.

“Asking nicely and sympathetically is far more likely to get what you want than being a jerk about it.”

He had another tip when it’s your turn to talk to an agent about making new arrangements: “Come prepared to offer your own options already. Doing your own research is absolutely helpful.”

Your agent can expedite things if you’ve already looked up new routes and possible suggestions while you’ve been waiting. Be ready to explain what you want.

If you’ve booked through Expedia or another third-party site, you’ll have to deal through them when there’s a cancellation.

If the price is the same, Keyes suggested you book directly with the airline. In case something goes wrong, “it makes it much more complicated with multiple sets of policies” when you booked via a third party.

US PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, suggests you avoid layovers when booking if possible. The more times you stop, the more chances for something to go wrong.

The group also backs up the advice from Keyes to be nice and polite to agents but also says consumers should be persistent in trying to get the situation resolved satisfactorily.

Help from other airlines

Cooperation between airlines could work in your favor.

“This means, for example, if Delta is having service interruptions but American is running a flight to your destination, you may be able to get on that flight.”

“If you elect not to be accommodated on a later flight and you book a new ticket out of your own pocket, you are entitled to a cash refund, though that may not help you get to where you need to go,” Smith said. “As we all know, last-minute flights are very expensive.”

Trapped for the night

What do you do if it looks like you’re not going to be able to fly out until the next day and you’re not in your home city?

“Ask the airline to put you up in a hotel or give you a hotel voucher. They might do it; they might not. It’s not required by law,” Keyes said.

They’re less likely to do it if it’s weather related, he said, than if the problem is a mechanical issue with the plane or staffing issues.

What you might get depends on the airline itself and the specific circumstances on why a flight was canceled.

Get to know policies. For instance, Delta Air Lines says it will provide a hotel voucher in some circumstances if travel is interrupted for more than four hours after the scheduled departure time when the delay is between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Whatever you do, at least ask, Keyes said. A voucher for hotels and even ground transport and meals aren’t likely to just be offered.

In some cases, airlines will set you up with accommodations, Smith said, but it’s a case-by-case basis and never guaranteed.

Also, your credit card could be your friend in this situation.

“The good news is that many credit cards offer travel protections such as reimbursement if a flight cancellation forces you to get a hotel, meals, etc.” Smith said. “These travel protections are typically included automatically as long as you used the card to pay for your flight. Google your credit card plus travel protections to see what specific offerings your card carries.”

If your flight is delayed instead of outright canceled, you might want to weigh whether to wait at the airport. Depending your personal circumstances, hunkering down there for five or six hours might be easier than going to and from a hotel. Also, Keyes said, check whether there is a hotel within the airport.

The Points Guy advises trying to get into an airport lounge if you can, where you can recharge your phone and rest more easily.

Stay safe. If extreme weather is causing air travel disruption, trying to make the journey by road could be hazardous. Frustrating though it is to stay put, it’s always better to arrive late than not at all.

Travel insurance and receipts

It said “most travel insurance policies provide additional cover for travel uncertainty. Additional [coverage] usually becomes applicable if your flight is postponed by more than 12 hours due to a strike, adverse weather or a mechanical breakdown.”

The site also advises that you keep any receipts of airport purchases. You can try to get the money back from the airline later.

But keep it to the basics. “Airlines only pay for ‘reasonable’ expenses though, so you are unlikely to get money back for purchases such as alcohol, expensive meals or extravagant hotels. “

Refund entitlements for your flight

The US Department of Transportation says you are entitled to a refund of your ticket cost because of a cancellation or “significant delay” and you choose not to travel.

This is the policy regardless of the reason the airline cancels or delays the flight. However, what constitutes a “significant delay” remains open to interpretation.

According to the DOT website, “it has not specifically defined what constitutes a ‘significant delay.’ Whether you are entitled to a refund depends on many factors – including the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances. DOT determines whether you are entitled to a refund following a significant delay on a case-by-case basis.”

“If travelers are denied boarding, they should not volunteer their seat in exchange for perks or a voucher. If they do, they could be giving up their right to any additional compensation,” Pawliszyn said. “Of course, if the airline makes a compelling enough offer, they may prefer to take it.”

An Australian man has been refused bail after being charged with a foreign interference offense for accepting cash from suspected Chinese intelligence agents, with a Sydney court saying his close ties to China made him a flight risk.

Magistrate Michael Barko said Alexander Csergo was a “sophisticated, worldly businessperson” who had been on the radar of Australian intelligence for some time before his arrest on Friday.

The prosecution had a strong case against Csergo, who had lived in China for decades, Barko said in refusing bail.

Csergo is alleged to have arrived back in Australia this year with a “shopping list” of intelligence priorities he had been asked for by two people he had suspected since 2021 to be agents for China’s Ministry of State Security, the court heard.

The pair, named in court only as “Ken” and “Evelyn,” first made contact with Csergo through LinkedIn.

This shopping list had been discovered by Australian intelligence authorities three weeks after Csergo returned to Sydney, the court was told.

Csergo had been allegedly asked to handwrite reports about Australia’s AUKUS defense technology partnership with the United States and Britain, the QUAD diplomatic partnership, iron ore and lithium mining, Barko said.

A marketing executive, Csergo, 55, was arrested in the beachside suburb of Bondi on Friday.

He is the second person charged under Australia’s foreign interference law, which criminalizes activity that helps a foreign power interfere with Australia’s sovereignty or national interest. It carries a maximum 15 year prison sentence.

Csergo appeared in court via video link from Parklea Prison where he is being held as a high security prisoner. His mother and brother were in court.

Csergo had told Australian intelligence agents in an interview that when he met Ken and Evelyn in Shanghai cafes and restaurants, the establishments had been empty and he suspected they had been cleared, Barko said.

He developed a high level of anxiety and was in “survival mode,” he had told the Australian authorities.

Csergo had exchanged around 3,300 WeChat messages with the pair, and had accepted cash payments in envelopes, Barko said.

Barko raised concerns for Csergo’s safety, saying some people may not want him to give evidence against China.

Csergo’s lawyer, Bernard Collaery, had sought bail, saying the reports Csergo had written were based on publicly sourced information and the case against his client was “shallow and unsubstantiated.”

Prosecutor Conor McCraith disputed this, saying it was not all open source because he had engaged covertly with two others to prepare reports. He also said Csergo had not come to Australian authorities with his concerns about Ken and Evelyn, and had instead invited Ken to come to Australia.

Collaery said making cash payments was a common business practice in China, and Csergo undertook the consulting work during the COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai as a source of income.

“Of course he believed Ken and Evelyn were keeping tabs on him. That’s how it works in China, he became very worried about it,” Collaery said.

Csergo had worked in China since 2002 in data marketing, including for a major international advertising agency.

Collaery said Csergo’s career had come “tumbling down” since his arrest and he had no intention to return to China and instead planned to pursue the Australian government for damages for ruining his career.

Collaery told media outside the court the case was a “civil liberties” issue and raised concerns about the scope of the foreign interference law introduced in 2018.

“If you work as a consultant in any foreign country… and you undertake consulting work that may relate to Australia’s foreign influences or national security… you can be guilty of foreign interference,” he told reporters.