Concluding the week with a global selection of upbeat news stories.
Peak Bloom
Cherry blossom season has arrived in Washington, D.C., where pink and white flowers dot thousands of trees around the city as this year's peak bloom approaches. To celebrate the springtime sight, locals and tourists alike can participate in the National Cherry Blossom Festival, an annual event series that runs for four weeks and features a mix of art, music, food and more - but anyone anywhere can view the blooms on live cam. Originally a gift from Japan to the United States, the capital's cherry blossoms appear along the Tidal Basin and in parks near several of the capital's monuments and memorials. Typically, peak bloom occurs between the last week of March and the first week of April, and the park service is predicting it will be 28-31 March this year. So, right now.
Flâneur-Friendly
The City of Light is about to become even more flâneur-friendly as Paris residents have voted to close 500 city streets to cars, clearing paths for pedestrians, bikers, and green spaces. This decision coincides with data showing that vehicle traffic in the city has more than halved since the turn of the century, and that bike usage jumped 71 percent since the end of Covid.
“For the past 25 years, we’ve gradually been reclaiming public space for pedestrian traffic, for gentle traffic, and with ‘garden streets,’ to create lungs within neighbourhoods, the places where we live,” Deputy Mayor Patrick Bloche told Reuters. The initiative, approved by two thirds of voters, will also eliminate 10,000 parking spots.
Lions in The Lounge
French auctioneer Malo de Lussac was examining the contents of a property in France’s central region of Touraine when he came across a treasure: an original oil-on-canvas painting by Eugène Delacroix, one of France’s great 19th-century Romantic artists. Titled Study of Reclining Lions, the previously unknown painting has been owned by the same family since the mid-1800s, La Nouvelle République reports. Whilst you would not want to have lions in your living room under normal circumstances, a Delacroix painting of lounging lions would definitely be a happy bonus. It’s up for auction today and is expected to fetch around $330,000. The 24-by-20-inch canvas depicts seven lions lounging “in a palette of ochres and deep browns,” according to a statement from Hôtel Drouot, an auction house in Paris.
Insanely High
It's not yet official, but credible rumours are gaining momentum that a ridiculously tall skyscraper in Saudi Arabia is going ahead. If constructed, the incredibly ambitious 1.2 mile (2 km) high building will dwarf all other man-made structures. According to a recent report by the usually well-informed Dubai outlet MEED, the skyscraper will be part of a larger ongoing business district near Riyadh named the North Pole and is being designed by prestigious British studio Foster + Partners. To put its height into perspective, the new tower will be around 3.5 times the height of the USA's tallest building, the One World Trade Center, and will even be over twice the height of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which is the world's current tallest building.
Unprecedented Find
Archaeologists have helped uncover one of the "largest and most important" Iron Age finds in the UK. The Melsonby Hoard was discovered in a field in North Yorkshire, by a metal detectorist and excavated with the help of Durham University. It includes more than 800 items, including two cauldrons or vessels, horse harness, bridle bits, ceremonial spears and 28 iron tyres, believed to have been buried about 2,000 years ago. Historians believe the "unprecedented" find could lead to a "major re-evaluation" of the wealth and status of the elite living in northern Britain at the time.
Sold a Pup
A massive puppy called Cadabomb Okami becomes the world's most expensive dog after selling for a "whopping" £4.4 million ($5.67m), said The Sun - even though "one of its parents is a wolf". At eight months old, the half-wolf, half-Caucasian Shepherd already weighs 75kg and stands 30in tall. It was bought by S. Sathish, president of the Indian Dog Breeders Association, who said he likes to "own unique dogs and introduce them to India".
"It's the rough side of the mountain that’s the easiest to climb; the smooth side doesn’t have anything for you to hang on to." Aretha Franklin
On This Day
28 March 1930: Built as Byzantium about 657 BC, then renamed Constantinople in the 4th century after Constantine the Great made the city his capital, the Turkish city of Istanbul officially received its present name on this day in 1930.
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