Taif Municipality is putting the last touches on the largest rose carpet in the world to be ready in time for the opening of the Taif International Rose Festival on March 31 in King Faisal Park.
Taif Mayor Mohammed Al-Mukharij said, “This year’s rose carpet has over 100,000 roses and flowers covering 750 square meters. It includes more than 15,000 species of flowers of all colors in addition to seedlings of the famous Taif rose.”
A mobile flower carpet will move through the streets, and a bus for children will tour Taif before the start of the festival as an advertisement.
“The municipality’s exhibition will contain new gardens, and there will be a show of plants, some of which are indigenous to Taif,” the mayor added.
In King Faisal Park there will be an aloe vera garden to show the variety of this species that grow in Taif. Replicas of flowers will be presented to children as gifts and there will be kids-sized flower dresses for photography. Old cars have been refurbished for agricultural purposes to preserve the environment and to benefit from anything old.”
“New attractions at this year’s rose festival are a six-meter high flower bridge, an outdoor home garden which aims to teach visitors about how to arrange such gardens and there will be a waterfall of flowers, which consists of 3,000 flowers,” said Al-Mukharij.
He concluded, “There will also be a drawing and coloring competition for small kids. They will receive gifts daily.”
World’s largest rose carpet ready for Taif festival
World’s largest rose carpet ready for Taif festival
Ukraine says it shot down 42 drones from Russia but two regions hit

- The military said that Russia also attacked Ukraine with two ballistic missiles that were not shot down
KYIV: Ukraine’s air defense units shot down 42 of 116 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack that hit the regions of Sumy and Donetsk, the military said on Monday.
It said another 21 drones were lost but did not disclose the fate of the remaining 53, noting that Sumy and Donetsk “suffered as a result of the attack.”
The military said that Russia also attacked Ukraine with two ballistic missiles that were not shot down.
Civilian authorities in Ukraine did not immediately comment on the overnight attacks.
India starts work on hydro projects after suspending treaty with Pakistan, sources say

- New Delhi last month suspended Indus Waters Treaty that ensures supply to 80 percent of Pakistani farms
- India undertook “reservoir flushing” process at two hydropower projects from May 1-3, say sources
SRINAGAR: India has begun work to boost reservoir holding capacity at two hydroelectric projects in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, after fresh tension with Pakistan led it to suspend a water-sharing pact.
Last month, New Delhi suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between the nuclear-armed rivals that ensures supply to 80 percent of Pakistani farms after an attack in Kashmir killed 26, and it identified two of the three assailants as Pakistani.
Islamabad has threatened international legal action over the suspension and denied any role in the attack, warning, “Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan ... will be considered as an act of war.”
A “reservoir flushing” process to remove sediment began on Thursday, carried out by India’s biggest hydropower company, state-run NHPC Ltd, and authorities in the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the three sources said.
The work may not immediately threaten supply to Pakistan, which depends on rivers flowing through India for much of its irrigation and hydropower generation, but it could eventually be affected if other projects launch similar efforts.
There are more than half a dozen such projects in the region.
India did not inform Pakistan about the work at the Salal and Baglihar projects, which is being done for the first time since they were built in 1987 and 2008/09, respectively, as the treaty had blocked such work, the sources added.
They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.
India’s NHPC and the neighboring governments did not reply to emails from Reuters to seek comment.
Since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, in addition to numerous short conflicts.
The flushing operation ran for three days from May 1, the sources said.
“This is the first time such an exercise has taken place and will help in more efficient power generation and prevent damage to turbines,” one of the sources told Reuters.
“We were also asked to open the adjustable gates for cleaning, which we did from May 1,” the source said, adding that the effort aimed to free dam operation from any restrictions.
People living on the banks of the Chenab river on the Indian side of Kashmir said they noticed water had been released from both Salal and Baglihar dams from Thursday to Saturday.
‘FREE WILL’
The flushing of hydropower projects requires nearly emptying a reservoir to force out sediments whose build-up is a major cause of decline in output.
For example, two of the sources said, power delivered by the 690-MegaWatt Salal project was far below its capacity, because Pakistan had prevented such flushing, while silting also hit output at the 900-MW Baglihar project.
“Flushing is not a common thing because it leads to a lot of water wastage,” said one of the sources. “Downstream countries are expected to be informed in case it leads to any inundation.”
Building both projects had required extensive back and forth with Pakistan, which worries about losing out on its share of water.
Under the 1960 treaty, which split the Indus and its tributaries between the neighbors, India had also shared data such as hydrological flows at various spots on the rivers flowing through India and issued flood warnings.
India’s water minister has vowed to “ensure no drop of the Indus river’s water reaches Pakistan.”
Government officials and experts on both sides say India cannot stop water flows immediately, however, as the treaty has allowed it only to build hydropower plants without significant storage dams on the three rivers allocated to Pakistan.
The suspension means India “can now pursue our projects at free will,” said Kushvinder Vohra, a recently retired head of India’s Central Water Commission who worked extensively on Indus disputes with Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has sought to renegotiate the treaty in recent years and the archfoes have tried to settle some of their differences at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague.
These concerns related to the size of the water storage area at the region’s Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric plants.
Lebanese army seizes Captagon pills, equipment at Syrian border

CAIRO: The Lebanese Army seized large quantities of Captagon pills in a raid on a manufacturing plant on the Lebanese-Syrian border, the Lebanese News Agency reported on Monday.
An army unit, supported by a patrol from the Directorate of Intelligence, seized large quantities of pills in addition to equipment for producing Captagon, along with raw materials used in drug manufacturing.
Pacers shock Cavs, Warriors shoot down Rockets to advance in NBA playoffs

- Buddy Hield — playing in his 11th playoff game — drilled nine three-pointers on 11 attempts on the way to a game-high 33 points
- The Pacers overcame a 33-point performance from Cavs star Donovan Mitchell and 17 turnovers of their own that led to 22 Cleveland points
LOS ANGELES: The Golden State Warriors punched their ticket to the second round of the NBA playoffs on Sunday, shaking off two straight defeats to grab a 103-89 Game 7 victory over the Houston Rockets.
The Warriors were the last team to advance to the conference semifinals, which got under way earlier Sunday with the Indiana Pacers handing the Eastern Conference top seeds Cleveland a 121-112 defeat on their home floor.
On a Warriors team stacked with post-season experience, Buddy Hield — playing in his 11th playoff game — drilled nine three-pointers on 11 attempts on the way to a game-high 33 points.
Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as the Warriors finally frustrated the second-seeded Rockets, who were coming off two dominant victories and had visions of becoming just the 14th team to rally from 3-1 down to win an NBA playoff series.
“A lot of resilience,” Curry said. “Everybody stepping up. Everybody’s been talking about our team the last two games in terms of our execution, our energy, all that.
“We blocked it all out and just understood we had 48 minutes to dig deep. Everybody contributed.
“Buddy Hield was unbelievable,” added Curry after the Warriors lined up a second-round clash with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ousted LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.
Curry’s first basket was a three-pointer with 33.3sec left in the first half.
But Hield was on fire, making six three-pointers on the way to 22 first-half points and Draymond Green added 10 points to help the Warriors to a 51-39 halftime lead.
They pushed the lead to as many as 15 before the Rockets battled back, cutting their deficit to three.
Amen Thompson scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Alperen Sengun scored 21 with 14 rebounds for the Rockets, but Houston made just six three-pointers and trailed 70-62 going into the fourth quarter.
That’s when Curry came alive, opening the final frame with five straight points. Jimmy Butler had six points in a 12-0 Warriors run that took their lead to 20 points with 2:31 remaining.
Butler finished with 20 points, and Curry said his arrival from Miami in February was key to Golden State’s late playoff push.
“For us to build chemistry on the fly and build trust on the fly and perform like we did in a game seven, it means the world,” Curry said.
“So mission accomplished — step one.”
In Cleveland, Andrew Nembhard drilled five of Indiana’s 19 three-pointers on the way to a team-high 23 points and Tyrese Haliburton scored 22 points and handed out 13 assists for the Pacers, who had six players score in double figures.
“I thought we did a great job of starting the game the right way,” said Haliburton, who had delivered the game-winner in the 119-118 overtime triumph that clinched the Pacers’ first-round victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Pascal Siakam scored 10 of his 17 points in the first quarter as Indiana took a 36-25 lead.
The Pacers overcame a 33-point performance from Cavs star Donovan Mitchell and 17 turnovers of their own that led to 22 Cleveland points.
The turnovers helped Cleveland claw back from a 12-point deficit early in the third, taking a one-point lead on Evan Mobley’s hook shot with 3:16 left in the period.
Mobley added 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the Cavaliers clearly missed All-Star point guard Darius Garland, who missed a third straight game with a sprained toe.
They couldn’t respond as Indiana put together a 15-4 scoring run to pull away again in the fourth quarter.
“We weathered the storm,” Haliburton said. “We did it by getting stops, getting out running and just playing Pacers basketball.”
Israel approves plans to intensify Gaza operations, official says

- Gaza civil defense says 19 killed in Israeli strikes
TEL AVIV/GAZA STRIP: Israeli ministers on Monday agreed to ramp up the war against Hamas in Gaza, an official said, with plans to capture more territory in the beleaguered Palestinian enclave and call up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.
The plan, which the official said would be gradual, could mark a significant escalation in the fighting in Gaza, which resumed in mid-March after Israel and Hamas failed to agree on an extension to an 8-week truce. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
On Sunday, Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and said Israel would “operate in additional areas” in Gaza and continue to strike militant infrastructure.
Israel already controls roughly half of Gaza’s territory, including a buffer zone along the border with Israel as well as three corridors that run east-west along the strip. These have squeezed war-weary Palestinians into ever shrinking wedges of land in the devastated territory.
For weeks, Israel has been trying to ratchet up pressure on the militant Hamas group and prompt it to show more flexibility in negotiations. In early March, Israel halted the entry of aid into Gaza — a ban that is ongoing and which has plunged the territory of 2.3 million people into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis of the war. Hunger has been widespread, and shortages have set off looting.
Earlier on Monday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said two Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people in the war-ravaged territory’s north.
“Our teams found 15 martyrs and 10 wounded, mostly children and women, after an Israeli strike on three apartments” northwest of Gaza City, said the agency’s spokesman, Mahmud Bassal, adding that four other people were killed and four wounded in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya city in the northwest.
On March 18, Israeli resumed strikes in the territory, killing more than 2,600 people in the weeks since, many of them women and children, according to local health officials.
The previous ceasefire was meant to lead the sides to negotiate an end to the war, but that end goal has been a repeated sticking point in talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel says it won’t agree to end the war until Hamas is defeated. Hamas meanwhile has demanded an agreement that winds down the war.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
The fighting has displaced more than 90 percent of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, and turned Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape.