OpenSkies gets green light for take off

British Airways’ new subsidiary OpenSkies has received approval from the US Department of Transportation to start flying from Europe to the United States. The new airline will offer flights between Paris Orly airport and New York JFK from next month.

OpenSkies will be a full-service carrier and will initially operate a single Boeing 757 transferred from the BA fleet with second Boeing 757 due to join later this year.

OpenSkies have also confirmed that they are looking at operating services from other European cities, including Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan to New York.

Lisbon Oceanarium

The Oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal is one of the largest aquariums in the world, and has a large collection of marine species – birds, mammals, fishes, and other marine organisms.

The exhibition is arranged around four smaller aquaria, displaying the fauna and flora of the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and of the Antarctic and a large central tank to exhibit species of the open ocean, from sharks and large groupers to tuna fish and small wrasses.

The world's longest bridge will connect Bahrain and Qatar

The Bahrain-Qatar bridge will be the longest bridge in the world, VINCI Construction Grands Projets announced, which have signed the design-build contract for the causeway.

The $3 billion project calls for the design and construction of a 40 km two-lane dual carriageway motorway between Qatar and Bahrain. The road will run over a total of 18 km of embankments where the sea is shallow and 22 km of viaducts and bridges over deep water, including two 400 metre cable-stayed bridges over shipping channels. The Friendship Bridge will create a direct link between Qatar and Bahrain, promoting trade and travel between the two countries. At present, the journey by road takes five hours; with the causeway, it will only take about 30 minutes.

The project will have to comply with stringent environmental standards and ecological requirements and is expected to be completed in four years.

The announcement comes only a week after the Hangzhou Bay Bridge in China was opened to the public – currently the longest bridge in the world (36 km).