Hospitality

New Year’s celebrations came grinding to a halt in Dubai after a five-star hotel was engulfed in a fire just moments before a spectacular fireworks display was due to begin.  The huge building caught fire at 9:30pm Dubai time, with flames engulfing over 40 stories of the 63 story building. Dailymail.co.uk reports: Those who escaped described how people climbed over each other in their rush to escape the burning building. One Briton was forced to carry his disabled mother on his back.

In one of the greatest analogies for China's slow-moving, pollution-puking economy, the impact of this small bump in the road sums up the fragility of the credit-fueled slow-motion truck-wreck that the central planners have created...

...and then the wheels fell off...

Firefighters have reportedly “gained the upperhand” in the battle to contain a California blaze that started at around 11 p.m. local time on Friday near Ventura. 

On Saturday afternoon, Ventura County officials said the fire was nearing Solimar beach and was "bumping up against the roadway.”

As Reuters reported, “the Solimar Beach community, with 50 to 60 homes, and a nearby campground were under a mandatory evacuation order, while a voluntary one had been issued for the nearby Faria Beach community, where there are 30 to 40 homes.” 

Shops in Italy have been selling a herbal tea from Peru that contains cocaine. The matter came to light after a bus driver with the Genoa transport authority, Amt, was tested positive while undergoing a routine drugs test. The driver with a 10 year exemplary service record had a cup of herbal tea containing cocaine in the mornings before work because it made him feel alert. 38-year-old Roberto from Genoa was not aware that his morning cuppa contained small amounts of an illegal substance.

For centuries, humans from all around the world have tried to use different things as money. Some forms, which most people are familiar with today, have been effective catalysts for trade over thousands of years. Other currencies, from squirrel pelts to parmesan cheese, have had their time or place in human history, but were ultimately unsuccessful or made obsolete.