内容摘要：Boats move through flooded streets after heavy rains in Campana, Argentina, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Boats move through flooded streets after heavy rains in Campana, Argentina, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

“Thank God for the rain,” said rose picker Fatima El Alami. “There are roses elsewhere, but there’s nowhere like here.”She’s right. Mild temperatures, steady sunlight and low humidity make the fields around Kalaat M’Gouna a perfect cradle for growing its signature flower: the Damask rose. Abundant precipitation and several desert downpours this year have bestowed

with an exceptional yield of the flower, used for rosewater and rose oil.Pink and pungent, the roses are set to come in at 4,800 tons this year, a bloom far beyond the 2020-2023 average, according to the Regional Office for Agricultural Development, in nearby Ouarzazate.The small town in the

mountains comes to life each year during the International Rose Festival, now in its 60th year. From the rose-shaped monuments at Kalaat M’Gouna’s entrances to the Pepto Bismol pink taxis, nearly everything here adheres to the theme.Teenagers sell heart-shaped rose dashboard ornaments along the roadside where wild briars bloom into pink tangles. Children whirl around a rose-themed carousel. Roadside placards advertise rose products in at least six languages: English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and Amazigh, a tongue indigenous to the region.

Outside the town, roses span 1,020 hectares (2,520 acres) across the region this year. One hectare (2.5 acres) of roses requires little water and provides more than 120 days of work in a local economy where opportunities are scarce.

Regional officials say the rose industry is a prime example of sustainable development because the flowers are well-adapted to the climate and rooted in the culture — music, dance and celebrations like weddings., much of which has been privatized since the 1980s. The center-left Labour government has vowed to improve the U.K.'s delay-plagued railways, its

and its energy network, promising to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy independence through investment in wind and other renewable power sources.“The last 40, 50 years we’ve tried to make services more efficient,” said Harris. “We’ve stripped out redundancy, we’ve simplified processes. We’ve moved towards a sort of ‘just in time’ economy. There is an element where you have to make sure you’re available for ‘just in case.’ You have to plan for things going wrong.”

for international travel, and saw 83.9 million passengers last year.Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said he was “proud” of the way airport and airline staff had responded.