Mexico has set a new Guinness record for the world’s highest suspension bridge. President Felipe Calderon on Thursday received the honour bestowed on the Baluarte Bicentennial Bridge, which is supported by 152 steel suspenders, has a central, cable-stayed span of 520 metres, a total length of 1,124 metres and a width of 19.8 metres. Built at a world-record structural height of 403.4 metres, its four lanes extend over a stretch of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range known as the “Devil’s Backbone”, which links Durango and the neighbouring coastal state of Sinaloa.
The bridge is part of the Durango-Mazatlan highway, built at a cost of more than 20 billion pesos (around $1.5 billion).
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French crew sail around the globe, set new record
French skipper Loick Peyronand his crew of 13 have set a record for sailing non-stop around-the- world by cutting nearly three days off the previous mark towin the Jules Verne Trophy.
The 40-metre Maxi Banque Populaire V trimaran crossed the line of departure on Friday at 22.13 GMT, circumnavigating the globe in 45 days, 13 hours and 42 minutes.
“To sail around the world in 45 days you've got to be atyour limits very often,” Peyron told reporters shortly after histrimaran docked in the northwestern French port of Brest amid much fanfare and huge crowds.
Peyron, 52, said the weather had not always been favourable and that there had been nerve-wracking moments passing throughzones with many icebergs in the southern hemisphere.
“We had to be very careful going very fast through the redzones and I had to furrow my brow to calm my young jedis wholiked to go even faster,” he said.
— Reuters