Skip to main content

Israeli occupier attacks threaten historic Christian presence in West Bank town

In Taybeh, one of the few Palestinian communities with a Christian majority in the occupied West Bank, fears are growing that Israeli occupier attacks on farmland and property could push more families to emigrate, threatening the town’s demographic character and historic Christian presence. Local officials and clergy warned of the impact of rising violence by Israeli occupiers, which has coincided with worsening living and economic conditions in the town. Taybeh, east of Ramallah, is one of the few Palestinian towns in the West Bank that still has a Christian majority, according to church and local accounts. Residents say the town’s Christian roots go back thousands of years. Residents say the attacks have deepened fears in the town, even as they stress their determination to remain on their land. Also Read: Pakistan raises red flag over illegal settlements in West Bank, calls for Israel accountability In recent years, Israeli occupiers have established several ill...
Post a Comment

Clownfish shrink during marine heat wave to survive, scientists say

Some clownfish off the coast of Papua New Guinea shrank their bodies during a marine heat wave — and the smaller fish were more likely to survive, according to a new study. Scientists tracked 134 clownfish in Kimbe Bay during a record marine heat wave in 2023 that continues to bleach coral reefs around the world. Of those, 101 were observed to have temporarily shrunk in length, researchers reported. “We were really shocked at first when we saw that they were shrinking at all,” said Morgan Bennett-Smith of Boston University, one of the study’s authors. The findings, published Wednesday in Science Advances, shed new light on how coral reef fish are adapting to more frequent and intense marine heat waves linked to climate change. The researchers suspect the clownfish may reabsorb bone matter to reduce their size. Shrinking could help conserve energy, as smaller bodies require less food to survive in high-stress environments. In some cases, clownfish pairs appeared to synchronise their shrinking. Female fish remained larger than males, preserving the species’ female-dominated social structure even as both fish lost size. “Certain pairs adjusted together to maintain hierarchy — it’s fascinating,” said study co-author Melissa Versteeg from Newcastle University. While temporary size reduction is known in other animals — such as marine iguanas during El Niño events — this is the first time scientists have documented the behaviour in coral reef fish. “This is another tool in the toolbox that fish are going to use to deal with a changing world,” said Simon Thorrold, an ocean ecologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who was not involved in the research. Importantly, the scientists observed that the clownfish grew back to normal size once conditions improved, suggesting a temporary coping mechanism rather than a permanent shift. “These natural systems really are under stress, but there’s a capacity for incredible resilience,” Versteeg said. Researchers caution, however, that it's not yet clear whether the fish can continue to shrink and regrow if marine heat waves persist or become more severe.

from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/05pXg31
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At least 32 miners dead after bridge fails at cobalt site in southeast DR Congo

A bridge collapsed at a cobalt mine in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo killing at least 32 wildcat miners, a regional government official said Sunday. The bridge came down Saturday onto a flooded zone at the mine in Lualaba province, Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the provincial interior minister, told reporters. He said 32 bodies had been recovered and more were being searched for. The DRC produces more than 70 percent of the world supply of cobalt, which is essential for batteries used in electric cars, many laptop computers and mobile phones. More than 200,000 people are estimated to be working in giant illegal cobalt mines in the giant central African country. Local authorities said the bridge collapsed at the Kalando mine, about 42 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the Lualaba provincial capital, Kolwezi. "Despite a formal ban on access to the site because of the heavy rain and the risk of a landslide, wildcat miners forced their way into the quarry," said Mayonde. He said ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Hindu temple opens

The private jet parking lots at airports near the Indian city of Ayodhya are full and the shops have run out of gold-plated idols, as wealthy devotees prepare for the invite-only opening ceremony of one of Hinduism's holiest temples. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani are among the 8,000 or so attendees at Monday's inauguration event for the Ram Temple, which devotees believe is built on the birthplace of Lord Ram, a sacred Hindu deity. The construction of the temple, which began after the Supreme Court awarded the site to Hindus in 2019 more than two decades after a Hindu mob razed a mosque there, triggering deadly riots, fulfils a key campaign promise of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. Read BJP-promised temple transforms Ayodhya: Muslims, locals feel neglected The opening ceremony, organised by the trust that built the temple, comes months before a national election which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian opposition supporters detained ahead of protest at Modi's home

Police in the Indian capital detained dozens of opposition supporters on Tuesday as they attempted to march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to protest against last week's arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal, a key opposition leader whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has governed the national capital territory for a decade, was arrested by the financial crime-fighting agency on corruption charges relating to the city's liquor policy, weeks before India begins voting in general elections on April 19. He was remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate until March 28, with the lawyer for the agency arguing he was the "kingpin" in the case and needed to be interrogated. Kejriwal's party, all of whose main leaders are now imprisoned in connection with the case, says he has been "falsely arrested" in a "fabricated case". The federal government and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deny political interfere...
Post a Comment
Read more