ABU DHABI: In the waters of the Arabian Sea, a vast “dead zone” the size of Scotland is expanding and scientists say climate change may be to blame.
In his lab in Abu Dhabi, Zouhair Lachkar is laboring over a colorful computer model of the Gulf of Oman, showing changing temperatures, sea levels and oxygen concentrations.
His models and new research unveiled earlier this year show a worrying trend.
Dead zones are areas of the sea where the lack of oxygen makes it difficult for fish to survive and the one in the Arabian Sea is “is the most intense in the world,” says Lachkar, a senior scientist at NYU Abu Dhabi in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
“It starts at about 100 meters and goes down to 1,500 meters, so almost the whole water column is completely depleted of oxygen,” he told AFP.
Dead zones are naturally occurring phenomena around the world, but this one appears to have mushroomed since it was last surveyed in the 1990s.
Lachkar and other researchers are worried that global warming is causing the zone to expand, raising concerns for local ecosystems and industries including fishing and tourism.
The discovery was made possible by the use of robotic divers, or “sea gliders,” deployed in areas researchers could not access — an undertaking by Britain’s University of East Anglia in collaboration with Oman’s Sultan Qaboos University.
The findings of the 2015 to 2016 study were released in April and showed the Arabian Sea dead zone had worsened in size and scope.
And unlike in the 1996 measurements, when the lowest levels were limited to the heart of the dead zone — midway between Yemen and India — now the dead zone extends across the sea.
“Now everywhere is the minimum, and it can’t go much lower,” the lead researcher Bastien Queste told AFP.
At NYU Abu Dhabi, Lachkar explains the Arabian Sea dead zone appears to be stuck in a cycle where warming seas are depleting the oxygen supply which in turn is reinforcing the warming.
This, he says, “can be very scary for climate.”
Ports from Mumbai to Muscat look out onto the Arabian Sea, making it a critical body of water.
These coastal hubs and the populations beyond them will be affected by further expansion of the dead zone.
Fish, a key source of sustenance in the region, may find their habitats compressed from deep underwater to just beneath the surface, putting them at risk of overfishing and extreme competition.
“When oxygen concentration drops below certain levels, fish cannot survive and you have massive death,” says Lachkar.
To carry out his data-heavy modelling, Lachkar relies on a sprawling supercomputer center which cost several million dollars to set up — a testament to local priorities to research climate change.
The UAE in 2016 renamed its Ministry of Environment and Water as the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, further evidence of the regional desire to meet this global challenge head-on.
“I think it is an important topic for different reasons, not only scientific reasons, but also economic,” says Lachkar from his Center for Prototype and Climate Modelling.
“Fishing is an important source of revenue and it’s directly impacted by the oxygen,” he said.
Even coral reefs and, by extension, tourism could be affected.
Down the hall from his research facility is the complementary Center for Global Sea Level Change, where researchers like Diana Francis study the worldwide impact of the problem.
The issue was at the top of the global agenda in 2015, when the world hammered out a deal in Paris to cut carbon emissions.
But the landmark agreement received a blow last year, when President Donald Trump announced he would be pulling the United States out of the accord.
“It is very disappointing, because a major country is not putting effort in the same direction as the others,” says Francis of the decision.
“But our role is to stick to science, be pragmatic and try to advance our understanding of the climate,” she says.
“Politics change over time,” Francis tells AFP. “But science does not.”
Expanding ‘dead zone’ in Arabian Sea raises climate change fears
Expanding ‘dead zone’ in Arabian Sea raises climate change fears
- Dead zones are areas of the sea where the lack of oxygen makes it difficult for fish to survive
- The findings of the 2015 to 2016 study were released in April and showed the Arabian Sea dead zone had worsened in size and scope
150 shells hit Lebanese border towns in response to Israeli’s killing
- 200 days of Israeli attacks against Lebanon have resulted in 1,359 casualties, including 344 deaths, ministry of health says
BEIRUT: The Israeli army responded on Friday to the combined operation carried out by Hezbollah in the occupied Shebaa Farms district — also known as Har Dov — with artillery shelling and airstrikes targeting the Tumat Niha area on the outskirts of Western Bekaa.
An Israeli was killed near the country’s northern border in a Hezbollah attack.
Israeli forces launched an airstrike on the outskirts of Shebaa and fired artillery shells on the outskirts of the town of Kfarchouba at dawn.
The outskirts of Shebaa, Kfarchouba and Helta were targeted with more than 150 Israeli shells.
Hezbollah members set up on Thursday night a “combined ambush of guided missiles, artillery, and rocket weapons targeting an Israeli motorized convoy near the Ruwaizat Al-Alam site, in the occupied Lebanese Kfarchouba hills.”
When the convoy arrived at the ambush point, according to Hezbollah’s statement, “it was targeted with guided weapons, artillery and rockets, destroying two vehicles.”
The party said that the Israeli army created a “smokescreen to retrieve losses.”
Hezbollah announced “targeting an Israeli force as it made it to the entrance of Al-Malikiyah site with artillery fire, and it was directly hit.”
The Israeli army confirmed the killing of a truck driver, Sharif Sawaed — a resident of Wadi Salameh — by an anti-tank shell fired by Hezbollah toward Shebaa Farms.
The Israeli army said that Sawaed was carrying out infrastructure work in the area targeted by the shell, where efforts are underway to set up a barrier on the border.
The Israeli army said that it “succeeded in retrieving the body of the dead soldier after a complex operation that lasted for hours under fire.”
The Israeli army said that warplanes later shelled Hezbollah positions in the villages of Kfarchouba and Ain Al-Tineh, a weapons depot, and a Hezbollah rocket launch pad in the Markaba area in southern Lebanon, and that two anti-tank shells were observed from Lebanese territory toward Shebaa Farms.
Israeli airstrikes led to the destruction of a house in Shebaa, two houses in Kfarchouba, and damage to more than 35 houses. One house was destroyed in Yarine, and another was destroyed in Dhayra.
Israeli artillery shelling targeted the area between the border towns of Yarine and Jebbayn.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Israeli army launched an investigation into the Har Dov incident, as the engineering force was supposed to operate in the dark to avoid being targeted by Hezbollah’s missiles.
Israeli army spokesperson described what happened in the Shebaa Farms as “a difficult security incident on the Lebanese border.”
This was the first confrontation during which the Israeli army revealed details of casualties and the developments taking place at the target site.
The head of the Israeli Metula settlement council said: “It is insane how we lose houses and infrastructure every day,” adding that “Hezbollah is systematically and deliberately hurting the people of the north by doing so.”
He said that Hezbollah had “successfully deepened the security belt here after it made us flee the northern settlements.”
The Israeli army’s radio station has reported the death of 20 settlers on the Lebanese border since the start of the war more than 200 days ago.
An Israeli military drone struck a car on the Dhahira–Zalloutieh road in the border region.
The Israeli attacks against Lebanon, which have continued for 200 days, resulted in “1,359 casualties, including 344 dead people, most of whom are men,” according to a report published by the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Israeli media outlets stated that “4,000 missiles were launched toward northern Israel from Lebanon since the beginning of the Gaza war, according to the Israeli army’s estimations.”
Hezbollah provided a detailed overview of the course of the military operations on the Lebanese southern border, stating that “it killed and wounded 2,000 Israeli soldiers, and carried out 1,650 diverse attacks, including downing five drones and targeting 67 command centers and two military factories.”
The group added that it carried out 55 aerial attacks and forced 230,000 settlers to evacuate 43 northern settlements.
Lawyer for arrested Palestinian academic warns move could set ‘precedent’ for free speech in Israel
- Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian was detained for appearing on podcast to discuss state violence, genocide
- Hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel have been detained since Oct. 7 over criticism of Israel
LONDON: The lawyers for a Palestinian legal scholar arrested on April 17 have said her detention was “political” and could set a “precedent” for the treatment of academics and free speech in Israel.
Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a leading feminist academic with roles at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Queen Mary, University of London, was arrested after appearing on a podcast in March in which she discussed her work on state crimes, genocide, violence and surveillance in the context of the war in Gaza.
She was strip-searched by police, interrogated and denied access to food, water and medication for several hours, and held in a cold cell overnight before being bailed the next day. A number of her personal items, including posters and books, were also confiscated.
Hassan Jabareen, her lawyer and director of human rights organization Adalah, said: “This is not only about one professor, it could be a (precedent) for any academic who goes against the consensus in wartime.”
Israeli police claimed that she was being investigated on suspicion of incitement to terrorism, violence and racism, but a magistrate deemed she did not pose a threat after she was arrested, leading to her release.
Hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel have been arrested since the outbreak of hostilities after Oct. 7, with many detained for criticism of Israel.
All arrests in relation to freedom of speech issues must be signed off by Israel’s attorney general, and Shalhoub-Kevorkian has been ordered to return to face further questioning at the weekend.
Jabareen said: “They could have asked her to come to the police station for two or three hours to discuss, investigate.
“To carry out the arrest like that, as if she was a dangerous person, shows the main purpose was to humiliate her.
“It was illegal, that’s why the magistrates court accepted my argument that she should be released and the district court confirmed it.”
She added: “If they indict her, this might have a deeply chilling effect. It’s very difficult to prosecute a person for academic work … but the political situation in Israel is starting to not really be based on the rule of law.”
International academics have condemned Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s arrest and treatment, with over 100 colleagues from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem publishing a letter in support of her.
In addition, 250 academics at Queen Mary have signed a separate letter saying: “Academic freedom (in Israel) has come under sustained attack.”
In the Hebrew University academics’ letter, published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, her colleagues said: “Regardless of the content of Nadera’s words, their interpretation and the opinions she expressed, it is clear to everyone that this is a political arrest, the whole purpose of which is to gag mouths and limit freedom of expression. Today it is Nadera who stands on the bench, and tomorrow it is each and every one of us.”
The Hebrew University also issued a short statement of support, despite the fact that in 2023 she was briefly suspended and asked to resign by the university’s rector after she called for a ceasefire in Gaza and suggested Israel could be guilty of genocide.
“We strongly object to many of the things that Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian said. Nonetheless, as a democratic country, there is no place to arrest a person for such remarks, however infuriating they may be,” it said.
Gaza baby rescued from dead mother’s womb dies
- Doctors were able to save the baby, delivering her by Caesarean section
- The baby suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, said Doctor Mohammad Salama who had been caring for Sabreen Al-Rouh
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: A baby girl who was delivered from her dying mother’s womb in a Gaza hospital following an Israeli airstrike has herself died after just a few days of life, the doctor who was caring for her said on Friday.
The baby had been named Sabreen Al-Rouh. The second name means “soul” in Arabic.
Her mother, Sabreen Al-Sakani (al-Sheikh), was seriously injured when the Israeli strike hit the family home in Rafah, the southernmost city in the besieged Gaza Strip, on Saturday night.
Her husband Shukri and their three-year-old daughter Malak were killed.
Sabreen Al-Rouh, who was 30-weeks pregnant, was rushed to the Emirati hospital in Rafah. She died of her wounds, but doctors were able to save the baby, delivering her by Caesarean section.
However, the baby suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, said Doctor Mohammad Salama, head of the emergency neo-natal unit at Emirati Hospital, who had been caring for Sabreen Al-Rouh.
She died on Thursday and her tiny body was buried in a sandy graveyard in Rafah.
“I and other doctors tried to save her, but she died. For me personally, it was a very difficult and painful day,” he told Reuters by phone.
“She was born while her respiratory system wasn’t mature, and her immune system was very weak and that is what led to her death. She joined her family as a martyr,” Salama said.
More than 34,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed in the six-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians in its campaign to eradicate Hamas.
Much of Gaza has been laid to waste by Israeli bombardments and most of the enclave’s hospitals have been badly damaged, while those still operating are short of electricity, medicine sterilization equipment and other supplies.
“(Sabreen Al-Rouh’s) grandmother urged me and the doctors to take care of her because she would be someone that would keep the memory of her mother, father and sister alive, but it was God’s will that she died,” Salama said.
Her uncle, Rami Al-Sheikh Jouda, sat by her grave on Friday lamenting the loss of the infant and the others in the family.
He said he had visited the hospital every day to check on Sabreen Al-Rouh’s health. Doctors told him she had a respiratory problem but he did not think it was bad until he got a call from the hospital telling him the baby had died.
“Rouh is gone, my brother, his wife and daughter are gone, his brother-in-law and the house that used to bring us together are gone,” he told Reuters.
“We are left with no memories of my brother, his daughter, or his wife. Everything was gone, even their pictures, their mobile phones, we couldn’t find them,” the uncle said.
UN denounces ‘more serious’ Iran crackdown on women without veils
- Hundreds of businesses including restaurants and cafes have been shut down for not enforcing the hijab rule
- More women began refusing the veil in the wake of the 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini
GENEVA: The United Nations said Friday that it was concerned by reports of new efforts to track and punish Iranian women, some as young as 15, who refuse to wear the headscarf required under the country’s Islamic law.
The UN Human Rights Office also expressed alarm about a draft bill on “Supporting the Family by Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab,” which would impose tougher sentences on women appearing in public without the hijab.
“What we have seen, what we’re hearing is, in the past months, that the authorities, whether they be plainclothes police or policemen in uniform, are increasingly enforcing the hijab bill,” Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the office, said at a press conference.
“There have been reports of widespread arrests and harassment of women and girls — many between the ages of 15 and 17,” he said.
Iranian police announced in mid-April reinforced checks on hijab use, saying the law was increasingly being flouted.
Hundreds of businesses including restaurants and cafes have been shut down for not enforcing the hijab rule, and surveillance cameras are being used to identify women without it, Laurence said.
More women began refusing the veil in the wake of the 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by Iran’s morality police for allegedly breaking the headscarf law, which sparked a wave of deadly protests against the government.
Laurence said that on April 21, “the Tehran head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the creation of a new body to enforce existing mandatory hijab laws, adding that guard members have been trained to do so ‘in a more serious manner’ in public spaces.”
And while the latest draft of the new hijab bill has not been released, “an earlier version stipulates that those found guilty of violating the mandatory dress code could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment, flogging, and fines,” he said, adding that “this bill must be shelved.”
The Human Rights Office also called for the release of a rapper sentenced to death for supporting nationwide protests sparked by Amini’s death.
Toomaj Salehi, 33, was arrested in October 2022 for publicly backing the uprising.
“All individuals imprisoned for exercising their freedom of opinion and expression, including artistic expression, must be released,” Laurence said.
UN seeks to deescalate Sudan tensions amid reports of possible attack
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ envoy is engaging with all parties to deescalate tensions
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations is increasingly concerned about escalating tensions in Al-Fashir in Sudan’s North Dafur region amid reports that the Rapid Support Forces are encircling the city, signaling a possible imminent attack, the UN’s spokesperson said on Friday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ envoy is engaging with all parties to deescalate tensions in the area, the spokesperson said.
