HANOI: Six critically endangered Mekong giant catfish — one of the largest and rarest freshwater fish in the world — were caught and released recently in Cambodia, reviving hopes for the survival of the species.
The underwater giants can grow up to 3 meters long and weigh up to 300 kilograms, or as heavy as a grand piano. They now are only found in Southeast Asia’s Mekong River but in the past inhabited the length of the 4,900-kilometer-long river, all the way from its outlet in Vietnam to its northern reaches in China’s Yunnan province.
The species’ population has plummeted by 80 percent in recent decades due to rising pressures from overfishing, dams that block the migratory path the fish follow to spawn and other disruptions.
Few of the millions of people who depend on the Mekong for their livelihoods have ever seen a giant catfish. To find six of the giants, which were caught and released within 5 days, is unprecedented.
The first two were on the Tonle Sap river, a tributary of the Mekong not far from Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. They were given identification tags and released. On Tuesday, fishermen caught four more giant catfish including two longer than 2 meters that weighed 120 kilograms and 131 kilograms, respectively. The captured fish were apparently migrating from their floodplain habitats near Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake northward along the Mekong River, likely to spawning grounds in northern Cambodia, Laos or Thailand.
“It’s a hopeful sign that the species is not in imminent, like in the next few years, risk of extinction, which gives conservation activities time to be implemented and to continue to bend the curve away from decline and toward recovery,” said Dr. Zeb Hogan, a University of Nevada Reno research biologist who leads the US Agency for International Development-funded Wonders of the Mekong project.
Much is still unknown about the giant fish, but over the past two decades a joint conservation program by the Wonders of the Mekong and the Cambodian Fisheries Administration has caught, tagged and released around 100 of them, gaining insights into how the catfish migrate, where they live and the health of the species.
“This information is used to establish migration corridors and protect habitats to try to help these fish survive in the future,” said Hogan.
The Mekong giant catfish is woven into the region’s cultural fabric, depicted in 3,000-year-old cave paintings, revered in folklore and considered a symbol of the river, whose fisheries feed millions and are valued at $10 billion annually.
Local communities play a crucial role in conservation. Fishermen now know about the importance of reporting accidental catches of rare and endangered species to officials, enabling researchers to reach places where fish have been captured and measure and tag them before releasing them.
“Their cooperation is essential for our research and conservation efforts,” Heng Kong, director of Cambodia’s Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute, said in a statement.
Apart from the Mekong giant catfish, the river is also home to other large fish including the salmon carp, which was thought to be extinct until it was spotted earlier this year, and the giant sting ray.
That four of these fish were caught and tagged in a single day is likely the “big fish story of the century for the Mekong”, said Brian Eyler, director of the Washington-based Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia Program. He said that seeing them confirms that the annual fish migration was still robust despite all the pressures facing the environment along the Mekong.
“Hopefully what happened this week will show the Mekong countries and the world that the Mekong’s mighty fish population is uniquely special and needs to be conserved,” he said.
Huge and rare Mekong catfish spotted in Cambodia, raising conservation hopes
https://arab.news/c6xje
Huge and rare Mekong catfish spotted in Cambodia, raising conservation hopes
- Few of the millions of people who depend on the Mekong for their livelihoods have ever seen a giant catfish
- The species’ population has plummeted by 80% due to rising pressures from overfishing, dams and other disruptions
Europe rights watchdog criticizes Italy over migrant detention centers
The report acknowledged that police interventions usually follow disturbances
STASBOURG, France: The Council of Europe rights body on Friday criticized Italy’s treatment of migrants in detention centers, citing police violence and the use of psychotropic drugs on detainees.
The COE’s anti-torture committee made the comments after a visit in April to four repatriation centers on mainland Italy, where migrants are held pending expulsion. Italy said some “prison elements” were necessary at the centers to prevents escapes but said in its defense that it was building new facilities.
“The report describes several cases of physical ill-treatment and excessive use of force against detained persons by police staff in the CPRs (centers) visited,” said the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
“The committee is also critical of the widespread practice of the administration of unprescribed psychotropic drugs diluted in water,” added the summary.
It called for a review of the practice of transporting people “handcuffed in a police vehicle without being offered food and water during journeys of several hours.”
There was no adequate oversight of the police working there and injuries sustained by the detainees were not accurately recorded, it noted.
The committee visited centers in Milan, Gradisca, Potenza and Rome.
At Potenza, it criticized “the widespread practice of the administration of unprescribed psychotropic drugs diluted in water to foreign nationals.”
The report acknowledged that police interventions usually follow disturbances.
But this was “a direct consequence of the disproportionate security restrictions, the lack of individual risk assessments of foreign nationals, and the fact that detained persons were in effect provided with nothing to occupy their time,” it argued.
People can be detained at such centers for up to 18 months while the judicial process for expulsion is completed.
The committee noted the jail-like design and layout of the centers — including triple-metal mesh screens and cage-like outdoor facilities — recommending that such elements be removed.
The food for detainees was poor and there was a lack of toiletries, it added.
The committee also raised questions about Italy’s attempts to hold foreigners at Italian-run centers in Albania, a controversial initiative that Italy’s courts last month referred to the European Court of Justice.
Rome should ensure that any detainees the centers received proper treatment and lived in decent conditions, said the committee.
In its response, Italy said the prison-elements could not be removed as that would only lead to “increased escapes from the centers and episodes of vandalism.”
But it was building new facilities that would comply with European guidelines, it added.
Police paid the “utmost attention” to the training of staff at such centers, it said.
France’s Macron names veteran centrist ally Bayrou as prime minister
- The priority for Francois Bayrou, a close Macron ally, will be passing a special law to roll over the 2024 budget
- Parliamentary pushback over the 2025 bill led to the downfall of former Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron named Francois Bayrou as his fourth prime minister of 2024 on Friday, tasking the veteran centrist with steering the country out of its second major political crisis in the last six months.
The priority for Bayrou, a close Macron ally, will be passing a special law to roll over the 2024 budget, with a nastier battle over the 2025 legislation looming early next year. Parliamentary pushback over the 2025 bill led to the downfall of former Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government.
Bayrou, 73, is expected to put forward his list of ministers in the coming days, but will likely face the same existential difficulties as Barnier in steering legislation through a hung parliament comprising three warring blocs. His proximity to the deeply unpopular Macron will also prove a vulnerability.
Jordan Bardella, the president of the far-right National Rally party, said they would not be calling for an immediate no-confidence motion against Bayrou.
France’s festering political malaise has raised doubts about whether Macron will complete his second presidential term, which ends in 2027. It has also lifted French borrowing costs and left a power vacuum in the heart of Europe, just as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.
Macron spent the days after Barnier’s ouster speaking to leaders from the conservatives to the Communists, seeking to lock in support for Bayrou. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and the hard-left France Unbowed were excluded.
Any involvement of the Socialist Party in a coalition may cost Macron in next year’s budget.
“Now we will see how many billions the support of the Socialist Party will cost,” a government adviser said on Friday.
NO LEGISLATIVE ELECTION BEFORE SUMMER
Macron will hope Bayrou can stave off no-confidence votes until at least July, when France will be able to hold a new parliamentary election, but his own future as president will inevitably be questioned if the government should fall again.
Bayrou, the founder of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) party which has been a part of Macron’s ruling alliance since 2017, has himself run for president three times, leaning on his rural roots as the longtime mayor of the south-western town of Pau.
Macron appointed Bayrou as justice minister in 2017 but he resigned only weeks later amid an investigation into his party’s alleged fraudulent employment of parliamentary assistants. He was cleared of fraud charges this year.
Bayrou’s first real test will come early in the new year when lawmakers need to pass a belt-tightening 2025 budget bill.
However, the fragmented nature of the National Assembly, rendered nigh-on ungovernable after Macron’s June snap election, means Bayrou will likely be living day-to-day, at the mercy of the president’s opponents, for the foreseeable future.
Barnier’s budget bill, which aimed for 60 billion euros in savings to assuage investors increasingly concerned by France’s 6 percent deficit, was deemed too miserly by the far-right and left, and the government’s failure to find a way out of the gridlock has seen French borrowing costs push higher still.
India celebrates Gukesh Dommaraju’s historic win as youngest world chess champ
- Gukesh Dommaraju defeated titleholder Ding Liren at the World Chess Championship
- Dommaraju is four years younger than Garry Kasparov was when he won his first title
NEW DELHI: Gukesh Dommaraju’s historic win at the World Chess Championship marks the “beginning of a new era” for the game in India, his country’s chess federation said on Friday, as declarations of pride poured in from across his homeland.
Dommaraju, an 18-year-old from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, became the world’s youngest chess champion on Thursday, after defeating titleholder Ding Liren of China — 14 years his senior — in Singapore.
“It’s the beginning of a new era of chess in our country,” Nitin Narang, president of the All India Chess Federation, told Arab News. “It’s an incredible feat and what Gukesh has brought to our nation is a moment of pride for 1.4 billion Indians ... I think this is going to catalyze the new generation of chess players in India.”
Narang was with Dommaraju and his father and coach during the championship.
“It was surreal, and I was so emotional to see how he hugged his dad and how he hugged his coach. For me, that was the peak of the entire championship,” he said.
The Indian teenager snatched victory in the final contest of their three-week match when Ding made a blunder. Video footage from the game showed Dommaraju beaming with excitement as he spotted it.
“When I realized it, it was probably the best moment of my life,” Gukesh told reporters. “I’ve been dreaming about this moment for more than 10 years.”
He is bringing home the most prestigious chess title and the $1.35 million winner’s share of the $2.5 million championship prize fund.
At the age of 12, Dommaraju became the third-youngest grandmaster in the history of chess. He is the second Indian to win the World Chess Championship after Viswanathan Anand, who won it five times, and who became the first grandmaster from India in 1988.
Anand, also a Tamil Nadu native, has played a vital role in mentoring Dommaraju at his chess academy in Chennai.
“It’s a proud moment for chess, a proud moment for India, a proud moment for WACA (WestBridge Anand Chess Academy), and for me, a very personal moment of pride,” Anand wrote on X, as congratulations and declarations of pride poured in from across India and abroad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Dommaraju on his “remarkable accomplishment” and posted on X that “his triumph has not only etched his name in the annals of chess history but has also inspired millions of young minds to dream big and pursue excellence.”
India’s president, Draupadi Murmu, said the win “stamps the authority of India as a chess powerhouse.”
At 18, Dommaraju is four years younger than the Russian legend Garry Kasparov was when he won the title in 1985.
In a series of posts on X, Kasparov said: “Gukesh impressively surmounted every obstacle and opponent in his path, especially considering his age” and that his victory “caps a phenomenal year for India.”
In September, Dommaraju won a team gold and an individual gold medal at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Hungary, where India’s women’s team also claimed gold.
-ENDS-
Macron names key centrist ally Francois Bayrou as new French prime minister
- Francois Bayrou is French president’s third prime minister of 2024
- He is expected to put forward his list of ministers in the coming days
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday named Francois Bayrou his third prime minister of 2024, tasking the veteran centrist with steering the country out of its second major political crisis in the last six months.
The priority for Bayrou, a close Macron ally, will be passing a special law to roll over the 2024 budget, with a nastier battle over the 2025 legislation looming early next year. Parliamentary pushback over the 2025 bill led to the downfall of former Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government.
Bayrou, 73, is expected to put forward his list of ministers in the coming days, but will likely face the same existential difficulties as Barnier in steering legislation through a hung parliament comprising three warring blocs. His proximity to the deeply unpopular Macron will also prove a vulnerability.
France’s festering political malaise has raised doubts about whether Macron will complete his second presidential term, which ends in 2027. It has also lifted French borrowing costs and left a power vacuum in the heart of Europe, just as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.
Macron spent the days after Barnier’s ouster speaking to leaders from the conservatives to the Communists, seeking to lock in support for Bayrou. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and the hard-left France Unbowed were excluded.
Any involvement of the Socialist Party in a coalition may cost Macron in next year’s budget.
“Now we will see how many billions the support of the Socialist Party will cost,” a government adviser said on Friday.
NO LEGISLATIVE ELECTION BEFORE SUMMER
Macron will hope Bayrou can stave off no-confidence votes until at least July, when France will be able to hold a new parliamentary election, but his own future as president will inevitably be questioned if the government should fall again.
Bayrou, the founder of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) party which has been a part of Macron’s ruling alliance since 2017, has himself run for president three times, leaning on his rural roots as the longtime mayor of the south-western town of Pau.
Macron appointed Bayrou as justice minister in 2017 but he resigned only weeks later amid an investigation into his party’s alleged fraudulent employment of parliamentary assistants. He was cleared of fraud charges this year.
Bayrou’s first real test will come early in the new year when lawmakers need to pass a belt-tightening 2025 budget bill.
However, the fragmented nature of the National Assembly, rendered nigh-on ungovernable after Macron’s June snap election, means Bayrou will likely be living day-to-day, at the mercy of the president’s opponents, for the foreseeable future.
Barnier’s budget bill, which aimed for 60 billion euros in savings to assuage investors increasingly concerned by France’s 6 percent deficit, was deemed too miserly by the far-right and left, and the government’s failure to find a way out of the gridlock has seen French borrowing costs push higher still.
‘Lives at risk’: Women’s medical training ban threatens Afghan health sector
- From her private hospital in Afghanistan’s capital, doctor Najmussama Shefajo predicts a rise in maternal mortality rates “within three or four years“
KABUL: From her private hospital in Afghanistan’s capital, doctor Najmussama Shefajo predicts a rise in maternal mortality rates “within three or four years,” following the latest restrictions on women’s education.
The Taliban’s supreme leader is reportedly behind a ban on women studying midwifery and nursing at training institutes across the country, already among the worst in the world for deaths in childbirth.
“We may not see the impact very quickly but after three to four years we will see the maternal mortality rate go up and up,” said Shefajo.
“People will for sure have more babies at home. But what about complications? What about operations? Many procedures cannot be done at home.”
Since the Taliban government banned women from universities two years ago, Shefajo has been giving on-the-job medical training, including in midwifery and nursing.
But she said she doesn’t have the capacity or facilities to take on every woman keen to learn in her hospital, despite no shortage of volunteers.
“Midwifery and nursing are like the two wings of the doctors; if the bird doesn’t have wings, it cannot fly,” she added, ducking behind curtains to treat patients.
Already Afghanistan is facing a “desperate shortage of trained health care workers, especially women,” according to the UN children’s agency UNICEF.
No official notice has been issued by the Taliban government, but health ministry sources and managers of training institutes said this month that they had been told to block women from classes.
Restricting medical training is the latest action against women’s education since the Taliban authorities swept to power in 2021, imposing rules the United Nations has called “gender apartheid.”
“In a country where women and children depend on female health professionals for culturally sensitive care, cutting the pipeline of future health providers would put lives at risk,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
Training institutes had ensured women would continue to learn health care skills, such as midwifery and nursing, or laboratory work, pharmacy and dentistry.
The ban would impact about 35,000 women studying at medical training centers, according to a figure from a health ministry source.
“We are concerned about the effects on the already fragile health care system,” said Achille Despres, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan, where the organization offers health services and training.
International NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which runs some of its busiest maternity hospitals in Afghanistan, also warned of the consequences of the ban, given that the nation’s “medical needs... are huge.”
“There is no health care system without educated female health practitioners,” country representative Mickael Le Paih said in a statement.
Afghanistan and MSF already face a dearth of obstetrician-gynaecologists (OB-GYNs) in a country with high fertility rates where women often have children from a young age, Le Paih told AFP.
And demand is only likely to increase, he added, as almost half of Afghanistan’s population is under 15 years old, according to a 2022 health ministry report.
“You can imagine the impact in several years’ time when you will have a large number of women reaching childbearing age,” he said.
The ban will undoubtedly further strain access for the 70 percent of the population living in rural areas.
After news of a ban spread last week, some training facilities closed their doors immediately, while others rushed to hold final exams and graduations, as still others said they would open as normal after the winter break unless they received a written order.
Shefajo and others want to provide online lessons, but say the lack of practical experience would be detrimental to learning.
Hadiya, 22, recently finished her first year studying midwifery, after having been forced to quit computer science studies at university and English courses.
“We may have midwives now, but medicine is changing every day... and it is clear that the situation in Afghanistan in the field of child and mother health is getting worse,” Hadiya told AFP.
“It’s like we’re in a cage, all the girls are thinking of finding a way to leave here so we can at least continue our studies and reach our goals,” she said.
“When I see the situation in Afghanistan, I think no child should be born here.”
