RIYADH: Saudi Arabia possesses some of the healthiest coral reefs in the Red Sea, and is committed to preserving and restoring them, the Kingdom’s Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Dr. Osama Faqeeha, said.
His remarks came during the inaugural meeting of the governance committee of the Global Coral Reef Research and Development Accelerator Platform, which has been announced following a meeting of the initiative’s founding committee, which comprised 16 member states of the G20 in addition to the EU countries.
During the meeting, Faqeeha was elected inaugural chairman of the platform’s governance committee, while Jennifer Koss, director of the Coral Reef Conservation Program of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was elected vice president.
Faqeeha said: “We welcome the Global Coral Reef Research and Development Accelerator Platform, which was announced by G20 leaders with the aim of improving coral conservation operations around the world and restoring them with a set of superior scientific and technical methodologies, and as a much-needed international collaborative effort to secure the future of coral life.”
He said that “the emergence of vaccines to protect against COVID-19 in record time is a testament to the effectiveness of concerted international scientific efforts to confront global challenges. This is what we hope to achieve in this platform, to confront the deterioration of coral reefs and the possibility of their permanent extinction from the world’s seas and oceans.”
Koss, said: “The US was pleased when the Kingdom drew our attention, during its recent presidency of the G20, to the urgent need to allocate greater resources and employ more innovative technologies in order to conserve global coral.”
She added: “This platform provides a unique opportunity to bring together the world’s scientific and coral management experts to complement current coral research and continue efforts to protect them, at a time when we are defining the future of our coral reefs, which are the basis for countless services that we cannot afford to lose in our ecosystem.”
The platform will accelerate research and development of coral reefs, and promote the next generation of science and technology needed to secure a future for reefs in combatting climate change and other pressures.
The research program will engage a global multidisciplinary community of scientists, coastal managers, technologists and innovators, guided by a strategic plan and objectives proposed by the platform’s scientific and advisory committee.
The platform will also connect existing national, regional and international research and development programs, engage the private sector in supporting these efforts, provide advanced research training to scientists from all countries and will facilitate access to scientific information and research and testing facilities around the world.
It will then provide the resulting new technologies and sciences, and allow them to support efforts on the ground to conserve and restore coral reefs.
The platform has designated King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to serve as a central meeting point for the platform and program management, in recognition of its proven track record in coral reef research, its proven capacity for global research collaboration, its management of proposals from scientific institutions around the world, and its state-of-the-art laboratories for coral reef research and world-class facilities to host international conferences and meetings. The university will support the center’s operations at no cost to the G20, as an extension of its strong commitment to saving the world’s coral reef ecosystems.
KAUST President Tony Chan said: “Since its establishment, coral reef research in the Red Sea has been one of the university’s focus and strengths, so this global effort motivates and inspires us, as we offered to be a central meeting point for the platform to direct the necessary resources, talents and efficient ideas to achieve the platform’s goals and protect disturbed coral ecosystems around the world.”
Carlos Duarte, professor of marine science at KAUST and acting executive director of the platform, called for the need “to act as custodians of our planet — for the health of our oceans, and for future generations.”
Saudi Arabia ‘working to safeguard the future of world’s coral reefs’
https://arab.news/jth3q
Saudi Arabia ‘working to safeguard the future of world’s coral reefs’
- The Kingdom possesses some of the healthiest coral reefs in the Red Sea
- The platform will promote the next generation of science and technology needed to secure a future for reefs in combatting climate change and other pressures
China’s BYD, Tsingshan scrap plans for Chile lithium plants as prices plunge
- Retreat a blow to Chile’s aim to develop more domestic processing of lithium
- Chile is the world’s no. 2 producer of the key metal for electric vehicle batteries
SANTIAGO: Chinese automaker BYD and metals group Tsingshan are backing out of multi-million dollar plans to build lithium cathode plants in Chile, the country’s economic development agency said on Wednesday.
The retreat by the two huge Chinese companies is a blow to Chile’s aim to develop more domestic processing of lithium, a key metal for electric vehicle batteries. Chile is the world’s no. 2 lithium producer.
Both projects were hit by plunging lithium prices, said government economic development agency Corfo, which in 2023 had tapped BYD and Tsingshan for a preferential lithium price deal as part of its efforts to spur investment in Chile.
“The companies selected by Corfo have been affected in their investment decisions by the global market conditions, which have shown a sharp drop in prices,” Corfo said in a statement.
Tsingshan told Reuters it has withdrawn plans for a $233 million project to produce 120,000 metric tons of lithium iron phosphate (LFP). Chile’s national assets ministry told Reuters that BYD filed an intent to withdraw its plans in January.
BYD, the world’s biggest maker of electric cars, declined to comment. BYD last year flagged delays to a planned $290 million plant, which was expected to produce 50,000 metric tons per year of LFP for cathodes.
Chilean newspaper Diario Financiero first reported the scrapped investments.
Chile’s effort in 2018 to encourage lithium-related investments via a pricing deal also fell apart. Chilean chemical company Molymet, China’s Sichuan Fulin Transportation Group Co. , and a joint venture between Korean firms Posco and Samsung for various reasons withdrew their plans.
Tsingshan and BYD would have had access to preferential prices of lithium produced by Chilean miner SQM through 2030, a timeframe that Corfo said also may have influenced the withdrawal of the projects.
In addition, Corfo said Tsingshan had wanted to assign the project development to a unit of the company that had not participated in the bidding process, which Corfo said was not possible.
Corfo last week opened a second bidding process for a similar scheme, this time to provide a purchasing deal with US lithium producer Albemarle through 2043 for companies that commit to lithium-related projects.
Albemarle and the selected investors will be able to use an “alternative form” to determine a price agreement, Corfo said.
Meta blocks access to Muslim news page in India
- The affected Instagram account, @Muslim, has a page with 6.7 million followers
- Meta blocked the account by legal request of the Indian government, says founder
WASHINGTON: Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government’s request, the account’s founder said Wednesday, denouncing the move as “censorship” as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.
Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim — a page with 6.7 million followers — were met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government on the ban, which comes after access was blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers.
“I received hundreds of messages, emails and comments from our followers in India, that they cannot access our account,” Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh, the news account’s founder and editor-in-chief, said in a statement.
“Meta has blocked the @Muslim account by legal request of the Indian government. This is censorship.”
Meta declined to comment. A spokesman for the tech giant directed AFP to a company webpage outlining its policy for restricting content when governments believe material on its platforms goes “against local law.”
The development, first reported by the US tech journalist Taylor Lorenz’ outlet User Magazine, comes in the wake of the worst violence between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in two decades.
Both countries have exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival.
At least 43 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-run side of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Pakistan rejects the charge and has warned it will “avenge” those killed by Indian air strikes.
The @Muslim account is among the most followed Muslim news sources on Instagram. Khatahtbeh apologized to followers in India, adding: “When platforms and countries try to silence media, it tells us that we are doing our job in holding those in power accountable.”
“We will continue to document the truth and stand out firmly for justice,” he added, while calling on Meta to reinstate the account in India.
India has also banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content, including Pakistani news outlets.
In recent days, access to the Instagram account of Pakistan’s former prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan has also been blocked in India.
Pakistani Bollywood movie regulars Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam were also off limits in India, as well as a wide range of cricketers — including star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and retired players Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram.
Rising hostilities between the South Asian neighbors have also unleashed an avalanche of online misinformation, with social media users circulating everything from deepfake videos to outdated images from unrelated conflicts, falsely linking them to the Indian strikes.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump called for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the violence.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters occupy Columbia University library
- Student protesters at Columbia, Jewish organizers among them, say the government is unfairly conflating pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitism
NEW YORK: Dozens of protesters stood on tables, beat drums and unfurled pro-Palestinian banners in the main reading room of a Columbia University library on Wednesday in one of the biggest demonstrations at the school since its New York City campus was roiled by a student protest movement last year.
Videos and photographs on social media showed the protesters, most wearing masks, with banners saying “Strike For Gaza” and “Liberated Zone” beneath the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room’s chandeliers in the Butler Library. Columbia’s public affairs office said in a statement that its public safety staff were asking protesters to show identification, and that if protesters do not comply with orders to disperse, they will be disciplined for breaking school rules and face “possible arrest.”
At one point, more people were seen trying to enter the library, according to a Reuters witness. Public safety staff locked a door and shoving and pushing ensued.
The protest comes as Columbia’s board of trustees continues its negotiations with US President Donald Trump’s administration, which announced in March it had canceled hundreds of millions of dollars of grants to the university for scientific research.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in an interview with the NBC 4 news channel that Columbia officials had asked for help and that the New York Police Department was sending officers to the campus.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a collection of student groups, recirculated on social media on Wednesday their long-standing demand that the university end investments of its $14.8 billion endowment in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territories.
Trump, a Republican, has called the pro-Palestinian student protests across college campuses last year antisemitic and anti-American. Student protesters at Columbia, Jewish organizers among them, say the government is unfairly conflating pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitism.
Trump is also trying to deport some pro-Palestinian international students at US schools, saying their presence could harm US foreign policy interests.
The protesters in the library also demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate student who remains in a Louisiana immigrants jail after he was among the first to be arrested.
Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others
- The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on
JERUSALEM: Three Israeli hostages in Gaza previously thought to be living may be dead, leaving 21 definitely believed to be alive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, confirming comments made by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at an event at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said 24 hostages were alive a week ago but the figure was now 21. He did not cite a source or provide further details.
Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage issues, had said in a post on X that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead — figures unchanged since before Trump spoke.
Netanyahu’s comments appeared to confirm the figure cited by Trump.
“We know for certain that 21 are alive — that’s not in dispute. There are three others where, unfortunately, it’s uncertain whether they’re alive,” Netanyahu said in filmed remarks posted on social media.
A spokesperson for a group representing hostage families said: “The headquarters again calls on the prime minister to stop the war until the return of the last abductee. This is the most urgent and important national task.”
The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on. A total of 251 people were taken hostage during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far were released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.
Since the abductions, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza that has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health authorities there, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
The government says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages. This week it has announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza, causing hostage families to fear this will further endanger their loved ones.
Putin’s order for three-day truce with Ukraine enters force
- Putin announced the truce last month as a “humanitarian” gesture, following pressure from Trump
- Ukraine never agreed to the truce and has dismissed it as theatrics, calling instead for a 30-day ceasefire
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for a three-day truce with Ukraine to coincide with Moscow’s World War II Victory Day commemorations has taken effect, Russian state media reported.
Ukraine never agreed to the truce and has dismissed it as theatrics, calling instead for a 30-day ceasefire.
The three-day order began at midnight Thursday (2100 GMT on Wednesday) and is scheduled to last until the end of Saturday, according to the Kremlin.
“The ceasefire ... on the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory has begun,” Russia’s state RIA news agency reported.
Hours before Putin’s order was scheduled to enter force, Moscow and Kyiv traded a slew of aerial attacks, prompting airport closures in Russia and leaving at least two dead in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has said Russian forces will honor Putin’s order to cease fire, but will respond “immediately” if Ukraine launches any attacks.
Putin announced the truce last month as a “humanitarian” gesture, following pressure from the United States to halt his three-year assault on Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has been trying to broker a lasting ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv since his inauguration, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin.
Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional ceasefire in March, and has since offered only slim contributions to Trump’s peace efforts.
Ukraine has said it does not believe Russia will adhere to this truce and accused Moscow of hundreds of violations during a previous, 30-hour ceasefire ordered by Putin over Easter.
