A 69-year-old man has been rescued in rough seas off Japan after spending 22 hours drifting in open water, with one official calling his survival a "miracle."

The man, whose name has not been released, was alone on a boat off southwestern Kagoshima prefecture and en route to the Yakushima resort island Saturday afternoon when his boat capsized.

He managed to call a colleague on the island to alert him, but was not found until nearly a full day later, the coastguard told AFP, when rescuers spotted him sitting on the engine of his capsized boat, clasping a propeller part.

"He was out in the sea alone for 22 hours. I am amazed by his survival skills," a coastguard official told AFP, declining to be identified.

Dramatic footage released by the coastguard showed a team approaching him by boat calling out: "We are coming! Just a little bit longer! Hold on tight!"

The man was able to wrap himself in a grey plastic sheet, helping him stay warm, officials said.

"It's a miracle he survived," a coastguard official told the Asahi Shimbun daily.

A 69-year-old man has been rescued in rough seas off Japan after spending 22 hours drifting in open water, with one official calling his survival a "miracle." The man, whose name has not been released, was alone on a boat off southwestern Kagoshima prefecture and en route to the Yakushima resort island Saturday afternoon when his boat capsized.

A 69-year-old man has been rescued in rough seas off Japan after spending 22 hours drifting in open water, with one official calling his survival a "miracle." The man, whose name has not been released, was alone on a boat off southwestern Kagoshima prefecture and en route to the Yakushima resort island Saturday afternoon when his boat capsized. He managed to call a colleague on the island to alert him, but was not found until nearly a full day later, the coastguard told AFP, when rescuers spotted him sitting on the engine of his capsized boat, clasping a propeller part. "He was out in the sea alone for 22 hours. I am amazed by his survival skills," a coastguard official told AFP, declining to be identified. Dramatic footage released by the coastguard showed a team approaching him by boat calling out: "We are coming! Just a little bit longer! Hold on tight!" The man was able to wrap himself in a grey plastic sheet, helping him stay warm, officials said. "It's a miracle he survived," a coastguard official told the Asahi Shimbun daily.

'Miracle' rescue of Japan man after 22 hours at sea

The UN climate summit is underway in Glasgow, it has thousands of leaders making remarks, hundreds of sessions making it extremely difficult for your cost to stand out. Grim climate reality for Pacific nations, the image of Tuvalu minister goes viral.

Tuvalu minister stands in sea to film COP26 statement

No one knew the man’s name when he washed ashore. His body had floated in the ocean for weeks, and it then sat much of the summer unidentified in a refrigerator in a Spanish morgue.

He was one among thousands lost at sea during what has been a record year for migrant drownings in Spain. And he might have been sent with the other unclaimed dead to an unmarked grave if Martín Zamora had not figured out that the body had a name, and a life.

He was Achraf Ameer, 27, a mechanic from Tangier. He had been missing for weeks when Zamora reached his family by WhatsApp. He had found their son’s body. He could bring it to them in Morocco, for a price.

“Sometimes, I get the feeling that some years ahead — in 30, 40, 50 years, I don’t know how many — they will look at us like monsters,” he said. “They’ll see us all as monsters because we just let people die this way.”

Zamora, a 61-year-old father of seven, is the owner of Southern Funeral Assistance, a mortuary in Algeciras. But in this port city where the lights of Morocco can be seen across the Mediterranean, he has become more than that. Zamora is the body collector of those who don’t make it to Spain alive.

Zamora, who says he has repatriated more than 800 bodies in two decades, has forged a business model like few others. He wrestles with municipal officials to hand over bodies so he can embalm them. He works contacts with smugglers to find the people the remains belong to, and has made scores of trips to make contact with them, his last, to Morocco, in the month before the pandemic.

For families who had given up their loved ones as missing, Zamora’s work can offer a kind of closure they had lost all hope for.

But his services come at a steep cost — he charges $3,500 or more to get a body home. No Spanish agency will pay for what he does, and the profit margins of the work are low, he says. And so it leaves him in the gray zone, not uncommon in border towns like this, between the will to do good and the need to make a living.

“My next worry is finding the money,” Zamora said. “The family has nothing.”

Spain is witnessing a devastating procession of migrants drowning at sea.

During the first six months of the year, 2,087 people died or went missing trying to make it to the country’s shores, including 341 women and 91 children, according to Caminando Fronteras, a nongovernmental group that tracks the deaths. The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations body that keeps a more conservative count, has recorded more than 1,300 deaths so far this year.

Helena Maleno Garzón, who heads Caminando Fronteras, said Spain’s situation was especially perilous because it is the only European country with smuggling routes on both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. “These include some of the most dangerous routes which are now being used,” she said.

Dozens of boats have gone down this year near the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off West Africa. In May, others perished swimming around a border fence that extends into the sea at Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa encircled by Morocco.

Migrant boats also are tempted by the narrowness of the Gibraltar Strait, only 9 miles wide in one section, despite strong currents that sink many boats. Some drown only hours after leaving Africa, their bodies later washing ashore on beaches in Spain’s southern region of Andalusia.

The Spanish media sometimes carry stories about the latest bodies. Then, when the headlines recede, Zamora’s work begins.

The World We Live In

The body is the mystery. The clothes are often the only clues.

“It can be hard to identify someone’s face,” Zamora said. “But a shoe, a jersey, a T-shirt — suddenly a family member will recognize it, because it once was a gift.”

His first clue came in 1999, when he found a note inside the clothes of a dead Moroccan man. Back then, the government was outsourcing to funeral homes the job of burying unclaimed remains in a field alongside the local cemetery.

Zamora was on call when that body and 15 others were discovered on the beaches. He brought the corpses back to his mortuary and discovered the damp note with a phone number in Spain.

He called and a man on the other end of the line claimed to know nothing. But a few days later, Zamora recalled, the same man called back and admitted he was the brother-in-law of the young man who had drowned.

“I told him, ‘I’ll make you a deal: I’ll charge you half the price to get the body home, but you have to help me look for the rest of the families,’” Zamora said.

The man agreed to guide him to the region in southeastern Morocco where his brother-in-law had lived. Zamora first took care of the body of the young man, embalming it and sending it back to Morocco. Then he got permission from a local judge to take the clothes of the other dead migrants to Morocco.

Zamora and the relative went from village to village, carrying a large rack on which they hung the clothes of the dead migrants, along with rings and other personal effects, which they took to markets where they knew people would go.

After two weeks they had identified the remaining 15 relatives and repatriated every body.

Zamora realized he had a solution to what had been seen as a lost cause in Spain. Yet it costs thousands of euros to repatriate the bodies. And the families that he was meeting had far less than he did.

“You find the family, you get the father and the mother, they take you to where they live and you see it’s a tin shack on the side of a mountain with two goats and a rooster, and they tell you they want their son back,” he said. “What do you do? Be a businessman or be sentimental?”

Mohammed El Mkaddem, an imam at the mosque in Algeciras which makes collections for the families of the dead, said he understood Zamora’s constraints. “In the end, they run a funeral home and it’s a business,” said the imam. “But they do what they can, and we’re thankful for it.”

José Manuel Castillo, the director of the city morgue in Algeciras, said Zamora filled a gap left by the authorities. “Someone has to take care of the paperwork and the repatriation of the bodies, and if it’s Martín Zamora, that is great,” he said.

Even in the heat of southern Spain, Zamora wears a tie and loafers, looking more like a lawyer than an undertaker. On a recent afternoon, he was working on a body with his son, Martín Jr., 17.

“They found him in his work clothes,” Martín Jr. said of the corpse. “Maybe he went straight from work into the boat.”

The boy wandered off for a moment, and Zamora began to speak, almost to himself. His son was 15 the first time they worked together, after a boat carrying 40 people capsized off the coast of Barbate, just north of Algeciras, leaving 22 dead.

He was afraid his son would have nightmares, but Martín Jr. wanted to work, he said.

“No father wants his son to see these things,” Zamora said. “But this is the world we live in.”

A Mechanic From Tangier

Just before the summer, Zamora said he received a WhatsApp message from a man who identified himself as Yusef and said he worked at a mosque in the city of La Linea, across the border from the Rock of Gibraltar.

“There were two boys we don’t know if they are alive or dead — surely they are dead,” began the voice message. “The family was looking everywhere and I said we would ask someone we know who is involved in this kind of thing.”

The next message contained a picture of three men in a dinghy with homemade life vests, taken moments before they left Morocco. One was Achraf Ameer, the illiterate mechanic from Tangier.

With that, Zamora contacted the local authorities, who had a body in the morgue. They gave Zamora’s photographs of the man’s clothes, and Zamora — helped by Yusef — located Ameer’s sister in Tangier and showed her a photo of the clothes. These days, Zamora rarely needs to make the trips to Morocco that he used to, making identifications from afar.

“The paint on his clothes was the paint he has on his clothes at work,” the sister, Soukaina Ameer, 28, said in a telephone interview from Tangier.

She said her brother had tried once before to cross into Spain, only to be deported. This time, he didn’t tell anyone but left cryptic hints when the family began making plans to move to a new home.

“He was always telling us: ‘I won’t be living with you in the new house,’” Soukaina Ameer recalled.

He left on April 13, she said, his boat likely sinking the same night. His body floated in the sea for much of April before it came ashore around the end of the month. For the rest of the spring and part of the summer, it was placed in a morgue, where it deteriorated from not being frozen.

And so on a sweltering day, Zamora loaded Achraf Ameer’s body into his hearse and, with his son, drove past pines and sunflower fields. The body was wrapped in blankets from the Red Cross, which had found him. A hospital tag was affixed to one leg. At the mortuary, Zamora and his son arrived dressed in hazmat suits and began embalming.

Ten pumps from a long needle into Ameer’s shoulder. Another 10 into his chest. After an hour, Zamora wrapped the body in a shroud which he covered in a green cloak and sprinkled it with dried flowers, re-creating a Muslim rite that an imam had once shown him. Then he shut the lid on the coffin and he and his son took off their hazmat suits. The two were covered in sweat.

In the adjoining room sat stacks of case files, people whose bodies Zamora was still trying to locate after their relatives had gotten in touch with him. There was an Algerian man, born in 1986. There were two Moroccans who had been lost at sea; and a Syrian man, who once had a wife and lived in Aleppo.

And there was a ringing from the other room, and with it, another possible lead.

“Martín, go get my phone,” Zamora said to his son, taking off his gloves.

No one knew the man’s name when he washed ashore. His body had floated in the ocean for weeks, and it then sat much of the summer unidentified in a refrigerator in a Spanish morgue.

No one knew the man’s name when he washed ashore. His body had floated in the ocean for weeks, and it then sat much of the summer unidentified in a refrigerator in a Spanish morgue. He was one among thousands lost at sea during what has been a record year for migrant drownings in Spain. And he might have been sent with the other unclaimed dead to an unmarked grave if Martín Zamora had not figured out that the body had a name, and a life. He was Achraf Ameer, 27, a mechanic from Tangier. He had been missing for weeks when Zamora reached his family by WhatsApp. He had found their son’s body. He could bring it to them in Morocco, for a price. “Sometimes, I get the feeling that some years ahead — in 30, 40, 50 years, I don’t know how many — they will look at us like monsters,” he said. “They’ll see us all as monsters because we just let people die this way.” Zamora, a 61-year-old father of seven, is the owner of Southern Funeral Assistance, a mortuary in Algeciras. But in this port city where the lights of Morocco can be seen across the Mediterranean, he has become more than that. Zamora is the body collector of those who don’t make it to Spain alive. Zamora, who says he has repatriated more than 800 bodies in two decades, has forged a business model like few others. He wrestles with municipal officials to hand over bodies so he can embalm them. He works contacts with smugglers to find the people the remains belong to, and has made scores of trips to make contact with them, his last, to Morocco, in the month before the pandemic. For families who had given up their loved ones as missing, Zamora’s work can offer a kind of closure they had lost all hope for. But his services come at a steep cost — he charges $3,500 or more to get a body home. No Spanish agency will pay for what he does, and the profit margins of the work are low, he says. And so it leaves him in the gray zone, not uncommon in border towns like this, between the will to do good and the need to make a living. “My next worry is finding the money,” Zamora said. “The family has nothing.” Spain is witnessing a devastating procession of migrants drowning at sea. During the first six months of the year, 2,087 people died or went missing trying to make it to the country’s shores, including 341 women and 91 children, according to Caminando Fronteras, a nongovernmental group that tracks the deaths. The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations body that keeps a more conservative count, has recorded more than 1,300 deaths so far this year. Helena Maleno Garzón, who heads Caminando Fronteras, said Spain’s situation was especially perilous because it is the only European country with smuggling routes on both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. “These include some of the most dangerous routes which are now being used,” she said. Dozens of boats have gone down this year near the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off West Africa. In May, others perished swimming around a border fence that extends into the sea at Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa encircled by Morocco. Migrant boats also are tempted by the narrowness of the Gibraltar Strait, only 9 miles wide in one section, despite strong currents that sink many boats. Some drown only hours after leaving Africa, their bodies later washing ashore on beaches in Spain’s southern region of Andalusia. The Spanish media sometimes carry stories about the latest bodies. Then, when the headlines recede, Zamora’s work begins. The World We Live In The body is the mystery. The clothes are often the only clues. “It can be hard to identify someone’s face,” Zamora said. “But a shoe, a jersey, a T-shirt — suddenly a family member will recognize it, because it once was a gift.” His first clue came in 1999, when he found a note inside the clothes of a dead Moroccan man. Back then, the government was outsourcing to funeral homes the job of burying unclaimed remains in a field alongside the local cemetery. Zamora was on call when that body and 15 others were discovered on the beaches. He brought the corpses back to his mortuary and discovered the damp note with a phone number in Spain. He called and a man on the other end of the line claimed to know nothing. But a few days later, Zamora recalled, the same man called back and admitted he was the brother-in-law of the young man who had drowned. “I told him, ‘I’ll make you a deal: I’ll charge you half the price to get the body home, but you have to help me look for the rest of the families,’” Zamora said. The man agreed to guide him to the region in southeastern Morocco where his brother-in-law had lived. Zamora first took care of the body of the young man, embalming it and sending it back to Morocco. Then he got permission from a local judge to take the clothes of the other dead migrants to Morocco. Zamora and the relative went from village to village, carrying a large rack on which they hung the clothes of the dead migrants, along with rings and other personal effects, which they took to markets where they knew people would go. After two weeks they had identified the remaining 15 relatives and repatriated every body. Zamora realized he had a solution to what had been seen as a lost cause in Spain. Yet it costs thousands of euros to repatriate the bodies. And the families that he was meeting had far less than he did. “You find the family, you get the father and the mother, they take you to where they live and you see it’s a tin shack on the side of a mountain with two goats and a rooster, and they tell you they want their son back,” he said. “What do you do? Be a businessman or be sentimental?” Mohammed El Mkaddem, an imam at the mosque in Algeciras which makes collections for the families of the dead, said he understood Zamora’s constraints. “In the end, they run a funeral home and it’s a business,” said the imam. “But they do what they can, and we’re thankful for it.” José Manuel Castillo, the director of the city morgue in Algeciras, said Zamora filled a gap left by the authorities. “Someone has to take care of the paperwork and the repatriation of the bodies, and if it’s Martín Zamora, that is great,” he said. Even in the heat of southern Spain, Zamora wears a tie and loafers, looking more like a lawyer than an undertaker. On a recent afternoon, he was working on a body with his son, Martín Jr., 17. “They found him in his work clothes,” Martín Jr. said of the corpse. “Maybe he went straight from work into the boat.” The boy wandered off for a moment, and Zamora began to speak, almost to himself. His son was 15 the first time they worked together, after a boat carrying 40 people capsized off the coast of Barbate, just north of Algeciras, leaving 22 dead. He was afraid his son would have nightmares, but Martín Jr. wanted to work, he said. “No father wants his son to see these things,” Zamora said. “But this is the world we live in.” A Mechanic From Tangier Just before the summer, Zamora said he received a WhatsApp message from a man who identified himself as Yusef and said he worked at a mosque in the city of La Linea, across the border from the Rock of Gibraltar. “There were two boys we don’t know if they are alive or dead — surely they are dead,” began the voice message. “The family was looking everywhere and I said we would ask someone we know who is involved in this kind of thing.” The next message contained a picture of three men in a dinghy with homemade life vests, taken moments before they left Morocco. One was Achraf Ameer, the illiterate mechanic from Tangier. With that, Zamora contacted the local authorities, who had a body in the morgue. They gave Zamora’s photographs of the man’s clothes, and Zamora — helped by Yusef — located Ameer’s sister in Tangier and showed her a photo of the clothes. These days, Zamora rarely needs to make the trips to Morocco that he used to, making identifications from afar. “The paint on his clothes was the paint he has on his clothes at work,” the sister, Soukaina Ameer, 28, said in a telephone interview from Tangier. She said her brother had tried once before to cross into Spain, only to be deported. This time, he didn’t tell anyone but left cryptic hints when the family began making plans to move to a new home. “He was always telling us: ‘I won’t be living with you in the new house,’” Soukaina Ameer recalled. He left on April 13, she said, his boat likely sinking the same night. His body floated in the sea for much of April before it came ashore around the end of the month. For the rest of the spring and part of the summer, it was placed in a morgue, where it deteriorated from not being frozen. And so on a sweltering day, Zamora loaded Achraf Ameer’s body into his hearse and, with his son, drove past pines and sunflower fields. The body was wrapped in blankets from the Red Cross, which had found him. A hospital tag was affixed to one leg. At the mortuary, Zamora and his son arrived dressed in hazmat suits and began embalming. Ten pumps from a long needle into Ameer’s shoulder. Another 10 into his chest. After an hour, Zamora wrapped the body in a shroud which he covered in a green cloak and sprinkled it with dried flowers, re-creating a Muslim rite that an imam had once shown him. Then he shut the lid on the coffin and he and his son took off their hazmat suits. The two were covered in sweat. In the adjoining room sat stacks of case files, people whose bodies Zamora was still trying to locate after their relatives had gotten in touch with him. There was an Algerian man, born in 1986. There were two Moroccans who had been lost at sea; and a Syrian man, who once had a wife and lived in Aleppo. And there was a ringing from the other room, and with it, another possible lead. “Martín, go get my phone,” Zamora said to his son, taking off his gloves.

The body collector of Spain: When migrants die at sea, he gets them home

Before being rescued off the coast of Papua New Guinea, two men were stranded at sea for around 29 days. The men survived only on oranges, coconuts and rainwater. &nbsp;

The two men, Junior Qoloni and Livae Nanjikana, were travelling between islands in the Solomon Sea when their motorboat got caught in rough weather on September 3, reported the Guardian.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/richest-1-per-cent-of-americans-now-own-more-wealth-than-the-entire-middle-class-419838" hreflang="en">Richest 1 per cent of Americans now own more wealth than the entire middle class</a> &nbsp;

In the bad weather, the coastline they were following for guidance got lost and their vessel was swept out to sea. &nbsp;

“I look forward to going back home but I guess it was a nice break from everything. When the bad weather came, it was bad, but it got worse and became scary when the GPS died. We couldn’t see where we were going and so, we just decided to stop the engine and wait, to save fuel,” Nanjikana told the Guardian.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/african-regional-bloc-loses-92-per-cent-tourism-earnings-due-to-covid-419833" hreflang="en">African regional bloc loses 92 per cent tourism earnings due to Covid</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;

In 29 days at sea only, the two men say they survived on rainwater, coconuts and oranges they had packed. A fisherman found and rescued them off the coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, roughly 400 km from where they departed. &nbsp;

For treatment, both the men were taken to a health clinic. &nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Before being rescued off the coast of Papua New Guinea, two men were stranded at sea for around 29 days. The men survived only on oranges, coconuts and rainwater.

Before being rescued off the coast of Papua New Guinea, two men were stranded at sea for around 29 days. The men survived only on oranges, coconuts and rainwater. The two men, Junior Qoloni and Livae Nanjikana, were travelling between islands in the Solomon Sea when their motorboat got caught in rough weather on September 3, reported the Guardian. Also Read: Richest 1 per cent of Americans now own more wealth than the entire middle class In the bad weather, the coastline they were following for guidance got lost and their vessel was swept out to sea. “I look forward to going back home but I guess it was a nice break from everything. When the bad weather came, it was bad, but it got worse and became scary when the GPS died. We couldn’t see where we were going and so, we just decided to stop the engine and wait, to save fuel,” Nanjikana told the Guardian. Also Read: African regional bloc loses 92 per cent tourism earnings due to Covid In 29 days at sea only, the two men say they survived on rainwater, coconuts and oranges they had packed. A fisherman found and rescued them off the coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, roughly 400 km from where they departed. For treatment, both the men were taken to a health clinic. (With inputs from agencies)

After being stranded at sea, two islanders survive for 29 days on rainwater, oranges

A commercial flight flew into&nbsp;La&nbsp;Palma&nbsp;in the Canary Islands on Wednesday, the first since an erupting volcano forced a weekend airport closure, the plane landing hours after rivers of molten lava reached the sea.&nbsp;

The dramatic eruption which began 10 days ago, has forced thousands out of their homes, with the lava destroying hundreds of homes, businesses and huge swathes of banana plantations.

Fears that the lava's entry into the ocean would cause further harm to the local population by generating clouds of toxic gas were allayed earlier Wednesday as a brisk wind blew the vapours out to sea.&nbsp;

Although the volcano is still erupting,&nbsp;La&nbsp;Palma's airport resumed operations on Wednesday, with a first flight from the neighbouring island of Tenerife landing at 1230 GMT.&nbsp;

"Flights to #LaPalma have resumed," local airline Binter tweeted, saying it was due to "an improvement in security conditions" on the tiny island which has an area of 708 square kilometres.

The airport shut down on Saturday due to the accumulation of ash. Although it reopened 24 hours later, all flights had remained cancelled.

La&nbsp;Cumbre Vieja lies about 15 kilometres (nine miles) west of the airport as the crow flies, although the lava has only spilt down the western side of the volcano.

Molten lava cascading over cliffs

Late on Tuesday, a vast stream of white-hot lava poured into the sea, sending plumes of acid fumes into the air that experts said could irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory tracts, possibly causing breathing difficulties.

But good weather conditions had reduced the risk, Ruben Fernandez of the Pevolca volcanic emergency committee told Spain's public radio.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/canaries-volcano-lava-reaches-sea-raising-toxic-gas-fears-416824">Also read |&nbsp;Canaries volcano lava reaches sea, raising toxic gas fears</a>

"We have a strong wind in the area which is blowing the cloud of gases towards the sea, so the risk for the local population is much lower" than expected, he said.&nbsp;

La&nbsp;Cumbre Vieja straddles a southern ridge in&nbsp;La&nbsp;Palma&nbsp;island, which is home to 85,000 people, with the September 19 eruption forcing some 6,000 to flee as the lava slowly edged towards the western coastline.

When it arrived, dramatic television images showed rivers of molten rock cascading off a cliff into the water, churning up huge clouds of vapour and gas.&nbsp;

Since early on Monday, some 300 residents in the nearby town of Tazacorte have been under home confinement to avoid injury from the gases.&nbsp;

The authorities also set up an exclusion zone of 3.5 kilometres (two miles) around the site, which also extends two nautical miles out to sea.

'Tremendous devastation'

La&nbsp;Palma&nbsp;has been declared a natural disaster zone, with the lava scorching its way across more than 268 hectares (662 acres) of land and destroying 656 buildings, according to the European Union's Copernicus Earth Observation Programme.

So far, nobody has died or been injured.&nbsp;

But Canary Islands regional head Angel Victor Torres said the impact on land and property had been vast.&nbsp;

"We are talking about lava flows that are 600 metres wide. In all that area, there's nothing left. The devastation is tremendous," he told COPE radio on Wednesday.&nbsp;

The banana industry "has suffered tremendous damage, we are talking about a third of the banana production of the entire Canary Islands," he said, indicating the current harvest "has been completely lost". The local banana plantations make up one of the island's key industries.

Madrid on Tuesday released 10.5 million euros in aid for those left homeless by the volcano.

Last week, Torres had estimated the damage would exceed 400 million euros.

Experts believe the eruption could last for several weeks, or even months.

A commercial flight flew into La Palma in the Canary Islands on Wednesday, the first since an erupting volcano forced a weekend airport closure, the plane landing hours after rivers of molten lava reached the sea.

A commercial flight flew into La Palma in the Canary Islands on Wednesday, the first since an erupting volcano forced a weekend airport closure, the plane landing hours after rivers of molten lava reached the sea. The dramatic eruption which began 10 days ago, has forced thousands out of their homes, with the lava destroying hundreds of homes, businesses and huge swathes of banana plantations. Fears that the lava's entry into the ocean would cause further harm to the local population by generating clouds of toxic gas were allayed earlier Wednesday as a brisk wind blew the vapours out to sea. Although the volcano is still erupting, La Palma's airport resumed operations on Wednesday, with a first flight from the neighbouring island of Tenerife landing at 1230 GMT. "Flights to #LaPalma have resumed," local airline Binter tweeted, saying it was due to "an improvement in security conditions" on the tiny island which has an area of 708 square kilometres. The airport shut down on Saturday due to the accumulation of ash. Although it reopened 24 hours later, all flights had remained cancelled. La Cumbre Vieja lies about 15 kilometres (nine miles) west of the airport as the crow flies, although the lava has only spilt down the western side of the volcano. Molten lava cascading over cliffs Late on Tuesday, a vast stream of white-hot lava poured into the sea, sending plumes of acid fumes into the air that experts said could irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory tracts, possibly causing breathing difficulties. But good weather conditions had reduced the risk, Ruben Fernandez of the Pevolca volcanic emergency committee told Spain's public radio. Also read | Canaries volcano lava reaches sea, raising toxic gas fears "We have a strong wind in the area which is blowing the cloud of gases towards the sea, so the risk for the local population is much lower" than expected, he said. La Cumbre Vieja straddles a southern ridge in La Palma island, which is home to 85,000 people, with the September 19 eruption forcing some 6,000 to flee as the lava slowly edged towards the western coastline. When it arrived, dramatic television images showed rivers of molten rock cascading off a cliff into the water, churning up huge clouds of vapour and gas. Since early on Monday, some 300 residents in the nearby town of Tazacorte have been under home confinement to avoid injury from the gases. The authorities also set up an exclusion zone of 3.5 kilometres (two miles) around the site, which also extends two nautical miles out to sea. 'Tremendous devastation' La Palma has been declared a natural disaster zone, with the lava scorching its way across more than 268 hectares (662 acres) of land and destroying 656 buildings, according to the European Union's Copernicus Earth Observation Programme. So far, nobody has died or been injured. But Canary Islands regional head Angel Victor Torres said the impact on land and property had been vast. "We are talking about lava flows that are 600 metres wide. In all that area, there's nothing left. The devastation is tremendous," he told COPE radio on Wednesday. The banana industry "has suffered tremendous damage, we are talking about a third of the banana production of the entire Canary Islands," he said, indicating the current harvest "has been completely lost". The local banana plantations make up one of the island's key industries. Madrid on Tuesday released 10.5 million euros in aid for those left homeless by the volcano. Last week, Torres had estimated the damage would exceed 400 million euros. Experts believe the eruption could last for several weeks, or even months.

La Palma flights resume as volcanic lava reaches sea

China is swelling into a military superpower. India, Vietnam and Singapore are spending more on defense. Japan is leaning to do the same. Now Australia, backed by the United States and Britain, has catapulted the military contest with Beijing in Asia into a tense new phase.

Their deal last week to equip Australia with stealthy, long-range nuclear-powered submarines better able to take on the Chinese navy could accelerate an Asian arms buildup long before the submarines enter service.

In response, China may step up its military modernisation, especially in technology able to stymie the submarines. And by confirming the Biden administration’s determination to take on Chinese power in Asia, the new weapons deal may tilt other big military spenders like India and Vietnam into accelerating their own weapons plans.

Countries trying to stay in the middle, like Indonesia, Malaysia and others, face a potentially more volatile region and growing pressure, as Australia did, to choose sides between Washington and Beijing.

“The picture is one of three Anglo-Saxon countries drumming up militarily in the Indo-Pacific region. It plays to the narrative offered by China that ‘outsiders’ are not acting in line with the aspiration of regional countries,” said Dino Patti Djalal, a former Indonesian ambassador to the United States. “The worry is that this will spark an untimely arms race, which the region does not need now, nor in the future.”

The submarines will not hit the water for at least a decade. But the geopolitical waves from their announcement have been instant, while giving Beijing time to marshal opposition among Asian neighbours and plot military countermoves.

Japan and Taiwan, both strong US allies, quickly endorsed the security agreement.

Other Asian governments have, through their remarks or silence, signified misgivings or apprehension about riling China. Many leaders in Southeast Asia want the United States to remain a security mainstay, said Ben Bland, director of the Southeast Asia program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.

“But they also fear that the increasingly strident approach taken by the U.S. and allies such as Australia will push China to respond in kind,” he said, “driving a cycle of escalation that is centred on Southeast Asia but disregards Southeast Asian voices.”

Even before the deal, some governments had deployed new ships, submarines and missiles, at least partly out of worry about China’s rapid military buildup and contentious territorial claims. China accounts for 42% of all military spending across Asia, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Japanese policymakers have begun to publicly consider increasing military spending beyond 1% of its gross domestic product, a cap that the country has maintained since the 1970s. South Korea, focused on the threat from North Korea, has increased its defence budget by 7% a year on average since 2018.

India has ratcheted up military spending as tensions with China have risen, though the economic hit from the coronavirus may slow that trend.

Indian plans to acquire another 350 locally assembled military aircraft in the next two decades, its air force chief said this month. Japan is working on hypersonic missiles that could threaten Chinese naval ships in a conflict. Taiwan, the self-governed island that China regards as its own territory, has proposed a $16.8 billion military budget for next year, including $1.4 billion for more jet fighters.

The Biden administration promises to help Asian nations counter China’s military buildup, something the new agreement with Australia highlights. That agenda is likely to be discussed in the White House this week when President Joe Biden hosts other leaders from the “Quad,” the grouping that includes Australia, Japan and India.

“China is the pacing threat that we have to be concerned about, not only today, but also in the near term and in the long term,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at an event for the Brookings Institution last week.

But many governments across Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, hope to avoid having to make the same choice that Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia made last week in declaring a “forever partnership” with the United States.

India, which has veered between border clashes with China and efforts to patch up ties with its neighbour, has been muted about the agreement. So has South Korea, which wants to keep steady relations with Beijing while it focuses on potential conflict with North Korea.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry said it was “deeply concerned over the continuing arms race.” Malaysia has voiced worry.

Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister of Singapore, a city-state with good ties to both Beijing and Washington, diplomatically told Morrison that he hoped “the partnership would contribute constructively to the peace and stability of the region,” the Straits Times reported.

Outwardly, Australia’s plan to eventually build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines might seem to make little difference to China’s calculus. With about 360 vessels, the Chinese navy is the biggest in the world by number, and has around a dozen nuclear-powered submarines. Its nuclear submarine fleet is likely to grow to 21 by 2030, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence.

The US Navy has about 300 vessels, including 68 submarines, all of them nuclear. Even if Australia is relatively swift and efficient, not traits that have marked its submarine acquisitions over the decades&nbsp;its first nuclear-powered submarines may not be commissioned until later in the 2030s.

Positioning the hard-to-track submarines closer to seas near China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula could be a powerful deterrent against China’s military, said Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official responsible for relations with China.

“The Middle East wars have ended,” said Thompson, now a visiting senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore. “We are in an interwar period, and the next one will be a high-end, high-intensity conflict with a near-peer competitor, probably involving China, and most likely in northeast Asia.”

After condemning the submarine agreement last week, the Chinese government has said little else. But China’s leaders and military planners are sure to consider military and diplomatic countermoves, including new ways to punish Australian exports, already hit by bans and punitive tariffs as relations soured in the past few years.

Beijing can also accelerate efforts to develop technologies for finding and destroying nuclear-powered submarines well before Australia receives them. Most experts said a technological race was more likely than a generalised arms race. China’s output of new naval ships and fighter planes is already rapid. Its anti-submarine technology is less advanced.

Nearer term, Chinese officials may step up efforts to marshal regional opposition to the submarine plan and the new security grouping, called AUKUS, for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“If you’re China, this also makes you think, ‘Well, I better get ahead of this,’” said Elbridge Colby, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence in the Trump administration. “If Australia takes this big step, then Japan could take a half step, and Taiwan takes a half step, and then India and then maybe Vietnam.”

But Beijing has created its own high barriers to winning support from neighbours. China’s expansive, uncompromising claims to waters and islands across the South China Sea have angered Southeast Asian countries. Beijing is also locked in territorial disputes with Japan, India and other countries.

“This AUKUS agreement very vividly shows that East Asia has become the focus of United States global security strategy,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University in east China. “It’s a reminder to China that if we can’t ease tensions with neighbours over the South China Sea and East China Sea, the US&nbsp;will continue trying to take advantage of this tension.”

China is swelling into a military superpower. India, Vietnam and Singapore are spending more on defense. Japan is leaning to do the same. Now Australia, backed by the United States and Britain, has catapulted the military contest with Beijing in Asia into a tense new phase.

China is swelling into a military superpower. India, Vietnam and Singapore are spending more on defense. Japan is leaning to do the same. Now Australia, backed by the United States and Britain, has catapulted the military contest with Beijing in Asia into a tense new phase. Their deal last week to equip Australia with stealthy, long-range nuclear-powered submarines better able to take on the Chinese navy could accelerate an Asian arms buildup long before the submarines enter service. In response, China may step up its military modernisation, especially in technology able to stymie the submarines. And by confirming the Biden administration’s determination to take on Chinese power in Asia, the new weapons deal may tilt other big military spenders like India and Vietnam into accelerating their own weapons plans. Countries trying to stay in the middle, like Indonesia, Malaysia and others, face a potentially more volatile region and growing pressure, as Australia did, to choose sides between Washington and Beijing. “The picture is one of three Anglo-Saxon countries drumming up militarily in the Indo-Pacific region. It plays to the narrative offered by China that ‘outsiders’ are not acting in line with the aspiration of regional countries,” said Dino Patti Djalal, a former Indonesian ambassador to the United States. “The worry is that this will spark an untimely arms race, which the region does not need now, nor in the future.” The submarines will not hit the water for at least a decade. But the geopolitical waves from their announcement have been instant, while giving Beijing time to marshal opposition among Asian neighbours and plot military countermoves. Japan and Taiwan, both strong US allies, quickly endorsed the security agreement. Other Asian governments have, through their remarks or silence, signified misgivings or apprehension about riling China. Many leaders in Southeast Asia want the United States to remain a security mainstay, said Ben Bland, director of the Southeast Asia program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. “But they also fear that the increasingly strident approach taken by the U.S. and allies such as Australia will push China to respond in kind,” he said, “driving a cycle of escalation that is centred on Southeast Asia but disregards Southeast Asian voices.” Even before the deal, some governments had deployed new ships, submarines and missiles, at least partly out of worry about China’s rapid military buildup and contentious territorial claims. China accounts for 42% of all military spending across Asia, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Japanese policymakers have begun to publicly consider increasing military spending beyond 1% of its gross domestic product, a cap that the country has maintained since the 1970s. South Korea, focused on the threat from North Korea, has increased its defence budget by 7% a year on average since 2018. India has ratcheted up military spending as tensions with China have risen, though the economic hit from the coronavirus may slow that trend. Indian plans to acquire another 350 locally assembled military aircraft in the next two decades, its air force chief said this month. Japan is working on hypersonic missiles that could threaten Chinese naval ships in a conflict. Taiwan, the self-governed island that China regards as its own territory, has proposed a $16.8 billion military budget for next year, including $1.4 billion for more jet fighters. The Biden administration promises to help Asian nations counter China’s military buildup, something the new agreement with Australia highlights. That agenda is likely to be discussed in the White House this week when President Joe Biden hosts other leaders from the “Quad,” the grouping that includes Australia, Japan and India. “China is the pacing threat that we have to be concerned about, not only today, but also in the near term and in the long term,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at an event for the Brookings Institution last week. But many governments across Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, hope to avoid having to make the same choice that Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia made last week in declaring a “forever partnership” with the United States. India, which has veered between border clashes with China and efforts to patch up ties with its neighbour, has been muted about the agreement. So has South Korea, which wants to keep steady relations with Beijing while it focuses on potential conflict with North Korea. Indonesia’s foreign ministry said it was “deeply concerned over the continuing arms race.” Malaysia has voiced worry. Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister of Singapore, a city-state with good ties to both Beijing and Washington, diplomatically told Morrison that he hoped “the partnership would contribute constructively to the peace and stability of the region,” the Straits Times reported. Outwardly, Australia’s plan to eventually build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines might seem to make little difference to China’s calculus. With about 360 vessels, the Chinese navy is the biggest in the world by number, and has around a dozen nuclear-powered submarines. Its nuclear submarine fleet is likely to grow to 21 by 2030, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. The US Navy has about 300 vessels, including 68 submarines, all of them nuclear. Even if Australia is relatively swift and efficient, not traits that have marked its submarine acquisitions over the decades its first nuclear-powered submarines may not be commissioned until later in the 2030s. Positioning the hard-to-track submarines closer to seas near China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula could be a powerful deterrent against China’s military, said Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official responsible for relations with China. “The Middle East wars have ended,” said Thompson, now a visiting senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore. “We are in an interwar period, and the next one will be a high-end, high-intensity conflict with a near-peer competitor, probably involving China, and most likely in northeast Asia.” After condemning the submarine agreement last week, the Chinese government has said little else. But China’s leaders and military planners are sure to consider military and diplomatic countermoves, including new ways to punish Australian exports, already hit by bans and punitive tariffs as relations soured in the past few years. Beijing can also accelerate efforts to develop technologies for finding and destroying nuclear-powered submarines well before Australia receives them. Most experts said a technological race was more likely than a generalised arms race. China’s output of new naval ships and fighter planes is already rapid. Its anti-submarine technology is less advanced. Nearer term, Chinese officials may step up efforts to marshal regional opposition to the submarine plan and the new security grouping, called AUKUS, for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. “If you’re China, this also makes you think, ‘Well, I better get ahead of this,’” said Elbridge Colby, a former deputy assistant secretary of defence in the Trump administration. “If Australia takes this big step, then Japan could take a half step, and Taiwan takes a half step, and then India and then maybe Vietnam.” But Beijing has created its own high barriers to winning support from neighbours. China’s expansive, uncompromising claims to waters and islands across the South China Sea have angered Southeast Asian countries. Beijing is also locked in territorial disputes with Japan, India and other countries. “This AUKUS agreement very vividly shows that East Asia has become the focus of United States global security strategy,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University in east China. “It’s a reminder to China that if we can’t ease tensions with neighbours over the South China Sea and East China Sea, the US will continue trying to take advantage of this tension.”

Australia’s submarines make waves in Asia long before they go to sea

Sea surfers and scuba divers beware! A new study has claimed that highly venomous sea snakes who are sexually aroused have the tendency to attack human divers after confusing them with other snakes during the mating season.

The snakes seem to believe that divers are rivals or potential mates, the study noted.

Researchers from three Australian universities working on the southern Great Barrier Reef found that Olive sea snakes, especially males, had repeatedly approached divers, made “fast, jerky movements” and were particularly active in the winter when they breed.

The acts of aggression are likely because of “mistaken identity during sexual interactions”, wrote Tim Lynch, of CSIRO in Hobart, Ross Alford of&nbsp;James Cook University in Townsville and Richard Shine of Macquarie University&nbsp;in Sydney, in the study published by Scientific Reports.

“At first sight, the idea that a snake might mistake a human diver for another snake seems ludicrous, given the massive disparity in size and shape between those two objects,” the Guardian cited the researchers’ observations

“Nonetheless, this offers the most plausible explanation for our observations.”

Though there have been other several examples of marine animals sexually targeting humans, including male dolphins, dugongs, sea lions and sea turtles

But the latest study has raised eyebrows since the olive sea snakes have the capacity to inject deadly venom and instantly decapitate humans.

“A bite is unlikely unless the animal is threatened or injured,” the researchers wrote, advising divers to stay still and allow snakes to investigate them, including by using their tongues to look for chemical cues.

“Attempting to flee is likely to be futile and may even increase the ardour of the pursuit,” the researchers noted. “Attempting to drive the animal away may induce retaliation.”

Sea surfers and scuba divers beware! A new study has claimed that highly venomous sea snakes who are sexually aroused have the tendency to attack human divers after confusing them with other snakes during the mating season.

Sea surfers and scuba divers beware! A new study has claimed that highly venomous sea snakes who are sexually aroused have the tendency to attack human divers after confusing them with other snakes during the mating season. The snakes seem to believe that divers are rivals or potential mates, the study noted. Researchers from three Australian universities working on the southern Great Barrier Reef found that Olive sea snakes, especially males, had repeatedly approached divers, made “fast, jerky movements” and were particularly active in the winter when they breed. The acts of aggression are likely because of “mistaken identity during sexual interactions”, wrote Tim Lynch, of CSIRO in Hobart, Ross Alford of James Cook University in Townsville and Richard Shine of Macquarie University in Sydney, in the study published by Scientific Reports. “At first sight, the idea that a snake might mistake a human diver for another snake seems ludicrous, given the massive disparity in size and shape between those two objects,” the Guardian cited the researchers’ observations “Nonetheless, this offers the most plausible explanation for our observations.” Though there have been other several examples of marine animals sexually targeting humans, including male dolphins, dugongs, sea lions and sea turtles But the latest study has raised eyebrows since the olive sea snakes have the capacity to inject deadly venom and instantly decapitate humans. “A bite is unlikely unless the animal is threatened or injured,” the researchers wrote, advising divers to stay still and allow snakes to investigate them, including by using their tongues to look for chemical cues. “Attempting to flee is likely to be futile and may even increase the ardour of the pursuit,” the researchers noted. “Attempting to drive the animal away may induce retaliation.”

Venomous attraction: Sea snakes may attack divers during mating season, says study

Who says volcanic eruption brings only destruction, an undersea activity of same sorts has created a new landmass in Japan. All thanks to the eruption, the 6,000-plus islands, which make up the Japanese archipelago, have got a new addition around 1,200 km (745 miles) south of Tokyo, said scientists. &nbsp;

After observing the eruption in the air, the island was discovered by the Japan’s Coast Guard on Sunday, a report in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said.&nbsp;

The island has come up naturally in the Pacific Ocean. It is about 50km south of Minami Ioto, which is the southernmost island of the Ogasawara group.&nbsp;

The new island is crescent-shaped and has a diameter of about 1km, said the coast guard. Taking history as a precedent, its appearance may be ephemeral.&nbsp;

Some islands had formed in 1904, 1914 and 1986 in a similar way in the area but all disappeared due to erosion.&nbsp;

It depends on the material it is formed from. Ash and other fragments are highly unlikely to bear the constant battering of waves, but continued volcanic activity has the power to produce lava flows that eventually form a more durable hard shell.&nbsp;

The latest eruption, which began late last week, could continue, said Japan’s meteorological agency. It has also issued warnings about smoke and large ash deposits in the nearby waters.&nbsp;

Who says volcanic eruption brings only destruction, an undersea activity of same sorts has created a new landmass in Japan. All thanks to the eruption, the 6,000-plus islands, which make up the Japanese archipelago, have got a new addition around 1,200 km (745 miles) south of Tokyo, said scientists.

Who says volcanic eruption brings only destruction, an undersea activity of same sorts has created a new landmass in Japan. All thanks to the eruption, the 6,000-plus islands, which make up the Japanese archipelago, have got a new addition around 1,200 km (745 miles) south of Tokyo, said scientists. After observing the eruption in the air, the island was discovered by the Japan’s Coast Guard on Sunday, a report in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said. The island has come up naturally in the Pacific Ocean. It is about 50km south of Minami Ioto, which is the southernmost island of the Ogasawara group. The new island is crescent-shaped and has a diameter of about 1km, said the coast guard. Taking history as a precedent, its appearance may be ephemeral. Some islands had formed in 1904, 1914 and 1986 in a similar way in the area but all disappeared due to erosion. It depends on the material it is formed from. Ash and other fragments are highly unlikely to bear the constant battering of waves, but continued volcanic activity has the power to produce lava flows that eventually form a more durable hard shell. The latest eruption, which began late last week, could continue, said Japan’s meteorological agency. It has also issued warnings about smoke and large ash deposits in the nearby waters.

Volcanic eruption under sea creates new crescent-shaped island in Japan 

Container shipping prices have reached record highs some 18 months after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic which disrupted maritime logistics chains and drove demand sky-high.

"We are basically running out of vessels and of empty containers," Alan Murphy, head of the consultancy Sea Intelligence, told AFP.

"There's been a massive shortage of empty containers, they are in the wrong place, they are stuck in ports and not in Asia ready to be loaded."

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/joe-biden-orders-investigation-into-ransomware-attack-that-targetted-1000-businesses-395642">Also read |&nbsp;Joe Biden orders investigation into ransomware attack that targetted 1,000 businesses</a>

The Freightos Baltic Index, a benchmark for major shipping routes, has more than tripled in a year to nearly $7,000 (5,900 euros) for a trip from China to the west coast of the United States.

A trip to Europe has exceeded $10,000, compared with just $1,600 at the same time last year.Murphy said the unprecedented situation compounded the troubles of the last 10 years, which he said had been "really bad for the shipping lines".

Blighted by overcapacity in the sector, he said the firms "were losing money every time they were moving a container".

'Unprecedented drop'

The Covid-19 pandemic, which initially brought global shipping to a virtual standstill, did not bode well for the industry and led to "an unprecedented drop in demand", said Didier Rabattu, of Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

But this did not account for the trends among US and European consumers who during lockdown stopped spending in restaurants and theatres or going on holiday and instead used their money to purchase material goods -- many of them imported from Asia.

"Imagine how many televisions you can buy if you don't go skiing for a week with four people?" said Paul Tourret, director of France's Higher&nbsp;Institute&nbsp;of&nbsp;Maritime&nbsp;Economics (ISEMAR).

Disruptions to loading and unloading operations, from dockers falling ill and Covid restrictions to unforseen events like the shipping backlog caused the blockage of the Suez Canal in March, have only exacerbated the trend.

As a result, ship owners have never been in better shape.

The Marseille-based CMA CGM container and shipping company for example posted a net profit of more than $2 billion for the first quarter of 2021 alone, 40 times more than the previous year.

Its Danish competitor AP Moller-Maersk announced an even higher net profit of $2.7 billion for the first three months of the year -- 13 times what it saw last year.

'Reached a peak'

"It is true that shipowners are making a lot of money at the moment," Tourret said.

"But it is also a way for them to renew their fleets and accelerate their liquefied natural gas (LNG) programmes," he added.

CMA CGM placed an order in April for 22 container ships, more than half of which are LNG-powered.

Maritime transport is "one of the main emitters of sulphur dioxide", the French expert said, adding that although figures were favourable for each tonne transported, the sector nevertheless emitted levels of CO2 "comparable to Germany".

The price of container transport depends on the level of demand, but also on the supply-side capacity to meet it.

"Whether or not shipowners decide to wage a trade war is a major factor," Tourret said.

"None of them has any interest in driving prices down. Their collective discipline today must be not to sell out," he added.

The situation could last, Tourret said, driven in part by the need to transport perishable goods.&nbsp;

"If you are carrying perishable goods that will be worth nothing if they don't move, how much are you prepared to pay?" he asked.

Jean-Marc Lacave, the executive officer of the body for France's maritime service professionals, Armateurs de France, said he did not expect things to return to normal before the first quarter of 2022.

"I think we have reached a peak," he said. "If demand continues to rise, there is a not-insignificant risk that prices could rise again, but we are more or less at the top of the curve," he added.

Container shipping prices have reached record highs some 18 months after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic which disrupted maritime logistics chains and drove demand sky-high.

Container shipping prices have reached record highs some 18 months after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic which disrupted maritime logistics chains and drove demand sky-high. "We are basically running out of vessels and of empty containers," Alan Murphy, head of the consultancy Sea Intelligence, told AFP. "There's been a massive shortage of empty containers, they are in the wrong place, they are stuck in ports and not in Asia ready to be loaded." Also read | Joe Biden orders investigation into ransomware attack that targetted 1,000 businesses The Freightos Baltic Index, a benchmark for major shipping routes, has more than tripled in a year to nearly $7,000 (5,900 euros) for a trip from China to the west coast of the United States. A trip to Europe has exceeded $10,000, compared with just $1,600 at the same time last year.Murphy said the unprecedented situation compounded the troubles of the last 10 years, which he said had been "really bad for the shipping lines". Blighted by overcapacity in the sector, he said the firms "were losing money every time they were moving a container". 'Unprecedented drop' The Covid-19 pandemic, which initially brought global shipping to a virtual standstill, did not bode well for the industry and led to "an unprecedented drop in demand", said Didier Rabattu, of Lombard Odier Investment Managers. But this did not account for the trends among US and European consumers who during lockdown stopped spending in restaurants and theatres or going on holiday and instead used their money to purchase material goods -- many of them imported from Asia. "Imagine how many televisions you can buy if you don't go skiing for a week with four people?" said Paul Tourret, director of France's Higher Institute of Maritime Economics (ISEMAR). Disruptions to loading and unloading operations, from dockers falling ill and Covid restrictions to unforseen events like the shipping backlog caused the blockage of the Suez Canal in March, have only exacerbated the trend. As a result, ship owners have never been in better shape. The Marseille-based CMA CGM container and shipping company for example posted a net profit of more than $2 billion for the first quarter of 2021 alone, 40 times more than the previous year. Its Danish competitor AP Moller-Maersk announced an even higher net profit of $2.7 billion for the first three months of the year -- 13 times what it saw last year. 'Reached a peak' "It is true that shipowners are making a lot of money at the moment," Tourret said. "But it is also a way for them to renew their fleets and accelerate their liquefied natural gas (LNG) programmes," he added. CMA CGM placed an order in April for 22 container ships, more than half of which are LNG-powered. Maritime transport is "one of the main emitters of sulphur dioxide", the French expert said, adding that although figures were favourable for each tonne transported, the sector nevertheless emitted levels of CO2 "comparable to Germany". The price of container transport depends on the level of demand, but also on the supply-side capacity to meet it. "Whether or not shipowners decide to wage a trade war is a major factor," Tourret said. "None of them has any interest in driving prices down. Their collective discipline today must be not to sell out," he added. The situation could last, Tourret said, driven in part by the need to transport perishable goods. "If you are carrying perishable goods that will be worth nothing if they don't move, how much are you prepared to pay?" he asked. Jean-Marc Lacave, the executive officer of the body for France's maritime service professionals, Armateurs de France, said he did not expect things to return to normal before the first quarter of 2022. "I think we have reached a peak," he said. "If demand continues to rise, there is a not-insignificant risk that prices could rise again, but we are more or less at the top of the curve," he added.

Pandemic drives sea freight prices to record high

Recent figures from the US space agency, NASA, suggest that the loss of the minimum Arctic sea-ice extent is in the region of 13.1% per decade, based on the 1981 to 2010 average.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report in the year 2007 concluded that the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is solely responsible for the decline in sea-ice extent in the region.

This further leads to a rise in the temperature. The sea-ice is estimated to reflect 80 per cent of sunlight back into space. This means that it does not warm the surface.

However, when the sea-ice has melted, the darker ocean surface is exposed. This absorbs about 90 per cent of the sunlight hitting it. This is what results in the warming of the region.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/home-for-polar-bears-is-vulnerable-to-warming-says-study-395268">Also Read |&nbsp;Home for polar bears is vulnerable to warming, says study</a>

Known as the Albedo effect, the phenomenon occurs because light surfaces reflect more heat than dark surfaces.

One impact of the decreasing density of ice in the northern polar region is the opening of the Northwest Passage. This trading route links the North Atlantic Ocean with the North Pacific Ocean.&nbsp;

There are also shreds of evidence that suggest that the thinning sea ice is affecting wildlife. This also includes top-of-the-food-chain predators such as polar bears.

The ice is not strong enough to support the animals' weight. This further forces them to embark on energy-sapping swims and making it more difficult to catch prey.

Meanwhile, another study has revealed that an area of the Arctic Ocean, which is critical for the survival of polar bears is becoming vulnerable to climate change.

Deemed as the "last ice area", the area has suffered record melting last summer, says the new study. As per the researchers, high winds allied to a changing climate were behind the unexpected decline.

Axel Schweiger, from the University of Washington and lead author of this latest study, was quoted by BBC saying, "Sea ice circulates through the Arctic, it has a particular pattern, and it naturally ends up piling up against Greenland and the northern

Canadian coast". He added, "In climate models, when you spin them forward over the coming century, that area has the tendency to have ice survive in the summer the longes".

Recent figures from the US space agency, NASA, suggest that the loss of the minimum Arctic sea-ice extent is in the region of 13.1% per decade, based on the 1981 to 2010 average.

Recent figures from the US space agency, NASA, suggest that the loss of the minimum Arctic sea-ice extent is in the region of 13.1% per decade, based on the 1981 to 2010 average. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report in the year 2007 concluded that the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is solely responsible for the decline in sea-ice extent in the region. This further leads to a rise in the temperature. The sea-ice is estimated to reflect 80 per cent of sunlight back into space. This means that it does not warm the surface. However, when the sea-ice has melted, the darker ocean surface is exposed. This absorbs about 90 per cent of the sunlight hitting it. This is what results in the warming of the region. Also Read | Home for polar bears is vulnerable to warming, says study Known as the Albedo effect, the phenomenon occurs because light surfaces reflect more heat than dark surfaces. One impact of the decreasing density of ice in the northern polar region is the opening of the Northwest Passage. This trading route links the North Atlantic Ocean with the North Pacific Ocean. There are also shreds of evidence that suggest that the thinning sea ice is affecting wildlife. This also includes top-of-the-food-chain predators such as polar bears. The ice is not strong enough to support the animals' weight. This further forces them to embark on energy-sapping swims and making it more difficult to catch prey. Meanwhile, another study has revealed that an area of the Arctic Ocean, which is critical for the survival of polar bears is becoming vulnerable to climate change. Deemed as the "last ice area", the area has suffered record melting last summer, says the new study. As per the researchers, high winds allied to a changing climate were behind the unexpected decline. Axel Schweiger, from the University of Washington and lead author of this latest study, was quoted by BBC saying, "Sea ice circulates through the Arctic, it has a particular pattern, and it naturally ends up piling up against Greenland and the northern Canadian coast". He added, "In climate models, when you spin them forward over the coming century, that area has the tendency to have ice survive in the summer the longes".

Arctic sea loses more ice, here is all you need to know

In&nbsp;an air-sea&nbsp;coordinated operation, the&nbsp;Indian&nbsp;Coast Guard(ICG) rescued a distressed fishing vessel ‘RSN-TWO’ and its seven crew, on Thursday. The vessel was off Tillanchong Island, nearly&nbsp;350 Km south of Port Blair.

This mission highlighted the significance of a home-grown satellite communication device that helps fishermen&nbsp;in&nbsp;distress, by alerting the concerned authorities.

The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) Port Blair received an unregistered DAT (Distress Alert Transmitter) alert around Wednesday noon.

As the DAT was unregistered, its data was unavailable with the ICG, hence the details were sought from the fisheries department.&nbsp;

On learning that the said vessel was ‘RSN-TWO’, which left Port Blair earlier&nbsp;in&nbsp;the week for fishing, ICG tasked ship C-422 from Kamorta, besides ship Vishwast and Dornier aircraft for&nbsp;Search and Rescue. On locating the boat off Tillanchong island and establishing contact, early on Thursday, it was learnt that the boat had machinery failure.&nbsp;

AN ICG team that boarded the distressed vessel provided basic necessities and first aid, following which&nbsp;attempts were made to rectify the defect.

Due to the non-availability of specific spares the on-site repair was not possible, also considering the&nbsp;inclement weather conditions, the distressed vessel was towed for passage to Kamorta, by ICGS Vishwast.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/drone-spotted-inside-indian-mission-in-islamabad-matter-raised-395299">Also Read |&nbsp;Drone spotted inside Indian mission in Islamabad; matter raised</a>

Jointly&nbsp;developed&nbsp;by the&nbsp;Indian&nbsp;Space Research Organization(ISRO) and&nbsp;Indian&nbsp;Coast Guard, the DAT(Distress Alert Transponder) is a low-cost and effective satellite transmitter built for fishermen.&nbsp;

At&nbsp;a press of a button, this device transmits distress alerts to the&nbsp;Search and Rescue Authorities through the&nbsp;INSAT series of&nbsp;satellites. The&nbsp;Indian&nbsp;Coast Guard has been emphasizing that fishermen must carry the DAT device and also register it for effective, timely&nbsp;search and rescue.

The&nbsp;Indian&nbsp;National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems&nbsp;in the Asia-Pacific region with multiple operational communication&nbsp;satellites&nbsp;placed&nbsp;in&nbsp;Geo-stationary orbit. Established&nbsp;in&nbsp;1983 with the commissioning of&nbsp;INSAT-1B, it&nbsp;initiated a major revolution&nbsp;in&nbsp;India’s communications sector and sustained the same later.

According to ISRO, the&nbsp;INSAT system with more than 200 transponders&nbsp;in&nbsp;the C, Extended C and Ku-bands provides services to telecommunications, television broadcasting, satellite news-gathering, societal applications, weather forecasting, disaster warning and&nbsp;Search and Rescue operations.

In an air-sea coordinated operation, the Indian Coast Guard(ICG) rescued a distressed fishing vessel ‘RSN-TWO’ and its seven crew, on Thursday. The vessel was off Tillanchong Island, nearly 350 Km south of Port Blair.

In an air-sea coordinated operation, the Indian Coast Guard(ICG) rescued a distressed fishing vessel ‘RSN-TWO’ and its seven crew, on Thursday. The vessel was off Tillanchong Island, nearly 350 Km south of Port Blair. This mission highlighted the significance of a home-grown satellite communication device that helps fishermen in distress, by alerting the concerned authorities. The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) Port Blair received an unregistered DAT (Distress Alert Transmitter) alert around Wednesday noon. As the DAT was unregistered, its data was unavailable with the ICG, hence the details were sought from the fisheries department. On learning that the said vessel was ‘RSN-TWO’, which left Port Blair earlier in the week for fishing, ICG tasked ship C-422 from Kamorta, besides ship Vishwast and Dornier aircraft for Search and Rescue. On locating the boat off Tillanchong island and establishing contact, early on Thursday, it was learnt that the boat had machinery failure. AN ICG team that boarded the distressed vessel provided basic necessities and first aid, following which attempts were made to rectify the defect. Due to the non-availability of specific spares the on-site repair was not possible, also considering the inclement weather conditions, the distressed vessel was towed for passage to Kamorta, by ICGS Vishwast. Also Read | Drone spotted inside Indian mission in Islamabad; matter raised Jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) and Indian Coast Guard, the DAT(Distress Alert Transponder) is a low-cost and effective satellite transmitter built for fishermen. At a press of a button, this device transmits distress alerts to the Search and Rescue Authorities through the INSAT series of satellites. The Indian Coast Guard has been emphasizing that fishermen must carry the DAT device and also register it for effective, timely search and rescue. The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia-Pacific region with multiple operational communication satellites placed in Geo-stationary orbit. Established in 1983 with the commissioning of INSAT-1B, it initiated a major revolution in India’s communications sector and sustained the same later. According to ISRO, the INSAT system with more than 200 transponders in the C, Extended C and Ku-bands provides services to telecommunications, television broadcasting, satellite news-gathering, societal applications, weather forecasting, disaster warning and Search and Rescue operations.

ISRO-ICG developed tech, Indian satellites prove crucial in saving lives at sea

Demonstrations were held across Spain on Friday as Spanish rescuers searched waters off the coast of Tenerife for a one-year-old girl after a body, which was reportedly confirmed to be her six-year-old sister was found weighed down in the ocean, prompting an outpouring of rage and grief. 
 
Their father, Tomas G, is the main suspect in the disappearance of Olivia, six, and Anna, one, after failing to return them to their mother as agreed at the end of April. He is also missing. 
 
Fingerprint checks have confirmed that the body found weighed down in the sea was that of Olivia, according to judicial sources cited by El Pais newspaper. 
 
The family lived on Tenerife, where officials and a few local residents observed a minute of silence in memory of the sisters in front of the main city hall and outside other official buildings on the Canary Islands. 
 
"We are here to denounce a situation that happens more often than it should and to say that enough is enough and that we have to protect women and children, who are victims of male violence," said Nuria Fernández at a protest in Tenerife on Friday. 
 
Other protests were organised in Madrid and cities across the country. 
 
"All Spain is shocked, all our support for the families whose pain is absolutely unbearable and unimaginable, all our rejection of sexist violence, the vicarious violence that some still deny in our country," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday during a visit to Costa Rica. 
 
The body of the six-year-old, which authorities had said was likely that of Olivia, was found on Thursday afternoon at a depth of 1,000 metres (1,090 yards) inside a sports bag tied to an anchor, near where her father's boat was drifting. 
 
Another empty sports bag was also found next to them, a court statement said. 
 
Authorities were about to call off the maritime search earlier this week when they found personal belongings of the father at sea. 
 
On the streets of Tenerife people mourned the girls. 
 
"Every mother and grandmother feels the greatest sorrow, mainly for her (the girls' mother). ... It`s as if they were our own daughters or granddaughters," said local resident Maria Victoria. 
 
Spain's left-wing government has put women's rights at the top of its political agenda and sought to combat prevailing macho attitudes. 
 
In Seville, a former boyfriend of Rocio Caiz, 17, was arrested after he allegedly confessed to killing her and cutting up her body. 
 
Almost 1,100 women have been killed by partners or former partners since a register was created in 2003, shortly before a gender violence law was approved, while some 39 children have been killed during attacks on their mothers since 2013. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

Demonstrations were held across Spain on Friday as Spanish rescuers searched waters off the coast of Tenerife for a one-year-old girl after a body, which was reportedly confirmed to be her six-year-old sister was found weighed down in the ocean, prompting an outpouring of rage and grief.

Demonstrations were held across Spain on Friday as Spanish rescuers searched waters off the coast of Tenerife for a one-year-old girl after a body, which was reportedly confirmed to be her six-year-old sister was found weighed down in the ocean, prompting an outpouring of rage and grief. Their father, Tomas G, is the main suspect in the disappearance of Olivia, six, and Anna, one, after failing to return them to their mother as agreed at the end of April. He is also missing. Fingerprint checks have confirmed that the body found weighed down in the sea was that of Olivia, according to judicial sources cited by El Pais newspaper. The family lived on Tenerife, where officials and a few local residents observed a minute of silence in memory of the sisters in front of the main city hall and outside other official buildings on the Canary Islands. "We are here to denounce a situation that happens more often than it should and to say that enough is enough and that we have to protect women and children, who are victims of male violence," said Nuria Fernández at a protest in Tenerife on Friday. Other protests were organised in Madrid and cities across the country. "All Spain is shocked, all our support for the families whose pain is absolutely unbearable and unimaginable, all our rejection of sexist violence, the vicarious violence that some still deny in our country," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday during a visit to Costa Rica. The body of the six-year-old, which authorities had said was likely that of Olivia, was found on Thursday afternoon at a depth of 1,000 metres (1,090 yards) inside a sports bag tied to an anchor, near where her father's boat was drifting. Another empty sports bag was also found next to them, a court statement said. Authorities were about to call off the maritime search earlier this week when they found personal belongings of the father at sea. On the streets of Tenerife people mourned the girls. "Every mother and grandmother feels the greatest sorrow, mainly for her (the girls' mother). ... It`s as if they were our own daughters or granddaughters," said local resident Maria Victoria. Spain's left-wing government has put women's rights at the top of its political agenda and sought to combat prevailing macho attitudes. In Seville, a former boyfriend of Rocio Caiz, 17, was arrested after he allegedly confessed to killing her and cutting up her body. Almost 1,100 women have been killed by partners or former partners since a register was created in 2003, shortly before a gender violence law was approved, while some 39 children have been killed during attacks on their mothers since 2013. (With inputs from agencies)

Spanish rescuers search sea for missing toddler after girl found dead

Cyclone Yaas is close to the east coast of the country, a few days after the deadly cyclone Tauktae collided with the west coast. The IMD said that "Yaas" is likely to turn into a 'very severe cyclonic storm' (VSCS) by Tuesday evening.

IMD: Cyclone Yaas likely to turn into a 'very severe cyclonic storm'

An estimated 100,000 seafarers are stranded at sea due to the pandemic. Many are marooned because of border closures and immigration restrictions aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic.

Around 100,000 seafarers stranded during pandemic

The sea off the remote Kamchatka peninsula may have been contaminated with toxic chemicals as Greenpeace warned of an "ecological disaster" for marine life.

Greenpeace has described how seawater off the far eastern peninsula changed colour and smell and "hundreds" of dead sea creatures including seals, octopuses and sea urchins washed up onto a black-sanded beach popular with tourists.

Testing around local bays and beaches showed above-permitted levels of phenol and petroleum products, the regional authorities said.&nbsp;

Experts were investigating whether this was linked to "spills of some toxic substances," regional governor Vladimir Solodov said in a statement.

The 38-year-old governor said that inspectors on Tuesday would look at two military testing sites on Kamchatka that could be responsible.

The water pollution came to light late last month after local surfers reported stinging eyes and said the water had changed colour and developed an odour.

Solodov said surfers suffered mild burns to their corneas.

Tests on water of a river flowing into the bay showed it did not surpass legal limits, however.

Environmental inspectors and experts from a fisheries and oceanography research centre were set to continue tests.

The pristine peninsula is a popular destination for adventure tourism with its abundance of wildlife and live volcanoes.

Greenpeace said it has contacted state ecological monitors, the armed forces and the Prosecutor-General's office asking for an immediate investigation.&nbsp;

Prosecutors and investigators announced they would carry out checks into whether a crime had been committed but have not any released findings.

The emergencies ministry said it was using boats and drones to monitor the coastline but added that "no pollution is visible."

The incident came as authorities urged tourists not to visit a live volcano on Kamchatka, warning eruption could be imminent.

(with inputs from AFP)

The sea off the remote Kamchatka peninsula may have been contaminated with toxic chemicals as Greenpeace warned of an "ecological disaster" for marine life. Greenpeace has described how seawater off the far eastern peninsula changed colour and smell and "hundreds" of dead sea creatures including seals, octopuses and sea urchins washed up onto a black-sanded beach popular with tourists.

The sea off the remote Kamchatka peninsula may have been contaminated with toxic chemicals as Greenpeace warned of an "ecological disaster" for marine life. Greenpeace has described how seawater off the far eastern peninsula changed colour and smell and "hundreds" of dead sea creatures including seals, octopuses and sea urchins washed up onto a black-sanded beach popular with tourists. Testing around local bays and beaches showed above-permitted levels of phenol and petroleum products, the regional authorities said. Experts were investigating whether this was linked to "spills of some toxic substances," regional governor Vladimir Solodov said in a statement. The 38-year-old governor said that inspectors on Tuesday would look at two military testing sites on Kamchatka that could be responsible. The water pollution came to light late last month after local surfers reported stinging eyes and said the water had changed colour and developed an odour. Solodov said surfers suffered mild burns to their corneas. Tests on water of a river flowing into the bay showed it did not surpass legal limits, however. Environmental inspectors and experts from a fisheries and oceanography research centre were set to continue tests. The pristine peninsula is a popular destination for adventure tourism with its abundance of wildlife and live volcanoes. Greenpeace said it has contacted state ecological monitors, the armed forces and the Prosecutor-General's office asking for an immediate investigation. Prosecutors and investigators announced they would carry out checks into whether a crime had been committed but have not any released findings. The emergencies ministry said it was using boats and drones to monitor the coastline but added that "no pollution is visible." The incident came as authorities urged tourists not to visit a live volcano on Kamchatka, warning eruption could be imminent. (with inputs from AFP)

Sea creatures die in far eastern Russia 'ecological disaster'

There’s so much about our planet that we don’t know. The biggest mystery besides the fact that we live on a gaseous ball floating in space is perhaps how little knowledge we have of our oceanic bodies.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="/world/ocean-bed-now-has-more-microplastics-than-ever-before-296144" hreflang="en">Ocean bed now has more microplastics than ever before</a>

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), about 95 per cent of the world’s oceans and 99 per cent of the ocean floor remain unexplored, implying we know little to nothing about the ocean. 
 
A sinkhole of sorts

A few years ago, scientists discovered “blue holes” on the ocean floor. Now, they’re set on studying it.

A blue hole is intrinsically a sinkhole in the ocean floor, which creates a cave like structure. Located off Florida’s coast, the hole has been nicknamed the “Green Banana”.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="/science/dinosaur-era-microbes-lying-dormant-in-ocean-resuscitated-by-scientists-316620" hreflang="en">Dinosaur-era microbes lying dormant in ocean resuscitated by scientists</a>

Reported first by the Independent, the exploration mission for Green Banana is starting this month. The hole is 300 feet deep, which very little is known about.

Scientists are looking for a lot of answers, primarily whether the water inside the hole is different than the regular saltwater found in the ocean, which is situated higher than the cavern.

Freshwater caves?

It is entirely possible that these holes are a product of freshwater micro-bodies in the ocean. “Green Banana” hosts a lot of life, including fish and aquatic plants. Scientists want to understand what creates such conditions near the hole.

The water looks different too. As opposed to the general ruggedness of the ocean water, the water surrounding the hole is much clearer, which is another mystery that remains unsolved.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="/world/plastic-pollution-flowing-into-oceans-to-triple-by-2040-study-315624" hreflang="en">Plastic pollution flowing into oceans to triple by 2040: Study</a>

To better understand this, researchers intend to drop a piece of hardware into the water. Similar to objects sent to space, a “lander” of an aquatic kind will be hoisted in the Green Banana hole.

At the same time, scientists will collect samples from the water. The lander will try to understand the basic differences between ocean water and blue hole water.

The mission, which begins later in August, is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Many scientists believe that the vicinity of blue holes situated close to one another might hold some key in understanding them - perhaps a cave like network of freshwater springs hiding in the innards of the ocean.

There’s so much about our planet that we don’t know. The biggest mystery besides the fact that we live on a gaseous ball floating in space is perhaps how little knowledge we have of our oceanic bodies.

There’s so much about our planet that we don’t know. The biggest mystery besides the fact that we live on a gaseous ball floating in space is perhaps how little knowledge we have of our oceanic bodies. Also read: Ocean bed now has more microplastics than ever before According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), about 95 per cent of the world’s oceans and 99 per cent of the ocean floor remain unexplored, implying we know little to nothing about the ocean. A sinkhole of sorts A few years ago, scientists discovered “blue holes” on the ocean floor. Now, they’re set on studying it. A blue hole is intrinsically a sinkhole in the ocean floor, which creates a cave like structure. Located off Florida’s coast, the hole has been nicknamed the “Green Banana”. Also read: Dinosaur-era microbes lying dormant in ocean resuscitated by scientists Reported first by the Independent, the exploration mission for Green Banana is starting this month. The hole is 300 feet deep, which very little is known about. Scientists are looking for a lot of answers, primarily whether the water inside the hole is different than the regular saltwater found in the ocean, which is situated higher than the cavern. Freshwater caves? It is entirely possible that these holes are a product of freshwater micro-bodies in the ocean. “Green Banana” hosts a lot of life, including fish and aquatic plants. Scientists want to understand what creates such conditions near the hole. The water looks different too. As opposed to the general ruggedness of the ocean water, the water surrounding the hole is much clearer, which is another mystery that remains unsolved. Also read: Plastic pollution flowing into oceans to triple by 2040: Study To better understand this, researchers intend to drop a piece of hardware into the water. Similar to objects sent to space, a “lander” of an aquatic kind will be hoisted in the Green Banana hole. At the same time, scientists will collect samples from the water. The lander will try to understand the basic differences between ocean water and blue hole water. The mission, which begins later in August, is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Many scientists believe that the vicinity of blue holes situated close to one another might hold some key in understanding them - perhaps a cave like network of freshwater springs hiding in the innards of the ocean.

Scientists to begin studying 'blue holes' situated deep in the ocean this month

2020 has been an uncanny year on all fronts, from a raging pandemic to natural disasters to political upheavals, this year has seen it all.

In another uncanny yet good news coming in from a tiny Pacific island, three mariners were rescued after flagging an SOS message on the beach sand.

Thrown off course

Last Thursday, the three men intended to&nbsp;travel&nbsp;on a boat for 42 kilometres (26 miles) from Pulawat to Pulap in the Federated States of Micronesia.

After taking on the journey, mariners fell off the right path, which led to an uninhabited island called Pikelot, which was 190 kilometres (118 miles) away from where they had originally planned to go.&nbsp;After running out of fuel in the ocean, they were forced to take refuge on the stranded island, Australian and US authorities reported.

<h6><img alt="This handout photo taken on August 2, 2020 and received on August 4 from the Australian Defence Force shows the letters &quot;SOS&quot; (L) on a beach on Pikelot Island where three men were found in good condition after being missing for three days. Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a tiny island in the remote Western Pacific were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a giant &quot;SOS&quot; they had scrawled on the beach, officials said." data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="14a4b77a-205f-4796-b294-cfd705808d1b" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design-2_43.jpg" /> 
This handout photo taken on August 2, 2020 and received on August 4 from the Australian Defence Force shows the letters "SOS" (L) on a beach on Pikelot Island where three men were found in good condition after being missing for three days. Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a tiny island in the remote Western Pacific were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a giant "SOS" they had scrawled on the beach, officials said. | AFP 
&nbsp;</h6>

The island where they got lost lies 800 kilometres (500 miles) from Guam. When people realised that the man hadn’t arrived in Pulap, a search and rescue operation was launched by the US Coast Guard in Guam.

A US Air Force KC-135 noticed the SOS sign by the beach. Three men were found after three hours of operation.

"SOS" saved their lives

Apparently, the aircraft was just nearing the end of three hour long operation when they an SOS sign on the beach, after which they also spotted a boat. The pilot made a post on Facebook which further claimed that they sought the assistance of Australian Navy after which they were rescued.

<h6><img alt="This handout photo taken on August 2, 2020 and received on August 4 from the Australian Defence Force shows an Australian Army ARH Tiger helicopter landing near the letters &quot;SOS&quot; (C) on a beach on Pikelot Island where three men were found in good condition after being missing for three days. Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a tiny island in the remote Western Pacific were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a gian" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a7623b20-f7bb-41ea-9dfa-66e7825bb7a7" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design-3_32.jpg" /> 
This handout photo taken on August 2, 2020 and received on August 4 from the Australian Defence Force shows an Australian Army ARH Tiger helicopter landing near the letters "SOS" (C) on a beach on Pikelot Island where three men were found in good condition after being missing for three days. Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a tiny island in the remote Western Pacific were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a giant SOS sign | AFP 
&nbsp;</h6>

"We were toward the end of our search pattern. We turned to avoid some rain showers and that's when we looked down and saw an island, so we decide to check it out and that's when we saw SOS and a boat right next to it on the beach. From there we called in the Australian Navy because they had two helicopters nearby that could assist and land on the island”, the pilot, Lt Col&nbsp; Jason Palmeira-Yen, said in a post made on Facebook.

Supplies for the distressed men were dropped by Australia’s assault ship HMAS Canberra, while they were also checked for major injuries. Their identities were then confirmed and they were rescued from the island.

2020 has been an uncanny year on all fronts, from a raging pandemic to natural disasters to political upheavals, this year has seen it all. In another uncanny yet good news coming in from a tiny Pacific island, three mariners were rescued after flagging an SOS message on the beach sand.

2020 has been an uncanny year on all fronts, from a raging pandemic to natural disasters to political upheavals, this year has seen it all. In another uncanny yet good news coming in from a tiny Pacific island, three mariners were rescued after flagging an SOS message on the beach sand. Thrown off course Last Thursday, the three men intended to travel on a boat for 42 kilometres (26 miles) from Pulawat to Pulap in the Federated States of Micronesia. After taking on the journey, mariners fell off the right path, which led to an uninhabited island called Pikelot, which was 190 kilometres (118 miles) away from where they had originally planned to go. After running out of fuel in the ocean, they were forced to take refuge on the stranded island, Australian and US authorities reported. This handout photo taken on August 2, 2020 and received on August 4 from the Australian Defence Force shows the letters "SOS" (L) on a beach on Pikelot Island where three men were found in good condition after being missing for three days. Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a tiny island in the remote Western Pacific were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a giant "SOS" they had scrawled on the beach, officials said. | AFP The island where they got lost lies 800 kilometres (500 miles) from Guam. When people realised that the man hadn’t arrived in Pulap, a search and rescue operation was launched by the US Coast Guard in Guam. A US Air Force KC-135 noticed the SOS sign by the beach. Three men were found after three hours of operation. "SOS" saved their lives Apparently, the aircraft was just nearing the end of three hour long operation when they an SOS sign on the beach, after which they also spotted a boat. The pilot made a post on Facebook which further claimed that they sought the assistance of Australian Navy after which they were rescued. This handout photo taken on August 2, 2020 and received on August 4 from the Australian Defence Force shows an Australian Army ARH Tiger helicopter landing near the letters "SOS" (C) on a beach on Pikelot Island where three men were found in good condition after being missing for three days. Three Micronesian sailors stranded on a tiny island in the remote Western Pacific were rescued after Australian and US warplanes spotted a giant SOS sign | AFP "We were toward the end of our search pattern. We turned to avoid some rain showers and that's when we looked down and saw an island, so we decide to check it out and that's when we saw SOS and a boat right next to it on the beach. From there we called in the Australian Navy because they had two helicopters nearby that could assist and land on the island”, the pilot, Lt Col Jason Palmeira-Yen, said in a post made on Facebook. Supplies for the distressed men were dropped by Australia’s assault ship HMAS Canberra, while they were also checked for major injuries. Their identities were then confirmed and they were rescued from the island.

'SOS' on the sand saves lives of three men stranded on a Micronesian island

Scientists have recovered samples from a cypress forest from that has been buried under sediment off the coast of Alabama for 60,000 years and have hopes that some of the preserved compounds may pioneer medical and biotech research.

Scientists find underwater ancient forest, trees may provide future medicine and biotech discoveries

Two foreign trawlers packed with over $33 million worth of heroin and crystal methamphetamine were seized in Sri Lanka's biggest-ever drugs bust at sea, a navy spokesman said Thursday.

Troops found 400 kilogrammes of heroin and 100 kilogrammes of the drug "ice" on board the two vessels, spokesman Isuru Sooriyabandara said.

The street value of the seized narcotics was estimated by officials to be 6,000 million rupees.

Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sri-lanka-offers-tax-cuts-subsidies-to-revive-jinxed-airport-283402">Sri Lanka offers tax cuts, subsidies to revive jinxed airport</a>

The vessels, as well as a Sri Lankan fishing boat, were escorted to a harbour near the capital Colombo on&nbsp;Thursday.

Sixteen foreign crew and five Sri Lankan crewmen were detained for questioning, Sooriyabandara added. The nationalities of the foreigners were not disclosed by authorities.

"The two foreign vessels were trying to offload the drugs onto a Sri Lankan fishing boat," Sooriyabandara said.

Also see:<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/myanmar-seizes-drugs-equipment-worth-27-million-military-283666"> Myanmar seizes drugs, equipment worth $27 million: Military</a>

The foreign vessels, which carried no registration, were intercepted in international waters some 1,100 kilometres&nbsp;from Sri Lanka's coast.

Sooriyabandara said investigators were checking GPS data onboard the vessels to establish the route and the point of origin.

Authorities said initial investigations suggested the Iran-Pakistan coast was the point of origin.

Also read<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-sanctions-cut-off-iranians-access-to-medicine-283907">: US sanctions cut off Iranians' access to medicine</a>

In 2016, the navy arrested 10 Iranians, two Pakistanis and one each from India and Singapore for allegedly trying to smuggle 110 kilogrammes of heroin into the island nation via a trawler.

The country's previous largest drug haul was in December 2016 when police seized 800 kilogrammes of cocaine on a ship at Colombo's port from Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Port.

Six months earlier, authorities discovered 301 kilogrammes of cocaine inside a shipping container at Colombo.

Authorities believe the Indian Ocean island is also being used as a trafficking transit point.

Two foreign trawlers packed with over $33 million worth of heroin and crystal methamphetamine were seized in Sri Lanka's biggest-ever drugs bust at sea, a navy spokesman said Thursday.

Two foreign trawlers packed with over $33 million worth of heroin and crystal methamphetamine were seized in Sri Lanka's biggest-ever drugs bust at sea, a navy spokesman said Thursday. Troops found 400 kilogrammes of heroin and 100 kilogrammes of the drug "ice" on board the two vessels, spokesman Isuru Sooriyabandara said. The street value of the seized narcotics was estimated by officials to be 6,000 million rupees. Also read: Sri Lanka offers tax cuts, subsidies to revive jinxed airport The vessels, as well as a Sri Lankan fishing boat, were escorted to a harbour near the capital Colombo on Thursday. Sixteen foreign crew and five Sri Lankan crewmen were detained for questioning, Sooriyabandara added. The nationalities of the foreigners were not disclosed by authorities. "The two foreign vessels were trying to offload the drugs onto a Sri Lankan fishing boat," Sooriyabandara said. Also see: Myanmar seizes drugs, equipment worth $27 million: Military The foreign vessels, which carried no registration, were intercepted in international waters some 1,100 kilometres from Sri Lanka's coast. Sooriyabandara said investigators were checking GPS data onboard the vessels to establish the route and the point of origin. Authorities said initial investigations suggested the Iran-Pakistan coast was the point of origin. Also read: US sanctions cut off Iranians' access to medicine In 2016, the navy arrested 10 Iranians, two Pakistanis and one each from India and Singapore for allegedly trying to smuggle 110 kilogrammes of heroin into the island nation via a trawler. The country's previous largest drug haul was in December 2016 when police seized 800 kilogrammes of cocaine on a ship at Colombo's port from Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Port. Six months earlier, authorities discovered 301 kilogrammes of cocaine inside a shipping container at Colombo. Authorities believe the Indian Ocean island is also being used as a trafficking transit point.

Sri Lanka seizes record drugs haul at sea

Lumix's People's Choice Awards 2019 - Wildlife Photographer of the Year  People's Favourites

A group of Tibetan monks blessed and released an endangered sea turtle into the waters in Islamorada, Florida Keys, on Thursday.

Visiting Tibetan monks help release sea turtle

&nbsp;

&nbsp;A Spanish military jet crashed into the sea off the southeastern coast of Spain early on Monday (August 26), killing the pilot, the air force said.

The C-101 jet, used for training, came down near La Manga, Murcia just after 0730 GMT, an air force spokesman said.

He said the cause of the crash, the second air disaster in as many days in Spain, was not yet known. The pilot, who was alone in the cockpit, was a flying instructor.

Three beaches in the area were closed to sunbathers after wreckage from the crash hit the sand, local authorities said.

On Sunday, seven people were killed in a collision between a helicopter and a light plane on the island of Mallorca.

&nbsp;

A Spanish military jet crashed into the sea off the southeastern coast of Spain early on Monday (August 26), killing the pilot, the air force said. The C-101 jet, used for training, came down near La Manga, Murcia just after 0730 GMT, an air force spokesman said.

A Spanish military jet crashed into the sea off the southeastern coast of Spain early on Monday (August 26), killing the pilot, the air force said. The C-101 jet, used for training, came down near La Manga, Murcia just after 0730 GMT, an air force spokesman said. He said the cause of the crash, the second air disaster in as many days in Spain, was not yet known. The pilot, who was alone in the cockpit, was a flying instructor. Three beaches in the area were closed to sunbathers after wreckage from the crash hit the sand, local authorities said. On Sunday, seven people were killed in a collision between a helicopter and a light plane on the island of Mallorca.

Spanish military jet crashes into sea

Nine Chinese and eight Ukrainian seamen were abducted on Thursday when two merchant vessels came under attack in Cameroonian waters, sources said Friday.

"Seventeen Chinese and Ukrainians were kidnapped... (of whom) nine (are) Chinese who were abducted on one of the ships," an official in the port of Douala told AFP.&nbsp;

A Cameroonian security official, likewise speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the account.

The abduction was reported on Thursday by sources in the Cameroonian navy and the country's port service, but their number and nationality were not then known.

The navy source had said the kidnappers "are probably Nigerian pirates," adding that Cameroon's security forces had launched a search for them.

The Gulf of Guinea, whose coastline stretches in a huge arc from Liberia to Gabon, is notorious for piracy as well as oil theft, illegal fishing and human and drugs trafficking.

In Malaysia, Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a watchdog agency, said the 17 seamen were seized from two ships that were attacked within hours of each other while they were anchored off Douala.

Choong said one of the ships was a multipurpose German-owned ship that flew the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.&nbsp;

"Eight crew were kidnapped from the ship consisting of a total of 12 Asian and European sailors," he said.

The other vessel was a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier managed in Greece with a Greek owner.

"There were 21 crew on board. All were Asians. Nine crew were taken," Choong told AFP.

"(The) IMB has issued a warning to all ships at Douala. We ask all ships to take additional precaution."

According to the IMB's figures, 62 seafarers were taken hostage or abducted in the area in the first half of 2019.

The Gulf of Guinea accounts for 73 percent of kidnappings and 92 percent of hostage-takings at sea worldwide, it says.

The 17 countries in the Gulf of Guinea and adjacent regions have limited surveillance and maritime defence capabilities.

They have been trying for several years to bolster their means of intervention and to put in place closer collaboration.

Nine Chinese and eight Ukrainian seamen were abducted on Thursday when two merchant vessels came under attack in Cameroonian waters, sources said Friday. "Seventeen Chinese and Ukrainians were kidnapped.

Nine Chinese and eight Ukrainian seamen were abducted on Thursday when two merchant vessels came under attack in Cameroonian waters, sources said Friday. "Seventeen Chinese and Ukrainians were kidnapped... (of whom) nine (are) Chinese who were abducted on one of the ships," an official in the port of Douala told AFP. A Cameroonian security official, likewise speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the account. The abduction was reported on Thursday by sources in the Cameroonian navy and the country's port service, but their number and nationality were not then known. The navy source had said the kidnappers "are probably Nigerian pirates," adding that Cameroon's security forces had launched a search for them. The Gulf of Guinea, whose coastline stretches in a huge arc from Liberia to Gabon, is notorious for piracy as well as oil theft, illegal fishing and human and drugs trafficking. In Malaysia, Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a watchdog agency, said the 17 seamen were seized from two ships that were attacked within hours of each other while they were anchored off Douala. Choong said one of the ships was a multipurpose German-owned ship that flew the flag of Antigua and Barbuda. "Eight crew were kidnapped from the ship consisting of a total of 12 Asian and European sailors," he said. The other vessel was a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier managed in Greece with a Greek owner. "There were 21 crew on board. All were Asians. Nine crew were taken," Choong told AFP. "(The) IMB has issued a warning to all ships at Douala. We ask all ships to take additional precaution." According to the IMB's figures, 62 seafarers were taken hostage or abducted in the area in the first half of 2019. The Gulf of Guinea accounts for 73 percent of kidnappings and 92 percent of hostage-takings at sea worldwide, it says. The 17 countries in the Gulf of Guinea and adjacent regions have limited surveillance and maritime defence capabilities. They have been trying for several years to bolster their means of intervention and to put in place closer collaboration.

17 Chinese, Ukrainian seamen kidnapped off Cameroon

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