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More than 11,000 species have been discovered in Vietnam, which ranks 16th among the 25 countries with the richest biodiversity, according to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA). The species include 6,000 benthic, 2,038 fish, 225 shrimp, 15 sea snakes, 12 marine mammals, five turtles, 43 water birds, 653 seaweed, 657 zooplankton, 94 mangrove plants, 14 seagrasses, and about 400 400 coral species. There are more than 20 types of typical ecosystems in which these species can be found. They are highly productive biologically and influence the overall productivity of the entire ocean. A major effort has been made by the…

A number of explosions occurred across Balochistan on Sunday, resulting in the death of at least five Pakistani soldiers and the injury of a dozen civilians. According to a statement issued by the Pakistan Army, during an intelligence-based clearance operation, which has been underway since December 24, an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in the Kahan area of Kohlu district, near a “leading party”. It was also reported that, in a separate incident, unidentified men threw a grenade at a police checkpoint in Quetta’s Satellite Town. This injured eight people, including three police officers and five civilians, according to the…

Guinness World Records (GWR) confirms that Afshin Esmaeil Ghaderzadeh is the world’s shortest man with a height of 65.24 centimetres and a weight of just 6 kilograms. Afshin received the certificate from GWR officials at the Radisson Blu hotel in Media City. It makes me happy and privileged to hold this esteemed honour. It is magical. In the morning, you wake up and you are famous everywhere.” Edward Nino Hernandez, from Bogota in Colombia, was the previous shortest man, measuring 72.1 cm tall on 29 February 2020. Having been raised in a remote village in the West Azerbaijan province of…

There is more to the world’s largest whales than just their stunning appearances. Similarly to oceans, soils, and forests, whales could help humanity deal with the accelerating climate crisis by sequestering and storing planet-warming carbon emissions. Researchers suggest that whales are significant carbon sinks, but are often overlooked, in a paper published Thursday in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Their enormous size, which can reach 150 tons, allows them to store carbon more effectively than smaller animals. Due to whales’ long life expectancies, some whales live for more than a century. The paper suggests that whales are one…

UNESCO celebrated the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) on Tuesday 13 December. The world’s attention will be drawn to UNESCO’s ten-year action plan, which aims to preserve, revitalize, and celebrate indigenous languages. UNESCO is leading the International Decade of Indigenous Languages as the UN Organization in charge of Education, Sciences, Culture, and Communication and Information. Indigenous languages around the world are in a critical situation, and the Decade aims to raise awareness and mobilize stakeholders to act. In the long run, at least 40% of the more than 6,700 indigenous languages spoken around the world are at risk of…

Russian officials say 2,500 seals were found dead on the Caspian Sea coast. Russian authorities said the animals’ deaths were likely caused by natural causes, but it’s still unclear what caused them, reports AP. According to regional officials, 700 seals were found on the coast on Saturday. However, Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, revealed on Sunday that 2,500 dead animals were uncovered after a broad inspection of the coast. They likely died a couple of weeks ago, Gapizov said. There was no sign that the poachers had killed them. Inspecting the coastline and collecting data, the…

The Joe Biden administration imposed terrorism sanctions on two accountants in Lebanon and two companies that provided financial services to the militant group Hezbollah. As reported by AP, the Treasury Department will also sanction a third person for assisting Hezbollah, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization, with weapons acquisitions. Adel Mohamad Mansour, executive director of Hezbollah’s Al-Qard Al-Hassan group, as well as another company he runs, Al-Khobara for Accounting, Auditing, and Studies, are targeted. Also sanctioned are the firm Auditors for Accounting and Auditing and its representative Naser Hasan Neser, as well as Hassan Khalil, who Treasury says helped Hezbollah acquire…

On this year’s International Day of People of Determination, which falls on Saturday, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, called for transformative, innovative solutions in a world where crises disproportionately impact people of determination. Guterres emphasized the need for greater public-private sector collaboration in developing strategies that benefit people of determination, who should also be involved in their development. A road map to achieving this goal has been published by the UN in its Disability Inclusion Strategy. This is aimed at making the United Nations more accessible to people with disabilities. “From headquarters to the field, we work to assess,…

An average of five women or girls were killed by a member of their own family every hour in 2021, according to two UN agencies. This study was issued ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed annually on 25 November by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women. Nearly half of the 81,000 women and girls intentionally killed last year died at the hands of intimate partners or other family members. According to the report, 11 percent of all male homicides occur in the private sphere, indicating that many women…

Coral protection is envisioned by conservation group The Nature Conservancy by deploying speedboats and a global army of snorkelers and divers during tropical storms and hurricanes. The global Reef Brigades plan came closer to reality on Monday when the project purchased the first coral insurance contract in the U.S., which will provide funds for repair work, building on similar policies taken out in the Caribbean. Eric Roberts, a senior risk and resilience program manager at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), said conservation has really relied on philanthropy and government grants. According to Reuters, “We’re also tapping into the private sector by…