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The Habesha Introduction Ethiopia is widely recognized as one of the oldest civilizations in the world, based on archaeological findings, written history, and continuous statehood. Without going too much into details, archeologic studies teach us
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Qatar along with many countries celebrated Earth Day earlier this week to raise awareness to preserve the environment and reduce pollution, while highlighting the challenges facing the planet, and emphasizing the importance of preserving the Earth to ensure a healthy and safe environment and a more stable world. This year’s celebration was held under the theme ‘Our Power, Our Planet’, the same theme as last year. The event, which involves more than 1bn people around the world, focuses on accelerating the transition to renewable energy sources, combating various forms of pollution, and promoting environmental protection efforts. This year’s Earth Day came amidst unprecedented and accelerating climate change, with 2025 on track to be one of the hottest years on record. This makes Earth Day a renewed global call to action, urging individual and community efforts to protect the environment. As ecosystems face increasing degradation, with oceans filled with plastic waste, rising acidity and salinity levels, and escalating heat waves, fires, and floods, the urgent need to restore ecological balance is paramount. The health of ecosystems is fundamental to the sustainability of life and human well-being on Earth. In his remarks to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Director of the Wildlife Development Department at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MoECC) Khalid Jumaa Bojamhoor al-Mohannadi said that the department is implementing various initiatives as part of the MoECC’s programs to serve the goals of the Earth Day. These initiatives include protecting species and their habitats, restoring ecosystems, and raising environmental awareness. He added that these efforts encompass protecting endangered wildlife species, implementing breeding and rehabilitation programs, and working to restore coastal ecosystems, particularly mangroves. Annual opportunityThe department also conducts campaigns to clean up natural areas and continues its project to reduce and control invasive species, such as the common myna. He pointed out that the department’s role is not limited to field work, but extends to documenting biodiversity through the national database, in parallel with initiatives such as planting 10mn trees by 2030, which contributes to enhancing biodiversity and implementing nature-based solutions. Al-Mohannadi emphasised that Earth Day is not just an occasion for celebration, but an annual opportunity to review the efforts made in Qatar on land, sea and coasts and to expand participation with various segments of society, the private sector, universities and scientific research institutions. Regarding the department’s efforts over the past years and its role in raising community awareness, the Director of the Wildlife Development Department at the MoECC indicated that work has focused on providing awareness programs that are more accessible and relevant to the public. This has been demonstrated through campaigns to clean up natural areas and wildlife habitats, sea turtle conservation seasons, and the dissemination of awareness messages clarifying regulations for hunting, transporting, and selling wildlife. He also noted the involvement of schools, universities, and various other entities in sustainability and biodiversity initiatives. He highlighted that these efforts have contributed to making environmental information clearer and more accessible, serving researchers and decision-makers and raising public awareness of the importance of species and habitats in the country. He added that the results have been reflected in tangible indicators, particularly the progress in combating invasive species. The national project to control and contain the Myna bird resulted in the capture of 52,067 birds during the past period, leading to a significant decrease in their numbers in the targeted areas. He pointed out that the department continues to implement programs to protect species and habitats of high environmental value, such as sea turtles, dugongs, whale sharks and mangrove trees, as part of integrated efforts that include monitoring, protection, rehabilitation and propagation, in partnership with the relevant authorities. He pointed out that the Wildlife Development Department at the MoECC is implementing a package of integrated projects and programs in the fields of propagation and rehabilitation, which represent a fundamental pillar within the state’s efforts to preserve ecosystems and ensure the sustainability of its natural resources. He noted the national project for fencing and rehabilitating the grasslands, which focuses on protecting them from human encroachments, such as overgrazing and vehicle entry, in addition to carrying out cleaning work and replanting them with local plant species, which contributes to restoring vegetation cover and improving the natural habitats of wildlife. Afforestation initiativesThe Qatari Desert Rehabilitation Project is a large-scale national program aimed at addressing the deterioration of desert environments, through the replanting of local plants, improving soil properties, and restoring the ecological balance of areas affected by human activities. This project is integrated with the plant propagation programs implemented by the administration through nurseries and seed banks, where local species such as acacia, jujube, ghaf, and mangrove are produced and propagated, ensuring a sustainable source of seedlings used in rehabilitation projects and preserving the genetic diversity of local plants. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change highlighted ongoing efforts to expand green spaces, protect wildlife, and strengthen biodiversity conservation as part of wider sustainability goals. Al-Mohannadi said initiatives include national afforestation programs aimed at increasing vegetation cover, improving air quality, and enhancing ecosystems’ ability to absorb carbon emissions. He also highlighted wildlife breeding and reintroduction programs, particularly for endangered species such as sea turtles, where nesting sites are protected and hatchlings are released into their natural habitats. In addition, conservation efforts include managing invasive species that threaten ecological balance, alongside the development of national biodiversity databases to support environmental planning and decision-making. Al-Mohannadi said these initiatives are aligned with broader climate and environmental objectives, including ecosystem restoration and biodiversity protection, marking Earth Day as a reminder of the importance of environmental sustainability. He stressed that combating invasive species requires coordinated action, early monitoring, public awareness, and data-driven interventions involving both government and society. He further noted improvements in biodiversity management through expanded field programs and enhanced monitoring systems, including marine species protection and habitat restoration projects. Al-Mohannadi urged the public to take part in environmental protection efforts, emphasizing that safeguarding nature is a shared responsibility that contributes to Qatar’s environmental identity and long-term sustainability goals.
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You can’t make this stuff up: Florida lawmakers are going to reconsider a proposal to expand vaccine exemptions for school children just as the state is battling a measles outbreak with 145 cases so far,
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Noah Feldman, Tribune News ServiceChief Justice John Roberts was the driving force behind the rise of the Supreme Court’s emergency docket as a powerful tool to empower the activist conservative majority — that’s the main
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Charlotte Cripps, The IndependentParents are out in force criticising the way UK schools are treating their little angel children, with more than 5 million formal complaints about schools in 2024 to 2025, according to the
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As summer approaches, recent studies warning that the season is becoming longer and more intense should concern us all. Rising temperatures are no longer just an inconvenience; they are a serious threat to public health
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Sometimes the world doesn't make sense, nor the reports about it, both at the grand and trivial scales. From what I read this problem is not isolated to Australian papers but is becoming more common
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The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced policymakers in Asia to face questions over the security of other maritime chokepoints, including the Strait of Malacca, which is the world’s busiest waterway for international trade. The 900-km (550-mile) long Malacca Strait, bounded by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, provides the shortest sea route from East Asia to the Middle East and Europe. It carries nearly 22% of the world’s maritime trade, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This includes oil and gas shipments from the Middle East to the energy-hungry economies of China, Japan and South Korea. Malacca is the largest “oil transit chokepoint” in the world and the only one that outpaces Hormuz, according to the US Energy Information Administration. In the first half of 2025, some 23.2mn barrels of oil per day were transported through the Malacca Strait, accounting for 29% of total maritime oil flows. The next largest chokepoint, Hormuz, saw about 20.9mn bpd pass through. More than 102,500 ships, mostly commercial vessels, transited through the Malacca Strait in 2025, up from around 94,300 in 2024, data from Malaysia’s Marine Department showed. These include most tankers, but some very large vessels avoid the strait because of draught restrictions and go south around Indonesia instead. This route allows the Strait of Malacca to be bypassed if it were closed, but it adds to journey time that would delay shipments and drive up prices. At its narrowest point in the Phillips Channel of the Singapore Strait, the Malacca Strait is only 1.7 miles (2.7km) wide, creating a natural bottleneck, as well as potential for collisions, grounding, or oil spills. Some parts of the strait are relatively shallow, with a depth of 25-27m (82-90 ft), restricting the largest vessels, but even very large crude carriers (VLCCs) measuring more than 350m long, 60m wide, and with a draft of more than 20m, make the transit. For years, the strait has been a hotbed of piracy and attacks on merchant vessels. Last year saw criminal attacks spike to at least 104, but these have fallen off in the first quarter of this year, according to the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre, an organisation established by regional governments to combat piracy. The narrow and congested waterway has been strategically important to Beijing, with around 75% of China’s seaborne crude oil imports passing through it from the Middle East and Africa, data from tanker tracker Vortexa shows. The Iran crisis has crystallised long-standing worries about how chokepoints such as Malacca could be affected if a conflict breaks out in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait, where another 21% of global maritime trade transits, according to CSIS. Malaysian authorities say the Malacca Strait is also a growing spot for illegal ship-to-ship transfers, where oil is shifted between tankers at sea to obscure its origin. Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa made waves on Wednesday by openly musing about ways countries could impose tolls on ships as a way to monetize the strait, before noting that such an arrangement is not possible. When asked about the risks of tolls or other restrictions on movement in the strait, Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told CNBC that the nations along the strait share a strategic interest to keep it open, and have agreed not to collect tolls. He also said Singapore had assured the United States and China that the right of passage was guaranteed for all and it would not participate in any efforts to block the strait or impose tolls. Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told a forum on Wednesday that no unilateral decisions can be made about the strait and that Malaysia is on the same page with Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, and they conduct joint patrols to ensure the waterway remains open.
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A US naval blockade of Iranian ports is likely to squeeze Iran’s oil output in the coming weeks but claims it will throw the Islamic republic into economic free fall remain premature, analysts say. After weeks of bombing and counter-strikes, focus has shifted to the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, which ordinarily carries around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. In response to Iran’s blockade of the strait since the start of the Middle East war, the US imposed a counter-blockade of the Islamic republic’s ports, a push to force its leaders into a compromise in peace talks. That bid, however, looks set to fail, at least in the short term. “If the blockade lasts for more than two or three months, it can cause more damage” to Iran, economic analyst and professor at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran Saeed Laylaz told AFP. “If Iran suffers any damage, the damage to the countries in the southern Persian Gulf will definitely be greater,” he added. There’s a limit on how long Iran can bide its time, however. Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst at Global Risk Management said Iran “was expected to run out of storage capacity within approximately one month, but it may already be forced to shut in part of its oil production within a couple of weeks”. Trump said Tuesday that Iran was “collapsing financially” under the blockade imposed by the US Navy on April 12, claiming that the country was “starving for cash”. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the blockade meant storage at Iran’s Kharg Island, the main export terminal through which most of the country’s crude is shipped, “will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in”. Jamie Ingram, managing editor of Middle East Economic Survey (MEES), told AFP it was likely the timeline for Iran to hit its oil storage limits would be measured in “weeks rather than days”. He added it was likely that “Iran will slightly reduce production before getting to the stage where storage constraints start to bite”. According to analysis by oil expert Homayoun Falakshahi shared by energy intelligence firm Kpler, Iran’s crude production has already slowed since the start of the war. Output fell by around 200,000 barrels per day in March to 3.68mn bpd and is expected to drop a further 420,000 bpd in April to about 3.43mn bpd, reflecting “the broader impact of export disruptions and refining constraints linked to the ongoing conflict,” Falakshahi said. But Laylaz in Tehran said beyond the psychological effect of the blockade, the “real material effect has been small so far”. Ingram said Kharg Island “shouldn’t be a particular bottleneck,” for Iran. “This is the final storage facility used before oil is exported and Iran can divert crude oil to other facilities rather than straight to Kharg,” he said. The MEES expert also said Iran’s dependency on oil exports via Hormuz had “deepened due to the damage caused by US and Israeli strikes to other sections of the Iranian economy”. “But Iran has also proven its ability to withstand huge oil-revenue declines during previous rounds of sanctions. I would not underestimate the regime’s resilience in this regard,” he added. As the initial two-week truce between Iran and the US was set to expire Trump had said Tuesday he would maintain the ceasefire to allow more time for peace talks. Iran said it welcomed the efforts by mediator Pakistan but made no other comment on Trump’s announcement, while vowing not to reopen Hormuz so long as the US blockade remains in place. Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said “Iran’s economy was battered before the war, is contending with added strains caused during it, and now faces the combination of sanctions, seizures and potential strikes”. “Iran’s leadership has previously shown a high threshold for pain even if the pressure on ordinary Iranians increases. It also likely calculates that its own efforts to subdue traffic through Hormuz act as a sort of mutually assured disruption,” he added. —
