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UN Ocean Treaty Talks Resume With Goal To Save Biodiversity

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United Nations members gather in New York on Monday to resume efforts to forge a long-awaited and elusive treaty to protect the world’s marine biodiversity.

On the high seas, nearly two-thirds of the ocean is outside national borders, where fragmented and unevenly enforced rules seek to minimize human impacts.

The United Nations meetings, which will last until March 3, aim to produce a unified agreement for the conservation and sustainable use of those vast marine ecosystems. The talks, formally known as the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, resume talks that were halted last fall due to a lack of agreement on a final treaty.

“The ocean is our planet’s life support system,” said Boris Worm, a marine biologist at Canada’s Dalhousie University. “We didn’t feel we had much impact on the high seas for a long time. But that has changed as deep sea fishing, mining, plastic pollution, climate change, and other human disturbances have increased.

The United Nations talks will center on key issues such as who should draw the boundaries of marine protected areas and how. How should institutions evaluate the environmental consequences of commercial activities like shipping and mining? And who has the authority to enforce the rules?

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An Agreement Is Urgently Needed To Save The Oceans And Our Planet

“This is our largest global commons,” said Nichola Clark, an oceans expert for the nonpartisan Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. “We are optimistic that the next round of negotiations will result in a treaty being signed.”

The talks’ goal is not to designate marine protected areas but to create a mechanism for doing so. “The goal is to create a new organization that will accept submissions for specific marine protected areas,” Clark explained.

According to marine biologist Simon Ingram of the University of Plymouth in England, an agreement is urgently needed. “It’s a pressing time for this, especially with things like deep-sea mining that could be a real threat to biodiversity before we’ve even surveyed and understood what lives on the ocean floor,” Ingram said.

Experts believe a global oceans treaty is required to enforce the United Nations Biodiversity Conference’s recent pledge to conserve 30% of the planet’s oceans and land.

“We need a legally binding framework that allows countries to work together to achieve these agreed-upon goals,” said Jessica Battle, an oceans governance expert at the World Wide Fund for Nature.

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United Nations Is Working Hard To Keep Peace And Protect The World

According to Monica Medina, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, the treaty is a priority for the United States. “For the first time, this agreement seeks to establish a coordinated approach to establishing marine protected areas on the high seas,” she explained. “It’s time to complete the task.”

Officials, environmentalists, and representatives of global industries that rely on the sea are all keeping a close eye on the negotiations.

Gemma Nelson, a Samoan lawyer and Ocean Voices fellow at the University of Edinburgh, stated that small Pacific and Caribbean island countries were “especially vulnerable to global ocean issues” such as pollution and climate change, which they did not cause and did not have the resources to easily address.

“Getting the traditional knowledge of local people and communities recognized as valid,” she added, is also critical to protecting ecosystems and Indigenous groups’ ways of life.

With high seas covering nearly half of the planet’s surface, the talks are critical, according to Gladys Martnez de Lemos, executive director of the nonprofit Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense, which focuses on environmental issues in Latin America.

“The treaty should be strong and ambitious, with authority to establish high and fully protected high seas zones,” she said. “At the United Nations these weeks, half of the world is at stake.”

SOURCE – (AP)

 

Kiara Grace is a staff writer at VORNews, a reputable online publication. Her writing focuses on technology trends, particularly in the realm of consumer electronics and software. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for breaking down complex topics, Kiara delivers insightful analyses that resonate with tech enthusiasts and casual readers alike. Her articles strike a balance between in-depth coverage and accessibility, making them a go-to resource for anyone seeking to stay informed about the latest innovations shaping our digital world.

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Today’s Wordle #1033 Hints and Answer

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Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for April 17
Wordle Today: Getty Images

Today’s Wordle answer should be fairly simple. It has some somewhat common letters. But if this is confusing you, keep reading. Every day, we’ll publish hints and the answer to the current day’s Wordle in case you need them.

If you are here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we provide daily hints and ideas to help you figure out today’s solution.

If you want to know today’s word, scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the Wordle answer for April 17. If you prefer to solve it yourself, keep reading for some hints, tips, and techniques to help you.

Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:

A small monetary gift was given to the church.

Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter T appears twice.

Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…

Today’s Wordle starts with the letter T.

What’s the answer to Wordle today?

Get your last guesses in now because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to Wordle #1033 is…

TITHE.

Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

 

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Russian Missiles Slam Into A Ukraine City And Kill 14 People As The War Approaches A Critical Stage

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Russian missiles slam into a Ukraine city and kill 14 people as the war approaches a critical stage
AP - VOR News Image

Kyiv, Ukraine — Three Russian missiles smashed into the downtown district of Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, on Wednesday, striking an eight-story apartment building and killing at least 14 people, according to police.

According to Ukrainian emergency services, the morning attack injured at least 61 individuals, two of them are minors. Chernihiv is located 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of the capital, Kyiv, near the border with Russia and Belarus, and has a population of approximately 250,000.

Russian missiles slam into a Ukraine city and kill 14 people as the war approaches a critical stage

AP – VOR News Image

Russian Missiles Slam Into A Ukraine City And Kill 14 People As The War Approaches A Critical Stage

The latest Russian shelling came as the war entered its third year and approached a critical juncture, with Ukraine’s Western partners’ lack of additional military backing increasingly leaving it vulnerable to the Kremlin’s larger forces.

During the winter months, Russia made no significant advances along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, instead relying on attrition warfare. However, Ukraine’s lack of artillery ammunition, manpower, and armored vehicles has allowed the Russians to advance gradually, according to military analysts.

A critical factor for Ukraine is Washington’s delay in approving an aid package worth approximately $60 billion. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday that he would try to advance the deal this week.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think organization, Ukraine’s situation has become critical.

“The Russians are breaking out of positional warfare and beginning to restore maneuver to the battlefield because of the delays in the provision of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine,” the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS) stated in a report released.

Russian missiles slam into a Ukraine city and kill 14 people as the war approaches a critical stage

AP – VOR News Image

Russian Missiles Slam Into A Ukraine City And Kill 14 People As The War Approaches A Critical Stage

The statement stated, “Ukraine cannot hold the present lines now without the rapid resumption of U.S. assistance, particularly air defense and artillery that only the U.S. can provide rapidly and at scale.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Western countries to send their own countries with more air defense weaponry, notably more surface-to-air Patriot-guided missiles. The attack on Chernihiv, he continued, “would not have happened if Ukraine had received enough air defense equipment and if the world’s determination to counter Russian terror was also sufficient.”

In an interview with PBS earlier this week, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine recently ran out of air defense missiles while defending against a major missile and drone attack that destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants as part of a recent Russian campaign targeting energy infrastructure.

As he prepared to attend a meeting of the Group of Seven foreign ministers in Italy, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reiterated Zelenskyy’s need for additional assistance.

“We need at least seven more Patriot batteries to protect our cities and economic centers from destruction,” Kuleba told the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published Wednesday. “Why is it so difficult to find seven Patriot batteries?”

Ukrainian forces are digging in and building fortifications in preparation for a big Russian onslaught, which Kyiv authorities warn might begin as early as next month.

Ukraine is conducting long-range drone and missile strikes behind Russian lines to damage Moscow’s war machine.

Russia’s defense ministry announced Wednesday that a Ukrainian drone was shot down over the Tatarstan region early Wednesday. That is the same location that Ukraine’s deepest strike into Russia so far targeted in early April, approximately 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) east of Ukraine.

Ukrainian drone developers have been increasing the weapon’s range.

The ministry reported that another Ukrainian drone was shot down over the Mordovia region, around 350 kilometers (220 miles) east of Moscow. That’s 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Russian missiles slam into a Ukraine city and kill 14 people as the war approaches a critical stage

AP – VOR News Image

Russian Missiles Slam Into A Ukraine City And Kill 14 People As The War Approaches A Critical Stage

About an hour before the Mordovia incident, due to safety concerns, Russia’s civil aviation authority grounded flights at airports in two of the country’s largest cities, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan.

According to unsubstantiated accounts, a Ukrainian missile struck an airfield in occupied Crimea. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials verified the strike, although local police momentarily stopped the road near the airfield. According to the local mayor, a blast in the region destroyed windows in a mosque and a residential house.

SOURCE – (AP)

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A 9-Year-Old Boy’s Dream Of A Pet Octopus Is A Sensation, With Thousands Following Terrance’s Story Online.

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terrance the octopus
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Cal Clifford, 9, has wanted a pet octopus since childhood.

The boy’s family in rural Edmond, Oklahoma, entertained him with toy copies of an eight-legged snail, but as Cal grew older, it became evident that only the actual thing would suffice.

The child’s father, 36-year-old dentist Cameron Clifford, inquired about the prospect with a local aquarium business. Terrance, a California two-spot octopus known as a bimac, soon lived in an underwater habitat at the family home southwest of Oklahoma City.

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Edmond family grows unexpectedly after pet octopus lays eggs VOR News Image

A 9-Year-Old Boy’s Dream Of A Pet Octopus Is A Sensation, With Thousands Following Terrance’s Story Online.

“We really like to encourage our children’s interests,” stated the elder Clifford. “It’s beautiful to see a kid embrace and realize their ambitions. Cal has been fascinated in the natural world and marine biology since he was very little.”

The father opened a well-known TikTok story by telling the tale of Terrance the octopus in a fake British accent that the social media app had created. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of people started following.

Within weeks, the story took a surprising turn when it was discovered Terrance was a female, having deposited 50 eggs that the family initially presumed were unfertilized. Several weeks later, minuscule near-transparent octopus babies began hatching and were named Rocket Larry, Squid Cudi, Swim Shady, Jay-Sea, and Sea-Yoncé.

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A 9-year-old boy’s dream of a pet octopus is a sensation as thousands follow Terrance’s story online VOR News Image

While female octopuses generally die shortly after laying their eggs, Clifford says Terrance still lives four months later.

Cal had broken into tears at the family dinner table when his father initially revealed that the local aquarium store had informed him that adopting an octopus was conceivable.

Father and son worked together to determine what was required, settling on a saltwater tank and water cycling system. They also ensured that they could provide food for the soft-bodied sea creature.

Lyle, the family’s younger son, and Kari, the mother, also contributed to the project in their ways. A family friend who is a reptile biologist has offered assistance and advice.

While female octopuses generally die shortly after laying their eggs, Clifford says Terrance still lives four months later.

Clifford stated that the family has benefited much from the experience.

octopus

A 9-year-old boy’s dream of a pet octopus is a sensation as thousands follow Terrance’s story online – VOR News Image

While female octopuses generally die shortly after laying their eggs, Clifford says Terrance still lives four months later.

“Aside from the physical, financial, and emotional requirements of owning a species such as a bimac, you will learn a lot about yourself in the process,” Arizona-born Clifford told TikTok users in his app-generated accent. “There’s always some valve or seal that isn’t completely closed, and your storm-resistant carpet isn’t rated for thousands of gallons of seawater.” You will discover that seawater and electricity sometimes get along.

“You will learn new things, meet incredible people, and learn that wildlife is magnificent,” he went on to say. But most of all, you’ll learn to love a not-so-tiny octopus like Terrance.”

SOURCE – (AP)

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