An Australian sailor and his dog were rescued by a Mexican tuna trawler after spending three months adrift in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, the fishing vessel's owner said Monday. Timothy Lyndsay Shaddock, 54, and his canine companion, Bella, embarked on their journey from the coastal city of La Paz in Mexico in April, with the goal of reaching French Polynesia, a distance of approximately 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles). However, their plans took a drastic turn when their catamaran, named Aloha Toa, was severely damaged by rough seas, rendering its electronics useless. Rescued in 'precarious' state The amateur sailor was rescued from the ocean by the Mexican fishing boat after enduring three months of isolation. The man and dog survived the ordeal by drinking rainwater and eating raw fish caught with their fishing gear. The fishing boat company said the Sydney resident and his dog Bella were found in a "precarious" state without any provisions and shelter. The boat's crew provided them with medical attention, food and water, it said. 'A very difficult ordeal at sea' In a video obtained by Australia's Nine News, Shaddock, sporting a shaggy beard and appearing visibly emaciated, expressed his gratitude to his rescuers. The sailor said, despite the situation, he felt "in very good health." "I have been through a very difficult ordeal at sea," he said in another video. "I'm just needing rest and good food because I've been alone at sea a long time." Shaddock and Bella are expected to reach the port of Manzanillo on the Pacific coast of Mexico on Tuesday.

The life of Shirin Akter, a woman from Kalagachhia Hazipur area under Bondor upazila in Narayanganj district, has changed after telecasting news on Rtv. After getting treatment at mental hospital she is doing well at the moment. The family hopes that rest of her life will be beautiful if she gets regular treatment and assistance. Shirin Akter was mentally challenged for more than two decades. She hardly could get her food and treatment was far from her desire. She was passing her days as a burden of her brother’s family staying at a room made with polythene being tied with shackle. While working with the special need people the matter came to the notice of Rtv Creative Director Syeda Munira Islam. She took the initiatives to change the life of Shirin with cooperation from the government and private levels. As a result, Shirin is currently living in a new house. Zahura Begum, sister in law of Shirin, told Rtv news, all including Munira apa, Shukla apa have extended cooperation. If they continue their cooperation then it will be good for us and we will be able to provide treatment for Shirin. Shirin’s younger brother Elin said, after their cooperation my sister is doing well at the moment. On October 18 Rtv team went to Shirin’s house at Bondor to inquire about her. At that time they became very pleased after seeing the mental and physical development of Shirin. Rtv Creative Director Syeda Munira Islam said, Shirin is doing very well at the moment following our cooperation, the current government is very friendly with the people with special need. The government took its stance beside this kind of people. People like Shirin will get cooperation from the government. From childhood Shirin was agile in nature. She had eagerness in her lessons along with the household affairs. She also passed the test examination for SSC. But in an unknown disease her aspirations and agility stopped gradually. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Wahida Zafar Sarkar Shukla assured Shirin to stand beside. She said, we will take initiative to erect a house for Shirin under the project introduced by the Prime Minister. We are taking care of her. Shirin has to count her time for passing the days soundly when her similar aged companions are busy with their household affairs. The family hopes that Shirin’s coming days will pass through in a better way after getting cooperation from all. AH

Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, during her conversation with former British prime minister David Cameron, claimed that Rohingyas are not from her country but are Bangladeshis, reports Newsweek. Cameron unveiled a new book on Thursday about his time in office between 2010 and 2016. The book, titled ‘For the Record’, recounts his meeting with Suu Kyi where she claimed that Rohingyas are not Burmese. Upon first meeting Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Cameron was complimentary. “I met the pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, who would soon run for the presidency, and reflected on what an amazing story hers could be: from fifteen years of house arrest to transforming her country into a real democracy.” But when Cameron met Suu Kyi a year later in London, he felt differently about the interaction, according to the report. “However, by the time she came to visit London in October 2013, all eyes were on her country's Rohingya Muslims, who were being driven out of their homes by Buddhist Rakhines. There were stories of rape, murder and ethnic cleansing. The world is watching, I told her. Her reply was telling: 'They are not really Burmese. They are Bangladeshi.'" These comments came to light the same week as the release of a UN report from a fact-finding mission that revealed that the country is still not addressing the violence against Rohingyas. The report found that Myanmar has failed “to investigate genocide and to enact effective legislation criminalising and punishing genocide”. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, was equally critical in an address to the Human Rights Council earlier this week, saying that Myanmar has “done nothing to dismantle the system of violence and persecution” and that Rohingya live in the “same dire circumstances that they did, prior to the events of August 2017”. Meanwhile, the European Parliament (EP) has reiterated its call on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to impose a “global comprehensive arms embargo” on Myanmar. It also called for suspending all direct and indirect supplies, sales or transfers of all weapons, munitions and other military and security equipment, as well as provision of training or other military or security assistance. In its latest resolution adopted on Thursday, the EP urged the UNSC to adopt targeted individual sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against those who appear responsible for serious crimes under international law. Source: UNB AH

Bangladesh is among countries that showed “substantial progress” in reducing child or maternal mortality, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). More women and their children are surviving today than ever before, according to new child and maternal mortality estimates released by United Nations groups led by Unicef and WHO. Despite progress, a pregnant woman or a newborn dies somewhere in the world every 11 seconds. Since 2000, child deaths have reduced by nearly half and maternal deaths by over one-third, mostly due to improved access to affordable, quality health services, according to a media released issued from New York on Friday. The world has made substantial progress in reducing child and maternal mortality. Since 1990, there has been a 56% reduction in deaths of children under 15 from 14.2 million deaths to 6.2 million in 2018. Bangladesh, Belarus, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Morocco, Mongolia, Rwanda, Timor-Leste and Zambia are some of the countries that have shown substantial progress in reducing child or maternal mortality, according to WHO. Success has been due to political will to improve access to quality healthcare by investing in the health workforce, introducing free care for pregnant women and children and supporting family planning, WHO says. Many of these countries focus on primary healthcare and universal health coverage. “In countries that provide everyone with safe, affordable, high-quality health services, women and babies survive and thrive,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “This is the power of universal health coverage.”  But the new estimates reveal that 6.2 million children under 15 years of age died in 2018, and over 2,90,000 women died due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth in the year before. Of the total child deaths, 5.3 million occurred in the first 5 years, with almost half of these in the first month of life. Women and newborns are most vulnerable during and immediately after childbirth. An estimated 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year, or 1 every 11 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, the new estimates say. Children face the highest risk of dying in the first month, especially if they are born too soon or too small, have complications during birth, congenital defects, or contract infections. About a third of these deaths occur within the first day and nearly three quarters in the first week alone. “Around the world, birth is a joyous occasion. Yet, every 11 seconds, a birth is a family tragedy,” said Henrietta Fore, Unicef Executive Director. “A skilled pair of hands to help mothers and newborns around the time of birth, along with clean water, adequate nutrition, basic medicines and vaccines, can make the difference between life and death. We must do all it takes to invest in universal health coverage to save these precious lives,” Fore said. The estimates also show vast inequalities worldwide, with women and children in sub-Saharan Africa facing a substantially higher risk of death than in all other regions. Levels of maternal deaths are nearly 50 times higher for women in sub-Saharan Africa and their babies are 10 times more likely to die in their first month of life, compared to high-income countries. Source: UNB AH

More than 29 million children were born into conflict-affected areas last year, Unicef said on Friday. Throughout 2018, more than 1 in 5 babies globally spent their earliest moments in communities affected by the chaos of conflict, it said. “Every parent should be able to cherish their baby’s first moments, but for the millions of families living through conflict, the reality is far bleaker,” said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore. She said in countries around the world, violent conflict has severely limited access to essential services for parents and their babies. “Millions of families lack access to nutritious food, safe water, sanitation, or a secure and healthy environment to grow and bond. Along with the immediate, obvious dangers, the long-term impacts of such a start in life are potentially catastrophic,” Fore said. When young children experience prolonged or repeated adverse and traumatic events, the brain’s stress management system is activated without relief causing ‘toxic stress’. Over time, stress chemicals break down existing neural connections and inhibit new ones from forming, leading to lasting consequences for children’s learning, behavior, and physical and mental health. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child, in which governments pledged to protect and care for children affected by conflict. Currently, more countries are embroiled in internal or international conflict than at any other time in the past three decades, threatening the safety and wellbeing of millions of children, Unicef said. “Parents who interact with their babies can help shield them from the negative neurological effects of conflict. Yet, in times of conflict, parents are frequently overwhelmed,” said Fore. Some $200 billion a year is needed to achieve all the primary health goals that are required for quality universal health coverage for all, according to Dr Peter Salama, Executive Director in charge of Universal Healthcare targets at WHO. Welcoming positive changes in tackling child and maternal mortality globally since 2000, Salama insisted that many countries were in a position to achieve much more, without having to find new funding, according to UN News. “The biggest difference in terms of when we discuss financing between the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) era (2000-2015) and the SDG era, is the real acknowledgement that the money is there for many countries, they just have to spend it on the right things,” he said. “So we’re not turning to the donor community and saying, ‘Give us $200 billion.’ We’re turning to middle-income and higher-income and even some lower-income countries that are stable and saying, ‘Actually, if you choose the right things, you could meet these goals within your current budgets.’” ‘Staggering success’ in reducing deaths Since 2000, Dr Salama insisted, the overall story of maternal and child mortality had been “a staggering success that we don’t often see in global and health development”. He pointed to a 50 percent reduction in deaths in children under 15 – from 14.2 million in 2000 to 6.2 million deaths in 2018 - and a 35 percent reduction in maternal deaths over the same period. Source: UNB AH

UK health secretary has warned that social media firms could be banned if they fail to remove harmful content. Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Matt Hancock said: "If we think they need to do things they are refusing to do, then we can and we must legislate." But he added: "It's not where I'd like to end up." The minister earlier called on social media giants to "purge" material promoting self-harm and suicide in the wake of links to a teenager's suicide. Molly Russell, 14, took her own life in 2017 after viewing disturbing content about suicide on social media. Speaking to the BBC, her father said he believed Instagram "helped kill my daughter". Russell also criticised the online scrapbook Pinterest, telling the Sunday Times: "Pinterest has a huge amount to answer for." Instagram responded by saying it works with expert groups who advise them on the "complex and nuanced" issues of mental health and self-harm. Based on their advice that sharing stories and connecting with others could be helpful for recovery, Instagram said, they "don't remove certain content". "Instead (we) offer people looking at, or posting it, support messaging that directs them to groups that can help." But Instagram added it is undertaking a full review of its enforcement policies and technologies. A Pinterest spokesman said: "We have a policy against harmful content and take numerous proactive measures to try to prevent it from coming and spreading on our platform. "But we know we can do more, which is why we've been working to update our self-harm policy and enforcement guidelines over the last few months." Facebook, which owns Instagram, said earlier it was "deeply sorry". The internet giant said graphic content which sensationalises self-harm and suicide "has no place on our platform". Papyrus, a charity that works to prevent youth suicide, said it has been contacted by around 30 families in the past week who believe social media had a part to play in their children's suicides. "We've had a spike in calls to our UK helpline since the BBC first reported this six days ago, all saying the same thing," said a spokeswoman for the charity. Hancock said he was "horrified" to learn of Molly's death and feels "desperately concerned to ensure young people are protected". In a letter sent to Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, Apple, Google and Facebook (which owns Instagram), the minister "welcomed" steps already taken by firms but said "more action is urgently needed". He wrote: "It is appalling how easy it still is to access this content online and I am in no doubt about the harm this material can cause, especially for young people. "It is time for internet and social media providers to step up and purge this content once and for all." He added that the government is developing a white paper addressing "online harms", and said it will look at content on suicide and self-harm. Hancock explained: "Lots of parents feel powerless in the face of social media. But we are not powerless. Both government and social media providers have a duty to act. "I want to make the UK the safest place to be online for everyone - and ensure that no other family has to endure the torment that Molly's parents have had to go through." Molly was found dead in her bedroom in November 2017 after showing "no obvious signs" of severe mental health issues. Her family later found she had been viewing material on social media linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide. Russell told the BBC: "Some of that content is shocking in that it encourages self harm, it links self-harm to suicide and I have no doubt that Instagram helped kill my daughter." Solicitor Merry Varney, who represents the Russell family, said Molly's case "and the examples of how algorithms push negative material" show a need to investigate online platforms, and how they could be "contributing to suicides and self-harm".   MHK

The first full assessment of risks to the world's coffee plants shows that 60% of 124 known species are on the edge of extinction. More than 100 types of coffee tree grow naturally in forests, including two used for the coffee we drink, reports BBC. Scientists say the figure is "worrying", as wild coffee is critical for sustaining the global coffee crop. About one in five of the world's plants is threatened with extinction, and the 60% figure is an "extremely high" one. "If it wasn't for wild species we wouldn't have as much coffee to drink in the world today," said Dr Aaron Davis of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. "Because if you look at the history of coffee cultivation, we have used wild species to make the coffee crop sustainable." Research published in the journal, Science Advances, found conservation measures were "inadequate" for wild coffees, including those considered "critical" for long-term global coffee production. The study found that 75 wild coffee species are considered threatened with extinction, 35 are not threatened and too little is known about the remaining 14 to make any judgement. Furthermore, it was found that 28% of wild coffee species grow outside protected areas and only about half are preserved in seed banks. A second study, in Global Change Biology, found that wild Arabica coffee can be classed as threatened under official (IUCN Red List) rankings, when climate change projections are taken into account. Its natural population is likely to shrink by up to 50% or more by 2088 because of climate change alone, according to the research. Wild Arabica is used to supply seeds for coffee farming and also as a harvested crop in its own right. Ethiopia is the home of Arabica coffee, where it grows naturally in upland rainforests. "Given the importance of Arabica coffee to Ethiopia, and to the world, we need to do our utmost to understand the risks facing its survival in the wild," said Dr Tadesse Woldemariam Gole, of the Environment and Coffee Forest Forum in Addis Ababa. What is wild coffee and why do we need it? Many coffee drinkers are unaware that we only use the coffee beans from two species - Coffea Arabica and Coffea robusta - in the thousands of different blends of coffee on sale. In fact, there are 122 coffee species on top of that which occur naturally in the wild. Many of these wild coffees do not taste good to drink, but may contain genes that can be harnessed to help coffee plants survive in the future, amid climate change and emerging diseases that attack coffee trees. In the longer term, we will need to call on wild species to safeguard the future of the world's coffee crop, say researchers. "We will call on those wild resources time and time again," said Dr Davis. How does coffee compare to other plants in terms of extinction risks? Globally, about one in five plants is threatened with extinction, compared with 60% for coffee. As a comparison, about half of wild tea and mango species are threatened with extinction, 6% of hazelnuts and 9% of pistachios. Where is wild coffee found? The vast majority of wild coffee grows in the remote forests of Africa and on the island of Madagascar. Beyond Africa, wild coffee is found in other tropical climates, including parts of India, Sri Lanka, and Australia. What types of coffee do we drink? Global coffee trade relies on two species - Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (Coffea canephora). A third species - Liberica (Coffea liberica) is grown around the world, but is rarely used for coffee drinks. What are crop wild relatives? Crop wild relatives are wild plants that are genetically related to cultivated crops. They continue to evolve in the wild, and can be crossed with domesticated crops. They have been used to improve the yields and nutritional quality of crops since the dawn of agriculture. What are scientists calling for? They say we must understand the risks to coffee farming and make sure we have the resources in place to overcome threats. Coffee trees, like many tropical plants, have seeds that do not survive the freeze-drying process used in conventional seed banks - 45% of coffee species have not been "backed up" outside the wild. Dr Eimear Nic Lughadha of Kew said this is the first time an IUCN Red List assessment has been carried out to find the extinction risk of the world's coffee, and the figure of 60% is "extremely high". "We hope this new data will highlight species to be prioritised for the sustainability of the coffee production sector, so that appropriate action can be taken to safeguard the species," she said.   MHK