Fisherman Nets Message in a Bottle in Isolated Gaza

A Palestinian fisherman rows a boat in the Mediterranean sea off Gaza City on July 27, 2017. (AFP)
A Palestinian fisherman rows a boat in the Mediterranean sea off Gaza City on July 27, 2017. (AFP)
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Fisherman Nets Message in a Bottle in Isolated Gaza

A Palestinian fisherman rows a boat in the Mediterranean sea off Gaza City on July 27, 2017. (AFP)
A Palestinian fisherman rows a boat in the Mediterranean sea off Gaza City on July 27, 2017. (AFP)

For Palestinian fisherman Jihad al-Soltan, it was a surprise summer catch -- a message in a bottle that he netted off a Gaza beach, reported Reuters.

It had bobbed its way in the Mediterranean for nearly 800 km (500 miles) from the Greek island of Rhodes, placed in the water by a vacationing British couple in July.

"We are currently on holiday on Rhodes and we would love to know how far this bottle got, even if it's just the next beach," said the letter inside, signed "Faithfully, Zac and Beth".

By replying to the email address they enclosed, Soltan discovered the two were Bethany Wright, a university student, and her boyfriend, Zac Marriner.

"Hello, Thank you for picking up this bottle. As a reward here are some magic flowers," the couple wrote in their letter. By the time the bottle reached Gaza's shores last week, the flowers had wilted.

But Soltan said on Monday he was buoyed by the thought that currents could carry a carefree message into troubled waters under Israeli naval blockade and fishing zone restrictions - measures Israel says are necessary to prevent arms smuggling by Gaza's hostile Hamas Islamist rulers.

"As a fisherman I felt this letter traveled through borders and international waters without restrictions while we as fishermen are unable to go beyond six miles," he said. "I hope one day we would become as free as this bottle was."



World's Oldest Person, a Brazilian Nun, Dies Aged 116

Nuns walk down stairs in the center of Rome on April 30, 2025. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)
Nuns walk down stairs in the center of Rome on April 30, 2025. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)
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World's Oldest Person, a Brazilian Nun, Dies Aged 116

Nuns walk down stairs in the center of Rome on April 30, 2025. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)
Nuns walk down stairs in the center of Rome on April 30, 2025. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

The world's oldest person, Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, died Wednesday at the age of 116, having barely survived infancy and attributing her long life to God, her order and two longevity trackers said.

The title now passes to Ethel Caterham, a resident of Surrey, England, who is 115 years old, according to the US Gerontological Research Group (GRG) and the LongeviQuest database.

Born on June 8, 1908, Canabarro became the world's oldest person following the death in January of Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, who was also aged 116.

The Congregation of Teresian Sisters of Brazil in Porto Alegre announced Canabarro's passing Wednesday in a statement in which it gave thanks "for the dedication and devotion" she had shown in life, AFP reported.

LongeviQuest, in an obituary, said Canabarro had been a frail child, and "many doubted she would survive."

She became a nun in 1934 at the age of 26, between World Wars I and II.

Canabarro had attributed her longevity to God, saying: "He is the secret of life. He is the secret of everything," according to LongeviQuest.

For her 110th birthday, she received a blessing from Pope Francis, who himself died last Monday aged 88.

Although she had claimed her date of birth was May 27, 1908, "her documented birth date according to records is June 8, 1908," GRG director Robert Young told AFP in January.

LongeviQuest said Canabarro had been the 15th-oldest documented person in history, and the second-oldest nun after France's Lucile Randon, who lived to the age of 118 and died in 2023.