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Moroccan Beach Offers Disabled People Opportunity to Swim on Floating Chairs

Small blue fishing boats crowded together in harbour with white medina walls in background, Essaouira, Morocco. (Getty Images)
Small blue fishing boats crowded together in harbour with white medina walls in background, Essaouira, Morocco. (Getty Images)
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Moroccan Beach Offers Disabled People Opportunity to Swim on Floating Chairs

Small blue fishing boats crowded together in harbour with white medina walls in background, Essaouira, Morocco. (Getty Images)
Small blue fishing boats crowded together in harbour with white medina walls in background, Essaouira, Morocco. (Getty Images)

A row of wheelchairs floats on the water in a beach in the northern Moroccan city of Tangier, awaiting the arrival of disabled visitors wishing to swim in the sea.

Alongside the chairs, a team of volunteers is waiting to drive wheelchairs on a ramp designed to help people with disabilities move in and out of water.

These equipment and volunteers on the Dalia beach are part of an initiative aimed at supporting people with special needs who want to swim.

Once in the water, the wheelchair floats, and the volunteers surround swimmers to maintain their safety.

This summer, up to 580 visitors with special needs swam in the waters of Dalia beach, giving them the opportunity to swim freely in a controlled environment, with some swimming for the first time in their lives.

A woman, Rahimo, happily waved to her daughter with Down syndrome swimming in the sea.

"We used to see disabled people marginalized. They weren't able to enjoy like now. They had many obstacles, didn't have full freedom to enjoy the beach like others, and couldn't swim like everyone else. They have the will, and now there is a big difference," she told Reuters.

"Frankly, I like the Dalia beach, because it is the first in Morocco to bring swimming facilities," said Bilal al-Ashhab, a visitor with special needs. "In Dalia Beach, you swim like ordinary people, there is no difference. I thank the young volunteers and hope to see the initiative spread on all shores across the Kingdom.”

Services and assistance for people with disabilities on the beach are free of charge.

Najwa al-Musallam, a volunteer who helps these people, said: "Seeing them happy after swimming for the first time is our biggest reward."

The initiative was founded by Mohamed el-Hisho al-Mertah, president of the Sahel Association for Development and Culture in 2015, who noticed that people with special needs do not feel comfortable while on the beach.

"From 2015 until now, we were observing a group of families bringing their disabled members. We clearly saw that they were uncomfortable on the beach, and felt deprived. So, we launched a small initiative and helped them with modest capacities," al-Hisho said.

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Australia Says the World Will Follow Social Media Ban as Meta Starts Blocking Teens

(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)
(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)
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Australia Says the World Will Follow Social Media Ban as Meta Starts Blocking Teens

(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)
(FILES) This photo taken on October 24, 2025 shows a 14-year-old boy posing at his home near Gosford as he looks at social media on his mobile phone. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)

Australia's internet regulator said a teen social media ban would be the first domino to fall in a global push to rein in Big Tech, as Meta's Instagram, Facebook and Threads began locking out hundreds of thousands of accounts ahead of a deadline next week.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said she had initially expressed concern about the "blunt-force" approach of blocking under-16s from social media but she had come to embrace it after incremental regulatory changes were not effective enough. "We've reached a tipping point," Inman Grant said on Thursday at the Sydney Dialogue, a cyber summit.

"Our data is the currency that fuels these companies, and there are these powerful, harmful, deceptive design features that even adults are powerless to fight against. What chance do our children have?"

Governments around the world were watching as the Australian law takes effect on December 10, and "I've always referred to this as the first domino, which is why they pushed back", she added, referring to the platforms. After more than a year campaigning against the ban which carries a fine of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million), platforms owned by Meta, TikTok, Snap's Snapchat and Alphabet's YouTube have said they will comply. Some 96% of Australian teenagers under 16 - more than a million of the country's 27 million population - have social media accounts, according to eSafety.

Although the law takes effect on December 10, Meta's Instagram, Facebook and Threads began deactivating accounts from Thursday, according to screenshots seen by Reuters.

Most other affected platforms have started contacting underage users advising them to download their photos and contacts and offering the choice of deleting their accounts or freezing them until they turn 16.

"It's a great thing and I'm glad that the pressure is taken off the parents because there's so many mental health implications," said Jennifer Jennison, a Sydney mother.

"Give my kids a break after school and they can rest and hang out with the family." At the conference, Inman Grant said lobbying by the platforms had apparently involved taking their case to the US government, which has asked her to testify at its congressional House Judiciary about what it called an attempt to exert extra-territorial power over American free speech.

Inman Grant didn't say if she would agree to the request but noted that "by virtue of writing to me and asking me to appear before the committee, that's also using extra-territorial reach".

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Altitude Sickness: Don’t Let Your Mountain High Lay You Low

Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)
Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)
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Altitude Sickness: Don’t Let Your Mountain High Lay You Low

Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)
Members of an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest stand by their tents at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal on April 28, 2025. (AP)

Be it on Mount Kilimanjaro, in the Andes, Himalayas or somewhere else, mountaineering can give you an unforgettable high. But it comes with a risk that's often underestimated though: altitude sickness.

According to the German press agency (dpa), climbing too quickly can cause serious health problems, experts said.

“The risk of getting altitude sickness significantly increases at an elevation of about 2,500 meters,” said Dr. Tomas Jelinek, scientific director of Germany's Center for Travel Medicine (CRM).

Symptoms include headache, nausea, fatigue and dizziness.

Depending on the region, the number of affected climbers can be quite high.

According to the CRM, as many as 21% of climbers develop symptoms in Nepalese high mountain areas, and from 45 to 75% on Kilimanjaro.

“Altitude sickness is a serious but avoidable problem,” remarked Jelinek, the cause of which is lower oxygen levels in the ambient air: at 5,000 meters they're only about half those at sea level.

“The most effective way to prevent it is to take precautions,” he said.

He recommended that mountaineers plan their climbing tour carefully, get travel medicine advice before setting off and critically examine bookable tours - also with an eye to the ascent profile of the climb.

To help your body adapt to lower oxygen levels, Jelinek said it's good to prepare with high-elevation day treks so long as you sleep at lower elevations afterwards.

Train high, sleep low, in other words.

Rest for a day after every elevation gain of 1,000 meters at the latest.

Beginning at an elevation of 2,500 meters, the elevation at which you sleep shouldn't increase more than 300 to 600 meters daily.

And be sure to drink sufficient fluids, since dehydration can aggravate altitude sickness symptoms.

Increased breathing and heart rates are a normal reaction when acclimating to mountain ascents and have no pathological significance, according to the Institute of International Health at Charité University Hospital in Berlin.

Experts there said signs of an early stage of altitude sickness are headache, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness and difficulty sleeping.

If you have symptoms such as headache or dizziness, which usually occur six to 12 hours after quick climbs at elevations over 2,000 meters, you should stop your ascent. The symptoms then typically disappear within one to three days.

If they don't, or your condition worsens, you should descend immediately. The symptoms generally abate after an elevation drop of 500 to 1,000 meters, the health experts said.

In severe cases, you should receive medical assistance if possible. Transport to lower elevations is then imperative. At worst, altitude sickness can be life-threatening, causing your lungs to fill with fluid or your brain to swell.

The experts also pointed out that certain medications, such as acetazolamide and dexamethasone, can help prevent symptoms of altitude sickness. Both are available by prescription only.

Varieties

China's Landspace Fails to Complete Reusable Rocket Test

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
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China's Landspace Fails to Complete Reusable Rocket Test

FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A Long March-2F rocket carrying the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecrafat takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for a mission to China's Tiangong space station, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China November 25, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS

The maiden flight of LandSpace's next-generation Zhuque-3 ended in failure on Wednesday, dashing the Chinese firm's hopes of becoming the third company after Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to successfully test a reusable rocket.

The rocket was not able to complete the crucial controlled landing following an initial launch, state news agency Xinhua reported.

"An abnormal combustion event occurred during the process, preventing a soft landing on the recovery pad," Xinhua said. "The recovery test failed and the specific cause is still under further analysis and investigation."

The failure of Zhuque-3's maiden flight highlights the difficulty of developing a rocket that can be recovered and reused after being launched into orbit, Reuters reported.

A Chinese reusable orbital rocket, if successfully brought to market, would accelerate Beijing's growth in space, allowing for a quicker cadence of missions and lower launch costs as the country pushes to deploy large satellite constellations to rival SpaceX's Starlink.

SpaceX pioneered commercial rocket reusability about a decade ago with its workhorse Falcon 9, disrupting an established US launch industry that relied primarily on expendable boosters that are discarded in the ocean or remain in space after their mission.

The reusable Falcon 9 core stage allowed SpaceX to start launching its Starlink satellites in 2019 far faster than its rivals, becoming the world's largest operator the following year and disrupting the global satellite communications industry.

In October, Musk praised Zhuque-3's design, saying on X that the Chinese rocket could even beat Falcon 9.

But the gap is still wide and there is no guarantee that LandSpace will catch up. SpaceX had its first successful Falcon booster landing in 2015 after two failed attempts. Much of the global rocket industry has since gradually sought to mimic the company's reusability model.

Nevertheless, Zhuque-3's maiden flight puts LandSpace ahead of domestic rivals like iSpace, Galactic Energy and Deep Blue Aerospace, which are working on smaller or less mature systems. And it marks the first time that a Chinese firm has come close to a Falcon 9-class reusable vehicle.