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Report: New Zealand’s Seas Warming Faster Than Global Average 

Scientists have found the oceans around New Zealand are warming, rising, and turning more acidic. (AFP)
Scientists have found the oceans around New Zealand are warming, rising, and turning more acidic. (AFP)
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Report: New Zealand’s Seas Warming Faster Than Global Average 

Scientists have found the oceans around New Zealand are warming, rising, and turning more acidic. (AFP)
Scientists have found the oceans around New Zealand are warming, rising, and turning more acidic. (AFP)

The seas around New Zealand are warming much faster than global averages, scientists said Wednesday in a new study warning how climate change could batter the island nation.

The government study found New Zealand's oceans are growing hotter, turning more acidic and already threatening thousands of coastal homes as sea levels rise.

The waters lapping New Zealand are now warming 34 percent faster than global averages, according to the Our Marine Environment report.

"Climate change is driving significant changes in our oceans," the report said.

"Ocean temperatures are increasing, and marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent, intense and longer-lasting.

"Sea-level rise is accelerating at many locations."

Researchers have linked global warming to disruptions in the vast oceanic currents that swirl between New Zealand and Antarctica.

New Zealand's proximity to these currents, as well as other changes in atmospheric circulation, helped to explain why these seas were warming so quickly.

Department of Conservation marine advisor Shane Geange said the report showed how "climate change is making existing problems in our oceans even worse".

"For example, global warming has made New Zealand's sea temperatures rise much faster than the worldwide average.

"This means we're seeing more frequent and severe marine heatwaves. Sea levels (are) rising more quickly, and our oceans are becoming more acidic and losing oxygen."

Sea-surface temperatures at four sites around New Zealand rose, on average, between 0.16C and 0.26C per decade between 1982 and 2023.

Many native species were struggling to adapt to life in warmer and more acidic oceans, the study found, and risked being overrun by invasive pests.

Warmer-than-normal sea temperatures have previously been linked to deaths of New Zealand's native yellow-eyed penguins.

"Because of these findings, how we manage New Zealand's marine environment needs to change," said Geange.

"We now have enough evidence to take action, and delaying risks further harms to our marine ecosystems."

Steadily rising sea levels were already being felt in many of New Zealand's low-lying coastal hamlets, the report found.

More than 200,000 homes worth US$100 billion (NZ$180 billion) were found in areas at risk of coastal inundation and inland flooding.

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Passengers Flee Snake at Australian Train Station

People gather at Sydney Opera House during Australia Day 2026 celebrations, in Sydney, Australia, 26 January 2026. (EPA)
People gather at Sydney Opera House during Australia Day 2026 celebrations, in Sydney, Australia, 26 January 2026. (EPA)
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Passengers Flee Snake at Australian Train Station

People gather at Sydney Opera House during Australia Day 2026 celebrations, in Sydney, Australia, 26 January 2026. (EPA)
People gather at Sydney Opera House during Australia Day 2026 celebrations, in Sydney, Australia, 26 January 2026. (EPA)

Commuters jumped in fright as a snake slithered across a city train platform in Australia, proving nowhere is safe from the nation's creepy-crawlies.

Footage showed the small serpent wriggling down the platform in the city of Sydney on Sunday night.

One woman abandoned her bike after spotting the snake and flees in the opposite direction, while other passengers anxiously huddled together on the platform.

The impasse was solved when one passenger plucked up the courage to hoist the snake by its tail and drop it over the hand railing.

"A passenger who got off a train took it upon himself to handle the intruder," said government agency Transport for New South Wales, adding that "the man did not flinch".

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Saudi Scientific Study Develops AI-Powered Detection of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea affects more than one billion people worldwide. (AFP illustrative photo)
Sleep apnea affects more than one billion people worldwide. (AFP illustrative photo)
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Saudi Scientific Study Develops AI-Powered Detection of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea affects more than one billion people worldwide. (AFP illustrative photo)
Sleep apnea affects more than one billion people worldwide. (AFP illustrative photo)

A Saudi scientific study has developed an intelligent model for detecting obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition affecting more than one billion people worldwide, using unidirectional electrocardiography (ECG) signals and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.

The findings, published in "Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence" and conducted by Dr. Malak Al-Marshad at the University Sleep Medicine and Research Center, College of Medicine, and Medical City at King Saud University, detailed the development of an “attention transformer-based deep learning model” designed to improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosing OSA.

The study noted that the proposed diagnostic approach is more efficient than traditional polysomnography (PSG), which is time-consuming, costly, and requires specialist analysis. The model uses transformer-based AI technology, similar to that in large language models, relying on a single ECG signal and autoencoder-based positional encoding to process raw data without complex preprocessing.

Results showed that the model outperformed previous studies by 13% in F1 score and achieved high temporal accuracy, detecting apnea events with precision down to one second. It offers physicians faster, more affordable, and reliable diagnostic support, even when using noisy real-world data.

The research reflects growing interest in applying AI in sleep medicine. King Saud University ranked 18th globally in sleep medicine research over the past five years, while Professor Ahmed BaHammam of the College of Medicine at King Saud University ranked fifth worldwide among sleep medicine scientists during the same period, according to the 2025 ScholarGPS rankings.

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In Sudan's Old Port of Suakin, Dreams of a Tourism Revival

Local officials in the historic Sudanese city of Suakin hope the once-booming transit port turned tourist draw can be revived. Mutawakil ISSA / AFP
Local officials in the historic Sudanese city of Suakin hope the once-booming transit port turned tourist draw can be revived. Mutawakil ISSA / AFP
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In Sudan's Old Port of Suakin, Dreams of a Tourism Revival

Local officials in the historic Sudanese city of Suakin hope the once-booming transit port turned tourist draw can be revived. Mutawakil ISSA / AFP
Local officials in the historic Sudanese city of Suakin hope the once-booming transit port turned tourist draw can be revived. Mutawakil ISSA / AFP

The mayor of Suakin dreams of a rebirth for his town, an ancient Red Sea port spared by the wars that have marked Sudan's history but reduced to ruins by the ravages of time.

"It was called the 'White City'," for its unique buildings made of coral stone taken from the seabed, said mayor Abu Mohamed El-Amin Artega, who is also the leader of the Artega tribe, part of eastern Sudan's Beja ethnic group.

Now the once-booming port and tourist draw languishes on the water, effectively forgotten for years as Sudan remains mired in a devastating war between the army and paramilitary forces.

But inside the ruins of a mosque, a restoration crew is hard at work rebuilding this piece of Suakin, over a century after the city was abandoned.

"Before the war, a lot of people came, a lot of tourists," said Ahmed Bushra, an engineer with the association Safeguarding Sudan's Living Heritage from Conflict and Climate Change (SSLH).

"We hope in the future, when peace comes to Sudan, they will come and enjoy our beautiful historic buildings here," he told AFP.

Architecture student Doha Abdelaziz Mohamed is part of the crew bringing the mosque back to life with funding from the British Council and support from UNESCO.

"When I came here, I was stunned by the architecture," the 23-year-old said.

The builders "used techniques that are no longer employed today", she told AFP. "We are here to keep our people's heritage."

- Abandoned -

The ancient port -- set on an oval island nestled within a lagoon -- served for centuries as a transit point for merchant caravans, Muslim and Christian pilgrims travelling to Makkah and Jerusalem, according to the Rome-based heritage institute ICCROM.

It became a vibrant crossroads under the Ottoman Empire, said Artega, 55, and its population grew to around 25,000 as a construction boom took off.

"The streets were so crowded that, as our forefathers said, you could hardly move."

Everything changed in 1905, when the British built a deeper commercial port 60 kilometers (37 miles) north, to accommodate increased maritime traffic with the opening of the Suez Canal.

"Merchants and residents moved to Port Sudan," the mayor said, lamenting the decline of what he calls "Sudan's great treasure".

But his Artega tribe, which has administered the city since the sixth century with powers "passed from father to son", refused to leave.

His ancestor, he said, scolded the British: "You found a port as prosperous as a fine hen -- you took its eggs, plucked its feathers and now you spit its bones back at us."

As proof of the Artega's influence, he keeps at home what he says are swords and uniforms gifted to his ancestors by Queen Victoria during the British colonial period.

The rise of Port Sudan spelled disaster for Suakin, whose grand public buildings and elegant coral townhouses were left to decay, slowly eaten away by the humid winds and summer heat.

But the 1990s brought new hope, with the opening of a new passenger port linking Suakin to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Today, the Sudanese transport company Tarco operates daily crossings, carrying around 200 passengers per trip from the modern port of Suakin, within sight of the ancient city and its impoverished environs.

- Lease to Türkiye-

The city's optimism grew in 2017 when then-president Omar al-Bashir granted the old port to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under a 99-year lease for touristic development.

A Turkish company restored the old governor's palace, customs house and two mosques, but the project stalled in 2019 after Bashir fell from power in the face of mass protests.

Then, in April 2023, the cruise passengers and scuba divers who once stopped in Suakin completely vanished when fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

A rusting cargo ship now lies stranded on a sandbank in the blue lagoon, where only a handful of fishing boats float around.

But Bushra, from SSLH, remains optimistic. He hopes to see the mosque, which houses the tomb of a Sufi sheikh, host a traditional music festival when the renovation is complete, "in five months".

"When we finish the restoration, the tourists can come here," he said.