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Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Launches Live Turtle Tracking Program

This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA
This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA
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Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Launches Live Turtle Tracking Program

This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA
This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA

In a milestone for marine conservation, Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve has launched a live satellite tracking program for hawksbill and green turtles, including the first known tagging of a pre-nesting, egg-carrying green turtle in the Red Sea, SPA reported.

This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species.

The team, led by Senior Marine Ecologist at Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Dr. Ahmed Mohammed and KAUST Beacon Development’s Senior Marine Megafauna Specialist Dr. Hector Barrios-Garrido, successfully in-water captured and tagged three critically endangered (IUCN) hawksbill turtles and seven green turtles. The tags transmit real-time movement data identifying foraging grounds, migratory corridors, and most crucially the nesting site of the egg-carrying green turtle, ensuring the appropriate protection and management is in place. The program continues the reserve’s long-term commitment to marine conservation, expanding its turtle nest monitoring and protection program in operation since 2023.

The reserve protects 4,000km² of Red Sea waters, 1.8% of the Kingdom’s marine area, and a coastline of 170km, the longest coastline under management by a single entity in the Kingdom. Linking NEOM and Red Sea Global, this forms an 800km corridor of protected Red Sea coastline. It is a refuge for five of the world’s seven turtle species and a breeding ground for green and hawksbill turtles. The reserve’s ranger teams monitor turtle activity both on shore and at sea, protecting nesting sites critical to natal homing, the biological instinct that drives turtles to return to the same beaches where they were born.

‘’Critically endangered hawksbill turtles face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild within our lifetime. With fewer than 200 breeding-age females remaining in the Red Sea, their survival depends on closing vital knowledge gaps to enable their effective conservation,” said CEO of Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Andrew Zaloumis.

He added, “Hawksbill turtles hatching on the reserve’s protected beaches range across 438,000 km² of open sea bordered by eight MENA countries, before returning some three decades later to the same sandy beach to lay their eggs. Our satellite tagging and tracking program is a game-changer, providing the real-time data needed to identify their critical staging, foraging, and rookery areas across the Red Sea. The data will support national and regional conservation efforts to drive forward a much-needed unified ecosystem-wide turtle conservation management plan.’’

The reserve’s ongoing turtle conservation supports Saudi Arabia’s commitments under the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species and the IOSEA Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding by strengthening habitat protection and regional cooperation through scientific knowledge-sharing across the Red Sea.

Senior Marine Ecologist at the reserve Dr. Ahmed Mohammed stated, ‘’These state-of-the-art, lightweight tags are designed to operate for at least 12 months, providing continuous data that will enable detailed analysis of seasonal patterns, developmental habitats, and contribute valuable insights to regional and global sea turtle research. Additionally, depth sensors will reveal sea grass meadows, essential foraging grounds for green turtles and critical blue carbon sinks."

Despite the recent global reclassification of green turtles by the IUCN, regionally, they are still regarded as vulnerable and conservation dependent. All five marine turtle species resident in the Red Sea are listed under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), to which Saudi Arabia became a party in 1979. Turtles remain at risk from entanglement in fishing nets, habitat degradation, and illegal poaching. While these threats are absent within the reserve’s protected waters, ecosystem-wide management strategies that span political boundaries are necessary and the reserve continues to share data with the wider conservation and scientific community and partner with SHAMS on local and regional conservation strategies.

One of eight Royal Reserves, the 24,500 km² Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve stretches from the lava plains of the Harrats to the deep Red Sea in the west, connecting NEOM, Red Sea Global, and AlUla. It is home to the Public Investment Fund's (PIF) Wadi Al Disah project and Red Sea Global’s Destination AMAALA.

The reserve encompasses 15 distinct ecosystems. At just 1% of the Kingdom’s terrestrial area and 1.8% of its marine area, it boasts over 50% of the Kingdom’s species, making it one of the most biodiverse protected areas in the Middle East.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve is one of eight royal reserves established by royal decree and overseen by the Royal Reserves Council chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. The reserve’s program is integrated with Saudi Arabia’s wider sustainability and conservation programs, including the Saudi Green and Middle East Green Initiatives.

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North Korea and China to Resume Passenger Train Service After Six-Year Gap

A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)
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North Korea and China to Resume Passenger Train Service After Six-Year Gap

A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)

South ‌Korea's Unification Ministry said on Tuesday that passenger train services between Pyongyang and Beijing are set to resume this week, marking the end of a six-year suspension caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resumption restores a critical transport link between North Korea and its primary economic ally, after ‌years of ‌strict border closures that began ‌in ⁠early 2020.

China's state ⁠railway told the Yonhap News Agency that the Pyongyang–Beijing train will begin the round-trip service on March 12, operating four times a week.

Only the last two carriages will ⁠initially carry passengers, mainly diplomats or ‌others on ‌official business, with ticket sales to the general ‌public possible if seats are ‌available, Yonhap quoted a railway official as saying.

North Korea remains closed to most foreign tourism, with limited exceptions largely for ‌Russian tour groups under restricted arrangements, according to travel agencies organizing trips ⁠to ⁠the country.

Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors made up the largest share of foreign tourists to North Korea, the agencies said.

Tour organizers said on Monday that North Korea had cancelled next month's Pyongyang Marathon for unspecified reasons. The race is one of the few events that has been open to international participants in the isolated state.

Varieties

Former Fukushima Worker Devotes Life to Abandoned Pets

This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)
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Former Fukushima Worker Devotes Life to Abandoned Pets

This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)

Not far from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site, former plant worker Toru Akama tends to dozens of pets abandoned after the catastrophe 15 years ago, work he sees as part of his quest for redemption.

Meows and barks break the silence of the countryside, once an evacuation zone, as the 63-year-old brings food to the animals left behind when their owners fled the triple disaster of March 11, 2011: earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident.

"It's because of this plant, where we worked for years, that these animals ended up like this," Akama told AFP at his home in northern Japan, surrounded by cats.

"They should have been able to go on living their lives as pets, but because of this accident they were abandoned.

"I felt it was my duty to protect them," he said.

Akama will never forget what he saw in the wake of the disaster, caused by Japan's strongest earthquake on record.

The tsunami it unleashed killed or left missing 18,500 people, and a wall of water crashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant on the northeast coast causing a devastating meltdown.

A day later, residents were ordered to evacuate and an unbroken line of cars formed on the national highway that runs past Akama's house.

"Then the dogs started wandering in search of something to eat -- least those that weren't chained up," he recalled.

"There was no one left, just my wife and me handing out food."

-'Outrage'-

Akama then began taking the animals into his home: first 40 dogs, then 50.

A decade and a half later, he has found adoptive families for more than 1,000 animals and continues to take in new pets who have been abandoned for other reasons.

He says he has "felt outrage" at the pet owners, who have sometimes left their animals in front of his house.

Some "are remorseful, but others simply do it because the animals have become a nuisance", he said.

In difficult moments, "of course... people's priority is human beings, but animals are living beings too, members of the family. It's as if people were abandoning their own children".

After the nuclear disaster, some residents had to flee by bus, and animals were not allowed aboard.

"There were elderly people in tears, asking if someone could take their pet," he recalled.

A month after the disaster Akama also had to leave, but he returned every day for his work at the plant and to look after his charges.

"Because they had known hunger, I absolutely wanted to give them a good life. Sometimes we went without ourselves in order to buy them quality food," he said.

-They 'watch over me'-

Over the past 15 years, Akama says he has spent almost all of the compensation he received after the plant accident on the animals, and he continues to cover most of their care and food costs.

"I don't have time to deal with collections or crowdfunding campaigns," he explained, although he has received some donations.

Akama's days are structured around cleaning the cages where new arrivals spend their first days, feeding, walking the dogs, and taking in new residents, leaving him little respite.

"It never stops. To be honest, I feel like my old job was easier," he said.

"But thanks to them I've never fallen ill: they force me to stay active. Maybe it's their way of thanking me, of watching over me in their own way."

At first, he kept the ashes of the deceased animals in his house, but he eventually had to build a grave outside to hold the remains of around 30 dogs and even more cats, beneath the inscription "rest in peace".

Akama's brother took over his subcontracting business for the plant, allowing him to devote himself full time to the 47 cats and seven dogs with whom he currently shares his life.

"If I'm still able to keep going today, it's because I carry within me the distress these animals experienced. That's what keeps me going."

He would nevertheless like to find a successor.

"That's my biggest concern right now, because I too am starting to get older," he said.

"But I'd like to keep going like this until the end."

Varieties

February Fifth Warmest on Record, Extreme Rain in Europe, Says EU Monitor

The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
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February Fifth Warmest on Record, Extreme Rain in Europe, Says EU Monitor

The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)

The world logged its fifth hottest February on record, with western Europe drenched by extreme rainfall and widespread flooding, the European Union's climate monitor said on Tuesday.

Global temperatures last month were 1.49C above pre-industrial times, defined as the 1850-1900 period before large-scale fossil fuel use drove climate change.

Temperatures and precipitation varied widely in Europe.

The average temperature in Europe was among the three coldest in the past 14 years at -0.07C.

But western, southern and southeast Europe experienced above-average temperatures, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Colder conditions were experienced in northwest Russia, Baltic countries, Finland and its Scandinavian neighbors.

"Wet and dry conditions across the continent showed a pronounced contrast: much of western and southern Europe was wetter than average, whereas the rest of the continent... was mostly drier than average," the service said in its monthly report.

The United States, northeast Canada, the Middle East, Central Asia and east Antarctica had warmer-than-average temperatures.

- Need for global action -

Sea surface temperatures were the second highest for the month of February.

In the Arctic, the average sea ice extent was at its third lowest level for the month at five percent below average.

In the Antarctic, the monthly sea ice extent was close to average for February -- a "sharp contrast to the much below-average" levels observed over the past four years, Copernicus said.

"The extreme events of February 2026 highlight the growing impacts of climate change and the pressing need for global action," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus.

"Europe experienced stark temperature contrasts," Burgess said.

"Exceptional atmospheric rivers -- narrow bands of very moist air -- brought record rainfall and widespread flooding to western and southern Europe," she said.

Human-driven climate change intensified torrential downpours that killed dozens and forced thousands of people from their homes across Spain, Portugal and Morocco between January and February, according to the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network of climate scientists.