Khamis, 6 Januari 2011
Lagi misteri burung, ikan mati
Lagi misteri burung, ikan mati
RATUSAN ikan yang mati ditemui di tepi pantai Semenanjung Coromandel, New Zealand pada Selasa lalu.
STOCKHOLM - Kematian ikan dan burung kini merebak selepas penemuan awal 5,000 ekor burung hitam jatuh dari langit secara misteri yang pada teori awalnya disebabkan letupan bunga api di bandar Beeba, negeri Arkansas, Amerika Syarikat (AS) pada Jumaat lalu.
Bagaimanapun, pada Selasa lalu, bangkai 50 ekor burung ditemui di sebatang jalan raya di bandar Falkoping, Sweden.
Pada hari yang sama juga, kira-kira 200 ekor burung ditemui mati di sebuah lebuh raya di Texas, AS yang tanggapan awal dipercayai dilanggar kereta.
Sebelum ini, lebih 100,000 ekor ikan ditemui mati di Sungai Arkansas, di negeri Arkansas, AS yang dipercayai mati akibat perubahan cuaca pada minggu lalu.
Pada Isnin lalu, gambar yang dirakamkan Jabatan Alam Sekitar Maryland, AS menunjukkan dua juta ekor ikan terdampar di Teluk Chesapeake.
Alasan jurucakap jabatan itu, Dawn Stolzfus menyatakan, ikan itu mati pada minggu lalu disebabkan cuaca sejuk.
Namun apa yang menjadi misteri ialah kenapa ikan itu tidak berenang ke kawasan yang suhunya lebih panas.
Di Brazil, sebanyak 100 tan ikan sardin, sejumlah ikan keli dan gelama telah ditemui di pesisir pantai Parana, berhampiran Nicaragua.
Presiden Persekutuan Koloni Nelayan Parana, Edmir Manoel Ferreira berkata, bangkai-bangkai ikan itu ditemui sejak Khamis minggu lalu.
Beratus-ratus ekor ikan siakap ditemui mati di New Zealand pada Selasa lalu.
Di Britain, sebanyak 40,000 ekor ketam setan merah turut mati di Kent kelmarin.
Sementara itu, beribu-ribu ekor bangkai ikan ditemui terapung di sungai Spruce, bandar Port Orange, negeri Florida pada Selasa lepas.
Terdapat juga golongan yang percaya kematian pelbagai spesies haiwan itu merupakan petanda ketibaan hari kiamat pada 2012 seperti yang diramalkan tamadun kuno Maya di Mexico.
Di Internet pula, heboh mengenai teori konspirasi tentang eksperimen-eksperimen rahsia oleh kerajaan sebagai penyebab fenomena misteri itu.
Setakat ini, saintis-saintis masih melakukan satu siri ujian bagi mengenal pasti punca sebenar pelbagai spesies haiwan itu mati. Keputusan ujian tersebut bagaimanapun, hanya akan diketahui dalam tempoh beberapa minggu lagi. - Agensi
'Four million single women in Kingdom by 2015'
By GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWS
Published: Jan 5, 2011 23:37 Updated: Jan 5, 2011 23:37
JEDDAH: Abdul Aziz Al-Fouzan, a member of the government's Human Rights Commission (HRC), said the number of single Saudi women over the age of 32 is expected to grow to four million by 2015.
The HRC estimates the number of spinsters (defined, says Al-Fouzan, as single women over the age of 32) to be at least 1.4 million.
"This means that there is an unmarried woman among every 16 Saudi women," he said in a recent lecture. "There are a variety of reasons behind this phenomenon including unemployment, a housing shortage and obsolete social traditions."
The number of single women in this age category is higher in the cities than in the countryside, he added. He, however, cautioned against assuming marrying girls is the cure for the problem.
Currently being debated in the Kingdom is the issue of limiting marriages of minors — defined as anyone under the age of 18 — to address the issue of girls being married off to old men, in some cases so that fathers can settle debts or lay claim to dowries.
"Marrying an underage girl to an old man is a crime," said Al-Fouzan. "People should not find an excuse in the marriage of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to Sayidah Ayesha," he said, referring to the Prophet's youngest wife.
Al-Fouzan urged men to find wives closer to their age. "This would help reduce the number of unmarried women," he said.
In some cases women, especially employed women, are prevented from getting married by their fathers, who deny them permission to get married out of concern of losing the household income. Some cases brought up by women against their fathers for this practice (called adhal, the act of a parent unjustifiably denying a daughter the right to marriage) has reached Saudi courts in the past.
The estimate of unmarried women over the age of 32 was made by Ali Al-Zahrani, a staff member of King Abdul Aziz University, who said the number could currently be as high as 1.5 million, with Makkah province (which includes Jeddah) having the highest number of single women over 32 out of the Kingdom's 13 provinces.
In a related development, the Shoura Council recently discussed regulating the marriage of Saudi men to non-Saudi women and vice versa. In those discussions, some participants said that the rising number of Saudi men marrying non-Saudi women is also contributing to the rise of single Saudi women.
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