Category: World News

A 55 year-old grandmother, who describes herself as overweight, became the first woman to swim from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands, a distance of nearly 30 miles.

Amy Appelhans Gubser, a former collegiate swimmer, hadn’t attempted such a feat in 24 years. She faced cold waters, sharks, and jellyfish—all without a wetsuit.

Gubser started her swim at 3:27 a.m., plunging into the waters near her support vessel, and swam for 17 hours, reaching the Farallons after nightfall. An agent from the Marathon Swimmers Federation observed her swim, which is pending verification. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to complete this swim and the first person to do it from the bridge to the islands.

Despite the shark-infested waters, Gubser entered a “meditative state,” interrupted only by snack breaks every thirty minutes.

She chose not to wear a wetsuit to comply with MSF rules, despite the warmth and buoyancy it would have provided. “When you wear a wetsuit, your skin rubs against the material, and I didn’t want my skin to bleed near a shark island,” she said.

Gubser was stung twice by jellyfish during the swim.

She hopes her achievement inspires others and shows that athletic excellence is possible regardless of age and body weight.

The wreck of the USS Harder (SS-257), a U.S. Navy submarine known for sinking the most Japanese warships during World War II, has been found in the South China Sea off the coast of Luzon, Philippines, after being missing for 80 years.

The USS Harder, with the motto “Hit ’em HARDER,” was located at a depth of 914 meters (3,000 feet) and is relatively intact, according to the U.S. Navy’s History and Heritage Command (NHHC). “The vessel sits upright on her keel relatively intact except for the depth-charge damage aft of the conning tower,” the NHHC stated.

The submarine went missing on August 24, 1944, during its sixth and final patrol with 79 crew members onboard.

Tim Taylor, CEO of Tiburon Subsea and the Lost 52 Project, provided the data that led to the discovery. The Lost 52 Project focuses on finding and memorializing the 52 submarines lost during World War II and has found at least six others.

“Submarines by their very design can be a challenge to identify, but the excellent state of preservation and the quality of the data collected by Lost 52 allowed for NHHC to confirm the identity of the wreck as Harder,” the NHHC said.

The wreck is protected under U.S. law and is considered a war grave. NHHC Director Samuel J. Cox, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, emphasized the importance of remembering the sacrifice of the Harder’s crew.

The Harder received the Presidential Unit Citation for its first five patrols and six battle stars for World War II service. Its fifth patrol was particularly successful, depleting the Japanese destroyer supply by sinking three and heavily damaging two others in four days. This led to Adm. Jisaburo Ozawa’s Mobile Fleet departing Tawi-Tawi ahead of schedule, affecting Japanese battle plans and contributing to their defeat in the ensuing battle.

The Philippines was a major battleground between the U.S. and Japan during World War II, and several shipwrecks are believed to be in the waters around the archipelago.

An Indian environmental activist has won the prestigious ‘Green Nobel’ for saving a 657 square-mile forest from 21 coal mines.

India faces frequent blackouts, affecting everyone from city residents to rural communities. The Modi government’s push for development and economic dominance has led to massive increases in power generation, including both solar and coal energy. India is a major coal consumer, and the Hasdeo Aranya forests, known as the “Lungs of Chhattisgarh,” are rich in coal deposits.

The state government was considering 21 coal mining projects across 445,000 acres of biodiverse forests that are crucial to 15,000 indigenous Adivasi people and numerous wildlife species, including tigers, elephants, and leopards. These forests, one of India’s largest intact habitats, faced destruction from 5.6 billion metric tons of mineable coal.

Alok Shukla, founder of the Save Hasdeo Aranya Resistance Committee, has spent a decade fighting to protect Hasdeo. His efforts included media campaigns, protests, and direct appeals to the legislature, emphasizing constitutional protections for tribal people and their environments.

Shukla proposed the creation of the Lemru elephant reserve within Hasdeo to protect migration corridors and cancel three mining proposals. This sparked a 160-mile protest march towards Raipur, the state capital. Midway through their march, they learned that the state legislature had unanimously agreed to protect the forest and cancel all mining proposals and existing licenses.

“We had no expectations, but the legislative assembly voted unanimously that all of the coal mines of Hasdeo should be canceled, and the forest should be saved,” Shukla recalled to the Goldman Prize media channel. “That was a very important and happy moment for all of us.”

Shukla shares the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize with five other winners from Brazil, the US, South Africa, Australia, and Spain.