Latest news with #Sybil
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Dog walker discovers rare fish linked to dark legend on windswept Aussie beach
A dog walker has laughed off suggestions that her rare discovery on a remote Australian beach could be a bad omen. The first sign that something odd had washed up on the sand was the group of eagles flying right down onto the sand. Sybil Jethro describes Tasmania's west coast as wild, and consequently, it's not unusual for her to come across whales, dolphins, or seals washed up on Ocean Beach near Strahan. 'But I hadn't seen anything like this, certainly nothing this big,' she said. The glistening creature she'd stumbled across was a 175cm-long oarfish, a long creature that's colloquially referred to as the 'doomsday fish' because of its connection to a dark Japanese legend. How rare oarfish are remains a mystery, because it inhabits waters 250 to 1,000 metres below the surface, and it's uncommon to see one alive. Two dead oarfish were discovered in California in August and November last year, prompting an investigation by UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. After the first was found by swimmers in waters off San Diego, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake was detected in Los Angeles, reviving talk of their unproven connection to these natural disasters. Associations between oarfish and earthquakes date back to 17th-century Japan, and were renewed in 2011 after 20 were spotted ahead of the earthquake that sparked the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Although there is no scientific evidence the two are connected. It was 16 degrees, the wind was strong, and rain was threatening to pour, so visitors to the beach were keeping to the lookout, and no one else likely saw the oarfish in person. While her bounding, 25kg dog was interested in its body, he didn't try and take a bite out of it, which was unusual behaviour. When Sybil returned home on Monday morning and shared images of the fish to social media, a friend immediately contacted her. 'She said it's an oarfish, they're bad juju, you don't want to go near it,' she said. 😳 Rapid succession of giant sunfish deaths leave scientists 'lost for words' 📸 Beach find highlights dark side of Aussie state's $88 million tourism pledge 🏝️ Camping trip takes sad turn with 50kg find under sand But Sybil feels lucky to have seen the strange creature, as it wasn't long before it vanished. 'It was so shiny, pretty and beautiful. But it isn't anymore, because I went back in the afternoon and it had been mauled. It was a good feast for the eagles and crows,' she said. 'When I got back a few hours later, there was no head, and the body was almost gone. I was really lucky to see it in such beautiful condition.' Authorities were later seen examining what remained of the carcass, and Yahoo is working to confirm whether samples have been taken. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Sybil creates history for Pakistan
Sybil Sohail with her gold medal at the Asian Weightlifting Masters Championship in Doha on May 30. Photo Courtesy: TWINKLE SOHAIL Powerlifter-turned-weightlifter Sybil Sohail became the first Pakistani woman to win the gold medal at the Asian Weightlifting Masters Championship in Doha, Qatar. This was also the Commonwealth Powerlifting Champion Sybil's international debut at a weightlifting event. The 31-year-old athlete has always dreamed of raising the Pakistani flag at the Asian championship and it was an aim she had set for herself after she became the Asian Commonwealth Powerlifting and Commonwealth Powerlifting champion last year. "I aim to make my country proud, make my family proud, we have sacrificed a lot for the sport, but I need to make sure that all of that effort and dedication pays off," Sybil told this correspondent from Doha. She was competing in the 59kg category and she lifted a total of 95kg to get her gold. She lifted 40kg in snatch while she had a more solid performance in clean and jerk with a 55kg finish. Sybil is the eldest of the powerlifting and weightlifting sisters, Twinkle Sohail, Veronika Sohail, and Mariam Sohail. She and her sisters created a unique record at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships last year when they collectively grabbed 15 gold medals. She alone won six out of those 15. The sisters belong to the Christian community in Lahore and they have been a shining example for the nation that rarely sees any athletes coming forward from minority groups. However, Sybil credits Twinkle for introducing her to the sport and thanks her coach Rashed Malik for guiding all four of them and training them in Lahore at their club which is at the Punjab University grounds. "Sybil has won so many accolades for Pakistan in powerlifting, but she had never competed in weightlifting, and for her personally it was her debut at an international weightlifting event as well, it was a dream for her because she was always charmed with weightlifting," said Twinkle who also coached Sybil often while training together told this correspondent. "This is huge, she has won her gold medal on her debut." 'Bitter experiences fuel our ambition to win medals' Twinkle shared a bitter experience of Sybil's from 2016, which resulted in her missing out on the trials for the national weightlifting squad. "She had a rough experience in 2016, there were trials for the team that was meant to compete in the South Asian Games weightlifting. But Sybil couldn't go to compete in them because she had an exam that same day. She knew if she competed in them she would have secured a spot. "So since 2016, this has been a wish of hers that she finally fulfilled now. It took her nine years to achieve what she really wanted." Twinkle added that Sybil's feat brings an immense sense of pride to her and her family. Twinkle says that she understands Sybil's emotions completely. "I started sports in my family, if I reflect on my own experience, there was a time when I was selected to go to Nepal for a competition in 2019. Unfortunately, at the time when Imran Khan's government was at the helm of affairs, I found out that the government only had the funds for only five players, my name was in sixth place on that list, and I had a silver medal to my name, but I couldn't compete in that event. "So we fuel our ambition with these disappointments. These feelings are really beyond explanation but they are strong and we use them to drive us to achieve bigger goals and more medals. "Hopefully I would make my name in weightlifting too," concluded Twinkle. Lifting weights is good for women Sybil's achievements and her dedication to powerlifting and weightlifting shows that she is changing the perception of society -- one day and one medal at a time. "It is actually a misconception that weightlifting is bad for women, and it disrupts the hormones and creates complications for us when it comes to having children and starting families," Sybil explained. "It is actually healthy to build the muscles and we need these exercises and weight training to stay strong. "There are so many Pakistani powerlifters and weightlifters I know who were very active in the sport and then went on to have children."
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Sport
- Express Tribune
Weightlifter Sybil to create history for Pak
The 2024 Commonwealth Powerlifting champion Sybil Sohail will make history as the first Pakistani woman to compete at the Asian Masters Weightlifting Championship in Doha, Qatar, on Friday. "I just want to ask for prayers and best wishes from the entire nation as I'm going to make history here," Sybil, who has won at least 20 international medals and 36 national medals in her career, told this correspondent from Doha. "I will be aiming for the medal-winning performance. But, I badly need support and prayers. I want to make Pakistan like I always have tried to on the international level." She will be competing in the W-30 59 Kg in Doha as her event will start at 1900 PST on Friday. The championship will feature athletes from 26 countries and Sybil is expecting a tough competition in the sweltering summer in Doha. Pakistan is also fielding Neelum Riaz and Nadia Maqsood in 76kg and 87 kg events, along with four male weightlifters to compete in various categories. The Lahore-based athlete has been one of the pioneering powerlifters and weightlifters in Pakistan, as she hails from a family of extremely empowered women that has won numerous accolades on the international stage. Her younger sisters include Twinkle Sohail, Veronika Sohail, and Mariam Sohail, all of whom have also been the Commonwealth Classic and Equipped Bench Press and Powerlifting Champions. They made the unique world record of winning 15 gold medals, three silver, and one bronze medal in October. Sybil alone won six of those medals. The sisters have been playing a crucial role in pushing the envelope for what Pakistani women can achieve in sports. Still, they have also been a shining example for the Christian community of the country, where athletes from minorities are becoming a rare sight progressively. For Sybil, the eldest of the quartet, competing at the Asian Weightlifting Championship is a dream come true. "The Asian Championship is extremely important to me, it is about making history, I will become the first woman from Pakistan to lift the weights for the country at this stage," said the 31-year-old. "I'm excited beyond words, and I must credit my coach Rashed Malik for this, without whose guidance and training I wouldn't have reached this stage. After God, I thank him for all that my sisters and I have achieved so far." 'Determined to succeed for my family' She added that she trained at Punjab University Sports Complex in Lahore. "I have been training for this event for at least two hours in the morning and then four in the evening. But You know that we still struggle to have quality gyms and equipment in Pakistan," explained Sybil, who is also planning to start her MPhil next year as she is done with her Bachelor in Sports Science from Punjab University. However, comparing the conditions in Doha to Lahore she added that the facilities are world-class and have training camps for athletes that help them succeed in the competitions too. "You can't beat athletes that get proper facilities, infrastructure, and support and training with these resources. I belong to a middle-class family, but training and carrying on in limited resources, and managing a career in a sport that is male-dominated is difficult. "Grooming one wrestler is difficult in these economic conditions, but in our home, there are four of us, so it is not difficult. "I have seen times when my father would drink water for himself but make sure that all of us would get milkshakes so we grow strong, so when we saw all of these difficult times and how my parents have sacrificed for us, all four of us decided and make it our aim that we win medals, it is a blessing for us. No one has won 15 gold medals like we did at the Commonwealth and Asian level." Switching from Powerlifting to Weightlifting Now Sybil is aiming for the weightlifting medal. "Weightlifting is definitely a more technical sport, and in my career since 2013, it has not been easy to switch quickly because techniques are there, we get injured too, but my eyes are always on the prize," said Sybil. However, she made an appeal to the government of Pakistan," I just want the government to support us, we can only do so much on an individual level. We need institutional support like even now I am competing courtesy Arshad Khan Turk, who agreed to sponsor me."
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How the war of the sexes is changing politics forever
In his 1845 novel Sybil, Benjamin Disraeli coined the term 'two nations' to refer to the divide between the rich and the poor. But in British politics today, increasingly the two nations are men and women. The easiest way to predict how someone voted at this month's local elections was their sex. On the Left, nearly 60 per cent of Green voters were female. On the Right, three out of five Reform voters were male. Nor is this purely a British phenomenon. Political divergence between men and women is a worldwide trend, detectable in the United States, Germany, South Korea and beyond. In Britain, as elsewhere, the gender divide is particularly extreme among the young, notably Gen Z born between 1997-2010. In the 2024 general election, men under 25 were more than twice as likely to vote Reform as young women. Young women, in turn, were almost twice as likely to vote Green as young men. The new divide is all the more remarkable in that it inverts a norm that has existed since universal suffrage. After they gained the vote in 1918, women – who tended to be more religious and socially conservative – were a reliable bulwark of Tory support. Had only women voted, the Conservatives would have won every general election from 1950 to 1992. Not until 2017 were women more likely than men to vote for Labour. Now, global political gender dynamics have been transformed. Women have not merely moved to the Left of men; in many countries, the voting gap between the sexes is now larger than ever before. 'Generations tend to move together – not go in different directions, across gender lines,' says Prof Bobby Duffy from King's College London. 'This is a new development. There's a very unusual trend of a split within a cohort, Gen Z.' Traditionally, age and class were the two main cleavages in British politics, explains Luke Tryl, the UK director of the polling company More in Common. Now, these have been replaced by two new interrelated divides: gender and education. Today, 57 per cent of UK higher education students are female. There are now four female graduates for every three male graduates. Differing levels of education are driving the sexes apart at the ballot box. Young people almost invariably lean well to the Left of older generations. But Reform is now the most popular party among non-graduate young men: 26.1 per cent of men under 25 without a degree support the party. Just 10.7 per cent of young men with a degree support Reform. Yet only about half the gender divide is explained by women attending university in greater numbers, Tryl estimates. The other half is rooted in different cultural and social attitudes. Even when young men are as well-educated as women, and earn as much, they still tend to be more Right wing. The contrast can be explained by differing priorities. Men tend to be anti-immigration, perhaps because working-class men feel particularly under threat from low-skilled migration. Men are also generally less motivated by climate concerns. The #MeToo movement, and feminism more broadly, are sharply polarising issues too. Indeed, by some metrics young men are more anti-feminist than older cohorts. Worldwide, the pollsters Ipsos found, 57 per cent of Gen Z men agree that 'we have gone so far in promoting women's equality that we are discriminating against men', compared with 44 per cent of male baby boomers. 'There's possibly a backlash among younger men,' says Rosie Campbell, a professor of politics at King's College London and an expert in voting behaviour. 'This attitude to gender equality is something new.' For all the focus on young men shifting Right, women have shifted Left by at least as much. 'Young women have moved to the Left over a very long period – it's happening more in every generation,' Campbell explains. The rise in female education and employment, and declining religiosity, has driven women to the Left. Being unmarried is also more correlated with having Left-wing views for women than for men. Increasingly gendered media consumption threatens to exacerbate these divides. For most of democratic history, men and women have largely used the same mainstream news sources. No longer. The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast by an American comedian and mixed martial arts commentator, rallied young men to Donald Trump in the US election. His listeners supported Trump over Kamala Harris by a margin of two to one. The Joe Rogan Experience is also top of the podcast charts in the UK; around 80 per cent of listeners are male, with the majority under 35. Even the types of media that people consume are gendered. YouTube and podcasts are more popular among men; social media, including Instagram, has particularly strong appeal to women. 'If you're a young woman, the algorithm thinks that you're going to [vote] Green. If it sends you anything about politics, it might be on that side,' Campbell observes. 'And vice versa for young men.' The struggling economy multiplies such differences. The poor jobs market encourages men and women alike to see progress as a zero-sum game, in which opportunities for one gender come at the expense of the other. 'When you have more economic pressure on cohorts, it does sharpen the sense of division within them,' Duffy reflects. This divide is being seen around the world. In the US last November, Kamala Harris won women voters by 8 per cent. This advantage was more than cancelled out by Trump winning male voters by 14 per cent. The same trend was detectable in three other countries this year. In Germany, in February, the Right-wing populists AfD won 27 per cent of men aged under 25 but only 15 per cent of young women, Ansgar Hudde of the University of Cologne has found. Die Linke ('The Left') won 35 per cent of females under 25, but just 16 per cent of males. In Canada, Mark Carney's victory in April was powered by the female vote. Even in an election dominated by Trump, the parties were polarised along gender lines. The gender voting gap is likely to have been the largest in Canadian history, says Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant from Queen's University, Ontario. A poll before the vote showed the Conservatives leading by five points among men while the centre-left Liberals had a 25 per cent lead among women – an overall 30 per cent gender gap. Women were central to Anthony Albanese's re-election in Australia this month: pre-election polls found that men aged 18-34 were 10 per cent more likely to vote Conservative. The strongest predictor of seats with a higher Green vote was a greater number of university-educated women, Dr Intifar Chowdhury from Flinders University has found. Nowhere is the gender divide more extreme than South Korea. There, on top of the underlying forces driving the sexes apart elsewhere, two particularly toxic issues deepen the political gender chasm. South Korea has the largest gender pay gap in the developed world – 29 per cent – creating anger among highly educated women. Men, in turn, are angry by the requirement to do 18 months' military service. 'Especially after the 2008 economic crisis, you have huge competition for jobs,' says Heejung Chung, who grew up in South Korea and is professor of work and employment at King's College London. 'Opportunities for young people in general, both men and women, have significantly declined. 'Women are going into higher education in higher numbers. A lot of young men feel like, 'We're actually in a worse state than women.'' In the 2022 presidential election, the Right-wing candidate Yoon Suk Yeol particularly courted young men. Yoon claimed that men were being treated like 'potential sex criminals', and denied the existence of systemic discrimination against women. While men and women over 40 showed minimal voting differences, Yoon won 59 per cent of men under 30, yet just 34 per cent of young women. As president, Yoon discontinued funding for programmes aimed at addressing sexism and removed the term 'gender equality' from the school ethics curriculum. And at 10.27pm on December 3 last year, Yoon declared martial law. Four days after the declaration, a nationwide rally demanded Yoon's impeachment. Yet crowds were overwhelmingly female. Only about one tenth of all pro-impeachment protestors were men. The greatest determinant of how people viewed the most seismic event in South Korea since the introduction of democracy was their gender. Now, on June 3, these divisions will surface once again. South Korea is holding its next presidential election, brought forward by Yoon's removal from office. The vote is likely to see a similar gender gap on Left-Right lines to previous elections, Chung believes. South Korea offers a stark warning, pointing to a future in Britain and around the world in which, rather than young people of both sexes prospering together, they increasingly see their interests at war with each other. The consequences of such gender polarisation go far beyond politics. A chasm between the sexes in the ballot box is also bad for the future of humanity itself. Today, South Korea has the world's lowest birth rate: just 0.72 births per woman. This is almost certainly the lowest birth rate in any country in peacetime in human history. Births are even less common in Seoul: the capital's birth rate is 0.55, the lowest of any city in the world. Korea's population is projected to halve by the year 2100, creating a financial and demographic crisis. The government has spent more than $250 billion on programmes to encourage people to start families, to little avail. One third of women say they do not want to get married, compared with only 13 per cent of men. Remarkably, only 34 per cent of women aged 25-29 say that they want to have children. 'More women are saying that having a marriage or having children is not a prerequisite for a good life,' Chung observes. 'That makes men angrier.' It turns out that men and women divided by politics have little wish to couple up – or to reproduce. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Business Mayor
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Community sales are the future of crypto fundraising
Opinion by: Darius Moukhtarzadeh, Research Strategist at 21Shares A new wave of crypto fundraising is emerging, changing how Web3 projects launch and who can invest at an early stage: Community Sales. At first glance, community sales may seem reminiscent of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) era from 2016–2017. Yet, they represent a significant evolution that better aligns with crypto's core values of democratization, transparency, and inclusivity. Projects should include community sales as a core element of their fundraising strategy, besides raising from angel investors and VCs. Professional investors should embrace community sales as they highly increase the chances of sustainable success of Web3 projects. The ICO era The original ICO boom promised broad retail participation and democratized investment opportunities previously reserved for well-connected insiders. The lack of clear regulatory frameworks led to widespread fraud, rug pulls, and market manipulation. This chaotic environment, rampant exploitation, and regulatory uncertainty eventually forced projects to abandon ICOs, shifting instead to private rounds accessible to well-connected angel investors and venture capitalists. Private funding problems While private funding initially brought much-needed stability and credibility, it also introduced new problems. Over the past two years, many tokens have launched at excessively high FDVs (Fully Diluted Valuation) with a low circulating token supply. These tokens entered exchanges with the majority of supply locked and sky-high valuation, which did not meet the demand. Retail investors, attracted by initial hype, often became collateral damage. The result? Devalued tokens and damaged trust. Most of these tokens will most likely never recover. This market dynamic discouraged investments in new projects and undermined community-building efforts, weakening the overall sustainability of Web3 projects. Airdrops as an unsustainable alternative Airdrops appeared as another alternative, designed to distribute tokens widely and spark interest in the community for a project. Airdrops frequently fail to produce meaningful, sustainable engagement. Instead, they often became targets for Sybil attackers employing multiple accounts to maximize token gains or airdrop mercenaries hopping from one project to the next, quickly dumping tokens, depressing prices and undermining project credibility. Without genuine financial commitment and interest in the project beyond the airdrop, recipients had little incentive to hold tokens or participate actively in the community. Community sales as the new cool kid on the block(chain) Community sales represent a practical, strategic alternative to private funding and token airdrops, offering a structured way to engage retail investors meaningfully and transparently. Modern community sales on platforms like Legion and Echo feature robust regulatory frameworks, with thorough KYC and AML processes ensuring regulatory compliance and security. These inclusive fundraising opportunities require participants to make real capital commitments, even if modest, cultivating genuine stakeholder interest and reducing short-term speculation. Recent: Blockchain needs efficient use cases for AI agents: X Spaces recap with VCs One of the most significant advantages of community sales is their ability to democratize access. Investors gain entry under equitable terms, similar or sometimes superior to those previously reserved for venture capitalists. With minimum investments often as low as $100, community sales encourage broad participation, helping to build a genuinely decentralized and committed investor base. Investors who financially commit are far more likely to become long-term holders and active community members. Win-win for projects, other investors, and the community For Web3 projects, community sales offer profound benefits beyond immediate capital raising. Early community involvement leads to a more distributed investor base, reducing concentration risk and diverse future users. Projects with broadly distributed tokens consistently exhibit more stable prices, higher community activity, and healthier onchain engagement. Community sales significantly enhance a project's market reputation. Embracing transparent, inclusive fundraising sends a clear signal to the market and prospective users — the project prioritizes collaboration and community involvement over the extraction of value. This transparency builds grassroots evangelism, drives organic growth, and creates a loyal community base committed to the project's ongoing success. Professional investors should embrace community sales and actively encourage their portfolio companies to allocate to the community. The broader crypto market benefits substantially from a shift toward community sales. Projects that raise funds transparently and inclusively from their communities tend to attract more stable, supportive investor bases. This stability positively affects token markets, reducing volatility, restoring investor confidence, and accelerating broader adoption and integration of blockchain technologies into everyday financial services and applications. Community sales represent far more than a revival of ICOs. They mark a mature approach, combining early crypto ideals with today's regulatory clarity and technological possibilities. Projects committed to community sales position themselves for initial fundraising success, enduring market resilience, and community loyalty. The crypto ecosystem, founded on principles of decentralization and inclusivity, should embrace this model to fulfill its potential. Founders should, where possible, include the community when raising capital, as in the end, everyone wins: WAGMI. The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer, 21Shares, or any affiliated organizations. Opinion by: Darius Moukhtarzadeh, Research Strategist at 21Shares. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
