Opinion Canada must step up to share more vaccines with the developing world
Dr. Ivar Mendez 

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed close to four million people and infected more than 177 million worldwide.

© Provided by Leader Post SASKATOON,SK--NOVEMBER 21/2019-9999 news Ivar Mendez Decade- Doctor Ivar Mendez, who works in remote medicine/robotics/neurosurgery, at his office in the Health Sciences Building on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon, SK on Thursday, November 21, 2019.

Successful vaccination strategies are substantially decreasing the number of COVID-19 infections and mortality rates in high-income countries while low-resourced countries are suffering the onslaught of the third wave with soaring deaths and infections.


I have recently returned from a humanitarian mission in Bolivia, the place where I was born, and have seen firsthand the devastating effects of COVID in a low-resourced setting. As cases increased, the country first ran out of ICU beds and then regular hospital beds. We implemented a program of virtual care where patients are taken care of at home by their relatives who communicate with their physicians with cellphones. We distributed portable oxygen concentrators, digital pulse oximeters, stethoscopes and thermometers that connect with regular cellphones. Using these simple devices, the COVID doctors can effectively monitor patients in their homes and instruct their family members in their care. The many years of experience of implementing virtual care in Saskatchewan using robotic technologies were invaluable to my work in Bolivia. Although this COVID virtual care program has saved many lives, the overall situation in Bolivia as it confronts the third wave is dire.

The COVID mortality rate in Canada is 681 in one million, while in Bolivia the rate is twice that, with over 1,300 deaths per million. Canada has tested 935,000 people per million population;, in Bolivia the rate is 136,000 per million. To date, more than 60 per cent of the population of Canada has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine; only 12 per cent of Bolivia’s population has received their first dose. It is estimated that more than 250 physicians have died from COVID in Bolivia, which has a population of 11 million.
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These statistics illustrate a significant gap in tackling the pandemic globally. COVID-19 is a global event that requires a global approach and solution. The sharing of vaccines worldwide is crucial in confronting the pandemic. As transmission rates skyrocket in unvaccinated populations, the unchecked virus has a greater chance of mutating and developing variants that can challenge the effectiveness of current vaccines. Sharing vaccines is in our best interest as it will protect us from new variants and help end the pandemic sooner. An uncontrolled pandemic wreaks havoc on the economies of the world and affects everybody. It has been shown that for every dollar spent in helping poor countries defeat the pandemic, high-income countries get $4.80 as a result of boosting the global economy.

The G7 countries have purchased about 35 per cent of all the approved vaccines while they only make up 13 per cent of the global population. They have more than a billion doses extra than what is required to fully vaccinate their population. The time to share these vaccines with vulnerable populations around the world is now. There is still a huge gap in the vaccination of health-care workers and the elderly in the developing world. It is estimated that 11 billion doses are needed in the developing world to vaccinate 70 per cent of the population.

Sharing vaccines should be done in sufficient and predictable volumes and concurrently with the rollout of vaccine programs by high-resource countries. This will ensure equity and maximum impact on controlling the pandemic and the surge of COVID variants. Canada must be a leader in sharing vaccines with poor countries as it has ordered 252.9 million doses, enough to vaccinate every Canadian three times over. It is a moral imperative to share vaccines with the less fortunate, and with COVID-19, no one is safe until everybody is safe.

Dr. Ivar Mendez is the provincial head of surgery for the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

Brazil still debating dubious virus drug amid 500,000 deaths

By DAVID BILLER and DÉBORA ÁLVARES

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FILE - In this May 26, 2021 file photo, a demonstrator holds an image of the Brazilian flag covered in fake blood and the Portuguese phrase "Bolsonaro Genocide" during an anti-government protest by unions against President Jair Bolsonaro's policies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Brasilia, Brazil. Brazil's Senate is publicly investigating how the death toll got so high, focusing on why Bolsonaro's government ignored opportunities to buy vaccines for months. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — As Brazil hurtles toward an official COVID-19 death toll of 500,000 — second-highest in the world — science is on trial inside the country and the truth is up for grabs.

With the milestone likely to be reached this weekend, Brazil’s Senate is publicly investigating how the toll got so high, focusing on why President Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right government ignored opportunities to buy vaccines for months while it relentlessly pushed hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug that rigorous studies have shown to be ineffective in treating COVID-19.

The nationally televised hearings have contained enough scientific claims, counterclaims and outright falsehoods to keep fact-checkers busy.

The skepticism has extended to the death toll itself, with Bolsonaro arguing the official tally from his own Health Ministry is greatly exaggerated and some epidemiologists saying the real figure is significantly higher — perhaps hundreds of thousands higher.

Dr. Abdel Latif, who oversees an intensive care unit an hour from Sao Paulo, said the fear and desperation caused by the coronavirus have been compounded by misinformation and opinions from self-styled specialists and a lack of proper guidance from the government.

“We need real humane public health policy, far from the political fight and based on science and evidence,” he said.

Brazil’s reported death toll is second only to that of the U.S., where the number of lives lost has topped 600,000. Brazil’s population of 213 million is two-thirds that of the U.S.

The remains of a woman who died from complications related to COVID-19 are placed into a niche by cemetery workers and relatives at the Inahuma cemetery in Rio de Janeiro. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Over the past week, official data showed some 2,000 COVID-19 deaths per day in Brazil, representing one-fifth the global total and a jump public health experts warn may reflect the start of the country’s third wave.

Bolsonaro has waged a 15-month campaign to downplay the virus’s seriousness and keep the economy humming. He dismissed the scourge early on as “a little flu” and has scorned masks. He was not chastened by his own bout with COVID-19. And he kept touting hydroxychloroquine long after virtually all others, including President Donald Trump, ceased doing so.

As recently as last Saturday, Bolsonaro received cheers upon telling a crowd of supporters that he took it when infected.

“The next day,” he declared, “I was cured.”

Brazil's President Jair Bolsoanro, left, takes a motorcycle tour with supporters. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)

He pushed hydroxychloroquine so consistently that the first of his four health ministers during the pandemic was fired and the second resigned because they refused to endorse broad prescription of the medicine, they told the Senate investigating committee.

The World Health Organization stopped testing the drug in June 2020, saying the data showed it didn’t reduce deaths among hospitalized patients. The same month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked emergency authorization for the drug amid mounting evidence it isn’t effective and could cause serious side effects.

Nevertheless, the notion that medicines like hydroxychloroquine work against COVID-19 is one of the main things the fact-checking agency Aos Fatos has been forced to debunk continually for the past year, according to Tai Nalon, its executive director.

“This didn’t change, mostly because there is a lack of accountability of doctors and other medical authorities who propagate this sort of misinformation, and the government supports it,” Nalon said. “Basically it takes only the president to make any fact-checking efforts not useless, but less effective.″

In fact, the Senate hearings that began in April have turned into a forum for dueling testimony from doctors who are either pro- or anti-hydroxychloroquine, creating what some experts fear is a misimpression that the drug’s usefulness is still an open question in the international scientific community.

A health worker pauses in the ICU unit for COVID-19 patients at the Hospital das Clinicas in Porto Alegre (AP Photo/Jefferson Bernardes)

A Health Ministry official who is a pediatrician told the Senate that there is a much anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness and that the ministry provided guidelines for its use without explicitly recommending it. Fact-checkers cried foul, saying the ministry’s own records show it distributed millions of the pills nationwide for COVID-19 treatment.

A cancer specialist and immunologist who has been one of the drug’s biggest champions — and is said to be an informal adviser to the president — also testified, decrying demonization of a drug she said has saved lives. But fact-checkers proved her wrong when she claimed Mexico is still prescribing it for COVID-19.

Still, the drug is celebrated across social media, including Facebook and WhatsApp. And other misinformation is circulating as well.

Bolsonaro told a throng of supporters on June 7 that the real number of COVID-19 deaths in 2020 was only about half the official death toll, citing a report from the national accounting tribunal — which promptly denied producing any such document.

The president backtracked but has publicly repeated his claim of mass fraud in the death toll at least twice since.

Epidemiologists at the University of Sao Paulo say the true number of dead is closer to 600,000, maybe 800,000. The senators investigating the government’s handling of the crisis ultimately hope to quantify how many deaths could have been avoided.


Pedro Hallal, an epidemiologist who runs the nation’s largest COVID-19 testing program, has calculated that at least 95,000 lives would have been spared had the government not spurned vaccine purchase offers from Pfizer and a Sao Paulo institute that is bottling a Chinese-developed shot.

When the U.S. recorded a half-million COVID-19 deaths, President Joe Biden held a sunset moment of silence and a candle-lighting ceremony at the White House and ordered flags lowered for five days. Bolsonaro’s government plans no such observance.

The Health Ministry is instead trumpeting the 84 million doses administered so far. The number is mostly first shots; just 11% of Brazil’s population is fully vaccinated.

The Senate committee will name at least 10 people as formal targets of its investigation by next week, members told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. That could lead to a recommendation of charges by prosecutors. The list includes the pediatrician and cancer specialist who testified, the current health minister and his predecessor.

For his part, Bolsonaro has said the investigation amounts to persecution.

Last week, microbiologist Natalia Pasternak, who presides over the Question of Science Institute, a nonprofit that promotes the use of scientific evidence in public policies, went before the committee and decried the government’s “denialism.” She lamented that the myth of hydroxychloroquine won’t seem to die.

“In the sad case of Brazil, it’s a lie orchestrated by the federal government and the Health Ministry,” she said. “And that lie kills.”

___ Biller reported from Rio de Janeiro. AP videojournalist Tatiana Pollastri contributed from Valinhos, Sao Paulo.

Lordstown Motors reverses, says it has no firm truck orders

By JOHN SEEWER

yesterday

FILE - This Thursday, June 25, 2020, file photo shows the electric Endurance pickup at Lordstown Motors Corp., in Lordstown, Ohio. Startup electric truck maker Lordstown Motors says it’s still on track to begin production this fall despite a bumpy past week. Company executives in Ohio said Tuesday, June 15, 2021, that they have enough orders and cash on hand to keep operating through next May. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)


TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Struggling electric truck maker Lordstown Motors said Thursday it doesn’t have any firm orders for its vehicles, just days after its president said the company had enough to maintain production through 2022.

Questions have been mounting about whether Lordstown Motors has enough money to stay in business and about its previous claims that it already had presold 100,000 of its Endurance pickup trucks.

Lordstown CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez resigned on Monday, the same day the company acknowledged one potential buyer that committed to a large number of preorders doesn’t appear to have the resources to complete that transaction, and other preorders appear too vague or weak to be relied on for purchases.

A day later, company President Rich Schmidt said during a meeting of the Automotive Press Association of Detroit that Lordstown was on track to begin making the Endurance in the fall and had enough binding orders to keep going through 2022.

But the company on Thursday said the statements about the orders were not accurate.

“Although these vehicle purchase agreements provide us with a significant indicator of demand for the Endurance, these agreements do not represent binding purchase orders or other firm purchase commitments,” the company said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The price for shares of the company, which have been cut in half this year, slid at the opening bell Thursday before recovering.

Last week, the company warned it might not be in business next year because of difficulty with securing funding to begin full production at its former General Motors plant in Ohio near Youngstown. In a quarterly regulatory filing, the company said the $587 million it had on hand as of March 31 wasn’t enough to begin full commercial production.

Angela Strand, the company’s new chairwoman, said on Tuesday that the upheaval from the past week won’t interrupt the company’s day-to-day operations or its plans to start making the Endurance.

Fires stoked by heat, wind force evacuations in Montana

By MATTHEW BROWN

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Residents watch as flames from the Robertson Draw fire burn above Red Lodge, Mont., Tuesday evening, June 15, 2021. Wildfires burning in Montana exploded in size over the past 24 hours and triggered evacuations of people from rural areas as scorching heat and heavy winds stoked the blazes. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildfires in Montana have exploded in size, triggering evacuations and destroying an unknown number of homes as furious winds stoked the blazes and caused a firefighting helicopter to crash-land, officials said Wednesday.

The sudden ramping up of the fire season came as record-high, triple-digit temperatures early in the week baked much of Montana and portions of northern Wyoming. At least 14 new fires were reported in the two states since Tuesday.

Crews took advantage of a temporary break in the heat to dig fire lines, while aircraft dropped fire retardant to slow the advance of major blazes near Townsend in central Montana and Red Lodge near the Wyoming state line. Evacuation orders remained in place, and houses and other property remained in peril.

Hotel clerk Linda Bishop said “it looked like the end of the world” in Red Lodge, not far from Yellowstone National Park, when flames began chewing across the forested slopes of Mount Maurice that rise above the tourist town.

“In the afternoon, you could start to see the flames, and when it got dark, it looked like Armageddon,” said Bishop, who was up much of the night checking in arriving firefighters at the Beartooth Hideaway Inn and Cabins. “It was sad to see Mount Maurice burning. I just love that mountain.”

The fire was human caused and under investigation by the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Forest Service law enforcement, said Custer-Gallatin forest spokesperson Mariah Leuschen-Lonergan.

Further northwest in the Big Belt Mountains east of Townsend, firefighters pulled back from a separate fire burning in a heavily timbered canyon and took refuge in safety zones when the blaze began moving so fast and hot that it became unsafe to try to stop it, said Erin Fryer with the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.

The fire burning in timber and grass in the Deep Creek Canyon area grew overnight from less than 1 square mile (3 square kilometers) to more than 3 square miles (8 square kilometers). Eight structures were reported destroyed. It was unknown how many of those were homes.

Investigators were examining if a power line downed by a tree started the fire.

A state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation fire helicopter crash-landed in the heavy winds, rolled over and caught fire. The five people aboard got out safely and were taken to hospitals for minor injuries before being released Tuesday night, agency spokesperson Paige Cohn said. The crash remains under review, she said.

A subdivision with 65 houses and cabins was evacuated as the flames neared. Aircraft dropped retardant Wednesday to slow the fire’s advance on the Grassy Mountain subdivision.

Officials said at a news conference Wednesday night near Townsend that they plan on using more aircraft Thursday to drop retardant on the fire.

Several of the officials said the region’s wildfires started unusually early this year. They said they expect to get more staff and equipment to battle the fires. They asked for the public’s patience.




State Highway 12 remained closed through the area after the fire burned over a two-mile stretch of the road, causing damage and leaving debris, officials said.

Meanwhile, the fire near Yellowstone National Park and the state line with Wyoming grew from about 3 square miles (8 square kilometers) to more than 31 square miles (85 square kilometers) by Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of houses in the path of the blaze, fire spokesperson Amy Hyfield said.

The fire that started Sunday in the Robertson Draw area was threatening 450 homes and hundreds more buildings and other infrastructure, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. Some residents were being allowed home Wednesday evening, officials said during a public meeting, but were encouraged to remain vigilant and be ready to leave quickly.

Following a request from Gov. Greg Gianforte, the agency on Wednesday deemed the fire a major disaster because of the amount of damage it could cause, making Montana eligible for reimbursement for most costs. The Federal Emergency Management Administration authorized use of federal funds to help fight the blaze, U.S. Senator Jon Tester announced.

Crews had been deployed to protect houses, and about 21 buildings had been damaged as of Wednesday night, authorities said at the public meeting. They said the fire was human-caused, the person has been identified and officials have met with the county attorney amid an ongoing investigation. No injuries were reported.

The evacuation included U.S. Forest Service campgrounds and cabins on private inholdings south of Red Lodge.

Beartooth Pass — a highway that leads to Yellowstone National Park — remained open.

On the Crow Reservation, officials reported a new fire in the Bighorn Mountains near the Montana-Wyoming border. The fire was burning in steeply sided Little Bull Elk Canyon, with flames up to 150 feet (46 meters) high that threatened to spread the blaze, officials said.

Adjacent to the reservation, a new fire on National Forest land burned 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) near the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range after igniting Tuesday evening.

A fire 16 miles (26 kilometers) southwest of Ashland in southeast Montana threatened an unspecified number of homes and had burned 1 square mile (3 square kilometers).

Bill would pre-empt local say over offshore wind projects
By WAYNE PARRY June 15, 2021

This Oct. 1, 2020 photo shows wind turbines at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority plant in Atlantic City, N.J. On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, New Jersey lawmakers advanced a proposed law that would fast track offshore wind energy projects by pre-empting local controls over power lines and other onshore infrastructure associated with them. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)


ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey lawmakers are considering a law that would fast-track offshore wind energy projects by removing the ability of local governments to control power lines and other onshore components.

The bill, introduced last week and advanced on Tuesday, would give wind energy projects approved by the state Board of Public Utilities authority to locate, build, use and maintain wires and associated land-based infrastructure as long as they run underground on public property including streets. (The BPU could determine that some above-ground wires are necessary.)

It appears to be an effort to head off any local objections to at least one wind power project envisioned to come ashore at two former power plants, and run cables under two of the state’s most popular beaches.

At a virtual public hearing in April on the Ocean Wind project planned by Orsted, the Danish wind energy developer, and PSEG, a New Jersey utility company, officials revealed that the project would connect to the electric grid at decommissioned power plants in Ocean and Cape May Counties.

The northern connection would be at the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township; the southern connection would be at the former B.L. England plant in Upper Township.

Cables running from the wind farm, to be located between 15 and 27 miles (24 to 43 kilometers) off the coast of Atlantic City, would come ashore at one of three potential locations in Ocean City: 5th Street, 13th Street or 35th Street. They would then run under the roadway along Roosevelt Boulevard out to Upper Township and the former power plant, which closed in 2019.

Cables also would need to cross Island Beach State Park in Ocean County, running under the dunes and beach and existing parking lots, out into Barnegat Bay, coming ashore either directly at the Oyster Creek site in the Forked River section of Lacey, or at either Bay Parkway or Lighthouse Drive in Waretown, also known as Ocean Township in Ocean County.

An Orsted spokesperson said the company supports the bill, which he said “establishes a mitigation process for qualified offshore wind projects approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities if talks break down at the local level. This is critical for keeping timelines and schedules not only for the developer, but for the supply chain and workforce dedicated to the project.”

Orsted also proposes a second project off New Jersey, and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US LLC, also proposes an offshore wind farm off the state’s coast.

In addition, a Massachusetts company plans to build a high-voltage line to bring electricity from a future New Jersey offshore wind farm onto land, and connect it to the power grid. Anbaric, of Wakefield, Massachusetts, has already obtained several permits from New Jersey environmental regulators for what it calls its Boardwalk Power Link project.

The bill entitles a qualified wind energy project to obtain easements, rights-of-way or other property rights from any level of government that are necessary to build the project. The BPU would make a final decision if such approvals are withheld by governments.

No state, county or local government would be able to prohibit or charge a fee for the use of a street or other public property other than a road opening permit. If these governments refuse the permit for any other reason than legitimate public safety concerns, the state utilities board would be required to issue an order granting the necessary approval.

The wind energy developer would have to pay fair market value for easements or property rights it is awarded.

The bill was approved by a state Senate committee on Tuesday, and requires several additional approvals before being sent to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. It is to be considered Wednesday by an Assembly committee.

___

Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Study: Treating teachers' depression may boost grades of young students

By HealthDay News

When depression strikes teachers, they can suffer mightily, but a new study suggests their students' ability to learn might also be harmed.

Researchers found a correlation between teachers' depressive symptoms and math skills in early learners enrolled in Head Start programs.

Head Start is a U.S. government program providing early education, nutrition, health and parent support for low-income families.

Teachers' depressive symptoms were significantly associated with children's math achievement in Head Start programs. The linkage was through the quality of the teachers' relationships with the families, which in turn affected young children's motivation, engagement and persistence in learning, according to the investigators.

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The findings were published this week in the journal Child Development.

"The results indicate that alleviating Head Start teachers' depressive symptoms could support positive family-teacher relationships, as well as gains in children's approaches to learning and thereby their mathematical skills," said lead author Shinyoung Jeon, senior research and policy associate at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Early Childhood Education Institute.

"More research is needed to understand the best mechanisms through which to reduce Head Start teachers' depressive symptoms, and more investment is needed in support of teachers' mental well-being," Jeon said in a journal news release.

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"Interventions that pair support for teachers' psychological well-being along with emphasis on building high-quality family-teacher relationships, may benefit children's learning and development," Jeon said.

The study used data from the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014. This survey collected information on Head Start children, families, teachers, classroom quality and programs through direct child assessments, teacher surveys, parent surveys, classroom observation and director surveys.

Researchers included a sample of more than 1,500 children from 212 classroom in 113 centers at 59 Head Start programs in the United States.

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Children were from diverse ethnicities, including 27% White, 24% Black, 41% Hispanic/Latino, and 8% from other racial or ethnic groups.

The findings showed that teachers with higher levels of depressive symptoms reported more negative relationships with families.

Evidence suggested that family-teacher relationships were indirectly linked to math skills through children's approach to learning, though the study only found an association, and not a cause-and-effect link.

"Since we focused on Head Start children from low-income families, our study adds to the existing literature by identifying possible associations between a teacher's mental well-being and children's academic achievement that function via the quality of the teacher-parent relationship," said co-author Lieny Jeon, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Education in Baltimore.

"The study findings support Head Start's strong emphasis on family partnerships as a way to enhance Head Start children's learning behaviors and their subsequent effects on academic achievement," Lieny Jeon said.The authors noted the study had some limitations, including that some of the data was self-reported. More information

The organization Zero to Three offers tips for building early math skills.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Amazon opens first full-size cashierless grocery store in Seattle suburb
By Daniel Uria
JUNE 17, 2021 /

Amazon opens its first full-size Amazon Fresh grocery store in the Seattle area on Thursday. It allows customers to take what they need and walk out, skipping the traditional cashier line. Photo courtesy Amazon

June 17 (UPI) -- Amazon will bring its cashierless "Just Walk Out" checkout technology to a full-size grocery store for the first time on Thursday.

The 25,000-square-foot Amazon Fresh store at The Marketplace at Factoria in Bellevue, Wash., is set to open Thursday, letting customers pay by connecting their Amazon account or credit card before or after entering the store.


Using the "Just Walk Out" system, shoppers scan a QR code and link a payment account. Once inside, each item taken off of the shelf automatically enters a virtual cart -- and vanishes if it's placed back on the shelf.

At the end, shoppers just exit the store and are charged appropriately.
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Amazon has previously launched the technology in various locations but Thursday is the first time it's being expanded to a full-size store.




"Bringing Just Walk Out technology to a full-size grocery space with the Amazon Fresh store in Bellevue showcases the technology's continued ability to scale and adapt to new environments and selection," Dilip Kumar, Amazon vice president of Physical Retail and Technology, said in a statement.

"I'm thrilled it'll help even more customers enjoy an easier and faster way to shop and can't wait to get their feedback on this latest Just Walk Out offering."

Although the cashierless feature is a main part of the Washington store, there are traditional checkout lanes staffed with cashiers and other employees inside to help if customers need it.

Amazon says the store will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day following its launch and the company plans to expand into other markets soon.

Amazon opened its first cashierless Amazon Go grocery store in Seattle a little over a year ago -- which was just 10,400 square feet -- and has since opened 13 Amazon Fresh stores in California, Illinois and Virginia.

The curious case of the dog that did not bark 

Nighttime barking reveals new species of tree hyrax in Africa


Four different tree hyrax species are found throughout Africa, including a newly named species found living between the Volta and Niger rivers. Photo by Sharp Photography/Wikimedia Commons

June 14 (UPI) -- The novel nighttime barking of several tree hyrax populations in West and Central Africa first alerted scientists that the region's forests might host a unique, yet-named species.

Now, a new survey -- published Monday in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society -- has confirmed the hyraxes living between the Volta and Niger rivers are genetically and anatomical distinct from their relatives in neighboring forest regions.

Scientists recorded and analyzed calls from the newly named species, Dendrohyrax interfluvialis, found in the wet and dry forests of southeastern Ghana, southern Togo, southern Benin and southwestern Nigeria.

"Sometimes a keen ear is as important as a sharp eye," study co-author Eric Sargis, curator of mammalogy and vertebrate paleontology at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, said in a press release.

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"My co-authors John Oates and Simon Bearder were in Nigeria in 2009 researching galagos, a group of primates, when they noticed that the hyrax calls were different on one side of the Niger from the other. All the evidence we subsequently studied, including the distinctive vocalizations, points to a unique species in the forests between the Niger and the Volta."

Hyraxes are unusual animals. Roughly the size of a groundhog, the tree-dwelling mammals are closely related to manatees and elephants. Though they're nocturnal, their eyes don't shine in the darkness, making them quite difficult to study.

Sargis and his colleagues compared the calls of the new species to hundreds of hyrax calls recorded between 1968 and 2020 at 42 sites in 12 countries.

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Measurements of duration, frequency range, repetition rates and other call characteristics confirmed that the "rattle-barks" of the new species were distinct from the shrieking calls recorded in the forests west of the Volta and east of the Niger.

The researchers also performed anatomical analysis of several dozen museum specimens, in addition to sequencing genetic samples from a handful of tree hyrax specimens.

The analysis confirmed the tree hyrax populations found between the Niger and the Volta are distinct from neighboring hyrax lineages.

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"There is increasing evidence that the Niger and Volta Rivers are significant biogeographic barriers to a range of mammals," said Oates, emeritus professor of anthropology at Hunter College in New York City.

"Hyraxes, for instance, don't cross water easily, so it makes sense that, through millions of years of changing climate, as African forests have expanded and contracted, new species would have differentiated in isolated forest fragments known as refugia, and then have been limited in their subsequent dispersal by large rivers."

The latest research has helped highlight the unique biodiversity found between the Niger and Volta Rivers. Unfortunately, the region's many novel species are increasingly under threat from human development.

Logging and the expansion of large-scale agriculture has fragmented the region's forests, and researchers say that stronger protections and large wilderness preserves are needed to ensure vulnerable ecosystems remain intact.

'African Ghandi' Kenneth Kaunda dead at 97
By Kyle Barnett
JUNE 17, 2021 

Former Zambian president Kenneth "KK" Kaunda, also known as Africa's Gandhi for his commitment to non-violence, has died at age 97. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

June 17 (UPI) -- Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda has died at age 97.

Kaunda, known simply as "KK," was the father of Zambia's independence.

He was both feared and beloved throughout the African continent.

Kaunda, an avowed socialist, was Zambia's first elected and longest-serving president, having filled the office from 1964 to 1991, when he was defeated in fair elections.

Kuanda stepped down in the face of loss and began a new life as en elder statesman.

Kaunda carried the moniker the "African Gandhi" for his commitment to non-violence as he led Zambia to independence in 1964.

His time in power was ushered in along with the many movements for independence and equality of Black people in the countries across the region.

Altogether Kaunda spent six decades involved in the political sphere. He was the leader of the main nationalist party, the center-left UNIP. Kaunda also became an AIDS activist after having a son die of the disease.

Son Kambarage Kaunda posted the news of his passing on Facebook.

Kaunda was admitted to Maina Soko, a military hospital in Lusaka, on Monday, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Doctors said he did not have COVID-19. Kaunda's cause of death was pneumonia, according to Victoria Chitungu, a close family friend and author of a forthcoming biography of the former president that is expected to be released soon.

Israel's lack of a constitution deepens divisions between Jews, Arabs
By Brendan Szendro, Binghamton University, State University of New York
VOICES
JUNE 17, 2021 / 8:29 AM

Palestinians lift national flags during a protest against an Israeli ultra nationalist flag march in Jerusalem's Old City in Rafah in Southern Gaza on Tuesday. The Israeli march celebrates the anniversary of Israel's 1967 occupation of Jerusalem's eastern sector. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

June 17 (UPI) -- Renewed fighting has erupted between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, endangering a cease-fire instituted after an 11-day war in May.

The conflict in Gaza is an early test of Israel's new coalition government. Recently, parties across the political spectrum united to remove Israel's scandal-plagued Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power, ending a two-year political crisis -- though he may maneuver his way back into power.

While conducting dissertation research on the relationship between religion and state in Israel, I traced Israel's chronic instability to what I believe is its core: Unlike most countries, Israel does not have a constitution.

Why constitutions matter

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Constitutions constrain the power of governments by defining in precise terms who has what rights, what rights form the basis of legal decisions and how political power is dispersed among institutions.

Israel is governed by a changeable, ever-growing body of what are called "basic laws" -- "Chukei Ha-Yesod" in Hebrew. The basic laws were passed individually over the past 73 years, beginning with one two-page law that described the makeup of Israel's legislature, the Knesset, and citizens' voting rights.

Today, Israel is governed by a 124-page collection of 13 laws. Although the basic laws outline a vision of democratic rights, they remain, to paraphrase the late legal scholar Ruth Gavison, "unanchored."

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This allows Israel to maintain an ambiguous stance on key issues central to a nation's identity.

First, Israel has never officially defined the relationship between religion and state. Is Israel founded on the Jewish religion? Or is it a secular state that is home to Jews, with non-Jewish minorities? That question remains unanswered.

Nor has the country fully determined whether Arab Israelis and other non-Jewish citizens -- who make up about a quarter of its 9 million people -- enjoy the same rights as their Jewish counterparts.

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Israel also waffles on the relative power of the legislature and judiciary.

The Israeli Supreme Court has used this constitutional ambiguity to retroactively subject new legislation to judicial review. Meanwhile, legislators in the Knesset have tried to weaken the court's authority over their lawmaking. Incoming Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's Yamina party, for example, has previously attempted to pass legislation allowing the Knesset to override judicial decisions.

Even Israel's official borders aren't defined. Israel maintains it has sovereignty over the West Bank territory, but officially the West Bank is not part of Israel. So Palestinians living in the West Bank do not have rights under Israeli law, because they are not Israeli citizens.

Palestinians there live under Israeli military rule, subject to military law that is unconstrained by any constitutional bounds, alongside Israeli settlers who are subject to Israeli law.

This ambiguity led Yuli Tamir, an Israeli politician and academic, to quip, "Is Israel even an actual country?"

A young democracy

Israel is not the only parliamentary democracy without a formal constitution. The United Kingdom doesn't have one either.

But the United Kingdom has a large body of laws accumulated over centuries of political conflict. This well-established common-law tradition, which served as one of the sources for the United States' own Constitution, is the legal basis of governance there.

Israel, founded in 1948, does not have such a history to fall back on. And many of its problems are common to relatively young democracies. Weak, fractured party systems and competition between ethnic and religious groups are hallmarks of the democratization process. The early United States, for example, grappled with many such problems, too.

But rule of law generally prevails in the United States, and democracy progresses, because the courts and legislators defer to a central document: the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution outlines the powers of each branch of government, as well as procedures for amendment. The U.S. Bill of Rights -- the first 10 amendments -- guarantees specific rights of citizens.

Let's go logrolling

The Netanyahu government attempted to settle some long-running disagreements about Israel's identity during his most recent term in office -- though not necessarily with an eye toward strengthening liberal democracy.

In 2018, the Knesset passed a basic law naming Israel the "nation-state of the Jewish people." This effort to settle a central identity question pleased almost nobody. Left-wing and Arab Israelis objected to the tacit downgrading of Arabs to second-class status, while religious Jewish groups found the law too secular.

Divisive political gambles like this became commonplace in the late stages of Netanyahu's rule. As coalition politics became increasingly fragile, Netanyahu spiraled into what political scientists call "logrolling": using policy trade-offs among parties in exchange for political support.

This was especially the case in regard to religion, as Netanyahu bartered policies appeasing the Orthodox Jewish groups that kept him in power. In 2018, for example, Netanyahu's coalition passed new legislation enforcing previously symbolic laws such as restrictions on businesses operating on the sabbath. It was a punishing move for cities like Tel Aviv with large secular populations.

Similarly, Netanyahu's policy of encouraging Jewish settlers to move to the West Bank and other occupied Palestinian territories and build cities was more political strategy than religious fervor. His aggressive support for Jewish nationalism increasingly alienated Israel's Arab population, who have few legal avenues to challenge their treatment.

Minorities are mistreated and even subjugated in countries that have constitutions, too. But constitutions give them legal pathways to challenge that discrimination.

The Netanyahu era showed that strategic politicians can exploit Israel's constitutional vacuum to maintain power well beyond their popular mandate. These destabilizing issues will continue to fester as a new government takes the reins in Israel.

Brendan Szendro is a PhD candidate at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.