First fossil nursery of the great white shark discovered

Paleo-kindergarten ensured evolutionary success millions of years ago

UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA

 

IMAGE: SET OF TEETH OF TODAY'S WHITE SHARK AND A RECONSTRUCTED SET OF TEETH OF A FOSSIL GREAT WHITE SHARK. view more 

CREDIT: ©JAIME VILLAFAÑA/JUERGEN KRIWET

The great white shark is one of the most charismatic, but also one of the most infamous sharks. Despite its importance as top predator in marine ecosystems, it is considered threatened with extinction; its very slow growth and late reproduction with only few offspring are - in addition to anthropogenic reasons - responsible for this.

Young white sharks are born in designated breeding areas, where they are protected from other predators until they are large enough not to fear competitors any more. Such nurseries are essential for maintaining stable and sustainable breeding population sizes, have a direct influence on the spatial distribution of populations and ensure the survival and evolutionary success of species. Researchers* have therefore intensified the search for such nurseries in recent years in order to mitigate current population declines of sharks by suitable protection measures. "Our knowledge about current breeding grounds of the great white shark is still very limited, however, and palaeo-nurseries are completely unknown", explains Jaime Villafaña from the University of Vienna.

He and his colleagues analysed statistically 5 to 2 million year old fossil teeth of this fascinating shark, which were found at several sites along the Pacific coast of Chile and Peru, to reconstruct body size distribution patterns of great white shark in the past. The results show that body sizes varied considerably along the South American paleo-Pacific coast. One of these localities in northern Chile, Coquimbo, revealed the highest percentage of young sharks, the lowest percentage of "teenagers". Sexually mature animals were completely absent.

This first undoubted paleo-nursery of the Great White Shark is of enormous importance. It comes from a time when the climate was much warmer than today, so that this time can be considered analogous to the expected global warming trends in the future. "If we understand the past, it will enable us to take appropriate protective measures today to ensure the survival of this top predator, which is of utmost importance for ecosystems," explains palaeobiologist Jürgen Kriwet: "Our results indicate that rising sea surface temperatures will change the distribution of fish in temperate zones and shift these important breeding grounds in the future".

This would have a direct impact on population dynamics of the great white shark and would also affect its evolutionary success in the future. "Studies of past and present nursery grounds and their response to temperature and paleo-oceanographic changes are essential to protect such ecological key species," concluded Jürgen Kriwet.

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Publication in Scientific Reports:

First evidence of a palaeo-nursery area of the great white shark.
Villafaña, J.A., Hernandez, S., Alvarado, A., Shimada, K., Pimiento, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Kriwet, J., in: Scientific Reports,
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65101-1

YOUR HOST IN THE JAWS OF A MEGADON DRUMHELLER AB 2019

Indigenous collaboration and leadership key to managing sea otter population recovery

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

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IMAGE: A GROUP PHOTO FROM THE 2014 COASTAL VOICES WORKSHOP. view more 

CREDIT: ILJA HERB

A new study highlights the need to engage Indigenous communities in managing sea otter population recovery to improve coexistence between humans and this challenging predator.

The sea otters' recovery along the northwest coast of North America presents a challenge for coastal communities because both otters and humans like to eat shellfish, such as sea urchins, crabs, clams and abalone. Expanding populations of sea otters and their arrival in new areas are heavily impacting First Nations and Tribes that rely on harvesting shellfish.

SFU lead author Jenn Burt says the study focused beyond the challenges to seek solutions going forward. "We documented Indigenous peoples' perspectives which illuminated key strategies to help improve sea otter management and overall coexistence with sea otters."

Most research focuses on how sea otter recovery greatly reduces shellfish abundance or expands kelp forests, rather than on how Indigenous communities are impacted, or how they are adapting to the returning sea otters' threat to their food security, cultural traditions, and livelihoods.

Recognizing that Indigenous perspectives were largely absent from dialogues about sea otter recovery and management, SFU researchers reached out to initiate the Coastal Voices collaboration.

Coastal Voices is a partnership with Indigenous leaders and knowledge holders representing 19 First Nations and Tribes from Alaska to British Columbia.

Based on information revealed in workshops, interviews, and multiple community surveys, SFU researchers and collaborating Indigenous leaders found that human-otter coexistence can be enabled by strengthening Indigenous governance authority and establishing locally designed, adaptive co-management plans for sea otters.

The study, published this week in People and Nature also suggests that navigating sea otter recovery can be improved by incorporating Indigenous knowledge into sea otter management plans, and building networks and forums for community discussions about sea otter and marine resource management.

"Our people actively managed a balanced relationship with sea otters for millennia," says co-author and Haida matriarch Kii'iljuus (Barbara Wilson), a recent SFU alumnus.

"Our work with Coastal Voices and this study helps show how those rights and knowledge need to be recognized and be part of contemporary sea otter management."

Anne Salomon, a professor in SFU's School of Resource and Environmental Management, co-authored the study and co-led the Coastal Voices research partnership.

"This research reveals that enhancing Indigenous people's ability to coexist with sea otters will require a transformation in the current governance of fisheries and marine spaces in Canada, if we are to navigate towards a system that is more ecologically sustainable and socially just," says Salomon.

Despite challenges, the authors say transformation is possible. They found that adaptive governance and Indigenous co-management of marine mammals exist in other coastal regions in northern Canada and the U.S. They suggest that increasing Indigenous leadership and Canadian government commitments to Reconciliation may provide opportunities for new approaches and more collaborative marine resource management.

A group photo of the Coastal Voices team in Alaska. CREDIT Tim Malchoff

Aboriginal rock art, frontier conflict and a swastika

Murray River rockshelter reveals region's history
NEWS RELEASE 18-MAY-2020

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

IMAGE: WESTERN CAVITY ADJACENT TO PUDJINUK ROCKSHELTER NO. 1 FACING WEST (NOTE THAT THE ENTRANCE TO THE ROCKSHELTER IS PARTIALLY CONCEALED FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT). PHOTO BY AMY ROBERTS, 13 SEPTEMBER... view more 

CREDIT: AMY ROBERTS, FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

A hidden Murray River rockshelter speaks volumes about local Aboriginal and European settlement in the Riverland, with symbols of conflict - including a swastika symbol - discovered in Aboriginal rock art.

The engravings studied in 188 engravings in a remote South Australian rockshelter are a stark reminder of colonial invasion and the strife brewing in Europe ahead of World War Two, Flinders University archaeologists have revealed.

The 'graffiti' has been etched over or adjacent to Aboriginal rock art at a culturally significant rockshelter in limestone cliffs of the Murray River near Waikerie in South Australia.

The engravings reveal the deep Aboriginal significance of the rockshelter, the traumatic period of European invasion, and the frontier conflict and ongoing impacts of colonial settlement, says lead author Flinders Associate Professor Amy Roberts, who works with members of the local Aboriginal community.

The archaeologists from Flinders University, in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, have published their observations in a new article in Australian Archaeology.

"Of the 188 motifs identified, only one engraving remained that could be positively identified as a pre-European Aboriginal design - a 'treelike' motif," Associate Professor Roberts says.

"The rest of the identifiable historical inscriptions were the work of members of frontier conflict/punitive expeditions, local European settlers and a non-local Aboriginal man. Of the motifs that can be confidently identified one incorporates a swastika, engraved in 1932."

The first European historical inscriptions were engraved by members of volunteer police parties on punitive expeditions, and were part of a historical trajectory that later culminated in the Rufus River Massacre.

"It is unlikely that police party members were unaware of this deliberate desecration when they added their names to the front of the shelter," says co-author Flinders University Professor Heather Burke.

The authors argue that these historical engravings breach the Aboriginal cultural space and represent the first acts of trespass and desecration.

Fiona Giles, co-chair of the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, says: "We need to tell these stories to protect our history and heritage so that our culture is respected and not lost.

"For us, as traditional owners, this rockshelter is a highly significant and special place. It tells the stories of our ancestors and shows our deep connection to the river and reminds us of how our people lived before Europeans invaded our world," she says.

Example of panel of significant surface preparation for inscriptions. Photo Ellen Tiley 2016

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The paper, 'Connection, trespass, identity and a swastika: mark-making and entanglements at Pudjinuk Rockshelter No. 1, South Australia'(April 2020) by Amy Roberts, Heather Burke, Catherine Morton and the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation has been published in Australian Archaeology DOI:10.1080/03122417.2019.1738666

Research at the Pudjinuk rockshelters is being funded by the Australian Research Council [LP170100479].

"Saving the Planet" Requires the Destruction of the Capitalist State and the Exercise of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!

The International Group of the Communist Left (www.igcl.org), Septembre 20th 2019.


No one doubts today, especially in the face of global warming, that capitalism is ’destroying the planet’ and threatening the very survival of the human species. Even the most fervent followers, ideologues and propagandists of ’capitalism economic liberalism’, such as the Financial Times and The Economist, which in recent days have declared that it was "time to a reset" for capitalism, that "business must make a profit but should serve a purpose too" and ’profoundly chang[e] the economy’ [1]. Up to the point of launching a global media and political campaign encouraging and promoting more than 5000 demonstrations against global warming throughout the world. The reality of the opposition between capitalism and nature is obvious to all - except for some Trump and Bolsonaro who can thus serve as useful idiots, as stooges, to give more credit to the current ecological mobilization. All ideological bourgeois currents, from economic liberals, Keynesians, left-wing anti-liberals, to the most radical anti-capitalists - ex-Stalinists, Trotskyists and leftists - are calling for a general mobilization. Some capitalist companies even invite their employees to ’strike’ so that they can go on demonstration!

That capitalism "estrang[es] from man nature and himself" [2] was already established, noted, explained, criticized and denounced from the very first theoretical and programmatic steps of the revolutionary workers movement, through its theory, Marxism. Nothing new in itself, therefore, for the conscious proletarians and communists. But according to the capitalist media and most state apparatus, there is an absolute urgency since tomorrow it will be too late because of irreversible consequences. According to the latest IPCC report [3], "at the current rate of emissions, global warming will reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052. Without increasing the ambition of the signatory countries of the Paris Agreement and without immediate implementation of the necessary measures, global warming is expected to reach 3°C by 2100" [4].

Sustainable Development and Degrowth ?

To answer this, there would essentially be two options: sustainable development or, for the most radical, degrowth. The opposition between the two is only apparent because they remain on the same ground. Both delimit the scope of political action to the capitalist ideological, political and state framework. Even the most radical limit the struggle within the framework of capitalism, the people and citizens ignoring any contradiction and class division within them, bourgeois democracy and its state when they demand that "Government (...) tell the truth (sic!) by declaring a climate and ecological emergency ; [that they] act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025; [and] create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice" (https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/demands/).

Sustainable development or degrowth - in whatever form and degree - does not call into question the factor of global warming: capitalism; that is, the ever-renewed and expanded accumulation of capital, the ever-increasing pursuit of profit, and widespread commodification. And the political solutions that accompany both are inevitably false solutions from the point of view of preserving the planet; and real impasses and ideological and political traps from the point of view of the revolutionary class, the proletariat. It goes the same for ecological ideology as well as pacifist. Capitalism is war - another classic thesis of Marxism - and pacifism, whatever the conscience and sincerity of each pacifist, is only a means and a moment of preparation for imperialist war. Capitalism is also the inevitable destruction of the environment and ecologism, whatever the conscience and sincerity of each ecologist (often also pacifist by the way), is only a means and a moment of the recruitment behind and in defence of the democratic state in view of the generalized imperialist war.

Why and How Communism is the Only ’Solution’?

Only Communism can put an end to wars and production that devastate the planet. Of course, we are not talking about so-called communism, in fact a particular form of state capitalism due to historical conditions that were also particular, of the former USSR or Stalinist China, which made the growth of industrial production the criterion of the superiority of their so-called socialism over capitalism. And whose object was ultimately only aimed at war.... Nationalization and state control have never been socialist or communist measures like Marx and Engels already in their time [5] have never ceased to warn.

"If, in socialism, there is accumulation, it will be presented as an accumulation of material objects useful to human needs and these will not need to appear alternately as currency, nor will they need to undergo the application of a ’monetometer’ to measure and compare them according to a ’general equivalent’. Therefore, these objects will no longer be commodities and will only be defined by their physical and qualitative quantitative nature, which is expressed by economists, and also by Marx, for the purpose of exposure, by use-value.

It can be established that the rates of accumulation in socialism, measured in material quantities such as tons of steel or kilowatts of energy, will be slow and slightly higher than the rate of population growth. With regard to mature capitalist societies, rational planning of consumption in quantity and quality and the abolition of the huge mass of anti-social consumption (from cigarettes to aircraft carriers) will probably determine a long period of declining production indices and therefore, if we use old terms, disinvestment and disaccumulation" [6] (A. Bordiga).

Saving the planet can only be achieved if we produce for human needs and not for profit. But also, and much more immediately, by removing the threat of generalized imperialist war to which capitalist crisis inevitably leads. That is why the fight against the capitalist state and its destruction is the real urgency for the salvation of the planet. However, this fight can only be fought by the social class that is "s[unk] to the level of (...) the most wretched of commodities" [7], the labour force commodity, that is the proletariat. Because it alone "is a really revolutionary class [and can sweep] away by force the old conditions of production [and] the conditions for the existence of class antagonisms and of classes generally, and will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class" (Manifesto of the Communist Party). And thus can restore human being’s unity with nature, "his body, with which he must remain in continuous interchange if he is not to die" [8].

The present campaign against global warming - however real and dangerous it may be - aims instead to drag the populations, especially the younger generation, behind capitalist states and democratic ideology in the name of the people. And to divert their attention from the class struggle and the international proletariat. At a time when the capitalist class is redoubling its attacks against the proletarians everywhere because of the economic impasse and the growing imperialist tensions and wars. At a time when a massive confrontation between the classes is becoming the central issue because the fate of humanity will depend on its outcome: towards a society without exploitation, no class, no misery, no war, or towards a generalized imperialist war.

To those who really want to fight capitalism and its dramatic consequences of all kinds: it is not in demonstrations encouraged, promoted and even organised by States that they will be able to advance ’the cause of saving the planet’. It is by joining proletarian struggles, workers’ struggles, strikes, demonstrations, etc. and by getting closer to proletarian and revolutionary minorities, especially those of the Communist Left. Because so, and only so, will they be able to find a militant commitment and a theoretical and political coherence that will allow them to integrate and actively participate in the struggle for the true safeguarding of the planet and humanity: the historical struggle of the international revolutionary proletariat for Communism.

The International Group of the Communist Left (www.igcl.org), Septembre 20th 2019.

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Notes:


[1] . Quoted by the French radio France Inter: https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/l-edito-eco/l-edito-eco-20-septembre-2019. The second is translated by us.


[2] . Because wage labour which "tear[s] away from man the object of his production" and ’takes nature from him’, Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, K. Marx.


[3] . Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.


[4] . https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/quil-faut-retenir-du-rapport-du-giec-sur-rechauffement-climatique (translated by us).


[5] . Not even Lenin by the way - and contrary to what Stalinism, and also partly Trostky himself, claimed - despite the particularly dramatic conditions in Russia after October 1917 and the emergency state capitalist measures that had to be taken in the face of the destruction of the war, international isolation, the paralysis of the productive apparatus and the famine and misery that resulted from it... But that is another question.


[6] . A. Bordiga, Structure économique et sociale de la Russie d’aujourd’hui, Éditions de l’oubli, collection of article and texts written in the 1950, translated by us from French).


[7] . Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, K. Marx.


[8] . (idem)

NFU Calls for a Workforce Complete with International Workers   The NFU stands in solidarity with migrant workers for good jobs and rights.  That includes their right to count on work when contracts have been signed.  The New Brunswick government's decision to exclude foreign workers from arriving in the Province has broken contracts that workers were counting on and has left farmers in New Brunswick without the labour force they need.  The NFU-NB issued a joint letter asking the Province to overturn its decision presented here in English and in French.  The national office sent a follow-up letter and the CBC ran a story in print  and video (below) on the impact of that decision on Strawberry Hill Farm, owned by NFU members Tim and Kirsten Livingstone. We have heard recently that there is a rising distrust of foreign workers.  These workers often have years of experience and special skills that cannot be replaced with inexperienced Canadian labour.  We respect peoples' concerns about Canadian employment, but also respect the skills and dedication that the foreign labour have brought to Canadian farms. We continue to call for good working conditions and respect for all workers.  Please join us in speaking up for them as they work hard to provide Canadians and the world with good food.

NFU Letter - Time to rebuild our meat processing system Dear Editor, The recent closures of meat packing plants in Alberta, Quebec and several American states due to the Covid-19 pandemic are shedding light on the tremendous expense of this style of massive meat processing operation. The expense borne by the workers at the plants is the greatest of all, their health threatened so severely, even causing death to two Cargill workers in Alberta. However the expense doesn’t stop there, as consumers are expected to see meat prices jump, farmers have seen the prices paid for their animals drop by more than 30% and tax payers will ultimately pay the price to help bail out this sector. Several decades ago when the move to close smaller slaughterhouses in favour of building huge single entity plants was happening, the rationale was that there were going to be tremendous efficiencies in doing this. National Farmers Union studies showed that the promised efficiencies of consumers seeing cheaper meat and farmers making a decent living simply did not materialize. The spread between what famers are paid for their animals and what consumers pay for meat has grown. The working conditions at the plants with thousands of animals being slaughtered each day are stressful at the best of times and downright dangerous now. Farmers suddenly have nowhere to sell their animals and consumers are starting to see less meat on the shelves. Now is the time to look at how we can build a meat processing system that will not cause these massive problems. A move to build smaller, safer slaughter plants in each province would help to disperse the threats to food security. We could assure meat supply from local farms to meet local demands. If one plant was forced to close it would not disrupt the food chain across the entire country. Providing safe secure food from local farms to local consumers is entirely possible without putting meat packing workers at risk. Surely we’ve learned that bigger is not always better. Vicki Burns, Winnipeg MB Fred Tait, Rossendale MB

Contact information: Website: www.nfu.ca Telephone: 306-652-9465 Email: nfu@nfu.ca Our mailing address is: 2717 Wentz Ave., Saskatoon, SK S7K 4B6 Local Abattoirs The NFU and its members have been talking about the need for more Provincially-inspected local abattoirs for years before the COVID crisis raised the issue to the public. Issues at the Cargill plant highlighted the bottleneck created by the conglomeration of processing as the NFU brought to the public's attention through this media release and this backgrounder. (Ici en français: communiqué et fiche d'information) A national Livestock Committee has been struck to address the many issues around livestock and the NFU-Ontario released this letter highlighting the need for local abattoirs.  More action on this issue will follow.

CDC: The coronavirus 'does not spread easily' from contaminated surfaces
Anna Medaris Miller

Crystal Cox/Business Insider


In updated language on its website, the CDC emphasized that the coronavirus spreads easily between people but not easily in other ways, such as on surfaces. 

The newly-formatted advice, drawing attention to this detail, is confusing in light of eye-catching simulations, past research, and expert guidance on how to disinfect surfaces. 

Overall, though, the science has been consistent on how the disease spreads: through close, prolonged contact with people. 

While you should still disinfect high-touch surfaces regularly just in case, it's more important to wash your hands and avoid touching your face. 

If you've been obsessively wiping down doorknobs, groceries, packages, and keyboards to protect yourself from the novel coronavirus, you might be able to lighten up: The virus "does not spread easily" that way, according to newly revised guidance on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

It also doesn't spread easily from people to animals, or from animals to people, the website says.

Rather, as experts have long emphasized, the virus spreads easily between people who are within about six feet of each other. Specifically, when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, respiratory droplets can be inhaled by someone nearby and potentially get them sick.

"The virus that causes COVID-19 is spreading very easily and sustainably between people," the website says. "Information from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic suggest that this virus is spreading more efficiently than influenza, but not as efficiently as measles, which is highly contagious."

While this information isn't new, the website's new formatting calls more attention to how the disease isn't likely to spread. That's confusing in light of catchy simulations, past research showing how long the virus can live on surfaces, and expert guidance on how to disinfect various objects.

Plus, the CDC still recommends people "routinely clean and disinfect" high-touch surfaces since it still may be possible, however unlikely, to contract COVID-19 through them.

"It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes," the website says. "This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus."

Crystal Cox/Business Insider

Washing your hands is more important than disinfecting surfaces, but doing both can't hurt

Most important, as always, when it comes to protecting yourself from the coronavirus is avoiding close, prolonged contact with people you don't live with. If you may come into such a situation, it's better to be outside and to wear a mask.

Cleaning surfaces is a lower-priority precaution you can take. To do it properly, it's important to use a product that would kill enough of the virus to prevent disease, Rachel Graham, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, previously told Business Insider's Aylin Woodward.

"Most commercial products labeled 'disinfectants' talk about a 99.9% kill rate," she said, which would bring the potential infectious dose of the virus low enough to keep you safe.

She said smooth, nonporous surfaces like doorknobs and tabletops are better at carrying viruses than porous surfaces like money, hair, and cloth.

The best way, though, to prevent contracting the coronavirus from surfaces, if that's even possible, is to frequently and thoroughly wash your hands and avoid touching your face.

"Of course," Woodward writes, "the coronavirus can't infect you through your hands, so if you never touch your eyes, nose, mouth, you can avoid infection."

TRUMP DEMANDS THAT CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES, MOSQUES AND PLACES OF WORSHIP IN AMERICA BE OPENED 

Trump declares houses of worship essential and claims he will override governors if they disagree
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-declares-houses-of-worship-essential-says-hell-override-governors-2020-5

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

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Coronavirus: South Korea church leader apologises for virus ...

https://www.bbc.com › news › world-asia-51701039

The head of the religious sect that has been at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea has apologised to the nation for the disease's spread.

Coronavirus: South Korea sect leader to face probe over ...

https://www.bbc.com › news › world-asia-51695649

The country has reported 3,730 cases and 21 deaths so far. More than half of all infections involve members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a fringe Christian ...

Why Are South Koreans Blaming a Church for the Coronavirus

https://www.nytimes.com › 2020/03/09 › opinion › coronavirus-south-korea...

Mar 9, 2020 - South Korean soldiers spraying disinfectant in front of a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu last week. Some people are ...

How a South Korean church helped fuel the spread of the ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com › world › coronavirus-south-korea-church

Mar 25, 2020 - From the movements and contacts of the first people with confirmed cases of covid-19 in South Korea, we get a real-life picture of how a ...

How coronavirus spread through the Shincheonji religious ...

https://www.cnn.com › 2020/02/26 › asia › shincheonji-south-korea-hnk-intl

Feb 27, 2020 - A former member of the religious group tied to South Korea's coronavirus outbreak says worshipers had to attend mass when ill and couldn't ...

New coronavirus cluster linked to South Korean church ...

https://www.richmond-news.com › news › asia-pacific-news › new-corona...

Mar 16, 2020 - A new coronavirus cluster linked to a South Korean religious group emerged on Monday, with 46 cases at a church near Seoul that defied calls ...

Why a South Korean Church Was the Perfect Petri Dish for ...

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Mar 2, 2020 - Health workers at the Shincheonji church in Daegu, South Korea, on ... Why a South Korean Church Is Accused of Spreading the Coronavirus.

Trump declares houses of worship essential and claims he will override governors if they disagree
Grace Panetta and Eliza Relman
7 hours ago

Parishioners wearing face masks at a Mass at Christ the King Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas, on May 19. San Antonio parishes have begun reopening their doors for in-person services. Eric Gay/AP Photo

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would move to designate churches and other houses of worship as essential services.

Trump said he would "override" governors who did not open up their houses of worship for in-person services, though he likely does not have the authority to do so.

"I call upon governors to allow our churches and places of worship to open right now," Trump said. "If there's any question, they're going to have to call me, but they're not going to be successful in that call."

President Donald Trump announced at the White House on Friday that he would designate churches and other houses of worship as essential services.

Trump added that he would "override" governors who don't open up their houses of worship for in-person services, though he likely does not have the authority to do so because of the 10th Amendment, which delegates all powers not explicitly delegated to the federal government in the Constitution to the states.

"I call upon governors to allow our churches and places of worship to open right now," Trump said. "If there's any question, they're going to have to call me, but they're not going to be successful in that call.

"These are places that hold our society together and keep our people united. The people are demanding to go to church and synagogue, go to their mosque."

Trump argued that businesses like liquor stores and medical services like abortion clinics shouldn't have been reopened before religious institutions.

"The ministers, pastors, rabbis, imams, and other faith leaders will make sure that their congregations are safe as they gather and pray," Trump said. "I know them well. They love their congregations. They love their people. They don't want anything bad to happen to them or to anybody else.

"The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important, essential places of faith to open right now."

He added, "If they don't do it, I will override the governors."

The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, dismissed reporters' questions about the legality of forcing governors to reopen places of worship as a "hypothetical."

"You're assuming that governors are going to keep churches shut down and keep mosques shut down and keep synagogues shut down — that is a hypothetical question, and we'll leave it to these faith communities to reopen," McEnany said, adding, "We can all hope that this Sunday people are allowed to pray to their gods across this country."

McEnany said it was safe to reopen house of worship as long as they followed the new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The White House had rejected the CDC's draft guidelines for reopening places of worship, as some officials found them too restrictive and others didn't want to release any guidance, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The rejected draft CDC guidance recommended that houses of worship temporarily stop using shared materials including prayer books, hymnals, and collection trays for donations. It also suggested not having musical groups perform.