Archaeologists discover Neanderthal remains in caves near Rome

The remains of nine Neanderthals have been uncovered at a prehistoric site in Italy's Lazio region. The oldest could possibly be between 90,000 and 100,000 years old.

Local director of anthropology Mario Rubini said the discovery will shed "important light on the history of the peopling of Italy"

Archaeologists found the fossil remains of nine Neanderthal men in a cave near Rome, Italy's Culture Ministry said on Saturday.

Eight of them date to between 50,000 and 68,000 years ago, while the oldest could be 90,000 or 100,000 years old, the ministry said in a statement.

Archeologists made the major discovery in Grotta Guattari — prehistoric caves found more than 80 years ago — situated about 100 meters (328 feet) from the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in San Felice Circeo in Italy's Lazio region.

"Together with two others found in the past on the site, they bring the total number of individuals present in the Guattari Cave to 11, confirming it as one of the most significant sites in the world for the history of Neanderthal man," the ministry said.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini praised the find as "an extraordinary discovery which the whole world will be talking about."
What else was found?

Archaeologists began conducting new research into the Guattari Cave in October 2019. The cave was initially found by accident by a group of workers in 1939.

Paleontologist Albert Carlo Blanc discovered a well-preserved Neanderthal skull shortly afterward. The cave had been closed off by an ancient landslide.

Excavations also uncovered bones, craniums and other body parts at the site, as well animal remains such as the aurochs — an extinct bovine — and elephant, rhinoceros, giant deer, cave bears, wild horses and hyenas.

"Many of the bones found show clear signs of gnawing," the ministry statement said.

VIDEO Neanderthal remains discovered in cave near Rome

Ancient ancestors

Neanderthals are the closest known ancient relatives of humans.

In 2016, scientists found that Neanderthals from Siberia's Altai mountains may have shared 1-7% of their genetics with the ancestors of modern humans.

"Neanderthal man is a fundamental stage in human evolution, representing the apex of a species and the first human society we can talk about," said local director of anthropology Mario Rubini.

Rubini said the discovery of the Neanderthal remains near Rome will shed an "important light on the history of the peopling of Italy."

Neanderthals died out around 40,000 years ago. Scientists have suggested that factors including increased competition from modern humans as well as climate change which killed them off.

Watch video 12:06 COVID-19 Special: Ancient ancestors and our immune response

mvb/jlw (Reuters, AFP)

CORONAVIRUS

EU leaders call on US to present 'concrete' plan for vaccine waivers

European leaders meeting in Portugal have called on the US to put forth an actual plan for vaccine waivers. Most in the bloc appear exasperated with US President Joe Biden's proposal, saying it won't help.



Europeans are calling on the US to follow their example and export vaccines rather than pushing for patent waivers

European Union and EU member state leaders meeting for a social policy summit in Portugal called on the US to present a clear plan for President Joe Biden's proposal of waiving patents for COVID-19 vaccines as a way to boost global inoculations.

European Council President Charles Michel, who represents the bloc's 27 national leaders, said, "We are ready to engage on this topic as soon as a concrete proposal would be put on the table." Still, like other EU leaders, he voiced skepticism over the efficacy of such a waiver, saying it was not a "magic bullet."

Instead, he articulated what opponents to Biden's suggestion have been saying, namely, that patent waivers are not the way to increase vaccinations but rather increased production and distribution. "In Europe we made the decision to make exports possible and we encourage all partners to facilitate the export of doses."

Michel's words echoed those of French President Emmanuel Macron, who said: "It misses the point to say that [a patent waiver] is the emergency. The emergency is to produce more and increase solidarity now."

Reporting from the summit in Portugal, DW's Barbara Wesel said: "The EU's answer is 'we are ready to do everything — we are ready to help, we are ready to transfer knowledge and high-tech materials in order to get production going in those countries but we are not really ready to throw out the patents which might then be just snatched up by China.'" Wesel also noted that there was "some anger underneath the diplomatic formulations that you hear" at the summit.

Aurélia Nguyen, Head of the Office of the Covax Facility, welcomes US support

Critics in the EU have changed their tune

When Biden first brought up the idea of vaccine patent waivers on Wednesday — something that India and South Africa proposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) last October — EU leaders seem to have been caught off guard, with only Germany openly rejecting the proposal.

DW's Delhi bureau chief Amrita Cheema called Biden's support for patent waivers "a big moral victory for the two countries in a matter of principle," citing the fact that India is the world's biggest producer of generic drugs.

Since then, however, there has been a shift in attitudes. That has become increasingly clear as European politicians have further discussed the issue in Portugal.

Although Greece and Italy have signaled support, most others have pointed instead to what they say is the real problem: distribution. Portugal, Estonia, Belgium and Ireland are among those countries that have now joined the waiver-skeptic bloc.

Now, Europeans have moved from the fear of looking like the bad guys for blocking patent waivers to calling out the US and UK for failing to export any of the vaccines they produce.

Macron, for instance, railed against the US and UK for policies that call for inoculating all of their own citizens before sharing vaccines with others, "you must open up,'' he said. "In the United States, in the United Kingdom, 100% of what has been produced has been used in the domestic market. First of all, the Anglo-Saxons must stop their bans on exports."

Watch video04:03 How significant could a vaccine patent waiver be for India?

Europe: 'Pharmacy of the world' says von der Leyen

The European Union on the other hand, has exported nearly half of the roughly 400 million doses it has produced to some 90 countries around the world. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said: "an IP [intellectual property] waiver will not solve the problems, will not bring a single dose of the vaccine in the short- and medium-term," later called the EU, "the pharmacy of the world" for its generous export policy.

On Saturday, von der Leyen also announced that leaders had signed off on a contract with Pfizer-BioNTech for up to 1.8 billion new doses of the vaccine.

Though EU officials briefing journalists on the issue said the hoarding of crucial ingredients needed for vaccines was a larger obstacle than the question of intellectual property, one far-off voice advocating for patent waivers, Pope Francis, identified another more fundamental problem, namely, "the virus of individualism."

The pontiff went on to say: "A variant of this virus is closed nationalism, which prevents, for example, an internationalism of vaccines. Another variant is when we put the laws of the market or of intellectual property over the laws of love and the health of humanity."

EU leaders adopt Porto declaration on social rights, employment

Heads of the bloc's 27 member states hope to reduce social and economic inequalities that have widened during the coronavirus pandemic.



EU leaders want to tackle social inequalities that have widened during the pandemic

The European Council on Saturday adopted a non-binding declaration promoting social cohesion and prosperity in the European Union, following the coronavirus pandemic that has seen inequalities widen.

Leaders of the bloc's 27 member states signed the document after holding two days of informal meetings in the Portuguese city of Porto.

"Our commitment to unity and solidarity also means ensuring equal opportunities for all and that no one is left behind," the leaders declared.

Portugal's President Antonio Costa, whose country holds the rotating
presidency of the EU Council, said the agreement was crucial for instigating progress in Europe.
What's in the declaration?

The document highlights the need to fight social exclusion, reduce inequalities and tackle poverty, including child poverty.

It states that "the risks of exclusion for particularly vulnerable social groups such as the long-term unemployed, the elderly, persons with disabilities and the homeless" must be addressed.

Watch video01:59 Equal rights? Equal opportunity? Not by a long shot

The declaration lays out the need to support young people who, it says, have: "been very negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis," due to disruption to their education and entry to the labor market.

It stresses the need to support job creation as well as the need for new skills and education.

Was 'gender equality' omitted?

The document also says the European Council will "step up efforts to fight discrimination" and work to close gender pay and pensions gaps.

But news agency Reuters reported that lobbying by Poland and Hungary led to the removal of the phrase "gender equality" in the document.

Poland's nationalist ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and euroskeptic ally Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promote what they call traditional social values at home. The countries have repeatedly clashed with their more liberal Western peers over the rights of women, LGBT+ people and migrants.

A test subject who spent 40 days in a cave for science breaks down what it was like, from weird sleep patterns to generating power with a bike

mguenot@businessinsider.com (Marianne Guenot) 1 day ago

© Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com/Insider A team of 15 volunteers lived together for 40 days underground in the Lombrives cave in the South of France. 

15 people spent 40 days in a deep cave to study how humans could live without regular timekeeping.

The team leader told Insider about life in the experiment, which ended last month.

On April 24, 15 volunteers came out of a cave in the south of France. They had just spent 40 days underground, deliberately deprived of any means of tracking the passage of time.

This experiment, called Deep Time, provided thousands of measurements to assess the effect of removing measured time on people's bodies, minds, and social interactions.

Insider spoke with Christian Clot, the team leader for this expedition. Here is what he told us about life in the cave.

Natural cycles were often longer than 24 hours

© Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com A globe illuminates the main room where people lived in the cave Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com

In the cave, all electronics had their clocks removed. There was, of course, no sunlight. This left people organizing their days by intuition.

They could complete tasks like taking scientific measurements, exploring and cleaning the cave, or cataloging insects during waking hours. The cave was mostly dark, apart from one living area that was kept illuminated.

People were told to sleep and eat whenever they felt like it. The only thing regulating the length of their day was their internal body clock and their interactions with others.

© Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com Teams working together would often eat together. Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com

Under these conditions, the volunteers had widely different cycles governing their activities and sleep.

By the end of 40 days, most volunteers had completed only 30 cycles, Clot told Insider. Precise measurements are still being analyzed, but this suggests that most people ended up with "days" that were more like 30 hours long rather than 24.

One woman's cycle was twice as long as normal, Clot told Insider. She only slept 23 times over the 40 days, which suggests that an average cycle was about 40 hours for her.
It was forbidden to wake people up

 Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com/Insider Tents in the dark "quiet zone" where people went to sleep. Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com/Insider

People slept in tents in the "quiet zone." It was "absolutely forbidden to wake up someone else," Clot said. There were no alarms or devices to tell them how long they had slept. They simply woke up when they felt like it.


"During the first week in the cave, it was really hard to accept the idea that when I wake up, I didn't have to check my smartphone or my watch to see if I slept enough. I just have to listen to my body," Clot said.

"It was like a liberation, you know. It was like: Wow, amazing. I just have to listen to me!"

At the beginning of the experiment, that meant that the volunteers were completely out of sync, Clot told Insider.

"People were awake around the clock," he said.

However, by the end of the experiment, people had fallen into a rhythm and naturally started to wake up and go to sleep at times that worked for the group, Clot said.

"In an unconscious way, when people wanted to be together, they woke up at the same time," Clot said.
Volunteers swallowed a capsule which sent back measurements of their temperature

© Insider This pill is a thermometer that can be swallowed and send temperature readings, Christian Clot told Insider on May 4, 2021. Insider

Once swallowed, the pill stays in the body on average for 3 to 4 days, depending on the person's physiology.

As it makes its way through the digestive tract, it sends temperature readings every minute, a spokesperson from the manufacturer, the French firm BodyCap, told Insider.

Because the body's temperature changes during the day according to its internal clock, these measurements are useful to determine the effect of the experiment on the body.

The volunteers - seven women and eight men - also wore sensors to measure sleeping patterns, regularly took blood samples, monitored their brain waves, and tested their brain function by playing games with VR headsets.

Cameras were also constantly recording their interactions for later analysis.

"Thousands" of data points were collected during this experiment, Clot said. These are now being processed by 12 labs around the world, he said.

They had very little water to wash - and the cave was too humid to really bother

Darwin production/adapta The team collected water from an underground lake. Darwin production/adapta

The team used water from an underground lake for drinking, cooking, and hygiene.

Getting the water was "a bit hard," Clot said, so they used as little as they could.

Washing in the cave would not have been very pleasant anyway. The cave was cold - around 10 degrees Celsius (about 50 degrees Fahrenheit) - and humidity was at 100%.

They had bikes to generate electricity and tried to grow plants

© Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com Bikes were used to power a computer used to take measurements during the experiment. Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com

Asked if humans could survive underground for longer periods of time, Clot said, "we had water. The only thing you need is food."

"We tried to grow some vegetables. Some were growing nicely," Clot said, although they didn't have enough time to harvest them in the 40 days.

Standing bikes provided some exercise but were also hooked to a generator to produce electricity for computers while scientific measurements were being collected.
Everyone was shocked when the experiment ended

 Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com The team together in the main living space of the cave Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com

When it was time to leave, the volunteers were surprised. They thought they had much longer, with most guessing that they were around 30 days in rather than the full 40.

Clot told Insider that they had imagined a lot of possibilities for what would happen in the cave. But "absolutely not" that their perceptions would have been off by as much as ten days.

By the time the team on the surface came to tell them the experiment was over, many of the volunteers were not ready to leave the cave and had to adjust to the idea mentally, Clot told Insider.
Some loved it down there and want to go back.

 

 Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com The team were emotional on the last day of the experiment Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com

Returning to normal life was hard in some ways, Clot said.

In his case, it was challenging because he's had to do a lot of interviews since emerging from the cave, he said.

"I sometimes think: Wow! It was so easy in the cave," he told Insider.

At least three of the 15 volunteers would happily go back, he said. As for him, he would like to do it again, if only to repeat the experiment.

But before then, the team plans to test other extreme living conditions and will be going together to the Brazilian rainforest and Siberia, Clot said.

Iraq's heritage battered by desert sun, rain and state apathy 

AND AMERICAN IMPERIALISM 

AFP 

One of the world's oldest churches is crumbling deep in Iraq's desert, another victim of years of conflict, government negligence and climate change in a country with a rich heritage.

© Mohammed SAWAF Al-Aqiser archaeological site in Iraq, home to what is considered one of the world's oldest churches, is a victim of neglect and climate change like many of Iraqi ancient sites

After Pope Francis made a historic visit to Iraq in March, many Iraqis hoped that busloads of tourists would flock to Al Aqiser church southwest of the capital Baghdad.

But in a country that has been battered by consecutive conflicts and economic crises, the church -- like Iraq's numerous Christian, Islamic and Mesopotamian relics -- has been left to weather away.

© Haidar INDHAR Iraq's Diwaniya province has more than 2,000 historic sites and is home to the pyramid-shaped "ziggurat" structures of the ancient Sumerian city of Nippur

All that remains of Al Aqiser, which has stood in Ain Tamr for more than 1,500 years, are crumbling brick and red earthen walls.

Archaeologist Zahd Muhammad blamed this on "climate conditions, the fact that under Saddam Hussein the area was transformed into a military firing range and the lack of regular conservation".

© Shwan NAWZAD The 3,000-year-old citadel and the Ottoman-era "qishla" or garrison in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk are also in a sad state of disrepair with local authorities saying frequent heavy rains that batter the mountainous region are to blame

Ain Tamr mayor Raed Fadhel said upkeep is a question of budget.

"Such maintenance requires an enormous amount of money, but we only get meagre funds" from the federal government, he said.

Some 60 kilometres (38 miles) further east, Shiite shrines in Karbala attract millions of pilgrims each year.

But these potential visitors fail to stop by Iraq's numerous ancient churches, its Mesopotamian cities and the fabled "ziggurat" pyramid-like structures of Babylon, a UNESCO World Heritage site, residents and officials say.

 Mohammed SAWAF Iraq is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to the UN, and that along with government negligence has taken a toll on its Christian, Islamic and Mesopotamian ancient sites

- Missed opportunities -

Abdullah al-Jlihawi, who lives in Diwaniya province bordering Karbala, told AFP he believes that "foreigners care more about our heritage than we do".

"Until the 1980s, an American university led excavations here, there were plenty of job opportunities," he said.

"Our parents and grandparents worked on those sites, but all that stopped in the 1990s" with the international embargo against Saddam's regime.


Diwaniya's governor, Zuhair al-Shaalan, boasts of the province's more than 2,000 historic sites and sees in each a potential economic windfall.


But almost 20 years since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam's dictatorship, promising democracy and prosperity, Iraqis are still waiting to for an economic upturn.

Diwaniya is home to Nippur, the ancient Sumerian city and jewel of Iraq's glorious Mesopotamian past with its temples, libraries and palaces.

Seven thousand years ago Nippur, now in southern Iraq, was one of the main religious centres of the Akkadians and later the Babylonians.

Much of that site was looted after Saddam's fall from power by armed bandits and many others destroyed by jihadists who seized swathes of Iraq in 2014 until their defeat three years later.

"Investing in these sites would create jobs in our province, which is poor and has few investment opportunities," Shaalan said.

But there is another problem beyond renovation and preservation, Jlihawi said. If they came, "where would the tourists go?" he asked.

"There's nothing for them -- the roads haven't been paved since the 1980s, the electricity poles are from the 1970s," in a country with chronic shortages of electricity and water.

Energy-rich Iraq suffered due to a decline in world oil prices and has been struggling with rising prices, high unemployment and poverty, which doubled last year to 40 percent amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Returned to dust -

Historical sites in the central province of Kirkuk are also in a sad state of disrepair and "neither authorities nor private organisations are doing anything for heritage", said resident Muhammad Taha.

He pointed to the 3,000-year-old citadel and the "qishla", an Ottoman-era garrison, where chunks of mosaics have crumbled while sections of wall threaten to crash down.

Like Nippur, the citadel's deterioration could mean it might not be promoted from UNESCO's Tentative List of heritage sites to the coveted World Heritage List.

Local authorities said frequent heavy rains that batter the mountainous region are to blame.

Iraq is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to the United Nations.

Galloping desertification in a country where desert already covers 50 percent of the territory is threatening human and animal life, and has sounded death knells for Mesopotamian sites as well as recent constructions.

Abdullah al-Jlihawi from Diwaniya recalled that between the 1960s and the 1980s archeological ruins "were protected by the green belt".

But trees that had blocked the wind were burned, blasted apart by shelling during successive Iraqi wars or felled to make way for new towns.

Scorching summer temperates above 50 degrees (122 Fahrenheit), dust storms and heavy winter rains have also dealt blows to Iraqi heritage.

And many fear that sites built with bricks made thousands of years ago by Mesopotamian labourers will one day soon turn back into dust.

bur-sbh/sw/hkb

Even before Covid struck, Modi's $1.8B architectural revamp divided opinions

Oscar Holland, CNN 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's overhaul of New Delhi's historic center was always going to be controversial -- even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd The project will see an overhaul of buildings and public space along New Delhi's central boulevard, Rajpath.

Since it was announced in September 2019, the $1.8 billion Central Vista Redevelopment Project has been branded unduly expensive, environmentally irresponsible and a threat to cultural heritage. And with Modi's elaborate new private residence -- which comprises 10 buildings across 15 acres (6 hectares) of land -- among dozens of planned new government structures, many critics have dismissed the scheme as an architectural vanity project that serves India's populist leader, not its people.

© Shutterstock The North Block of the Secretariat Building will be turned into a museum.

This outrage has been brought into sharp focus by the coronavirus crisis. Amid a devastating second wave that has pushed the country's hospitals to breaking point, opposition MP Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter last week to compare the cost of the project to the amount needed to vaccinate 450 million Indians or purchase 10 million oxygen cylinders. "But (Modi's) ego is bigger than people's lives," he concluded.

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd 

A copy of India's constitution will be on display in the new parliament building.

Indignation has only grown in recent days, after it emerged that construction at the site has been deemed an "essential service" -- meaning work continues, even as building projects elsewhere are at a standstill. This urgency is widely thought to reflect a race to complete the new triangular parliament -- the project's centerpiece -- before the end of 2022, when India celebrates 75 years of independence.

Indeed, for nationalists, the building's symbolism lies not only in its design, which alludes to the importance of triangles in the sacred geometries of several religions, but in India's ability to complete large-scale infrastructure projects quickly and on schedule.

But while the speed, cost and timing of the development have attracted ire, the underlying question of whether New Delhi's aging government district needs revamping exposes deeper divides.

Indian MP and writer Shashi Tharoor, a fierce critic of Modi's, has long rallied against the project. Since the earliest days of the pandemic he has called for the government to redirect funds earmarked for the development to help fight Covid-19.

"Why now, at such colossal expense and at a time when the country and economy are reeling from the effects of the lockdown?" he told CNN in a phone interview earlier this year.

Yet even this most vocal of critics accepted that modernizing India's parliament and Central Visa -- a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) stretch of New Delhi's central boulevard, Rajpath -- could, in theory, have its merits.

"From a purely utilitarian point of view, many would agree there is a need for some significant changes," Tharoor said. "One is that the parliament building would have needed an extensive renovation to be fit for purpose, and clearly the government concluded that they couldn't do that, and that they needed to build a new one."

"And as for the Central Vista, a number of the 1950s and '60s buildings, some of which I've had the dubious pleasure of working in ... there really is an architectural case for getting rid of them and replacing them.

"My concern here is the utter lack of consultation before such a momentous decision was taken," he said, adding: "There's really been no opportunity for comments, criticism, suggestions, ideas. There's a vibrant architectural community and very few of them feel like they've been given a fair hearing."

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd

Fit for purpose?

When work began on the original Central Vista plan in the early 20th century, English architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker envisaged a long ceremonial boulevard akin to the Champs Elysees in Paris or the Capitol Complex in Washington D.C.

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd 

A digital impression of the new Lok Sabha, the Indian parliament's lower chamber.

It came to be known as Kingsway, and the grand buildings running along its edges were designed to serve a colonial government, not an Indian one.

When the country gained independence from Britain in 1947, India sought to reappropriate the district for its own burgeoning democracy. A statue of King George VI, the then-reigning British king and last emperor of India, was torn down, but the colonial structures were largely retained and repurposed. The circular council house became India's parliament, the opulent Viceroy's House was transformed into a presidential residence and Kingsway was given a new name: Rajpath.

In the decades that followed, development in the area accelerated to accommodate the growing administration. Police barracks were erected, car parking was introduced, and new ministry buildings spilled out either side of the central boulevard.

© Manish Rajput/SOPA Images/Sipa USA A man walks past the construction site for part of the Central Vista Redevelopment Project.

According to the architect behind the new redevelopment, Bimal Patel, this "haphazard" sprawl has corrupted Lutyens and Baker's original urban plan and left the area unfit for a modern government. Designs by Patel's firm, HCP, were chosen from six proposals in a competition to reimagine the area and modernize the facilities.

Shutterstock Known as Viceroy House by the British, Rashtrapati Bhavan now serves as the presidential residence.

"You have old stables and barracks that have been converted into offices -- they're completely dysfunctional. It's like an old slum -- it's like a little village in there," said Patel in a video interview, referring to some of the buildings flanking Rajpath.

His firm's sweeping vision for the 86-acre (35-hectare) site includes new chambers for MPs, a conference center and landscaped public gardens. The country's National Archives will be refurbished, while the North and South Blocks of the Secretariat Building, which currently house India's cabinet, will be turned into museums.

With the creation of new office space, ministries currently scattered around New Delhi will all be relocated to the site. Patel argues this will make the Central Vista a "synergistic location" that will improve the efficiency and productivity of India's government.

The symbolic heart of the project is the country's new parliament. HCP's triangular design sits directly next to its predecessor, which is also being turned into a museum. Inside, two horseshoe-shaped chambers will house the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha -- the parliament's upper and lower houses respectively -- while a light-filled Constitution Hall features an adjoining gallery displaying India's written constitution.

MPs will be seated in twos rather than crammed onto long benches, and the new, larger parliament features touch screens for each member.

For Patel, this modernization is a matter of necessity. While the current parliament has been updated over the decades, with new floors added, the old building is now simply too small, he argued.

"It's crowded and there's no more possibility for expansion at a time when we need to increase the number of seats," Patel said, alluding to a planned increase in the number of Indian MPs to reflect the country's growing population.

"We need to improve the technology, we need space for dining, we need to create toilets, we need to create storage space, and office and administration space -- it's very clear that it can't be done in the space available, so we've created a new facility next door."

Ongoing concerns

On Wednesday, two Indian citizens lodged a case with the Delhi High Court to try to halt work at the Central Vista, arguing construction could aid the spread of Covid-19. The petitioners then took the matter to the Supreme Court, after city authorities had "failed to appreciate the gravity" of the situation.

This is not the first attempt to formally oppose the revamp. In April last year, eight months before Modi laid the parliament's foundation stone in a high-profile photo-op, a petition was filed to the Supreme Court opposing plans on legal and environmental grounds. The next month, a group of 60 former civil servants wrote a scathing open letter to Modi describing the project as a "thoughtless and irresponsible act" that was motivated by "a superstitious belief that the present Parliament building is 'unlucky.'"

The wide-ranging letter went on to discuss the "severe environmental damage" the redevelopment will cause to "the lungs of the city." The plans are "shrouded in secrecy," it read, and "not substantiated by any public consultation or expert review."

The group also highlighted the architectural value of buildings earmarked for demolition, saying that the scheme would "irrevocably" destroy the area's cultural heritage.

Historian Swapna Liddle, who has written various books on New Delhi's history, echoed some of their concerns. She highlighted the risks of turning symbolic political buildings -- like the North and South Blocks --- into museums.

"When you say North Block you don't just mean a building, you mean a particular institution," Liddle said over the phone. "The fact that buildings are associated with history, with traditions and with institutions is very important.

"Parliament House is the place where constitutional debate (has taken place), so you should think very long and hard before separating the building from the tradition."

In a polarized political landscape, it's perhaps little surprise that a project of this magnitude has invited criticism from many quarters. But regardless of the scheme's virtues or shortcomings, Modi's insistence on pushing ahead amid India's worst public health crisis in a generation may see him lose the support of allies he might once have counted on.

"People are dying of Covid but (Modi's) priority is the Central Vista project," tweeted Yashwant Sinha, a former minister of finance and external affairs, and a member of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party until 2018. "Should we not be building hospitals instead? How much more (must) the nation ... pay for electing a megalomaniac?"

Last wild macaw in Rio is lonely and looking for love

RIO DE JANEIRO — Some have claimed she’s indulging a forbidden romance. More likely, loneliness compels her to seek company at Rio de Janeiro’s zoo.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Either way, a blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers named Juliet is believed to be the only wild bird of its kind left in the Brazilian city where the birds once flew far and wide.

Almost every morning for the last two decades, Juliet has appeared. She swoops onto the zoo enclosure where macaws are kept and, through its fence, engages in grooming behaviour that looks like conjugal canoodling. Sometimes she just sits, relishing the presence of others. She is quieter — shier? more coy? — than her squawking chums.

Blue-and-yellow macaws live to be about 35 years old and Juliet — no spring chicken — should have found a lifelong mate years ago, according to Neiva Guedes, president of the Hyacinth Macaw Institute, an environmental group. But Juliet hasn’t coupled, built a nest or had chicks, so at most she’s “still just dating.”

“They’re social birds, and that means they don’t like to live alone, whether in nature or captivity. They need company,” said Guedes, who also co-ordinates a project that researches macaws in urban settings. Juliet “very probably feels lonely, and for that reason goes to the enclosure to communicate and interact.”

Aside from Juliet, the last sighting of a blue-and-yellow macaw flying free in Rio was in 1818 by an Austrian naturalist, according to Marcelo Rheingantz, a biologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and there are no other types of macaws in the city. The lovebirds featured in the 2011 film “Rio? are Spix’s macaws, which are native to a different region of Brazil and possibly extinct in the wild.

Being boisterous with brilliant plumage helps macaws find each other in dense forest, but also makes them easier targets for hunters and animal traffickers. They're often seen in other Brazilian states and across the Amazon, and it is suspected Juliet escaped from captivity.

Biologists at BioParque aren’t sure if Juliet’s nuzzling is limited to one caged Romeo, or a few of them. They’re not even certain Juliet is female; macaw gender is near impossible to determine by sight, and requires either genetic testing of feathers or blood, or examination of the gonads.

Either would be interference merely to satisfy human curiosity with no scientific end, biologist Angelita Capobianco said inside the enclosure. Nor would they consider confining Juliet, who often soars overhead and appears well-nourished.

“We don’t want to project human feelings. I look at the animal, and see an animal at ease,” Capobianco said, noting Juliet has never exhibited behaviour to indicate disturbance, such as insistently pecking at the fence.

“Who am I to decide it should only stay here? I won’t. It comes and goes, and its feathers are beautiful.”

After more than a year of COVID-19 quarantine and travel bans, the appeal of roaming without restriction is evident to humankind. Macaws are used to flying great distances of more than 30 kilometres (20 miles) a day, Guedes said.

Last year, BioParque g ave its macaws more space: a 1,000-square-meter (10,700-square-foot) aviary where they fly beside green parrots and golden parakeets to compose an aerial, technicolour swirl. It’s a massive upgrade from prior enclosures that were roughly 100 square feet. BioParque reopened to the public in March, after privatization of Rio’s dilapidated zoo and almost 17 months of renovations.

BioParque aims to feature species associated with research programs at universities and institutes. One such initiative is Refauna, which reintroduces species into protected areas with an eye on rebuilding ecosystems, and is participating with BioParque to start breeding blue-and-yellow macaws.

The plan is for parents to raise some 20 chicks that will receive training on forest food sources, the peril of predators and avoidance of power lines. Then the youngsters will be released into Rio’s immense Tijuca Forest National Park, where Juliet has been sighted and is thought to sleep each night.

“Their role could be important in terms of ecosystem and reforestation. It’s a big animal with big beak that can crack the biggest seeds, and not all birds can,” said Rheingantz, the university biologist, who is also Refauna’s technical co-ordinator. “The idea is for it to start dispersing those seeds, complementing forest animals that can’t.”

After some pandemic-induced delays, the project has slowly restarted and Rheingantz expects to release blue-and-yellow macaws into Tijuca park toward the end of 2022.

After two decades of relative solitude, Juliet will then have the chance to fly with friends. Neves said Juliet could teach them how to navigate the forest, or even find a love of her own.

David Biller, The Associated Press

SHOCKING BUT TRUE

School principal paddling of child was not a crime, Florida state attorney says

By Susannah Cullinane, CNN 

5/9/2021

A Florida school principal did not commit a crime when she paddled a 6-year-old girl on the buttocks, as she appeared to have been asked by the child's mother to discipline the girl, according to a review by the state attorney's office

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© Courtesy Brent Probinsky A Florida school district is investigating the circumstances regarding video taken of a child being paddled at an elementary school

The girl's mother secretly recorded the incident at Central Elementary School in Clewiston, Florida, on April 13 after the school phoned her to say her daughter had damaged computer equipment. The family's attorney, Brent Probinsky, said the woman was told to bring $50 to the school to pay for damages and that sometimes children were paddled.

In cellphone video sent to CNN by Probinsky, an adult staff member can be seen paddling the 6-year-old girl as another adult holds her in place. In the video, after the first strike, the child starts to cry and tries to move away from the adults, but the adult yells at the child to get back in position and hits her twice more.

CNN is not naming the mother and child because of their concerns about their safety.

The Florida State Attorney conducted a review and found no evidence school Principal Melissa Carter had committed a crime, according to a memo to Clewiston Police Department dated May 7.

However, Probinsky argues that the State Attorney's office used flawed legal analysis to reach its decision.

In his memo, Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney Abraham R. Thornburg said school staff member Celia Self had called the child's mother to inform her she would be charged after her daughter apparently intentionally damaged computer equipment.

The phone call appeared to have been conducted in Spanish, he said. According to Self's statement, the mother said that her daughter had also been damaging things at home and that she was "afraid to discipline her by spanking, because her daughter threatens to call the police and DCF."

"Ms. Self further stated that (the mother) then requested that the school spank the child for her, to which Ms. Self replied that she would have to physically come to the school, specifically request such discipline, and be present during the spanking if she wished school staff to do it for her. According to both Ms. Carter and Ms. Self, (the mother) then arrived at the school and made that request," Thornbury wrote.

Thornbury said the video showed Carter explaining to the child what was going to happen and why.

"Ms. Self and Ms. Carter then appear to make efforts to position the child so that she can be safely spanked without injury. Ms. Carter then strikes the child with a wooden paddle three times in succession on the buttocks. After the spanking, both staff members ask the child to apologize to her mother, and again explain the reason for the spanking and that it may occur again if she continues misbehaving. Both staff members appear to treat the child and her mother with respect throughout this process."

Thornbury said in the mother's initial account of the incident to HCSO on April 14 she indicated she understood that she was going to the school to be present for school staff to spank her daughter.

"She further indicated to HCSO that there was a language barrier and that she was 'confused' and 'did not understand the process correctly.' CPD made several attempts to obtain a more specific and detailed statement from (the mother) but she did not return phone calls from the agency," he said.

"It is of note that despite refusing to give a sworn statement to law enforcement, (the mother) has made several statements to the media during the pendency of the investigation -- one of them indicating that she intentionally 'sacrificed' her daughter because no one would believe her about what was happening at the school unless she video recorded it. Such a statement that she knew all along that the paddling was going to occur is wholly inconsistent with her initial statement to law enforcement that she was confused and did not consent," he said.

Thornbury said the evidence suggested "the child's mother sanctioned and consented to the spanking of her daughter as discipline for misbehavior." The mother's secretly-recorded video did not show her objecting to the paddling and she could be heard thanking staff afterwards, he said.

"A parent has the right to use corporal punishment to discipline their children, and similarly has the right to consent that others do so on their behalf," he said. Thornbury said the evidence suggested "that any reasonable person in Ms. Carter's position would have believe that (the mother) consented to the spanking in the manner it was performed."

Thornbury said that similarly there was no evidence of the offense of aggravated battery as alleged by Probinsky. "Here, there is no evidence or indication of great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement," he said and that "using a paddle to spank a child is not likely to cause death of great bodily harm."

"Similarly, the law in Florida is clear that spanking a child does not amount to child abuse," Thornbury wrote.

Thornbury said he reviewed evidence from the Hendry County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), the Cledwiston Police Department as well as speaking with Probinsky for his review of the case.

'Illegal and a criminal battery'

In a statement issued Saturday, Probinsky said Florida State Attorney Amira Fox's decision not to file criminal charges against Carter and Self "relied on a flawed legal analysis."

"Most of us have seen the video of the horrific beating with a large wooden paddle of this little six-year-old girl who stood three feet tall and weighed forty pounds. Fox's decision not to criminally charge these women relied on a flawed legal analysis and she applied the wrong law to decide if a criminal act was committed," he said.

Probinsky said Hendry County School District, where the school is located, had a written rule prohibiting any corporal punishment of students and that state law requires that principals and teachers must follow the rules of the local school district.

"The principal, Melissa Carter, and her assistant, Celia Self, who held down and severely paddled this six-year-old first grader, violated the clearly written rule of the Hendry County School District and the laws of the State of Florida," Probinsky said.

Some other Florida counties allowed corporal punishment, he said, and in cases in those areas the state attorney would need to decide whether punishment was reasonable and not excessive. But that should not have been the measure in this case, as Probinsky argues the punishment was not legally permitted.

"The paddling was illegal and a criminal battery," he said.

"What message are we sending to other teachers who now believe they will suffer no criminal consequences if they paddle our elementary school children, some severely, even for the smallest of infractions?" he said.

Probinsky added that corporal punishment was "a brutal relic of the past and should be banned in all of our schools."

CNN is reaching out to the State Attorney's Office for additional comment.

Probinsky previously told CNN that the girl's mother had been confused as to whether paddling was allowed. She had been "frightened and confused" when she came to the school and started secretly recording, Probinsky said.

The Clewiston Police Department received a request from Hendry Regional Medical Center staff at 1:31 p.m. the following day, April 14, after "a complaint of a child with injuries accompanied by the child's mother who requested a police report," the department said in a May 2 release sent to CNN.

The mother went to the Hendry County Sheriff's Office on April 14 to file a report, Probinsky told CNN. The HCSO has not responded to multiple requests from CNN for comment. CNN has not been able to obtain a copy of the report.

Probinsky told CNN he was representing the mother and child at their request and had taken the case pro bono. When asked if there were plans to pursue civil action, Probinsky said they were waiting to see what the school board and state attorney's office did.

In a statement to CNN, the Department of Children and Families said it is investigating the "concerning incident that happened at Central Elementary School in Clewiston."

Hendry County District Schools Superintendent Michael Swindle declined to comment when reached by CNN, but confirmed the district was also investigating.

"The situation is under investigation, at this time we have been advised to not give any statements." Beverly Thompson, Administrative Secretary of Hendry County School Board, said in an email Tuesday.

CNN has reached out to the Florida Department of Education which, per its policy, would not confirm or deny an investigation into staff at the school.

"The department has a robust system for investigating allegations of educator misconduct and taking disciplinary action when allowable by law," Cheryl Etters, a spokesperson for FDOE said in a statement to CNN. "While educators are entitled to due process rights, the department is committed to making sure the appropriate disciplinary action is taken on the educator's certificate."

At this time, no charges have been filed in the case.

Nova Scotia's top doctor sparks meme with caution on non-essential shopping

© Provided by The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia's top doctor has launched a social media meme with his comments imploring residents to cease shopping for non-essential items, including Birkenstock sandals offered at sale prices.

As the province hit record-high numbers of new COVID-19 positive cases on Friday, Dr. Robert Strang referenced a sale of the sandals at Costco, where they were being sold for just under $60.

Strang said during a briefing that "it is not the time to go to Costco for sandals you heard were in stock. It's critical you limit your trips."

Former premier Stephen McNeil, who during the province's first wave famously coined the phrase "Stay the Blazes home," later posted a tweet of his feet in old Birkenstocks, writing, "Listen to the Good Doctor: this is not the time."

This set off other postings from Nova Scotians, including one woman wearing multi-coloured, plastic fish sandals as her personal reminder to stay home.

Despite chilly, freezing rain outdoors, Strang posted his own tweet of his feet in old Birkenstocks, responding to the premier under the hashtag #thisisnotthetime.

Not all social media users got on board.

"People of Nova Scotia need to stop showing their feet...We get you have sandals already," wrote one Twitter user. "Whip dee doo da day!"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2021.

The Canadian Press

The Observers
Violence against Peru’s indigenous communities surges as drug traffickers move in


Issued on: 08/05/2021 - 

Herlín Odicio (president of the Cacataibo native communities’ federation) and Berlín Diques (president of Orau) © Herlín Odicio/ Luis Miranda and Berlín Diques

Text by: Olivia Biz

Nine indigenous leaders in Peru’s central Amazon have been murdered in the past year and many more have received death threats as their ancestral land is seized by drug traffickers. Covid-19 restrictions have made the remote region even more vulnerable as governmental efforts to protect the land have been hindered. In the face of mounting pressure, authorities have recently taken action, but our Observers say that more needs to be done.

The latest attack was reported on April 23, 2021 in the eastern region of Ucayali, where alleged drug gangs set fire to the home of Elmer Gonzales, who belongs to the indigenous Cacataibo ethnic group. The traffickers also left a warning that read “I am Colombian. Elmer, I want my load” (see photo below). Meanwhile, Fredy Yaycate, from the same community was kidnapped and found several days later with signs of torture. They are now among a growing number of Cacataibo people who have gone into hiding, fearful for their lives.

  

Warning left by traffickers that reads “I am Colombian. Elmer, I want my load” © Observers

We spoke to the President of the Native Federation of Cacataibo Communities, Herlín Odicio, who was forced into hiding in April after death threats and attacks on his land in Ucayali escalated.

The situation started to get bad last September, when a Columbian [narcos] came to my community and offered me a lot of money to collaborate with them. They were offering to give me money for every drug flight that left from a secret airstrip on my territory. I didn’t accept the offer, and since then, the death threats have gotten worse. But they already knew me, I received the first threats five years ago.

In February 2021, the government of Ucayali released a report that identified 46 clandestine airplane runways in the region, used to transport coca into neighbouring Brazil and Bolivia. The report also revealed that narcotrafficking in Ucayali caused the deforestation of 42,600 hectares of land in 2020.

Aerial view of an airstrip in Ucayali region © © GERFFS


When the coronavirus state of emergency began, governmental institutions stopped and the narcos took advantage of the silence to go deeper into the Amazon and assassinate more leaders. The Amazon is huge and the police cannot be everywhere. But the main problem is that the state does not work, they have not been protecting us. We’ve seen the illegal crops and maceration pits they use to make cocaine paste, and we’ve sent proof to the police. But nothing has been done.

Suspected clandestine airstrips in 2020 © © GeoBosques

From coca to cocaine


Phase 1: Forest cleared so that coca camps can be built on the land, Ucayali 

Phase 2: Coca cultivation, Ucayali 

Phase 3: Coca lab to transform plant into cocaine. 

Photo taken by indigenous land monitors in Sinchi Roca,

 Ucayali in May 2021. 

Gasoline and kerosene, ingredients used to make cocaine paste. Photo taken by indigenous land monitors in Sinchi Roca, Ucayali in May 2021.

5/6

Clandestine coca lab in Ucayali 

6/6

Wood sold illegally and used to build coca labs. 

Photo taken by indigenous land monitors in Sinchi Roca, 

Ucayali in May 2021. 

 © The Observers

Denouncing what is happening is the only thing that I can do. For too long, our communities have had no rights, but we haven’t spoken out. It’s time for this to change. I know that I am risking my life but I will continue this fight until the last days of my existence.

The nine indigenous leaders who were murdered this year all stood up to the drug trafficking mafias in their territories. But there is another denominator in each of the cases: impunity. We spoke to Zulema Guevara, whose husband, Arbilo Meléndez, was assassinated in April 2020. Shortly after the Cacataibo leader’s death, the prosecution identified the alleged perpetrator, but he was never sentenced. More than a year later, Zulema Guevara is still demanding justice for her husband.

Justice is not happening even though they have all the cards in their hands. The person who killed my husband is still free and it looks like he could remain free. I seek justice not only for my husband, but for all the leaders who are being killed and for their widows and children that they have left behind. (...) Our communities are being abandoned.

Zulema Guevara has been receiving death threats from the same group of people who killed her husband. In an attempt to save her life and those of her children, she has gone into hiding with her family.

Such stories are becoming increasingly common and have prompted indigenous organisations and the land defenders at risk to launch an emergency campaign to draw the government's attention.

The government takes welcome but 'superficial' action

Responding to pressure from these indigenous communities, as well as from the US, Norway and the UN, the Peruvian government announced the creation of an "intersectoral mechanism" in April, under which various sectors of the government would come together to protect the human rights of defenders.

Since the beginning of April, authorities have also started destroying clandestine airstrips and coca labs.

 

Although these initiatives are a step in the right direction, indigenous leaders say the mechanism is a superficial solution to the problem

Berlin Diquez, president of the regional indigenous organisation ORAU, told us that until the government makes a commitment to assist tribes in obtaining legal titles to ancestral land, the violence would continue unmitigated.

Until we own something that is legally recognised, we will keep on fighting, because until that moment, justice will not be served.

No man’s land

Ucayali is vulnerable to land invasions, as many of its indigenous communities don’t have legal titles to their ancestral territory. To procure these titles, tribes must navigate their way through a complex procedure that can take decades.

Meanwhile, the process of titling individual properties is much faster, which has encouraged outsiders, with the government’s support, to buy land in indigenous territories.

The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to Lavaro Masquez, a lawyer specialising in indigenous rights at Lima’s Legal Defence Institute.

Titling is the most important problem facing indigenous communities in Peru. One of the cases I am working on at the moment concerns a tribe that has been requesting titles to its land for 25 years, but they still haven’t been given legal ownership to what is rightfully theirs. In the meantime, drug trafficking and other illegal activities have spread and are threatening the community.

There is structural discrimation and racism against indigenous communities in our country. The government does not prioritise indigenous cases as the balance is tipped in the favour of those who have money.

Indigenous people are risking their lives to stop the proliferation of coca and to protect their land. It’s time to give them the importance that they deserve. We need to give them their land back.

The difficulties that Peruvian indigenous communities face in obtaining land titles is not unique to Peru. Indigenous peoples and rural communities occupy more than half of the world’s land, but they legally own just 10 percent of it.

A special thanks to Gabrielle Colchen and Laura Peña Silva for their help translating the interviews.