Afghanistan: Pakistan braces for more 'Islamization' after Taliban victory

In the late 1990s, Pakistan saw a surge in religious extremism when the Taliban came to power in neighboring Afghanistan. Would it be any different this time around?



Experts say that Taliban triumph in Afghanistan would give a boost to fundamentalist forces in Pakistan

The Taliban's capture of Kabul in 1996 gave impetus to Islamist militant groups across the world, but the country that was most affected by the rise of fundamentalism in Afghanistan was its neighbor, Pakistan.

Not only did the victory of the "students" (the Taliban in Arabic) embolden extremist and militant groups in Pakistan, some people in the South Asian country also saw it as a "divine" sign.

Fed up with the country's mainstream political parties, who had failed to deliver to the common people, the demand for Shariah law and a Taliban-style government had started echoing across Pakistan.

Political Islam, thus, gained tremendous strength in the Muslim-majority country, and the hardline Wahabi version of Islam became even more popular due to the rise of the Taliban.

As the country's military establishment was backing the Islamists at the time, experts said the surge in support in Pakistan for the Taliban was a natural outcome of state policies.

Twenty years after the US and allied forces toppled the Taliban regime, the fundamentalist group is back in power in Afghanistan. Analysts say that Pakistan is bound to be affected by the Taliban triumph.

Deja vu?

When the militant group first came to power in Afghanistan, Pakistan saw a sudden spike in jihadist outfits and religious seminaries. Sectarian clashes also increased sharply in the country, with militant Sunni organizations targeting members of the Shiite sect and other minority groups.

"Pakistani authorities and Sunni extremist groups are still backing the Taliban, which could fuel sectarian tensions in the country," Ahsan Raza, a Lahore-based political analyst, told DW.

Watch video02:02 One month of Taliban rule in Afghanistan

Raza says these tensions could escalate in the coming weeks. "The success of their 'ideological brothers' in Afghanistan has given them a boost," referring to Pakistani Islamist groups.

The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the subsequent Taliban takeover of the country has also reinvigorated the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPP), a group banned by Islamabad due to its violent attacks on civilians and security forces.

Islamabad has urged the Afghan Taliban to ensure that the TTP does not use Afghan soil to launch attacks inside Pakistan. Despite the Taliban's assurance, the TTP has already intensified its attacks on Pakistani troops.

Analyst Said Alam Mehsud said that he believes terrorist attacks are likely to increase not only in northwestern areas of Pakistan but across the country.
Renewed demand for Shariah imposition

Religious groups are demanding the imposition of Shariah law in Pakistan more vigorously than before.

In the late 1990s, religious parties took to the streets to force former premier Nawaz Sharif to introduce more Islamic laws. Experts say that extremist parties could launch a similar campaign to further Islamize the country.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a former parliamentarian and leader of the religious Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, told DW the victory of the Afghan Taliban would have a positive impact on Pakistan and the region. "The demand for the imposition of Shariah would gain momentum," he said, adding that the country was created to uphold Islamic values.

"There is no harm if Shariah is imposed here as well," he added.

Kishwar Zehra, a Pakistani legislator, told DW that some religious groups, spurred by the Taliban triumph, have already started campaigning against liberal groups and women activists.

"I think they have the power to pressure Prime Minister Imran Khan's government into passing retrogressive laws," she added.


Watch video05:56 Pakistani society needs to confront victim blaming, says Amnesty's Rimmel Mohydin

Pakistan's 'pro-Taliban' government

Khan's center-right government is already facing criticism for cozying up to religious extremists and introducing regressive legislation in parliament.

Khan, who has long supported the Taliban, has been severely criticized for his "misogynistic" views. In June, he faced backlash following comments that appear to put the blame for sexual abuse on women.

"If a woman is wearing very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men, unless they are robots," Khan said during an interview for news website Axios, aired by US broadcaster HBO. He proceeded to say that this was "common sense."

Khan had made the comments roughly two months after a similar controversy. During a question and answer briefing with the public, Khan had said that the rise in sexual violence in Pakistan was due to the lack of "pardah," the practice of veiling, in the country.

"The civil society is opposing the 'Talibanization' of Pakistan, but unfortunately the state is supporting them. It could result in increased suppression of journalists and NGOs," Asad Butt, vice chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told DW.

Pakistan: Media regulation bill proposes jail term for journalists

Critics say a plan to consolidate media regulatory agencies will further shrink press freedom in the country. Journalists and opposition parties have decried the law as "draconian" and unconstitutional.



The proposed agency will issue guidelines on national security issues and monitor media entities

As Pakistan's President Arif Alvi addressed the parliament on Monday, hundreds of Pakistani journalists converged outside to demonstrate against a proposed law that they say would undermine press freedom in the South Asian country.

Under the proposed legislation, the government aims to converge several media regulatory bodies in Pakistan and expand the scope of regulation for digital media, while envisaging the establishment of a new regulatory body called the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA). Media advocates have vehemently opposed the government move, labeling it as yet another attempt to gag freedom of the press.

"The proposed law is draconian in scope and devastating in its impact on the constitutional principles," Shahzada Zulfiqar, the president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), told DW.

After Monday's sit-in, the PFUJ vowed to hold similar protests in other major Pakistani cities against the proposed law.

"This is censorship by another name," said Zulfiqar.

Political parties and civil society groups have also joined the journalists' protest.

"Some people don't want journalists to think freely," said Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Zardari. "We should not yield to them."

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhary told DW: "We are trying to engage with the protesting journalists and allow them to submit proposed changes if they have reservations [about the law]. We will not forcefully pass the law and will go through the legislative process with the consensus of all stakeholders, including opposition parties."

Watch video06:45Absar Alam: 'State of press freedom completely rotten in Pakistan'

What exactly would the proposed law do?

The controversial law proposes placing all media including print, broadcast and social media under the jurisdiction of one regulatory agency, the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA). The agency would replace multiple media regulatory bodies in Pakistan.

"The proposal ignores the fact that each media has distinctive characteristics that cannot be governed under one authority," said PFUJ chief Zulfiqar.

The body would be headed by a serving bureaucrat of the federal government, while its board of eight people would include four government officials and four media stakeholders.

It would not only issue guidelines on covering national security issues but also issue no-objection certificates (NOCs) for film production and screenings.

It would additionally monitor broadcast media and register print media entities.

But Pakistan already has limited press freedom due to a vague definition of issues relating to national security.

A secretive process

The bill, which was kept secret until it was leaked to the media, also suggests that the authority should determine media workers' wages and resolve wage disputes.

"The government has kept the final draft of the PMDA law and the entire drafting process secret, raising further apprehensions among the media and civil society groups," Patricia Gossman, Associate Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, told DW.

The proposal also envisaged special tribunals operating under the authority, while its decision could be challenged only at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The tribunals will have the power to hand down punishments of up to three years in jail and fines of up to 25 million Pakistani rupees (€124,181, $146,848) to content producers for violating the new provisions. Fake news and hate speech labels are also often used vaguely in Pakistan to silence dissent.

Watch video03:46 Asad Ali Toor: Khan government 'worst for media in Pakistan's history'

"The proposed PDMA is a completely unneeded piece of legislation that will give the government new tools to control and manipulate the media," Steven Butler of the Committee to Protect Journalists told DW.

"This comes in an environment where the media is already under tremendous pressure from authorities to keep critical reporting off the air and out of newspapers."
Can the bill pass through parliament?

Legal experts believe the bill is likely to be passed by the National Assembly. However, the ruling coalition lacks the required strength in the upper house of parliament.

The government could, however, call for a joint sitting of parliament to get the bill passed through a majority of the combined membership of both houses.

Regardless of how the bill is made into law, its constitutionality is likely to be challenged by media and rights groups as well as opposition political parties, senior legal expert Osama Malik told DW.

"The opposition does not have the strength to stop this bill through legislative means, but political means such as street protests are available to it."

"The opposition will jointly oppose this black law," Zardari of the Pakistan People's Party told journalists, adding that they would fight the law through all available means even if it passed.

Censorship on the rise

Pakistan's censorship drive has gathered pace under Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has sought to placate powerful conservative and religious constituencies. In July, Khan was featured on the red list of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), along with several other heads of state who massively clamped down on press freedom.

Watch video04:29 Pakistan: Why RSF deems PM Khan a 'press freedom predator'

"Press freedom is certainly shrinking under Imran Khan. Journalists have lost a record number of jobs, critical investigative magazines like the Herald and Newsline have shut down, despite surviving dictatorships, and critics' voices have been removed from TV," Usama Khilji, a digital rights activist, told DW.

Journalists and bloggers have complained of intimidation tactics including kidnappings, beatings, and even killings.

In Islamabad alone, over the last six months, around 30 incidents of violence against journalists were reported, but not a single culprit was arrested, Press Freedom Action Committee chairman Afzal Butt told DW.

In recent years, the space for dissent has shrunk even further, with the government announcing a crackdown on social networks and traditional media houses that critics say has resulted in widespread self-censorship.

"The media regulatory framework in Pakistan does need to be amended. With journalists under relentless attack for doing their jobs, the government needs to stop trying to control reporters and instead start protecting media freedom," said Gossman of Human Rights Watch.

Thai lawmakers vote on law against torture, disappearances

Issued on: 16/09/2021 -

The UN says there have been more than 80 forced disappearances involving Thais since 1980

 Lillian SUWANRUMPHA AFP/File

Bangkok (AFP)

Thai lawmakers on Thursday gave initial approval to a law against torture and forced disappearances, after years of delay and criticism from rights groups.

Activists have long accused authorities of state-sanctioned abductions and torture, and the UN says there have been more than 80 disappearances since 1980.

The kingdom's criminal code does not currently recognise the offences, but rogue state officials convicted under the new legislation will face long prison terms.

On Thursday, the draft law passed a first reading in parliament, though it is not clear when lawmakers will take it up again, or when it will finally come into effect.

"This is considered as an initial success after we waited for a year and a half for the draft bill," opposition Move Forward Party MP Rangsiman Rome told local media.

"Torture and disappearance cases have become an important issue, which the parliament has agreed to push forward."

The legislation has been long in coming -- the cabinet approved the changes in 2016 and bills languished for years on the parliamentary agenda.

Nine Thai citizens have disappeared in neighbouring countries since a military coup in 2014, including two whose bodies were dumped in the Mekong River after they were abducted in Laos in 2018.

Last year prominent Thai activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit was dragged off the street in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and has not been seen since.

Thursday's vote came weeks after police brutality was thrust into the headlines with the leaking of video showing a drug suspect being suffocated with plastic bags during police interrogation.

Thailand signed a UN convention on enforced disappearances in 2012 but has yet to ratify the treaty.

In its 2021 annual report, Human Rights Watch said Thai authorities "engage in practices that facilitate torture and enforced disappearances, such as the use of secret detention by anti-narcotics units, and secret military detention of national security suspects".

© 2021 AFP

'Really alive': France unveils wrapped Arc de Triomphe

Issued on: 16/09/2021 - 

Bulgarian-born Christo had dreamt of wrapping the war memorial since living nearby in the 1960s 

GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT AFP

Paris (AFP)

President Emmanuel Macron was set to unveil a strange and spectacular sight in Paris on Thursday: the entire 50-metre-high Arc de Triomphe wrapped in fabric, fulfilling the long-held dream of late artist Christo.

After weeks of preparation, the finishing touches are being put to the transformation of one of France's most iconic monuments ahead of its opening to the public this weekend.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot called it "a posthumous testament to an artistic genius" and "a wonderful gift to Parisians, to the French, and to all art-lovers."

The imposing war memorial has been wrapped in 25,000 square metres (270,000 square feet) of silver-blue recyclable polypropylene.

It is the signature of Christo, the Bulgarian-born artist who died last year, who had dreamt of sheathing the monument since renting a nearby apartment in the 1960s.

Despite completing other major public works during his lifetime, including wrapping the oldest bridge in Paris in 1985 and the German parliament in 1995, the Arc de Triomphe project never materialised before his death.

The completion of his vision -- and that of his co-designer and wife Jeanne-Claude -- has been overseen by his nephew Vladimir Javacheff in coordination with the Pompidou museum and French authorities.

"Christo always said the hardest part is getting the permissions," Javacheff told reporters with a smile.

"When you realise that this is really alive, for me and for my team, when you realise this fragility, this beauty, it is quite amazing."

Christo left meticulous plans and drawings for fulfilling the work before his death in 2020 GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT AFP

Protective barriers will be removed on Saturday, allowing the public to get up close to the transformed monument.

The wrapping will then stay in place until October 3.

- 'A living object' -

Not everyone has welcomed the project.

Architect Carlo Ratti, a friend of Christo, wrote last week that it was wrong to waste so much fabric at a time when the fashion industry was responsible for such high levels of carbon emissions.

Javacheff countered that the entire fabric is recyclable, along with half the metal used for scaffolding.

The wrapping will stay in place until October 3 GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT AFP

For Christo, who left sketches and photo montages of his plans, the vision was that the Arc would become "like a living object stimulated by the wind and reflecting the light".

The monument, which was built by Napoleon to commemorate fallen soldiers during his military campaigns, has recently been restored after being defaced by anti-government "yellow vest" protesters in December 2018.

He died of natural causes at his home in New York in May last year.

© 2021 AFP

Goodbye, darkness: Light pollution has increased 49% over past 25 years, study finds

Earth's night sky really isn't as dark as it used to be.

© A. Sánchez de Miguel/ESA/NASA 

London at night, as seen from the International Space Station. Different colors are visible, showing different lighting technologies.

In fact, according to a new study, global light pollution has increased by at least 49% over the past 25 years.

"The global spread of artificial light is eroding the natural night-time environment," said study lead author Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel of the University of Exeter in the U.K.

"This study provides clear evidence not only of how bad light pollution has become as a global problem, but also that it is continuing to get worse, and probably at a faster and faster rate," he added, in a statement.

The study found increases in light pollution were most pronounced in Asia, South America, Oceania and Africa.

It also details what it calls the "hidden impact" of the transition to solid-state, light emitting diode (LED) technology.

LEDs emit more blue light than previous lamp technologies, the study said, but satellite sensors are "blind" to this blue light and so underestimate the level of light pollution. Correcting for this, the study authors say the actual increase in the power emitted by outdoor lighting, and thus of light pollution, may be as high as a whopping 270%.

This is likely the case in Europe and North America, where satellites appear to be detecting a leveling off or even a decrease in light pollution.

"To take the U.K. as an example, if you ignore the effect of the switch to LEDs – which has been extensive – you get the false impression that light pollution has recently declined," said Sánchez de Miguel. "However, correcting for this effect shows it has really increased, and potentially very markedly.

"Contrary to popular belief, the installation of 'broad white' LED streetlights, whilst potentially providing some energy savings, has increased light pollution and also the impacts on organisms such as moths," he said.

A study earlier this year, also from the University of Exeter, found that animals such as moths can be confused by artificial nighttime lights, which can affect their place in the food chain.

Many other studies have indicated that light pollution, from streetlights and other sources, can have major impacts on the natural environment. Such pollution is likely to have played a role in the massive declines of insect populations in some areas.

The International Dark-Sky Association suggests the increased and widespread use of artificial light adversely affects the environment, our health and safety, and energy consumption.

"There is no clear scientific evidence that increased outdoor lighting deters crimes," according to the IDSA. In addition, research suggests that "artificial light at night can negatively affect human health, increasing risks for obesity, depression, sleep disorders, diabetes, breast cancer and more."

The purpose of the association, which was not affiliated with the study, is "to protect the night from light pollution," according to its website.

Ruskin Hartley, executive director of the association, said in a statement that the transition to LED lighting has contributed to the increase in light pollution.

"Without concerted action to reverse this trend, the impact on the natural environment will accelerate," Hartley said, "further exacerbating the biodiversity crisis, wasting energy and meaning a whole generation will grow up in perpetual twilight."

The study was published in the journal Remote Sensing.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Goodbye, darkness: Light pollution has increased 49% over past 25 years, study finds

US cigarette giant seals takeover of inhaler maker

Philip Morris has invested more than $8.0 billion in smoke-free products since 2008 FABRICE COFFRINI AFP/File

Issued on: 16/09/2021 
London (AFP)

US cigarette firm Philip Morris International on Thursday clinched a controversial takeover of British breathing inhaler manufacturer Vectura, despite fierce opposition from health campaigners and medical groups.

The Marlboro-maker agreed in July to pay £1.0 billion ($1.4 billion, 1.2 billion euros) as part of a broader push into healthcare.

Philip Morris International on Thursday said it had since won the necessary support from investors and secured regulatory approvals.

The acquisition is part of PMI's plans to expand beyond tobacco and nicotine and into a broader healthcare company.

"We have reached an important milestone in our acquisition of Vectura," PMI chief executive Jacek Olczak said in a statement.

The group has identified respiratory drug delivery as a key focus, under broader plans to generate at least $1.0 billion in annual net revenues from nicotine-free products by 2025.

"We are very excited about the critical role Vectura will play in our Beyond Nicotine strategy and look forward to working with Vectura's scientists and providing them with the resources and expertise to grow their business to help us achieve our goal," added Olczak.

Since 2008, the cigarette giant has invested more than $8.0 billion in smoke-free products, such as vaping, which it says is less harmful than smoking.

However, the Vectura takeover has faced heavy criticism from charities and medical groups.

More than 20 organisations, including anti-smoking charities and public health groups, together wrote to Vectura management urging it to reconsider the takeover on ethical and practical grounds.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of both Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, accused Vectura of seeking a quick profit.

"Vectura has sold out millions of people with lung disease, and instead prioritised short-term financial gain over the long-term viability of Vectura as a business," she said.

"Vectura is now owned by a tobacco company, and this could cause considerable problems, such as the firm being excluded from research and clinical networks."

She added that it "creates perverse incentives for Philip Morris International to sell more of its harmful products so they might then profit again through treating smoking-related diseases".

© 2021 AFP

Marlboro maker Philip Morris takes control of asthma inhaler maker Vectura

Simon Freeman
Thu, 16 September 2021, 

Death: Eric Lawson in an advert for Marlboro cigarettes

Marlboro cigarette firm Philip Morris International (PMI) today sealed its controversial £1.1 billion takeover of asthma inhaler maker Vectura.

PMI has hoovered up a 29% stake in the health firm buying shares on the open market and received acceptances from another 45.6% to control of 74.8% of shares, it said today.

That is well above the 50% takeover threshold but just shy of the 75% required to delist Vectura from the London Stock Exchange.

The tobacco giant said: “All remaining conditions to the offer have been satisfied or, where applicable, waived. Accordingly… the offer has become unconditional in all respects.”

Hold-outs have been granted two weeks to accept the 165p-a-share bid.

If and when PMI has collected more than 90% of acceptances, minority shareholders will be obliged to fall into line in a squeeze-out.

PMI, which outbid US private equity firm Carlyle in a high-profile battle for control of the Chippenham-based medical manufacturer, said: “Shareholders who have not yet accepted the offer are urged to do so as soon as possible.”

CEO Jacek Olczak hailed the buy-up was “an important milestone” as the group diversifies away from cigarettes toward ‘wellness’ products.

That view is far from universal with the US tobacco giant’s bid sparking outcry among public health experts and medical charities.

Sarah Woolnough, the CEO of Asthma UK, today called on public health minister Jo Churchill to intervene.

Woolnough said: ““Vectura has sold out millions of people with lung disease, and instead prioritised short-term financial gain over the long-term viability of Vectura as a business.

“Vectura is now owned by a tobacco company, and this could cause considerable problems, such as the firm being excluded from research and clinical networks.

“It creates perverse incentives for Philip Morris International to sell more of its harmful products so they might then profit again through treating smoking-related diseases.

“We call on the Government to stand by its commitment to the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control to prevent this happening.”

AJ Bell’s Danni Hewson said: “"Despite the ethical outcry, Vectura shareholders have succumbed to Big Tobacco’s big pockets.

"However good Phillip Morris’ intentions the bottom line is with this acquisition it’s playing both sides, making money from tobacco which makes people sick and inhalers which help them feel better.

“This takeover has been uncomfortable. It’s posed difficult questions and many people won’t like the answer that’s been delivered."

Major investors today maintained a public silence over the deal. Axa, TIG Advisors and Berry Street, who between them hold 11% per cent of Vectura’s shares, had previously given irrevocable undertakings of support for Carlyle's rival offer.

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/09/uk-city-comment-esg-goes-up-in-smoke-at.html

Kremlin critic Navalny's allies say vote Communist to hurt ruling party

Wed, 15 September 2021



Kremlin critic Navalny's allies say vote Communist to hurt ruling party

FILE PHOTO: Leonid Volkov, chief of staff of Navalny's team, hold a news conference in Berlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny urged Russians on Wednesday to vote for the Communist Party at a parliamentary election this week, part of a tactical voting campaign meant to hurt the ruling United Russia party.

Navalny's "smart voting" campaign is designed to consolidate the votes of those who oppose United Russia, which currently holds three-quarters of the seats in the lower house of parliament and dominates Russian political life.

The initiative is one of the few remaining levers for Navalny, who is serving two-and-a-half years in prison for alleged parole violations, which he says are trumped up.

His movement was branded "extremist" in the run-up to the Sep. 17-19 vote, and a law signed by President Vladimir Putin in June barred members of such groups from running for office.

"Millions of people in Russia hate United Russia," said Navalny ally Leonid Volkov in a video accompanying a list of candidates Navalny's allies say have the best chance of defeating United Russia in different electoral districts.

"Explain to everyone who isn't satisfied with what is going on in the country that they need to go and vote in these elections."

The bulk of the candidates Navalny's allies support are from the Communist Party, Russia's second most popular party. It currently has 43 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature. Navalny's allies recommended Communist candidates in 11 of the capital's 15 districts.

After Navalny's allies published their list, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, a Putin ally, published his own list of recommended candidates in the city.

"I head the United Russia party list in Moscow and call on you to vote for this party," Sobyanin wrote on his website.

Putin, who has been in power as either president or prime minister since 1999, helped found United Russia but is not a member.

In the run-up to the vote, Putin approved higher salaries and one-off payments to military and law enforcement personnel. He pledged similar measures for pensioners.

Kremlin critics say the measures are designed to boost support for United Russia. The Kremlin says the support measures have nothing to do with the vote.

Man hands himself in nearly 30 years after escaping prison - because COVID made him homeless


Wed, 15 September 2021



A fugitive who is alleged to have used a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters to escape from prison nearly 30 years ago has given himself up - because a city's COVID lockdown made him homeless.

Darko Desic walked into a police station in Sydney because his work as a handyman had been hit by the Australian city's coronavirus restrictions.

Now 64, he surrendered at Dee Why Police Station on Sunday and was denied bail when he appeared in court on Tuesday, charged with escaping from lawful custody in 1992, according to a police statement.

The charge carries a potential seven-year prison sentence.

Sydney's lockdown, which started in June, had cost Desic his cash-in-hand work as a labourer and handyman, police sources told Sydney's Daily Telegraph and Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"He slept on the beach on Saturday night and said, 'stuff it, I'll go back to prison where there's a roof over my head'," a source told the newspaper.

Desic was aged 35 when he escaped from a prison in Grafton, 390 miles north of Sydney, during the night of 31 July-1 August 1992.

Police allege he used tools, including a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters, to cut through his cell window bars and a perimeter fence.

He had served 13 months of a three-and-a-half-year sentence for growing cannabis.

Born in the former Yugoslavia, Desic told police he escaped from jail because he thought he would be deported once he had served his sentence, the newspaper reported.

He feared he would be punished for failing to do his compulsory military service in his former country, which has since broken up into several nations.

It is not clear to which country he could be deported, although he is not an Australian citizen.

The newspaper said immigration officials gave up looking for him and in 2008 granted him residency in Australia.

Desic told police he had spent his entire time at large at Sydney's northern beaches in the suburb of Avalon and, according to the newspaper, had never come to the attention of police in that time.

He maintained a low profile but was once mentioned on Australia's Most Wanted, a true crime TV programme, after someone reported seeing him at Nowra, 120 miles south of Sydney.

Eternal motherly love? Extinct spiders found protecting offspring in 99-million-year-old fossils

Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY 

A mother's love is eternal. Or at least encapsulated in a fossilized tree resin that's 99 million years old. Adult female spiders – now extinct – were discovered protecting their already-hatched spiderlings in recently mined amber in Southeast Asia, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

© Courtesy of the Royal Society Publishing Photographs of inclusions in Burmese amber.

The tree resin the spiders were found in had hardened, locking up the arachnid mothers with their offspring in several chunks. The discovery is considered the oldest evidence of maternal care in spiders, according to the journal.

Study co-researcher Paul Selden, a professor of Geology at the University of Kansas, said the fossil records provided "physical evidence through these little snapshots" of maternal love that now exists in other arthropods but records of it are rare.

"The female holding onto an egg sac with little tiny spiderlings inside – that's exactly the position that you would find female spiders guarding their eggs," Selden told Live Science. "So, it really is a typical female spider behavior caught in an instant by this fossilization process."

The spiders discovered were of the lagonomegopidae family, which is extinct but can be distinguished by a large pair of eyes on the front corners of the head. Spiders as a species have a long history and first appeared during the Carboniferous period 359 million to 299 million years ago, according to Live Science.

 

© Painted by Xiaoran Zuo, courtesy of Royal Society Publishing Ecological reconstruction of a female lagonomegopid spider guarding her egg sac.

One image shows a large female spider with part of an egg sac under her, revealing the maternal care that existed in the Northern Hemisphere during the Cretaceous period – spanning 145 million to 66 million years ago.

Other pieces of amber reveal a group of tiny spiderlings that had just hatched, with a female lagonomegopid spider guarding her egg sac from harm. Once the spiderlings hatched, they stayed together and were guarded by their mother, illustrated by the leg fragments from the same piece of amber.

Seeing more spiders in the house? Don't panic, there's a reason, experts say

The study's authors said: "Parental care refers to any investment by the parent that enhances the fitness of their offspring, and often at a cost to the survival and future reproduction of the parent. Its evolution represents a breakthrough in the adaptation of animals to their environment and has significant implications for the evolution of sociality."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eternal motherly love? Extinct spiders found protecting offspring in 99-million-year-old fossils

Squirrels Share Personality Traits with Humans, Study Finds: 'Individuals Matter'

Squirrels may be much smaller than us, but the fun-sized furry rodents may have more in common with humans than we previously thought.

© Provided by People Getty

Greta Bjornson 16 hrs ago

A new study conducted by University of California, Davis scientists and published in Animal Behavior this month reveals that squirrels share some personality traits expressed in humans, The Guardian reports.

The study found that squirrels express four traits — activity, sociability, boldness, and aggressiveness — which affect their movement, access to resources, and use of space in nature. Researchers conducted tests on the animals to determine that in some cases, "being more social could save an individual's life," according to an online UC Davis report on the study.

Scientists focused on golden-mantled ground squirrels specifically for the study, which is the first to document personality in the species. Although the animals are not endangered, researchers found that "understanding how an animal's personality influences use of space is important for wildlife conservation," the UC Davis website stated.

 

© Provided by People Getty

RELATED: Austin Firefighters Save Squirrel Who Got Its Head Stuck in a Tree: 'Not an April Fools' Joke

Lead study author Jaclyn Aliperti told UC Davis she and her colleagues used four tests to determine personality in squirrels: novel environment, which placed the animals "in an enclosed box with gridded lines and holes"; mirror, which set the squirrels in front of a mirror image of themselves; flight initiative, in which researchers slowly approached squirrels in a wild setting to time how long before they ran; and behavior-in-trap, which observed caught unharmed squirrels in traps.© Getty Researchers at UC Davis found that squirrels exhibit the traits of activity, sociability, boldness, and aggressiveness

The findings revealed that the bolder squirrels benefited from their behavior, obtaining "larger core areas where they concentrated their activity." The bold animals also moved more quickly, were "more aggressive," "more active," and "had greater access to perches," where the animals can keep an eye out for potential predators.

RELATED: NASA Engineer Builds Impressive Obstacle Course to Stump Seed-Stealing Squirrels

Aliperti told UC Davis, "This adds to the small but growing number of studies showing that individuals matter."

She added, "Accounting for personality in wildlife management may be especially important when predicting wildlife responses to new conditions, such as changes or destruction of habitat due to human activity."

While golden-mantled ground squirrels are considered to be asocial, according to the study, "within this asocial species, individuals that tend to be relatively more social seem to have an advantage."

Aliperti, who worked on her study while earning a Ph.D. in ecology at UC Davis, told the university's website she sees the UC Davis squirrels "more as individuals" rather than a whole species. "I view them as, 'Who are you? Where are you going? What are you up to?' versus on a species level," she explained.

"Animal personality is a hard science, but if it makes you relate to animals more, maybe people will be more interested in conserving them," Aliperti added.