It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, December 04, 2021
Maximum jail time for murderous Panama CHRISTIAN sect
A court on Friday handed down sentences of up to 50 years for nine members of a sect who killed six children and a pregnant woman in an "exorcism" last year, prosecutors said.
In January 2020, investigators unearthed a mass grave with seven bodies in a remote indigenous area near to where they had raided an obscure religious sect the day before.
Six of the victims were minors aged between one and 17, and the seventh a woman who was between four and six months pregnant. She was the mother of five of the minors.
A court found the sect members guilty of tying up the victims and killing them with sticks, bibles and machetes in a so-called "exorcism" ceremony.
The woman had been killed in front of her five children and a sixth minor, who were then themselves slaughtered as sect members looked on.
Several other people were injured but managed to flee the scene. They alerted the police, who later found 15 people including several children held hostage at the sect's church.
A court in Changuinola in Panama's northeast gave the maximum prison sentence of 50 years to seven of the accused, and 47 years each to two others, the prosecutor's office said.
AFP
ZIONIST HACKS
Pegasus Maker Probes Reports Its Spyware Targeted US Diplomats
The Israeli spyware maker in the Pegasus surveillance scandal said Friday it was investigating reports the firm's technology was used to target iPhones of some US diplomats in Africa.
Apple has begun alerting people whose phones were hacked by NSO's spyware, which essentially turns handsets into pocket spying devices and sparked controversy this year after reportedly being used on activists, journalists and politicians.
"On top of the independent investigation, NSO will cooperate with any relevant government authority and present the full information we will have," the firm said in a statement.
NSO said it has not confirmed its tools were used, but opted to "terminate relevant customers' access to the system" due to the seriousness of the allegations reported by Reuters and the Washington Post.
The Post reported that Apple alerted 11 US diplomats that their iPhones were hacked in recent months, citing people familiar with the notifications who said the attacks focused on officials working in Uganda or east Africa.
NSO Group's spyware has been engulfed in scandal since reports that Pegasus was used by foreign government clients to target the phones of human rights activists, embassy employees and others.
Apple sued the firm last month seeking to block NSO from using the Silicon Valley giant's services to target the over one billion iPhones in circulation.
The Israeli spyware maker NSO says it is probing reports it technology was used to target US diplomats in Africa
Photo: AFP / JOEL SAGET
Reuters, citing four people familiar with the matter, said nine American diplomats were targeted and added the intrusions represented the widest known hacks of US officials using NSO technology.
Apple declined to comment on the reports.
Just weeks before the Apple lawsuit, US authorities blacklisted NSO to restrict exports from American groups over allegations the Israeli firm "enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression."
Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into surveillance devices, allowing the user to read the target's messages, look through their photos, track their location and even turn on their camera without them knowing.
Concern over Pegasus spyware further grew after Apple revealed in September it had patched a weakness that allowed NSO's spyware to infect devices without users even clicking on a malicious message or link.
The so-called "zero-click" attack is able to silently corrupt the targeted device, and was identified by researchers at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization in Canada.
Apple said at the time it filed the lawsuit in a California federal court that it would notify the "small number" of users that it discovered may have been targeted by those types of attacks.
Copyright AFP. All rights reserved.
ONLY BLACKBERRY IS ENCRYPTED TO AVOID THIS PROBLEM
Peru's Fujimori Can't Be Tried Over Forced Sterilizations, For Now
A Peruvian judge ruled Friday that former president Alberto Fujimori cannot for now be prosecuted over alleged forced sterilizations that happened during his administration, because the allegation was not included in his extradition request.
The disgraced ex-leader who is serving a 25-year prison sentence over human rights violations and corruption is being investigated over the forced sterilization of hundreds of thousands of poor, mostly indigenous women during his final four years in power.
In 2007, Chile granted extradition of the ex-president, who led Peru from 1990 to 2000.
Judge Rafael Martinez in his ruling said Fujimori can only be prosecuted over the sterilizations if authorized by the Chilean Supreme Court, which previously green-lighted his extradition.
Activists demonstrated in Lima, Peru for the thousands of women victims of forced sterilizations in the country between 1996 and 2000 under a program authorized by now-jailed former president Alberto Fujimori
Photo: AFP / Cris BOURONCLE
Prosecution is prevented at present "as these facts are not included among the crimes for which his extradition was authorized," Martinez said.
Martinez was tasked with deciding whether the 83-year-old Fujimori could be brought to trial by the 1,317 plaintiffs in the sterilization case, which began in 2002 but has been shelved and reopened several times.
An estimated 270,000 Peruvians, many of them indigenous people who did not speak Spanish, underwent surgery to have their fallopian tubes tied as part of a family planning program implemented under Fujimori.
The program sought to reduce the birth rate and boost economic development. The surgeries resulted in the death of 18 women, according to official data.
The judge has not yet ruled on the other six co-defendants in the case including three former ministers of health.
Twitter Admits Policy 'Errors' After Far-right Abuse
By Joshua MELVIN 12/04/21
Twitter's new picture permission policy was aimed at combating online abuse, but US activists and researchers said Friday that far-right backers have employed it to protect themselves from scrutiny and to harass opponents.
Even the social network admitted the roll out of the rules, which say anyone can ask Twitter to take down images of themselves posted without their consent, was marred by malicious reports and its teams' own errors.
It was just the kind of trouble anti-racism advocates worried was coming after the policy was announced this week.
Their concerns were quickly validated, with anti-extremism researcher Kristofer Goldsmith tweeting a screenshot of a far-right call-to-action circulating on Telegram: "Due to the new privacy policy at Twitter, things now unexpectedly work more in our favor."
"Anyone with a Twitter account should be reporting doxxing posts from the following accounts," the message said, with a list of dozens of Twitter handles.
Gwen Snyder, an organizer and researcher in Philadelphia, said her account was blocked this week after a report to Twitter about a series of 2019 photos she said showed a local political candidate at a march organized by extreme-right group Proud Boys.
Rather than go through an appeal with Twitter she opted to delete the images and alert others to what was happening.
"Twitter moving to eliminate (my) work from their platform is incredibly dangerous and is going to enable and embolden fascists," she told AFP.
In announcing the privacy policy on Tuesday, Twitter noted that "sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person's privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm."
But the rules don't apply to "public figures or individuals when media and accompanying Tweets are shared in the public interest or add value to public discourse."
By Friday, Twitter noted the roll out had been rough: "We became aware of a significant amount of coordinated and malicious reports, and unfortunately, our enforcement teams made several errors."
"We've corrected those errors and are undergoing an internal review to make certain that this policy is used as intended," the firm added.
Members of the Proud Boys march in Manhattan against vaccine mandates in New York City
Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA via AFP / STEPHANIE KEITH
However, Los Angeles-based activist and researcher Chad Loder said their account was permanently blocked after reports to Twitter over publicly-recorded images from an anti-vaccine rally and a confrontation outside the home of a former Vice journalist.
"Twitter is saying I must delete my tweets featuring photographs of people at newsworthy public events that did indeed get news coverage, or I will never get my account back," Loder told AFP, adding it was the third report of their account to Twitter in 48 hours.
"The current mass-reporting actions by the far-right are just the latest salvo in an ongoing, concerted effort to memory-hole evidence of their crimes and misdeeds," Loder added, using a term popularized by George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.
Experts noted that Twitter's new rules sound like a well-intentioned idea but are incredibly thorny to enforce.
One reason is that the platform has become a key forum for identifying people involved in far-right and hate groups, with internet sleuths posting their names or other identifying information.
The practice of so-called "doxxing" has cost the targets their jobs, set them up for intense public ridicule and even criminal prosecution, while the activists who post the information have faced threats or harassment themselves.
A major example was the online effort to track down people involved in the violence at the US Capitol, which was stormed in January by Donald Trump supporters seeking to block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.
Even the US Federal Bureau of Investigation regularly posts images on its feed of as-yet unnamed people it is seeking in connection with the violence.
"Twitter has given extremists a new weapon to bring harm to those in the greatest need of protection and those shining a light on danger," said Michael Breen, president and CEO of advocacy group Human Rights First, which called on Twitter to halt the policy.
The new rules, announced just a day after Parag Agrawal took over from co-founder Jack Dorsey as boss, wander into issues that may be beyond the platform's control.
"It gets complicated fast, but these are issues that are going to be resolved probably in our courts," said Betsy Page Sigman, a professor emeritus at Georgetown University. "I'm not optimistic about Twitter's changes."
Prosecutors appeal dismissal of Philippines ferry disaster case
The Princess of the Stars capsized after hitting a reef in the central Philippines in 2008 -- only about 50 of the 850 passengers and crew survived (AFP/JAY DIRECTO)
Sat, December 4, 2021, 12:58 AM·2 min read
A lawyer for the families of victims of a 2008 Philippines ferry disaster vowed Saturday to challenge the dismissal of a criminal case against a shipping company executive.
The Princess of the Stars capsized after hitting a reef in the central Philippines during a typhoon in June 2008 -- only about 50 of the 850 passengers and crew survived.
State prosecutors had charged Edgar Go, an executive at the ill-fated vessel's owner Sulpicio Lines Inc, with "reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide" for allowing it to sail despite storm warnings.
But a Manila regional trial court dismissed the case for lack of evidence, according to a copy of the ruling dated November 18 seen by AFP.
State prosecutors have appealed the decision, according to a court filing.
Persida Acosta, the country's chief public attorney who represents families of the victims, said Saturday she will file a similar appeal on Monday.
"It appears there is no one liable anymore," Acosta told AFP. "It's painful to us."
The ship's captain was also charged over the tragedy, but he is missing and presumed dead.
Sulpicio Lines was later renamed Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp.
The company's vessels have been involved in several maritime disasters in the last three decades.
In 1987, its Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker, leaving more than 4,300 dead in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.
Acosta said the families of those killed in the Princess of the Stars accident were still waiting for compensation after the firm appealed the award of 440 million pesos ($8.7 million).
An employee in the company's human resources department told AFP on Saturday that no one was immediately available to comment.
The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, is plagued by poor sea transport, with poorly regulated boats and ships prone to overcrowding and accidents.
mff/amj/qan/lb
COLONIAL LOOTING
Stolen Nepali statue returns to its temple after decades in US
A centuries-old sculpture of two Hindu gods was re-installed at its temple in the Nepali capital Kathmandu on Saturday, nearly 40 years after it was stolen and later emerged in the United States.
The stone statue of the gods Laxmi and Narayan was repatriated to Nepal in March by the Dallas Museum of Art and the FBI after a months-long investigation by Nepali and American activists and officials.
It was taken from the temple in 1984 and appeared on display at the Dallas museum six years later, on loan from a collector.
The work, dating back to between the 12th and 15th centuries, is one of a handful of cultural artefacts returned to Nepal from foreign museums and collectors this year.
A priest chanted prayers and locals played traditional music as the statue was carried in a palanquin back to the pagoda-style temple, which was draped in marigold garlands to welcome the work.
It was placed back on its original stone plinth, with a replica that locals had been worshipping instead moved to stand alongside.
"We are very happy. Our efforts of three to four years have been fruitful, everyone is celebrating," said Dilendra Raj Shrestha of the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign.
Laser sensors and CCTV cameras have now been installed in the temple to protect the statue, he added.
"We are seeing the beginning of a trend, to bring back Nepal's gods from the United States, from Europe, from other countries where they have now ended up," said the US ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry.
"I hope this is the first of many such celebrations."
Nepal is deeply religious and its Hindu and Buddhist temples as well as heritage sites remain an integral part of people's everyday lives.
But many sites are bereft of centuries-old sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows and even doors, which were often stolen after the country opened up to the outside world in the 1950s.
Many pieces were taken with the help of corrupt officials to feed art markets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
"I think there is a global change... Many countries are demanding their artefacts back and Nepal is in a great position legally because export was never permitted," said arts crime professor Erin L. Thompson.
A tweet by Thompson questioning the statue's origin and history had prompted the investigation into the sculpture.
Six pieces have been returned to Nepal this year and authorities are seeking more from France, the United States and Britain.
Why so many museums are full of stolen artefacts from Nepal and the people fighting to bring them back home
Nepalese heritage activists are campaigning to bring home some of the thousands of items stolen from temples and monasteries in the country to feed art markets
When a Nepali academic in the US saw a 17th century gold necklace from Nepal in a museum there, she wept and began to pray. ‘I had so many questions,’ she says
Agence France-Presse Published 2 Dec, 2021 Rabindra Puri at his house in Bhaktapur, east of Kathmandu. He is one of the heritage activists campaigning to bring back from overseas museums Nepalese artefacts stolen from the country. Photo: AFP
When Virginia Tech professor Sweta Gyanu Baniya saw an ornate 17th century Nepali necklace in the Art Institute of Chicago in the United States, she burst into tears, bowed down and began to pray.
Now a video she posted on social media has made the artefact one of the latest targets for heritage activists sleuthing online to bring home some of the thousands of items whisked out over decades from the Himalayan country.
Only a handful of relics have been returned so far, but they have come from some of the world’s top cultural institutions and pressure for more is mounting.
Nepal’s then king offered the gilt copper necklace, adorned with semi-precious stones, to Taleju Bhawani, his Malla dynasty’s patron goddess, in around 1650.
‘They are gods to us’: Nepal seeks to bring home stolen artefacts from the West
Her temple in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, is only open to the public one day a year, but officials removed the work for safekeeping in the 1970s – after which it disappeared.
Baniya says her reaction when she visited the Chicago museum in June was “just overpowering”. This 400-year-old necklace from Nepal is now in a museum in the United States. Photo: Art Institute of Chicago
“I started to weep in front of it,” she says. “I started to just pray normally like I would do in temple.
“I had so many questions. Like why is it here, how did it come here?”
Traces of vermilion pigment used in Hindu worship rituals are still visible on its surface, and Baniya’s Twitter video prompted Nepali authorities to contact the museum to seek its return.
Sweta Gyanu Baniya is a Virginia Tech professor. Photo: Virginia Tech
The Art Institute of Chicago did not respond to multiple requests for comment but its website states the necklace was donated by the private Alsdorf Foundation, which bought it from a California dealer in 1976.
Priest Udhav Kamacharya has served at the temple for 26 years but Baniya’s footage was the first time he had seen the relic.
As he watched, he says: “I felt that the goddess still resides here. We sometimes say the gods are not here any more, but they are. That is why it was found despite being in a foreign land.” Priest Udhav Kamacharya has served at the Taleju Temple for 26 years. Photo: AFP
Nepal is deeply religious, and its Hindu and Buddhist temples and heritage sites remain an integral part of people’s everyday lives.
Many, though, are bereft of their centuries-old sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows and even doors, stolen – sometimes with the help of corrupt officials – after the country opened up to the outside world in the 1950s to feed art markets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
“Our art for us is not just art, they are gods to us,” says heritage expert Rabindra Puri, who campaigns to repatriate stolen Nepali heritage and has assembled a collection of replicas for a planned museum on the issue. Rabindra has assembled a collection of replicas for a planned museum. Photo: AFP
In June, the Paris branch of auction house Bonhams was forced to cancel the sale of five gilded copper-bronze idols, wrenched out from the gateway of a temple in the 1970s, after pressure from Nepali officials and activists.
The auction was first spotted by Lost Art of Nepal, an anonymously-run Facebook page that has posted about hundreds of historical and religious objects, flagging their new locations from auction houses to European or American museums.
“We have seen empty temples, empty shrines, empty pedestals and torn toranas [religious arches or gateways] everywhere” in the Kathmandu valley, the page’s administrator said in an email.
“In search for answers, I have collected old photographs from … [all] possible sources,” they added. “The extent of loss of our heritage is much more than what is known or published.”
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art handed over a 10th-century stone sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva in September. Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Campaigners want to make stolen art – thefts continue to this day, primarily from remote monasteries – as sensitive an issue among buyers and collectors as conflict diamonds or elephant ivory.
With heritage repatriation a growing issue for museums around the world – the ancient Greek Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria are probably the best-known controversies – the occasional Nepali recovery is building into a trickle.
Six pieces have been returned this year and authorities are seeking more from France, the United States and Britain.
Visitors learn about the British Museum’s Elgin Marbles that originate from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Photo: Getty Images
In March, the Dallas Art Museum and US crime agency the FBI returned to Nepal a stolen 12th- to 15th-century androgynous stone sculpture of Hindu deities Laxmi-Narayan.
This month it will be reinstalled in its original temple location, from where it disappeared in 1984. The museum had held the statue for 30 years but a tweet by arts crime professor Erin Thompson questioning its provenance prompted an investigation.
“These are objects people were worshipping until they were ripped away from them,” she says.
A military commander sculpture looted by British soldiers from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. Photo: Getty Images
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art handed over a 10th-century stone sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva in September, the third item it has repatriated to Nepal since 2018.
In Bhaktapur, devotees worship another androgynous Laxmi-Narayan idol, protected behind a locked iron gate.
Expecting mothers continue the ancient tradition of offering it oil to predict the gender of their baby. But it is a replica. The 15th-century original went missing in the early 1980s.
Badri Tuwal, 70, remembers how residents cried in mourning the day the idol disappeared. “We don’t know where it is,” he says, “but I hope someday we can celebrate its return.”
FASCIST INTERNATIONALE European Nationalists Eye New Alliance At Warsaw Talks
Leaders of European far-right and nationalist parties met in Warsaw on Saturday with the aim of creating a new alliance that would become the second-biggest grouping in the European Parliament.
The talks at the Regent Warsaw Hotel bring together 14 parties and are being hosted by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland's ruling right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen attended, as well as Santiago Abascal, the head of Spain's Vox party.
Le Pen, a candidate in France's presidential election in April, said on Friday that the meeting would be "an important step" but she did not expect any imminent announcement of a new group.
"We can be optimistic about the launch of this political force in the months to come," she said.
Around a dozen activists protested outside as the talks got underway, shouting "No to fascism!".
One notable absentee is Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's League, which put out a statement saying that "the time needs to be right" for the new group.
Salvini was one of the signatories of a declaration in July by 16 parties and movements announcing plans for a "grand alliance" in the European Parliament -- the prelude for Saturday's talks.
The League and Le Pen's National Rally are in the European Parliament's Identity and Democracy Group, while PiS, Vox and the Brothers of Italy party are in the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
Orban's Fidesz left the centre-right European People's Party, the biggest group in the European Parliament, in March and is looking for a new home.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said forming a new group could take months Photo: AFP / Wojtek RADWANSKI
"We want to change the politics of Brussels," Orban wrote on Facebook ahead of Saturday's meeting.
"We've been working for months to create a strong party family, hopefully we can make a step towards this goal today or tomorrow," he said.
Ewa Marciniak, a political scientist at the Polish Academy of Sciences, said participants would try to "minimise the differences between them", including on issues such as relations with Russia, as well as attitudes to abortion and LGBTQ rights.
Instead she said they would emphasise "their willingness to go back to the roots of the European Union".
Poland and Hungary accuse the EU of undermining their sovereignty while Brussels says the two countries are rolling back democratic freedoms.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Friday said Europe found itself at "a turning point" and called for member states to put an end to the "usurpation that is concentrating power in the hands of the European elites".
Le Pen met with Morawiecki and Orban in October, expressing support over their stand-off with the EU and their firm stance against mass immigration.
But on Friday she said that forging a new alliance would not be quick, warning that "bringing together political movements is a long haul. It takes time".
Volcanic fertilization of the oceans drove severe mass extinction, say scientists
Volcanic deposits both on land and on the seafloor are rapidly weathered, releasing nutrients like phosphorus to the oceans (example shown here is Montserrat, West Indies). Credit: Dr Tom Gernon/University of Southampton [@TMGernon]
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that two intense periods of volcanism triggered a period of global cooling and falling oxygen levels in the oceans, which caused one of the most severe mass extinctions in Earth history.
The researchers, working with colleagues at the University of Oldenburg, the University of Leeds and the University of Plymouth, studied the effects of volcanic ash and lava on ocean chemistry during a period of extreme environmental change around 450 million years ago. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
This period brought about intense planetary cooling, which culminated in a glaciation and the major 'Late Ordovician Mass Extinction'. This extinction led to the loss of about 85% of species dwelling in the oceans, reshaping the course of evolution of life on Earth.
"It's been suggested that global cooling was driven by an increase in phosphorus input to the oceans" says Dr. Jack Longman, lead author of the study based at the University of Oldenburg, and previously a postdoctoral researcher at Southampton. "Phosphorus is one of the key elements of life, determining the pace at which tiny aquatic organisms like algae can use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into organic matter". These organisms eventually settle to the seabed and are buried, ultimately reducing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which then causes cooling.
Volcanic deposits both on land and on the seafloor are rapidly weathered, releasing nutrients like phosphorus to the oceans (exame shown here is Montserrat, West Indies). Credit: Dr Tom Gernon/University of Southampton [@TMGernon]
"The unresolved puzzle is why glaciation and extinction occurred in two distinct phases at this time, separated by about 10 million years", states Dr. Tom Gernon, Associate Professor at the University of Southampton and co-author of the study. "That requires some mechanism to pulse the supply of phosphorus, which is hard to explain".
The team identified that two exceptionally large pulses of volcanic activity across the globe, occurring in parts of present-day North America and South China, coincided very closely with the two peaks in glaciation and extinction. "But intense bursts of volcanism are more typically linked to massive CO2 release, which should drive global warming, so another process must be responsible for sudden cooling events", explains Dr. Gernon.
This prompted the team to consider whether a secondary process—natural breakdown or 'weathering' of the volcanic material—may have provided the surge in phosphorus need to explain the glaciations.
"When volcanic material is deposited in the oceans it undergoes rapid and profound chemical alteration, including release of phosphorus, effectively fertilizing the oceans," states co-author Professor Martin Palmer from the University of Southampton. "So, it is seemed viable hypothesis and certainly one worth testing".
Abrupt climate change at the end of the Ordovician Period (~450-440 million years ago) caused the second largest mass extinction in Earth history, including the demise of the trilobite, Selenopeltis (pictured, in Oxford University Museum of Natural History). Credit: Dr Tom Gernon/University of Southampton [@TMGernon]
"This led our team to study volcanic ash layers in much younger marine sediments to compare their phosphorus contents before and after they were modified by interactions with seawater" said Dr. Hayley Manners, a lecturer in Organic Chemistry at the University of Plymouth. Equipped with this information, the team were better placed to understand the potential geochemical impact of extensive volcanic layers from enormous eruptions during the Ordovician.
"This prompted us to develop a global biogeochemical model to understand the knock-on effects on the carbon cycle of rapidly adding a surge of phosphorus leached from volcanic deposits into the ocean", says Dr. Benjamin Mills, Associate Professor at the University of Leeds and co-author on the study.
The team discovered that widespread blankets of volcanic material laid down on the seafloor during the Ordovician Period would have released sufficient phosphorus into the ocean to drive a chain of events, including climatic cooling, glaciation, widespread reduction in oceanoxygen levels, and mass extinction.
Whilst it might be tempting to think that seeding the oceans with phosphorus may help solve the current climate crisis, the scientists caution that this may have more damaging consequences. "Excess nutrient runoff from sources like agricultural fertilizers is a major cause of marine eutrophication—where algae grow rapidly and then decay, consuming oxygen and causing substantial damage to ecosystems at the present day", cautions Dr. Mills.
The scientists conclude that whilst on short timescales massive volcanic eruptions can warm the climate via CO2 emissions, equally they can drive global cooling on multimillion-year timescales. "Our study may prompt reinvestigations of other mass extinctions during Earth history", concludes Dr. Longman.'Volcanic winter' likely contributed to ecological catastrophe 250 million years ago: study
A dinosaur trove in Italy rewrites the history, geography and evolution of the ancient Mediterranean area
by Università di Bologna
An adult and two juvenile individuals of the dinosaur Tethyshadros insularis showing the different appearances exhibited by immature and mature specimens in the ancient environment of Villaggio del Pescatore, the first locality in Italy preserving many dinosaur individuals of the same species. Credit: Davide Bonadonna
Italy is not exactly renowned for dinosaurs. In comparison to its excellent artistic and archaeological heritage, dinosaur fossils are very rare. Not surprisingly, the discovery of the first isolated dinosaurs in the early 1990s generated excitement, but are now considered nothing more than an exception to a general rule. During the reign of dinosaurs, between 230 and 66 million years ago, the ancient Mediterranean area would have been hard to map, formed by countless small islands far from all major mainlands—Europe, Africa, and Asia—unsuitable to sustain large animals like the dinosaurs. Or so we believed.
Now, a new study published in Scientific Reports and coordinated by researchers from the University of Bologna unveils the first palaeontological site with multiple, exceptionally complete dinosaur skeletons from Italy: the Villaggio del Pescatore site, located in the Duino-Aurisina municipality, near Trieste, in north-eastern Italy.
These beautiful skeletons belong to the species Tethyshadros insularis and represent the biggest and most complete dinosaur ever found in this country. The team describes the skeletons of some of the most beautiful and pristine dinosaurs from the site (in particular of a new individual nicknamed "Bruno") and highlights the occurrence of seven (probably 11) individuals at the Villaggio del Pescatore.
Skeletal reconstructions of the two individuals of Tethyshadros insularis, with the immature specimen nicknamed "Antonio" (above) and the mature, newly described skeleton of "Bruno" below. Credit: University of Bologna
The palaeontological site of Villaggio del Pescatore, with people from ZOIC working to extract the fossils from this astounding dinosaur trove. Credit: ZOIC s.r.l.
The skeleton of Bruno, an adult individual of the dinosaur Tethyshadros insularis described in this new study. Credit: P. Ferrieri (courtesy of Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
The study also reviews and rewrites many evolutionary hypotheses to interpret the ancient Mediterranean context. Originally, geologists interpreted the area that today is the Villaggio del Pescatore site as part of an island in the middle of a proto-Mediterranean ocean called Tethys. This supported the incorrect interpretation that the relatively small, first dinosaur skeleton found at the site (nicknamed Antonio), was actually a dwarf species, an example of the so-called island rule (the evolutionary miniaturization of bigger animals in an insular environment due to the scarcity of resources).
In this new study, the research team documents that Antonio is an immature individual, whereas Bruno, which is bigger in size, represents an older individual—and that could have been still growing at the time of its death.
New geological data gathered by the team also provided the age of the site and its fossils: approximately 80 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period. This is about 10 million years older than previously thought; quite a long time, even when dealing with dinosaurs. At that time, what is now north-eastern Italy was a land facing a vast ocean but connected to western Europe and Asia. This means that in addition to the small islands that characterized the ancient Mediterranean, many migratory routes for large terrestrial animals like the dinosaurs might have been possible across land bridges of what we nowadays call Italy.
The skull of "Bruno", the newly described skeleton of the dinosaur Tethyshadros insularis. Credit: A. Giamborino (courtesy of Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
A simplified evolutionary tree showing where Tethyshadros would fit between its hadrosauriform relatives, the so-called duck-bill dinosaurs. Credit: University of Bologna
The bones of "Antonio" under the microscope, showing the bone cells (black, circled dots): the fossilised bone tissues were analysed to infer the relative age of the dinosaur skeletons at the time of their death. Credit: University of Bologna
This new research highlights the pivotal role of the Italian dinosaur fossil record for evaluating important scientific hypotheses on these ancient animals. As the site is already protected, new research activities may represent an opportunity to include the geological and paleontological heritage in the "must-see" list while visiting the Belpaese.
More information: Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza et al, An Italian dinosaur Lagerstätte reveals the tempo and mode of hadrosauriform body size evolution, Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02490-x
‘We lost touch with empathy’: Iraqi Oscar entry exposes migrant tragedy on Europe’s doorstep
After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, Haider Rashid’s migrant thriller “Europa” has been selected as Iraq’s contender for best international feature film at the upcoming Academy Awards. FRANCE 24 spoke to the Italian-Iraqi director about the humanitarian crisis at Europe’s borders and his hopes of representing Iraq at the Oscars.
A timely and chilling thriller, “Europa” offers a vivid portrayal of the ordeal experienced by migrants desperate to enter Fortress Europe. Co-financed by the Iraqi and Italian culture ministries, among other supporters, it is the latest migrant-themed work by Rashid, whose father was forced to flee Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the late ‘70s, taking the very Balkan Route that is the focus of his film.
“Europa” is informed by first-person accounts of migrants who undertook the perilous journey and extensive interviews with NGO workers, human rights lawyers and public officials. It follows a young Iraqi migrant named Kamal as he attempts to dodge brutal border guards and deadly migrant-hunters at the Bulgarian border with Turkey.
The film’s probing, handheld camera scours Kamal’s bruised and exhausted body with relentless close-ups as he runs, leaps, crawls and scurries up trees in a frantic race for survival. The young migrant is played with mesmerising intensity by Adam Ali, a British actor of Libyan origin with a slender build and a face from silent movies.
“Europa” has appeared at film festivals across Europe since its international premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. FRANCE 24 spoke to its director ahead of the film’s Arab premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah next week and its release in Iraqi cinemas on December 10.
Your film has won critical acclaim at European festivals. How important was it to get the nod from Iraq too?
I’m extremely honoured to represent Iraq at the Oscars; it makes me feel welcomed and embraced by the country – and even more proud of my mixed heritage. I’ve experienced exile vicariously through my father’s experience; it has been more than forty years since he fled Iraq but it is somehow still part of our family life. Now I’m delighted to be doing something for the country, especially with “Europa”, which is a very culturally-fluid film, with support from both Europe and the Arab world.
We made “Europa” as a sort of release from our own fears about the growing xenophobia and racism in Europe, but also to speak about what is happening to entire generations of Arab youth, of Iraqi youth, particularly those born after the regime [of Saddam Hussein] was toppled, who have grown up in extremely difficult and unstable circumstances.
The film has been embraced by cultural institutions and filmmakers in Iraq, both for its subject matter and approach; they appreciate its innovative nature. It speaks about Iraq’s youth in a new way, in a country where everybody knows someone who has fled. I believe the decision to support the film financially and choose it to represent the country at the Oscars (...) shows awareness of what is happening in Iraq and of the enormous need to build a better future for the country, especially for the young.
“Europa” is the first joint Italian-Iraqi-Kuwaiti production. How significant is the Kuwaiti involvement in this project?
I think most people who were old enough at the time remember very vividly experiencing or watching the Gulf War unfold. I’ve had the opportunity to visit Kuwait several times and found great friends and collaborators there (...). I think it’s very meaningful that 30 years after the war the two countries have a good, peaceful relationship of cooperation and are working together on a cultural endeavor such as this film.
“Europa” is now set for its Arab premiere after touring European festivals. How have audiences responded to your movie?
The most amazing experiences have come when screening the film for younger audiences, students especially. They engage with it in a way no other audience has: they are passionate about the character, the story and the style of the film. Their enthusiasm gave us a lot of energy, hope and some insights: it’s not true that teenagers have no interest in arthouse, “social” or “political” cinema, you just have to find a way to engage them. I feel that the choices behind this film – in terms of its immersive style, that is maybe reminiscent of some video games, in terms of rhythm, but also in terms of focusing on a young character who is just like them – speak to young audiences and make them eager to think and discuss.
Have the EU’s border standoff with Belarus and the latest migrant tragedy in the English Channel, off the coast of France, given added urgency to your film?
I think the film shows events that have a pressing relevance, regardless of which border they take place on. I came up with the concept of the film in 2016 and five years on the situation hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s even worse: it’s a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions that will last for decades if it is only dealt with as an emergency. It’s a structural problem that most institutions don’t really want to fix.
We are all so used to hearing about it that it’s become normality; a lot of people scream for or against it, but it feels distant. We made “Europa” to try to shake people out of this, to make them experience how close it is and how random it is that these dramatic events are not happening to them. It’s just a stroke of luck that should not be taken for granted, Europe’s history teaches us that.
From Poland to England, calls and attempts by civilians to push back migrants have become increasingly common, while politicians routinely talk of suspending or rewriting international law to keep asylum seekers at bay. What does this say about our societies?
We have lost touch with the concept and the feeling of empathy, which I believe should be at the centre of any society. It’s a simple concept, which is why I think politicising the debate on immigration is the greatest gift to political forces based on populism – immigration shouldn’t be a political issue, it is a human issue and should be spoken about with realism and humanity.
It is shocking to watch news of what is happening on the Poland-Belarus border and in the English Channel, as much as it was shocking to watch images of Haitian migrants being chased by mounted Border Patrol near the Rio Grande, on the US-Mexico border. Of course it recalls moments from the film, these are desperate journeys of survival against nature and violent pushbacks and attacks; every day there are lives at high risk across borders. It is an inhumane and criminal treatment.
The tragic situation unfolding at Europe’s borders is referenced, documented and sometimes manipulated by a variety of actors, including journalists, activists and politicians. What is cinema’s role in portraying this crisis?
I think cinema can help give a different perspective, a more human point of view, giving viewers a taste of someone else’s experience. Our aim with “Europa” was to put the audience in the shoes of someone who’s trying to survive through a forest as he’s chased by migrant hunters and attacked by border police forces, and to give them the opportunity to ask themselves how such events sit with them. Cinema has reached a very mature time in its history, technically and artistically, it can have an impact on audiences and I believe there is a responsibility to use it for a purpose of human interest.
