Dressing 'revolution' seeks artificial skin for burn victims
Agence France-Presse
December 27, 2022

An Urgo researcher shows a wound that could be treated by an artificial skin 

© ARNAUD FINISTRE / AFP

Far from the humble sticking plaster, medical firms and researchers are seeking to create the "ultimate dressing" -- artificial skin they hope will revolutionize the treatment of severe burns.

For the last 18 months, researchers from the French firm Urgo have been working towards achieving this Holy Grail of wound treatment, which would save serious burn victims from the painful and repeated skin grafts they currently endure.

The 100-million-euro ($106,000-million) "Genesis" project hopes to have a product ready by 2030.

Guirec Le Lous, the president of Urgo's medical arm, told AFP that it is a "crazy" project.

"Are we capable of designing artificial skin in a laboratory? No one in the world has succeeded," he said.

Inside Urgo's laboratory in Chenove, near the eastern French city of Dijon, living cells are being chilled before they can be cultivated.

"You have to be able to recreate all the functions of skin," including protecting against external threats and regulating the temperature, Le Lous said.

It must also be relatively easy to make, because artificial skin must be "available for all and at the right price," he said, without revealing the exact technology or type of cells Urgo is using.

Urgo, a family-owned business since 1880, has long made dressings for chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers.

"Since the 2000s, we have worked on materials that will correct healing problems: dressings have become intelligent, interactive with wounds, allowing them to perform better," Urgo's research director Laurent Apert said.

He called the change "a revolution".

- Silver bullet -

Urgo is far from alone in pushing the boundaries of what dressings can do.

Researchers at the University of South Australia have developed a new kind of dressing that knows when to release nanoparticles of silver, which can break down antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

"Our treatment is unique in that it capitalizes on the anti-bacterial properties of silver, but avoids over-exposure, by only activating when infection in present," lead researcher Zlatko Kopecki said in a statement.

This makes the dressing "a much safer and effective treatment for children," he added.

Children suffer almost half of burn injuries worldwide, most of them aged between one to five years old, according to research using the World Health Organization's Global Burn Registry.

- 'Night and day' -

Another new technique does away with the idea of dressing altogether.

For a product from French startup VistaCare Medical, patients put their affected leg into a large device which never touches their wound.

Instead the chamber controls the humidity, temperature and other aspects important to healing.

"There is no more dressing. The idea is to put the wound in an enclosure, in a sterile air, VistaCare Medical president Francois Dufay said.

"With this system, we provide the wound with what it needs, at the right time."

VistaCare Medical's device is currently used in around 20 French hospitals, but next year the firm plans to apply for approval in the United States for a product to be used in the home.

The new developments have shaken up the world of wound healing, long a neglected area of medical research.

Isabelle Fromantin, who heads the wounds and healing research unit at the Curie Institute in Paris, said that "compared to 20 years ago, it's night and day in terms of wound care".

Along with her team, Fromantin has developed dressings that reduce the odors from necrotic wounds seen in some cancers.

However she said that not everything can be achieved by new technologies -- healing is a process that varies from person to person, depending on their age and health.

"Believing that a dressing will heal you all by itself is utopian," she said.

© 2022 AFP

Fly away home: rare Eastern Sarus cranes released in Thailand

Agence France-Presse
December 27, 2022

Captive-bred Eastern Sarus cranes have been released in northeast Thailand, where they were last seen in the wild in 1968 © Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

As the sun came up, 13 Thai Eastern Sarus cranes were released over a rippling reservoir in northeast Thailand, the latest effort to revive the almost-extinct species in the kingdom.

More commonly known as Thai cranes, the birds nearly disappeared from the country roughly 50 years ago -- they were last spotted in the wild in 1968 -- before a collaboration between the Thai government, Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo and United Nations to save them.

A breeding program, using fowl donated by Cambodia, began in 1989, with the first reintroduction in 2011.

Sarus cranes are classed by the ICNC as "vulnerable", with an estimated 15,000 remaining in the wild -- with the Thai sub-species having been thought to have disappeared from Thailand's wild wetlands.

But since 2011, more than 150 captivity-bred birds -- which can grow to up to six feet (1.8 meters) and weigh almost seven kilograms (15 pounds) -- have been released in Buriram province.

"It is the only place where the Thai cranes are able to live and reproduce on their own," said Governor Chaiwat Chuntirapong.

The birds were transported in large, specially adapted boxes -- their red-feathered heads watching through mesh windows -- from the Wetland and Eastern Sarus Crane Conservation Center where they were bred to the Huai Chorakhe Mak Reservoir.

The latest flock of 13 cranes were released all at once on Christmas Day. The tall birds loudly honked and clumsily flapped as they unsteadily took to the skies accompanied by cheering children and spectators.

It was the final moment in a long journey for the researchers, who carefully nurtured the cranes from hatching, gradually introduced them to the wild and then took them to their final flight to freedom.

"The herdsman wears a suit that hides her body and wears a bird's head puppet on her hands to teach the birds everything from feeding to familiarizing them with nature," said Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo researcher Tanat Uttaraviset.

As a result of the long process, roughly 60 to 70 percent of the birds survive in the wild, he said.

Prior to their release, each bird is micro-chipped and tagged, allowing researchers to track them and improve the conservation efforts.

As well as rearing and releasing the cranes, an important part of the program has been educating people about the species and the environment.

Huai Chorakhe Mak Reservoir was chosen partly thanks to its natural proliferation of water chestnuts -- an important food source for cranes in the dry season.

But their habitat remains threatened by the "widespread invasion of agriculture", said director of Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo Thanachon Kensing.

The zoo has established a learning centre, teaching tourists and locals about how to better care for the environment the birds need to survive.

"Changing villagers' attitudes is difficult," Thanachon admitted.

"But if we can communicate with them... this project will be successful," he said.

Watching his red-headed charges soar off over the sparkling waters, researcher Tanat had just one hope.


"The ultimate goal is to secure the crane population," he said.

© 2022 AFP

A single dose of psilocybin improves depression in treatment-resistant patients, but with adverse effects

2022/12/27


A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that psilocybin therapy may offer therapeutic benefits for patients with treatment-resistant depression. When administered alongside psychological support, a 25 mg psilocybin dose reduced depression scores among treatment-resistant patients. However, adverse effects were reported, and further clinical trials are needed.

Clinical depression is typically treated with a combination of anti-depressant medication and psychotherapy. While most patients experience a reduction in symptoms with anti-depressants, a subset of people fail to respond to the medication. A case that does not respond to two courses of anti-depressants is referred to as treatment-resistant depression.

Preliminary studies have suggested that psilocybin — a psychedelic compound found in certain species of mushrooms — may have antidepressant properties. In their recently-published study, researchers Guy M. Goodwin and his colleagues explored its potential to treat depression among people who are resistant to usual treatment.

“The potential of psychedelics in mental health has been investigated by scientists for many years, but only recently has research moved to larger scale studies,” explained Goodwin, the chief medical officer at COMPASS Pathways.

“These large trials are needed to demonstrate treatments are safe and effective, receive regulatory approvals, and get them to people who urgently need new options. We focus on areas of unmet need in mental health, for example treatment-resistant depression, which affects 100 million people globally.”

“We have just begun a phase 3 programme in treatment-resistant depression, which is the largest-ever clinical trial of psilocybin therapy globally, and we’re also studying COMP360 psilocybin therapy in post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia nervosa.”

The researchers conducted a double-blind, randomized clinical trial among 233 patients diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. The study was conducted at 22 sites in 10 different countries. For 3-6 weeks leading up to the study, participants tapered off any antidepressants they were taking and met with a therapist to prepare for the trial. Participants were then randomly assigned to receive either a 25 mg, a 10 mg, or a 1 mg dose of psilocybin. The 1 mg dose served as a control condition.

After the treatment, participants were followed for 12 weeks. The day after the treatment and one week after treatment, the participants attended therapist-led integration sessions to help them reflect on the psilocybin experience. Participants also completed assessments of depression over the phone at various time points throughout the study.

Goodwin and his team analyzed changes in participants’ depression scores, comparing the groups who received 25 mg and 10 mg of psilocybin to the control group. The results revealed that from baseline to week 3, the 25 mg group showed improvements in their depression scores that significantly exceeded changes in the 1 mg group. Change in depression scores was no different between the 10 mg and 1 mg groups.

“We saw positive results in a particularly difficult to treat type of depression – treatment-resistant depression – where patients have tried at least two antidepressant treatments without success,” Goodwin told PsyPost.

“Our study showed that after a single 25mg dose of COMP360 psilocybin therapy with psychological support, approximately 30% of patients were in remission at three weeks, and we saw effects lasting for up to three months.”

Notably, adverse events were reported in all groups, the most common being headaches, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue. Reports also included suicidal ideation and self-injurious behavior, and these events were more common among those who took 25 mg or 10 mg compared to 1 mg.

Limitations of the study include that the sample was not ethnically diverse, with 92% of participants being White. Additionally, the study did not assess whether participants could correctly guess which dose of psilocybin they received, which means that placebo effects cannot be entirely ruled out.

Overall, the findings suggest that a single dose of 25 mg of psilocybin — but not 10 mg — can improve depression symptoms among people with treatment-resistant depression when administered alongside therapy. Nevertheless, the adverse events are cause for concern, particularly the reports of worsening suicidality.

“We are about to start the world’s first ever phase 3 pivotal programme of psilocybin therapy in treatment-resistant depression,” Goodwin said. “Our phase 3 programme will seek to validate our phase 2b results published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and also investigate if a second dose of COMP360 psilocybin can increase rates of treatment response seen in the phase 2b study.”

The study, “Single-Dose Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depression”, was authored by G.M. Goodwin, S.T. Aaronson, O. Alvarez, P.C. Arden, A. Baker, J.C. Bennett, C. Bird, R.E. Blom, C. Brennan, D. Brusch, L. Burke, K. Campbell‑Coker, R. Carhart‑Harris, J. Cattell, A. Daniel, C. DeBattista, B.W. Dunlop, K. Eisen, D. Feifel, M.K. Forbes, H.M. Haumann, D.J. Hellerstein, A.I. Hoppe, M.I. Husain, L.A. Jelen, J. Kamphuis, J. Kawasaki, J.R. Kelly, R.E. Key, R. Kishon, S. Knatz Peck, G. Knight, M.H.B. Koolen, M. Lean, R.W. Licht, J.L. Maples‑Keller, J. Mars, L. Marwood, M.C. McElhiney, T.L. Miller, A. Mirow, S. Mistry, T. Mletzko‑Crowe, L.N. Modlin, R.E. Nielsen, E.M. Nielson, S.R. Offerhaus, V. O’Keane, T. Páleníček, D. Printz, M.C. Rademaker, A. van Reemst, F. Reinholdt, D. Repantis, J. Rucker, S. Rudow, S. Ruffell, A.J. Rush, R.A. Schoevers, M. Seynaeve, S. Shao, J.C. Soares, M. Somers, S.C. Stansfield, D. Sterling, A. Strockis, J. Tsai, L. Visser, M. Wahba, S. Williams, A.H. Young, P. Ywema, S. Zisook, and E. Malievskaia.

© PsyPost

Why rituals have been crucial for humans throughout history – and why we still need them

The Conversation
December 27, 2022

Champagne Toast with Sparklers (Shutterstock)

Each December, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, among others, take over our thoughts and our wallets as we participate in ceremonies our ancestors have practiced for as long as we can remember. These are all example of traditions. And in most cases, traditions are accompanied by rituals.

What’s the difference?

In scientific terms, a “tradition” refers to the passing down of customs and beliefs from one generation to the next. A “ritual”, on the other hand, is a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order, and which is often embedded in a larger symbolic system, such as religion or philosophy.

For example, while celebrating birthdays is a tradition, blowing out the candles on a cake is a ritual. Similarly, while getting married is a tradition, exchanging vows is a ritual.

New rituals can be created at any time. To become tradition they only need to be understood and replicated by a wider community.


Communities around the world have different rituals practiced during weddings, often passed down through generations. Shutterstock

And it’s not just in grand gestures that humans practice rituals; some are so embedded into our everyday lives we no longer recognise them. The very particular way someone makes their tea or coffee in the morning is a ritual they enact daily.

Basically, rituals are everywhere. That raises the question: why do we have them at all?

Archaeological evidence for the earliest rituals

Ritual behavior has very deep origins in humanity. However, tracking these origins and their development is difficult as rituals often leave little or no physical traces behind for archaeologists to find.

Thus far, the best evidence for ancient rituals is the deliberate burial of loved ones. The oldest example is found at Mt Carmel in Israel, where some 130,000 years ago a Neanderthal woman was laid to rest by her community.


Mt Carmel in Israel is the site of the oldest known human burial. A Neanderthal woman was laid to rest here some 130,000 years ago. Michelle Langley

Archaeologists also suggest the extensive use of colored pigments (particularly bright red) to paint bodies, objects and rock walls points to the practice of “symbolic” behavior, including ritual. The oldest reliable evidence for colourant use dates to between 500,000 and 310,000 years ago and comes from several archaeological sites in southern Africa.

Another type of evidence that is often intrinsically tied to rituals and traditions is musical instruments. Bone flutes dating back to about 42,000 years ago have been found in Western Europe. How long people have used the very first instruments – the human voice, clapping hands and stomping feet – remains unknown.


This bone flute, found at the German Palaeolithic site of Hohle Fels, is at least 42,000 years old. Jensen/University of Tubingen

Why do we have rituals?

Rituals play a very important role in human communities for a number of reasons.

First, rituals help reduce individual and collective anxieties, especially when we ourselves, our family, or our whole community is facing uncertain times or crisis.

Research has shown that by praying or singing together we feel connected and supported and our anxiety is reduced. This may explain why Parisians were moved to sing together as they watched their beloved Notre Dame Cathedral burn in 2019.


Parisians sing together as Notre Dame burns – a spontaneous ritual to deal with an unexpected crisis.

Rituals also help reduce anxiety by allowing us to feel control over our surroundings. For instance, new parents may be anxious about protecting their baby. Rituals that welcome the infant into the family and community help them feel they’ve done everything possible – including drawing on supernatural protection – to ensure their child’s wellbeing.

Second, rituals bring people together to celebrate or otherwise mark important life milestones. Births, graduations, marriages and deaths are all marked by rituals and traditions across the globe. These events provide a time and place to gather and encourage people to renew their bonds with friends and family.

These bonds are especially important in times of bad luck, which helps explain why the incentive to maintain them has endured through human history.

Imagine living tens of thousands of years ago, when human communities were much smaller and often lived farther apart. If a volcano erupted, the resulting destruction could mean plant and animal resources – essential food and materials needed for survival – would not be available for months, or perhaps years.

You would then have to rely on the bonds you maintained with neighboring communities through shared rituals. Such bonds would encourage the sharing of resources until circumstances improve.

Finally, rituals help us remember and share huge amounts of cultural information. By learning a format or pattern of behavior through ritual, we can absorb information and recall it later more easily.

This approach works astonishingly well to ensure information is passed down orally over long periods. Thus far, the oldest story dated using scientific methods is the Aboriginal Gunditjmara people’s story of the Budj Bim volcano eruption, which occurred 37,000 years ago in what is now south-western Victoria.

Being able to retain information about changes in the landscape, its plants, animals and people ultimately increased the likelihood that your family would not only survive – but thrive.

Rituals will remain

Without rituals, and the traditions in which they become embedded, it is unlikely humanity would have advanced to its current state of cultural and technological development.

We wouldn’t have been able to continually gather and share information, maintain bonds over extensive geographical areas, or make it through difficult periods.

Despite being surrounding by increasingly complex technologies, rituals today remain more important than ever. With extreme weather events and conflicts continuing to displace people all over the globe, they will act as an essential social glue that holds our communities together.

Michelle Langley, Associate Professor of Archaeology, Griffith University

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

'It just dies': Yellow-band disease ravages Thailand's coral reefs

Agence France-Presse
December 28, 2022

Yellow-band disease is rapidly spreading and killing corals off the eastern coast of Thailand © Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

Underneath the calm turquoise waters off eastern Thailand, a rapidly spreading disease is killing corals over vast stretches of the sea floor, and scientists fear it may be getting worse because of climate change.

Yellow-band disease -- named for the colour it turns corals before destroying them -- was first spotted decades ago and has caused widespread damage to reefs in the Caribbean. There is no known cure.

But it was detected for the first time off Thailand's eastern coast just last year, near the popular tourist city of Pattaya, and has already spread over roughly 600 acres (240 hectares) of the sea.

"I haven't seen anything like this before," said marine scientist Lalita Putchim, of Thailand's Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

"Everywhere we went we saw it, and we expect to see more of it as we go."

Scientists believe overfishing, pollution and rising water temperatures because of climate change may be making the reefs more vulnerable to yellow-band disease.

The disease's impact cannot be reversed, unlike the effects of coral bleaching.

"When the coral is infected with this disease, it just dies," Lalita said.

The loss of corals could have a devastating impact on the ecosystem -- the reef is "like a forest", sustaining massive amounts of life, and its death could eventually impact humans too, she added.

Thai scientists are hoping their investigation into this outbreak will help find a way to stop or cure yellow-band disease.

On one research trip near Samaesan island in Chonburi district, Lalita and her team donned diving gear on a boat before heading underwater.

They photographed infected corals, taking measurements and photographs while harvesting samples to study later.

Thai marine authorities are using social media to track reports of infected reefs, and have also asked the public to report any sightings of affected corals.

Thai researchers have also been aided by local volunteers, as well as business owner Thanapon Chaivanichakul, who collected underwater photographic evidence.

"I was shocked when I first saw it," Thanapon told AFP, using a series of expletives to describe the disease.

The disease is also a threat to the livelihoods of many in the area.

Choopan Sudjai, the owner of a sightseeing boat, relies on the income from tourists who come to see the area's natural beauty -- especially the coral reefs.

"Now that the coral has been infected and will be destroyed, what will we do in five years?" said the 55-year-old.

"It feels as if our own home has been destroyed."

They survived the hunters: now king penguins face climate change

Agence France-Presse
December 29, 2022

King penguins stand just under a meter tall © PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP

Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the thousands of king penguins that densely congregate on the remote Possession Island each year now face a new threat: climate change.

The birds spend most of their life at sea, but come breeding time in December half the world's population flock to the islands in the southern Indian Ocean's Crozet archipelago, roughly halfway between Antarctica and the southeastern tip of Africa.

Robin Cristofari, a specialist in penguins at Finland's University of Turku, looks out on a colony massed at a bay on Possession Island.

"This species was not very far from extinction" after being massacred by seal hunters from the end of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th, he said.

When the hunters ran out of seals to kill, they used the penguins as fuel, burning them to melt seal blubber in cauldrons, said Cristofari.

For a short time they even made penguin oil, "but it was not good quality", he added.

The king penguin population rebounded in the latter half of the 20th century, but their numbers plateaued around 20 years ago.

"After that first hurdle, the species now faces a second, more insidious one: climate change," Cristofari said.

He was the lead author of a 2018 study that found that global warming was on track to wipe out 70 percent of the world's king penguins by the end of the century.

Polar Front

King penguins stand just under a meter (three feet) tall and sport black-and-white tuxedos accessorized with bright orange on their necks and beaks.

They only return to land to breed, and are very picky about where they do so.

It must be a dry place, without winter sea ice around the island, and have a smooth beach of sand or pebbles as well as plentiful, accessible sources of food.

This means breeding spots need to be close to the Antarctic Polar Front, where cold waters from the south converge with warmer northern flows to create an area abundant with fish, squid and other marine food.

In January, the polar front is usually 350 kilometers (about 220 miles) south of the Crozet archipelago.

But during hot years it can be up to 750 kilometers away -- too far for penguins to get food and quickly return to their hungry hatchlings and relieved partner.

"Reproductive success is directly related to the distance from the polar front," Cristofari said.

But with the polar front drifting southwards as human-driven climate change warms the world, the Crozet Islands could soon become uninhabitable for king penguins.

And that would leave the flightless birds with only a handful of islands to the south, many of which cannot sustain large breeding colonies.

"We are not worried about the species, the population will not disappear in the next 50 years," Cristofari said. But their way of life could be seriously disrupted, he said.

- 'Playful and curious' -

King penguins live for about 25 years and have their first chicks aged about six or seven.

Out of more than a million breeding pairs worldwide, around half breed on the Crozet Islands.

They typically arrive in early November, selecting and mating with the partner with whom they will stay faithful for a year.

The parents share equal responsibilities during the 50-day incubation period and the first month after the chick hatches.

Cristofari said the "playful and curious" birds barge into the gigantic nesting colonies on the islands, carefully waddling with their egg nestled between their feet.

Finding a place among the crowd, the partners take turns using their bellies to warm their precious future offspring, Cristofari said.

The parent not caring for the egg or chick heads out to sea in search of food. Their partner back on land can go a month without eating.

The chicks are well fed until May then fast during the Southern Hemisphere's winter. The parents come back to feed their offspring occasionally until spring.

"The cycle is timed to make it as easy as possible for the chick to start feeding on its own, ideally during the peak of summer," Cristofari said.

Then, a full year after hatching, the hungry penguins enter the water to catch their own food for the first time.


© 2022 AFP

Trump allies were desperate to 'conjure up' voter fraud — but they couldn't find any: former prosecutor

Matthew Chapman

RAW STORY
December 29, 2022
 
Senator Lindsey Graham smiles A SHIT EATING GRIN behind President Trump 

at the rally in the Bojangle's Coliseum in 2020. (Shutterstock.com)

On Thursday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," former federal prosecutor Elie Honig tore into former President Donald Trump's associates for doing everything in their power to hunt for voter fraud, despite the fact that there wasn't any and they appeared to know there wasn't any.

This came after the release of a transcript from Christina Bobb, a Trump attorney, who revealed a damning conversation Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had with her.

"According to this new transcript from a Trump lawyer, Senator Lindsey Graham ... said 'Just give me five dead voters,'" said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "That's a direct quote. How desperate were Trump's allies to find anything to back up their false claims of voter fraud?"

"Well, Wolf, one thing that jumps out to me from these transcripts is they knew they had nothing," said Honig. "Whether it's Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump Jr., these transcripts show us that in the hours and days after the votes were actually cast in November, they realized they had lost, they realized their only hope was to conjure up these claims of voter fraud, and they just couldn't find any."

A case in point, said Honig, is the fact that Graham "apparently wasn't even able to get anything enough to satisfy him on that small ask" to find five dead voters.

'The point here is they knew they needed some evidence of voter fraud, they had absolutely none, yet they claimed it anyway," said Honig.

Elie Honig says Trump's team were desperate to "conjure up" voter fraud

ECOCIDE
Brazil's haunting graveyard of ships risks environmental disaster, warns activist group

Reuters
December 29, 2022
By Pilar Olivares

GUANABARA BAY (Reuters) - On a stormy evening in mid-November, a huge, abandoned cargo ship broke free of its moorings and slowly floated into the massive concrete bridge that carries cars across Brazil's Guanabara Bay to Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil's navy said the 200-meter-long (660-ft.) Sao Luiz, a rust-spattered bulk carrier built in 1994, had been anchored in the bay for more than six years awaiting legal proceedings before it crashed into Latin America's longest over-water bridge. The navy said it was investigating.

"The Sao Luiz is still in the Port of Rio today, with 50 tonnes of fuel oil in it," Sergio Ricardo, co-founder of socio-environmental group Movimento Baia Viva (Living Bay Movement) told Reuters, also pointing to high levels of corrosion.

"The ship is unsafe and can cause an environmental disaster," he said.

Worldwide, financial and legal problems are common reasons for owners abandoning ships.

The Sao Luiz is one of dozens of ships left to rust on the iconic but heavily polluted bay, once home to vast mangroves and thriving marine life.

The mangroves are now much reduced and pollution exacerbated by the graveyard of ships is threatening local sea-horses, green turtles and Guiana dolphins, a symbol of Rio de Janeiro.

A survey by the Rio de Janeiro State University found this year that just 34 Guiana dolphins remained in the bay, down from around 800 in the 1990s.

Besides the ships' effect on marine life and passing vessels, which must navigate an obstacle course of half-floating hulks, pollution in the bay imposes a financial cost of some tens of billions of reais a year with its pollution, Ricardo estimated.

Fernando Pinto Lima, a 62-year-old former fisherman in the bay, told Reuters he used to be able to quickly catch 50 to 100 kilograms of fish. "Now to catch fifty kilograms, it'll take you a week or a month," he said.

Following the Sao Luiz crash, local media reported that authorities were studying how to remove the ghost ships. But the derelict vessels continue to molder on and under its muddy waters.

($1 = 5.2186 reais)

(Reporting by Pilar Olivares; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Bradley Perrett)








Read More

Editorial: Economic downturns hurt Americans. 

They can kill Somalis

2022/12/29

Makeshift tents at Limaan camp in Mogadishu on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, where internally displaced Somalis live who fled from their settlement due to the severe drought conditions. - HASSAN ALI ELMI/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell kicked off the holiday season with another interest-rate increase. He also lit the fuse for a sell-off in the stock market by telling the world, “We have more work to do,” signaling additional rate hikes in 2023. A year-end “Santa Claus Rally” could still materialize, but so far, the stock market has preferred the playbook of the Grinch.

The global economy in 2023 is expected to be, in a word, nasty.

Citi is predicting “rolling recessions,” the Institute of International Finance expects global growth on a par with 2009, a dreadful year, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development foresees a “very difficult” economic outlook. At the Fed, the latest view of the economy’s future is similarly bleak.

We support the central bank’s tough-minded campaign to tame inflation. Rate hikes and other steps to tighten the money supply make sense given how prices shot up and stayed up over the past year.

Inflation is terrible for American households and those who rely on retirement savings. Getting it under control is essential. And, yes, we recognize the Fed’s battle against rising prices will cost some Americans their jobs and hurt personal finances, as borrowing costs rise for credit cards, mortgages and other loans.

Even so, we were hoping the Fed would be more encouraging. The latest consumer price index report showed inflation in the U.S. to be moderating, at the same time the global economy has been slowing. Surely, the time for harsh medicine is almost over, right? Not according to Powell, who said earlier this month, “We’ve made less progress than expected on inflation.”

The gloomy tone is rubbing off. A worldwide recession is just around the corner, according to BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager. The coming downturn is likely to result in severe market volatility and, contrary to what investors have come to expect, the world’s central bankers are unlikely to ride to their rescue. “We don’t see a return to conditions that will sustain a joint bull market in stocks and bonds of the kind we experienced in the prior decade,” BlackRock wrote in its downbeat year-end outlook.

It’s hard to find any positives in these dire forecasts, except for the fact that forecasts are often wrong. Remember, the war in Ukraine shot down the positive outlooks from a year ago, and the pandemic made mincemeat of the bullish forecasts from the end of 2019. Who knows what geopolitical events will affect 2023?

Some households are better equipped to deal with economic stress and uncertainty than others. And the same goes for cities, states and countries as well. All things considered, compared with the rest of the world, Chicago, Illinois and the United States are in a position of strength. We have an enviable capacity to withstand economic turmoil, and even turn it to our advantage.

Let’s keep our advantages in mind as we recognize the challenges facing the neediest among us. Global recessions are tough on rich countries like ours. In poor countries, people die. Sometimes, many people die.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) recently unveiled its list of countries at the highest risk of humanitarian disasters. No surprise, given Russia’s offensive, Ukraine made the list. But perhaps surprising to some, the war-torn country we hear about every day checks in at No. 10.

At highest risk is Somalia, followed by neighboring Ethiopia — two countries with a combined population of well over 100 million that get little media attention, even as their potential for suffering in 2023 exceeds anywhere else in the world.

These countries typically are low priorities among global decision-makers. Does anyone remember Somalia being mentioned when the Russian navy blockaded Ukraine’s ports, disrupting global food supplies? The East African country had been importing 90% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. And there was no national stockpile in Somalia to make up for the lost exports and soaring food prices.

For years, a merciless drought brought on by climate change has undermined the country’s ability to produce its own food. Armed conflict has made matters worse, and aid is lagging far behind the needs of Somalia’s citizens. More than 200,000 Somalis are experiencing “catastrophic” food insecurity, according to the IRC. That means some people are starving to death every day and others are so weak from starvation that common ailments like diarrhea can easily kill them. Children suffer the most.

What to do? The IRC provides a sensible plan for helping Somalia and other crisis spots. It starts with paying attention. After the Fed hiked rates earlier this month, every word of the central bank’s written statement and Powell’s news conference went under the microscope. We paid attention, especially when the stock market tanked in the aftermath.

During this holiday season, let’s pay attention to those who have more to worry about than interest rates on the Mastercard bill or home equity line of credit. Let’s remember those who need help the most and make it a priority to ensure they get it.

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© Chicago Tribune

Death of ex-pope would put Vatican in uncharted territory

Agence France-Presse
December 29, 2022

Pope Francis and Ex-Pope Benedict VATICAN MEDIA/AFP / Handout

The death of a pope usually sets in motion time-honored traditions, but with ex-pontiff Benedict XVI in failing health the Vatican is on unfamiliar ground.

The 95-year-old Joseph Ratzinger, who was revealed this week to be seriously ill, in 2013 became the first pontiff to quit in six centuries.

Unlike when previous popes have died, there would be no need to call a conclave to elect a new pontiff, as Pope Francis -- chosen to succeed Benedict in 2013 -- remains very much in post.

But the Vatican has refused to give details in advance on what else will happen when Benedict dies.

Most commentators expect Benedict to have a funeral at the Vatican, either in St Peter's Basilica or the huge square that sits in front of it.

"From a liturgical point of view, I think that when the funeral takes place, essentially it will be the ritual envisaged for papal funerals," liturgical expert Claudio Magnoli told AFP.

"The substantial difference is that it could be presided over by the reigning pope (Francis), while up to now it was the dean of cardinals or a designated cardinal."
Under rules set out in 1996, a pope must be buried between four and six days after his death.

How and when he is buried is usually decided by cardinals who gather from around the world, and who also organise the Vatican's nine days of mourning, known as novemdiales.

The pope's ring

They decide because the death of a pope traditionally creates a power vacuum at the top of the church.

However, no such vacuum would exist in this case, as Francis is in charge.

In 2005 the body of John Paul II, the last pope to die, lay in state before a funeral mass in St Peter's Square presided over by Ratzinger, then a senior cardinal.

An estimated one million people attended, alongside heads of state from around the world.

In 2020, media reports said Benedict had chosen to be buried in the former tomb of John Paul II, in the crypt of St Peter's.

The body of the beloved Polish pope was moved to the upper part of the basilica when he was beatified in 2011. He was confirmed a saint in 2014.

Benedict, a conservative intellectual, was not as popular as John Paul II, who was pope between 1978 and 2005, but his funeral is still likely to draw large crowds and dignitaries.

Traditionally, when a pope dies, his "Fisherman's Ring" -- a signet ring specially cast for each new pope which once was used to seal documents -- is also destroyed.

When Benedict left office, the face of his ring was etched with a "X" to make it unusable.


© 2022 AFP