Venom glands similar to those of snakes are found for first time in amphibians

Brazilian researchers discover that caecilians, limbless amphibians resembling worms or snakes that emerged some 150 million years before the latter, can probably inject venom into their prey while biting

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

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IMAGE: UPPER JAW OF A CAECILIAN SHOWING GLANDS THAT EXPEL A PROBABLY VENOMOUS SECRETION view more 

CREDIT: CARLOS JARED, BUTANTAN INSTITUTE

A group led by researchers at Butantan Institute in Brazil and supported by FAPESP has described for the first time the presence of venom glands in the mouth of an amphibian. The legless animal is a caecilian and lives underground. It has tooth-related glands that, when compressed during biting, release a secretion into its prey - earthworms, insect larvae, small amphibians and snakes, and even rodent pups. A paper reporting the study is published in iScience.

"We were analyzing the mucus glands in the skin of the animal's head, which it uses to burrow down into the soil, when we discovered these structures. They're located at the base of the teeth and develop out of the dental lamina, the tissue that typically gives rise to teeth, as is the case with snakes' venom glands," said Pedro Luiz Mailho-Fontana, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral intern at Butantan Institute with a scholarship from São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP.

An article by the same group published in 2018 in Scientific Reports showed that in addition to mucus glands in the skin all over the body caecilians have many poison glands in the skin of the tail as a passive defense against predators. This system, which is also found in frogs, toads and salamanders, poisons predators when they bite caecilians.

In the new report the researchers show that caecilians can be venomous, and indeed are the first amphibians to have an active defense system. Biologists apply the term venomous to organisms that bite or sting to inject their toxins, such as snakes, spiders, and scorpions, whereas poisonous refers to organisms that deliver toxins when touched or eaten.

In these caecilians, the secretion released by the glands also serves to lubricate a prey so that it is easier to swallow.

"Snakes have pouches to accumulate venom, which they inject through fangs when the pouches are squeezed by muscles. In rattlesnakes and pit vipers, for example, the teeth are hollow like hypodermic needles. In caecilians, gland compression during biting releases the venom, which penetrates the puncture wound. The same goes for lizards like the Komodo dragon and Gila monster," said Carlos Jared, a researcher at Butantan Institute and principal investigator for the study.

The study was part of the FAPESP-funded project "Unraveling parental care in caecilians: nutritional and toxinological implications in Siphonops annulatus". In a paper published in Nature in 2006, the researchers were the first to show that offspring of the caecilian species Boulengerula taitanus feed solely on the mother's skin in the first two months of their lives. In 2008 the group described the same behavior for Siphonops annulatus in a paper published in Biology Letters .

Except for a group that lives in aquatic environments, caecilians spend their entire lives in burrows or underground tunnels. As a result, they have very small eyes, which sense light but do not form images. They are also the only vertebrates that have tentacles. In caecilians, these are near the eyes and act as feelers equipped with chemical sensors that test the environment for sensory data.

Characterization of venom

The researchers' biochemical analysis showed that the secretion released from the animal's mouth while it is biting contains phospholipase A2, an enzyme commonly found in the venom of bees, wasps, and snakes. They found the enzyme to be more active in caecilians than in rattlesnakes. However, this trait is not sufficient to prove they are more venomous than snakes.

The group will now conduct tests using molecular biology techniques to characterize caecilians' dental gland secretion more precisely and confirm that it is venomous. In the future they may test any proteins they find in order to explore possible biotechnological applications such as drug development.

Four species were analyzed in the study. In Typhlonectes compressicauda, the only one that lives in aquatic environments, the glands were found only in the lower jaw. The researchers believe it may have lost the upper-jaw glands during the evolutionary process (as did some water snakes) since the water in the environment naturally lubricates prey. The mandibular glands were retained, probably for venom.

Most of the 214 known species of caecilians live underground in the humid forests of South America, India, and Africa. Owing to their subterranean habits, biologists rarely have a chance to find out more about these animals.

More than new data about caecilians, the study offers important information regarding the evolution of amphibians and reptiles. "For snakes and caecilians, the head is the only tool for exploring the environment, fighting, eating and killing. This may have fueled evolutionary pressure for these limbless animals to develop venom," said Marta Maria Antoniazzi , also a researcher at Butantan Institute and a co-author of the study.

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About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at http://www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at http://www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.

17 Republicans Voted Against Condemning QAnon After A Democrat Got Death Threats From Its Followers

The resolution passed the House 371–18 on Friday, with one Republican voting "present."

Sarah Mimms BuzzFeed News Reporter
Reporting From Washington, DC
Last updated on October 2, 2020, 

Scott Olson / Getty Images
A Donald Trump supporter holds a QAnon flag at Mount Rushmore National Monument on July 1.

WASHINGTON — The House voted to formally condemn QAnon — a collective delusion that alleges President Donald Trump is fighting a Satan-worshipping cabal of elites who abuse children — on Friday, three days after its followers targeted Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski with death threats.

The resolution, which passed the House 371–18, also comes as at least one avowed QAnon believer is expected to be elected to Congress next month. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has also posted a photo of herself holding a gun next to images of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the "Squad," won the Republican primary for a Georgia seat earlier this year and is very likely to win in November. Several other QAnon followers have won Republican primaries.

Malinowski coauthored the bipartisan resolution condemning QAnon with Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman back in August, two weeks after Greene won her primary and after Trump called her a “future Republican Star.” Trump has praised QAnon, despite Q’s frequent anti-Semitism, the fact that their followers have a history of turning their beliefs into real-world violence, and that the FBI has labeled the group a domestic terror threat.

Seventeen Republicans voted against the resolution on Friday, as did Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash. One member, Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, voted “present.”

On Tuesday, Malinowski was targeted in a “Q-drop” — one of the self-proclaimed US government insider’s conspiracy-filled posts on message boards. As BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday, the post mentioned Malinowski’s resolution, but it also included a screenshot of a false attack from the National Republican Campaign Committee alleging that Malinowski “lobbied to protect sexual predators.”

The false attack — which the NRCC also included in a debunked TV ad in which a narrator says, “Tom Malinowski chose sex offenders over your family” — echoes a core belief of QAnon followers: that powerful Democrats and global elites are engaged in child trafficking. Adherents have actually hindered law enforcement going after child trafficking by overwhelming them with false conspiracy theories.

Malinowski quickly started getting death threats after Q’s post went up Tuesday, which his office reported to the Capitol Police. And the NRCC, the campaign arm of House Republicans, has only doubled down on the false attack since then. The NRCC is currently run by Rep. Tom Emmer, who voted for the resolution Friday. Malinowski told BuzzFeed News that he spoke to Emmer about the NRCC attacks and how they could play into QAnon's hands before the Q drop targeted him. “He said, ‘I don’t know what Q is’ and walked away. … He said, 'I can’t be responsible for, you know, how people use our stuff and I don’t know what that is,'” Malinowski said.

(Emmer traveled with Trump on Air Force One on Wednesday before the president tested positive for the coronavirus and was tested Friday, according to his office. He voted in person on Friday and has not announced any test results.)

The Republicans who voted against the anti-QAnon resolution are Reps. Jodey Arrington, Michael Burgess, Bill Flores, and Brian Babin of Texas; Rob Bishop of Utah; Mo Brooks of Alabama; Buddy Carter and Drew Ferguson of Georgia; Warren Davidson of Ohio; Jeff Duncan and Ralph Norman of South Carolina; Paul Gosar of Arizona; Mike Kelly and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania; Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin; Daniel Webster of Florida; and Steve King of Iowa.

King, a racist, lost the Republican primary for his seat this summer and will not return to Congress next year. Republicans removed King from his committee assignments in 2019 after he questioned why "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" are "offensive" in a New York Times interview. Congress did not, however, attempt to expel King from the House or even censure him. Instead, Democrats passed a resolution condemning white supremacy that only mentioned King once; even King voted for it.

The anti-QAnon resolution passed Friday isn't binding law; it expresses the sentiment of the House as a whole. In addition to condemning QAnon, it calls on the FBI and other federal law enforcement to “strengthen their focus on preventing violence, threats, harassment, and other criminal activity by extremists motivated by fringe political conspiracy theories.” It also “encourages” the intelligence community to investigate whether QAnon is getting financial support or online amplification from foreign actors and if it is coordinating with any “foreign extremist organizations or groups espousing violence."

Amash, who left the Republican Party in 2019, said in a statement that he voted no because the resolution "threatens protected speech" and argued that it "may make things worse" by encouraging the intelligence community and the FBI to go after QAnon, which would confirm followers' fears of a "deep state that's fighting against them."

Arrington said in a statement that he also voted against Friday's resolution because of First Amendment concerns. "There is a world of difference between conspiracy and criminal - one is protected by the First Amendment; the other should be condemned in all forms," he said.

But Arrington added that he also voted against it because the resolution made no reference to Antifa "and other radical Leftist groups."


MORE ON THIS
A Member Of Congress Is Facing Death Threats After QAnon Went After HimSarah Mimms · Sept. 30, 2020

Friends And Family Members Of QAnon Believers Are Going Through A “Surreal Goddamn Nightmare”Jane Lytvynenko · Sept. 18, 2020

Donald Trump Just Praised QAnon, Which The FBI Has Called A Domestic Terror ThreatJane Lytvynenko · Aug. 19, 2020

Sarah Mimms is an editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

Judge orders Justice Department's police commission to halt work

Hundreds of protesters rally near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama boulevards to mark Juneteenth in Los Angeles. On Thursday, a judge found that a policing commission established by the Trump administration lacked diversity because only law enforcement officials were named to the body. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Thursday ordered a law enforcement commission established by President Donald Trump not to release their findings in a report because their meetings violated transparency laws.

U.S. District Judge John Bates in the District of Columbia said the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act because it didn't include "fairly balanced" perspectives. Also, he said, the commission held meetings in private without first notifying the public.


Trump announced the commission in October 2019, naming 18 law enforcement officials to the body. He directed the commission to study policing and how best to ensure peace in American communities.

"The job of a cop is tougher now than ever before; and the expectation for a cop's responsibilities to blur the lines between law enforcement and public health is more pronounced now than ever before," Attorney General William Barr said in January when announcing details of the commission.

"And they must manage these demands in an environment in which their moral and legal legitimacy is under constant attack from a variety of voices."

The NAACP challenged the formation of the commission, saying that its composition of only law enforcement officials reflects the administration's rejection of policing reform efforts. The organization's Legal Defense and Educational Fund welcomed Thursday's ruling.

"The country has been demanding accountability for police misconduct and violence, and clamoring for a reimagined notion of public safety for many months following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people," said Sherrilyn Ifill, the president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

"Any federal committee designed to make recommendations about law enforcement must include representation from people and communities impacted by police violence, civil rights organizations, the criminal defense bar, and other stakeholders."

Bates ordered the commission to halt its work and not publish its findings.

"LDF has an interest in and is directly impacted by the commission's function of studying policing," he wrote in his ruling. "Because Attorney General [William] Barr appointed the commissioners at the same time as establishing the commission, and only selected from those with law enforcement backgrounds, it does not appear that LDF and its representatives had an opportunity to formally apply for commission membership."

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The Trump Administration Lost Millions of Dollars of Food and Water Meant For Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria

Trump has recently tried to rewrite the history of the US’s bungled recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.

Nidhi PrakashBuzzFeed News Reporter
Reporting From
Washington, DC
Posted on October 1, 2020

Ricardo Arduengo / Getty Images
Puerto Ricans protest on January 23, 2020, after a warehouse full of relief supplies, reportedly dating back to Hurricane Maria in 2017, were found having been left undistributed to those in need.


WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has, in recent weeks, claimed that he is “the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico,” in an effort to win over Puerto Rican voters in Florida. But a new government report shows his administration lost track of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of potentially lifesaving food and water, as thousands died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

“FEMA lost visibility of about 38 percent of its commodity shipments to Puerto Rico, worth an estimated $257 million. Commodities successfully delivered to Puerto Rico took an average of 69 days to reach their final destinations,” the report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General found.

For the past three years, Trump has consistently blamed local authorities for the inadequate response to Puerto Rico’s devastating hurricane.

Some FEMA supplies intended for Puerto Rico never even left Florida, according to the report.

Most of those supplies consisted of food and water deliveries, in addition to blankets, cots, tarps, and sheeting. The inspector general’s findings, released Thursday, are in line with what BuzzFeed News and others reported seeing on the ground in Puerto Rico after the hurricane: inadequate federal deliveries of basic supplies, long waits for any supplies at all to arrive, and a lack of accountability at every level on how those supplies were being distributed.

FEMA shipped 97 million liters of water to Puerto Rico between September 2017, when Hurricane Maria made landfall, and April 2018, according to the report. Of that 97 million liters, just 36 million liters definitely reached local distribution points. In those first eight months following the hurricane, FEMA shipped 53 million meals to Puerto Rico. Just 24 million verifiably reached local distribution points

“The remaining commodity shipments for both water and meals that arrived in the Commonwealth either remained in FEMA’s custody were in contractor facilities, or had unknown destinations,” the report found.

Three years after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, Puerto Rico is still struggling to recover. In the months following the storm, at least three thousand Puerto Ricans died, many from a lack of access to clean water, food (harder to store because electricity on most parts of the island was down for several months), shelter, and timely medical care. Some residents of Puerto Rico lived with open roofs on their houses for months after the hurricane because emergency tarps had not reached them.

Last year, Trump fought against additional funding to help Puerto Rico recover from the disaster, repeating false claims that the island had already gotten more money than for any previous hurricane and blamed local officials for the US territory’s slow recovery. Trump claimed in 2018 that Puerto Rico’s death toll had been faked to make him look “as bad as possible.”

According to the report, FEMA knew from a 2011 exercise that Puerto Rico would need extra support from the federal agency to get supplies distributed throughout the island in an emergency. Despite that, the report says, the agency failed to prepare. The agency also failed to follow the regular standards of tracking deliveries and holding contractors to account by asking for documented proof of deliveries, the inspector general found.

“Given the lost visibility and delayed shipments, FEMA cannot ensure it provided commodities to Puerto Rico disaster survivors as needed to sustain life and alleviate suffering as part of its response and recovery mission,” the report says.

The issue was not just tracking the shipments after they’d reached the island — the report found that for these supplies, “FEMA headquarters did not record customer orders in a timely manner, or did not record them at all,” which lead to confusion and backing up of deliveries at the deployment point in Jacksonville, Florida.

“In response to the large volume of commodities ordered, FEMA had to open up two overflow sites in Jacksonville to store commodities awaiting shipment, as well as divert a significant amount of commodities to other locations,” the report says. “According to [FEMA] personnel in Jacksonville, some commodity shipments intended for Puerto Rico likely never left the continental United States.”


The supplies that did make it to Puerto Rico “sat in FEMA’s custody at various locations on the island approximately 48 days,” followed by another week of delivery time on average before reaching local distribution centers, according to the inspector general.

“Water and food, two of the most important life-sustaining commodities, experienced average shipping delays of 71 and 59 days, respectively,” the report says.

The end result of a shortfall in supplies and some of the available supplies never arriving was that after waiting at least ten days for any kind of assistance to arrive, just 20% of municipalities on the island received enough food and only 27% of municipalities received enough water to supply survivors of the hurricane.

There were also problems with the food that did arrive — 40% of the municipalities said they received expired food and some “‘meal’ boxes ... included junk food such as Oreos, candy, cereal bars, and other similar items that lacked sufficient nutritional value.”

Some of the inspector general’s findings repeat what FEMA’s own internal post-disaster report revealed in 2018. The agency’s resources were already drained and in a state of disorder from responding to other high-intensity hurricanes that hit the US in 2017 by the time Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico, from Hurricane Harvey in Texas to Hurricane Irma, which hit the Florida panhandle and Puerto Rico.

Compounding the breakdowns in federal record-keeping and accountability, the inspector general found that Puerto Rican government staff used manual records haphazardly filed in random locations rather than having a formal system to keep track of food, water, and other supplies received from FEMA and distributed to local authorities.

“For example, we requested supporting documentation to verify commodity distribution numbers in the Puerto Rico government’s summary reports provided to FEMA,” the inspector general wrote. “Puerto Rico government officials could not provide the supporting commodity distribution records because they were dispersed throughout various locations on the island, including a personal residence."


MORE ON THIS
Trump Has Lambasted Puerto Rico For Years. Now With The Election Close, He’s Changing His Tune.Nidhi Prakash · Sept. 18, 2020

“We Are Your Citizens”: Trump Keeps Repeating Lies About Puerto RicoNidhi Prakash · April 3, 2019

The White House Called The Food Stamp Funding That Puerto Rico Requested “Excessive And Unnecessary”Nidhi Prakash · Jan. 17, 2019

Nidhi Prakash is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.

Before Trump, Brazil’s President Got The Coronavirus. Here’s What We Can Learn From That.

Jair Bolsonaro downplayed the virus until he contracted it in July, and like Trump, promoted hydroxychloroquine as a therapy. His approval numbers surged after he recovered, but some say that wasn’t due to his improved health.

Posted on October 2, 2020

Jim Watson / Getty 
President Donald Trump with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 7, 2020.


Few world leaders are as often compared to President Donald Trump as Jair Bolsonaro. Like Trump, Brazil’s president is a polarizing right-wing populist prone to demeaning women and minorities, attacking the news media, and using Twitter to fire up his increasingly nationalistic base. Also — like Trump — Bolsonaro got COVID-19.

Now, with just 32 days to go before the US presidential election, those who have observed the parallel careers of the two leaders wonder whether Bolsonaro’s experience with the virus can help inform an understanding of what Trump’s illness could mean for his chances on Nov. 3.


Joshua Clinton, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University who studies the effect of public opinion on elections, said Trump’s diagnosis, like Bolsonaro’s, may end up pushing a topic he’d rather avoid back into the public conversation.

“If President Trump gets extremely sick, which I obviously hope is not the case, what does that mean?” Clinton said. “Are people more sympathetic? Or do people get the impression that he made policy mistakes and this is an example of the result of those mistakes?”

Like Trump, Bolsonaro, who has run Brazil since 2018, downplayed the virus in public, mockingly calling it “a little flu” and urging Brazilians to return to work despite the country having some of the highest infection rates in the world. Then, in early July, Bolsonaro announced he had contracted the disease. He emerged, after three weeks of quarantine, once again downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus and suddenly enjoying a surge in popularity.

"I knew I was going to catch it someday, as I think unfortunately nearly everyone here is going to catch it eventually,” Bolsonaro said at the end of the month. “I regret the deaths. But people die every day, from lots of things. That's life."


According to Datafolha, a Brazilian polling institute, 37% of the people polled described the Bolsonaro administration as good or great in August, up from 32% in June, with most gains occurring among Brazil’s poor sectors. That was a big turnaround for Bolsonaro, who had been facing calls for impeachment in the face of corruption scandals early in the year.

While some attributed the public opinion bump to his full recovery and vigorous dismissal of the seriousness of a disease that to date has killed more than 144,000 Brazilians — second only to the US — others point instead to a massive government handout initiated by Bolsonaro before he ever got sick.

The emergency assistance program authorized monthly payments equivalent to about $115. Those payments led to a drop in severe poverty rates in Brazil during the global pandemic, according to a study by Fundação Getúlio Vargas, a think tank.

Although Bolsonaro, 65, tried to use his recovery as a sign of his own political strength, the bigger concern for Brazilians appeared to be the economy, which has been devastated by the pandemic. Providing millions of people with a financial lifeline had a far larger impact on public sentiment.

Still, said Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, if Trump’s case remains mild, the outcome for him might be similar to Bolsonaro’s. “It plays to the same idea: ‘we're going to get through this,'” Winter said. Bolsonaro’s case “helped convince some Brazilians that the pandemic wasn’t that bad and that they could go back to their daily lives,” he added.

Unlike Bolsonaro, Trump, 74, doesn’t currently have a massive public assistance program to bolster his support. Although Congress authorized a $600 weekly federal payment to the unemployed as part of its coronavirus stimulus package in March, that money ran out at the end of July, and Trump has been unable to get a second round of aid through a deadlocked legislature.


Darren Davis, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, downplayed the idea that Trump could benefit from his own bout with the disease given the current economic and social climate.

“While it is possible for President Trump to receive some sympathy for his Covid-19 positive tests, I expect it to be marginal at best,” Davis said. “I would say many people are experiencing more schadenfreude than sympathy.”

A growing number of world leaders have contracted COVID-19 since the disease first emerged in China, including the presidents of Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, the prime ministers of Russia and Armenia, and the second-in-command in Venezuela. None have died, although Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalized and required supplemental oxygen, while the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was briefly hospitalized as well after contracting the virus. The chief of staff of Nigeria’s president died from the coronavirus in April.

Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, initially called the disease a “psychosis” and claimed drinking vodka and going to the sauna could prevent infections. But in late July he disclosed that he had tested positive for the disease and recovered without serious symptoms

But Bolsonaro is perhaps the world leader who most closely tracks to Trump in terms of his handling of the pandemic, as well as his overall political approach.


Brazil now has the world’s third-worst coronavirus outbreak, with 4,847,092 positive cases, and the total number of deaths in the country is second only to the US.

In response to their massive public health crises, both presidents have minimized the severity of the pandemic, refusing to wear masks, contradicting their own top scientists, and prioritizing the economy. When a reporter asked Bolsonaro about the record number of deaths, he shrugged and asked, “So what?”

“What do you want me to do?” he continued, visibly irritated.

In March, Bolsonaro and Trump shared a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, after which at least 15 people traveling from Brazil, including close presidential aides, subsequently tested positive for the virus. Brazil’s health minister later called the journey home a “Corona Flight.”

Neither leader was infected at the time, but soon thereafter, Bolsonaro began advocating the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat the disease — echoing similar sentiments from Trump — despite the fact that there is very little, if any, scientific evidence to suggest it’s a helpful therapy for COVID-19.

After contracting the virus, Bolsonaro said he was taking the anti-malarial drug and claimed it was aiding his recovery.

During the televised interview in which he announced he had tested positive in July, Bolsonaro removed his mask, prompting the Brazilian Press Association to file a criminal complaint to the Supreme Court for endangering journalists who were present at the news conference. Like Melania Trump, Bolsonaro’s wife also contracted COVID-19.

Many people viewed Bolsonaro’s positive test as inevitable. The former army captain had continued to tour the country, shaking hands with supporters, visiting shops, and dining in restaurants, often without wearing a mask.


Some Brazilians seemed unsurprised by Trump’s positive test as well, given his resistance to wearing masks and dismissal of the disease’s gravity. Some were quick to draw comparisons between him and their own president.

“It’s very symbolic that Trump and Bolsonaro have both been infected with the coronavirus,” the journalist Lucas Pedrosa wrote on Twitter early Friday morning.

Some even conjectured that Trump might be faking the diagnosis to get out of more debates following this week’s chaotic confrontation with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, which was widely viewed as a loss for the incumbent.

“Trump lost the last debate and now he's "got corona" and he won't participate in the next debate. Son of a bitch, I think Bolsonar[o] taught him how to get out of debates,” tweeted one Brazilian user.

Beyond the health issues and political implications of the president’s diagnoses, Clinton, the political science professor at Vanderbilt, noted that it also presented massive logistical issues at the worst possible time.

“This sidelines him at a time when he needs to be out there raising money. If he is lagging behind in the polls and he has to quarantine it makes it hard for him to get out there and change the narrative.”


Sergio Lima / Getty Images
Bolsonaro speaks holding a hydroxychloroquine box in Brasilia, on September 16, 2020.




Karla Zabludovsky is the Mexico bureau chief and Latin America correspondent for BuzzFeed News and is based in Mexico City.

Ken Bensinger is an investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles. He is the author of "Red Card," on the FIFA scandal. His DMs are open.

Nazi shipwreck may solve 75-year-old Amber Room mystery, divers say

A replica of the Amber Room is seen in the Catherine Palace on July 13 near St. Petersburg, Russia. File Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA-EFE

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Polish divers said Thursday they have located a Nazi shipwreck from World War II that may help solve a 75-year-old mystery -- the location of the fabled Russian Amber Room.

The Nazis raided the Amber Room in 1941 near St. Petersburg, which was part of the Catherine Palace for three centuries.

The amber and gold artifacts taken from the room were last seen in the Russian Baltic port city of Kaliningrad four years later. At the time, it was called Koenigsberg and considered part of Germany.

The German steamship Karlsruhe left the city in 1945 with a heavy load of cargo, but never arrived at its destination. It was sunk by Soviet warplanes near the coast of Poland.

Divers from the Baltictech Group now believe they have found the Karlsruhe wreckage, and possibly the legendary Russian room.

"It was in Koenigsberg that the Amber Room was seen for the last time," Baltictech diver Tomasz Stachura said. "From there, the Karlsruhe left on its last voyage with a large cargo."

Tomasz Zwara, another member of the dive team, said much of the historical data suggests the Nazi ship left with the stolen treasures from the Amber Room.

"The history and available documentation show that the Karlsruhe was leaving the port in a great hurry and with a large load," he said. "All this put together stimulates the imagination.

"Finding the German steamer and the crates with contents as yet unknown resting on the bottom of the Baltic Sea may be significant for the whole story."

It wasn't initially known when divers might further explore the shipwreck site. The Russian government said in 2008 they would demand the return of the Amber Room if it is eventually found.

The Amber Room was given to Russian Czar Peter the Great in 1716 as a gift. Over the years, there have been many attempts to find the storied room. A U.S. explorer in the early 1990s suspected it might have been located beneath the German city of Weimar.

During World War II, the Nazis took the room apart and shipped it to Koenigsberg, where it disappeared during British bombing raids on the city, Marine Technology News reported. Many believe it was destroyed.

A replica Amber Room has since been built in the Catherine Palace

Boeing to halt 787 production at famed Washington state facility
MOVES FROM UNIONIZED FACILITY TO RIGHT TO WORK STATE

Boeing 787 airliners are seen during production at the company's plant in Everett, Wash. Production of the model in Everett will end next year, Boeing said Thursday. File Photo by Jim Bryant/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Boeing said Thursday it will consolidate production for its 787 airliner to a single plant in South Carolina, a cost-cutting measure to mitigate losses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move will end the model's production at Boeing's Everett, Wash., facility sometime next year.

UNION BUSTING BY ANY OTHER NAME
The announcement is a double blow for the Everett facility, which famously assembled 747 airliners for decades. Boeing has said it will end 747 production in 2022.

"The Boeing 787 is a tremendous success it is today thanks to our great teammates in Everett," Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement. "They helped give birth to an airplane that changed how airlines and passengers want to fly.

"As our customers manage through the unprecedented global pandemic, to ensure the long-term success of the 787 program, we are consolidating 787 production in South Carolina."

The Everett facility, according to Deal, will now focus on making Boeing's 737, 767 and 777 models.

The South Carolina facility started assembling 787-8 and 787-9 airplanes in 2010, three years after the Everett plant had begun. The site in North Charleston can also build the larger 787-10 model, Boeing said, something the Everett plant is not capable of.

"We recognize that production decisions can impact our teammates, industry and our community partners," Deal added. "We extensively evaluated every aspect of the program and engaged with our stakeholders on how we can best partner moving forward. These efforts will further refine 787 production and enhance the airplane's value proposition."

Boeing said an in-depth study on 787 production found the consolidation will allow it to accelerate improvements and target investments.

'Stan,' one of most complete T. rex skeletons, goes to auction

A Tyrannosaurus rex is on display Thursday at Christie's Auction House in New York City. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- One of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons in existence will be up for sale at Christie's Auction House next week, when it may set a new purchase record.

The dinosaur, named "Stan," was discovered in the South Dakota Badlands in 1987. It stands 13 feet high and measures nearly 40 feet long, with a heavy tail.

Stan will be sold as part of Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale on Tuesday.

"This is one of the best specimens discovered," James Hyslop, head of Christie's Science and Natural History Department, said in a statement.

The dinosaur is named after paleontologist Stan Sacrison, who uncovered its remains 33 years ago.

Hyslop said paleontologists carefully excavated 188 of Stan's estimated 300 total bones, more than any excavation has previously recovered.

The Black Hills Institute in South Dakota has been studying Stan for the past 20 years and has written numerous reports about its findings. Chicago's Field Museum bought the most recent T. rex skeleton, named "Sue," which sold for a record $8.36 million in 1997.

Researchers believe Stan was an imposing figure during his lifetime, weighing seven or eight tons. It had 58 teeth -- some as long as 11½ inches, which helped the dinosaur eat as many as 500 pounds of meat.

A 2005 reproduction of Stan's skull, to recreate his bite force, determined it was strong enough to crush a car at four tons per square inch.

Paleontologists at the University of Southampton, which studied some of Stan's bones, believe the dinosaur lived during the Cretaceous period about 115 million years ago.

N.Y. diocese files for bankruptcy due to wave of sex abuse lawsuits


A wooden Catholic cross is seen during an event on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. A leading advocate for victims said Thursday the new filing is an attempt by a Long Island diocese to "conceal the truth about predator priests." File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A Catholic diocese in suburban New York City on Thursday became the largest in the United States ever to file for bankruptcy to shield itself from lawsuits that make accusations of clergy sexual abuse.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre said it filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

"The filing is necessary to manage litigation expenses, address disputes with the diocese's insurers and facilitate settlements with abuse survivors who brought lawsuits under the Child Victims Act," church officials said in a statement.

The Long Island diocese -- one of the largest in the United States, with 1.4 million members -- said payouts to victims and decreased revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic left no option but to file.

The diocese has faced hundreds of suits since in the past year since New York implemented its Child Victims Act, which opened a new legal channel for victims who were previously barred from suing under statute of limitations laws.

"This decision was not made lightly, but, with the passage of the Child Victims Act ... it has become clear the diocese would not able to continue its spiritual, charitable and educational missions while shouldering the increasingly heavy burden of litigation expenses associated with these cases," said Rev. John Barres, Rockville Centre's bishop.

More than two dozen Catholic dioceses and archdioceses nationwide have filed for bankruptcy under the weight of sexual abuse cases and settlements, according to leading advocate and Minneapolis attorney Jeff Anderson.

"The Diocese of Rockville Centre's decision to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a disappointing, yet unsurprising, attempt to conceal the truth about predator priests in the diocese at the expense of sexual abuse survivors," Anderson said.

"Like their recent attacks on the Child Victims Act and their efforts to intimidate survivors from coming forward, we see the diocese's decision to declare bankruptcy as strategic, cowardly and wholly self-serving."

Harvest Moon ; first of two full moons in October

An airliner moves in front of a nearly full moon and behind the Statue of Liberty in New York City on Wednesday, seen from Jersey City, N.J. The Harvest Moon will rise late Thursday afternoon. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Thursday will mark the first of two full moons for the month of October -- the so-called Harvest Moon.

The moon will be at its fullest at 5:05 p.m. EDT Thursday and should appear full through Saturday morning.

Since it's the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (Sept. 22), it's known as the Harvest Moon in many parts of the world. Most years, though, it falls in September. The moniker dates back to at least 1706, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Various cultures worldwide have given it different names.

The Algonguin tribes in the United States call the first full moon of fall the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, the Sanguine Moon or the Blood Moon -- some of which appear to reference the changing colors of leaves, NASA says.

Travel Moon could be related to the migration of animals as they prepare for winter.

Some Asian countries, including China and Vietnam, associate this particular full moon with their mid-autumn festivals. In China, such festivals may bear the names Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival.

In Japan, people participate in tsukimi, or moon-viewing festivals, at this time of year. The tradition of offering sweet potatoes gave the moon the name Imomeigetsu, or Potato Harvest Moon.

In Laos, the moon is linked to a boat racing festival called Boun Suang Huea, and in Sri Lanka, they call the moon Vap Poya, which comes before a festival in which people give new robes to monks.

Buddhists call the moon Pavarana to mark the end of Vassa, a three-month period of fasting associated with monsoon season.

In Judaism, the full moon falls near the beginning of the Sukkoth holiday, a seven-day event in the middle of the lunar month of Tishrei. Sukkoth begins on Friday.

The next full moon will take place Oct. 31. Because it will be the second full moon of the calendar month, it'll be a Blue Moon.