Spanish researchers free massive sunfish from tuna nets

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Spanish researchers shared video of a massive sunfish rescued from tuna nets that weighed at least 2,200 pounds -- and might weigh nearly twice that.

Researchers with the Estrecho Marine Biology Station of the University of Seville said the sunfish was found entangled in tuna nets Oct. 14 off the coast of Ceuta and it took two cranes to lift the fish out of the water to be freed from its predicament.

The researchers said they attempted to weigh the fish, but their scale topped out at 2,200 pounds. They estimated the sunfish, the largest species of bony fish in the world, could weigh up to 4,000.

The sunfish, which measured 10.5 feet long and 9.5 feet wide, is believed to be the largest ever found in the region, the researchers said.

The sunfish was returned to the water and set free.

California angler rescues whale entangled in lobster trap

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A San Diego angler fishing with friends about 100 miles off the coast came to the rescue of a whale found entangled in a lobster trap.

Matt Capron said he and his friends were on a weekend fishing trip about 100 miles off the coast of Point Lima, in an area known as Tanner Banks, when they spotted a whale that they soon realized was caught in a lobster trap.

"It was probably between 4 to 7 feet down. The rope was attached to its body right before the fluke, and it was looped six or seven times," Capron told KGTV.

Another angler recorded video when Capron jumped into the water with a filet knife and cut through the ropes.

Capron said the freed whale initially swam off, but returned a few minutes later, a gesture he interpreted as gratitude.

"We're just so fortunate that we came upon it when we did," Capron said. "It was probably one of the highlights of my life. Honestly."

BAN THEM

US conducts 'successful' test of hypersonic missile technology

Issued on: 21/10/2021 - 

Hypersonic weapons Gal ROMA AFP

Washington (AFP)

The test, conducted Wednesday at a NASA facility in Wallops, Virginia, is a "vital step in the development of a Navy-designed common hypersonic missile," the navy said in a statement.

"This test demonstrated advanced hypersonic technologies, capabilities, and prototype systems in a realistic operating environment," it said.

THEY LIE SEE ARTICLE BELOW 

Hypersonic missiles, like traditional ballistic missiles, can fly more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).

But they are more maneuverable than their ballistic counterparts and can trace a low trajectory in the atmosphere, making them harder to defend against.

Ambassador Robert Wood, US permanent representative to the Conference on Disarmament, expressed concern earlier this week following reports that China had conducted a test in August of a hypersonic missile with nuclear capacity.

According to the Financial Times, China launched a hypersonic missile that completed a circuit of the planet before landing, missing its target.

"We are very concerned by what China has been doing on the hypersonic front," said Wood, who next week steps down from his post in Geneva after seven years.

China insisted that the test was a routine one for a spacecraft rather than a missile.

Wood said Russia also had hypersonic technology and while the United States had held back from developing a military capacity in this field, it now had no choice but to respond in kind.

"If you're a country that's the target of that, you're going to want to figure out a way to defend yourself from that," he said.

"And so we start looking at what other applications and defensive applications can you bring to hypersonic technology -- and so that continues to things to accelerate the arms race."

China unveiled a hypersonic medium-range missile, the DF-17, in 2019, which can travel around 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and can carry nuclear warheads.

The missile mentioned in the FT story is a different one, with a longer range. It can be launched into orbit before coming back into the atmosphere to hit its target.

Russia recently launched a hypersonic missile, the Zircon, from a submarine, and since late 2019 has had the hypersonic nuclear-capable Avangard missiles in service. The Avangard can travel at up to Mach 27, changing course and altitude.

The Pentagon hopes to deploy its first hypersonic weapons by 2025 and has said their development is one of its "highest priorities."

© 2021 AFP

It's Time to Retire the ICBM | Ploughshares Fund

Pentagon's plans for hypersonic weapons sees setback after rocket fizzles


Airmen secure the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon Instrumented Measurement Vehicle 2 as it is loaded under the wing of a B-52H during a test last August.

 Photo by Giancarlo Casem/U.S. Air Force

Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The Pentagon's hypersonic weapons program hit a stumbling block Thursday after a test of a booster rocket failed.

A booster rocket carrying a hypersonic glide body failed during a test at Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska in Kodiak, reports CBS News. The booster was not directly related to hypersonic technology, and instead just the booster, Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman told CBS News in a statement.

"The booster stack used in the test was not part of the hypersonic program and is not related to the Common Hypersonic Glide Body," he said. "The missile booster is used for testing purposes only."

The U.S. Department of Defense has prioritized developing hypersonic missiles, which are capable of traveling at speeds five times beyond the speed of sound and potentially carrying nuclear warheads. The missiles are also difficult to detect.

The Pentagon is still on track to field offensive hypersonic technology within the next few years, Gorman said.

But the Pentagon was unable to test the hypersonic glide body, a key part to the weapons system, because the rocket failed to launch, reports CNN. A related test failed in April, and China has successfully tested a hypersonic a glide vehicle -- although officials denied the report and insisted it was a "routine spacecraft experiment."

In June, the department said it was accelerating its hypersonic missile program while staying within its $6.6 billion budget. The move came as the department began a missile defense review to match its technology against rival countries including North Korea, Iran, Russia and China.

The Navy successfully tested a second-stage hypersonic rocket motor in August. A month earlier, the U.S. Air Force successfully detonated a hypersonic missile warhead for the first time.

Earlier this month, Russia's Defense Ministry said it successfully test-fired its hypersonic Tsirkon missile from a submarine.

However, the U.S. Army and Navy on Wednesday successfully completed tests of hypersonic missiles, according to a statement.

"During weapon system development, precision sounding rocket launches fill a critical gap between ground testing and full system flight testing," the Navy said in a statement. "These launches allow for frequent and regular flight testing opportunities to support rapid maturation of offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies."

Biden airs hypersonic missile fears as probable ambassador labels China 'untrustworthy'




Joe Biden is worried about China's reported missile program

US President Joe Biden voiced his concern over China's hypersonic missiles on Wednesday, just days after a media report said that Beijing had tested a hypersonic glide vehicle armed with a nuclear weapon.

The launch of the nuclear-capable rocket that circled the globe occurred in August and the development took US intelligence by surprise, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Asked by reporters whether he was concerned about China's hypersonic missile capabilities, Biden said: "Yes."

Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper atmosphere at speeds of around 6,200 kilometers per hour (3,853 miles per hour) — more than five times the speed of sound.

The Financial Times said at the weekend that the rocket flew through space and circled the globe before cruising down toward a target that it ultimately missed.

China's Pacific dominance 'not going to be accepted'

China or Russia with hypersonic missiles 'could be catastrophic'

The United States and its allies are hastening their pace in constructing hypersonic weapons — the next generation of arms that rob adversaries of reaction time — in order to keep up with potential adversaries such as China and Russia.

"Hypersonic weapons are strategic game-changers with the dangerous potential to fundamentally undermine strategic stability as we know it," Maine Senator Angus King said earlier this week. "The US cannot lag in this development or allow for blind spots as we monitor the progress of our competitors."

Hypersonic weapons are potential "nightmare weapons," King continued. "The implications of these weapons under development by China or Russia could be catastrophic."

Covid may have killed over 180 thousand health care workers, says WHO

Issued on: 22/10/2021 - 

Medical specialists transport a patient at the City Clinical Hospital Number 52, where people suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are treated, in Moscow, Russia October 21, 2021. 

© Maxim Shemetov, REUTERS


The WHO said Thursday that 80,000 to 180,000 health care workers may have been killed by Covid-19 up to May this year, insisting they must be prioritised for vaccination.

The World Health Organization said the fact that millions of health workers remain unvaccinated is an "indictment" on the countries and companies controlling the global supply of doses.

A WHO paper estimated that out of the planet's 135 million health staff, "between 80,000 to 180,000 health and care workers could have died from Covid-19 in the period between January 2020 to May 2021".

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health care workers needed to be among the first immunised against the disease, as he slammed the global inequity in the vaccine roll-out.

"Data from 119 countries suggest that on average, two in five health and care workers globally are fully vaccinated. But of course, that average masks huge differences," he said.

"In Africa, less than in one in 10 health workers have been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in most high-income countries, more than 80 percent of health workers are fully vaccinated."

He added: "We call on all countries to ensure that all health and care workers in every country are prioritised for Covid-19 vaccines, alongside other at-risk groups."

'Duty of care'

Annette Kennedy, president of the International Council of Nurses, said the organisation grieved for all health care workers who had lost their lives in the pandemic -- "many needlessly; many we could have saved".

"It's a shocking indictment of governments. It's a shocking indictment of their lack of duty of care to protect health care workers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice," she said.

Kennedy warned: "They are now burnt out, they are devastated, they are physically and mentally exhausted. And there is a prediction that 10 percent of them will leave within a very short time."

The WHO wants each country to have vaccinated 40 percent of its population by the end of the year, but Tedros said 82 countries are at risk of missing that target, chiefly through insufficient supply.

In high-income countries, as categorised by the World Bank, 133 doses have been administered per 100 people. In the 29 lowest-income nations, the figure drops to five.

G20 risks 'moral catastrophe'

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, now a WHO ambassador for global health financing, said the October 30-31 G20 summit in Rome would be a critical juncture in combating the pandemic.

If the world's richest countries cannot mobilise an immediate airlift of doses to the unvaccinated in poorer nations, "an epidemiological, economic and ethical dereliction of duty will shame us all", said Brown, who hosted the 2009 G20 summit.

He said that by February, wealthy nations could have built up an unused stockpile of one billion vaccine doses, and denying them to the unvaccinated would be "one of the greatest international public policy failures imaginable".

"It's a moral catastrophe of historic proportions that will shock future generations," he said.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4.9 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP, while nearly 242 million cases have been registered.

Brown said that without reallocating the growing stockpile, the WHO's latest forecast was that there could be 200 million more Covid cases, with five million lives hanging in the balance.

(AFP)

Cleaning bones: Maya community honors the dead

Issued on: 22/10/2021 -

Residents of the Maya community of Pomuch in southeast Mexico clean the bones of their relatives in an annual ritual before the Day of the Dead festival 

LUIS PEREZ AFP

Pomuch (Mexico) (AFP)

This year, the ritual, usually held in late October before Mexico's Day of the Dead festival, is taking place for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Indigenous Maya residents of Pomuch in Mexico's southeastern state of Campeche carefully open graves and take out the bones of their relatives.

After they are cleaned, the burial shroud is changed for a new one and the remains are returned to their resting place, said Canche.

Canche, 74, spent the whole day cleaning the remains of his in-laws, his parents and an uncle.

After the bones are cleaned, the shroud is changed and the remains are returned to the grave LUIS PEREZ AFP

"For me it means joy and enthusiasm to do it," he said.

Between songs and anecdotes, the families watched over the remains for a few hours to give them some sun and fresh air.

"Come out, come out souls of grief," women sang in front of open boxes containing human remains and white clothes embroidered with the names of the deceased.

"It's a very beautiful tradition to remember our ancestors," said resident Jacinta Chi.

"We change their shrouds because the celebration is coming and we remember them with a lot of love and affection," he added.

It is customary for bones to be cleaned for the first time three years after death, and every year thereafter.

It is customary for bones to be cleaned for the first time three years after death, and every year thereafter 

LUIS PEREZ AFP

"Last year due to the pandemic, the ritual was not carried out. Many people were very afraid," said Sebastian Yam, Pomuch's cultural representative.

"The pandemic was worldwide, and definitely here in Pomuch as in all places there were many people who died because of Covid," he said.

This year one woman performed the ritual for the first time with the remains of her father. She had to open the coffin, remove the skeleton, divide it into pieces and place them in a wooden box.

Nobody knows exactly when the bone cleaning practice began, but Yam believes it to be centuries old, based on the accounts of the village elders.

After cleaning the remains of their relatives, the residents of Pomuch, like others Mexicans, will set up an altar in their homes with their favorite dishes and drinks for the Day of the Dead.

It is believed that their spirits will return from death to eat and drink on what is one of Mexico's most important festivals, celebrated at the start of November.

Orange marigold flowers are laid out to guide the spirits to the altar as part of this tradition recognized by UNESCO on the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

© 2021 AFP

Chile violence a boost to far-right ahead of elections, say experts

Issued on: 22/10/2021 -

Protesters in Santiago marked the second anniversary of the October 2019 social movement that sparked constitutional change with a new demonstration that turned violent 

BECAUSE OF RIOT COPS

Santiago (AFP)

Some 15 million Chileans head to the polls on November 21 to elect a new president with four out of seven candidates vying for a place in the widely expected second round.

The big surprise has been the rise of far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, a fan of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was neck-and-neck with leftist Gabriel Boric in a recent poll before a small drop.

And Monday's anti-government protests that left two dead, 56 injured and 450 arrested have boosted Kast, who just a couple of months ago was polling fourth.

"Violence always benefits the candidate offering order and a restitution of the rule of law. In this case, it is Jose Antonio Kast," Mauricio Morales, a political analyst at Talca university, told AFP.

"Sometimes fear is a greater mobilizer than hope. That's why it is very important to keep in mind the context around these elections, especially regarding violent actions."

Violent clashes between protesters and security forces on the streets of Chile this week could be playing into the hands of the far-right

BULLSHIT THE ULTRA RIGHT WILL ALWAYS USE DEMOS PEACEFUL OR NOT TO CALL FOR LAW AND ORDER  

Kast's popularity is bad news for Sebastian Sichel, a conservative candidate from outgoing President Sebastian Pinera's ruling coalition.

Having polled over 20 percent only a month ago, Sichel, 44, dropped to 7.5 percent in a survey by Pulso Ciudadano this week.

In the meantime, 55-year-old Kast has risen from single digits to second place with 16.3 percent, ahead of 51-year-old Yasna Provoste, the only woman in the field, who has 13.1 percent.
Credibility problem

Sichel's sliding popularity could be self-inflicted.

Chile's opposition-dominated Congress recently passed a measure allowing citizens to withdraw a portion of their pension funds to get through the coronavirus pandemic.

Sichel had spoken out against the measure and called it "terrible public policy," yet when the measure was approved, he himself withdrew the maximum allowed 10 percent of his savings.

"All this is reducing his credibility," Claudio Fuentes, an analyst at Diego Portales university, told local media.

The government's response to Monday's violence seems to have backfired too.

Interior Ministry Undersecretary Juan Francisco Galli blamed the violence on Boric and Provoste, who had supported pardons for detainees that "looted, destroyed everything and threw Molotov cocktails" during the 2019 protests.

Boric fired back, saying that the government was "trying to take political advantage of acts of violence rather than fulfilling its role" of maintaining public order.

Provoste accused Galli of inventing "a weak excuse to try to save their presidential election" hopes.

The unrest certainly has not helped Sichel.

"Monday's protests could sway voters, but it's more probable that next week's polls will indicate whether this has consolidated into a trend," said Raul Elgueta, a professor of political science at the University of Santiago.
'Uncertainty'

Boric, a 35-year-old lawmaker who only narrowly qualified as a candidate due to his age, is riding a wave of public support for a more progressive social system.

Two years ago, a major social movement broke out demanding greater equality.

It sparked political change and led to the start of a process to re-write the Pinochet dictatorship-era constitution.

But the past two years been turbulent, with numerous protests, including a recent march in the capital for greater autonomy for the indigenous Mapuche people and demonstrations in the north of the country against Venezuelan migrants.

That instability is reflected in the polls, some of which have recorded up to 50 percent of undecided voters.

"The second round is practically a certainty. The uncertainty is over who will reach the second round," said Morales.

While the top four candidates hope to end up in the second round, Javier Couso, an academic at Diego Portales university, says one of them is clearly ahead of the rest.

"It seems clear to me that Boric will go to the second round, but I don't discount it will be competitive between Provoste and Kast," Couso told AFP.

What is clear is that Kast's popularity is on the rise, especially since the anti-migrant protests on September 24 that were branded xenophobic by the United Nations.

© 2021 AFP

Canada 

Hospitals use drones to carry lungs for transplant


Issued on: 22/10/2021 - 

This handout photo released by Unither Bioelectronique and taken in September 2021 shows Unither Bioelectronique's drone transporting a pair of donor lungs, high above Toronto traffic at night

 Jason van Bruggen Unither Bioelectronique/AFP

Bromont (Canada) (AFP)

On its maiden flight, with a bird's-eye view of the city's glistening skyline as it glides over apartments, shops and office towers, the drone is carrying a precious cargo -- human lungs for transplant.

The 15.5-kilogram (34-pound) carbon fibre unmanned electric drone purpose-built by Quebec-based Unither Bioelectronics flew just 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) from Toronto Western Hospital on the city's west side to the roof of the downtown Toronto General Hospital.

The trip at the end of September took less than 10 minutes. It was automated but kept under the watchful eye of engineers and doctors.

The drone delivery of transplant lungs marked a global first, according to the company, but a similar flight in April 2019 delivered a kidney to a hospital in the US state of Maryland.

On the Toronto General Hospital's rooftop, the drone was met by a surgical team that whisked the package inside and successfully transplanted the lungs into a waiting patient, saving the life of the 63-year-old man who'd been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis.

The patient, by happenstance, was an engineer himself who expressed excitement to local media about receiving organs delivered by a drone.

Two days after receiving transplant lungs delivered by drone, seen in this handout photo released by Unither Bioelectronique and taken in September 2021, the Toronto General Hospital patient was well enough to virtually attend his daughter's wedding 

Jason van Bruggen Unither Bioelectronique/AFP

Two days later, in addition to allowing him to breathe again, he was reportedly well enough to attend via videolink his daughter's wedding.
Flying drone in downtown Toronto

"We've proven a very important point, that it's possible to do this safely and (that) you could fly a drone in the middle of downtown Toronto," doctor Shaf Keshavjee, who worked with a technical team for two years on the drone project, told AFP.

The drone carried a refrigerated black container "which maintains the organ's thermal parameters" so that the organ is "viable for transplantation," explained drone engineer Mikael Cardinal of Unither Bioelectronics.

The successful flight, which required advance approvals from health and civil air navigation authorities, followed dozens of test runs as well as modifications, for example, to prevent radio frequency interference in a densely populated city.

In the event of a failure during flight, a ballistic parachute was also installed that would deploy and gently bring the drone and organs package to the ground.

Transplant organs are normally flown to airports (if between cities) and transported by car to hospitals. Using a drone between hospitals is more direct and saves time by avoiding heavy car traffic.

"Now the issue is really how do you scale this (up) to make it available to patients all over the world," said Keshavjee, a lung transplant specialist, describing lungs as among "the most fragile of all organs to preserve and transport."

This handout photo released by Unither Bioelectronique and taken in September 2021 shows a technician checking the purpose-built drone for its historic flight carrying a pair of transplant lungs from one hospital to another in Toronto

 Jason van Bruggen Unither Bioelectronique/AFP

This innovation, which fills him with pride, makes his partner in the project Cardinal believe that "the future is very positive" for this kind of technological advancement.

According to Cardinal, regulatory changes expected in the coming years will allow greater integration of drones into civil air space.

© 2021 AFP

French far-right conspiracy theorist in custody: informed source

Issued on: 22/10/2021 -

Daillet was arrested in June

 REMY GABALDA AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Daillet, 54, and his secretary -- identified as 67-year-old Ginette M. -- were placed in custody on Tuesday "for planning attacks against the state and other violent action," including an attack on a Masonic lodge in eastern France, the source said.

Daillet is also alleged to having helped organise the abduction of an eight-year-old girl in eastern France in April at her mother's request.

He was arrested in June over the kidnapping as he returned to France on a flight from Singapore.

Mia Montemaggi was found safe with her mother in a squat in a disused factory in Switzerland, five days after she was taken from her grandmother’s home in the eastern Vosges region by three men posing as child protection officers.

An anti-terrorist judge had ordered the arrests of Daillet and others as part of an investigation into a shadowy group known as "Honneur et nation" (Honour and nation).

The 12 suspects are accused of plotting a series of attacks, including against vaccination centres, a masonic lodge, prominent people and journalists, according to sources close to the case.

The team had "a multitude of violent actions planned, targeting institutional sites, vaccination centres, 5G antennas...," one source familiar with the case had said earlier.

Another source had said the suspects had "the idea of a coup d'etat, of an overthrow of the French government".

Daillet has called for a ban on face masks which he claimed were "scientifically useless" in videos and for 5G networks to be destroyed.

Daillet's lawyer, Jean-Christophe Basson-Larbi, said on Thursday his client had "no links either with the 'Honneur et nation' grouping nor with the planned attacks" or "acts of neo-Nazi terrorism".

"No objective element points to his involvement," he said, adding that Daillet was a "political prisoner".

© 2021 AFP

I KNEW HE LOOKED FAMILIAR

Experts find UK parliament 'falling apart'

SO IS CANADA'S WE'VE BEEN FIXING IT

Issued on: 22/10/2021

Officials say the Houses of Parliament in London is 'falling apart faster than it can be fixed' and needs urgent restoration 

Tolga Akmen AFP

London (AFP)

Officials on Friday detailed thousands of issues with the landmark building, from stonework cracks and water damage to outdated electrical and mechanical systems.

"Despite a programme of maintenance works, it's falling apart faster than it can be fixed and is in urgent need of a programme of essential restoration," said the leader of the House of Lords, Natalie Evans.

The array of defects were recorded by dozens of engineers, architectural surveyors and other specialists who spent a combined 4,700 hours investigating the more than 150-year-old Palace of Westminster.

Built in the middle of the 19th century, it is home to Britain's Houses of Parliament -- the lower House of Commons for elected MPs and the unelected upper House of Lords.

Big Ben, the nickname for the Great Bell of the striking clock of the Elizabeth Tower at Westminster, has been silent while undergoing its own restoration work 

Tolga AKMEN AFP

At the north end of the royal palace, rising up above the River Thames, is Big Ben, the nickname for the Great Bell of the striking clock atop the Elizabeth Tower.

Big Ben, with its distinctive chime and "bongs", has undergone its own costly renovation in recent years.

The latest probe is seen as a key step in planned restoration and renewal works to the UNESCO World Heritage Site which have been repeatedly delayed, and are not set to be put to lawmakers for approval until 2023.

The estimated cost of a full-scale overhaul -- priced at £4.3 billion (5.1 billion euros, $5.9 billion) several years ago -- has left lawmakers reluctant to sign off on the works.

"The Houses of Parliament building is recognised the world over as a symbol of our nation but this building requires a considerable level of care to keep it working and needs an essential programme of restoration work," said the leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg.

"We must be able to justify this project to taxpayers," added the MP, who is charge of government business in the chamber.

A 360-year-old blocked passageway was rediscovered during renovation work last year 

DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS AFP

"That's why it's so important to understand and map out the restoration work needed to protect the building -- so that the focus is on those essential works necessary to preserve the Palace for future generations."

'Detailed record'

The inspectors combed 2,343 rooms and spaces during the parliamentary recess this summer and while MPs were at their annual party conferences in September and October.

They unearthed problems with many of the building's historic features, including original Victorian-era stained-glass windows which were warping and sagging due to age.

They also encountered "miles of outdated and interweaving gas, electrics, water, sewage, and heating pipes" in an enormous basement.

The Palace of Westminster is thought to have the oldest still-in-use gas lighting system in the world 

ADRIAN DENNIS AFP

"Work was also done to understand the provenance of quirky candle and gas light fittings, some of which were discovered to have been turned upside down when converted to electric power over 100 years ago," the parliamentary body responsible for restoration and renewal said.

"Further investigation is ongoing but it is thought the palace may contain the oldest still-in-use gas lighting system in the world."

In addition, the team also studied and recorded several remarkable candle chandeliers that survived the great fire of 1834 which destroyed the original medieval palace built on the site.

Further detailed surveys, including "intrusive" probes into its structure, will be carried out in the coming months "to continue building the most detailed record of the palace ever created".

More than 40,000 problems with the four-floor building, constructed from limestone and boasting a floorplan the size of 16 football pitches, have been reported since 2017.

The Houses of Parliament is home to the lower House of Commons for elected MPs and the unelected upper House of Lords 

Leon Neal POOL/AFP

Officials have previously noted it is at high risk of sudden failure from major fire, flood or stone fall, with the annual cost of maintenance and ongoing projects recently doubling from £62 million in 2016 to £127 million in 2019.

© 2021 AFP

Nicaragua detains business union leaders as crackdown widens

Issued on: 21/10/2021

Nicaraguan Superior Council of Private Companies president Michael Healy (L) is one of dozens of government opponents arrested ahead of the November 7, 2021 elections STRINGER AFP

Managua (AFP)

Superior Council of Private Enterprise president Michael Healy and vice president Alvaro Vargas are being "investigated for the crime of money and asset laundering," police said in a statement.

Since early June Nicaragua's authorities have arrested a host of opposition figures, including seven aspiring presidential hopefuls, as well as journalists and business, social and political leaders.

The detainees face charges of trying to overthrow President Daniel Ortega, treason and threatening Nicaragua's sovereignty by, among other things, "applauding" sanctions and "inciting foreign interference."

Healy and Vargas are being investigated "for carrying out acts that threaten independence, sovereignty and self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs, requesting military interventions (and) planning terrorist acts with financing from foreign powers," the police said.

Healy's predecessor, Jose Aguerri, was arrested in July for conspiracy to undermine sovereignty.

Critics say the wave of arrests is designed to remove any realistic competition from standing against Ortega, 75, in the November 7 election.

Detainees have been held under a controversial law approved last December that has been widely denounced as a means of freezing out challengers and silencing opponents.

Family members of those held say the detainees are suffering isolation, daily interrogations, threats and hunger.

On Tuesday, the influential National Coalition of political and social groups called for an election boycott.

The Washington-based Organization of American States on Wednesday demanded the "immediate release" of all opposition figures in Nicaragua.

Ortega, a former left-wing guerrilla leader, has been in power since 2007 and is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

In 2014, during his second term, the National Assembly, dominated by his Sandinista National Liberation Front party, approved a constitutional amendment to remove term limits, paving the way for Ortega to remain indefinitely in power.

© 2021 AFP

Escobar's lawyered-up hippos recognized as people by US court

THEY WERE GOING TO BE STERILIZED WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT

Issued on: 21/10/2021 - 

The hippopotamuses were left to roam Pablo Escobar's estate and continued breeding, to the point they are now believed to be the largest "bloat" outside Africa 

RAUL ARBOLEDA AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

The ruling came after the nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) filed an application seeking to allow two experts in nonsurgical sterilization of wildlife to provide testimony supporting a Colombian lawsuit to stop a cull.

At a federal court in Ohio, magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz last week granted the request of the plaintiffs, the "Community of Hippopotamuses Living in the Magdalena River."

The ruling was based on a US law that allows an "interested person" in foreign litigation to request US depositions to help their case.

"In granting the application...the court recognized the hippos as legal persons with respect to that statute," ALDF said in a statement.

Christopher Berry, ALDF's managing attorney, told AFP on Thursday the district court order "will help the hippos in their lawsuit not to die -- that's the immediate impact of it.

"More broadly speaking, it's the first concrete example of a US court authorizing animals to exercise a legal right in the animal's own name," he added.

The lawsuit was filed last July on behalf of the hippos by attorney Luis Domingo Gomez Maldonado in Colombia, which already recognizes legal personhood for animals.

Its aim is to stop the government from euthanizing the animals, who now number around 100, up significantly from the single male and three females Escobar initially acquired.
Exotic collection

Before he was shot dead by police in 1993, the cocaine baron purchased exotic animals to live on his ranch, including flamingos, giraffes, zebras and kangaroos.

After his death, all but the hippopotamuses were sold to zoos.

The semiaquatic ungulates were left to roam Escobar's Hacienda Napoles estate and continued breeding. They are now believed to be the largest so-called "bloat" of hippopotamuses outside of Africa.

This has had detrimental consequences for the local ecology, as well as reported attacks on local fishermen.

While the litigation is ongoing, authorities announced October 15 they had begun sterilizing the pod using the contraceptive drug GonaCon administered by dart guns, and through surgical sterilization.

The lawsuit contends it is unknown if the Colombian government will use the drug safely and whether it still intends to kill some of the animals.

It is seeking to provide the hippos with another contraceptive, called PZP (porcine zona pellucida), which has successfully been used in zoos and is recommended by Animal Balance, an international organization that focuses on sterilization of animals.

Thanks to the US court order, the testimony of Animal Balance's wildlife experts, Elizabeth Berkeley and Richard Berlinski can be used to bolster Maldonado's case.

Berry said the latest legal decision comes as other cases seeking personhood for animals make their way through US courts.

A horse named Justice is being represented by ALDF in a case of cruelty and neglect, while Happy the elephant, who resides at the Bronx Zoo, is being represented by The Nonhuman Rights Project in a habeas corpus (unlawful detention) case.

It remains to be seen how other courts will factor in the hippo decision, "but it certainly is relevant and important to the broader discussion of animal personhood and animal rights," said Berry.

The movement to grant animals legal personhood has also been gaining momentum globally.

In 2014, an Argentine court ruled Sandra the orangutan had been subject to unjust confinement at Buenos Aires Zoo. She is now settled in an ape sanctuary in Florida.

© 2021 AFP