Russian court backs move to let Putin stay in power despite outcry from some

By Tom Balmforth and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Constitutional Court on Monday ruled it was legal to change the country's constitution in a way that could allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036, less than a week after Putin publicly backed the idea.

The court ruling came hours after thousands of Russians signed a petition urging judges to protect them from what they said was an illegal coup that would allow Putin, who has dominated the Russian political landscape for the last two decades, to subvert the constitution. 

Putin, 67, unveiled an overhaul of the constitution in January which the Kremlin cast as a redistribution of power from the presidency to parliament.

He made a dramatic appearance in parliament on Tuesday to endorse a new amendment that would allow him to ignore a constitutional ban requiring him to stand down in 2024.


© Reuters/EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA 
Russia's President Putin attends a session of the lower house of parliament in Moscow

The move, which must still be put to a nationwide vote due next month, raises the prospect of Putin serving another two six-year terms after 2024, though the Kremlin points out that Putin has not yet said whether he will run again.

The Constitutional Court's blessing was delivered in a 52-page ruling posted on its website on Monday.

'ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL COUP'

The Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that Putin had signed off on the constitutional changes after both houses of parliament and regional parliaments backed them with lightning speed last week.

Earlier on Monday, more than 18,000 Russians signed a petition denouncing the reform as "politically and ethically unacceptable".

"We believe the threat of a deep constitutional crisis and an unlawful anti-constitutional coup ... is hanging over our country," the petition, signed by prominent scientists, journalists and writers said.

The petition does not have any legal force, but its blunt language shows how strongly some Russians oppose the idea of Putin having the option to run again in 2024.

Putin remains popular with other Russians however who see him as a welcome source of stability after what some recall as the anarchic 1990s following the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Kremlin told reporters it was aware of the petition, but that it had also received numerous messages of support for the change and that it was up to Russians at a nationwide vote to decide whether to back it or not.

(additional reporting by Alexander Marrow and Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Putin’s Aides Shocked by His Presidential Power Play

Evgenia Pismennaya, Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov,
Bloomberg•March 17, 2020


(Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin’s surprise move to allow himself to remain as president until 2036 caught even many Kremlin insiders off guard, leaving some feeling deceived by his motivation for changing the constitution.

His sudden reversal -- approving a plan that he’d long publicly resisted -- was a blow to some senior officials’ hopes that he would find a more elegant way to retain influence once his current term ends in 2024. Some drew parallels to the clumsily announced move in 2011 that saw him retake the presidency from protege Dmitry Medvedev, who had fueled expectations of liberalization that were dashed with Putin’s return.

Putin had probably already formed his plan to stay on as president in January, when he unveiled the constitutional shake-up that seemed to respect term limits, four people familiar with the matter said. The amendments were a “grand deception,” said one person close to Putin, while another called them a “smokescreen” intended to allow him to ditch the term-limit restriction at the last moment to minimize potential opposition within the Kremlin elite.

Putin’s move to allow himself up to two more six-year terms tilts Russia onto a new trajectory of entrenched authoritarianism similar to China, where Xi Jinping has changed the constitution to prolong his presidency. It also puts to rest any questions of whether Putin would step down and allow Russia to evolve into a European-style democracy.



“This is a very different kind of Russian state, unashamedly authoritarian in design,” said Alexander Baunov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “It sets back any chances of normalizing ties with the West and will halt development at home, most likely intensifying stagnation.”

It also reveals difficulties Putin faced in maintaining a careful political balance as rival Kremlin factions began jostling for position ahead of a succession that was still four years away. The move was seen as a way to end growing uncertainty about the president’s ability to keep control and bring restless elites into line, two senior officials said.

“This was one of the most brilliant special operations of Putin’s rule,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, head of R. Politik, a political consultancy. If he had set out his plan in January, “it would have triggered massive protests and given time to derail the referendum,” she said.

Virus Impact

The national public vote that the president made a condition of the constitutional changes taking effect is scheduled so far for April 22. About the only thing Putin may not have planned for is the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Russia that may force the Kremlin to delay the vote until June.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Putin carried out the constitutional reforms with the intention of avoiding term limits and that Kremlin officials had been unaware of this, declining to comment further.

For most of his two decades in power, Putin, 67, was a stickler for the appearances of democratic procedure, if not the substance, taking pains to make Russia seem to be playing by something like western rules. While he could choose not to run again for president in 2024, few think he will pass up the opportunity.

The global chaos unleashed by the coronavirus and Putin’s own decision to tear up Russia’s oil-production agreement with OPEC, sending crude prices plunging to the lowest in a generation, offered a “perfect storm” to achieve his objective, said Olga Kryshtanovskaya, who studies the Russian elite at the State University of Management in Moscow.

Still, Putin faces risks with many in his own inner circle puzzled over why he chose to strike now. Public anger at his 2011 maneuver to reclaim the presidency helped spark the largest anti-Kremlin protests of Putin’s rule in 2011-2012.

A survey of 1,600 Russians published Jan. 30 by the independent Levada Center found that just 27% wanted Putin to stay on as president after 2024, while 25% preferred him to retire from public life.
The president’s approval rating with Russians has suffered after years of falling incomes and an unpopular 2018 pension-age reform. An extended period of low oil prices would deal a blow to Putin’s ambition of bolstering living standards during this term by ramping up spending. The central bank warned last year that Russia would slide into recession in 2020 under a “risk scenario” of $25 oil.

In the end, Putin seized his moment with breathtaking speed. He took less than two hours to endorse the surprise proposal by Valentina Tereshkova, a ruling-party lawmaker and the first woman in space, that the lower house of parliament should “set to zero” the term limit for him during final debates on the constitutional changes.

The Kremlin later insisted it had no advance knowledge of her statement and said Putin changed his view on term limits because of the growing turmoil in the world. No ruling-party lawmaker would have made such a proposal without being told to do so by the leadership, two officials said.

Parliament approved the amendments, including Tereshkova’s addition, the next day and Putin signed it at the weekend before asking for a review by the Constitutional Court. The court gave the plan its stamp of approval on Monday.

With Putin able to stay as president, “Western leaders are going to have to get used to the idea that Russia equals Putin and give up any illusions that he’ll be on his way out,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, which advises the Kremlin.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Russia's Putin orders April vote on constitutional changes despite coronavirus

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 17, 2020. 

Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a nationwide vote on constitutional amendments, which would allow him to run again for president, on April 22, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, despite the spread of the coronavirus.

The amendments, if passed, would allow Putin to run again despite the current constitutional ban. There had been speculation the vote would be postponed due to the coronavirus.

“And yet, bearing in mind the difficult epidemiological situation in the world... which is not as acute as in other countries, but nevertheless affects our country, we will hold this vote only if this situation allows such event to be carried out,” Putin told Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, at a meeting.

As of now, Putin is required by the constitution to step down in 2024 when his second sequential and fourth presidential term ends. The proposed constitutional changes would open the door for him to remain in power until 2036.

Russia has reported 114 cases of coronavirus, but no deaths, and has introduced a raft of economic and social measures to limit its spread.

“You and I see that in those countries where the situation is much more complicated than ours, nevertheless political events of this kind are not abandoned,” Putin told Pamfilova.

Russia will postpone the vote if the situation requires, he added.

Reporting by Polina Devitt and Anton Kolodyazhnyy; editing by Chris Reese and Nick Macfie

Boeing calls for $60 billion lifeline for US aerospace industry

AMERICA'S LEGACY INDUSTRY SAYS CNBC'S CRAMER

STATE CAPITALISM BY ANY OTHER NAME

By David Shepardson

Boeing on Tuesday called for a $60 billion lifeline for the struggling U.S. aerospace manufacturing industry, which faces huge losses from the coronavirus pandemic.

Reuters first reported that Boeing was seeking "tens of billions of dollars" in U.S. government loan guarantees and other assistance as faces it a looming liquidity crunch due to the coronavirus' impact on the aviation sector, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe subsequently said the company "supports a minimum of $60 billion in access to public and private liquidity, including loan guarantees, for the aerospace manufacturing industry."


Boeing declined to say how much of that would be for the planemaker versus loan guarantees for its suppliers; it was also unclear if U.S. banks would loan any of the more than $60 billion without government backing.

The U.S. planemaker has told lawmakers it needs significant government support to meet liquidity needs and it cannot raise that in current market conditions, the people said.

Boeing confirmed Monday it was in talks with the administration about short-term support, while U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. government would provide support. Boeing has noted that typically 70% of its revenue flows to its 17,000 suppliers and has told lawmakers that without significant assistance the entire U.S. aviation manufacturing sector could collapse.

"This will be one of the most important ways for airlines, airports, suppliers and manufacturers to bridge to recovery. Funds would support the health of the broader aviation industry, because much of any liquidity support to Boeing will be used for payments to suppliers to maintain the health of the supply chain," Johndroe said.

The amount of aid Boeing needs remains in flux based on market conditions and how long the crisis lasts. Congressional officials are reviewing Boeing's cash needs as Congress considers a stimulus and rescue package that could top $1 trillion.

"Boeing got hit hard in many different ways," Trump said at a press conference Tuesday. He said he would also help suppliers like engine maker General Electric Co. "We have to protect Boeing... We'll be helping Boeing."

© Reuters/Willy Kurniawan A cleaning worker sprays disinfectant inside the cabin of a Lion Air's Boeing 737-800 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport 

HE IS NOT WEARING NITRILE PROTECTIVE GLOVES

Boeing's stock has been plummeting. After falling 24% on Monday, it fell another 4.4% Tuesday to close at $123.92. Boeing is down more than 60% over the last month as the coronavirus pandemic slashed travel demand worldwide. S&P Global downgraded Boeing's credit rating on Monday and lowered its free cash flow expectations for the company.

Boeing has been struggling to win approval from regulators for its 737 MAX to return to service after two fatal crashes in five months. The plane has been grounded since March 2019.

U.S. airlines and cargo carriers have said they are seeking at least $58 billion in loans and grants along with additional tax changes, while airports have sought $10 billion.

Boeing confirmed on Tuesday that it had completed the drawdown of the rest of a $13.8 billion line of credit it had secured last month.

Boeing’s total debt nearly doubled to $27.3 billion in 2019, as it compensated airlines and grappled with additional production costs for the 737 MAX even as the grounding prevented it from delivering the aircraft to buyers.

Reuters on Tuesday reported Airbus has about 16 billion euros ($17.60 billion) in cash and needs some 5.5 billion euros a month, a person familiar with Monday’s discussions said.

Industry sources said that even before the coronavirus crisis squeezed its finances, Boeing had been providing financial support to a number of suppliers to help them ride out the shutdown of 737 MAX production as well as paying airlines compensation for the delay in delivering MAX planes.

The focus on design problems as a key factor leading up to two fatal crashes that led to the grounding has left the planemaker exposed to potential shareholder lawsuits from partners and airlines at risk from the MAX shutdown.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)

SEE 

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

BOEING 

STATE CAPITALISM 

To Track Coronavirus, Israel Moves to Tap Secret Trove of Cellphone Data

David M. Halbfinger, Isabel Kershner and Ronen Bergman




a group of people standing in front of a building: A market in Tel Aviv on Sunday. The Israeli government is escalating efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. 4 SLIDES 

© Corinna Kern/Reuters

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has authorized the country’s internal security agency to tap into a vast and previously undisclosed trove of cellphone data to retrace the movements of people who have contracted the coronavirus and identify others who should be quarantined because their paths crossed.

The unprecedented move to use data secretly gathered to combat terrorism for public health efforts was debated for hours on Sunday by Mr. Netanyahu’s holdover cabinet.

It was supposed to be approved by Parliament’s Secret Services Subcommittee on Monday but the subcommittee ended its discussions after 4 p.m. — when a new Parliament was sworn in — without holding a vote.

Mr. Netanyahu then said the government would approve emergency regulations on Monday night that would allow for the use of the data for a limited period of 30 days, with the permission of the attorney general.

“Israel is a democracy,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “We have to maintain the balance between the rights of the individual and needs of general society, and we are doing that.”

The existence of the data trove and the legislative framework under which it is amassed and used have not previously been reported. The plan to apply it to fighting the virus, alluded to only vaguely by Mr. Netanyahu, has not yet been debated by lawmakers or revealed to the public.

The idea is to sift through geolocation data routinely collected from Israeli cellphone providers about millions of their customers in Israel and the West Bank, find people who came into close contact with known virus carriers, and send them text messages directing them to isolate themselves immediately.

Disclosure of the plan raised alarms among privacy advocates and among critics of Mr. Netanyahu, who is simultaneously battling to retain power after those seeking his ouster won a majority in elections March 2, and imposing increasingly authoritarian measures in response to the crisis. His justice minister on Sunday severely curtailed the courts, a move that was followed hours later by the postponement of Mr. Netanyahu’s criminal trial on bribery and corruption charges, which had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

In addition to the location-tracking effort, Mr. Netanyahu’s caretaker government on Sunday authorized prison sentences of up to six months for anyone breaching isolation orders; barring visitors, including lawyers, from prison and detention facilities and allowing the police to break up gatherings — as of now, more than 10 people — by means including “the use of reasonable force.”

It is the existence of the cellphone metadata trove and its use to track coronavirus patients and carriers that privacy advocates say poses the greatest test of Israeli democracy at an extraordinarily fragile moment.

Malkiel Blass, who was a deputy attorney general from 2004 to 2012, said that because of the dissolution of Parliament in December, Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet had been operating without legislative oversight for too long.

“Even in crises of this nature, the core of civil rights in a democracy must be preserved,” Mr. Blass said in an interview. “I understand that infection and contagion and the spread of the virus must be prevented, but it is inconceivable that because of the panic, civil rights should be trampled without restraint, at levels that are totally disproportionate to the threat and the problem.”

Anticipating such criticism, officials insisted that the use of cellphone data by the Internal Security Agency — known by its Hebrew acronym, Shin Bet — would be scrupulously circumscribed.

“The use of advanced Shin Bet technologies is intended for one purpose only: saving lives,” said a senior security official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss such a sensitive matter. “In this way, the spread of the virus in Israel can be narrowed, quickly and efficiently. This is a focused, time-limited and limited activity that is monitored by the government, the attorney general and the Knesset’s regulatory mechanisms.”

If the virus is putting Israel’s democratic norms to the test, the lack of a broader immediate outcry suggested that people may be fairly tolerant.

“Like in every country, there are things that happen secretly, and that’s a good thing so long as there is oversight,” said Ran Sa’ar, chief executive of Maccabi Health Services, Israel’s second-largest health fund, with 2.4 million members.

Saying there could be many as-yet-unknown carriers of the virus in Israel, Mr. Sa’ar said the country could soon be overwhelmed if it did not identify them before their numbers grow to tens of thousands. “If we can locate them, it will help,” he said.

The Shin Bet has been quietly but routinely collecting cellphone metadata since at least 2002, officials confirmed. It has never disclosed details about what information it collects, how that data is safeguarded, whether or when any of it is destroyed or deleted, who has access to it and under what conditions, or how it is used.

Two laws and a number of secret regulations and administrative orders govern the data-collection effort and its use by the Shin Bet, officials said.

The Telecommunications Law, amended in 1995 with the advent of widespread cellular networks, gives the prime minister broad powers to order carriers to allow access to their facilities and databases “as necessary to perform the functions of the security forces or to exercise their powers.”

Article 11 of the Israeli Security Agency Law, enacted in 2002, lets the prime minister determine what sort of information about cellphone subscribers “is required by the service to fulfill its purpose,” and declares that the companies must “transfer information of these types” to the Shin Bet.

A former senior Shin Bet official who was involved in pushing for the 2002 legislation said that the agency had not pushed for Article 11 because officials believed lawmakers would “never allow such a draconian clause to pass.” But lawmakers “didn’t understand what it was about and nobody said anything,” added the former official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence issues.

The former official added that after Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency employee, leaked details about the United States government’s bulk collection of data on American citizens, igniting a furor, “we all laughed, that what the American intelligence community was trying to hide, and what caused such an uproar among the American public, is so clearly written in Israeli law.”

Under that law, it is up to the head of the Shin Bet to determine how cellphone data is used. While the law authorizes its use for only six months, the Shin Bet director may reauthorize it. The director is required to report to the attorney general every three months and to the Knesset’s Secret Services Subcommittee yearly.

Since 2002, a former senior Justice Ministry official said, prime ministers have required cellphone companies to transfer to the agency a vast range of metadata about their subscribers. The official refused to say what categories of data were being provided or withheld, but metadata includes the identity of each subscriber, recipients or initiators of each call, payments made on the account, as well as geolocation information collected when phones communicate with cellular transmission towers.

Using cellphone data to combat the coronavirus requires government approval because the Security Agency Law limits the Shin Bet’s role to protecting Israel “against threats of terror, sabotage, subversion, espionage and exposure of state secrets.” It is permitted to act in other ways “vital to national security” but only with the approval of the cabinet and the Secret Services Subcommittee.

Ami Ayalon, Shin Bet’s chief from 1995 to 2000 and a former Labor party lawmaker, called the clause allowing the agency’s mission to be expanded “very problematic.”

“The question of whether it is justified is a dilemma that falls exactly in that crack between democracy and national security,” Mr. Ayalon said.

Still, he said, “Liberal democracy is violated by all sorts of battles.”

Contrary to some Israeli reports, there is no plan to hack into Israeli citizens’ cellphones. But experts said that was simply unnecessary because the government already receives, as a matter of course, enough data from cellphone carriers to monitor the whereabouts of nearly anyone.

Lior Akerman, a former Shin Bet officer, said the agency was well practiced in distinguishing between appropriate targets — those suspected of harming national security — and innocent civilians.

“In this case,” Mr. Akerman said, “it is not about tracking innocent people or invading their privacy, but using existing technologies to identify and locate sick people and carriers who could infect thousands.”

But Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, argued that deploying the Shin Bet, which already has the necessary data in hand, was “easy but dangerous.”

“The problem is it’s a very slippery slope,” she said, arguing that it would be safer to put the police in charge.

“I don’t want to sound like a dissident, but if your right to privacy is important for you, you ought to be worried,” Ms. Altshuler said, adding: “This is not war or an intifada. It’s a civilian event and should be treated like one.”

ACLU sues Homeland Security over airport facial recognition records

Christine Fisher

There's no question that AI surveillance is on the rise, but there are a lot of questions about just how extensively law enforcement agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are using it. In an attempt to increase transparency, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing DHS -- along with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The ACLU is requesting records on the use of face surveillance at airports and borders, as well as the agencies' plans for future use.

On January 9th, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act requesting info on the government's contracts with airlines, airports and other entities that use facial recognition at airports and borders. DHS, CBP, ICE and TSA did not respond, so now the ACLU is taking legal action.

"The little we do know about the government's plans for face surveillance at airports is deeply disturbing," the ACLU wrote in a blog post.

As the ACLU points out, if the use of facial recognition is normalized at the airport, the government could theoretically argue for its use elsewhere. Facial recognition still has a bias problem, and then there are concerns about data protections. With companies like Clearview AI, and now Banjo, free to operate on their own and no widespread facial recognition regulation, it's understandable that the ACLU is asking questions.

ACLU (1), (2), (3)

In Earth's early history, a day was 23.5 hours and a year lasted 372 days

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

When dinosaurs walked the Earth, days on our planet were a little bit shorter than the full 24 hours we know today. 

© Wilson44691/Wikipedia

Earth turned more quickly, meaning that a day lasted about 23.5 hours and a year equated to 372 days, according to a new study.

Researchers discovered this fact from a surprising resource: ancient shells, dated to the Late Cretaceous period 70 million years ago.

The fossilized mollusk shell belonged to a group called rudist clams, which grew quickly and recorded their lives in daily growth rings visible in the shells. These specific clams were known as Torreites sanchezi and rudist means that they have two shells, with a hinge connecting them.

Laser sampling produced slices of the shells, allowing the researchers to get an accurate count of the rings. That let them know how many days there were in a year, allowing for the breakdown of how long a day would be.

The study published this week in the journal Paleooceanography and Paleoclimatology, which is published by the America Geophysical Union.

"We have about four to five data points per day, and this is something that you almost never get in geological history. We can basically look at a day 70 million years ago. It's pretty amazing," said Niels de Winter, lead study author and analytical geochemist at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

We've long known that an Earth day lasts 24 hours, and that remains constant because Earth's trip around the sun doesn't vary.

However, the number of days that make an Earth year have shifted and shortened because days have grown longer. That is thanks to the moon's gravity, which draws on ocean's tides and slows Earth's rate of rotation.

Meanwhile, as the moon tugs on Earth, our natural satellite distances itself about 1.5 inches per year from Earth.

The ancient shell also contained information about the environment the clams lived in. Shell data revealed that oceans during the Late Cretaceous 70 million years ago were much warmer than they are now, reaching 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and above 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.

The maximum temperature would have about reached the limit for mollusks like clams, the researchers said.

But these clams enjoyed temperatures that were warmer than today's oceans.

The particular clam they studied lived for more than nine years, situated in a shallow tropical seabed. Today, this is dry land in Oman. Rudist clams are unique looking, described in a release by AGU as resembling "tall pint glasses with lids shaped like bear claw pastries."

Like oysters, the clams thrived in reef environments. And in their day, they acted like coral, building and growing together.

"Rudists are quite special bivalves. There's nothing like it living today," de Winter said. "In the Late Cretaceous especially, worldwide most of the reef builders are these bivalves. So they really took on the ecosystem building role that the corals have nowadays."

And they loved sunlight.

Their shells grew faster during the day in response to sunlight. The researchers believe this means that like modern giant clams, which are covered in algae, these clams were similarly supporting a symbiotic species.

But the clams were wiped out 66 million years ago, just like the dinosaurs.

The data collected from the shell helped the researchers piece together parts of Earth's past, as well as the evolution of clams. In the future, the researchers hope to study older fossils and learn more about a day in the life of Earth's distant past.

This Remote, Pristine Underwater Forest in South America Hasn't Changed in Decades

David Nield

Scientists have returned to a group of underwater kelp forests off the tip of South America for the first time since 1973 – and they've found the ecosystem virtually unchanged despite the passage of nearly half a century.

© Enric Sala/National Geographic

These seaweed forests, close to Tierra del Fuego, are something of a marine marvel; experts say we can learn some important conservation lessons from them.

Kelp forests like these are under threat from climate change and human activity, but divers found that this particular stretch had the same numbers of kelp, sea urchins and sea stars as it did in the early 1970s.


a starfish on a table SLIDES © Provided by ScienceAlert
kelp f 3(Enric Sala/National Geographic)

What's more, the researchers didn't spot any signs of urchin barrens – this is a harmful type of unchecked sea urchin grazing that's been spotted in other kelp forests, and which can quickly reduce kelp levels.

"The kelp forests of the extreme tip of South America are some of the most pristine on Earth and have not changed substantially since the early 1970s, when they were first surveyed," says oceanographer Alan Friedlander, from the National Geographic Society.

"Re-examination of this remote region is incredibly valuable in this age of climate change, and gives us a better understanding of how these ecosystems function in the absence of direct human impacts."

The remote location, lack of human activity in the area, and rough surrounding seas are likely to be responsible for having kept these parts of the ocean locked in their own time capsule, according to the researchers.

Besides direct observations underwater, the scientists also looked at satellite imagery from the last 20 years, noting that kelp coverage seems to move in four-year cycles based on rainfall patterns.


a tree in a forest: kelp f 2
1/1 SLIDES © Provided by ScienceAlert
kelp f 2(Enric Sala/National Geographic)

In terms of fish populations, the team did find some variation: levels of different species, including pipefish, pink cusk-eel and rock cod, tended to depend on how well-sheltered the sample site was from ocean waves.


The work fills in some of the gaps in our knowledge when it comes to kelp forest protection. If scientists are going to understand how these submarine ecosystems are evolving and how they can be protected, they need to know about the ones that haven't changed as well as the ones that have.

Kelp forests are some of the most diverse and vibrant ecosystems on the planet, cropping up extensively along shallow, rocky coasts in cold water habitats, and this particular group plays a significant role in the entire South American ecosystem. The challenge now is to make sure it remains largely unspoilt for the next 50 years.

"This region is one of the last global refuges for kelp forest ecosystems and supports large populations of seabirds [and] marine mammals, and has high biodiversity value due to high endemism and unique community composition," conclude the researchers in their paper.

"There is therefore an urgent need to protect this region for its biodiversity values and the ecosystem services it provides."

The research has been published in PLOS One.

SPECIAL K
More Than Just a Trip: Why Does Ketamine Work for Depression When Nothing Else Does?

BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY

Darisse Smith GIZMONDO 3/10/2020

Even though depression is a common and debilitating mental illness, the last groundbreaking medication released for it was Prozac, approved in 1987. Throughout the last 20 years, though, research scientists have discovered that ketamine, a common anesthetic and, at times, a recreational drug, is a rapid and effective medication for treatment-resistant depression. As we’re learning deeper about why, we turn specifically to its dissociative effects for clues.

“In my experience, patients who have high positive regard for the hallucinogenic—mystical and transcendental—experience also tend to have better antidepressant response to ketamine infusion,” Mark Niciu, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa and one of the main authors of a 2015 study that found a correlation between ketamine and dissociation, told Gizmodo. Ketamine’s effectiveness, Niciu claimed, can depend on the patient’s mindset. There are several factors to continue investigating, which may yield treatment for a large population of patients for whom nothing has worked so far.

In 2000, Robert Berman and his colleagues at Yale ran a small study testing the effectiveness of ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression. They discovered that the ketamine significantly reduced their patients’ depressive symptoms, according to a widely accepted questionnaire, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Until this study, ketamine was known in a few different ways. It is an anesthetic and non-opioid painkiller that was released in the late 1960s and is often used in emergency rooms. The more adventurous among us might know ketamine as Special K, a rave drug often snorted that causes euphoria, hyper energy, hallucinations, and dissociation—an experience where the user is unaware of time, their body, or surroundings.

Because of its reputation as a club drug, ketamine carries a large stigma, even though its recreational use involves much higher doses than what’s used to treat depression. Larger amounts of ketamine can result in more unpleasant side effects, such as muscle spasms, dizziness, loss of balance, slurred speech, and nausea, along with hallucinations or dissociation.

Some doctors believe that these spiritual experiences help patients gain a new perspective.

Despite the lower doses used to treat depression, patients still experience dissociation, though the low dose leads to a more pleasant outcome for the patient. Some researchers have theorized that dissociation actually improves its effectiveness as an antidepressant. During ketamine-induced dissociation, patients feel disconnected from what’s going on around them. They also might have ethereal visions, feel warm and comforted, and might even claim to have seen relatives who have passed. Some doctors believe that these spiritual experiences help patients gain a new perspective.

Depression is a mental illness that is largely misunderstood. Those who suffer from depression experience myriad symptoms, many of which can be contradictory, such as apathy and restlessness, sleeping too much or too little, loss of appetite or overeating, anxiety, hopelessness, irritability, sadness, and trouble concentrating. Research scientists have discovered that depression is actually more of a combination of mental health disorders, and it is the umbrella label for them.

Currently, the gold standard treatment for depression is usually some form of psychotherapy and medications, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac or Zoloft, serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), such as Cymbalta or Pristiq, or norepinephrine dopamine reuptake inhibitors (NDRIs), such as Wellbutrin. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in a 2017 nationwide survey, 11 million Americans experienced depression with severe impairment, and of those, one-third experienced treatment-resistant depression. Once all options of medication and therapy are exhausted, those with treatment-resistant depression have only a few options, including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). During ECT, doctors induce a small seizure in their anesthetized patient in order to reset neurophysiologic and neurochemical processes in the brain. In rTMS, a magnetic coil is placed near the patient’s forehead and is designed to stimulate the regions of the brain that control mood. Though both of these treatments can be effective, they also have potential side effects. ECT can result in headaches, nausea and disorientation in the short term and memory loss and impaired cognition long-term. In rTMS, patients can experience headaches, scalp pain, and spasms in the facial muscles.

The ketamine treatment should be peaceful.

Most ketamine treatments occur in a specialized ketamine clinic. There are hundreds of these clinics throughout the United States. In order to prepare for the infusion, a nurse will establish an IV, as well as monitors to track heart, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, and respiratory rate. The doctor will administer a low dose, usually around 0.5 mg/kg. The ketamine treatment should be peaceful. Often, patients wear an eye mask and listen to relaxing music. A nurse is in the room throughout the treatment, especially since heart rate and blood pressure tend to increase as the ketamine takes effect. The treatment itself lasts approximately 40 minutes, and the patient is monitored for another 20 to 40 minutes after the infusion. Many patients experience relief immediately, compared to traditional antidepressants, which can take several weeks or even several months to work. According to Sam Ko, a doctor who owns Reset Ketamine, a ketamine clinic in Palm Springs, California, not everyone experiences dissociation or an ethereal experience, but those who do typically have a positive encounter.

How Is Taking Ketamine for Depression Different From Falling Into a K-Hole?

In the 2015 study from the National Institute of Mental Health, David Luckenbaugh and his associates ran a clinical trial that tested the correlation between a patient’s experience of dissociation and its antidepressant impact, if any. Researchers administered a low-dose, 40-minute IV infusion of ketamine to 108 treatment-resistant subjects with either depression or bipolar disorder, all of whom at the time had moderate or severe depression. Traditionally, ketamine doctors give their patients a series of IV infusions, but to simplify results, Luckenbaugh and his team administered just one round of ketamine. Researchers also measured the subjects’ blood pressure and pulse throughout the infusion as a control measure, and to compare with patients’ dissociation. Their increased blood pressure and pulse did not correspond with an improved depression score. Using the Clinician Administered Dissociative States Scale and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, researchers discovered that after 40 minutes of treatment, patients reported a statistically significant correlation between a higher level of dissociation and improved symptoms of depression.

Because ketamine works so quickly and so distinctively, and has such different side effects than traditional antidepressants, ketamine research has led scientists to gain more insight into the root of depression in the brain. They generally acknowledge that they still have much to learn in explaining how and why ketamine works, but almost certainly they know that ketamine works in the glutamate system. In previous autopsies of people who have died by suicide, doctors found that they had higher levels of glutamate in their brains. N-methyl-D-asparate receptors, or NMDA, are in the glutamate system, and when glutamate levels in the brain get too high, the NMDA receptors are overstimulated, leading to depression, as well as several other disorders of the nervous system, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Ketamine is considered an NMDA antagonist, which means it blocks glutamate, lowering the levels of glutamate and reducing depressive symptoms. Researchers are trying to figure out how exactly ketamine works, but in witnessing its effectiveness, research psychiatrists are learning a completely different way to treat resistant mood disorders such as depression. Niciu, one of the authors of the dissociation study, told Gizmodo that ketamine also improves symptoms of bipolar disorder, PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorders, and addiction.

Researchers are trying to figure out how exactly ketamine works, but in witnessing its effectiveness, research psychiatrists are learning a completely different way to treat resistant mood disorders such as depression.

A brain of a person with depression often has weakened or broken synapses that contribute to their symptoms. These synapses are junctions between two nerve cells, and, when healthy and active, they contribute to good mental health. When someone is depressed, it causes chronic stress, and these synapses become less active. Scientists continue to find that ketamine actually strengthens the faulty synapses and can build new ones. Todd Gould is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and he clarified how ketamine heals certain parts of the brain: “I’d use the term strengthening synapses. You can create new synapses as well. Stress and depression weaken synapses, and then ketamine strengthens those synapses.” The glutamate system is also responsible for the dissociative response, as it affects sections of the brain that provide learning and memory, emotion, and perception of pain. Their interconnectedness in the glutamate system could explain how dissociation could reduce a patient’s symptoms of depression.

Psychedelic Drugs May Help the Brain Repair Itself, Study Finds

While some researchers believe there is a link between dissociation and ketamine’s antidepressant impact, many others dispute this finding. In a 2011 study led by researchers at Yale University’s School of Medicine, the psychiatrists conducted proton imaging of subjects’ brains before, during and after ketamine treatments. Throughout the infusion, subjects filled out various rating scale forms to measure their level of depression, anxiety, and dissociation. Subjects only indicated dissociation 20 minutes after the IV infusion. These researchers concluded that there was no correlation, since subjects still had antidepressant benefits, even after the disconnectedness subsided. Even those who did not feel detached benefited from ketamine’s antidepressant impact. Brandon Kitay, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale, told Gizmodo, “The fact that you have less of a dissociative experience, let’s say, over time, and can still have just as much efficacy, again speaks to me that it probably is not required for results.”

One aspect of ketamine treatment that can only be anecdotally measured is a patient’s transformation after treatment. Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center conducted a study in November 2019 that examined the impact of ketamine and dissociation in military combat veterans with PTSD, and they had surprising results. Doctors gave 30 veterans a series of six one-hour IV infusions. The specific goal of each infusion was to induce dissociation. For this study, researchers predicted that the dissociation under ketamine would offer the veterans a life-changing, transformative experience. Most veterans reported a remarkable change, where they had reduced symptoms of PTSD and established a reset of their negative thoughts and behaviors.

“In my experience, patients who have high positive regard for the hallucinogenic—mystical and transcendental—experience also tend to have better antidepressant response to ketamine infusion.”

While neuroscientists continue to examine how ketamine works in the brain, front-line doctors often witness immeasurable results from ketamine, especially when patients experience dissociation. Ko describes the level of dissociation as more of a gradient than a yes or no answer. With each infusion, he tries to find the “sweet spot” where patients feel detached but are able to explain and remember the experience. Ko strongly believes that ketamine can be a catalyst for personal improvement. “So this includes things like, hey, I’m going to start going for a walk or I’m going to change my diet. I’m going to start engaging in more social activities.”

Ketamine can even be life-changing in the worst of cases, such as for people struggling with suicidal ideations. Researchers have speculated that the NMDA receptor is also tied up with suicidal thoughts and ketamine’s ability to block glutamate can significantly lessen the severity of these intrusive thoughts. The debate on the relationship between dissociation and antidepressant effects will continue, but the debate in itself has led to further research on how ketamine works so fully and so rapidly.

Ketamine Is Now an FDA-Approved Depression Treatment, but Who Will Be Able to Get It?

Even so, the current administration of ketamine precludes many sufferers from benefiting. Pure ketamine is still not approved by the FDA for depression, although a ketamine-like drug, called esketamine, has recently been approved and is available in certain markets. An IV infusion of ketamine requires close monitoring, and a patient must be available sometimes for a few hours per treatment. Many of the researchers in the field hope for more studies on medications that are glutamate blockers, which would serve as a more viable alternative to ketamine.

The inclusion or exclusion of the dissociative side effects in these future trials will all depend on ongoing research. One thing is for sure: Future research will further expose how ketamine works, and as these discoveries are examined, new and less-invasive medications could come to market and potentially improve the symptoms of those suffering from treatment-resistant depression. The difference could be life-altering.

KEEP YOUR CAT(S) INSIDE
When cats are free to roam, wildlife suffers

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

When your house cat trots outside for a neighborhood stroll, it doesn't end well for birds, bunnies, squirrels and other wildlife. And now, thanks to a new study, we know how much damage our feline friends can do. 

© Roland Kays/North Carolina State University

In fact, they kill even more prey than wild predators similar in size to cats, and they don't have to go far to do it. The average range for pet cats allowed outside is about 328 feet from the house they live in.

"We found that house cats have a two- to 10-times larger impact on wildlife than wild predators -- a striking effect," said Roland Kays, lead study author and zoologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

To track the behavior of house cats who were allowed to go outside, 925 cats across six countries were fitted with unobtrusive GPS devices. Scientists and citizen scientists used the data to track how far the cats ranged, as well as any prey they captured and brought home across rural and urban areas in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

The study published Wednesday in the journal Animal Conservation.

"Since they are fed cat food, pets kill fewer prey per day then wild predators, but their home ranges were so small that this effect on local prey ends up getting really concentrated," Kays said. "Add to this the unnaturally high density of pet cats in some areas, and the risk to bird and small mammal population gets even worse."

The study did not include feral cats.

On average, the study found that house cats killed anywhere between 14.2 to 38.9 prey per 100 acres, per year. That averages out to about 3.5 prey each month per cat. The researchers believe this large number is due to the fact that neighborhoods can include a high density of cats -- more so than wild predators living in the wild.

"We knew cats were killing lots of animals -- some estimates show that cats in North America kill from 10 to 30 billion wildlife animals per year -- but we didn't know the area in which that was happening, or how this compared with what we see in nature," Kays said.

Much of the damage occurred in areas that already disrupt wildlife. This includes housing developments, because they disturb natural habitats.

And cats weren't deterred from their ranging based on other predators, like coyotes, in the areas they lived.

"As a result, pet cats around the world have an ecological impact greater than native predators but concentrated within about 100 meters of their homes," the authors wrote in the study.

The authors also noted that it's difficult to tell which native species might persist or recolonize urban areas if domestic cats weren't around.

The study cited that domestic cats are one of the most abundant carnivores on Earth, accounting for up to 600 million pet cats around the world. And that can spell doom for native species. On the bright side, this doesn't impact species living in larger protected areas, because the cats were killing prey in urban and suburban habitats.

Some of the native species found at risk in the study included Brushtail possums in South Australia, as well as endangered rodents and rabbits in North America. This is because domestic cats are opportunistic hunters who pursue small mammals that they can easily catch and kill.

Keeping cats indoors could prevent the impact on wildlife, the researchers said.

"Because the negative impact of cats is so local, we create a situation in which the positive aspects of wildlife, be they the songs of birds or the beneficial effects of lizards on pests, are least common where we would appreciate them most," said Rob Dunn, study co-author and William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University.

"Humans find joy in biodiversity, but we have, by letting cats go outdoors, unwittingly engineered a world in which such joys are ever harder to experience."

The First Stegosaur Tracks in Scotland Were Just Discovered on This Windy Island
Mike McRae

Stand on the wind-swept crags lining Scotland's western coast today, and you'd be lucky to spot a puffin or two. But the closer we look, the more evidence we find it was once home to an incredibly diverse array of ancient beasts.© Warpaintcobra/istock/Getty Images Artist impression of a stegosaur

The discovery of new sets of fossilised tracks has expanded the list of potential dinosaur populations that roamed what is now the Isle of Skye. Among them are tracks left by an animal that would have belonged to one of the most famous plate-backed herbivore suborders, Stegosauria.

Scottish and Brazilian researchers have spent the past couple of years analysing two recently found tracksites at a spot on the island's north-eastern coast called Rubha nam Brathairean, or Brothers' Point.

"These new tracksites give us a much clearer picture of the dinosaurs that lived in Scotland 170 million years ago," says University of Edinburgh palaeontologist Stephen Brusatte.

Back then, the lands making up the British Isles were nothing like they are today. Jurassic Scotland sat far closer to the equator, roughly in alignment with where Greece is today. Warm seas and a sub-tropical climate established ecosystems that were bustling with life.

Still, just because it was a virtual paradise doesn't mean it's been perfect for preserving the remains of ancient life. The Jurassic isn't exactly fossil friendly as it is, but Scotland has always seemed especially thin on dinosaur tracks and bones.

In spite of a rich history of fossil hunting throughout much of the United Kingdom, the first clear traces of dinosaur wildlife in Scotland were finally uncovered in the early 1980s when palaeontologists John Hudson and Julian Andrews found the "unmistakable print from a large dinosaur" in a fallen limestone block at Brothers' Point.

Since then, a plethora of tracks belonging to a wide range of long-necked sauropods and fleet-footed theropods have been identified, turning the Isle of Skye into a landmark site for Jurassic researchers.

The most recent additions include teapot-sized holes that haven't been found elsewhere on the island – impressions that are described in palaeontological terms as belonging to a category called Deltapodus.


a close up of a sign: stegosaur footprints skye
© Provided by ScienceAlert
stegosaur footprints skye Deltapod tracks on Isle of Skye (dePolo et al., PLOS One, 2020)

"These discoveries are making Skye one of the best places in the world for understanding dinosaur evolution in the Middle Jurassic," says Brusatte.

Without a means of narrowing down the exact species of dinosaur responsible, the researchers are careful about jumping to any conclusions.

But it's fair to say that this group includes a type of cow-sized dinosaur famed for its lines of geometric plates adorning its spine, and a wicked clump of 'thagomising' spines on its tail.

The team also uncovered another potentially new addition to the list, in the form of large imprints of something with three stubby toes possibly belonging to a group of heavyweight herbivores called ornithopods.

"We knew there were giant long-necked sauropods and jeep-sized carnivores, but we can now add plate-backed stegosaurs to that roster, and maybe even primitive cousins of the duck-billed dinosaurs too," says Brusatte.

Not only do the tracks provide tantalising evidence that stegosaurs once trod along the muddy Scottish coastline, the age of the tracks provides some of the earliest evidence of this particular dinosaur's existence.

Only last year, a species of stegosaur was dug up in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco. At an estimated age of around 168 million years old, the fossilised remains of Adratiklit boulahfa are officially the oldest of its kind.

These tracks at Brother's Point are closer to 170 million years old. While there's no way to confirm what kind of stegosaur might have left them behind, it does help establish timelines and distributions describing their evolution.

"In particular, Deltapodus tracks give good evidence that stegosaurs lived on Skye at this time," says the study's lead author, Paige dePolo from the University of Edinburgh.

With such a rich assortment of tracks being found across the island, this part of Scotland is representative of an important period in evolutionary history, where the late Jurassic's zoo of classic creatures was just beginning to develop their famous characteristics and spread out around the globe.

This research was published in PLOS One.

Due to Coronavirus, Trump to Change Mexico Border Controls

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to immediately turn back all asylum seekers and other foreigners trying to cross the southwestern border illegally, saying they cannot risk allowing the coronavirus to spread through detention facilities and among Border Patrol agents, four administration officials said on Tuesday.
© Doug Mills/The New York Times President Trump and his administration are said to be planning to turn back all asylum seekers and other foreigners trying to cross the southwestern border illegally.

The officials said the ports of entry would remain open to American citizens, green card holders and some foreigners with proper documentation. Some foreigners would be blocked, including Europeans currently subject to earlier travel restrictions enacted by the administration. The entryways will also be open to commercial traffic.

But under the new rule, set to be announced in the next 48 hours, Border Patrol agents would immediately return to Mexico anyone who tries to cross the southern border between the legal ports of entry. Under the policy, asylum seekers would not be held for any length of time in an American facility nor would they be given due process. Once caught, they would be driven to the nearest port of entry and returned to Mexico without further detention.

Although they advised that details of the policy could change before the announcement, administration officials said the effort was critical to avert an outbreak of the coronavirus inside detention facilities along the border.

Such an outbreak could spread quickly through the immigrant population and could infect large numbers of Border Patrol agents, leaving the defenses at the southwestern border weakened, the officials argued. Administration officials say many of the migrants who cross the border are already sick or lack sufficient documents detailing their medical history.

Confirmed cases of the virus in Mexico stand at 82, compared with around 5,600 in the United States and more than 470 in Canada.

Some details of the new rule remained unclear, including whether foreigners seeking asylum or other protections at the ports of entry would be turned back immediately.

But President Trump has suggested multiple times that he could close the border, hoping to crack down on illegal immigration and pressure Mexico to do more to curb the northward flow of migrants.

Long before the coronavirus outbreak, he admonished his top advisers at the Department of Homeland Security about stopping illegal immigration by saying he wanted to “shut it down.” Last spring, as the number of migrants crossing from Central America surged, the president repeatedly threatened to close the border, offering a top official a pardon for the task.

“This is our new statement: The system is full,” the president said last April.

At the time, top aides to the president convinced him that it was not legal to simply turn away all migrants seeking to enter the country. International treaties and American law require asylum seekers to have an opportunity to present their case, although a related policy now allows the administration to make some wait on the Mexican side of the border for their asylum hearings.

The Trump administration has previously tried to push through a policy that would deny asylum to migrants who illegally crossed the southwestern border, an effort the Supreme Court refused to allow in 2018.

But officials insisted on Tuesday that the new policy was not meant to achieve the president’s immigration goals. They said it was driven by the president’s health advisers and would be in effect only as long as the coronavirus remains a threat to the United States.

Officials said the new policy would be based on authorities that can be granted to public health officials in the time of a medical or health emergency, not on immigration laws that the administration has repeatedly cited as justification for past actions at the border. Another official said the administration would invoke a federal legal code that says if the surgeon general identifies “any communicable disease in a foreign country,” he or she can prohibit people from that country from entering the United States.

The new policy also applies to the northern border with Canada, which has already closed its borders to most foreigners — but not Americans — in an attempt to keep the virus at bay. Officials said Mr. Trump would soon also take separate action to further insulate the United States from the possibility of the virus spreading from Canada.

In the next 24 hours, one official said, the United States and Canada plan to issue a joint statement saying that they are suspending nonessential travel between the two countries. That would allow trade to continue, but would restrict flights and border crossings for things like vacations.

Migrants who crossed the border last year were detained for days, weeks or even months. But as the number of such crossings reached its highest point in more than a decade last spring, the crowded and cramped facilities drew widespread condemnation amid photographs of children living in dirty conditions with no soap or toothpaste.

The officials also expressed concern about the health risk of sending migrant children to facilities around the country that are run by the Department of Health and Human Services.

At the same time, officials said that they did not want to return to a policy of letting migrants remain free in the United States while they awaited hearings in the immigration courts, a policy Mr. Trump has derided as “catch and release.” Doing so could allow migrants with the coronavirus to add to the burden on American hospitals, officials said.

© Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters A woman wearing a protective mask walking toward El Paso at the international border bridge Paso del Norte, as seen last week from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Border crossings have declined drastically since last spring after the administration enacted aggressive policies, like forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico as their immigration cases are adjudicated.

The coronavirus outbreak has also halted a Trump administration program that had diverted to Guatemala more than 900 asylum seekers trying to enter the United States. The government there suspended the flights as a way to prevent the domestic spread of the virus.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Michael D. Shear reported from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York