Study uncovers spawning preferences of mahi-mahi

The UM Rosenstiel-led study can help better manage the valuable marine fish and understand climate change impacts

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL OF MARINE & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE

Research News

 

IMAGE: CAPTIVE SPAWNING MAHI-MAHI, OR DOLPHINFISH, TAGGED BY THE RESEARCH TEAM LOCATED AT THE UM EXPERIMENTAL HATCHERY WERE USED TO BUILD PREDICTIVE SPAWNING MODELS. view more 

CREDIT: DAN DINICOLA

MIAMI--In the Florida Straits at night, and under a new moon is the preference for spawning mahi-mahi, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

These new details on the daily life of the highly sought-after migratory fish can help better manage their populations and provide scientists with new information to understand the impacts to the animal from changing environmental conditions.

To uncover these important details about the behaviors of mahi-mahi, or dolphinfish, the research team tagged captive spawning fish located at the UM Experimental Hatchery to build predictive spawning models and then used the models with data collected from mahi-mahi tagged in the wild. The study is the first to use acceleration data from remotely transmitting pop-up satellite tags to predict the spawning habitat of a wild marine fish. The UM Experimental Hatchery is the only place in the country where spawning mahi-mahi are kept in captivity.

To build the predictive models, the research team tagged five spawning mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) at the UM Hatchery and waited overnight to record the timing of when they spawned. In total, 40 individual spawning events were tracked in captivity. Then, they paired the acceleration data collected from the tags with the exact time of spawning to estimate when the animals would spawn in the wild.

To test the models' capability to estimate where and when the fish spawned in the wild, the researchers tagged 17 wild mahi-mahi off the coast of Miami and two in the Gulf of Mexico.

From an analysis of the satellite tag data, the researchers found that wild mahi-mahi spawn at night, primarily during a new moon at depths greater than they would normally be. The Florida Straits appeared to be an important spawning habitat for mahi-mahi, although the models suggest that some limited spawning takes place further north.

They found that mahi-mahi typically go deeper in the water column at night and are more surface oriented during the day. However, the phase of the moon had an effect on their nighttime depth distribution with a full moon bringing mahi-mahi closer to the surface at night.

They also found that mahi-mahi use behavioral thermoregulation to stay between a relatively narrow temperature window of about 27-28 degrees Celsius (80 - 82 degrees Fahrenheit). When surface waters are warmer, they move deeper and swim northward with the Gulf Stream to regulate their temperature, while fish tagged in cooler months stayed primarily in surface waters and migrated east and west between Florida and the Bahamas, rather than swimming north. They were also found to be the most active at cooler temperatures and in warm waters during a full moon at night.

"Mahi-mahi are highly sought after by recreational and commercial fisheries and are economically important," said Lela Schlenker, an alumna of the UM Rosenstiel school and lead author of the study. "It is critical to understand their migrations and the frequency, timing, and location of where they reproduce as well as how changing environmental conditions--like warmer oceans--might affect them to manage their populations sustainably now and in the future."

The team also found from the satellite tag data that the wild mahi-mahi travel long distances--up to 107 kilometers (105 miles) per day and dive to depths of 250 meters (820 feet).

"Together these findings suggest that as climate change continues to warm ocean waters, mahi-mahi will likely continue to shift northward and deeper throughout their migrations," said Martin Grosell," professor and chair of the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology at the UM Rosenstiel School. "This is important for recreational and commercial landings of mahi-mahi and the ecology of pelagic ecosystems. A fruitful collaboration between scientists from three departments at the Rosenstiel School, as well as colleagues from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and access to healthy spawning mahi-mahi in captivity revealed new information about these valuable fish," said Grosell.

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The study, titled "Remote predictions of mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) spawning in the open ocean using summarized accelerometry data," was published March 9, 2021 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. The coauthors include: John Stieglitz, Ronald Hoenig, Rachael Heuer, Daniel Benetti, Claire Paris and Martin Grosell from the UM Rosenstiel School; UM Rosenstiel alumnas Lela S. Schlenker and Christina Pasparakis and former UM postdoctoral researchers Robin Faillettaz and Georgina Cox. Chi Hin Lam, Large Pelagics Research Center, School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts, Boston. The study was funded by GoMRI (grant # SA-1520) to the RECOVER consortium.

UH OH

Diphtheria risks becoming major global threat again as it evolves antimicrobial resistance

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Research News

 

Diphtheria - a relatively easily-preventable infection - is evolving to become resistant to a number of classes of antibiotics and in future could lead to vaccine escape, warn an international team of researchers from the UK and India.

The researchers, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, say that the impact of COVID-19 on diphtheria vaccination schedules, coupled with a rise in the number of infections, risk the disease once more becoming a major global threat.

Diphtheria is a highly contagious infection that can affect the nose and throat, and sometimes the skin. If left untreated it can prove fatal. In the UK and other high-income countries, babies are vaccinated against infection. However, in low- and middle-income countries, the disease can still cause sporadic infections or outbreaks in unvaccinated and partially-vaccinated communities.

The number of diphtheria cases reported globally has being increasing gradually. In 2018, there were 16,651 reported cases, more than double the yearly average for 1996-2017 (8,105 cases).

Diphtheria is primarily caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae and is mainly spread by coughs and sneezes, or through close contact with someone who is infected. In most cases, the bacteria cause acute infections, driven by the diphtheria toxin - the key target of the vaccine. However, non-toxigenic C. diphtheria can also cause disease, often in the form of systemic infections.

In a study published today in Nature Communications, an international team of researchers from the UK and India used genomics to map infections, including a subset from India, where over half of the globally reported cases occurred in 2018.

By analysing the genomes of 61 bacteria isolated from patients and combining these with 441 publicly available genomes, the researchers were able to build a phylogenetic tree - a genetic 'family tree' - to see how the infections are related and understand how they spread. They also used this information to assess the presence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and assess toxin variation.

The researchers found clusters to genetically-similar bacteria isolated from multiple continents, most commonly Asia and Europe. This indicates that C. diphtheriae has been established in the human population for at least over a century, spreading across the globe as populations migrated.

The main disease-causing component of C. diphtheriae is the diphtheria toxin, which is encoded by the tox gene. It is this component that is targeted by vaccines. In total, the researchers found 18 different variants of the tox gene, of which several had the potential to change the structure of the toxin.

Professor Gordon Dougan from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID) said: ""The diphtheria vaccine is designed to neutralise the toxin, so any genetic variants that change the toxin's structure could have an impact on how effective the vaccine is. While our data doesn't suggest the currently used vaccine will be ineffective, the fact that we are seeing an ever-increasing diversity of tox variants suggests that the vaccine, and treatments that target the toxin, need to be appraised on a regular basis."

Diphtheria infections can usually be treated with a number of classes of antibiotic. While C. diphtheriae resistant to antibiotics have been reported, the extent of such resistance remains largely unknown.

When the team looked for genes that might confer some degree of resistance to antimicrobials, they found that the average number of AMR genes per genome was increasing each decade. Genomes of bacteria isolated from infections from the most recent decade (2010-19) showed the highest average number of AMR genes per genome, almost four times as many on average than in the next highest decade, the 1990s.

Robert Will, a PhD student at CITIID and the study's first author, said: "The C. diphtheriae genome is complex and incredibly diverse. It's acquiring resistance to antibiotics that are not even clinically used in the treatment of diphtheria. There must be other factors at play, such as asymptomatic infection and exposure to a plethora of antibiotics meant for treating other diseases."

Erythromycin and penicillin are the traditionally recommended antibiotics of choice for treating confirmed cases of early-stage diphtheria, though there are several different classes of antibiotics available to treat the infection. The team identified variants resistant to six of these classes in isolates from the 2010s, higher than in any other decades.

Dr Pankaj Bhatnagar from the World Health Organization country office for India said: "AMR has rarely been considered as a major problem in the treatment of diphtheria, but in some parts of the world, the bacterial genomes are acquiring resistance to numerous classes of antibiotics. There are likely to be a number of reasons to this, including exposure of the bacteria to antibiotics in their environment or in asymptomatic patients being treated against other infections."

The researchers say that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on childhood vaccination schedules worldwide and comes at a time when reported case numbers are rising, with 2018 showing the highest incidence in 22 years.

Dr Ankur Mutreja from CITIID, who led the study, said: "It's more important than ever that we understand how diphtheria is evolving and spreading. Genome sequencing gives us a powerful tool for observing this in real time, allowing public health agencies to take action before it's too late.

"We mustn't take our eye off the ball with diphtheria, otherwise we risk it becoming a major global threat again, potentially in a modified, better adapted, form."

###

The research was funded primarily by the Medical Research Council, with additional support from the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

Reference

Will, RC et al. Spatiotemporal persistence of multiple, diverse clades and toxins of Corynebacterium diphtheria. Nat Comms; 8 Mar 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21870-5

Oceans were stressed preceding abrupt, prehistoric global warming

Shelled organisms helped buffer ocean acidification by consuming less alkalinity from seawater

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY IMAGES OF FORAMINIFERA FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES. view more 

CREDIT: NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Microscopic fossilized shells are helping geologists reconstruct Earth's climate during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a period of abrupt global warming and ocean acidification that occurred 56 million years ago. Clues from these ancient shells can help scientists better predict future warming and ocean acidification driven by human-caused carbon dioxide emissions.

Led by Northwestern University, the researchers analyzed shells from foraminifera, an ocean-dwelling unicellular organism with an external shell made of calcium carbonate. After analyzing the calcium isotope composition of the fossils, the researchers concluded that massive volcanic activity injected large amounts of carbon dioxide into the Earth system, causing global warming and ocean acidification.

They also found that global warming and ocean acidification did not just passively affect foraminifera. The organisms also actively responded by reducing calcification rates when building their shells. As calcification slowed, the foraminifera consumed less alkalinity from seawater, which helped buffer increasing ocean acidity.

"The formation and dissolution of calcium carbonate help regulate the acidity and alkalinity of seawater," said Northwestern's Andrew Jacobson, a senior author of the study. "Our calcium isotope data indicate that reduced foraminiferal calcification worked to dampen ocean acidification before and across the PETM."

"This is a pretty new concept in the field," added Gabriella Kitch, the study's first author. "Previously, people thought that only the dissolution of carbonates at the sea floor could increase alkalinity of the ocean and buffer the effects of ocean acidification. But we are adding to existing studies that show decreased carbonate production has the same buffering effect."

The research was published online last week (March 4) in the journal Geology. This is the first study to examine the calcium isotope composition of foraminifera to reconstruct conditions before and across the PETM and the third recent Northwestern study to find that ocean acidification -- due to volcanic carbon dioxide emissions -- preceded major prehistoric environmental catastrophes, such as mass extinctions, oceanic anoxic events and periods of intense global warming.

Jacobson is a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Kitch is a Ph.D. candidate and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in Jacobson's laboratory. Northwestern Earth science professors Bradley Sageman and Matthew Hurtgen, as well as collaborators from the University of California-Santa Cruz (UCSC) and the University of Kansas, coauthored the paper with Jacobson and Kitch.

CAPTION

Scanning electron microscopy images of foraminifera from different angles

CREDIT

Northwestern University

Sorting microscopic shells

To study oceanic conditions during the PETM, the researchers examined the calcium isotope composition of foraminiferal fossils collected from two sites -- one in the southeast Atlantic Ocean and one in the Pacific Ocean -- by the Ocean Drilling Program.

Because each fossilized shell is about the size of a single grain of sand, UCSC researchers physically collected the tiny specimens by first identifying them under a microscope. After sorting the shells from bulk sediments, the Northwestern team dissolved the samples and analyzed their calcium isotope composition using a thermal ionization mass spectrometer.

"The work is very challenging," Jacobson said. "To manipulate these tiny materials, you have to pick them up, one by one, with a wet paintbrush tip under a microscope."

Stress prior to PETM

As the shells formed more than 56 million years ago, they responded to oceanic conditions. By examining these shells, the Northwestern team found that calcium isotope ratios increased prior to the onset of the PETM.

"We are looking at one group of organisms that built their shells in one part of the ocean, recording the seawater chemistry surrounding them," Kitch said. "We think the calcium isotope data reveal potential stress prior to the well-known boundary."

Other archives indicate that the atmosphere-ocean system experienced a massive carbon dioxide release immediately before the PETM. When atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, it forms a weak acid that can inhibit calcium carbonate formation. Although it is still undetermined, Earth scientists believe the carbon release most likely came from volcanic activity or cascading effects, such as a release of methane hydrates from the seafloor as a result of ocean warming.

"My suspicion is that it's both of these factors or some sort of combination," Sageman said. "Most big events in Earth's history represent a confluence of many actors coming together at the same time."

Consistent pattern emerges

This is the third study led by Jacobson to find that ocean acidification precedes major environmental catastrophes that correlate with large igneous province eruptions. Last month, Jacobson's team published results finding that volcanic activity triggered a biocalcification crisis prior to an ocean anoxic event that occurred 120 million years ago. Just over a year ago, Jacobson's team published another study finding ocean acidification preceded the asteroid impact leading to the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event 66 million years ago, which included the demise of dinosaurs.

In all three studies, Jacobson's team used sophisticated tools in his laboratory to analyze the calcium isotope composition of calcium carbonate fossils and sediment. Jacobson said a clear pattern is emerging. Influxes of carbon dioxide led to global warming and ocean acidification and, ultimately, to massive environmental changes.

"In all of our studies, we consistently see an increase in calcium isotope ratios before the onset of major events or extinction horizons," Jacobson said. "This seems to point to similar drivers and common responses."

"Perhaps the calcium isotope system has a sensitivity to the earliest phases of these events," Sageman added.

Predictor for future ocean stress

Many researchers study the PETM because it provides the best analog for current-day, human-caused global warming. The carbon influx during the PETM is similar to the amount of carbon released during the past two centuries. The timescales, however, differ significantly. Temperatures during the PETM increased by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius over 170,000 years. With human-caused climate change, the same level of warming is projected to occur in less than 200 years, if carbon dioxide emissions remain unabated.

Frighteningly, terrestrial and ocean stress, including a major decrease in foraminiferal calcification, accompanied the PETM.

"The PETM is a model for what happens during major large carbon cycle perturbations," Jacobson said. "A lot of predictions for Earth's future climate rely on understanding what happened during the PETM."

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The study, "Calcium isotope composition of Morozovella over the Late Paleocene-early Eocene," was supported by a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship (award number 2007-31757) and the National Science Foundation (award numbers NSF-EAR 0723151 and DGE-1842165).

 ARCHNAPHOBIA TRIGGER WARNING OPPS TOO LATE

Two species and a single name: 'Double identity' revealed in a venomous banana spider

PENSOFT PUBLISHERS

Research News

 

IMAGE: PHONEUTRIA BOLIVIENSIS IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON. view more 

CREDIT: N. HAZZI

Spiders from the genus Phoneutria - also known as banana spiders - are considered aggressive and among the most venomous spiders in the world, with venom that has a neurotoxic action. These large nocturnal spiders usually inhabit environments disturbed by humans and are often found in banana plantations in the Neotropical region.

One of these spiders, P. boliviensis, is a medically important species widely distributed in Central and South America, whose behaviour, habitat, venom composition, toxicity and bites on humans have already been paid considerable attention in previous research work. Nevertheless, after examining a large pool of museum specimens, biologists from The George Washington University (N. Hazzi and G. Hormiga) began to wonder if samples named P. boliviensis were actually belonging to one and the same species.

Everything started when N. Hazzi was examining specimens of banana spiders identified in the past by experts as P. boliviensis. The research team quickly realized that the morphological features currently used to identify this species were not sufficient. Then, they discovered two well-defined morphological groups of P. boliviensis that were separated by the Andean mountain range, a geographic barrier that separates many other species.

To prove that these two "forms" were different species, the authors conducted fieldwork in the Amazon, Andes, and Central America, collecting specimens of these venomous spiders to explore if the genomic signal also suggests two species. They discovered that genetic differences separating these two forms were similar compared to the genetic differences separating other recognized species of banana spiders. Using morphological, genomic and geographic distribution data, the authors concluded that P. boliviensis represents not a single species, but two different ones. They uncovered that the true P. boliviensis was only found in the Amazonian region, and the second species, P. depilata (an old name revalidated by the research team), was found in the Andes, Chocó and Caribbean regions. Their findings are published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys.

To obtain more distribution records for these species, the research team used the citizen science platform iNaturalist. Since the two species are among the few spiders that can be identified using only images, the platform turned out to be a very helpful tool. Data submitted by the iNaturalist community helped identify where the two species of Phoneutria are found. Curiously enough, for these two species, iNaturalist presented higher and more widely distributed records than the scientists' own database.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study that has used iNaturalist to gather occurrence records on venomous species to estimate distribution models," the researchers say.

This is how the two spiders can be distinguished using only photographs: P. boliviensis has two lateral white-yellow bands in the anterior area of the carapace, while P. depilata has four series of yellow dots in the ventral side of the abdomen. In addition, for P. depilata's identification, information is needed on where the image was taken, because this is the only species of Phoneutria found in the Andes, Chocó, and Central America. However, the most reliable approach to identify these species requires examination under a stereomicroscope.

Interestingly, P. depilata has been mislabeled as P. boliviensis throughout many studies, including works on venom composition and toxicity, ecology, geographic distribution, and human epidemiology of bites. There have been human bite records of this species reported in Costa Rica and in banana plantations in Colombia, most of them with mild to moderate envenomation symptoms. Except for brief anecdotal mentions by field explorers in the Amazon, little is known about P. depilata.

The study provides detailed diagnoses with images to distinguish both species and distribution maps.

"This valuable information will help identify risk areas of accidental bites and assist health professionals in determining the identity of the species involved, especially for P. depilata. This is a significant discovery that will affect studies about toxicology, opening new opportunities to compare the venom composition and the effect of these two species," the authors conclude.

Research article:

Hazzi NA, Hormiga G (2021) Morphological and molecular evidence support the taxonomic separation of the medically important Neotropical spiders Phoneutria depilata (Strand, 1909) and P. boliviensis (F.O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897) (Araneae, Ctenidae). ZooKeys 1022: 13-50. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1022.60571

CAPTION

Genetic evolutionary tree of the banana spiders genus Phoneutria

Ageing DR Congo artists keep music of the miners alive

Dancer Jean-Marie Manga, left, and guitarist-singer Marcel Tshibanda, perform in front of the Gecamines plant in Lubumbashi 

Samir TOUNSI AFP

Issued on: 09/03/2021 - 

Lubumbashi (DR Congo) (AFP)

The cone-shaped slag heap in the southeastern Congolese city of Lubumbashi is a mighty symbol of the time when copper was king.

In that heady era, a vibrant and distinctive culture of music and dancing sprouted among miners who worked for DR Congo's state giant, Gecamines.

Today, just a small number of performers are still around to play the songs and do the dances, and recount what it was like in the glory days.

One of them is Marcel Tshibanda, once a guitarist with a Jecoke group -- a troupe of employees who were paid by Gecamines' social club to sing and dance for mining communities in their spare time.

Their music had a distinctive, calypso-y beat and the dancers dressed in smart long-tailed suits, wowing the crowds with snappy trademark moves.

The sound, said Tshibanda, was inspired by musicians in neighbouring Zambia, previously a British colony.

"The English had this rhythm, it was like this," said Tshibanda, tapping out a snazzy two-beat signature on his hand-made guitar.

The Jecokes' name derives from the French words for Comic Youth of Kenya -- Kenya being a rundown district of Lubumbashi.

For decades, right until the 1980s, Gecamines was "a state within a state," recalled Pierre Katamba, a former member of the troupe.

"We used to call it 'mum and dad.' You would get free medical treatment and the children got free education."

- 'Things are tough' -

The halcyon era started to crumble in the 1990s, when globalisation began to hit the mining industry, followed by political upheaval in distant Kinshasa and then two regional wars.

In 2003, the World Bank funded a redundancy programme to cut 10,655 workers from Gecamines' payroll of 36,000, although a chunk of the money has gone missing in a country notorious for corruption.

Gecamines retains its central role in the Democratic Republic of Congo's economic strategy.

But its focus these days is cobalt, the key mineral in batteries for electronic devices.

With Gecamines' decline, times and taste changed. A few years from now, who will remember the Jecoke?

"Everyone abandoned Jecoke music to get into rumba," said Tshibanda.

"To put it in a nutshell, things are tough," said fellow 74-year-old Laurent Ilunga Kazadi, still resplendent in his suit.

Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai signs Apple TV deal

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has signed a multi-year deal to produce content for Apple TV+ 

Issued on: 09/03/2021 -

Islamabad (AFP)

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize as a teenager after surviving a Taliban assassination attempt, has signed a deal with Apple TV+ that will see her produce dramas and documentaries that focus on women and children.

The multi-year partnership would "draw on her ability to inspire people around the world", the company said in a statement, adding that content would also include animation and children's series.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to support women, young people, writers, and artists in reflecting the world as they see it," the 23-year-old was quoted as saying.


Yousafzai earned the wrath of the Taliban as a 10-year-old in rural northwest Pakistan when she began campaigning for education rights for girls.

At the time, the Pakistani Taliban had gained a significant foothold in the Swat Valley, imposing a fundamentalist version of Islam on areas they controlled -- banning education for girls and employment for women.

Yousafzai drew international attention with a series of blogs and articles she wrote about everyday life and hopes for a better future, but her fame incensed the Taliban, whose leadership ordered her murder.

In October 2012, a Taliban assassin shot the then-15-year-old as she rode home on a bus from school. The bullet struck near her left eye, went through her neck and lodged in her shoulder.

She recovered after months of treatment at home and abroad before co-writing a best-selling memoir titled "I am Malala", which drew even more international attention.

Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a 17-year-old in 2014, sharing the award with Kailash Satyarthi, a children's rights activist from India.

She graduated from Britain's Oxford University last year and has since created a digital publication for girls and women, and formed her own TV production company.

"I believe in the power of stories to bring families together, forge friendships, build movements, and inspire children to dream," she was quoted as saying in Monday's statement.

The long lines of Milan's 'new Covid poor'


Every day, 3,500 people turn up at the two distribution points run in Milan by the Pane Quotidiano charity, which hands out food 

Issued on: 09/03/2021 - 

Milan (AFP)

Eyes on the ground, they queue in silence for a food parcel outside Milan's Pane Quotidiano charity. Since coronavirus swept across Italy a year ago, the line has grown and grown.

"I'm ashamed to be here. But otherwise I would have nothing to eat," said Giovanni Altieri, 60, who has been coming every day since the nightclub where he worked was shut under virus regulations.

He misses work -- the sense of purpose and camaraderie.

"I like the contact with people, I had a good salary, but I'm at rock bottom here. I have no income and live off my savings," he told AFP.

Every day, 3,500 people turn up at the two distribution points run in Milan by the charity, which hands out surplus food it receives from a range of organisations, as well as through individual donations.

Milan is the centre of Italy's industrial north and one of the richest cities in Europe. But as the pandemic has battered the country, poverty rates have soared, even here.

- Hidden faces -

Some of those standing in line hide their faces with a scarf or even a plastic bag, fearful of being recognised.

Many leave with several packages -- one for each member of their family. Inside, there is milk, yoghurt, cheese, biscuits, sugar, tuna, a kiwi, a tiramisu and some bread.

Such sights were rare on the streets of Milan, but across the wealthy north of Italy, more than 720,000 people have fallen below the poverty line in the last year.

Throughout Italy, the number of people in poverty jumped by one million in 2020 to 5.6 million, a 15-year high, according to national statistics agency Istat.

The percentage of poor is higher in the south, which has always struggled more, but at 11.1 percent, compared to 9.4 percent in the north, the gap is narrowing.

"The queues have increased with Covid, there are more young people and more undeclared workers who have no right to social benefits," said Claudio Falavigna, a 68-year-old volunteer at Pane Quotidiano, which has been running for 123 years.

"And there are also members of the middle classes, from the world of entertainment and events," he said.

He recognises them "as they still dress well, they are elegant -- it's a question of dignity".

Pre-pandemic, the region of Lombardy, which includes Milan, accounted for 22 percent of Italy's GDP. In 2019, the region had a per capita income of 39,700 euros (47,000 dollars) a year -- well above the European average.

But it was also the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak last year that knocked Italy off its feet, and has so far left more than 100,000 people dead.

- Pandemic shock -

So what happened?

"The shock of the pandemic reduced to zero the revenues of many categories of workers, notably the self-employed, who number many in the towns of the north," David Benassi, professor of sociology at the Bicocca University in Milan, told AFP.

And although a new citizenship income for the lowest paid came into effect in 2019 and is widespread in the south of Italy, many in the north often fall through the cracks of state support.

"Many families who fell into poverty in 2020 don't fulfil the income and asset requirements," said Benassi.

The worst hit are women and young people, who often have precarious jobs, noted Mario Calderini, professor of social innovation at Milan Polytechnic.

"Women have paid a heavy price in this crisis, as have families with underage children," he said.

Amina Amale, 52, was a cleaning lady before coronavirus but now stands in line for the food packages.

"With coronavirus, everything is closed, there's no work," she said.

© 2021 AFP

Egyptian Billy Elliot sets new bar for Middle Eastern ballet



Luca Abdel-Nour took three prizes at the international Prix de Lausanne ballet contest last month 

Issued on: 09/03/2021 - 06:18


Paris (AFP)

Surrounded by little girls and mocked at school when he first tried ballet, it took serious determination for Luca Abdel-Nour to become the first Egyptian prizewinner at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne.

The international competition in Switzerland has been one of the leading showcases for young ballet talent since it began in 1973.

Abdel-Nour, 17, took three prizes, including second overall and the audience award, at the latest instalment in February, and hopes his success can inspire more boys from the Middle East to overcome their prejudices about dance.



Born to a French mother but growing up in Cairo, he performed in dance and theatre shows with his school as a young boy.

But he didn't try ballet until he took part in a summer dance school in France aged 12, and an instructor told him to give it a try.

"I was like ummm 'I don't want to do ballet, it's for girls'," he said.

But his mother kept encouraging him and eventually he joined a class in Egypt. He soon realised this was his passion, even if he was the only boy in the group.

"I didn't really care if there were no boys," he said. "People at school knew because I was open about it. I would be called names but I didn't care. I used to tell them: 'You do your thing, I want to do my thing'."

- Starstruck -

Hard work helped him overcome his late start and by 14 he had won a year's scholarship to a dance school in Budapest.

The following year, he won a full-time place at the elite Zurich Dance Academy. This was where things became serious: he had to relearn everything from scratch, and overcome two leg injuries in his first year.

But the work paid off at Lausanne last month.

"When they announced the finalists, I couldn't believe it, I was on my way home from school on the train and I cried," he said.

Suddenly his phone was lighting up with messages from some of the biggest names in the business.

"Dancers who are now directors who I have watched since I was a child were texting me saying 'You did a good job, we're interested in you'. I was starstruck and honoured," he said.

- 'Worth it in the end' -

His success has generated plenty of reaction back home in Egypt, with social media full of praise as well as the inevitable sarcastic and even hostile commentary.

"There are of course lots of negative comments and stuff, but there are a lot of people that have been really supportive of me doing it, saying I've inspired them to do ballet in a society where ballet is not really encouraged," he said.

"You got the positive, you got the negative, and you have to choose what you want to listen to."

Abdel-Nour has accepted a place in a company, but is not yet allowed to reveal which one.

"Every step of the way was hard," he said. "It's hard to leave your family and not see them for long periods of time but it was all worth it at the end."

© 2021 AFP

Syrian heritage suffered 'cultural apocalypse'

Syria's Roman-era ancient city of Palmyra was damaged beyond repair by jihadists from the Islamic State group a few years ago, when they blew up the famed shrine of Baal Shimin, destroyed the Temple of Bel and the Arch of Triumph 


Issued on: 09/03/2021 -

Palmyra (Syria) (AFP)

A decade of war has not only destroyed Syria's present and poisoned its future, it has damaged beyond repair some of its fabled past.

Syria was an archaeologist's paradise, a world heritage home to some of the oldest and best-preserved jewels of ancient civilisations.

The conflict that erupted in 2011 is arguably the worst of the 21st century so far on a humanitarian level, but the wanton destruction of heritage was possibly the worst in generations.




In a few years, archaeological sites were damaged, museums were looted and old city centres were levelled.

Standing in front of a restored artefact in the Palmyra museum he ran for 20 years, Khalil al-Hariri remembers the trauma of having to flee the desert city and its treasures as they fell into the hands of the so-called Islamic State group.

"I have lived many difficult days. We were besieged several times in the museum," he said, recounting how he and his team stayed behind as late as possible to ferry artefacts to safety.

"But the most difficult day of my life was the day I returned to Palmyra and saw the broken antiquities and the museum in shambles," said Hariri, now 60 years old.

"They broke and smashed all the faces of statues that remained in the museum and which we could not save. Some of them can be restored, but others have completely crumbled."

- 'Venice of the Sands' -

Palmyra is a majestic ancient city whose influence peaked towards the end of the Roman empire and was famously ruled by Queen Zenobia in the 3rd century.

Its imposing kilometre-long colonnade is unique and one of Syria's most recognisable landmarks.

When IS jihadists hurtled into Palmyra in May 2015 to expand the "caliphate" they had proclaimed over parts of Syria and Iraq a year earlier, the outcry was global.

The contrast offered by the splendour and prowess of Palmyrene architecture as a backdrop to the barbarity of dishevelled gun-toting jihadists captured the world's imagination.

The site became a stage for public executions and other gruesome crimes, some of which were pictured and distributed in IS propaganda.

The headless body of chief archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad was also displayed there by IS henchmen who had tortured him to get him to reveal where the site's artefacts had been transferred.

Bent on their enterprise of cultural genocide, the nihilistic jihadists rigged Palmyra's famed shrine of Baal Shamin and blew it up.

They also destroyed the Temple of Bel, blew up the Arch of Triumph, looted what they could from the museum and defaced the statues and sarcophagi that were too large to remove.

The sacking of the ancient city dubbed "The Venice of the Sands" drew comparisons with the destruction by Afghanistan's Taliban of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001.

By the time government forces retook control of Palmyra in 2017, it had been irreversibly damaged.

- 'Complete, utter destruction' -

Palmyra was just one of the irretrievable losses inflicted on Syria's heritage during a war that did not spare a single of the country's regions.

"In two words, it's a cultural apocalypse," said Justin Marozzi, an author and historian who has written extensively on the region and its heritage.

The patrimonial destruction unleashed on Syria in the previous decade harks back to another age, when the Mongol empire founded by Gengis Khan wreaked carnage far and wide.

"When it comes to Syria and the Middle East in particular, I can't help thinking immediately of Timur, or Tamerlane, who unleashed hell here in 1400," said Marozzi, author of "Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilisation."

The reference to the Mongol conqueror is inevitable when pondering the fate of Aleppo, Syria's economic hub before the war and once home to one of the world's best-preserved old cities.

Tamerlane put the city to the sword six centuries ago, but the devastation wrought on Aleppo in the past decade was not the work of a foreign invader.

Maamoun Abdel Karim was Syria's antiquities chief when the worst of the destruction occurred, from 2012 to 2016.

"Over the past two millennia of Syrian history, nothing worse has happened than what did during the war," he told AFP in Damascus.

"Complete and utter destruction. We're not talking just about an earthquake in some place or a fire in another -- or even war in one city -- but destruction across the whole of Syria," he said.

- Looting -

Before the war, the northern city of Aleppo -- considered to be one of the world's longest continuously inhabited -- boasted markets, mosques, caravanserais, and public baths.

But the brutal siege imposed on rebels left it disfigured.

The government, which from 2015 benefitted from Russia's military might, relied heavily on air power to claw back the territory.

"I can't forget the day the minaret of the Umayyad mosque in Aleppo fell, or the day the fire ripped through the city's ancient markets," Abdel Karim said.

Other buildings which, like the 11th century minaret, had survived Tamerlane to stand for centuries were lost for ever.

"Around 10 percent of Syria's antiquities were damaged, and that's high for a country with so many relics and historical sites," the former antiquities chief said.

A report published last year by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and the Paris-based Syrian Society for the Protection of Antiquities said more than 40,000 artefacts had been looted from museums and archeological sites since the start of the war.

The trafficking of "conflict antiquities" has generated millions of dollars for Islamic State, smaller rebel groups, state forces as well as more loosely-organised smuggling networks and individuals.

IS had a special department regulating excavations of archaeological sites on its territory, suggesting the profit to be made was significant, although it was never accurately quantified.

The chaos that engulfed Syria at the peak of the war allowed the more moveable pieces -- such as coins, statuettes and mosaic fragments -- to be scattered worldwide through the antiquities black market.

While some efforts have been undertaken to stem the illicit trade, and even in some cases to start repatriating stolen artefacts to Syria and Iraq, the damage done is huge.

- 'Wound for all humanity' -

The economic stakes are also huge for Syria's future. The country's heritage wealth was the key attraction of a tourism industry that had remained stunted but has massive potential.

Syria has six sites on the UNESCO elite list of world heritage and all of them sustained some level of damage in the war.

Besides Palmyra and Aleppo, the ancient cities of Damascus and Bosra also suffered. The spectacular Krak des Chevaliers crusader castle was also caught in the fighting, as were a group of old villages near the Turkish border known as "the dead cities".

Other major heritage landmarks sustained severe destruction, such as the site of Apamea, an ancient Roman-era city on the Orontes river known for a colonnade that ran even longer than Palmyra's.

At the height of its glory, Palmyra was a symbol of a pluralistic civilisation, a commercial hub on the Silk Road that was a cultural crossroads.

Its architecture was a blend of influences from ancient Rome and Greece, Persia and Central Asia.

What was destroyed during the war in Palmyra, and by extension in the whole of Syria, is evidence of a multicultural past, a certain ideal of civilisation.

"All of us should care about the destruction of Syria's heritage because, as well as being Syrian and Arab, these ancient sites and cities and monuments form part of our common cultural patrimony," Marozzi said.

"Places like Palmyra have a universal significance and value. They are part of our world civilisation, they are milestones in our history as humans and so anything that damages them is a wound for all humanity."

© 2021 AFP

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Women's march in Mexico turns violent as protesters clash with police

Issued on: 09/03/2021 - 04:58

People (WOMEN) try to take down the fences placed outside the National Palace during a protest on International Women's Day, in Mexico City, Mexico, March 8, 2021. © Carlos Jasso, Reuters

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tried to focus attention Monday on the high number of women in his cabinet, and not on a day of protests over the fact he has refused to break with a governorship candidate accused of rape.

Thousands of women marched in Mexico City Monday to mark Women’s Day, focusing the spotlight on López Obrador’s contradictions.

A progressive who cites his long record of social struggle and says “the poor come first,” the president is also a social conservative who leaves abortion largely to state legislation and says the family is the center of society.

“He should start really fighting, but for the women of Mexico,” said marcher Ana De la Toba, a 39-year old Mexico City lawyer.

Those contradictions were on display in Mexico City's vast central plaza, after the government erected tall steel anti-riot barricades in front of the National Palace and activists quickly adorned the structures with flowers and the names of female murder victims.

The president said the barriers were meant to protect buildings and monuments in the colonial-era downtown that have been spray-painted with graffiti in past feminist demonstrations, but marchers weren't accepting that.

“Why do they want clean monuments, in a country awash in blood?” the marchers chanted.

Some marchers broke through barricades and smashed plate-glass windows at a hotel downtown. Later, others damaged centuries-old tile on a landmark building with hammers and some protesters battled police in the main square with rocks, bottles, metal poles, spray paint and streams of flame from lit aerosol cans.

Sixty-two officers and 19 civilians were injured during the incidents, said Marcela Figueroa, an official of the city's police agency.

“Half of the cabinet are women,” López Obrador said at his daily morning news conference. “That was never seen before in Mexico.” Nevertheless, old habits die hard; During the same news conference, the president referred to one female reporter as “corazón,” roughly “sweetheart.”

Last week, the president sought to deflect criticism of his support for party's candidate for the governorship of the southern state of Guerrero, Félix Salgado, who has been accused of rape by two women, though he has not been charged. López Obrador said the issue should be left up to voters in Guerrero, and claims it is being brought up by his foes, “the conservatives.”

“All of a sudden, the conservatives are disguising themselves as feminists, very strange. Why? Because they see it as an opportunity to attack us,” the president said.

Attention focused on the barricades erected in fronts of the colonial-era National Palace where López Obrador lives and works. )The president himself once led protests in the same plaza. The president said the barriers were to prevent attacks with incendiary devices on the historic palace, which occurred at a women’s march last year.

“The barricades were put up because the conservatives are very upset,” López Obrador said. “They infiltrate all the movements to create provocations ... they were planning to vandalise the National Palace.”

The president said two women had been found with gasoline bombs at a workshop in an upscale Mexico City neighbourhood, saying, “I am sure ... they were put up to this.”

Salgado has not been charged because prosecutors say the statute of limitations ran out on one of the accusations while another remains under investigation. His lawyer has denied the accusations.

López Obrador's Morena party has scheduled a rerun of an internal poll to see whether Salgado should remain as the candidate, and a group of female Morena legislators publicly called on him to resign.

Authorities estimated there would be almost 100 women’s marches in cities and towns throughout Mexico. Some local and state authorities designated squads of female officers to provide security at the marches.

(AP)