Billions of crabs went missing around Alaska. Scientists now know what happened to them

Rachel Ramirez, CNN
Thu, October 19, 2023

Billions of snow crabs have disappeared from the ocean around Alaska in recent years, and scientists now say they know why: Warmer ocean temperatures likely caused them to starve to death.

The finding comes just days after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the snow crab harvest season was canceled for the second year in a row, citing the overwhelming number of crabs missing from the typically frigid, treacherous waters of the Bering Sea.

The study, published Thursday by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found a significant link between recent marine heat waves in the eastern Bering Sea and the sudden disappearance of the snow crabs that began showing up in surveys in 2021.


“When I received the 2021 data from the survey for the first time, my mind was just blown,” said Cody Szuwalski, lead author of the study and fishery biologist at NOAA. “Everybody was just kind of hoping and praying that that was an error in the survey and that next year you would see more crabs.”

“And then in 2022, it was more of a resignation that this is going to be a long road,” Szuwalski told CNN.

That year was the first the US snow crab fishery was closed in Alaska. Catchers have attributed to the population decline to overfishing, but “overfished” is a technical definition that triggers conservation measures, experts told CNN — it doesn’t actually explain the collapse.

“The big take home for me from the paper, and just the whole experience in general, is that historically, fishery scientists had been very worried about overfishing — this has been our white whale, and in a lot of places we really solved that with management,” Szuwalski said. “But climate change is really throwing a wrench into our plans, our models and our management systems.”

For the study, scientists analyzed what could have triggered the disappearance of the snow crabs beginning in 2020 and boiled it down to two categories: the snow crabs either moved or died.

Szuwalski said they looked north of the Bering Sea, west toward Russian waters and even into deeper levels of the oceans, and “ultimately concluded that it was unlikely that the crabs moved, and that the mortality event is probably a big driver.”

They found that warmer temperatures and population density were significantly linked to higher mortality rates among mature crabs.

The reason behind the mortality event: hungrier crabs.

Snow crabs are cold-water species and found overwhelmingly in areas where water temperatures are below 2 degrees Celsius, though they can function in waters up to 12 degrees Celsius, according to the study. Warmer ocean water likely wreaked havoc on the crabs’ metabolism and increased their caloric needs.

The amount of energy crabs needed from food in 2018 — the first year of a two-year marine heat wave in the region — may have been as much as quadrupled compared to the previous year, researchers found. But with the heat disrupting much of the Bering Sea’s food web, snow crabs had a hard time foraging for food and weren’t able to keep up with the caloric demand.

Scientists believe the crabs likely starved to death. Fish like Pacific cod likely swooped into the warmer water to feed on what was left. - NOAA Fisheries

Other species took advantage of this dire situation, said Kerim Aydin, a co-author of the study and fisheries research biologist with NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

Normally, there is a temperature barrier in the ocean that prevents species like Pacific cod from reaching the crabs’ extremely cold habitat. But during the heat wave, the Pacific cod were able to go to these warmer-than-usual waters and ate a portion of what was left of the crab population.

“This was a huge heat wave effect,” Aydin told CNN. “When the heat wave came through, it just created a huge amount of starvation. Other species may have moved in to take advantage of it, and then when the heat wave passed, things are maybe a bit more back to normal — although the crabs have a long road to getting past that even in normal times.”

Temperatures around the Arctic have warmed four times faster than the rest of the planet, scientists have reported. Climate change has triggered a rapid loss in sea ice in the Arctic region, particularly in Alaska’s Bering Sea, which in turn has amplified global warming.

“2018 and 2019 were an extreme anomaly in sea ice in the Bering Sea, something that we’d never seen before,” Szuwalski said. “There was maybe 4% of the coverage of ice that we’ve historically seen, and to know whether or not that’s going to continue going forward is hard to say.”

What’s happening with Alaska’s crabs is proof the climate crisis is rapidly accelerating and impacting livelihoods, Szuwalski said. He knew this was going to happen at some point, but he “didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”

“This was kind of an unexpected, punctuated change in their populations,” he said. “But I think long term, the expectation is that the snow crab population will move north as the ice recedes and in the eastern Bering Sea, we probably won’t see as much of them anymore

UAW workers at ZF plant in Alabama ratify labor deal, end strike

David Shepardson
Thu, October 19, 2023 

To match Special Report USA-AUTOS/UNION

(Reuters) -United Auto Workers union members who went on strike at Mercedes-supplier ZF's plant in Alabama last month demanding higher pay and better healthcare benefits ended a nearly month-long walkout on Thursday.

The union said the strike by 190 workers was over after a tentative agreement had been ratified. Workers last month had rejected an earlier contract offer.

ZF, which makes front axles used by Mercedes-Benz at its nearby Alabama plant, said last month the Tuscaloosa factory would operate while talks with the union continued.

A ZF spokesperson said the company was "glad to be able to move forward and continue to provide world class technology to our customers from ZF Tuscaloosa."

About 34,000 UAW members remain on strike at the Detroit Three automakers - Ford Motor, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis. UAW President Shawn Fain met at the bargaining table on Thursday with both GM and Stellantis, officials said.

Stellantis said on Friday it was temporarily laying off another 100 workers in Ohio at a machining plant and bringing the total to 1,520 employees on furlough.

The UAW last expanded its strike on Oct. 11 when it walked out at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant, the company's largest plant worldwide. The strike at targeted facilities began on Sept. 15.

Ford said late on Wednesday that it was temporarily laying off another 150 workers because of the strike, bringing the total to 2,730 workers furloughed since the start of the strike. GM has more than 2,300 workers furloughed.

Fain said on last week that UAW members would now walk out of additional facilities without warning rather than waiting until Fridays to announce new plans, as the union had done initially.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Jamie Freed)

Stunning photos of leopards are helping to protect this elusive big cat

Callum Sutherland, CNN
Thu, October 19, 2023


Editor’s Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.

As their populations dwindle worldwide, photographing leopards in the wild is becoming increasingly difficult. It is also becoming harder to imagine a secure future for one of nature’s most captivating animals.

Through her Remembering Wildlife project, British photographer Margot Raggett is fighting against this trend. She started the initiative in 2016, and every year since then it has produced a photo book dedicated to one type of animal, capturing its beauty in images from across the globe.


All profits are donated to conservation efforts for that animal, with more than £1 million ($1.2 million) raised since the project began, according to Remembering Wildlife. In this year’s edition, the leopard takes center stage.

Over 50 wildlife photographers have contributed to the book, including Maasai Mara-based Jonathan and Angela Scott, presenters of TV show Big Cat Tales, as well as award-winning conservation photographers Neil Aldridge and Suzi Eszterhas.

Raggett believes that showcasing beautiful images of the big cat raises awareness and captures the public’s attention.


“We need people to see what we might lose if conservation efforts aren’t successful,” she says. “Photography is a great way to do that.”

Leopards are notoriously hard to photograph due to their shy nature and often hard-to-reach habitats. This snow leopard was photographed in the mountains of Ladakh, India. - Sascha Fonseca

Almost all leopard populations are decreasing. The only exception is the Amur leopard, which lives in northern China and eastern Russia, and whose habitat has roughly tripled since the beginning of the century thanks to conservation efforts. But it remains the world’s rarest big cat, according to WWF.

Out of the nine leopard subspecies, two are classified as endangered and another two as critically endangered. Some subspecies have seen an estimated population decline of up to 90% in recent years.
Finding solutions

Ecologist Dr Vidya Athreya, from the non-profit Wildlife Conservation Society, wrote a section of the book titled “Lessons from a leopard.” She tells CNN she has been working on leopard conservation for the last two decades. “The more I learn about them the more fascinated I am,” she says. “This book showcases the amazing species that leopards are, so it has been inspirational to get involved in something that showcases their aura.”

“[Conservation] is about reviving populations,” Athreya adds. “It is about ensuring people and leopards do not get embroiled in conflict.”

Leopards are interacting more with human structures and living space, causing conflict. Pictured, a leopard climbing through a fence in Hoedspruit, South Africa. - Owen Grobbler

Raggett says that climate change and expanding human populations are forcing leopards into ever-smaller areas. As a result, they are coming into closer contact with humans, becoming more susceptible to snare traps and targeted poaching. Leopard attacks on livestock in places such as Afghanistan are also leading to further conflict, with farmers killing big cats to protect their livelihood, according to Raggett.

Conservation efforts funded by Remembering Wildlife have provided farmers in Afghanistan with predator-proof corrals to house their livestock, as well as education on other protective measures, she says.

“It’s about persuading the local community not to retaliate against animals … and enabling them to live alongside them,” explains Raggett.

Jonathan Scott, one of the photographers who contributed to the book, says that over the years, leopards have suffered greatly because of demand for their pelts.

“The leopard’s exquisite beauty has cost it dearly,” he says. “In the 1960s and 70s as many as 50,000 leopards were believed to be killed each year in Africa to satisfy the fashion industry’s insatiable appetite for spotted cat skin garments.”

Remembering Wildlife helps tackle the threat of hunting by funding rangers, supporting them in confronting poachers. It can be as simple as paying for fuel, new tires or salaries to keep efforts alive, says Raggett.

Rangers are tasked with confronting and preventing poachers from killing leopards, often for their fur. This pelt was confiscated in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, in the Republic of Congo. - Pete Oxford

But despite her efforts, Raggett admits work still needs to be done.

“Remembering Wildlife is like one hose fighting a forest fire,” she says. “We’re proudly standing alongside lots of amazing organizations with that hose.”

State Department official resigns over U.S. support for Israel's actions in Gaza

Doug Cunningham
Thu, October 19, 2023 

State Department official Josh Paul resigned Thursday over what he said was continued U.S. weapons shipments to Israel. He condemned the Hamas terror attack on Israel as "monstrous" but also said Israel's siege of Gaza civilians was collective punishment that violates human rights. 

Photo courtesy of Josh Paul LinkedIn


Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A State Department official has resigned over what he says is the Biden administration's decision to keep sending arms to Israel even as it imposes a siege on Gaza that violates international law according to the U.N. Human Rights Office.

Josh Paul, who worked for 11 years at the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, posted his resignation letter on LinkedIn.

In it, he wrote, "Let me be clear: Hamas' attack on Israel was not just a monstrosity; it was a monstrosity of monstrosities. I also believe that potential escalations by Iran-linked groups such as Hezbollah, or by Iran itself, would be a further cynical exploitation of the existing tragedy."

He added, "But I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people -- and is not in the long term American interest."

Paul explained that, "Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security, nor to peace. The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides. I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer."

Paul said he believes the administration's response is an impulsive reaction built on "confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy and bureaucratic inertia."

Paul wrote that what he desires most is that both Israelis and Palestinians have protection and the right to flourish.

"The murder of civilians is an enemy to that desire -- whether by terrorists as they dance at a rave, or by terrorists as they harvest their olive grove," Paul said in his resignation letter. "The kidnapping of children is an enemy to that desire -- whether taken at gunpoint from their kibbutz or taken at gunpoint from their village. And, collective punishment is an enemy to that desire, whether it involves demolishing one home, or one thousand; as too is ethnic cleansing; as too is occupation; as too is apartheid."

Paul said he had seen U.S. weapons shipments sent to other Middle Eastern countries, even when federal should have prevented them.

He said when gross violations of human rights occur, like the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel or when Israel cuts off water, electricity, food and medicine to millions of people in a "collective punishment" the U.N. deems a violation of international law, the U.S. must call it out.

"And, when they happen, to be able to name gross violations of human rights no matter who carries them out, and to be able to hold the perpetrators accountable -- when they are adversaries, which is easy, but most particularly, when they are partners," Paul wrote.


Veteran State Dept. Official resigns over U.S.'s 'blind support' of Israel in its war against Hamas

Abigail Williams and Summer Concepcion
Thu, October 19, 2023 

GPO

A State Department official with over a decade of experience in the agency’s bureau that oversees U.S. arms sales resigned this week, citing what he called the U.S.'s "blind support" for Israel in its war with Hamas war and its continued "provision of lethal arms to Israel."

Josh Paul, who served as director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for more than 11 years, posted a letter about his resignation, dated Wednesday, to LinkedIn.

In the letter, which was first reported by HuffPost, Paul wrote that Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel was a “monstrosity” and criticized the Biden administration’s assistance to the country.

"I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued — indeed, expanded and expedited — provision of lethal arms to Israel — I have reached the end of that bargain," he wrote.

“I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people, and is not in the long term American interest,” Paul wrote. “This Administration’s response — and much of Congress’ as well — is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy and bureaucratic inertia.”

“That is to say, it is immensely disappointing, and entirely unsurprising,” he added. “Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security, nor to peace. The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interest of the people on both sides. I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.”

Paul said that he has “deep personal ties to both sides of the conflict” and he wrote his master’s thesis on Israeli counterterrorism and civil rights. He also said he served for the U.S. Security Coordinator, "living in Ramallah while advancing security sector governance within the Palestinian Authority and liaising with the [Israel Defense Force]."

“I acknowledge and am heartened to see the efforts this Administration has made to temper Israel’s response, including advocating for the provision of relief supplies, electricity, and water to Gaza, and for safe passage,” he wrote. “In my role in the [Bureau of Political-Military Affairs], however, my responsibilities lie solidly in the arms transfer space. And that is why I have resigned from the U.S. Government, and from PM.”

A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters when asked for a response to Paul's letter.

Paul’s resignation letter was posted to Linkedin on the day of President Joe Biden’s latest trip to Israel, during which he reaffirmed his support for the country and said that he was planning to ask Congress for an “unprecedented support package for Israel’s defense.” Biden also announced $100 million in new U.S. funding for humanitarian aid to both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

During his remarks in Tel Aviv, Biden said that a “terrorist group in Gaza” was apparently responsible for the deadly blast at a Christian-run hospital in Gaza City that is estimated to have killed hundreds.

When asked what made him confident the Israelis were not behind the hospital explosion, Biden said: “The data I was shown by my Defense Department." He did not provide any supporting evidence.

NBC News previously reported that the U.S. has an independent assessment that it was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad group rocket that misfired and hit the hospital in Gaza, according to two senior U.S. officials.

That would match what Israeli officials have said caused the blast. Palestinian health officials and Hamas have blamed an Israeli airstrike for the explosion, which they said killed almost 500 people.

The Biden administration is expected to submit to Congress this week a request for supplemental funding package that is likely to seek $60 billion for Ukraine, a lawmaker and two sources with knowledge of the request told NBC News on Wednesday. The rest of the request will include roughly $40 billion to provide aid to Israel, Taiwan and the U.S.-Mexico border.

Following his trip to Israel, Biden is scheduled deliver a prime-time foreign policy speech to the country on Thursday night, during which he's expected to address the administration’s response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

As of Thursday morning, more than 3,700 people have been killed and more than 13,000 have been injured in Gaza. In Israel, 1,400 people have been killed and 3,500 wounded.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

'I Couldn't Shift Anything': Senior State Department Official Resigns Over Biden's Gaza Policy

Akbar Shahid Ahmed
Updated Wed, October 18, 2023 

Veteran State Department official Josh Paul resigned from the agency on Tuesday over President Joe Biden’s approach to Israel-Palestine, telling HuffPost he felt he had to do so because he knew he could not push for a more humane policy within the U.S. government.

“I have had my fair share of debates and discussions and efforts to shift policy on controversial arms sales,” said Paul, who spent more than 11 years at State’s bureau of political-military affairs, which handles weapons deals. He most recently served as the bureau’s director of congressional and public affairs.

“It was clear that there’s no arguing with this one. Given that I couldn’t shift anything, I resigned,” he told HuffPost on Wednesday evening in his first media interview since he revealed his decision, which he also described in a LinkedIn post.

The department received “a clear top-down guidance that we are moving forward with everything we can,” Paul said. Asked when he decided to quit, he told HuffPost: “I wouldn’t say there was a single decision point — it was watching things unfold over the last 10 days.”

In response to an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Israel has been waging an increasingly aggressive campaign in Gaza, where Hamas is based and more than 2 million people live in already impoverished conditions. Biden has repeatedly promised extensive support to Israel in its operation.

Multiple officials within the Biden administration who want the U.S. to encourage Israeli restraint and concern for civilians as the country seeks to exact vengeance against Hamas have told HuffPost they are experiencing a chilling effect.

Paul’s public announcement of his resignation sent shockwaves through the State Department on Wednesday. He said he was struck by how colleagues across the government and in Congress received his internal message: “I’ve been surprised by how many have said, ‘We absolutely understand where you’re coming from, we feel similarly and understand.’”

Paul told HuffPost he had been on leave last week, adding: “It was pretty fortunate because I think if I hadn’t been I would have been fired rather than have the time to think it over and resign.”

A State Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Paul’s decision.

I wouldn’t say there was a single decision point — it was watching things unfold over the last 10 days.Former State Department official Josh Paul

In his LinkedIn message, Paul noted that he felt he had been able to use his role to make “many differences ... on pending administration decisions to transfer lethal weapons to countries that abuse human rights, to sculpting policies and practices that advance human rights, to working tirelessly to advance those policies and decisions that are good and just.”

Various U.S. presidents considered and approved billions of dollars in arms sales to controversial nations during his tenure — for instance, to Saudi Arabia in its ongoing war in Yemen.

“When I came to this bureau ... I knew it was not without its moral complexity and moral compromises, and I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt … the harm I might do could be outweighed by the good I could do,” Paul wrote on LinkedIn. “In my 11 years I have made more moral compromises than I can recall, each heavily, but each with my promise to myself in mind, and intact. I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued – indeed, expanded and expedited – provision of lethal arms to Israel – I have reached the end of that bargain.”

Paul described Hamas’ assault on Israel ― which killed more than 1,400 people ― as “a monstrosity of monstrosities.”

“But I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people,” he continued.

He concluded his note by wishing fellow government officials “continued success, strength and courage.”

“And I wish all of us ― peace,” Paul said.

WAIT, WHAT?!
US vetoes UN resolution condemning Hamas' attacks on Israel and all violence against civilians

The Canadian Press
Wed, October 18, 2023



UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a U.N. resolution Wednesday that would have condemned violence against all civilians in the Israel-Hamas war including “the heinous terrorists attacks by Hamas” against Israel, and would have urged humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council on the resolution sponsored by Brazil was 12 votes in favor, the United States against, and Russia and the United Kingdom abstaining.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that President Joe Biden is in the region engaging in diplomacy to secure the release of hostages, prevent the conflict from spreading and stress the need to protect civilians. “We need to let that diplomacy play out,” she said.

She said resolutions are important and the Security Council must speak out, “But the actions we take must be informed by the facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy efforts that can save lives -- the council needs to get this right.”

She also criticized the resolution for not saying anything about Israel’s right to self-defense following Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks that killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. Since then, the Gaza Health Ministry says nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 12,000 wounded.

Before the vote on the resolution, council members voted on two proposed Russian amendments. Both were rejected because they failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes. One called for a “humanitarian cease-fire” and the other would condemn indiscriminate attacks on civilians and “civilian objects” in Gaza, which include hospitals and schools. On Monday, the Security Council rejected a Russian-drafted resolution that included those amendments but made no mention of Hamas.

The voting and debate followed Tuesday’s huge explosion and fire at a Gaza City hospital packed with patients, relatives and Palestinians seeking shelter. The Hamas-run health ministry said at least 500 died. Israel and the Palestinians accused each other of being responsible for the hospital carnage. Hamas said it was from an Israeli airstrike. Israel blamed a misfired rocket by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. Islamic Jihad denied any involvement.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the Brazil resolution, which called for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver aid, wouldn’t have helped to avoid Tuesday’s explosion at a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds. “It is only a cease-fire that will help to do this," he said.

He told council members who abstained or opposed the amendments – the U.S. voted against both – that they will have to “bear responsibility” for what happens now to people in their own countries, the region, “and the people who are living under this deadly threat.”

After the U.S. veto of the resolution, Nebenzia accused the United States of “hypocrisy” and “double standards,” saying the Americans didn’t want a solution in the Security Council.

The divided Security Council has been even more polarized since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and the votes on the Brazil resolution reflected the divisions.

Immediately after the votes and speeches, the council started an emergency meeting to discuss the explosion at the Gaza hospital. Russia, the United Arab Emirates and China called for the emergency session.

The council vote took place amid frantic diplomatic efforts to prevent the Israeli-Hamas conflict from spreading and Biden’s lightning trip to Israel where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After the hospital blast, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas backed out of a meeting with Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and King Abdullah II of Jordan, leading the Jordanians to cancel the meeting,

The 22-member Arab Group at the United Nations expressed “outrage” at the hospital deaths and called for an immediate cease-fire to avoid further Palestinian casualties, the opening of a corridor to safely deliver aid to millions in Gaza, and the prevention of any forced evacuation of people from the territory.

Egypt’s U.N. ambassador, Osama Mahmoud, told reporters that a summit will take place Saturday in Cairo as scheduled with regional leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The five permanent Security Council nations are also invited, he said.

Mahmoud said the summit will address the humanitarian crisis sparked by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, how to achieve a cease-fire, and whether “any serious attempt to have a political horizon” exists to tackle the issues blocking an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press

Rare creatures – with weapons on their heads – born at SeaWorld. See them swim

Irene Wright
Thu, October 19, 2023 

John Raoux/AP

For only the second time, a critically endangered fish has been successfully born in captivity, marking an important step in conserving the species.

SeaWorld Orlando welcomed three baby smalltooth sawfish in July and announced the births on International Sawfish Day, Oct. 17.

“The newborns include two females and one male, born on July 11, 2023, and each measured approximately two feet in length,” SeaWorld said in an Oct. 18 Facebook post. “Following their birth, the pups underwent a comprehensive examination, and continue to receive regular check-ups to ensure their sustained health and expected developmental progress.”

Their births are a “historical milestone,” SeaWorld said.

Smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata, are a type of fish that have a flat body and long protrusion called a rostrum, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Along the rostrum are dozens of teeth, earning them the name sawfish, the NWF said.

They use their rostrum to sweep through the sediment along the seafloor, swiping back and forth to cut their prey.

Smalltooth sawfish spanned the entire Eastern Seaboard into the Gulf of Mexico before they were hunted nearly to extinction, leaving only a small lifeboat population off the southern tip of Florida, evolutionary biologist and director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program, Gavin Naylor, told McClatchy News in an interview in July.

The species became protected in the state of Florida in 1992 and added to the endangered species list in 2003, Dean Grubbs, associate director of research at Florida State University’s Coastal and Marine Laboratory and part of the U.S. Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Implementation Team, told McClatchy News in the same interview.

In June, Naylor and Grubbs captured a 13-foot sawfish off the coast of Cedar Key while leading a student course, marking the furthest north one of the critically endangered fish has been spotted in decades.

On Oct. 17, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute said it had recaptured a sawfish that was first tagged in 2016, and it had nearly doubled in size.

“We only have a few recaptures years after initial tagging, so those long-term recaptures help us learn about growth rates,” Greg Poulakis, a research associate with the FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute told McClatchy News on Oct. 17. “Every sawfish we tag is important for learning about this endangered species. They’re all pieces of a puzzle that help us promote recovery.”

Another part of that recovery is breeding the animals in captivity to help teach the public about sawfish conservation.

“SeaWorld Orlando is the second aquarium in the world to have a successful smalltooth sawfish birth; setting a new standard for expert care and conservation efforts,” SeaWorld said on Facebook.

Sawfish tagged on Florida’s Gulf Coast was huge when recaptured on state’s east coast

Endangered 13-foot sawfish caught off Florida coast. Why that’s good news for species

Creature with ‘large’ mouth and pointy teeth found in ocean depths. It’s a new species

‘Rare’ sea creature and mom — both with ‘eyepatches’ — spotted in CA. See them swim

Creature with ‘large’ mouth and pmointy teeth found in ocean depths. It’s a new species

ANOTHER AMAZING FIND FROM THE MUSEUM STORAGE ROOM


Moira Ritter
Tue, October 17, 2023


Nearly 30 years ago, several deep-sea creatures were captured from the depths of the Pacific Ocean near Vanuatu. They sat in storage for decades, until recently when researchers revisited them — and realized they were a new species of scorpionfish.

The new species is known as Neomerinthe harenartis, or the Vanuatu scorpionfish, according to a study published Oct. 7 in Ichthyological Research. It was discovered when researchers examined four specimens collected off Malekula Island, which is east of Australia, in 1994.

Vanuatu scorpionfish have a “large” mouth, the study said. Tatsuya Matsumoto

The fish range in size from about 3.83 inches to about 4.86 inches long, the study said. They were collected from between approximately 630 feet underwater to about 985 feet underwater.

Researchers described the species as having a shallow and compressed body with a steep snout. The creatures are yellow with scattered black blotches and semi-translucent fins.

The new species of scorpionfish is pale yellow with black blotches, researchers said. Tatsuya Matsumoto

Vanuatu scorpionfish have a “large” mouth, the study said. Their upper jaws are filled with a band of “short, conical teeth,” with pointy tips.

The species is only known to live in the southwestern Pacific Ocean in Vanuatu, researchers said.

Experts named the fish by combining the Latin words “harena,” which means sand, and “ars,” which means art, according to the study. The species’ name references the pattern on the fish’s bodies, which resembles sand drawings that are traditional in Vanuatu.

WAIT, WHAT?!

Thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to North Korea to help fund weapons program, FBI says

ERIC SCHMIDT CEO GOOGLE VISITED N KOREA IN 2016 

Thu, October 19, 2023

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Thousands of information technology workers contracting with U.S. companies have for years secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program, FBI and Department of Justice officials said.

The Justice Department said Wednesday that IT workers dispatched and contracted by North Korea to work remotely with companies in St. Louis and elsewhere in the U.S. have been using false identities to get the jobs. The money they earned was funneled to the North Korean weapons program, FBI leaders said at a news conference in St. Louis.

Federal authorities announced the seizure of $1.5 million and 17 domain names as part of the investigation, which is ongoing.

Jay Greenberg, special agent in charge of the St. Louis FBI office, said any company that hired freelance IT workers “more than likely” hired someone participating in the scheme. An FBI spokeswoman said Thursday that the North Koreans contracted with companies across the U.S. and in some other countries.

“We can tell you that there are thousands of North Korea IT workers that are part of this,” spokeswoman Rebecca Wu said.

FBI officials said the scheme is so prevalent that companies must be extra vigilant in verifying whom they are hiring, including requiring interviewees to at least be seen via video.

“At a minimum, the FBI recommends that employers take additional proactive steps with remote IT workers to make it harder for bad actors to hide their identities," Greenberg said in a news release.

John Hultquist, the head of threat intelligence at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said North Korea’s use of IT freelancers to help fund the weapons program has been in play for more than a decade, but the effort got a boost from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think the post-COVID world has created a lot more opportunity for them because freelancing and remote hiring are a far more natural part of the business than they were in the past,” Hultquist said.

North Korea also uses workers in other fields to funnel money back for the weapons program, Hultquist said, but higher pay for tech workers provides a more lucrative resource.

Officials didn't name the companies that unknowingly hired North Korean workers, say when the practice began, or elaborate on how investigators became aware of it. But federal authorities have been aware of the scheme for some time.

In May 2022, the State Department, Department of the Treasury, and the FBI issued an advisory warning of attempts by North Koreans “to obtain employment while posing as non-North Korean nationals.” The advisory noted that in recent years, the regime of Kim Jong Un “has placed increased focus on education and training" in IT-related subjects.

Court documents allege that the government of North Korea dispatched thousands of skilled IT workers to live primarily in China and Russia with the goal of deceiving businesses from the U.S. and elsewhere into hiring them as freelance remote employees.

The IT workers generated millions of dollars a year in their wages to benefit North Korea's weapons programs. In some instances, the North Korean workers also infiltrated computer networks and stole information from the companies that hired them, the Justice Department said. They also maintained access for future hacking and extortion schemes, the agency said.

Greenberg said the workers used various techniques to make it look like they were working in the U.S., including paying Americans to use their home Wi-Fi connections.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are high as North Korea has test-fired more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022 and the U.S. has expanded its military exercises with its Asian allies, in tit-for-tat responses.

The Justice Department in recent years has sought to expose and disrupt a broad variety of criminal schemes aimed at bolstering the North Korean regime, including its nuclear weapons program.

In 2016, for instance, four Chinese nationals and a trading company were charged in the U.S. with using front companies to evade sanctions targeting North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistics initiatives.

Two years ago, the Justice Department charged three North Korean computer programmers and members of the government’s military intelligence agency in a broad range of global hacks that officials say were carried out at the behest of the regime. Law enforcement officials said at the time that the prosecution highlighted the profit-driven motive behind North Korea’s criminal hacking, a contrast from other adversarial nations like Russia, China and Iran that are generally more interested in espionage, intellectual property theft or even disrupting democracy.

In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a “new Cold War,” state media said.

In February, United Nations experts said that North Korean hackers working for the government stole record-breaking virtual assets last year estimated to be worth between $630 million and more than $1 billion. The panel of experts said in a report that the hackers used increasingly sophisticated techniques to gain access to digital networks involved in cyberfinance, and to steal information that could be useful in North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs from governments, individuals and companies.

—-

Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C, contributed to this report.

Jim Salter, The Associated Press

Hollywood's actors strike is nearing its 100th day. Why hasn't a deal been reached and what's next?

Thu, October 19, 2023 



LOS ANGELES (AP) — While screenwriters are busy back at work, film and TV actors remain on picket lines, with the longest strike in their history set to hit 100 days on Saturday after talks broke off with studios. Here's a look at where things stand, how their stretched-out standoff compares to past strikes, and what happens next.

INSIDE THE ACTORS-STUDIO TALKS THAT FAILED

Hopes were high and leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were cautiously optimistic when they resumed negotiations on Oct. 2 for the first time since the strike began 2 1/2 months earlier.

The same group of chief executives from the biggest studios had made a major deal just over a week earlier with striking writers, whose leaders celebrated their gains on many issues actors are also fighting for: long-term pay, consistency of employment and control over the use of artificial intelligence.

But the actors' talks were tepid, with days off between sessions and no reports of progress. Then studios abruptly ended them on Oct. 11, saying the actors' demands were exorbitantly expensive and the two sides were too far apart to continue.

“We only met with them a couple of times, Monday, half a day Wednesday, half a day Friday. That was what they were available for," SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher told The Associated Press soon after the talks broke off. "Then this past week, it was Monday and a half a day on Wednesday. And then “Bye bye. I’ve never really met people that actually don’t understand what negotiations mean. Why are you walking away from the table?"

The reasons, according to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, included a union demand for a fee for each subscriber to streaming services.

“SAG-AFTRA gave the member companies an ultimatum: either agree to a proposal for a tax on subscribers as well as all other open items, or else the strike would continue," the AMPTP said in a statement to the AP. "The member companies responded to SAG-AFTRA’s ultimatum that unfortunately, the tax on subscribers poses an untenable economic burden.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, one of the executives in on the bargaining sessions, told investors on an earnings call Wednesday that “This really broke our momentum unfortunately."

SAG-AFTRA leaders said it was ridiculous to frame this demand as as though it were a tax on customers, and said it was the executives themselves who wanted to shift from a model based on a show's popularity to one based on number of subscribers.

“We made big moves in their direction that have just been ignored and not responded to,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA's national executive director and chief negotiator, told the AP. "We made changes to our AI proposal. We made dramatic changes to what used to be our streaming revenue share proposal," Crabtree-Ireland said.

The studios said just after the talks broke off that the per-subscriber charge would cost them $800 million annually, a figure SAG-AFTRA said was a vast overestimate.

The AMPTP later responded that the number was based on a union request for $1 per customer per year, which was lowered to 57 cents after SAG-AFTRA changed its evaluation to cut out non-relevant programming like news and sports.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN THE ACTORS STRIKE?

The actors are in unscripted territory, with no end in sight. Their union has never been on a strike this long, nor been on strike at all since before many of its members were born. Not even its veteran leaders, like Crabtree-Ireland, with the union for 20 years, have found themselves in quite these circumstances.

As they did for months before the talks broke off, members and leaders will rally, picket and speak out publicly until the studios signal a willingness to talk again. No one knows how long that will take. SAG-AFTRA says it is willing to resume at any time, but that won't change its demands.

“I think that they think that we’re going to cower,” Drescher said. “But that’s never going to happen because this is a crossroads and we must stay on course.”

The writers did have their own false start with studios that may give some reason for optimism. Their union attempted to restart negotiations with studios in mid-August, more than three months into their strike. Those talks went nowhere, breaking off after a few days. A month later, the studio alliance came calling again. Those talks took off, with most of their demands being met after five marathon days that resulted in a tentative deal that its members would vote to approve almost unanimously.

HOW DID PREVIOUS ACTORS STRIKES PLAY OUT?

Hollywood actors strikes have been less frequent and shorter than those by writers. The Screen Actors Guild (they added the “AFTRA” in a 2011 merger) has gone on strike against film and TV studios only three times in its history.

In each case, emerging technology fueled the dispute. In 1960 — the only previous time actors and writers struck simultaneously — the central issue was actors seeking pay for when their work in film was aired on television, compensation the industry calls residuals. The union, headed by future U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was a smaller and much less formal entity then. The vote to strike took place in the home of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the parents of current SAG-AFTRA member and vocal striker Jamie Lee Curtis.

Mid-strike, the actors and studios called a truce so all could attend the Academy Awards — a move forbidden under today’s union rules. Host Bob Hope called the gathering “Hollywood’s most glamorous strike meeting.”

In the end, a compromise was reached where SAG dropped demands for residuals from past films in exchange for a donation to their pension fund, along with a formula for payment when future films aired on TV. Their 42-day work stoppage began and ended all within the span of the much longer writers strike.

A 1980 strike would be the actors' longest for film and television until this year. That time, they were seeking payment for their work appearing on home video cassettes and cable TV, along with significant hikes in minimum compensation for roles. A tentative deal was reached with significant gains but major compromises in both areas. Union leadership declared the strike over after 67 days, but many members were unhappy and balked at returning to work. It was nearly a month before leaders could rally enough votes to ratify the deal.

This time, it was the Emmy Awards that fell in the middle of the strike. The Television Academy held a ceremony, but after a boycott was called, only one acting winner, Powers Boothe, was there to accept his trophy.

Other segments of the actors union have gone on strike too, including several long standoffs over the TV commercials contract. A 2016-2017 strike by the union's video game voice actors lasted a whopping 11 months. That segment of the union could strike again soon if a new contract deal isn't reached.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS?

The return of writers has gotten the Hollywood production machine churning again, with rooms full of scribes penning new seasons of shows that had been suspended and film writers finishing scripts. But the finished product will await the end of actors strike, and production will remain suspended many TV shows and dozens of films, including “Wicked,” “Deadpool 3” and “Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 2.”

The Emmys, whose nominations were announced the same day the actors strike was called, opted to wait for the stars this time and move their ceremony from September to January, though that date could be threatened too.

The Oscars are a long way off in March, but the campaigns to win them are usually well underway by now. With some exceptions — non-studio productions approved by the union — performers are prohibited from promoting their films at press junkets or on red carpets. Director Martin Scorsese has been giving interviews about his new Oscar contender “ Killers of the Flower Moon.” Star and SAG-AFTRA member Leonardo DiCaprio hasn't.

---

For more coverage of Hollywood’s labor unrest, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/hollywood-strikes/

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press

WE NEED SAFE INJECTION SITES
Opioid overdoses among homeless people rose dramatically: Ontario study

DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press Oct 17, 2023 

A new study says people experiencing homelessness make up a growing proportion of opioid overdose deaths in Ontario. Andrew Leavens, front left, and Carl Gladue, right, carry an empty coffin during a march organized by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck


Opioid overdoses are killing a growing proportion of people experiencing homelessness in Ontario, a new study suggested Tuesday.

Researchers from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences found about one in six people who died from opioid overdoses in 2021 were homeless, compared to one in 14 people back in 2017.

"(It's) something that even shocked us as researchers when we first derived some of these numbers,” said Richard Booth, lead author of the study that was published in the journal Addiction.

"That is a massive increase, you know, spanning the pandemic where accidental opioid-related overdoses became a much more significant element in the lives of people experiencing homelessness,” said Booth, an associate professor of nursing at Western University in London, Ont.

The researchers examined coroner's data and health records for 6,644 people who died from opioid overdose deaths in the province between July 2017 and June 2021.

During the first few months of that time period, 7.2 per cent of those who died were homeless. That percentage rose to 16.8 per cent in the last few months.

During the first few months of that time period, 7.2 per cent of those who died — or 26 out of 359 people — were homeless. That percentage rose to 16.8 per cent — or 97 out of 578 people — in the last few months.

Although the study results show what happened, the numbers don't explain why, the researchers noted.

But the disproportionate percentage of overdoses among those who are homeless clearly shows that housing is a "protective" factor, Booth said.

"Housing as a social intervention is very important," he said.

The increasing toxicity of the drug supply over the last few years led to more overdose deaths, added Dr. Stephen Hwang, a physician-researcher at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at Unity Health Toronto who was a co-author of the study.

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on health and social services was also likely a factor for marginalized people, he said.

"The disruption caused by the lockdown and by the real lack of availability of services caused people to change where they spend time and thus where they use drugs," Hwang said.

"I think that contributed to people using in higher risk situations that would more likely result in death," he said.

The study findings highlight the importance of outreach to marginalized people using drugs, Hwang said.

"We need to bring harm reduction and treatment options to people where they are on the street or in the community rather than waiting for them to come to us in clinics or hospitals," he said.

The Ontario findings are in keeping with the harsh reality of overdose deaths in British Columbia and other parts of Canada, said Jade Boyd, a research scientist with the BC Centre on Substance Use who was not involved in the study.

"We are dealing with an overdose crisis with a poisoned toxic drug supply," Boyd said.

She pointed to current Health Canada data, which says there is an average of 21 opioid toxicity deaths every day in this country.

Although the agency doesn't have statistics on what percentage of people who died were homeless, Boyd said the impact is greater on marginalized people due to "lack of resources, stigma and discrimination."

"There's an urgent need right now to expand access to low-barrier harm reduction services," she said. "That can be safe consumption sites, treatment options, drug checking (and) regulated drug supplies or safe supplies throughout Canada," she said.

Preventing homelessness in the first place is another critical part of the solution, Boyd said.

That means addressing poverty, stigma around drug use and the "giant affordability issue around housing in Canada," she said.

Increasing access to "low-barrier" housing is vital, both Boyd and Hwang said.

That means supportive housing where abstinence from substance use isn't required to move in and an end to the practice of evicting people if they use drugs in their homes, they said.

Boyd said the fact that people are dying every day from preventable overdoses is "devastating" and "impacts all of us."

"The toxic drug supply ... is intersecting with issues of poverty, stigma and housing affordability," she said.

"We need to remember this impacts all Canadians — even those who are housed or may be at risk of losing their housing and security."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2023.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press

TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
Sask. says parents should know when children transition. One family says their story proves this wrong

CBC
Tue, October 17, 2023 


Renn Roberts says that Saskatchewan's new pronoun policy is not a good idea, saying it will stop children in the province from experiencing the support Roberts was able to receive as a transgender student at school.

The Grade 10 student at Balfour Collegiate said the provincial government is choosing to not trust youth by invoking the notwithstanding clause to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code in order to protect its policy from legal challenges.

"School is supposed to be a safe space. And it was for me when I first came out. I came out at school before I came out at home and that was, it was like an escape for me," said Renn, 15.

"I was able to try things out and really make sure that I was confident in myself before I told other people, and now that's not an option anymore."

Saskatchewan's Bill 137 would require teachers and school employees to seek permission from parents or guardians before using the "new gender-related preferred name or gender identity" of a student under the age of 16.

The bill would have changed Renn's experience at school — even though it was a decision that the teenager and their father believe is exactly what was needed.

"I wanted to try out my name at school before I really felt sure of it. Because I just didn't want to cause any confusion and mostly I just didn't want to get outed. So I started at school because it was the safest option," said Renn.


Students gather outside of Balfour Collegiate in Regina on Tuesday. Dozens walked out of class to protest the provincial governments efforts to ensure its controversial pronoun policy cannot be challenged in court. (Alexander Quon/CBC)

Renn said they believed their parents would support them, but were afraid how other members in the extended family would react.

Blair Roberts said he can understand why parents want to be involved in their children's lives.

Blair said he immediately felt sad once he found out that Renn had first told a teacher about transitioning.

"Once I put my ego aside and recognize that it's not about what I need, it's about what my kid needs to feel safe and secure, it was very easy for me to see what happened and be very grateful to their teacher for honouring their request to not talk to us," he told CBC.

"In our view, we're just grateful for that safe place for our kid and it's really sad that the [Saskatchewan Party] is trying to take it away from them."

Renn said frustration over the legislation left them with little choice but to take part in a student walkout on Tuesday.

The protesters opposed the provincial government and its incoming legislation, which is all but guaranteed to pass due to the Saskatchewan Party's majority in the legislature.

Approximately two dozen students walked out from Balfour Collegiate, while students from Dr. Martin LeBoldus Catholic High School, Campbell Collegiate and F.W. Johnson Collegiate and other schools also took part.

The students gathered at the provincial legislature to show their displeasure with the provincial government.


Students across the City of Regina walked out of school on Tuesday and gathered at the provincial legislature to protest the Saskatchewan government's controversial pronoun policy. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)

Alex Perron, 16, was one of the other students from Balfour Collegiate that took part in the walkout.

When Perron transitioned, they were able to do so while supported by their family and friends. Others are not so lucky, he said.

"That's why, before I came out to my parents, being able to go by the name and pronouns that I did at school did so much for my mental health," Perron said.

Students gather outside of Balfour Collegiate in Regina on Tuesday. Dozens walked out of class to protest the provincial governments efforts to ensure its controversial pronoun policy cannot be challenged in court. (Alexander Quon/CBC)

Renn said coming out isn't easy and it carries risks.

"I know what it's like to be outed. It's not safe," they said.

"Certain people's families could kick them out, they could hurt them, they could be verbally, mentally, even physically abusive. It's really not safe to just out people like that."

In Renn's view, that's exactly what will happen under the new legislation.

"It's made my existence a lot more controversial than it used to be. I used to be able to just kind of go around and be another student and now I have to be this advocate. And I feel this pressure to advocate for the people who can't advocate for themselves," they said.

Blair is an employee of the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan, which is an intervenor in the court case that attempted to challenge the provincial policy.

Blair said he can not be more proud of his child and the others who decided to walk out on Tuesday.

"These kids should not be the one to bear the burden of this harmful policy though. It's frustrating to me that this pressure has to be put on my kid, [that] it has to be put on all of these kids," he said.

Regina Public Schools and Regina Catholic Schools said any child who made the decision to walk out of class on Tuesday will be marked as absent. The division will not implement any other special procedures in response to the protest.