February 5, 2019

Dinosaur that defended itself with spiny backbone found in Patagonia

Date created : 04/02/2019 - 21:32



A replica of the skull and neck of the "Bajadasaurus pronuspinax," a new species of sauropod discovered in Patagonia AFP


Buenos Aires (AFP)

A herbivorous dinosaur that fended off predators with a row of spines running along its back and lived 140 million years ago has been found in Argentine Patagonia.

The discovery of the new species of dicraeosauridae, christened Bajadasaurus pronuspinax, was revealed in scientific journal Nature.

A reproduction of its spiny neck was exhibited in the Cultural Science Center in Buenos Aires.

"We believe that the long and sharp spines -- very long and thin -- on the neck and back of Bajadasaurus and Amargasaurus cazaui (another dicraeosauridae) must have been to deter possible predators," said Pablo Gallina, an assistant researcher at the state council of scientific and technical investigations (CONICET) and Maimonides University.

"We think that had they been just bare bone structures or covered only by skin, they could have been easily broken or fractured with a blow or when being attacked by other animals," he added.

More:
https://www.france24.com/en/20190204-dinosaur-defended-itself-with-spiny-backbone-found-patagonia

Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122862203

February 5, 2019

Dinosaur that defended itself with spiny backbone found in Patagonia

Date created : 04/02/2019 - 21:32



A replica of the skull and neck of the "Bajadasaurus pronuspinax," a new species of sauropod discovered in Patagonia AFP


Buenos Aires (AFP)

A herbivorous dinosaur that fended off predators with a row of spines running along its back and lived 140 million years ago has been found in Argentine Patagonia.

The discovery of the new species of dicraeosauridae, christened Bajadasaurus pronuspinax, was revealed in scientific journal Nature.

A reproduction of its spiny neck was exhibited in the Cultural Science Center in Buenos Aires.

"We believe that the long and sharp spines -- very long and thin -- on the neck and back of Bajadasaurus and Amargasaurus cazaui (another dicraeosauridae) must have been to deter possible predators," said Pablo Gallina, an assistant researcher at the state council of scientific and technical investigations (CONICET) and Maimonides University.

"We think that had they been just bare bone structures or covered only by skin, they could have been easily broken or fractured with a blow or when being attacked by other animals," he added.

More:
https://www.france24.com/en/20190204-dinosaur-defended-itself-with-spiny-backbone-found-patagonia

February 5, 2019

Women killed at 'alarming' rate in Brazil, rights body says

by Anastasia Moloney | @anastasiabogota | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 4 February 2019 20:39 GMT

By Anastasia Moloney

BOGOTA, Feb 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Four women have been killed every day so far this year in Brazil, a rate the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called "alarming" on Monday.

The IACHR, the human rights arm of the 35-member Organization of American States, said more must be done to prevent and prosecute femicides in Brazil. Femicide is the killing of a woman by a man because of her gender.

"The Commission calls on the Brazilian State to implement comprehensive strategies to prevent these acts, fulfill its obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible, as well as to offer protection and comprehensive reparation to all victims," the Washington-based IACHR said in a statement.

To stem femicide, Brazil passed a law in 2015 giving a legal definition of the crime, with tougher jail sentences of up to 30 years for convicted offenders.

More:
http://news.trust.org/item/20190204203044-mowco

LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142259686

February 5, 2019

Women killed at 'alarming' rate in Brazil, rights body says

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation


by Anastasia Moloney | @anastasiabogota | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 4 February 2019 20:39 GMT

By Anastasia Moloney

BOGOTA, Feb 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Four women have been killed every day so far this year in Brazil, a rate the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called "alarming" on Monday.

The IACHR, the human rights arm of the 35-member Organization of American States, said more must be done to prevent and prosecute femicides in Brazil. Femicide is the killing of a woman by a man because of her gender.

"The Commission calls on the Brazilian State to implement comprehensive strategies to prevent these acts, fulfill its obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible, as well as to offer protection and comprehensive reparation to all victims," the Washington-based IACHR said in a statement.

To stem femicide, Brazil passed a law in 2015 giving a legal definition of the crime, with tougher jail sentences of up to 30 years for convicted offenders.


Read more: http://news.trust.org/item/20190204203044-mowco

February 5, 2019

New appointments, new policies don't bode well for Brazilian Amazon

by Jenny Gonzales on 4 February 2019

Jair Bolsonaro took office on 1 January. Since then, he has made appointments to his government, and there have been statements by people in his administration, that are causing grave concern among environmentalists.

New Environment Minister Ricardo Salles has come out strongly for an end to the demarcation of indigenous lands, and in support of entrepreneurs and companies being allowed to self-regulate the environmental licensing process for major infrastructure and development projects.

Salles also wants to hire a satellite firm to monitor Brazil’s forest fires, drought and deforestation. Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE), a governmental agency, released a response explaining that it is already doing this work. While Salles plan isn’t clear, it could be a means of privatizing deforestation monitoring.

Franklimberg Ribeiro de Freitas has been chosen to head Funai, Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency. However, some fear a major conflict of interest. Freitas was most recently a consulting advisor for indigenous, community, and environmental affairs with the Belo Sun mining company, where he sided against indigenous land rights.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/new-appointments-new-policies-dont-bode-well-for-brazilian-amazon/

Environment and energy:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127123237

February 5, 2019

New appointments, new policies don't bode well for Brazilian Amazon

by Jenny Gonzales on 4 February 2019

Jair Bolsonaro took office on 1 January. Since then, he has made appointments to his government, and there have been statements by people in his administration, that are causing grave concern among environmentalists.

New Environment Minister Ricardo Salles has come out strongly for an end to the demarcation of indigenous lands, and in support of entrepreneurs and companies being allowed to self-regulate the environmental licensing process for major infrastructure and development projects.

Salles also wants to hire a satellite firm to monitor Brazil’s forest fires, drought and deforestation. Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE), a governmental agency, released a response explaining that it is already doing this work. While Salles plan isn’t clear, it could be a means of privatizing deforestation monitoring.

Franklimberg Ribeiro de Freitas has been chosen to head Funai, Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency. However, some fear a major conflict of interest. Freitas was most recently a consulting advisor for indigenous, community, and environmental affairs with the Belo Sun mining company, where he sided against indigenous land rights.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2019/02/new-appointments-new-policies-dont-bode-well-for-brazilian-amazon/

February 5, 2019

4 women killed every day in Brazil in 2019, human rights body reports

ANASTASIA MOLONEY 02.05.19

Four women have been killed every day so far this year in Brazil, a rate the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called “alarming” on Monday.

The IACHR, the human rights arm of the 35-member Organization of American States, said more must be done to prevent and prosecute femicides in Brazil. Femicide is the killing of a woman by a man because of her gender.

“The Commission calls on the Brazilian State to implement comprehensive strategies to prevent these acts, fulfill its obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible, as well as to offer protection and comprehensive reparation to all victims,” the Washington-based IACHR said in a statement.

To stem femicide, Brazil passed a law in 2015 giving a legal definition of the crime, with tougher jail sentences of up to 30 years for convicted offenders.

More:
https://womenintheworld.com/2019/02/05/4-women-killed-every-day-in-brazil-in-2019-human-rights-body-reports/

February 5, 2019

Woman behind the arrest of faith healer John of God after claiming he was running a 'sex slave farm'

Woman behind the arrest of faith healer John of God after claiming he was running a 'sex slave farm' commits suicide at her home in Barcelona

Sabrina Bittencourt died after accusing faith healer John of God of sex abuse

She claimed he kept women captive and exported their children on black market

The faith healer has been accused of abusing hundreds of women in Brazil

By NATALIA PENZA FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 03:37 EST, 4 February 2019 | UPDATED: 09:30 EST, 4 February 2019

A woman who helped to bring down a Brazilian faith healer accused of sex abuse has taken her own life in Spain.

Sabrina Bittencourt, 38, died at her home in Barcelona just days after accusing John of God - real name Joao Teixeira de Faria - of running a 'sex slave farm'.

She claimed young girls were held captive in a farming operation which exported babies on the black market.

The women would be murdered after ten years of having babies in the alleged scheme run by the 77-year-old celebrity faith healer, who was arrested last year after hundreds of women accused him of abuse, she said.

More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6664777/Woman-arrest-John-God-takes-life.html

February 5, 2019

Guatemala's 'Slow-Motion Coup' Is Causing Migrants to Flee to the US

By Cole Kazdin
Jan 30 2019, 11:00pm

The real crisis Trump should focus on, experts say, is hundreds of miles south of the US-Mexico border.

Defense Department officials announced Tuesday that they’re preparing to send additional troops to the US’s southern border to support Department of Homeland Security efforts to fight what Donald Trump has been calling a national security crisis. But there’s not a whole lot of evidence of the sort of crisis Trump talks about: The number of unauthorized immigrants in the US is at its lowest point in ten years, according to Pew Research, and the number of Mexicans crossing the border without authorization has been declining steadily as well. But it is true that according to recently released statistics from Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the number of families seeking asylum in the US is increasing, many of them from Central America’s “Northern Triangle”: Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Nearly 20 percent of migrants who were apprehended at the southwestern border last year claim their reasons for emigration are fear-driven.

. . .

The country is in the midst of what many observers are referring to as a “slow-motion coup.” This means not soldiers in the street, but rather a president, backed by powerful allies, taking over government institutions like the courts and challenging human rights protections.

“The current situation in Guatemala is already pushing and forcing people to flee,” said Giovanni Batz, a researcher and fellow at the School for Advanced Research in New Mexico and the son of working-class Guatemalan immigrants. “Crime is constantly on the minds of many. In Guatemala City, when you leave your house, you never know if you will be robbed, assaulted, or worse. The police are corrupt, known to take bribes, and have been implicated in working with narco-traffickers and gangs.” It’s led to a general distrust of law enforcement and the justice system.

The country’s president, former comedian Jimmy Morales, is trying to dismantle a UN-backed anti-corruption commission known by its Spanish acronym CICIG, which was investigating Morales himself for illicit campaign financing. (A Guatemalan court blocked Morales’s order to expel members of the commission from the country, but foreign members of the commission have fled, fearing for their safety.) In addition, the Guatemalan congress is drafting an amnesty law that, if passed, would allow dozens of people convicted of grave human rights violations to walk free. And allies of the president have voted to impeach judges on the country’s highest court who have ruled against Morales’s policies.

More:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3mppx/guatemalas-slow-motion-coup-is-causing-migrants-to-flee-to-the-us

February 5, 2019

Honduran Mother: Baby 'Different' After Border Separation, SFO Reunion

By Betty Yu January 31, 2019 at 2:25 pm

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – A 23-year-old Honduran mother says her baby daughter is not the same person after being separated from her family at the U.S. border.

Sindy Flores is staying with family in San Francisco as she seeks asylum following an emotional reunion with her baby daughter at San Francisco International Airport.

Sindy Flores says it’s been a difficult adjustment for her 18-month-old Juliet, back with her mother after a month-long separation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The first night was emotional, I can’t begin to describe, even seeing her for the first time was overwhelming,” said Flores through her interpreter Lisa Castellanos.

More:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/01/31/honduran-mother-baby-border-separation-sfo-reunion/