Swazi Media Commentary: A new book on the struggle for freedom in Swaziland is out now. Download it for free here.
Government is broke, so University of Swaziland fails to open this semester: here.
Swazi Media Commentary: #Swaziland police torture student leader Maxwell Dlamini: here.
SOUTH Africa’s trade union movement Cosatu gave a warm welcome this week to a unity initiative in neighbouring Swaziland that saw the birth of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (Tucoswa): here.
This video from February 2011 is called Protesters killed as police storm Bahrain demonstration camp.
Bahrain Protests: Thousands Demand Government Resign; here.
Demonstrators calling for reforms in Bahrain on Friday staged a sit-in at a roundabout in a Manama commercial district, but security forces broke it up, a human rights activist and a protester said: here.
Bahrain’s February 14th movement has become a symbol of resistance and fortitude…and the most powerful political force in Bahrain today: here.
This video is about a great billed heron on Timor beach.
From BirdLife:
Timor Bush-warbler rediscovered
Fri, Dec 30, 2011
There had been no confirmed field observations of Timor Bush-warbler Bradypterus timorensis since two specimens were collected on Mount Mutis, West Timor, in 1932. A paper published online in BirdLife’s journal, Bird Conservation International (BCI), reports the rediscovery of the Timor Bush-warbler in Timor-Leste (East Timor) in 2009, prompted by the discovery of a previously unknown population of bush-warbler on the island of Alor, Indonesia, to the north.
Timor Bush-warbler was first recognised as a full species in 2000, when along with Russet Bush-warbler B. mandelli and Java Bush-warbler B. montis it was split from Benguet Bush-warbler B. seebohmi. The authors of the BCI paper assign all these species to the genus Locustella.
On Alor, at least 13 male bush warblers were heard singing from shrub and grass beneath woodland and forest edge at 859–1,250 m. On Timor, at least 40 males were heard from tall grassland at 1,720–2,100 m.
The songs are loud and can be readily heard from at least 100 m. However, the birds on both islands were skulking and hard to observe, even while singing. Brief direct views on Alor noted a large, buff-brown, long-tailed bush-warbler. Birds were observed to walk or scurry, mouse-like, on the ground on thin shrub and grass stems. Although they can fly, they do so rarely and probably mostly under cover.
There were substantial differences in habitat use by bush-warblers on Alor and on Timor, presumably resulting from island-specific differences in habitat availability, elevation and land-use pressure. High grazing pressure and repeated fires ensure that there is little or no suitable habitat over much of Timor’s montane habitat, except on steep slopes. There are few known threats to bush-warbler habitat on Alor, but ongoing assessments are needed.
Timor Bush-warbler is considered Near Threatened by BirdLife on behalf of the IUCN Red List, but will now require re-evaluation. The Alor population is currently well isolated from Timor (c.100 km between sites), and these islands have never been connected. The populations have little chance of interbreeding and the authors of the BCI paper say they should be considered as independent, evolutionarily significant units. Further field surveys are needed on both Timor and Alor to capture birds, clarify taxonomic relationships using molecular approaches, and further define habitat use and conservation status.
William Rivers Pitt | The Rain and the Reckoning. William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: “Occupy is not over. We come now to another winter of our discontent, and though the tents and signs and shouts of the movement have been momentarily subdued, they will return. Spring is coming, the rocks are already rolling down the mountainside…. Sooner or later, those rocks will reach the reckoning that has been so long in coming, and when that happens, nothing in this country will be the same again”: here.
The Belittle Big Bodies Banzai: A Year-End OWS Salute and Immune Key to 2012. W. David Kubick, Truthout: “After a lifetime clashing with monstrous corporate bodies in the US, India and Japan, I hobble into the Occupation arena with a grateful hallelujah and some wild reconnaissance. The hallelujah is a chorus, by the way. It also arises from countless other US expatriates who have long lived abroad and prayed for signs of a Yankee spring, i.e. any American uprising against the rampant, corporate coup that’s beggared the nation at home and scarred its honor overseas”: here.
Why a Woman of Color Risked Her “Honorary White Man” Status to Blow the Whistle at EPA. Evaggelos Vallianatos, Truthout: “I met Marsha Coleman-Adebayo in 1990 in Washington, DC. She was working for the World Wildlife Fund, an international environmental organization…. She sued EPA for racism and retaliation – and she won…. It is an interesting, inspiring and well-written book; the story it tells is revealing of larger national environmental and political issues. It is a microcosm of racism in American society, callousness and imperialism in foreign policy, and corporate domination of the government and the world”: here.
The Port Shutdown Controversy: Corporate Profit vs. the Right to Protest. Jack Heyman, Truthout: “Once again, the Bay Area is at the forefront of social protest…. San Francisco longshore Local 10 is organizing a caravan of Bay Area workers and Occupy activists to travel to Longview to greet the ship upon its arrival in two weeks. If an agreement is not reached with EGT and angry longshore workers view this dispute as a threat to all their jobs, then it’s possible for the first time that ports on the West, East and Gulf coasts may be shut down”: here.
Ten Ultra-Rich Congresspeople Who “Represent” Some of the Most Financially Troubled Districts. Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet: “The hard times that most Americans continue to experience don’t seem to be making an impact on their representatives in Washington. Now a new report might shed some light on why. According to a Washington Post story this week, ‘Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home equity’”: here.
Wall Street Attacks Occupy Movement with Support of Religious Right: here.
On New Year’s Eve, New York City police arrested dozens of people, including passersby, during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Manhattan: here.
New Zealand: Occupy Auckland evicted from city square: here.
This is an ocean sunfish video.
Dutch radio station Unity FM reports, that this Monday 26 December 2011, an ocean sunfish beached on Schouwen island. By now, it is in Naturalis museum in leiden.
This mainly tropical fish is rare in the cold North Sea.
Update: here.
Investigation of the beached sunfish: here.
In July 2010, Tazuko Abe from Hokkaido University found albatrosses cleaning a school of ocean sunfish, basking at the surface of the western Pacific Ocean: here.
VietNamNet Bridge – The ocean sunfish which was netted by a fisherman in the central province of Nghe An on April 9, has been given to the Vietnam Museum of Nature: here.
Something sounds fishy. The first noises possibly made by deep-water fish have been recorded: here.
Deep Ocean Life Lives Off Waste: here.
The 75 most colourful aquarium fish: here.
This video from the USA is called Occupy Wall Street Police Abuse.
From The Huffington Post in the USA:
Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew
Alexander Eichler
First Posted: 12/29/11 05:43 PM ET Updated: 12/29/11 06:45 PM ET
Young people — the collegiate and post-college crowd, who have served as the most visible face of the Occupy Wall Street movement — might be getting more comfortable with socialism. That’s the surprising result from a Pew Research Center poll that aims to measure American sentiments toward different political labels.
The poll, published Wednesday, found that while Americans overall tend to oppose socialism by a strong margin — 60 percent say they have a negative view of it, versus just 31 percent who say they have a positive view — socialism has more fans than opponents among the 18-29 crowd. Forty-nine percent of people in that age bracket say they have a positive view of socialism; only 43 percent say they have a negative view.
And while those numbers aren’t very far apart, it’s noteworthy that they were reversed just 20 months ago, when Pew conducted a similar poll. In that survey, published May 2010, 43 percent of people age 18-29 said they had a positive view of socialism, and 49 percent said their opinion was negative.
It’s not clear why young people have evidently begun to change their thinking on socialism. In the past several years, the poor economy has had any number of effects on young adults — keeping them at home with their parents, making it difficult for them to get jobs, and likely depressing their earning potential for years to come — that might have dampened enthusiasm for the free market among this crowd.
Indeed, the Pew poll also found that just 46 percent of people age 18-29 have positive views of capitalism, and 47 percent have negative views — making this the only age group where support for socialism outweighs support for capitalism.
Young people have also been among the most involved in the nationwide Occupy movement, whose members have leveled pointed criticism at the capitalist ethos and often called for a more equal distribution of American wealth.
In general, income inequality — which a Congressional Budget Office report recently pointed out is at historic levels — has received more and more attention in politics and the media since the Occupy movement launched in mid-September. Usage of the term rose dramatically in news coverage following the start of the protests, and politicians from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to President Barack Obama have used the movement’s language to describe divisions in the American public.
Still, the nationwide Occupy demonstrations notwithstanding, socialism doesn’t score very well in other age groups in the Pew poll, or across other demographic categories.
Pew broke down its results by age, race, income and political affiliation, as well as support for the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements. There were only two other groups among whom socialism’s positives outweighed its negatives — blacks, who say they favor socialism 55 to 36 percent, and liberal Democrats, who say they favor socialism 59 to 39 percent. These were also the only two groups to show net favor for socialism in the 2010 poll.
Many young Britons face financial struggle: here.
This video from the USA is called RAW VIDEO: Chopper footage of 100,000+ Occupy Oakland Takes back Highway.
By Kevin Kearney and Jack Hood in the USA:
Oakland police shut down new Occupy encampment
30 December 2011
Oakland Police officers raided another occupy encampment Wednesday evening, after protestors had claimed the empty lot as a drug-and-alcohol-free “winter safe haven” for occupiers and the San Francisco Bay Area’s burgeoning homeless population.
The most recent attack on the occupy protestors is of a piece with efforts to suppress the protest movement since its inception.
From BirdLife:
SAVE Brasil sets the echoes of Conservation in the Serra do Urubu
Fri, Dec 30, 2011
Since 2004, SAVE Brasil (BirdLife in Brazil) has been working to conserve the last remaining forests in the Serra do Urubu, in the municipality of Lagoa dos Gatos, Pernambuco state, northeastern Brazil. The Serra do Urubu Important Bird Area (IBA BR074) is home to a rich and unique biodiversity, including two of the world’s most threatened birds: Alagoas Foliage-gleaner Philydor novaesi and Alagoas Antwren Myrmotherula snowi. Conservation work began with the purchase of a 362 hectare property, today known as the Pedro D’Anta Natural Heritage Private Reserve, which is adjacent to the Frei Caneca Natural Heritage Private Reserve. Combined, the two areas protect 1000 hectares of Atlantic Forest.
From Wildlife Extra:
Belize protected area boosting predatory fish populations
Herbivorous fish needed for reef recovery still lagging
A 14-year study by the Wildlife Conservation Society in an atoll reef lagoon in Glover’s Reef, Belize has found that fishing closures there produce encouraging increases in populations of predatory fish species. However, such closures have resulted in only minimal increases in herbivorous fish, which feed on the algae that smother corals and inhibit reef recovery.
The findings will help WCS researchers in their search for new solutions to the problem of restoring Caribbean reefs damaged by fishing and climate change.
The study appears in an online version of Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. The authors include: Tim McClanahan, N.A. Muthiga, and R.A. Coleman of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Barracuda, grouper & snappers
Specifically, the fishing closures have resulted in the recovery of species such as barracuda, groupers, snappers, and other predatory fish. Herbivorous fish such as parrotfish and surgeonfish, however, managed only slight recoveries, along with a small amount of the herbivory needed to reduce erect algae and promote the growth of more hard corals. This modest recovery of herbivorous fish has not been sufficient in reversing the degradation of the reefs by algae that have overgrown the reef and replaced the coral that once occupied 75 percent, but now represent less than 20 percent, of the seafloor cover. The authors note that a recent national-level ban by the Belizean government on the fishing of parrotfish-a widespread herbivorous species-may be the key to reef recovery, provided that the fishing ban is enforced and met with compliance. WCS provided valuable data through its monitoring program at Glover’s Reef to justify the landmark measure to protect reef grazers.
For anglers and boaters who regularly travel the coasts of Florida the great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) is a common sight. Surprisingly, however, very little is known about the early life stage of this ecologically and socio-economically important coastal fish: here.
Recent experiments conducted at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) produced striking results, showing for the first time that corals hosting a single type of “zooxanthellae” can have different levels of thermal tolerance – a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae: here.
Beautiful pictures of coral reefs in an increasingly acidic ocean: here.
GUATEMALA CITY, Mar 7, 2012 (Tierramérica) – Scientific studies show that global warming is causing irreversible damage to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the world’s second largest coral reef, yet efforts to protect this biologically and economically vital ecosystem remain insufficient: here.
‘Unique’ coral reef threatened by development in Mexico: here.
From the Daily Mail in Britain:
Found in British waters: The sea creature that lights up like a Christmas decoration
Rare and elusive species found in marine surveys
Includes prehistoric ‘brainless’ fish
Quill-like ‘sea pen’ lights up when touchedBy Rob Waugh
Last updated at 2:36 PM on 29th December 2011
This phosphorescent sea pen was literally the highlight of a series of finds marine surveyors off the coast of Scotland announced in their annual report today.
The studies, using acoustic multi-beam scanners and hi-def cameras, captured several rare and elusive species, including the sea pen – so named because resembles a writer’s quill as well as a Christmas tree. The sea pen is a colony of seabed dwelling polyps that lights up when touched.
Other finds included the prehistoric ‘faceless and brainless fish’ Amphioxus – a modern representative of the first animals that evolved a backbone half a billion years ago.
The elusive, rarely seen Amphioxus was found in the waters off Tankerness in Orkney by marine surveyors this year. Instead of a brain – or face – the fish has a nerve cord running down its back.
One species of Amphioxus recently had its genome sequenced in an attempt to understand the origins of vertebrate life.
Vertebrate life and amphioxus are thought to have descended from a single common ancestor around 550 million years ago.
The species was unearthed in series of 15 marine surveys in 2011, covering over 2,000 square miles using acoustic multi-beam scanners and hi-def cameras.
Dozens of rare, strange species were found in Scottish waters.
Horse mussels were found off Noss Head in Caithness – this slow
The largest Horse Mussel bed in Scotland was revealed in waters near Noss Head, Caithness.
Known as ‘Clabbydhhu’ in Gaelic (translates as ‘enormous black mouth’) these slow-growing molluscs can live to nearly 50 years old.
Off the west coast, very rare Fan Mussels were found – at up to 48 cm long, this is Scotland’s largest sea shell.
Around the Small Isles more than 100 specimens were discovered, the largest aggregation in UK waters.
With golden threads likened to human hair so fine they can attach to a single grain of sand, seamen once believed they fed on drowned sailors.
Other finds included Flame Shell beds in Loch Linnhe, Argyll, a cryptic species only found in a very few west coast locations with bright orange feeding tentacles.
