Two new owl species discovered in the Philippines

This video is called Two new owls discovered in the Philippines.

From Michigan State University in the USA:

Two new owls discovered in the Philippines

Aug. 17, 2012

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Two new species of owls have been discovered in the Philippines, and a Michigan State University researcher played a key role in confirming their existence.

The discovery, which is featured in the current issue of Forktail, the Journal of Asian Ornithology, took years to confirm, but it was well worth the effort, said the paper’s lead author Pam Rasmussen, MSU assistant professor of zoology and assistant curator of mammalogy and ornithology at the MSU Museum.

“More than 15 years ago, we realized that new subspecies of Ninox hawk-owls existed in the Philippines,” she said. “But it wasn’t until last year that we obtained enough recordings that we could confirm that they were not just subspecies, but two new species of owls.”

Announcing the finding of a single bird is rare enough. But the discovery of two new bird species in a single paper is so rare that Rasmussen and the other researchers couldn’t recall the last time it happened.

The first owl, the Camiguin Hawk-owl, is found only on the small island of Camiguin Sur, close to northern Mindanao. Despite being so close geographically to related owls on Mindanao, it has quite different physical characteristics and voice. At night, it gives a long solo song that builds in intensity, with a distinctive low growling tone. Pairs of owls give short barking duets that start with a growl. They also are the only owls to have blue-gray eyes.

The second new discovery was the Cebu Hawk-owl. This bird was thought to be extinct, as the forests of Cebu have almost all been lost due to deforestation. But it had never been considered a distinct form. Study of its structure and vocalizations confirmed that it was a new species. In fact, it was the unique calling or vocalizations of both owls that confirmed that the new classifications were warranted.

See also here. And here. And here.

Dutch long-eared owl photos: here.

Tom Morello against Paul Ryan

This music video from the USA says about itself:

Tom Morello’s Great Solos

Tom Morello was in Cuba with Audioslave.. .He was also great as always.

Mitt Romney is not the only United States Republican politician who is in trouble with musicians.

So is Romney’s running mate, vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

From the Huffington Post in the USA:

Tom Morello: Paul Ryan ‘Is The Embodiment Of The Machine Our Music Rages Against’

By Kia Makarechi

08/17/2012 8:03 am

Paul Ryan has previously cited Rage Against the Machine as his favorite band, but the group’s guitarist isn’t returning the niceties. In a blistering op-ed published Thursday night on Rolling Stone‘s website, Tom Morello blasts Mitt Romney’s new VP choice as “the embodiment of the machine our music rages against.”

In painting Ryan as antithetical to progress, Morello compares the Congressman’s appreciation of RATM to Charles Manson‘s love for The Beatles and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s liking for Bruce Springsteen.

At the heart of Morello’s distaste for Ryan is “his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent.” He goes on to say Ryan has plenty of “rage,” but claims its “A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment.”

See also here.

ANALYSIS: Paul Ryan voted to add $6.8 trillion to the Federal Debt: here.

Brendan Fischer, PRWatch: “Though the war in El Salvador was just one chapter in history, Romney and Ryan’s relationship with that war may provide a snapshot into their worldview”: here.

Have Obama and Romney Forgotten Afghanistan? Here.

Cornell, USA, nesting birds

This video says about itself:

An intimate look at a Wood Thrush pair tending their nest in Sapsucker Woods at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in the USA:

Monitoring nests in Sapsucker Woods

Throughout the 2012 breeding season, Jason Martin (NestWatch Project Leader) and Suzanne Beyeler (Research Associate, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University) have roamed Sapsucker Woods, home of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in search of bird nests. Armed with a mirror attached to the end of an extendable pole, they were able to look into nests that were up to 20 feet high. Why? In addition to field-testing the NestWatch protocols and putting our new data entry system through its paces, they were piloting a study examining the impact of recreational trails on bird nesting success.

This summer, Jason and Suzanne monitored 41 open cup nests in Sapsucker Woods. Preliminary results indicate that nests near more heavily used trails were more likely to successfully produce fledglings than those near lightly used trails. This trend was apparent for all species lumped together (11 out of 24 nests were successful near heavily used trails; 3 out of 17 nests were successful near lightly used trails) and for nests of the most common species found, American Robin (heavy: 8 out of 15 successful; light: 1 out of 6 successful).

Using trail counters, they determined that the heavily used trails in Sapsucker Woods averaged approximately 140 people per day during the summer, while the more lightly traveled trails were used by about only 20 people per day. Other studies on this topic have found mixed results, but some have suggested that frequent foot traffic can interfere with the activities of nest predators and thus allow more chicks to hatch and grow to maturity. Chipmunks appear to be the most common nest predators in Sapsucker Woods. Nesting success for various species can range widely depending on lots of factors, such as predator density, habitat quality, weather, and the abundance of Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Declining Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) Populations Are Associated with Landscape-Specific Reductions in Brood Parasitism and Increases in Songbird Productivity: here.

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Dutch socialist against European neo-conservative austerity

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Socialist ‘not tied to’ EU limits

Thursday 16 August 2012

by Our Foreign Desk

Netherlands prime ministerial candidate Emile Roemer said today that he would not feel bound by Europe’s rules to keep budget deficits within EU limits if elected.

Mr Roemer is the leader of the Socialist Party, which is neck-and-neck with Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative party in early opinion polls ahead of the September 12 elections.

Mr Roemer said in an interview that it was “idiocy” to fixate on meeting the EU rule and said he would pay any fine from Brussels “over my dead body.”

This reminds me of the saying in Britain: “It is better to break the law than to break the poor“.

This video from England says about itself:

This year [2011] marks the 90th anniversary of the struggle of councillors in Poplar, east London, against government cuts. This culminated in their going to prison with the slogan ‘better to break the law than to break the poor’.

Now in the Netherlands: better to break the European bureaucrats’ Thatcherite austerity rules than to break health care, education, poor people, etc.

The EU rules require governments to keep budget deficits below 3 per cent of GDP but has been honoured more in the breach than the observance.

Big countries like Angela Merkel‘s Germany and Sarkozy‘s France could break these rules without being punished; contrary to smaller Greece.

The Socialist Party has never participated in any Dutch government but has eclipsed the traditional Labour Party in recent polls, with a more radical agenda including raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy while maintaining benefits for the less well off.

Labour published its own 10-point election platform today, as Dutch people return from their holidays and campaigning gathers steam.

Labour is the second-largest party in parliament but its support among voters fell to about 10 per cent recently after it backed the conservative government on unpopular eurozone rescue aid packages.

Mr Rutte’s cabinet collapsed in April over its determination to back the 3 per cent limit and his caretaker government has still vowed to do so.

See also here.

Netherlands: The rise and rise of the Dutch Socialist Party: here.

Analysis: A portrait of a Greek city in crisis: here.

European Union intensifies pressure on Greece for social cuts: here.

German chancellor demands tougher austerity in Greece: here.

Austrian politicians’ corruption scandals

This video is called Cash-for-laws: Pablo Zalba Bidegain (Spain, EPP).

The EPP is the European People’s Party, the international organization of the Spanish Partido Popular of Pablo Zalba Bidegain and Prime Minister Rajoy; the Austrian ÖVP; and similar conservative “Christian Democrat” parties.

By Markus Salzmann:

Corruption scandals rock Austrian politics

17 August 2012

A series of corruption scandals involving leading politicians is currently dominating political life in Austria. Politicians from the former right-wing government coalition of the People’s Party (ÖVP) and Freedom Party (FPÖ) are accused of gross corruption and abuse of office. No less than five former ministers from the cabinet of 2000-2007 led by former chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP) are currently under investigation.

Last week the former interior minister Ernst Strasser (ÖVP) was indicted on charges of bribery–a charge that could lead to up to ten years in prison. In March last year it was revealed that two lobbyists masquerading as journalists from the British Sunday Times approached European Parliament deputies and offered them large sums of money in exchange for legislative changes. The affair was referred to as the “Cash for Laws” scandal. Strasser is alleged to have promised the pair that he would influence EU legislation. On video he can be seen agreeing to a €100,000 “consulting fee”.

The former finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser is facing a series of charges of abuse of authority. In the so-called Buwog affair in 2004 he is alleged to have passed on insider information during the process of privatising public housing companies in exchange for a ten-million euro commission. Grasser is also accused of being in the pay of an Austrian gaming company that sought his services to loosen the country’s gambling monopoly. Grasser and his business partners are accused of accepting bribes in connection with the affair from 2005 to 2008.

In a separate scandal involving Telekom Austria, the former technology minister, Hubert Gorbach, and Matthias Reichhold, both of the FPÖ, are accused of receiving six-figure bribes to provide benefits to the company.

Former Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat (ÖVP) has been charged with breach of trust. In 2006 the minister gave the go-ahead to buy nine million flu masks at an inflated price. The company that supplied the masks–to serve as a protection against bird flu–had links to the minister’s husband.

Herbert Scheibner of the Alliance for Austria’s Future (BZÖ), a split off from the FPÖ,

That split happened when the late FPÖ Fuehrer Jörg Haider (who later caused his own death by drunk driving) quarreled with his fellow neo-fascists in the FPÖ

is being investigated by the public prosecutor for money laundering. As defence secretary, Scheibner was responsible for the purchase of the controversial Eurofighter combat aircraft. At a later date, Scheibner’s company received lucrative contracts from the company that produced the Eurofighter.

Close associates of Indonesian president targeted over corruption: here.

General Motors Colombian workers exploited

This video is called Sick and Fired: The General Motors Way in Colombia.

“We Are Prepared to Die”: Workers in Colombia at General Motors Plant Sew Their Mouths Shut to Protest Backbreaking Labor Conditions. Miriam Wells, AlterNet in the USA: “Parra and Ospina say more than 200 Colmotores employees have been injured while working at the automotive plant outside Colombia’s capital city of Bogota. Herniated discs, severe carpal tunnel syndrome, lumbar scoliosis and chronic tendonitis are among the list of complaints they claim many have suffered after years spent doing repetitive, physical work making GM’s car parts. Instead of providing medical care and changing the work patterns of injured employees, GM fires them, according to the protesters”: here.

U.S. Protests Tell GM to Resolve Colombian Hunger Strike: here.

Tunisian workers, women fight for justice

By Jean Shaoul:

Strikes and protests sweep Tunisia

17 August 2012

On Tuesday, several thousand workers demonstrated in Sidi Bouzid. The city in the impoverished interior of Tunisia is where the vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself on December 17, 2010, sparking the uprising against the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The protest was directly opposed to the interim government led by the Islamist Ennahda (Renaissance) party, an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that came to power following elections last October.

The Tunisian General Union of Labour (UGTT), the main trade union federation, had called for a general strike. It said that more than 90 percent of workers had joined the strike. Shops and offices in the city centre were closed for the day.

The demonstrators marched to the courthouse, demanding the release of dozens of political activists detained since July following demonstrations that were brutally put down by police firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Some but not all were later released, including 12 of the activists arrested at a protest last week in Sfax, 160 miles south of the capital.

The strikers and their supporters shouted slogans, including, “The people want the fall of the regime!” and “Justice, woe to you, Ennahda has power over you!”

Some protesters smashed the window of a car belonging to an Al Jazeera TV crew because of the Qatari satellite news channel’s championing of Ennahda and Islamism. Qatar heavily funds Ennahda.

The demonstrators also called for an end to the totally inadequate access to water and electricity that is making everyday life an intolerable burden.

Earlier, on Monday evening, National Women’s Day, tens of thousands of Tunisians, mainly women, took to the streets of the capital Tunis and other cities to demand that women’s equality and rights be protected under the constitution being drafted by the Islamist government.

The demonstrations were by far the largest since the government violently broke up a march last April. Protesters fear that the constitution will downgrade the status of women. They carried banners saying, “Rise up women for your rights to be enshrined in the constitution” and “Ghannouchi [Ennahda’s leader Rachid Ghannouchi] clear off, Tunisian women are strong”.

They demanded that the government remove the proposed Article 27, which defines women as “complementary to men”, from the new national charter, in favour of the existing 1956 law that grants women full equality with men.

The 1956 Code of Personal Status outlawed polygamy, established civil law, and gave women the right to vote, open bank accounts and set up businesses without their husbands’ consent. It was later expanded to include, among other things, the right to work and abortion.

According to a translation by France 24, Article 27 in the new charter affirms that “The state guarantees to protect women’s rights, as they stand, under the principle of man’s complement within the family and man’s partner in developing the country”.

This has been widely interpreted as the first step on the part of the Islamists to roll back women’s position in Tunisia in line with Sharia law.

Demonstrators called for the government to address the economic deprivation in the interior regions and to end unemployment.

The Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, the Tunisian Human Rights League, the Republican Party, the Social and Democratic Path, and the Call for Tunisia party organised another rally at the Congress Palace in Tunis, calling for “effective and unconditional equality in rights and duties between men and women” and warning against “a new regression and possible backsliding in women’s gains”.

Protests to mark National Women’s Day on Avenue Bourguiba in the capital were earlier banned by the government, ostensibly over traffic concerns. Avenue Bourguiba was the focal point of the mass protests that led to the ouster of Ben Ali, the longtime ally of US and French imperialism, in January 2011, sparking mass movements all over the Middle East and North Africa.

Demonstrators also took to the streets of Monastir and Sfax.

See also here.

Tunisia: UN Working Group On Women Calls On Tunisia to Safeguard Achievements in Equality: here

Wildfires threaten Canary Islands wildlife

This is a video of a Canary islands blue chaffinch.

From BirdLife:

Wild fires threaten biodiversity hotspot on Canary Islands

Wed, Aug 15, 2012

Whilst the wild fires in the Teno Rural Park on Tenerife have been stabilised, the Garajonay National Park in La Gomera, Canary Islands, is still in flames. These fires

Wildfires in themselves are natural disasters.

However, like other natural disasters, they become much worse by human economic, social and political causes. In Texas and elsewhere in the USA, cuts in the fire services by conservative politicians have made wildfires worse. Austerity policies in Greece have the same effect. And I would not be surprised at all if the Rajoy government’s austerity in Spain has contributed to the fire disasters in the Canary islands and elsewhere. As Mr Rajoy prefers spending money on his “bankster” friends, on the royal family, and on wars.

pose a serious hazard to people, their property and livelihoods and affect key sectors including agriculture, livestock and tourism. The forest of La Gomera is an important pillar in the local economy due to tourism (especially nature tourism).

SEO/BirdLife, (Spanish Partner) is concerned about the serious environmental damage caused by the fires in Garajonay National Park – one of Europe’s biodiversity hotspots.

The fires have already destroyed more than 700 ha of the National Park and are still spreading, which could endanger some populations of species that are unique to the island. The park has the largest continuous expanse of laurel forest on the Canary Islands, located in the central area of La Gomera. Other habitats include heath, scrub and exotic coniferous woodland.

In the Teno Rural Park, located in the northwest of Tenerife, the fires have been intensive but seem to be under control for now. The habitat in this protected area is one of the best preserved laurel forests in the archipelago.

The National Parks are strongholds for typical laurel forest bird species, such as the Dark- and Light- tailed Laurel Pigeon Columba bollii and C. junoniae respectively, which are both endemic to the Canary Islands. Smaller Canary Island species like the Island Canary Serinus canaria, and on Tenerife the Blue Chaffinch Fringilla teydea, may also be affected.

The bird species richness and uniqueness means these areas have been declared Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPAs) by the Spanish government and the European Union and are inventoried as Important Bird Areas (IBAs) by SEO/BirdLife.

SEO/BirdLife expresses sympathy to the victims and gratitude to all the people and institutions working to extinguish the fires on the Canary Islands.

Britain: ‘PUBLIC AND FIREFIGHTERS’ SAFETY NEEDLESSLY PUT AT RISK’ says East Sussex FBU: here.

USA: Severe weather conditions led to a string of massive wildfires late last week, primarily in the Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, all of which are adjacent to the Los Angeles area. Strong winds, low humidity, high temperatures and a build-up of old vegetation resulted in the scorching of over 30,000 acres of land: here.

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Australian cockatoos in trouble

This video is called Carnaby’s black cockatoo.

From BirdLife:

Carnaby’s numbers still down

Fri, Aug 17, 2012

BirdLife Australia’s (BirdLife Partner) 2012 Great Cocky Count has found that numbers of Endangered Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo in the Perth Region are still lower than reported in 2010.

The Great Cocky Count, organised by BirdLife Australia in partnership with the Department of Environment and Conservation, counts as many Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos as possible on a single night each year in April. This year’s count was at sunset on 15 April.

BirdLife Australia’s WA Program Manager, Cheryl Gole, said, “The latest results show a 40 per cent decrease since 2010 in the number of Carnaby’s counted at night roosts in the Swan Region, which includes the Perth metropolitan area. The minimum population size in the Swan Region was only 4000 Carnaby’s this year, similar to 2011, compared to 6700 in 2010. This suggests that numbers are still down in the region.”

The Swan Region provides critical winter feeding habitat for northern and western populations of the cockatoos. The 2012 count shows there is a decrease in the number of active roosts south of the Swan River.

“While all the reasons for the decreased number of Carnaby’s are not clear, habitat clearance has to be an important factor,” said Ms Gole. Pressure on cockatoo habitat in the Perth and Peel Region will increase because of our rapidly growing population and increasing housing requirements. BirdLife Australia believes increasing habitat clearance is the greatest threat to the species and that the remaining cockatoo habitat in the Perth and Peel Region is critical for the survival of Carnaby’s and must be protected.

Athletes-torturing Bahraini prince and Paralympics

This video from Britain is called George Galloway‘s message to Olympic Chief Nasser Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

From the Gulf Daily News in Bahrain (a daily which supports the local dictatorship):

Bahrain for Paralympics

Friday, August 17, 2012

GENERAL secretary of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa

a son of the king. A prince of the Bahraini royal family which violently oppresses pro-democracy activities

yesterday met head and members of the Bahraini delegation leaving to London for the Paralympic Games, which will be held from August 21 to September 7.

At the beginning of the meeting, which was attended by Executive Director of sports affairs Noaman Al Hassan, Shaikh Ahmed conveyed the greetings of His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and president of the Bahrain Olympic Committee

Another prince of the Bahraini royal family and son of the king. You can read in Gulf Daily News indeed that this prince is “Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and president of the Bahrain Olympic Committee”. But you won’t read in this daily mouthpiece of the absolute monarchy that His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa is notorious for advocating violent oppression of human rights activists and for himself torturing athletes for having been present at pro-democracy demonstrations.

and his best wishes for Fatima Abdulrazak and Ahmed Mushaima, who qualified for the Paralympics.

Iran used to win (maybe they still do) lots of medals at the Paralympics. That was because many valid Iranian athletes had been wounded in the Iran-Iraq war.

If His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa continues with his torturing of Bahraini athletes, these people will no longer be able to compete at the Olympics, only at the Paralympics. But His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa will probably ban them from the Paralympics. His Highness has already persecuted at least one disabled Bahraini athlete.

Bahrain: Free Rights Activist Jailed for ‘Illegal Gatherings’. US Should Speak Out on Nabeel Rajab Conviction: here.

Bahrain Special: 9 Reasons Why The Regime Gave Human Rights Activist Nabeel Rajab a 3-Year Sentence: here. Se also here.

They say that gold doesn’t tarnish, but this week’s scrutiny of school sports programmes in light of Team GB’s medal count has certainly taken a shine off Tory talk of an Olympic legacy: here.