June 2012. Adenomus kandianus was previously known only from two specimens, both deposited in the British Museum. The only record of A. kandianus since the initial description in 1872 was in 1876, making A. kandianus the world’s rarest toad.
The species had not been reported since, and was considered extinct. However the toad was rediscovered in the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary one of the few remaining areas in Sri Lanka with a continuous natural forest cover of altitudinal graded forest types, ranging from lowland mixed Dipterocarp forests to montane cloud forests.
Adenomus kandianus is one of the 21 amphibian species thought to be extinct from Sri Lanka after extensive searches over a ten-year period failed to locate this species in the wild.
A global amphibian hotspot, the island of Sri Lanka contains 111 species of amphibians that have been described so far, and it also carries the dubious distinction of contributing the highest proportion (60%) to the global list of extinct amphibians.
Amsterdam is home to almost 140 plant and animal species which are on the government’s red list of species in need of special protection, news agency ANP reported at the weekend.
The average Dutch local authority is home to around 70 threatened species while Bergen in Noord-Holland has the most – 325.
‘Amsterdam is becoming the nature reserve of the Netherlands,’ city ecologist Remco Daalder told the news agency. While the Dutch landscape is becoming more uniform, Amsterdam ‘has lots of different landscapes, from swamps and different types of woodland to parks and rough ground,’ he said.
For example, one of the country’s biggest populations of grass snakes (Natrix natrix) is found close to the IJburg residential developments while birds are being encouraged by the widespread use of nesting boxes, Daalder said.
In an opening address to be delivered tomorrow to the 47 member UN Human Rights Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay will express her “alarm” at ongoing attempts to restrict freedom of assembly in Quebec.
Her speech, a draft copy of which was obtained by UN Watch, will also express “concern” over similar restrictions in Russia (Russia’s law limiting protest was passed shortly after Bill 78, prompting some to speculate it was modeled on Quebec’s legislation) and “deep concern” over such restrictions in Eritrea.
In diplomatic terms alarm is a far more severe word than concern, making Canada’s restrictions on protest the most troubling to the UN agency.
In a speech running to several pages in length, and highlighting human rights issues in dozens of countries, the situation in Quebec warrants a single, albeit explosive, paragraph.
“Moves to restrict freedom of assembly continue to alarm me, as is the case in the province of Quebec in Canada in the context of students’ protests“.
This expression of alarm will likely lead to Canada’s inclusion on the UN watchlist of countries which the agency believes are not upholding their international obligations with respect to human rights, a list which includes Syria, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.
Thousands of military drones to be deployed over US mainland
18 June 2012
A recent Department of Defense report to Congress as well as a number of media investigations have exposed government plans to deploy tens of thousands of drones over the US mainland in the coming years.
An investigative report published over the weekend by the Christian Science Monitor cited the government’s own estimates that “as many as 30,000 drones could be part of intelligence gathering and law enforcement here in the United States within the next ten years.”
US Drone Strikes Setting Dangerous Global Precedent. Isabelle de Grave, Inter Press Service: “U.S. counterterrorism measures are under intense scrutiny from United Nations (U.N.) experts and civil rights groups declaring drone strikes illegal under current frameworks. During the 20th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva from Jun. 18 to Jul. 6, these experts declared such measures in urgent need of greater accountability and transparency”: here.
This video is about opposition to the Vietnam war by world boxing champion Muhammad Ali.
Vietnam Era Memoir Shows Working Class History of Anti-War Organizing. John Maher, Charles Street Press: “I was convinced that the ultimate success of the anti-war movement depended on its support in working-class and minority communities, where the war hit hardest in terms of its economic consequences, lives disrupted, and lives lost. In twelve months spanning 1965-66, 85 percent of all men drafted had a high-school education or less. I joined the Boston Draft Resistance Group, a disciplined and creative effort to build the anti-war movement in working-class and minority communities”: here.
Just Ahead of 50th Anniversary, 'Catonsville Nine' Honored for 'Important Role in Antiwar Movement' https://t.co/LmlRwUvO23
Near the entrance, long-tailed tits and blue tits in a small tree.
Swifts flying high in the sky.
Great spotted woodpecker, blackbird, chaffinch and nuthatch sound.
A robin on a tombstone.
A group of dunnocks. Probably, fledglings with their parents.
On a branch of a big tree, a song thrush.
This is a siskin video.
Near the exit, a siskin. Usually, siskins are here in winter. Seeing the species here in mid June may mean that it had or has a nest here. That would be near the border of the nesting area of siskins.
Dimitri Lascaris: [rightist pro-poverty party] New Democracy win a hollow victory as majority of Greeks reject austerity and underlying problems remain unsolved.
New Democracy won 30 percent of the vote. SYRIZA came in a close second with 26.5 percent, winning popular support based on its criticisms of austerity measures set forth in the Memorandum signed with the Troika—the European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB).
This sets the stage for intense negotiations over the formation of a coalition government. Coalition talks have a 48-hour deadline, according to most observers. The EU is demanding that they affirm a commitment to key terms of the second Greek bailout, worth €130 billion, which have already meant devastating social cuts and wrecked the country’s economy.
Throughout the election, the EU threatened to cut off credit to Greece if it objected to the bailout terms. This would force Greece to either accept the collapse of its financial system or reintroduce a Greek national currency to fund its banks. Greek officials said last week that unless a delayed €1 billion tranche of troika funding is paid, they will run out of funds to pay pensions and public sector wages by July 20.
These efforts to blackmail the Greek working class did not prevent SYRIZA’s vote increasing substantially from the 16.7 percent won in Greece’s previous election, held last month.
It is mathematically possible for New Democracy (ND) to form a coalition government based simply on the pro-Memorandum parties.
because of an anti-democratic rule giving the biggest party 50 seats extra in parliament.
Party leader Antonis Samaras said Greeks had voted to stay in the euro and called for a “national salvation government.”
SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras agreed that ND should be the first to try to form a coalition.
The formation of an openly pro-Memorandum coalition faces significant obstacles, however.
ND’s key ally in such a coalition—the social democratic PASOK, which won 12.5 percent of the vote—announced last night they would not join a coalition unless SYRIZA participated in it. The large SYRIZA vote and the general disaffection expressed in the low turnout convinced PASOK that it would be dangerous to proceed as if the pro-Memorandum parties had a mandate to rule.
PASOK proposed a national unity government of the four leading parties—also including the small Democratic Left, a right-wing split from SYRIZA. Its calculation was clear: a government that visibly defied the deep popular opposition to austerity in Greece by excluding SYRIZA would face mass opposition and be unable to govern effectively.
Europe’s bankers and their tame politicians are cock-a-hoop at the electoral victory for Greece’s New Democracy (ND) conservatives, but their celebrations may be premature: here.
How often does sport immitate reality? In a Euro clash that does not involve currency, Germany — the pro-austerity soccer heavy-weight — is set to play Greece in the first knock-out round of Euro 2012 on Thursday.
NARROW NEW DEMOCRACY WIN – A MINOR BREATHING SPACE FOR BOSSES: here.
View from Athens – a Greek Tragedy: here. Alexis Papazoglou compares the Greek crisis with Sophocles’ Antigone.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 