Thursday, December 20, 2018

Oregon Restaurant Owner Sentenced to Prison in Connection With Immigration-Related Forced Labor Scheme

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs-Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Paul Jumroon, also known as Veraphon Phatanakitjumroon, 55, formerly of Beaverton and Depoe Bay, Oregon, and a naturalized citizen originally from Thailand, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown to 37 months in prison with three years’ supervised release and was ordered to pay more than $131,000 in restitution to four victims and more than $120,000 to the IRS in taxes due. The defendant previously pleaded guilty to forced labor, visa fraud conspiracy, and filing false tax returns. Today’s sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams of the District of Oregon, Acting Special Agent in Charge Steve Palmer of the FBI’s Portland Field Office, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Troy Burrus of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Seattle Field Office.

According to documents filed in court, between 2011 and 2014, defendants Paul Jumroon and Tanya Jumroon fraudulently obtained E-2 “investor” visas to bring Thai nationals into the United States to provide cheap labor at their restaurants in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and in Ridgefield, Washington. The defendants no longer own either restaurant. Paul Jumroon then lured four Thai chefs to the United States to work at the restaurants through the promise of a visa and false representations about their salaries and job responsibilities. Once the victims arrived, he confiscated their passports and documents and exploited and coerced their labor through debts, verbal abuse, and threats of financial and reputational harm, requiring them to work significant hours for minimal pay. Tanya Jumroon witnessed the mistreatment of the victims, and she benefited financially from their forced labor at the restaurants that she co-owned. Additionally, the defendants filed multiple false tax returns with the IRS by failing to report cash income earned from the restaurants between 2012 and 2015.

“Paul Jumroon’s violation of the law by obtaining fraudulent visas and exploiting vulnerable individuals for his own personal profit is disgraceful,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. “The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute traffickers vigorously and secure justice for victims who have been mistreated and degraded by criminals.”

“Paul Jumroon has been brought to justice for preying on the hopes of vulnerable workers and using fear to compel work for little pay. He and his wife Tanya profited off of a degrading crime,” said U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams. “This case demonstrates our firm commitment to holding traffickers accountable and restoring the rights, freedom and dignity of victims.”

“Life in America is built on the promise of freedom and choice. When these victims came to this country seeking a better life, Paul Jumroon instead cooked up a scheme of false promises, forced labor and abuse,” said FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Steve Palmer. “Today’s sentence brings justice for them while also sending a strong message to those who think they can profit off others through coercion and intimidation.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Jumroon bullied and intimidated employees that trusted them in order to line their own pockets” said Troy Burrus, IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge. “The defendants thought they were above the law. They abused multiple victims and stole money from the American taxpayers. Today’s sentence demonstrates the government's determination to hold them accountable for their actions.”

Tanya Jumroon, also known as Thunyarax Phatanakit Jumroon, 59, of Beaverton, Oregon, will be sentenced tomorrow for conspiring with Paul Jumroon and others to commit visa fraud, for making and subscribing a false tax return, and benefitting financially from forced labor. Tanya Jumroon pleaded guilty to these charges in June 2018.

The District of Oregon is one of six districts designated through a competitive, nationwide selection process as a Phase II Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam), through the interagency ACTeam Initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor. ACTeams focus on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor, international sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.

This prosecution is the result of the joint investigation by the Oregon Foreign-Born Human Trafficking Taskforce, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation and Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, with assistance from the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and Portland Police Bureau. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hannah Horsley, Scott Bradford and Steven Mygrant of the District of Oregon, and Lindsey Roberson of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

U. S. charges Chinese hackers in alleged theft of vast trove of confidential data in 12 countries

Prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging two Chinese nationals with computer hacking attacks on a wide range of U.S. government agencies and corporations. (Reuters)

By Ellen Nakashima and David J. Lynch December 20 at 5:43 PM

The United States and four of its closest allies Thursday blamed China for a 12-year campaign of cyber attacks that vacuumed up technology and trade secrets from corporate computers in 12 countries, affecting almost every major global industry.

The coordinated announcements in five capitals marked the Trump administration’s broadest anti-China initiative to date, yet fell short of even stronger measures that officials had planned.

Treasury Secretary During the final debates, Steven Mnuchin blocked a proposal to impose financial sanctions on those implicated in the hacking, according to five sources familiar with the matter. Two administration officials said Mnuchin acted of fear that sanctions would interfere with U.S.-China trade talks

The centerpiece of Thursday’s synchronized accusations came in Washington, where the Justice Department unveiled indictments against two Chinese hackers, who it said acted “in association with” the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).

[U.S. investigators point to China in Marriott hack affecting 500 million guests]

Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong, members of a hacking squad known as “Advanced Persistent Threat 1o” or “Stone Panda,” were accused of conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft while pilfering “hundreds of gigabytes” of confidential business data, the indictment said.

Xi Jinping: China won't be dictated to by an outsider

In a closely watched speech marking 40 years of market liberalisation, Chinese President Xi Jinping says China will continue to reform, but at its own pace. (Reuters)

“China’s goal, simply put, is to replace the U.S. as the world’s leading superpower, and they're using illegal methods to get there,” said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.

U.S. allies echoed the Justice Department action, signaling a growing consensus that Beijing is flouting international norms in its bid to become the world’s predominant economic and technological power.

In London, Canberra, Ottawa and Wellington, ministers knocked China for violating a 2015 pledge, first offered by Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Rose Garden and later repeated at international gatherings such as the G-20, to refrain from hacking for commercial gain.

“This campaign is one of the most significant and widespread cyber intrusions against the U.K. and allies uncovered to date, targeting trade secrets and economies around the world,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement.

Still, some administration allies were skeptical that Thursday’s announcement would alter China’s behavior.

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein speaks while FBI Director Christopher A. Wray listens during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, on Dec. 20, 2018, to announce indictments of two Chinese nationals for alleged hacking attacks. (Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg)

“Just as when the Obama administration did it, indicting a handful of Chinese agents out of the tens of thousands involved in economic espionage is necessary but not important,” Derek Scissors, a China analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said. “International denouncements may irritate Xi, but they place no real pressure on him.”

Scissors said it would be more effective for the United States to hit high-profile Chinese companies with financial sanctions, including potential bans on their ability to do business with American companies.

The five governments that joined in the statements about China are partners in the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, sharing some of their most closely-guarded technical and human reporting.

The foreign ministries of Denmark, Sweden and Finland later tweeted statements saying they shared the concerns over rampant cyber commercial espionage.

The united front against Chinese hacking and economic espionage stands in contrast to the “America First” president’s preference for taking a unilateral course to many of his trade goals.

“This demonstrates there’s a strong well of international support the United States can tap . . . Countries are fed up,” said Ely Ratner, executive vice president of the Center for a New American Security.

[U.S. charges Chinese spies and their recruited hackers in conspiracy to steal trade secrets]

The hackers named in the indictment presided over a state-backed campaign of cyber theft that targeted advanced technologies with commercial and military applications. They also hacked into companies called “managed service providers,” which act as gatekeepers to computer networks serving scores of corporate clients.

The Chinese targeted companies in the finance, telecommunications, consumer electronics and medical industries, along with U.S. government laboratories operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the military, the indictment alleges.

Along with the United States and United Kingdom, countries targeted by China include Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland.

“The list of victim companies reads like a who’s who of the global economy,” said Wray.

The Stone Panda team made off with personal information, including Social Security numbers belonging to more than 100,000 U.S. Navy personnel, prosecutors said.

The hackers employed a technique known as “spearphishing,” tricking computer users at the business and government offices into opening malware-infected emails giving them access to login and password details.

They worked out of an office in Tianjin, China, and engaged in hacking operations during working hours in China, the indictment said.

Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, called the Chinese cyber campaign “shocking and outrageous.”

Over the past seven years, more than 90 percent of cases alleging economic espionage involved China as did more than two-thirds of trade secret theft prosecutions, according to Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein.

Many of the industries targeted in the Stone Panda hacks feature in the Chinese government’s Made in China 2025 program, which aims to supplant the U.S. as the global leader in 10 advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, robotics and quantum computing, Rosenstein added.
The Chinese embassy had no immediate comment.

In November, in one of his last official actions, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a major initiative to combat Chinese commercial spying, building on four years of prosecutorial effort.

The department vowed to aggressively pursue trade-secret theft cases and identify researchers and defense industry employees who’ve been “co-opted” by Chinese agents seeking to transfer technology to China.

[U.S. and China agree to new talks as Trump pulls back on tariffs]

While Thursday’s show of anti-China unity was notable, the administration pulled back from plans for tougher action following warnings from the treasury secretary.

Mnuchin’s 11th-hour intervention left administration hard-liners fearing that Beijing would view Thursday’s limited actions as a sign the president lacks the stomach for an all-out confrontation.

“We don’t comment on sanctions actions or deliberations, but it’s important to note that these issues are completely separate from trade,” said a Treasury Department spokesperson asked to comment on the reports.

The administration action entailed statements from four cabinet agencies — Justice, State, Energy and Homeland Security — while Treasury remained on the sidelines.

The condemnations also pose a complicating factor as Trump and Xi seek to negotiate a trade deal. Over dinner in Buenos Aires earlier this month, the two leaders agreed to a truce in their months-long tariff war.

Talks between U.S. and Chinese diplomats are expected to begin early next month. The Trump administration is seeking a deal that would involve structural changes to China’s state-led economic model, greater Chinese purchases of American farm and industrial products and a halt to what the United States says are coercive joint-venture licensing terms.

The indictments were followed by a joint statement from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen assailing China for violating President Xi’s landmark 2015 pledge to refrain from hacking U.S. trade secrets and intellectual property to benefit Chinese companies.

“These actions by Chinese actors to target intellectual property and sensitive business information present a very real threat to the economic competitiveness of companies in the United States and around the globe,” they said.

Thursday’s push to confront China over its alleged cyber aggression comes at a fraught time, as Canada has arrested a Chinese telecommunications executive at the United States’ request on a charge related to violating sanctions against Iran.

Charity censured for use of semi-clad woman in refugee crisis campaign

Amnesty Netherlands under fire as Dutch branch of Médecins Sans Frontières also criticised over use of makeup to imitate Ebola

The Amnesty International Netherlands’ magazine highlighting the refugee crisis. The organisation admitted it had ‘trivialised the suffering and trauma refugees have experienced fleeing their homes’. Photograph: Handout

Rebecca Ratcliffe-Thu 20 Dec 2018 16.05 GMT
Two leading international charities have been criticised for using inappropriate images – one of a semi-clad model lying on a bed of lifejackets – in campaigns intended to raise awareness of Ebola and of the refugee crisis on Greek islands.

On Wednesday, the Dutch branch of Médecins Sans Frontières, Artsen Zonder Grenzen, halted their Face It campaign, in which actors and Instagram influencers wore makeup to mimic Ebola symptoms. The charity said the images were designed to raise awareness.

Separately, Amnesty International Netherlands faced criticism after it produced a magazine designed to highlight the refugee crisis, placing an image of a half-naked woman on the front cover, in which she is pictured lying on a bed of life jackets.

Amnesty International has since dropped the cover and apologised, admitting it “trivialised the suffering and trauma refugees have experienced fleeing their homes, particularly women”.

The human rights group’s Netherlands branch said it was intended as a parody of a glossy magazine, contrasting luxury lifestyles with the appalling conditions facing people trapped in camps on Greek islands. The front cover featured the actress Jouman Fattal, who was forced to leave Syria when she was four years old.

The magazine promised “must haves” to survive a winter in a refugee camp, and mentioned an anti-rape lock for women who want to go to the toilet at night.

The UN has previously warned of heightened levels of sexual violence facing female refugees on Greek islands. Charities report that women are afraid to use showers or toilets in the overcrowded camps.

A woman waves a life jacket to direct a migrant boat ashore as it makes the crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Campaigners Alexia Pepper de Caires and Shaista Aziz, who founded the group NGO Safe Space in response to cases of sexual harassment and sexual abuse in the aid sector, described Amnesty International Netherlands’ campaign as grotesque.

“The Mediterranean has become a graveyard … it’s incomprehensible that one of the world’s richest and most powerful human rights NGOs has turned it into a backdrop for a fashion shoot,” they wrote in an open letter published on the website Media Diversified. “Women have given birth in life jackets, miscarried in life jackets and died in life jackets.

“The simple and inconvenient fact that has been erased by Amnesty Netherlands is that many of the black women and women and girls of colour who constitute the majority of the world’s refugees exist in contexts where their bodies do not belong to them.”

The magazine was designed to draw attention to a petition calling on the Dutch government to take in 1,000 people who are stranded on the Greek islands.

Amnesty International Netherlands said the magazine was produced in collaboration with former refugees and activists. “We never intended to offend anyone and regret that the choice for the cover has been a distraction from our ongoing work to end the dire situation for many trapped on the Greek islands.”

Amnesty International added: “We realise the images also compounded sexualised gender stereotypes that harm and objectify women, specifically women of colour. We are conscious that the use of life jackets as a prop was particularly hurtful to people who have depended on these for their survival. We are profoundly sorry for this.”

Last month, the UNHCR, UN refugee agency, warned of abhorrent conditionsfacing refugees on Greek islands, where reception centres are severely overcrowded and new arrivals forced to buy flimsy tents. “[Tents] offer little protection from the cold weather, without electricity, running water or toilets. There are snakes in the area, and rats are thriving in the uncollected waste,” the agency said.

MSF Holland said its campaign was designed to raise awareness of diseases. Its teams are responding to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in North Kivu province, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been hit by violence and instability. As of 19 December, 494 Ebola cases and 271 deaths from Ebola have been recorded.

“The idea was to bring diseases that don’t usually appear in Holland closer to home,” said Katherine Knowles, coordinator for press and communications MSF Holland. “We don’t use real patients, we would never do that, so the idea was to use influencers and people who are recognised and who people related to.”

Knowles added that the aim of the images, to raise awareness of diseases, had been overshadowed by criticism and that they had halted the campaign.

A young Rohingya woman’s journey to the impossible

From Terror to Triumph

A HAPPY MOMENT: Formin Akter, a young Rohingya woman, prepares to leave her refugee camp in Bangladesh for the city of Chittagong to attend school at the Asian University for Women. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

Formin Akter overcame resistance in her community and deadly violence and repression in Myanmar to achieve her dream of going to college. But her joy is bittersweet as her sister, who had the same dream, is left behind.

By ZEBA SIDDIQUI-Filed Dec. 20, 2018, noon GMT

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh – On the first day of the school year at the Asian University for Women in southern Bangladesh, groups of teenage girls in skinny jeans, sleeveless tops and T-shirts chattered, their laughter carrying through the sticky air.

Formin Akter, 19, stood in a corner by a row of suitcases, facing away from the students who seemed so modern and full of confidence. Wearing a tunic and pants that hung loosely on her, she nervously adjusted a brown georgette scarf that kept slipping from her head.

A young Rohingya woman’s jo... by on Scribd

Post-Brexit immigration plan unveiled by government

19 Dec 2018
Theresa May has insisted the government does remain committed to getting immigration down to the tens of thousands, although the Home Secretary refused to commit to a specific figure as he unveiled the long-awaited immigration white paper. Under the plans, which end freedom of movement from the EU, tens of thousands of people could still get temporary visas entitling them to work for up to a year. And the cap on the number of skilled workers allowed in will be scrapped. But actual details were thin on the ground.

Homeless deaths in England, Wales rise by a quarter in 5 years

Nearly 600 homeless people in the two regions died last year - a 24 percent rise, according to official estimates.

Homelessness charities in the UK say rough sleepers have increased by 169 percent since 2010 [Reuters]

by Arwa Ibrahim-20 Dec 2018

Nearly 600 homeless people in England and Wales died the last year, an increase of 24 percent over the past five years, government figures have revealed.

Rising from 475 in 2014 to 597 in 2017, deaths among the homeless increased annually - barring a slight drop in 2013 - according to figures released by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.

A majority of these deaths were among men, with an 503 men, or 84 percent of the total, dying in 2017, compared with 94 women.

The report came days after a 45 year-old mancollapsed outside the UK parliament and died.

The ONS defines a homeless person as those recorded as "having no fixed abode, sleeping rough or using emergency accommodation such as homeless shelters and direct access hostels."

'Homeless die younger'

Abused, harassed, rejected: Glasgow's homeless women

The average age of deaths among the homeless was 44 years for men and 42 for women, a sharp contrast to the mean age at death of the general population at 76 years for men and 81 for women.

Drug poisoning, suicide or alcohol abuse accounted for more than half the deaths in 2017 while these reasons made for just three percent of the fatalities among the general population in the UK last year.

Ben Humberstone, deputy director for health analysis and life events at the ONS, said the purpose of the study was to shed light on the pressing social issue.

"Every year, hundreds of people die while homeless. These are some of the most vulnerable members of our society so it was vital that we produced estimates of sufficient quality to properly shine a light on this critical issue," he said.

"Our findings show a pattern of deaths among homeless people which is strikingly different from the general population. For example, homeless people tend to die younger and from different causes."

Geographically, London and the North West of England show the highest mortality rates among rough sleepers.

In the northwest, Manchester and Liverpool experienced the largest increase in homeless fatalities over the five-year period, from 55 in 2013 to 119 in 2017.

In the northeast and Yorkshire, deaths rose by 71 percent and 58 percent respectively since 2013.

The ONS calculated the figures by checking death registrations in England and Wales for information that a person was homeless at the time of their death.

While the findings are the first official estimates of the homeless deaths in England and Wales, the figures are experimental, and are yet to be assessed against the rigorous quality standards of National Statistics.

Government promises

An UK government spokeswoman saidin October that £1.2bn would be invested to tackle "all forms of homelessness" and end rough sleeping by 2027.

'Shameful': What's driving the global housing crisis?

The British media also reported that the government pledged in October that local authorities would investigate all homeless deaths.

Yet, more than 24,000 people in Britain will spend this holiday season sleeping rough or on public transport, according to figures by the homelessness charity, Crisis.

Official figures collated by homelessness charities in the UK say rough sleepers have quadrupled, increasing by 169 percent since 2010, reported the Guardian in January.

UK housing secretary James Brokenshire said on Tuesday that homelessness is not a result of the government policy. Instead, he blamed the rise on the spread of psychoactive drugs such as spice, growth in non-UK nationals on the streets, and family breakdown,

Following the release of the ONS figures, Brokenshire said: "No one is meant to spend their lives on the streets or without a home to call their own. Every death on our streets is too many and it is simply unacceptable to see lives cut short this way," he said.

"To stop people from becoming homeless in the first place, we've changed the law to require councils to provide early support for those at risk of being left with nowhere left to go, are boosting access to affordable housing and making renting more secure."

UK charities appalled

But UK charities believe the government needs to do more to tackle the issue.

Greg Beales, campaign director at UK charity, Shelter, told Al Jazeera: "This appalling loss of life should be a source of national shame. There is nothing inevitable about homelessness or about these tragic deaths which are a consequence of a housing system which fails too many people."

Dying on the streets: The UK's homeless

"Our crippling shortage of social housing and a threadbare safety net are at the root of this national emergency and we call on the government to make this year a turning point in the fight to ensure that there is a safe home for all those who need it."

Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, another UK charity, said it was "unacceptable" that so many homeless people are dying.

"Every time someone who is homeless dies, there should be a thorough investigation into the cause of death, so we can learn how to prevent them in the future."

Henderson called homelessness "a key health inequality" and causes premature death.

"But we know that it is preventable... The government must urgently look at solving the structural causes of homelessness by tackling poverty, the broken welfare system and building more genuinely affordable housing."

'Unimaginable horrors': UN report details violations against migrants in Libya

UN document calls on EU states to reexamine their cooperation with Libyan authorities to avoid contributing to rampant abuse

Migrants at Ganzour shelter in Libya on 5 September (AFP/File photo)

Thursday 20 December 2018

Migrants in Libya are facing "unimaginable horrors", including extrajudicial killings, sexual abuse, torture, slavery and arbitrary detention, a United Nations report said.

The new report, released by UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the UN Human Rights Office on Thursday, calls on European Union states to re-examine their cooperation with the Libyan authorities on the issue of migration to avoid contributing to such rampant abuse.

"This should include working towards an end to the mandatory, automatic and arbitrary detention of migrants and refugees in irregular situations, stamping out of torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence and forced labour in detention, and ending all return practices that would violate the strict prohibitions on collective expulsion and refoulement," the report says.

On Thursday, Libya's coast guard, which received new boats from the Italian government earlier this year to help quell migration, said it has intercepted about 15,000 migrants trying to reach Italy by sea so far this year.

According to the UN report, the Libyan coast guard intercepted 29,000 migrants between the beginning of 2017 and the end of September 2018.

Migrants who get picked up by the authorities and armed groups are placed in detention centres, which the UN described as "inhuman".

READ MORE ►

Libya's Tuareg find a new home in coastal Amazigh enclave

During visits to detention centres run by Libya's Department for Combatting Illegal Immigration, UN staff witnessed "severe overcrowding, lack of proper ventilation and lighting, inadequate access to washing facilities and latrines, constant confinement, denial of contact with the outside world, and malnutrition", the report says.

Since Libya fell into chaos after an uprising ousted longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, the country has become a major jumping off point for migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa as they try to reach Europe by sea.

"This climate of lawlessness provides fertile ground for thriving illicit activities, such as trafficking in human beings and criminal smuggling, and leaves migrant and refugee men, women and children at the mercy of countless predators who view them as commodities to be exploited and extorted for maximum financial gain," the UN report states.

The UN report also suggests that racism may play a role in the violations that migrants are subjected to.

"Abuses against Sub-Saharan migrants and refugees, in particular, are compounded by the failure of the Libyan authorities to address racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia," the UN said.

Early Cretaceous Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in Southern England

Paleontologists in southern England have uncovered a set of well-preserved footprints made by at least seven different dinosaur species about 140 million years ago (Early Cretaceous epoch).

Two large iguanodontian footprints with skin and claw impressions from the Lee Ness Sandstone of the Ashdown Formation. Image credit: Neil Davies.

Dec 19, 2018 by News Staff

University of Cambridge researchers Anthony Shillito and Neil Daviesdiscovered a collection of 85 dinosaur footprints in the Lee Ness Sandstone of the Ashdown Formation, in a near-continuous 3.7-mile (6 km) long coastal cliff section extending between Fairlight Cove and Hastings in East Sussex, England.

The footprints were left by herbivorous dinosaurs, including Iguanodon, Ankylosaurus, a species of stegosaur, and possible examples from the sauropod group (which included Diplodocus and Brontosaurus); as well as carnivorous theropods.

They range in size from less than 0.8 inches (2 cm) to over 23 inches (60 cm) across and are so well-preserved that fine detail of skin, scales and claws is easily visible.

“Whole body fossils of dinosaurs are incredibly rare,” Shillito said.

“Usually you only get small pieces, which don’t tell you a lot about how that dinosaur may have lived. A collection of footprints like this helps you fill in some of the gaps and infer things about which dinosaurs were living in the same place at the same time.”

Dinosaur skin textures on footprint casts from the base of the Lee Ness Sandstone. (A, B) Polygonal skin texture on a theropod footprint cast: (A) the full extent of the texture on the toe of the footprint cast; black box shows the extent of B; (B) a close up of the skin texture in A; it is comprised of small, raised sub-rounded polygons; polygons are fairly uniform with small differences in eccentricity. (C, D) Skin texture on an ornithopod footprint cast: (C) extent of the skin texture on the side of the footprint cast; black box shows the extent of D; (D) a close up of the skin texture in (C); polygons are more pronounced than those in (B), with a greater microtopography but similar size and shapes. Scale bars – 1 cm. Image credit: Anthony P. Shillito & Neil S. Davies, doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.018.

In the Cretaceous period, the area where the footprints were found was likely near a water source, and in addition to the footprints, a number of fossilized plants and invertebrates were also found.

“To preserve footprints, you need the right type of environment,” Dr. Davies said.

“The ground needs to be ‘sticky’ enough so that the footprint leaves a mark, but not so wet that it gets washed away. You need that balance in order to capture and preserve them.”

“As well as the large abundance and diversity of these prints, we also see absolutely incredible detail,” Shillito added.

“You can clearly see the texture of the skin and scales, as well as four-toed claw marks, which are extremely rare.”

“You can get some idea about which dinosaurs made them from the shape of the footprints — comparing them with what we know about dinosaur feet from other fossils lets you identify the important similarities.”

“When you also look at footprints from other locations you can start to piece together which species were the key players.”

The discovery is described in a paper published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Anthony P. Shillito & Neil S. Davies. 2019. Dinosaur-landscape interactions at a diverse Early Cretaceous tracksite (Lee Ness Sandstone, Ashdown Formation, southern England). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 514: 593-612; doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.11.018

Risks of 'domino effect' of tipping points greater than thought, study says

Scientists warn policymakers not to ignore links, and stress that ‘every action counts’

When arctic ice melts, less sunlight is reflected, which raises global temperatures and increases the risk of forest fires. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Jonathan Watts-Thu 20 Dec 2018 19.00 GMT

Policymakers have severely underestimated the risks of ecological tipping points, according to a study that shows 45% of all potential environmental collapses are interrelated and could amplify one another.

The authors said their paper, published in the journal Science, highlights how overstressed and overlapping natural systems are combining to throw up a growing number of unwelcome surprises.
“The risks are greater than assumed because the interactions are more dynamic,” said Juan Rocha of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. “The important message is to recognise the wickedness of the problem that humanity faces.”

The study collated existing research on ecosystem transitions that can irreversibly tip to another state, such as coral reefs bleaching and being overrun by algae, forests becoming savannahs and ice sheets melting into oceans. It then cross-referenced the 30 types of shift to examine the impacts they might have on one another and human society.

Only 19% were entirely isolated. Another 36% shared a common cause, but were not likely to interact. The remaining 45% had the potential to create either a one-way domino effect or mutually reinforcing feedbacks.

The destruction of coral reefs can weaken coastal defences and expose mangrove forests to damage. Photograph: Greg Torda/ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

Among the latter pairings were Arctic ice sheets and boreal forests. When the former melt, there is less ice to reflect the sun’s heat so the temperature of the planet rises. This increases the risks of forest fires, which discharge carbon into the air that adds to the greenhouse effect, which melts more ice. Although geographically distant, each amplifies the other.

By contrast, a one-way domino-type impact is that between coral reefs and mangrove forests. When the former are destroyed, it weakens coastal defences and exposes mangroves to storms and ocean surges.

The deforestation of the Amazon is responsible for multiple “cascading effects” – weakening rain systems, forests becoming savannah, and reduced water supplies for cities like São Paulo and crops in the foothills of the Andes. This, in turn, increases the pressure for more land clearance.

Until recently, the study of tipping points was controversial, but it is increasingly accepted as an explanation for climate changes that are happening with more speed and ferocity than earlier computer models predicted. The loss of coral reefs and Arctic sea ice may already be past the point of no return. There are signs the Antarctic is heading the same way faster than thought.

Co-author Garry Peterson said the tipping of the west Antarctic ice shelf was not on the radar of many scientists 10 years ago, but now there was overwhelming evidence of the risks – including losses of chunks of ice the size of New York – and some studies now suggest the tipping point may have already been passed by the southern ice sheet, which may now be releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

“We’re surprised at the rate of change in the Earth system. So much is happening at the same time and at a faster speed than we would have thought 20 years ago. That’s a real concern,” said Peterson. “We’re heading ever faster towards the edge of a cliff.”

The fourth most downloaded academic research of 2018 was the Hothouse Earth paper, which considered how tipping points could combine to push the global climate into an uninhabitable state.

The authors of the new paper say their work goes beyond climate studies by mapping a wider range of ecological stress points, such as biodiversity loss, agricultural expansion, urbanisation and soil erosion. It also focuses more on what is happening at the local level now, rather than projecting geo-planetary trends into the future.

“We’re looking at things that affect people in their daily lives. They’re things that are happening today,” said Peterson. “There is a positive message as it expands the range of options for action. It is not just at an international level. Mayors can also make a difference by addressing soil erosion, or putting in place social policies that place less stress on the environment, or building up natural coastal defences.”

Rocha has spent 10 years building a database of tipping points, or “regime shifts” as he calls them. He urges policymakers to adopt a similar interdisciplinary approach so they can better grasp what is happening.

“We’re trying to connect the dots between different research communities,” said Rocha.

“Governments also need to look more at interactions. They should stop compartmentalising ministries like agriculture, fisheries and international relations and try to manage environmental problems by embracing the diversity of causes and mechanisms underlying them. Policies need to match the scale of the problem.

“It’s a little depressing knowing we are not on a trajectory to keep our ecosystem in a functional state, but these connections are also a reason for hope; good management in one place can prevent severe environmental degradation elsewhere. Every action counts.”

As Ebola threatens mega-cities, vaccine stockpile needs grow

FILE PHOTO: Healthcare workers carry the coffin of a baby believed to have died of Ebola, in Beni, North Kivu Province of Democratic Republic of Congo, December 15, 2018. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo

Kate Kelland-DECEMBER 20, 2018

LONDON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Doubts are growing about whether the world’s emergency stockpile of 300,000 Ebola vaccine doses is enough to control future epidemics as the deadly disease moves out of rural forest areas and into urban mega-cities.

Outbreak response experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) and at the vaccines alliance GAVI are already talking to the leading Ebola vaccine manufacturer, Merck, to reassess just how much larger global stocks need to be.

“We’re actively engaged with the World Health Organization and with groups like GAVI, the U.S. government and others to try to understand what will be an appropriate sized stockpile in the future,” Merck’s head of vaccines clinical research, Beth-Ann Coller, said in a telephone interview.

Supply of the Merck shot, which is currently being used to fight a large and spreading outbreak of Ebola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is not a problem right now, according to the WHO’s deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response, Peter Salama.

But the nature of Ebola outbreaks is changing, he told Reuters. As the virus finds its way out of rural villages into populous urban settings, plans for how to contain it in future must change too.

“What I’m concerned about is the medium- to long-term stockpile. The figure of 300,000 was very much based on previous Ebola outbreaks where you never really had huge numbers of cases because they were in isolated, rural, populations. But now, we increasingly see Ebola in mega-cities and towns.”

“We need to view it now as an urban disease as well as a rural one - and therefore one requiring a different order of magnitude of preparations, including vaccines,” he said.

Merck’s experimental Ebola vaccine, known as rVSV-ZEBOV, is the furthest ahead in development. Another potential vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson could also eventually become part of the stockpile, global health officials say.

Congo’s two Ebola outbreaks this year illustrate the shifting nature of the threat.

The first was relatively contained, infecting up to 54 people and killing 33 of them in an area of DRC’s Equateur Province that is remote and sparsely populated.

Several of the eight outbreaks before this one in Congo - including one in 2014 and another in 2017 both also in Equateur - were also quickly contained and limited in size.

But this year’s second outbreak in Congo - and the country’s tenth since the virus was first identified there in 1976 - is concentrated not in rural villages but in urban areas of the North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

It has already infected more than 450 people, killed more than 270, and last month spread to Butembo, a densely populated city of about one million.

This kind of prospect means global health emergency responders must “review our assumptions around Ebola”, Salama said. “If it were to take off in Butembo, or Goma, or, even worse, Kinshasa, we’d be talking about a totally different issue in terms of ... vaccine supplies required.”

Seth Berkley, chief executive of the GAVI vaccines alliance which has an agreement with Merck to ensure a current stockpile of 300,000 rVSV-ZEBOV doses, told Reuters that around 40,000 doses had been used so far in the Congo outbreak.

The emergency response is based on “ring vaccination” which aims to control an outbreak by identifying and offering the vaccine to contacts of anyone likely to be infected. This method uses relatively small numbers of vaccine doses and forms a human buffer of immunity to try to prevent spread of the disease.

For now in Congo, Berkley said, there is no immediate need to boost the stockpile. But looking towards future inevitable outbreaks, the numbers would likely need to change.

“The challenge we would have - and this has been under discussion - is if we started to do community-based vaccination in urban and semi-urban areas. That’s when the numbers would start to get quite big quite quickly,” he told Reuters.

Merck’s shot has proven safe and effective in trials in West Africa but has yet to be approved for a license by U.S. and European regulators, so is being used in the Congo outbreak under special emergency rules for experimental products.

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When it gets approval, which Coller hopes would be in 2019, it will be made at a newly built manufacturing plant in Germany.

Coller said Merck is not yet clear how many doses a year, or a month, the German facility could churn out once it is in production, but she stressed the company would “work collaboratively with the public health agencies to do our best to support their needs”.

Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Giles Elgood

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Trinco residents condemn authorities' failure to protect against elephants

181219 Muthur rally EC 2.jpg

Residents in Iralkuli and Navaladdy villages in Muthur, Trincomalee have condemned the failure of local authorities to protect locals from destruction by elephants and other wild animals.

19 December 2018

Residents protested outside the Muthur Divisional Secretariat Office on Monday, accusing authorities of ignoring their request for a fence to be erected to stop elephants from entering the villages.

The villagers also complained that authorities have still not provided them with land deed documents despite being resettled in the area after the end of the armed conflict.