New U.S.-Backed Alliance to Counter ISIS in Syria Falters
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/world/middleeast/new-us-backed-alliance-in-syria-exists-in-name-only.html
Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum
New U.S.-Backed Alliance to Counter ISIS in Syria Falters
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/world/middleeast/new-us-backed-alliance-in-syria-exists-in-name-only.html
Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum
Russia: Librarian Is Accused of Allowing Access to Banned Ukrainian Books - The New York Times
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/world/europe/russia-librarian-is-accused-of-allowing-access-to-banned-ukrainian-books.ht
The director of a Ukrainian-language library in Moscow was placed under house arrest on Monday by a Russian court that accused her of allowing public access to banned literature. The director, Natalia Sharina, could face as much as five years in prison for what Russian law enforcement agencies said was the dissemination of books by a Ukrainian nationalist writer, Dmytro Korchynsky, that are banned in Russia for promoting anti-Russian propaganda. Ms. Sharina denied the charges, saying the banned books were “planted during the searches,” a claim that was repeated by staff members. “Books cannot constitute extremism, because in my opinion extremism is an action,” she said in the courtroom, the Kommersant newspaper reported. Ms. Sharina’s lawyers have appealed the decision, the Interfax news agency said, and Human Rights Watch called for her immediate release in a statement.
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Dmytro Korchynsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmytro_Korchynsky
Dmytro Oleksandrovych Korchynsky (born 22 January 1964, Kiev) is a Ukrainian public figure and leader of BRATSTVO ("Brotherhood"), a Ukrainian Orthodox rooted religious and political organization in Ukraine. Korchynsky is the former leader of the ultra-nationalist UNA-UNSO party.
Saigas, an Endangered Antelope, Dying of Mystery Disease
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/science/saiga-antelope-mystery-disease-die-off.html
In the past two weeks, more than third of all saigas have been killed, conservationists have found.[...]
“To lose 120,000 animals in two or three weeks is a phenomenal thing.”
[...]
The scientists found that the animals were infected with two species of deadly bacteria, Pasteurella and Clostridium. But Dr. Kock is convinced that the bacteria are not the fundamental cause of the die-off.
Both species of bacteria are present in healthy animals, becoming lethal only when the animals grow weak. Dr. Kock also observed that the saiga died so quickly from their infections that they could not have spread the bacteria to other animals.
“The time period is too short,” he said.
Dr. Kock and his colleagues are investigating other factors that may have triggered the die-off, including the possibility of an unknown virus. Dr. Kock said it will take three or four weeks to isolate any agent in the necropsy tissues.
The scientists are also looking at how changes in the environment may have put stress on the saiga. Heavy rainfall this year may have altered the ecology of the steppes, disrupting their food supply, for example.
[...]
“The die-off may not be over,” she said. “This is unconfirmed, but it fills us with great fear.”
He said that according to preliminary results, the cause of death of saiga is hemorrhagic septicemia. It is an infection that involves bacteria producing many different toxins. The researchers suspect that the pathogens were spread by ticks that populate the steppes in great numbers in late April-early May.
▻http://en.tengrinews.kz/environment/Foreign-experts-present-findings-on-mass-saiga-pestilence-in-261483
Début septembre, des chercheurs rapportent que 60.000 de ces antilopes asiatiques sont tombées les unes à la suite des autres, sans raison, en l’espace de seulement 4 jours.
▻http://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/animaux/20150907.OBS5383/60-000-antilopes-decedent-mysterieusement-au-kazahkstan.html
At a scientific meeting last week in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dr. Kock and his colleagues reported that they had narrowed down the possible culprits. #Climate change and stormy spring weather, they said, may have transformed harmless bacteria carried by the antelopes, called saigas, into lethal pathogens.
It is a scenario that deeply worries scientists. “It’s not going to be something the species can survive,” Dr. Kock said. “If there are weather triggers that are broad enough, you could actually have extinction in one year.”
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/science/more-than-half-entire-species-of-saigas-gone-in-mysterious-die-off.html
After mass die-off, saiga antelope numbers go up in Kazakhstan
▻https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/after-mass-die-off-saiga-antelope-numbers-go-up-in-kazakhstan
A recent aerial survey of saigas carried out from April 18 to May 3, 2016 has revealed that the numbers of all three saiga populations in Kazakhstan—Ural, Betpak-Dala and Ustyurt — are going up. [...] The surveys counted a total of 108,300 adult saigas. The Ural population has about 70,200 individuals, up from 51,700 in 2015, while the Ustyurt population has around 1,900 individuals, up from 1,200 in 2015. The Betpak-Dala population also showed promise with about 36,200 individuals, the results revealed.
[...] “This is far below the 242,000 animals we counted in spring 2015, before the mass-die off,” Albert Salemgareyev from ACBK, co-leader of the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, said. “But we are grateful for this glimpse of hope.”
[...] Scientists are continuing to investigate the conditions that could have led to the 2015 mass deaths.
Saigas on the brink: Multidisciplinary analysis of the factors influencing mass mortality events (Kock et al., 2018)
▻http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao2314.full