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☆ Researchers Dispute Claim That Ancient Whale Was Heaviest Animal Ever
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Carl Zimmer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last August, a team of paleontologists announced that they had discovered the fossilized bones of a gigantic ancient whale. Perucetus, as they named it, might have weighed over 200 tons, which would make it the heaviest animal that has ever lived. But in a study published Thursday, a pair of scientists have challenged that bold claim. The bones had many hallmarks of whales’ bones. Dr. Urbina and his colleagues reconstructed the full skeleton of Perucetus by studying the much smaller whales that lived at the same time.

Persons: ”, Nicholas Pyenson, Pyenson, Ryosuke, Perucetus, Mario Urbina, Urbina Organizations: Smithsonian National Museum of, University of California, Museum, National University of San Locations: Davis, National University of San Marcos, Lima , Peru, Peru

☆ Historic Mexico Church Becomes Capital's Largest Shelter for Weary Migrants
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Dec. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By David Alire GarciaMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A historic Mexico City church has morphed into the capital's largest migrant shelter, with hundreds of sleeping mats stacked high inside and a growing tent city clustered around it where many await news before resuming their risky trek north. The church is a way station for migrants as most wait for unpredictable appointments with U.S. border agents through a mobile phone app. DHS did not share overall wait times and it is unclear if they have lengthened or shortened since then. Arriving at the church earlier this week, 30-year-old Venezuelan migrant Alejandro Urbina explained near his tent that he logs onto the app every day. Reverend Benito Torres, the church's pastor, explained that the Christian imperative to help the most vulnerable is what motivates him.

Persons: David Alire Garcia, Eva Alvarez, Dominick, Alejandro Urbina, Trixy, Benito Torres, Dave Graham, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: David Alire Garcia MEXICO CITY, Catholic, U.S . Department of Homeland Security, DHS Locations: Mexico City, America, United States, Honduran, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, U.S, Belgian, Colombia, Panama, New York, Mexican

☆ Opinion | A Brief History of a Problematic Appetizer
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Ian Urbina | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In some parts of the world, frequent illegal incursions by Chinese ships into other nations’ waters are heightening military tensions. A recent investigation that my team and I conducted revealed a worrying range of human rights and environmental crimes tied to Chinese ships and processing plants. Chinese ships have also fished in North Korean waters, breaking U.N. sanctions, and engaged in violence, wage theft, forced labor, severe neglect of deckhands and human trafficking. Like the boats that supply them, Chinese processing plants rely on forced labor, from North Korea and from Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in China. But it has also stretched the distance between producers, movers and consumers, making it harder to know whether what you’re consuming is tainted by forced labor or environmental crimes.

Persons: Ruggiero Seafood, Ruggiero Organizations: Argentine, Sysco, Walmart Locations: China, United States, North Korea, U.S

☆ At Texas Border, Some Support for Abbott’s Crackdown Is Waning
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Edgar Sandoval | More About Edgar Sandoval | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hugo Urbina, who owns a pecan farm next to the Rio Grande, was unhappy with the constant foot traffic on his land, sometimes dozens of people a day. Jessie Fuentes, who owns a canoe and kayak business, did not want migrants to think America had an “open border.” The town’s mayor, Rolando Salinas Jr., saw the Border Patrol being overwhelmed. “People cannot be arriving by the thousands without consequence,” Mr. Urbina said. The recent reports of injuries and at least two deaths near the 1,000-foot string of river buoys has raised the level of concern. “He went too far,” Mr. Fuentes said.

Persons: Greg Abbott, Hugo Urbina, Jessie Fuentes, Rolando Salinas Jr, Mr, Urbina, Abbott, “, Fuentes Organizations: Gov, America, Patrol, National Guard Locations: Texas, Mexico, Eagle, Rio

REUTERS/Adrees LatifEAGLE PASS, Texas, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The leafy trees on Magali and Hugo Urbina's 350-acre orchard next to the Rio Grande river in Eagle Pass, Texas, should be bursting with pecans this time of year. Migrants for years have forged the river from Mexico to Eagle Pass, part of increasingly higher numbers of people crossing illegally in recent years. He has accused Biden of failing to enforce migration laws and said he has the authority to "defend" Texas' border. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) tasked with securing the border. ENVIRONMENTAL RISKSIn Eagle Pass, sediment falling into the river from the installation of fences and buoys is already altering the water's flow, according to environmentalists.

Persons: Adrees Latif, Hugo Urbina's, Greg Abbott's, Magali, Abbott, Joe Biden, Hugo, breastfed, Biden, Martin Castro, Laiken Jordahl, Daina Beth Solomon, Ted Hesson, Stephen Eisenhammer, Diane Craft Organizations: REUTERS, PASS, Texas, Republican, Star, Democratic, National Guard, Reuters, Watershed, Rio, Customs, Border Protection, of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Center for Biological Diversity, Thomson Locations: United States, Mexico, Eagle Pass , Texas, U.S, Texas, Rio Grande, Eagle, Venezuelan, States, Mexico City

☆ The partial skeleton of an ancient whale shows it could've weighed nearly as much as a Boeing 747, making it one of the heaviest animals ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

It may have weighed twice as much as a blue whale because of its dense bones. That's nearly as heavy as a Boeing 747 or twice as much as a blue whale, which typically weighs between 72 and 180 tons. That means the other fossils retrieved from the area may not offer clues to how P. colossus lived. A 3D model shows what a complete skeleton of Perucetus colossus would look like, above a blue whale and smaller Cynthiacetus peruvianus skeletons. No limbs were found near the P. colossus skeleton, but fossilized evidence suggests it likely had both front and back legs.

Persons: Mario Urbina, Olivier Lambert, Giovanni Bianucci, Cynthiacetus, colossus, colossus isn't, Lambert, Florent Goussard, Marco Merella Organizations: Service, Boeing, Santa Barbara Museum of, History Locations: Wall, Silicon, Pisco, Peru, London

☆ Whale fossil may be the heaviest animal ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A colossal ancient whale discovered in Peru might be the heaviest animal on record, according to a new study. What’s more, Perucetus likely weighed two to three times more than the blue whale, which today weighs a maximum of 149.6 metric tons (330,000 pounds). Giovanni Bianucci“Discoveries of such extreme body forms are an opportunity to re-evaluate our understanding of animal evolution,” wrote J.G.M. “It seems that we are only dimly aware of how astonishing whale form and function can be,” they added. The lifestyle of a colossal whaleThe findings suggest that gigantism or peak body mass among cetaceans had been reached around 30 million years earlier than previously thought, according to the study.

Persons: Giovanni Bianucci, “, ” Bianucci, Perucetus, ”, ’, Bianucci, pacificus, Mystacodon selenesis, Mario Urbina Schmitt, Schmitt, Thewissen, David A, Waugh, weren’t, Ingalls, Brown, ” Thewissen Organizations: CNN, University of Pisa’s, sirenians, Peru “, National University of San, Ohio Medical University Locations: Peru, Italy, Ica, Peruvian, National University of San Marcos, Lima

☆ US abortion providers relieved but wary as Supreme Court preserves pill access
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Sharon Bernstein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

April 21 (Reuters) - Abortion rights supporters expressed relief on Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court preserved access to a widely used abortion pill but warned of a long fight ahead as a legal challenge to the medication continues. Abortion providers had been stockpiling the abortion pill mifepristone or planning to switch to a new regimen amid the battle over the legality of a drug used in more than half of U.S. abortions. Several providers said late on Friday they would pause plans to change their medication abortion protocol in light of the Supreme Court's order. The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the case, however, meaning that mifepristone could still be restricted or banned at a later stage in the case. Several states where abortion remains legal, including California, Massachusetts and Washington, previously said they had begun stockpiling abortion drugs in advance of possible restrictions.

☆ Cuba spy Ana Belen Montes released after 20 years behind bars
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Ana Belen Montes, one of the highest-ranking U.S. officials ever proven to have spied for Cuba, has been released from prison early, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed Friday, after she spent more than two decades behind bars. A U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent, Montes began working for the DIA in 1985 and rapidly climbed its ranks to become the agency's top Cuba analyst. She was accused of supplying the identity of four U.S. spies to Cuba, as well as other classified information. Montes was arrested on Sept. 21, 2001, shortly before the United States invaded Afghanistan. At her sentencing a year later, Montes argued that she had obeyed her conscience and that U.S. policy to Cuba was cruel and unfair.

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