Latest news with #Darwinian
The Sun
03-08-2025
- The Sun
Gaza aid crisis deepens as food fails to reach starving civilians
GAZA: The trickle of food aid entering Gaza after nearly 22 months of war is being seized by desperate Palestinians, looted by gangs, or diverted in chaotic circumstances, leaving the most vulnerable without help, according to UN agencies and aid groups. Despite international outcry over malnourished children, deliveries remain insufficient, with daily scenes of crowds rushing towards convoys or airdrops. On Thursday in Al-Zawayda, emaciated Palestinians scrambled for parachuted aid, fighting over packages in clouds of dust. 'Hunger has driven people to turn on each other. People are fighting with knives,' said Amir Zaqot, an aid seeker. World Food Programme drivers attempt to distribute supplies safely, but chaos persists. 'A truck wheel almost crushed my head,' recounted one man in northern Gaza. In Rafah, Mohammad Abu Taha described a deadly stampede at a distribution site. 'Thousands were waiting for food when gunshots rang out. People ran, pushing and shoving. The scene was tragic—blood everywhere, wounded, dead.' The UN reports nearly 1,400 Palestinians killed while awaiting aid since May, mostly by Israeli forces, which denies targeting civilians, claiming only 'warning shots' are fired. Aid groups condemn Israeli restrictions, including delayed permits, dangerous routes, and sudden convoy disruptions. 'The army changed loading plans unexpectedly, forcing an early departure without security,' said a UN official. In Kerem Shalom, NGOs must use a perilous route prone to looting. Gangs exploit the crisis, reselling stolen aid at exorbitant prices. 'It's a Darwinian experiment—starving people competing for flour,' said Muhammad Shehada of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Jean Guy Vataux of Doctors Without Borders added, 'Corrupt gangs send kids to risk their lives. It's a new profession.' A 25kg bag of flour now costs over $400 in Gaza markets. Israel accuses Hamas of looting UN aid, justifying past blockades. However, military officials admit no proof of systematic theft exists. With Hamas weakened, decentralised cells remain, but power vacuums fuel lawlessness. 'The real theft is by criminal gangs under Israeli watch,' said a UN humanitarian chief. Armed groups like the Popular Forces, allegedly backed by Israel, are accused of plundering aid. 'The Israeli army's tacit approval enables this,' said an anonymous aid worker. Oxfam's Bushra Khalidi stressed, 'Calls to protect aid convoys have been ignored.' As famine looms, Gaza's civilians pay the price. - AFP
Indian Express
03-08-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
Did you know, animals can also exhibit same sex behaviour?
Animals have been known to exhibit a wide diversity of sexual behaviours, and interactions between members of the same sex are not uncommon. In the past, the existence of non-exclusively 'heterosexual' behaviours in animals has been used to justify their existence in humans. Nevertheless, the topic of same-sex behaviour in animals, and how such behaviours may have come to evolve is a fascinating one. According to BBC Wildlife Magazine, terms like 'gay' or 'heterosexual' may not be the best to use when describing sexual behaviours in animals. We should be wary of over-anthropomorphising and conflating something as complex as a human sexual orientation with observed behaviours in other animals. Same-sex sexual behaviour is often viewed as a 'Darwinian paradox' by scientists. This is because it is considered contrary to Darwin's theory of evolution, which tells us that genes or traits that do not provide a survival or reproduction benefit should not persist. Same-sex relations are considered to be detrimental to reproductive fitness because they cannot result in offspring. Because of this, animal 'homosexuality' has often been ignored, or else scientists have endeavoured to find various adaptive benefits to explain its existence. Here are some species that exhibit same-sex behaviour: Bonobos are a sister species to chimpanzees, and as such are among our closest animal relatives. In bonobos sexual contact, like genital rubbing, is used to greet friends, de-escalate conflicts, and cement relationships, and they seemingly do not discriminate based on sex, with female-female and male-male pairings common. Individuals do not appear to conform to a particular orientation, however. They are also promiscuous rather than monogamous, having many short-term pairings. Females of this species will routinely pair off with other females, forming temporary but exclusive sexual relationships known as 'consortships', which involve courtship behaviours as well as sexual contact. They will even compete with males for same-sex partners and choose a female partner even when given a direct choice with a male alternative. Same-sex sexual behaviour is very much not limited to primates. Some of the most famous examples have been found in birds. One pair of male chinstrap penguins at Central Park Zoo, Roy and Silo, became celebrities when they attempted to incubate an egg together and later successfully reared an adopted chick. Same-sex parenting has also been observed in snow geese, where females pair up to raise the offspring of both, and in black swans, in which an estimated one-quarter of all pairings are male-male.
Daily Maverick
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Flying close to the sun(s) — Floyd Shivambu, SA's political Icarus whose wings are tied with VBS strings
Flloyd Shivambu is politically vulnerable, having fallen foul of both Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema, with the stink of the VBS scandal still clinging to him. If one were to measure a revolutionary by the state of their facial adornment, then Floyd Shivambu's dalliance in politics currently looks as patchy as his beard. Shivambu – edging closer to what might be the political wilderness after a Darwinian coup in his new political home, the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, prompted by a 'false intelligence report' – is on a mission – to find a rightful place in South African revolutionary politics. On Friday, 27 June, Shivambu announced he would be 'consulting' widely to gauge the temperature for the launch of his own political party to contest the 2026 local government elections. While there appears to have been no formal announcement that Shivambu has in fact left the MK party, it is clear he is eyeing the party's spinning revolving door. The party's ver verlate vlaktes (far and desolate plains) are already home to the hungry ghosts of Jimmy Manyi, MK party founder Jabulani Khumalo, Mervyn Dirks, Arthur Zwane, Sifiso Maseko and several others who have been through Zuma's meatgrinder. Last week, still dressed in his MK party regalia, Shivambu announced on Elon Musk's platform X: 'On Friday, 27 June 2025, we will announce the National Consultation Team (NCT) of Mayibuye Consultation Process. 'As always, we will use the opportunity to exercise what Amilcar Cabral taught us that as revolutionaries, we should 'hide nothing from the masses of our people'. 'Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories … Tell no lies … Claim No easy victories …,' he trailed off. Those who have thrown their lot in with Shivambu's initiative include former Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs Vusi Khoza and Fana Mokoena, and former MK party members Patrick Sindane, Menzi Magubane and Bishop Stephen Zondo. Downfall Shivambu's slide in 10 months from top leadership of the country's largest opposition party was lubricated after the staunch Marxist's visit, over Easter, to fugitive pastor, Shepherd Bushiri, in his hideout-in-plain-sight in Malawi. Bushiri skipped bail and SA with his wife, Mary, in 2020 after facing charges of rape, money laundering and fraud. In an interview after the controversial drop-in, Shivambu said that joining the MK party had been 'the best political decision' he had ever taken, until it appears it wasn't. Zuma, claimed Shivambu, had given his blessing, so to speak, for the meeting but others in the party distanced themselves from this tea diplomacy, smelling more fish than cookies. Shivambu was first demoted – the eighth secretary-general to come through the party's chaotic works – and offered a spot in the National Assembly (NA), which he has turned down. It is clear that his Mayibuye Consultation Process, an attempt to bring together 'progressive forces' on the left, will consume his spare time in future, and he will have a lot of it. How he will fund this initiative is yet to be revealed; however, Shivambu said thousands had already volunteered their time and money. The problem with 'we' Earlier this week, prior to announcing the media conference, Shivambu referred to himself as 'we' on social media. The slippery slope begins when politicians begin to use 'we'. It is the red flag, the flare, the canary in the coal mine, the straightjacket moment. Before 'we' was always a duo, Malema and Shivambu, now it is Floyd alone in the spotlight. After betraying Julius Malema, his childhood fellow-revolutionary and EFF commander-in-chief, Shivambu fell in August 2024 into the warm arms of former president Jacob Zuma, followed by a chilling embrace from Zuma's charming daughter, Duduzile. Shivambu's Mayibuye Africa Movement feels a bit bit like Agang, Mamphela Ramphele's 'political platform' or Mmusi Maimane's Build One South Africa movement, which turned into a political party that now has three seats (two in the NA and one in Gauteng). It was needed, said Shivambu, because the MK party, led by a man he once publicly called a thief, was a 'Zulu nationalist movement'– as if he were born yesterday and wasn't aware of what the rest of us knew from the start. Was Shivambu asleep during all those memorable 'pay back the money' chants in the NA? 'With this in mind, we will be visiting all corners of South Africa to listen to the people,' Shivambu promised. Personal Cults R Us Shivambu has explained this quest noting 'we ask these questions because our strong conviction and belief is that no individual should start a political party out of their own personal convictions and not collective convictions'. He added that 'a political party should never be a family project', nor should it be 'tribal' or a 'regional or provincial project'. It should also 'never be a private property' nor a 'cult or fiefdom. Instead it should be a 'fighting instrument' for 'the people as a whole', espouse 'deep democratic principles and values' and be 'transparent and accountable to the people'. Hoor, hoor. Speaking of which. The ghost of VBS At this point it would be appropriate to drop in the fact that Tshifhiwa Matodzi, former chair of VBS bank, is serving 15 years in jail after pleading guilty to 33 counts of corruption, theft, fraud, money laundering and a pattern of racketeering activities. In July 2024, Matodzi entered a plea deal and signed a 70-page witness statement which, with annexures, totals 263 pages and took around three weeks to draft. As colleague Pauli van Wyk wrote at the time: 'Malema and Shivambu knew the funds they received from VBS were unlawful, Matodzi claims, because Malema and Shivambu created a front company called Sgameka Projects. 'There was no legitimate business reason for these payments — they told him they needed money for their restaurant in Soweto and, tellingly, they tried to 'regularise' the payments after the curatorship of VBS by backdating a contract that was never entered into'. Later, after four years of investigation by the joint committee on ethics and members' interests, a letter to the Democratic Alliance from the Parliament's acting registrar of members' interests, advocate Anthea Gordon, indicated Shivambu's salary was docked nine days for breaching Parliament's code of ethics. The committee found that Shivambu had failed to disclose money transferred to him from Sgameka Projects, which was owned by his brother Brian. This was an R180,000 transfer to his account in August 2017. In 2019 Brian Shivambu was ordered by the Johannesburg High Court to pay R1.78-million to the bank's liquidators. SARS payback In June 2021 Brian Shivambu signed a secret contract admitting to having received R4.55-million from VBS, promising to repay the money, which belonged to municipalities as well as pensioners in Venda. As Van Wyk reported, Brian Shivambu's attorneys insisted on a secrecy clause before their client signed an 'acknowledgement of debt' for R4.55-million in favour of Vele Investments, the majority shareholder in VBS Mutual Bank, during Vele's insolvency inquiry. Vele and VBS, along with other related companies, created a single criminal enterprise under the stewardship of bank chairman, Matodzi, with the goal of fraudulently siphoning off money from the bank's depositors and laundering proceeds to participants in the scam, which amounted to about R2.7-billion. Several arrests related to the VBS Mutual Bank scandal have been made, including Limpopo ANC heavyweight and businessman Danny Msiza, who is facing charges of fraud and corruption for pushing mayors into supporting VBS. Swings and roundabouts According to Matodzi's claims, Malema and Shivambu's EFF had been counted among the most vociferous critics of the VBS loan to Zuma. Malema had in fact campaigned on stage against VBS at political rallies. 'As chairman of VBS, I then decided that Malema and EFF should be approached for VBS to explain its position and how the loan was granted.' Van Wyk revealed that Matotzi had claimed that a meeting was arranged 'with Julius at the EFF's penthouse in Sandton around April/May 2017' . While Van Wyk found no deed document registered to the EFF that suggested the party owned a penthouse in Sandton, journalist Jacques Pauw had published in his book Our Poisoned Land that Malema had had access and at times full use of tobacco baron Adriano Mazzotti's penthouse at the Raphael Penthouse Suites in Sandton. Matodzi's version is that he explained to Malema and Shivambu that their political rallies were embarrassing and damaging to VBS and that 'as black brothers, the EFF's constituencies were VBS target market also'. It was then that Matodzi swung the vociferous VBS/Zuma critics in his favour: 'I further informed them that VBS was willing to offer a donation to the EFF. I then proposed that VBS can donate R5-million immediately once a bank account has been opened at VBS and R1-million per month to the EFF. I also made it clear that the amount could only be deposited into a VBS account, and that EFF should therefore open a bank account with VBS.' The money pipeline Daily Maverick's Scorpio investigation also highlighted that VBS funds were funnelled through fronts towards the building works of a restaurant, Grand Azania. Were the NPA and SIU not so busy chasing the State Capturers who live among us, they might now have time to consider Shivambu, who is politically more vulnerable having, like Icarus, flown two close to two suns, the one (Malema) hotter than the other (Zuma). DM
Japan Today
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial offers fodder for influencers and YouTubers
The Sean Combs trial has been a fount of content for influencers and YouTubers to put on their channels By Andrea Bambino, Maggy Donaldson and Celine Gesret The criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs is now in its sixth week of testimony -- and interest among influencers and YouTubers is still soaring, as online personalities flock to the Manhattan federal courthouse to livestream their musings. Every day, it's the same routine: content creators on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube rub shoulders with legacy media organizations as they set up cell phone tripods and stage their shows, enthusiastically relaying their hot takes. The trial of Combs, once a titan of the music industry who faces life in prison if convicted on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, can't be broadcast. The federal courthouse doesn't allow cameras, laptops, phones or even wireless headphones inside. So, alongside the many journalists covering the trial, influencers hustle in and out of the courthouse throughout the day to recount the proceedings beat by beat, dropping off and picking up their electronics at security each time. One woman who goes by the TikTok name "KealoHalika" said in the first two days of testimony she earned an estimated 10,500 followers; her account now has 40,500 followers. "It was like craziness," she told AFP outside the courthouse. "It's been a lot of moving pieces. It's definitely changed my life." Combs is incarcerated and doesn't enter or exit the courthouse publicly. But some of the high-profile attendees and witnesses do, including members of the music mogul's family and figures like Kid Cudi, the rapper who testified that Combs's entourage torched his car. These paparazzi-esque arrivals and exits are catnip for content creators to in turn feed their followers. The brief cameo of Ye, who stopped by to lend his "support" to Combs amid the proceedings, was a particular field day for the chronically online. Donat Ricketts, a 32-year-old artist from Los Angeles, was a regular at the high-profile Tory Lanez and A$AP Rocky trials in California. He told AFP he makes between $8,000 and $10,000 a month, including through YouTube's ad revenue program and fan donations. "This is my first time traveling to another state to cover a case," said the creator with about 50,000 YouTube subscribers. "It feels like vacation, plus I'm being able to work and make money from YouTube." Ricketts didn't study journalism -- but he thinks his "big personality" and ability to relate to online viewers sets him apart. "This case is the turning point where mainstream media knows that the 'independent journalists' are a force to be reckoned with," he said. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study, one in five Americans get news from influencers online; for people under 30, the share jumps to 37 percent. Reece Peck, a professor of political communication and journalism at the City University of New York, called the competition among content creators "Darwinian." "They're so scared of losing their clientele or their audience. And so with that logic, that you have to constantly create content, the news cycle is such an attractive source of material," Peck told AFP. And the Combs trial is a fount, he said: "It's sex, it's violence, and it's celebrity." Emilie Hagen said she does have a journalism degree but these days publishes via her Substack, also putting out content on Instagram and TikTok. "I'm there every day providing humorous updates," she told AFP of the Combs trial. Dozens of traditional media outlets are providing coverage and analysis of the trial. But Hagen said she's "able to go down rabbit holes that they're not allowed to go down." "I don't have to stick to the daily recap," she said. "I can insert a personal narrative." Many of her most fruitful videos are of "me interacting with all of the wild people that come to the trial outside the courthouse," she added. Hagen said she's notched 12,000 more Instagram followers and 10,000 more on TikTok since proceedings began. She said some fans have donated, which recently allowed her to hire a linesitter. Getting into the main courtroom, as opposed to overflow rooms with video feeds of the trial, can require either arriving overnight or the day prior, and many influencers along with media outlets like ABC News and The New York Times hire people to hold spots. But even with the deluge of news updates from media outlets and content streams from influencers, some people still want to see the trial for themselves. Val Solit, a teacher from Los Angeles on vacation to New York, dropped by the proceedings after having lunch in nearby Chinatown with her partner. "I like crime and dramas," she told AFP, likening the hype to the 1990s-era trial of O.J. Simpson. "It was kind of fascinating to come and see it. It's history in the making." © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - Welcome to the Biocene: How ‘natural capitalism' can save America and the world
Something much deeper than the price of eggs was at work when voters re-elected President Trump last year. Most Americans were unhappy with the country's direction; they still are. Last month, 59 percent said they were dissatisfied with 'the way things are going in the United States.' It's not just that people have very different opinions about the day's pressing issues. We lack a national vision or mission that transcends our differences. No one has articulated a compelling alternative to the country's unease, ennui and anger. We had purpose in the past. What is our purpose now? Trump's version of America definitely is not it. If most of us are unsatisfied, perhaps it is because America is not living up to its image as an opportunity society. The 90 percent may feel that their physical and economic security is less certain than it used to be. Science tells us, and weather disasters confirm, that civilization is careening toward a dystopian future. Trump is pressing the accelerator. However, the climate is only one of nine 'safe operating spaces' for life on the planet. We have already left the safety zones for six. What might our mission be? I'll suggest one for the sake of discussion. Its dual objective would be to (a) give everyone the tools to be the best they can be and (b) return society to safe operating spaces in this century. Regarding the first objective, let's assume we have a choice between three economic and social systems. The first is Darwinian capitalism — a dog-eat-dog economy that results in a permanent wealth gap between the haves and have-nots. Success in the Darwinian economy often is not based on merit. The rich get richer by controlling and rigging economic policies. They buy influence and pay accountants to find loopholes that allow them to avoid taxes. They oppose government regulations because they want unhindered profiteering. They believe it is their manifest destiny to rule. Meanwhile, less fortunate Americans remain that way because of inferior education, unaffordable health care, institutional barriers, less intergenerational wealth transfer, the inability to escape 'sacrifice zones,' uninsured losses to weather disasters, and a tax system that shifts wealth upward. It is exceedingly rare that any of them find, let alone climb, ladders to the top. If there are geniuses, artists, scientists, educators, saints and potential philanthropists in their midst, we will never know. The alternative is social capitalism, similar to systems found in the Nordic countries, whose people consistently rank as the happiest in the world. It combines a market economy with government services that offer everyone the basic tools for success: universal health care, free quality education through the post-secondary level, equal pay for equal work, child-care assistance for working families, social safety nets for people with genuine disabilities, and so on. Social capitalism ensures equal opportunity but not equal results. Each person's success depends on their willingness to use the tools and work hard. And yet social capitalism would be intergenerational, with each generation handing the next a world of ample natural resources and ecosystem services, a stable climate, and a robust economy. The U.S. Constitution would codify this obligation by recognizing the rights of future generations. A third economic alternative would return civilization to the planet's safe operating spaces. It is 'natural capitalism,' an economy 'in service to life,' as Hunter Lovins, one of its leading advocates, describes it. Its objective is society's productive harmony with nature Its goals would include the following: Decouple economic progress from environmental degradation and resource exhaustion. Use renewable rather than finite resources. Any unavoidable use of finite resources would be made circular — in other words, the resources would be recycled, reused or repurposed. Use true-cost, life-cycle accounting to determine the market prices of goods and services. This would allow market forces to guide consumers to the goods with the lowest actual cost and greatest good for people and planet. Expand America's restoration economy to revive damaged ecosystems and their services. In 2016, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston estimated that ecosystem restoration employed more than 200,000 people and generated nearly $25 billion for the economy. However, analysts say the current rate of ecosystem damage will still cost the U.S. economy more than $80 billion annually by 2050. America's losses would be the highest in the world. Acknowledge that nature is much more than a service provider for humanity, amending the Constitution to establish nature's inherent right to exist. Integrate nature into cities (a practice called biophilia) to give urban residents the physical, psychological and educational benefits of close contact with nature. Use natural assets (shade trees, green spaces to absorb stormwater, coastal wetlands, etc.) to mitigate the risks of extreme weather. Move shoreline property and infrastructure out of the path of sea-level rise and land subsidence. Otherwise, $35 billion worth of real estate could be underwater by mid-century. Turn the ocean, Gulf, and Great Lakes shorelines into a continuous coastal commons, fully accessible to the public. Reenroll the U.S. in international environmental agreements and organizations, because modern ecological challenges are global in scope and impact. Revive the ethic that each generation will leave the Earth in better shape for its children. Author Robert Macfarlane explains that human progress suffers from a 'shifting baseline syndrome' where 'ongoing damage to the natural world becomes normalized over time, as each new generation measures loss against an already degraded benchmark.' He proposes a 'lifting baseline' where we normalize ecological improvement rather than loss. With these and other steps, the U.S. would model an evolutionary shift in humanity's relationship with the rest of the natural world. The Anthropocene era, a mea culpa on humanity's mistreatment of the biosphere, we would progress to the Biocene, where we recognize and respect our symbiotic relationship with the rest of the biological world. Then, if we choose to transcend the surly bonds of biology, we might know enough to do no harm. William S. Becker, a former U.S. Department of Energy central regional director, is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. The project is not affiliated with the White House. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
