Now for a look at news making international headlines this Thursday 28 April
Peru Government Declares State of Emergency near MMG’s Las Bambas Mine
INTERNATIONAL: Peruvian police have entered the huge Chinese-owned Las Bambas copper mine in an attempt to evict an indigenous community that has established a camp near the open pit forcing it to halt operations, a community leader and a government official said on Wednesday (April 27).
Las Bambas is owned by China's MMG Ltd 1208.HK supplies 2 percent of global copper. Residents of the indigenous Fuerabamba community entered the mine on April 14 demanding what they say is their ancestral lands. The mine halted production a week later.
After being asked by a Reuters reporter on how long they'd stay in the camp, an unidentified indigenous farmer said, "until they comply with the commitments they have made to us, we are going to stay until they comply, until they give us work."
Reuters reported on Tuesday (April 26) that Las Bambas was planning to forcefully evict the community on Wednesday.
A government source with direct knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named, told Reuters police had begun entering the mine.
Peru's government declared a state of emergency in the area earlier on Wednesday, a move that suspends civil liberties such as the right to assembly and protest.
The Fuerabamba community was resettled around a decade ago to make way for Las Bambas, one of the world's largest copper mines. The mine has battled against repeated protests and road blockades that have at times forced it to halt production.
Getting production started again at Las Bambas would add to global supply, potentially dampening prices, though the mine has faced recurring disruptions from impoverished local communities demanding higher financial contributions from the mine.
A Fifth of World's Reptile Species Deemed Threatened with Extinction
INTERNATIONAL: About a fifth of reptile species - from the Galapagos tortoises to the Komodo dragon of the Indonesian islands, from West Africa's rhinoceros viper to India's gharial - are threatened with extinction, researchers said on Wednesday (April 27) in the first comprehensive global status assessment for reptiles.
The study examined 10,196 reptile species including turtles, crocodilians, lizards, snakes, and the tuatara, the only surviving member of a lineage dating back more than 200 million years.
They found that 21% of species are critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable to extinction as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on the status of species. They also identified 31 species that already have gone extinct.
Many reptiles are being pushed to the brink, the researchers said, by factors similarly imperiling the world's other land vertebrates - amphibians, birds, and mammals - namely, deforestation for agriculture, logging, and development, urban encroachment, and hunting by people. Climate change and invasive species also present ongoing threats, they added.
"If all of those 20% of reptiles that are threatened today go extinct, we would lose a cumulation of 15 billion years of evolution that has led to these fascinating creatures that we see around us today," said Bruce Young, co-leader of the study published in the journal Nature and chief zoologist and senior conservation scientist at Arlington Virginia-based NatureServe, a biodiversity science organization.
Previous status reports found about 41% of amphibian species, 25% of mammal species, and 14% of bird species were threatened with extinction. Species status assessments consider distribution, abundance, threats, and population trends.
About 27% of reptile species restricted to forested habitats were found to be threatened with extinction, compared to about 14% of species inhabiting arid habitats.
Some reptiles were found to be doing just fine. Australia's saltwater crocodile, the world's largest reptile, is listed in the category of "least concern" about extinction. Its croc cousin the gharial, on the other hand, is critically endangered.
Among some other well-known reptiles: the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard, is endangered; the king cobra, the world's longest venomous snake, is vulnerable; the leatherback, the largest sea turtle, is vulnerable; the Galapagos marine iguana is vulnerable, and the various Galapagos tortoise species range from vulnerable to extinct.
Several "hot spots" for reptile risk were documented.
In the Caribbean, for example, the Jamaican rock iguana and a lizard called the blue-tailed galliwasp are critically endangered. In West Africa, Perret's montane chameleon is endangered, and the rhinoceros viper is vulnerable. In Madagascar, the Namoroka leaf chameleon is critically endangered. In Southeast Asia, the big-headed turtle is critically endangered.
“Species are declining at a rapid rate. Some estimate ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times more than the background rate of extinction that normally happens on the planet. So, we are at a really critical time in Earth's history,” said environmental biologist at the National Science Foundation (NSF), Leslie Rissler.
Among the most seriously threatened reptiles, is Chapman's pygmy chameleon, a small lizard inhabiting low elevation rainforests in Malawi that had been considered possibly extinct but now has been found in a few forest fragments.
A 'Da Vinci of Violins' Goes Up for Auction in France
INTERNATIONAL: A near three-century-old instrument lauded as a Leonardo da Vinci of violins could fetch as much as 10 million euros ($10.6 million) when it is auctioned next month, the French house overseeing the sale said.
Crafted in 1736 by revered Italian luthier Giuseppe Guarneri, it is owned by virtuoso Regis Pasquier and its sound has graced concert halls around the world.
"There are many violins, but this one is like selling a Rembrandt, a Goya or even a Leonardo da Vinci painting," said Sophie Perrine of the Aguttes auction house near Paris.
The maple-backed instrument is one of about 150 made by Guarneri, the quality and longevity of whose output rivals that of Antonio Stradivari but who was far less prolific than his compatriot and contemporary.
Made at the peak of Guarneri's career, it was bought more than twenty years ago by Pasquier, who gave a concert with it the following day without even practicing on it. Perrine said, "For him, this instrument was perfect."
He has since played it at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall in New York and the Opera Garnier in Paris.
The violin will go up for auction on June 3 following a three-day viewing. Its base price estimate is 4 to 4.5 million euros, but Perrine said it could sell for up to 10 million.
