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What discovery of three Nile crocodiles could mean for Florida

By: Unknown on 2:20 PM

Crocodiles aren’t an unusual sight in Florida, where they and their alligator cousins inhabit the state’s swampland. But in 2009, officials in South Miami-Dade county thought they had found something different.

This week, researchers in Florida announced that three crocodiles found in South Miami-Dade county since 2009 were likely Nile crocodiles rather than the more familiar American crocodile.

DNA testing allowed Florida biologists to confirm that these crocodiles were the “man eating” African version of the species, according to a study published last month.

“My hope as a biologist is that the introduction of Nile crocodiles in Florida opens everyone’s eyes to the problem of invasive species that we have here in our state,” said Kenneth Krysko of the Florida Museum of Natural History in a statement. “Now here’s another one, but this time it isn’t just a tiny house gecko from Africa.”

These crocodiles are different than Florida’s usual residents. They have been called “man eating” for their aggressive behavior: between 2010 and 2014, the Nile crocodile was responsible for 480 attacks on humans in Africa. Some 123 of those attacks were fatal, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Nile crocodiles can grow up to 18-feet long when given the opportunity. One of the three crocodiles in Florida grew 28 percent between its first capture in 2012 and its second in 2014.

But where did the crocodiles come from? According to Dr. Krysko, it wasn’t from Africa.

Some invasive species problems begin when specimens are released into the wild, but Florida officials do not believe that this was the case for the crocodiles. Instead, officials say the swamp dwellers escaped from a facility called Predator World.

Florida is well known for its invasive species problem. The Washington Post reports that 99 percent of south Florida’s raccoon population and 98 percent of its opossum population has been eradicated due to the influx of invasive species the state experiences due to its temperate climate.

The state spends large amounts of money each year countering invasive plants and animals that harm the ecosystem. Weed choked waterways and damaged agricultural output cost the state up to half a billion dollars every year.

Now that biologists have confirmed that the crocodiles found in Florida’s swamps are Nile crocodiles, one big question remains: Are there more?

Some biologists say that there could be more due to the crocodile’s obvious resilience.

“The odds that the few of us who study Florida reptiles have found all of the Nile crocs out there is probably unlikely,” said Krysko. “We know that they can survive in the Florida wilderness for numerous years, we know that they grow quickly here and we know their behavior in their native range, and there is no reason to suggest that would change here in Florida.”

The Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission does not share Krysko’s view, however. Robert Klepper, a spokesperson for the Commission, told the Washington Post that routine inspections had not turned up more crocodiles since the last capture in 2014.

Mr. Klepper also said that due to dissimilar behavior, it is unlikely that the Nile crocodiles found in the last decade bred with native crocodile species.

“We’re confident this won’t be a problem,” he said.

This article was written by Christina Beck Staff from Christian Science Monitorand was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

Polls show Clinton, Trump tied in likely November matchup, record un-favorability

By: Unknown on 2:10 PM

Two polls released Sunday show Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton tied with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a likely general election race, after having a double-digit lead just months ago.

Clinton leads Trump 46-to-43 percent in a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, compared to a similar one in April in which Clinton had an 11-point lead.

The new poll also shows Clinton primary rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leading Trump by 15 percentage points, 54-to-39 percent, in a hypothetical November matchup.

“Polls this far out mean nothing,” Clinton said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They certainly mean nothing to me. And I think that if people go back and look, they really mean nothing in terms of analyzing what's going to happen in the fall.”

Earlier Sunday morning, a Washington Post/ABC News poll showed voters favored Trump over Clinton 46-to-44 percent. The numbers also show Clinton losing an identical 11-point lead since earlier this spring.

Both polls were within the statistical margin of error, which means Clinton and Trump are essentially tied.

Trump said on the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” show that he suspects some of the support is coming from Sanders’ backers, now that their candidate faces very long odds in winning the Democratic nomination.

“I hear and I look at polls, and I hear a lot of those people are coming with us,” Trump said in a phone interview. “A lot of the Bernie Sanders’ voters, they do not like Hillary Clinton… A lot of those people will come with me.”

The Washington Post/ NBC poll also shows a majority of the electorate has an unfavorable impression of Clinton, a former secretary of state, and Trump, a billionaire businessman, and that likely voters are “motivated as much by whom they don’t like as by whom they do.”

According to The Washington Post: “Never in the history of the Post-ABC poll have the two major party nominees been viewed as harshly as Clinton and Trump.”

The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll reported voters also have record-low opinions of those two candidates.

“Trump and Clinton are currently the two most unpopular likely presidential nominees in the history of the NBC/WSJ poll,” the pollsters said.

In swing state suburbs, white women are skeptical of Trump

By: Unknown on 1:51 PM

WESTERVILLE, Ohio — For Donald Trump to win the White House in November, he'll need the votes of women like lifelong Republican Wendy Emery.

Yet the 52-year-old from the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, is struggling with the idea of voting for her party's presumptive presidential nominee.

"I'm just disappointed, really disappointed," she said while standing in her arts and crafts shop. She and her circle of friends are "still in shock" over Trump's success and wonder who's voting for him, "because we don't know any of them."

Emery's negative impression of Trump was shared by most of the dozens of white, suburban women from politically important states who were interviewed by The Associated Press this spring. Their views are reflected in opinion polls, such as a recent AP-GfK survey that found 70 percent of women have unfavorable opinions of Trump.

Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign sees that staggering figure as a tantalizing general election opening.

While white voters continue to abandon the Democratic Party, small gains with white women could help put likely nominee Clinton over the top if the November election is close. Democrats believe these women could open up opportunities for Clinton in North Carolina, where President Barack Obama struggled with white voters in his narrow loss in the state 2012, and even in Georgia, a Republican stronghold that Democrats hope to make competitive.

Patty Funderburg of Charlotte, North Carolina, voted for Republican Mitt Romney in 2012, but says she's already convinced that Trump won't get her vote.

"He's not who I'd want to represent our country," said Funderburg, a 54-year-old mother of three.

Trump insists he's "going to do great with women." He's accused Clinton of playing the "woman's card" in her bid to become the first female commander in chief. He's said he will link her aggressively to past indiscretions with women by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

The businessman also has previewed an argument focused on national security, with echoes of the pitch that President George W. Bush successfully made to white suburban women during his 2004 re-election.

"Women want, above all else, they want security," Trump told The Associated Press recently. "They want to have a strong military, they want to have strong borders. They don't want crime." He said "Hillary is viewed poorly on that."

Not so in the AP-GfK poll. About 40 percent of women surveyed said Clinton would be best at protecting the country and handling the threat posed by the Islamic State group, and about 30 percent said Trump.

Throughout the primary, Clinton has talked about policies meant to appeal to women: equal pay, expanded child care, paid family and medical leave and more.

And Trump has his own complicated past regarding women and has faced criticism for his actions both in his personal life and at his businesses toward them. He's vigorously defended his treatment of women, as has his daughter Ivanka Trump, who said her father "has total respect for women."

A super political action committee backing Clinton has released its first television advertisements featuring Trump's contentious statements about women.

"Does Donald Trump really speak for you?" the super PAC ad asks.

For many of the women interviewed, the answer appears to be no.

"He's just a jerk," said Elizabeth Andrus, a registered Republican in Delaware, Ohio, who says she voted twice for Obama. She praised Trump's political skills and argued his business career indicates an intellect and ability that could benefit the nation.

But his temperament, she said, is somewhere between "buffoonery" and "complete narcissism."

"It would be like having Putin for president," she added, referring to Russia's sometimes belligerent president, Vladimir Putin.

Erin Freedman, a 38-year-old from Reston, Virginia, said Trump "scares the cr-p out of me." While she's an enthusiastic backer of Clinton's primary rival, Bernie Sanders, she said she'd have no problem backing the former secretary of state against Trump in a general election.

Even some reluctant Trump supporters say they want him to dial back the braggadocio and caustic insults, and engage people more seriously.

"He's the nominee, so I'll vote for him," said Renee Herman, a 45-year-old from Sunbury, Ohio, who preferred retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and her home-state governor, John Kasich, in the GOP primary field. "But it's time we get past all this showmanship and hear from him what he actually wants to do and his plans for how to do it."

Trump's best opening is that Clinton, who is on the cusp of clinching her party's nomination, would enter the November race with a majority of Americans taking a dim view of her candidacy. Fifty-five percent have a negative view of Clinton, including 53 percent of women, in the AP-GfK poll.

"Anybody but Hillary," said Carolyn Owen, a 64-year-old educator from Clayton, North Carolina, near Raleigh. She said Trump wasn't her first choice, "but it's better than the alternative."

While Obama won the support of women overall in his two White House campaigns, white women have increasingly been shifting toward the Republican Party in recent elections. Obama only won 42 percent of white women in 2012. Romney won 56 percent of white women, more than Bush and the party's 2008 nominee, Sen. John McCain.

Clinton's hopes will largely hinge on replicating Obama's coalition of blacks, Hispanics and young people. In both of his elections, Obama earned near-unanimous support from black women, while drawing the votes of roughly 7 in 10 Hispanic women. But she would have more room for error with those groups if she can increase Democrats' share of white women.

Another potentially favorable scenario for Clinton involves Republican and independent women who can't stomach a vote for Trump but also don't want to vote for a Democrat. Maybe they simply stay home, keeping the GOP nominee's vote totals down.

For Angee Stephens of Indianola, Iowa, that seems to be the only option at this point. She's wary of Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, which is the subject of an FBI investigation, and her past political decisions. But "Trump sort of scares me," Stephens said.

In Georgia, Trump supporter Sue Everhart said she talks regularly with suburban Republican women struggling with whether to vote for Trump, and said some cite his boorishness. The former state party chairwoman said she tries to bring the conversation back to Clinton and remind Republicans "who we are running against."

As for Trump's penchant for controversial statements about women, Everhart said, "I learned a long time ago that most any man over 50 in this party, they like you as long as you're making the cookies."

"I should probably be offended," she added. "But I'm not."

___

Pace reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey in Iowa and AP News Survey Specialist Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report.

Clinton accuses Trump of pandering to the NRA

By: Unknown on 1:46 PM

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Hillary Clinton promised Saturday never to “pander to the gun lobby” as she assailed Republican Donald Trump as dangerous and hopelessly out of step with American public opinion about gun control.

“Enough is enough,” Clinton said, one day after the de facto Republican presidential nominee accused her of seeking to abolish the Second Amendment.

Before Trump addressed the National Rifle Association on Friday, its leader had said members could “kiss your guns goodbye” if Clinton were elected.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I will not pander to the gun lobby, and we will not be silenced and we will not be intimidated,” Clinton said at an anti-violence and gun control event named for Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teenager shot by a Neighborhood Watch volunteer in 2012.We know the gun lobby is powerful. I believe it’s the most powerful lobby in Washington,” Clinton said. “And we know that some candidates will say and do anything to keep them happy.”

While Trump has shifted from being a supporter of some gun control to insisting Friday that he would allow no “chipping away” of the Second Amendment, Clinton has shifted the other way since her unsuccessful 2008 campaign against then-Sen. Barack Obama. Then, she spoke frequently about the importance of guns in some areas of the country and backed off her earlier support for national licensing and registration.

This year Clinton is making gun control a centerpiece of her campaign, pledging that she would act both with Congress and on her own to install what she calls “common-sense” limitations on gun purchases that are supported by a majority of Americans. She also has pledged to seek legislation to end immunity from many lawsuits for gun makers.

She insists she has no designs on the Second Amendment, and fact-checkers have discredited Trump’s assertion that she would seek to abolish it. Limited gun control is viewed by many Democrats as a winning issue in the fall election, drawing in moderate women. The issue can also be used to paint both Trump and Republicans congressional candidates as extremists.

“We are smart enough and strong enough as a nation to figure out how to protect the rights of responsible gun owners while keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers, other violent criminals, gang members, the severely mentally ill,” Clinton said Saturday. “I know we can do this and despite all the political noise, we are actually united on this issue.”

To applause, she ridiculed Trump’s pledge at the NRA annual convention to end gun-free zones at schools and undo executive actions that expanded requirements for background checks before gun purchases. She has pledged that as president she would broaden those background checks for now largely unrestricted sales online and at gun shows.

“Donald Trump said that in his very first hour as president, heaven forbid, he would overturn President Obama’s actions to strengthen background checks,” Clinton said.“This is someone running to be president of the United States of America, a country facing a gun violence epidemic, and he’s talking about more guns in our schools,” she exclaimed.

She noted that many Trump hotels do not allow guns on the property, and cited statistics showing broad national support – including from gun owners – for robust background checks.

Clinton spoke affectionately of her friendship with Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, who along with other mothers who have lost children to violence was among the crowd for the Trayvon Martin Foundation dinner. Fulton and several other African American mothers who have lost children have campaigned widely for Clinton this year.

“Each of the mothers is telling us something that we all need to hear, not just about our tragedies but about our country,” Clinton said. “Something is wrong when so many young people just starting their lives are dying.”

Clinton did not mention the recent effort by Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, to sell the gun he used.

Her campaign sent out two email fundraising appeals Saturday keyed to the gun control debate. One was from the daughter of the principal who died in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School four years ago and the other from former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in another mass shooting incident in Arizona.

Opinion: West Midlands mayor will be one of the most powerful politicians in the country

By: Unknown on 2:26 PM

From the Smiths to the Stone Roses, Oasis to New Order, it produced the most creative and exciting bands in the country.

But some people feel the glory days are over. Manchester’s music scene is a shadow of what it was.

Enter Andy Burnham. He’s a high-profile Labour MP who currently serves as a member of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet.

He’s announced that he wants to be mayor of Greater Manchester. And if he gets the job, he says he’s going to bring Manchester’s music scene back to life.

What does this have to do with us in the West Midlands?

Well, it’s a good illustration of what happens when the position of mayor is created.

They get a lot of formal powers, written down in official documents. That might include the power to make decisions about planning - so that new homes can be built in the region - or control of local bus services, for example.

But whoever gets the job won’t be limited by that.

They’ll use their position to try to achieve whatever goals they set for themselves, bossing around local councils, public services (like local hospitals, for example) and big employers as best they can.

And they’ll be in London on a regular basis, trying to influence the Prime Minister and the Chancellor - and asking for more formal powers too.

West Midlands Metro Mayor election

The Mayor of Greater Manchester doesn’t have any official responsibility for music. But Mr Burnham has decided that he’s going to promote the region’s music scene anyway.

We’re getting our own mayor in the West Midlands. They will become a regional mayor for Birmingham, Solihull, Walsall, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Coventry, elected in May 2017.A number of other regions are doing the same. They include Liverpool and its neighbours, the North East of England (Newcastle and its neighbours) and others.

But the West Midlands is the largest region of them all, in terms of population size. Our "greater Birmingham" mayor will arguably be the most important in the country, except for the mayor of London.

So let’s hope we have some good candidates. So far, nobody’s confirmed their intention to stand.

But Labour MEP Sion Simon seems likely to give it a go. His first task will be to try to get local Labour activists to select him as a candidate.

And business leader Digby Jones has said he could be tempted.

It’s a good start, because we need impressive people putting themselves forward. The Mayor is going to have a big impact on the region, and they need to be up to the task.

Tortoise in a baby stroller a novelty even for New Yorkers

By: Unknown on 2:18 PM

New York City is filled with oddities that can surprise even the most die-hard New Yorkers and when Henry the tortoise turned up in a stroller in Central Park this week for his daily outing it turned more than a few heads.

The 17 pound (7.7 kg) sulcata tortoise is the pet of 24-year-old Amanda Green who lives in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. He led a reclusive existence until Green took to Craigslist to advertise for a tortoise walker.

New Yorkers are accustomed to dog walkers but no so much tortoise walkers, so Green expected only a few responses.

Instead, the listing went viral and hundreds of people from all over the world applied for the $10-an-hour job.

"Just like a person who has a dog would hire a dog walker, I figured why not a tortoise walker?" Green said in an interview with Reuters TV.

"It took on a life of its own ... I heard from about 500," said Green, a copywriter for a style and beauty website.

The job went to Amalia McCallister, who has experience from having worked in a pet store."You honestly do have to keep your eye on him," McCallister said, describing the job as fun and not too taxing. "I could, maybe, read a book, but you've got to make sure he doesn't eat the wrong thing."

Sulcata tortoises are native to north central Africa but they adapt well to different environments. Land-dwelling reptiles with a shell, they are mainly herbivores. Henry, who is taken to the park by stroller and then allowed to roam free, particularly likes dandelions and grass.

He has amassed an online fanbase with more than 5,000 Instagram followers and nearly 300 likes on Facebook for his profile: "The Notortoise BIG." The profile's name is a play on the stage name used by the late rapper Christopher Wallace, who called himself Biggie Smalls and The Notorious B.I.G.

Green adopted Henry a couple of years ago from a woman who was unable to manage her growing family and the tortoise. She said Henry is friendly and curious but needs lots of attention.

Green said she knows that Henry will one day outgrow her apartment. Male sulcata tortoises can reach a length of more than 30 inches (76 cm) and tip the scales at up to 200 pounds (90 kg).

"Am I going to somehow get a backyard in New York City?" Green asked. "These animals do need exercise so it is really great that I have a walker now."

With oil prices stubbornly low, Saudi Arabia’s future looks fraught

By: Unknown on 2:10 PM

BEIRUT — Persistently low oil prices appear to be taking a heavy toll on Saudi Arabia, spurring rare labor unrest as the kingdom’s rulers pursue radical changes to stabilize the economy.

Companies in the oil-exporting country have been forced to shed tens of thousands of employees in recent months. The government, in turn, has imposed painful austerity measures on citizens, ripening conditions for Arab Spring-like turbulence, analysts say.

Late last month, construction workers torched buses during demonstrations in the holy city of Mecca because they hadn’t been paid in months.

Adding to unease has been the meteoric rise of King Salman’s 30-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman. He has taken charge of economic reform, but rival royals and religious elites appear rankled by his attempts to consolidate power.

“The conditions that produced the Arab Spring five years ago haven’t gone away, and they seem to be even more of a concern in Saudi now,” said Bruce Riedel, a former foreign policy adviser to President Obama and a senior analyst at the Brookings Institution. Saudi Arabia — with its generous oil-financed welfare system — managed to avoid significant unrest while the 2011 uprisings took hold in Egypt, Libya and Syria.

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally and the world’s biggest oil exporter, is still a wealthy country and has bounced back from times of low oil prices before. But even as crude has risen recently to nearly $50 a barrel from around $30 earlier this year, analysts do not foresee a return anywhere close to the sky-high prices of two years ago.

Rising international energy competition is partly to blame for the price collapse. So, too, is the Saudi policy of trying to bankrupt competitors in other countries by keeping oil production relatively high.

Still, Saudi officials appear to recognize the pressing need to reduce the country’s overwhelming reliance on oil sales, which account for an estimated 80 percent or more of government revenue. Last month, Prince Mohammed, the deputy crown prince and defense minister, announced a major economic restructuring dubbed Vision 2030. The plan intends to bring transparency to opaque government institutions and substantially boost income from non-oil-related industries.

The plan includes the partial privatization of the state oil company, Saudi Aramco, and envisions massive job creation. Unemployment has become especially problematic for Saudis younger than 30, the majority of the kingdom’s 22 million citizens.

Economic growth has tapered off recently and budget deficits have grown, spurring the International Monetary Fund to warn last year that Saudi Arabia could run out of cash if it failed to make reforms.

Authorities have responded to the crisis by cutting subsidies for water, fuel and electricity, but financial experts say more is needed — possibly taxation, a hot-button issue for Saudis.

Some Saudis may be ready to accept the changes.

“They have to be gradual and accepted, but people understand that they are needed,” said Abdulaziz Sager, chairman Gulf Research Center who lives in the coastal city of Jiddah.

But many doubt whether the necessary changes can be introduced fast enough in such a conservative society that is run by an absolute monarchy with little apparent desire for political reform.

Simon Henderson, an expert on Saudi Arabia at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the powerful religious establishment has not responded to the Prince Mohammed plan, which suggests they disapprove of it.

“There’s nothing in the recent changes that would be a cause for joy among the religious establishment,” Henderson said.

First Images Of EgyptAir Jet Crash Debris

By: Unknown on 2:04 PM

Pictures have been posted online showing debris from the EgyptAir jet that came down in the Mediterranean on Thursday.

The images show items from the stricken plane, including a child's life jacket and what appears to be part of a seat.

The images were posted online on Facebook by an Egyptian army spokesman.

Analysis of the debris is likely to be key to determining what happened to the flight.

The images were posted after it emerged the plane sent several warning signals about smoke detected in the jet before it crashed.

One aviation source said that a fire on board would likely have generated multiple warning signals, while a sudden explosion may not have generated any.

Egypt said its navy had found human remains, wreckage and the personal belongings floating in the sea about 290 km (180 miles) north of Alexandria.

Search crews are scouring for further wreckage, especially the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, commonly known as black boxes.

Planes and vessels from Egypt and five other countries - Greece, Britain, France, the United States and Cyprus - are involved in the search.

The waters in the area are 8,000 to 10,000ft deep, and the pings from the black boxes can be detected up to a depth of 20,000ft.

The plane was carrying 66 passengers and crew when it crashed on Thursday.