- ‘This is a fight for our survival’: Dominican Republic canal conflict unites Haitians Miami Herald
- Haiti’s government to oversee canal project that prompted Dominican Republic to close all borders Yahoo News
- Haiti’s government to oversee canal project that prompted Dominican Republic to close all borders The Associated Press
- In New York visit, the Dominican Republic’s president defends border closure with Haiti Miami Herald
- Dominican president to meet UN chief over aid through closed Haiti border Yahoo News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Canal
Officials: Grounded ship refloated in Egypt’s Suez Canal
CAIRO (AP) — A cargo ship carrying corn that went aground early on Monday in the Suez Canal was refloated and traffic through the crucial waterway was restored, Egyptian authorities said.
Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said the Marshall Islands-flagged MV Glory suffered a sudden technical failure while transiting through the canal, and the authority deployed four tugboats to help refloat it.
The vessel, which is owned by Greek firm Primera Shipping Inc., was heading to China before it broke down at the 38 kilometer (24 mile) -mark of the canal, near the city of Qantara in the province of Ismailia, he said.
After being refloated, the vessel was towed to a nearby maritime park to fix the problem, Rabei said. The canal’s media office shared images showing the vessel being pulled by tugboats.
Rabei did not elaborate on the nature of the technical failure. Parts of Egypt, including its northern provinces, experienced bad weather Sunday.
Traffic in the canal resumed after the ship was refloated and 51 vessels were expected to pass through the waterway in both directions Monday, Rabei’s statement added.
“Traffic through the Canal was uninterrupted as 26 North-bound vessels are already in the waterway and (a) South-bound convoy will resume its journey right upon the SCA tugboats-assisted transit of MV GLORY,” Rabei said.
Marwa Maher, a media officer with the canal authority, told The Associated Press the vessel ran aground around 5 a.m. local time and was refloated five hours later.
Canal services firm Leth Agencies posted a map that suggested the ship was against the west bank of the canal, pointed south and not wedged across the channel. Satellite tracking data analyzed by the AP showed the Glory running aground in a single-lane stretch of the Suez Canal just south of Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea.
Traffic Marine, a vessel tracking firm, said the Glory, bound to China, was transiting the canal at 8.5 knots when an engine broke down.
The Glory wasn’t the first vessel to run aground in the crucial waterway. The Panama-flagged Ever Given, a colossal container ship, crashed into a bank on a single-lane stretch of the canal in March 2021, blocking the waterway for six days.
The Ever Given was freed in a giant salvage operation by a flotilla of tugboats. The blockage created a massive traffic jam that held up $9 billion a day in global trade and strained supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ever Given debacle prompted Egyptian authorities to begin widening and deepening the waterway’s southern part where the vessel hit ground.
In August, the Singaporean-flagged Affinity V oil tanker ran aground in a single-lane stretch of the canal, blocking the waterway for five hours before it was freed.
The Joint Coordination Center listed the Glory as carrying over 65,000 metric tons of corn from Ukraine bound for China. The vessel was inspected by the center — which includes Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and United Nations staffers — off Istanbul on Jan. 3.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. It also remains one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners. In 2015, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi ’s government completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels.
Built in 2005, the Glory is 225 meters (738 feet) long and 32 meters (105 feet) wide.
___
Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Intestinal preservation in a birdlike dinosaur supports conservatism in digestive canal evolution among theropods
Turner, A. H., Makovicky, P. J. & Norell, M. A. A review of dromaeosaurid systematics and paravian phylogeny. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 371, 1–206 (2012).
Google Scholar
Xu, X., Wang, X. L. & Wu, X. C. A dromaeosaur dinosaur with filamentous integument from the Yixian Formation of China. Nature 401, 262–266 (1999).
Google Scholar
Xu, X., Zhou, Z. & Wang, X. The smallest known non-avian theropod dinosaur. Nature 408, 705–707 (2000).
Google Scholar
Pei, R., Li, Q., Meng, Q., Gao, K. Q. & Norell, M. A. A new specimen of Microraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of western Liaoning, China. Am. Mus. Novit. 3821, 1–28 (2014).
Google Scholar
Hwang, S. H., Norell, M. A., Ji, Q. & Gao, K. Q. New specimens of Microraptor zhaoianus (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from northeastern China. Am. Mus. Novit. 3381, 1–44 (2002).
Google Scholar
Zheng, X., Xu, X., You, H., Zhao, Q. & Dong, Z. A short-armed dromaeosaurid from the Jehol group of China with implications for early dromaeosaurid evolution. Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 277, 211–217 (2010).
Google Scholar
Lü, J. & Brusatte, S. L. A large, short-armed, winged dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China and its implications for feather evolution. Sci. Rep. 5, 1–11 (2015).
Han, G. et al. A new raptorial dinosaur with exceptionally long feathering provides insights into dromaeosaurid flight performance. Nat. Commun. 5, 4382 (2014).
Google Scholar
Cau, A. et al. Synchrotron scanning reveals amphibious ecomorphology in a new clade of bird-like dinosaurs. Nature 552, 395–399 (2017).
Google Scholar
Currie, P. J. & Evans, D. C. Cranial anatomy of new specimens of Saurornitholestes langstoni (Dinosauria, Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae) from the Dinosaur Park formation (Campanian) of Alberta. Anat. Rec. 04715, 1–25 (2019).
Xu, X. & Wu, X. C. Cranial morphology of Sinornithosaurus millenii (Dinosauria: Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Yixian formation of Liaoning, China. Can. J. Earth Sci. 38, 1739–1752 (2001).
Google Scholar
Barsbold, R. & Osmólska, H. The skull of Velociraptor (Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Acta Palaeontol. Pol. 44, 189–219 (1999).
Cau, A. The body plan of Halszkaraptor escuilliei (Dinosauria, Theropoda) is not a transitional form along the evolution of dromaeosaurid hypercarnivory. PeerJ 8, e8672 (2020).
Google Scholar
Xu, X. et al. A new dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the upper Cretaceous Wulansuhai Formation of Inner Mongolia, China. Zootaxa 2403, 1–9 (2010).
Google Scholar
Poust, A. W., Gao, C. L., Varricchio, D. J., Wu, J. L. & Zhang, F. J. A new microraptorine theropod from the Jehol Biota and growth in early dromaeosaurids. Anat. Rec. 303, 963–987 (2020).
Google Scholar
Godefroit, P., Currie, P. J., Hong, L., Shang, C. Y. & Dong, Z. M. A new species of Velociraptor (Dinosauria: Dromaeosauridae) from the upper Cretaceous of northern China. J Vertebr. Paleontol. 28, 432–438 (2008).
Google Scholar
Evans, D. C., Larson, D. W. & Currie, P. J. A new dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) with Asian affinities from the latest Cretaceous of North America. Sci. Nat. 100, 1041–1049 (2013).
Google Scholar
Powers, M. J. et al. A new hypothesis of eudromaeosaurian evolution: CT scans assist in testing and constructing morphological characters. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 41(5), e2010087 (2022).
Google Scholar
Novas, F. E., Pol, D., Canale, J. I., Porfiri, J. D. & Calvo, J. O. A bizarre Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Patagonia and the evolution of Gondwanan dromaeosaurids. Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 276, 1101–1007 (2009).
Google Scholar
Ostrom, J. H. Osteology of Deinonychus antirrhopus, an unusual theropod from the lower Cretaceous of Montana. Bull. Peabody Mus. Nat. Hist. 30, 1–165 (1969).
Senter, P., Kirkland, J. I., DeBlieux, D. D., Madsen, S. & Toth, N. New dromaeosaurids (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the lower Cretaceous of Utah, and the evolution of the dromaeosaurid tail. PLoS ONE 7(5), 1–20 (2012).
Google Scholar
Brusatte, S. L. et al. The osteology of Balaur bondoc, an island-dwelling dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Romania. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 374, 1–100 (2013).
Google Scholar
Xu, X. et al. Four-winged dinosaurs from China. Nature 421, 335–340 (2003).
Google Scholar
Cau, A., Beyrand, V., Barsbold, R., Tsogtbaatar, K. & Godefroit, P. Unusual pectoral apparatus in a predatory dinosaur resolves avian wishbone homology. Sci. Rep. 11(14722), 1–10 (2021).
Xu, X. & Qin, Z. C. A new tiny dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning and niche differentiation among the Jehol dromaeosaurids. Vert. PalAs 55, 129–144 (2017).
Zheng, X. et al. Structure and possible ventilatory function of unusual, expanded sternal ribs in the Early Cretaceous bird Jeholornis. Cretac. Res. 116, 104597 (2020).
Google Scholar
Rhodes, M. M. & Currie, P. J. The homology, form, and function of the microraptorine lateral pubic tubercle. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 40, e1755866 (2020).
Google Scholar
Novas, F. E., Brissón Egli, F., Agnolín, F. L., Gianechini, F. A. & Cerda, I. Postcranial osteology of a new specimen of Buitreraptor gonzalezorum (Theropoda, Unenlagiidae). Cretac Res. 83, 127–167 (2018).
Google Scholar
Novas, F. E., Agnolín, F. L., Motta, M. J. & Brissón, E. F. Osteology of Unenlagia comahuensis (Theropoda, Paraves, Unenlagiidae) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Anat. Rec. 304, 2741–2788 (2021).
Google Scholar
Forster, C. A., O’Connor, P. M., Chiappe, L. M. & Turner, A. H. The osteology of the Late Cretaceous paravian Rahonavis ostromi from Madagascar. Palaeontol. Electron 23.(2), a31 (2020).
Holtz, T. R. The arctometatarsalian pes, an unusual structure of the metatarsus of Cretaceous Theropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia). J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 14(4), 480–519 (1994).
Google Scholar
Perle, A., Norell, M. A., & Clark, J. M. A new maniraptoran theropod – Achillobator giganticus (Dromaeosauridae)-from the Upper Cretaceous of Burkhant, Mongolia. Contributions of the Department of Geology, National University of Mongolia 101, 1–105 (1999).
Xu, X., Zhou, Z. H. & Prum, R. O. Branched integumental structures in Sinornithosaurus and the origin of feathers. Nature 410, 200–204 (2001).
Google Scholar
Zhang, F. et al. Fossilized melanosomes and the colour of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds. Nature 463, 1075–1078 (2010).
Google Scholar
Li, Q. et al. Plumage color patterns of an extinct dinosaur. Science 327, 1369–1372 (2010).
Google Scholar
Li, Q. et al. Reconstruction of Microraptor and the evolution of iridescent plumage. Science 335, 1215–1219 (2012).
Google Scholar
Nesbitt, S. J., Turner, A. H., Erickson, G. M. & Norell, M. A. Prey choice and cannibalistic behaviour in the theropod Coelophysis. Biol. Lett. 22(4), 611–614 (2006).
Google Scholar
Charig, A. J. & Milner, A. C. Baryonyx walkeri, a fish-eating dinosaur from the Wealden of Surrey. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. 53, 11–70 (1997).
Ostrom, J. H. The osteology of Compsognathus longipes. Zitteliana 4, 73–118 (1978).
Xing, L. et al. Abdominal contents from two large early Cretaceous compsognathids (Dinosauria: Theropoda) demonstrate feeding on confuciusornithids and Dromaeosaurids. PLoS ONE 7(8), e44012 (2012).
Google Scholar
Dal Sasso, C. D. & Maganuco, S. Scipionyx samniticus (Theropoda: Compsognathidae) from the lower Cretaceous of Italy-osteology, ontogenetic assessment, phylogeny, soft tissue anatomy, taphonomy and palaeobiology. Memorie (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano) 37, 1–281 (2011).
Currie, P. J. & Chen, P. J. Anatomy of Sinosauropteryx prima from Liaoning, northeastern China. Can. J. Earth Sci. 38, 1705–1727 (2001).
Google Scholar
Varricchio, D. J. Gut contents from a Cretaceous tyrannosaurid; implications for theropod dinosaur digestive tracts. J. Paleontol. 75, 401–406 (2001).
Google Scholar
Zheng, X. T. et al. Exceptional dinosaur fossils reveal early origin of avian-style digestion. Sci. Rep. 8, 1–8 (2018).
Google Scholar
Dalsätt, J., Zhou, Z., Zhang, F. & Ericson, P. G. P. Food remains in Confuciusornis sanctus suggest a fish diet. Sci. Nat. 93, 444–446 (2006).
Google Scholar
Zheng, X. et al. New specimens of Yanornis indicate a piscivorous diet and modern alimentary canal. PLoS ONE 9(4), e95036 (2014).
Google Scholar
Xing, L. et al. Piscivory in the feathered dinosaur Microraptor. Evolution 67, 2441–2445 (2013).
Google Scholar
Chin, K., Tokaryk, T., Erickson, G. M. & Calk, C. A king-size theropod coprolite. Nature 393, 680–682 (1998).
Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. The role of decay and mineralization in the preservation of soft-bodied fossils. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci. 31, 275–301 (2003).
Google Scholar
Naish, D., Martill, D. M. & Frey, E. Ecology, systematics and biogeographical relationships of dinosaurs, including a new theropod, from the Santana Formation (?Albian, Early Cretaceous) of Brazil. Hist. Biol. 16, 57–70 (2004).
Google Scholar
Cau, A. Comments on the Mesozoic theropod dinosaurs from Italy. Atti. Soc. Nat. Mat. Modena 152, 81–95 (2021).
Google Scholar
Goloboff, P. & Catalano, S. TNT version 1.5. Cladistics 32, 221–238 (2016).
Google Scholar
Drummond, A. J., Suchard, M. A., Xie, D. & Rambaut, A. Bayesian phylogenetics with BEAUti and the BEAST 1.7. Mol. Biol. Evol 29, 1969–1973 (2012).
Google Scholar
Bouckaert, R. R. et al. BEAST 2: A software platform for Bayesian evolutionary analysis. PLOS Comput. Biol. 10, e1003537 (2014).
Google Scholar
Lewis, P. O. A likelihood approach to estimating phylogeny from discrete morphological character data. Syst. Biol. 50, 913–925 (2001).
Google Scholar
Gavryushkina, A., Welch, D., Stadler, T. & Drummond, A. J. Bayesian inference of sampled ancestor trees for epidemiology and fossil calibration. PLOS Comput. Biol. 10, e1003919 (2014).
Google Scholar
Suez Canal: Affinity V refloated after running aground in Egypt’s canal
The vessel, Affinity V, had been blocking the southern section of the canal, two navigational sources said, but SCA sources said shortly after midnight local time that traffic had returned to normal.
The incident occurred in the same southern, single-lane stretch of the canal where a giant cargo ship, the Ever Given, ran aground for six days in March 2021, disrupting global trade.
According to ship monitoring service TankerTrackers, the Aframax tanker Affinity V seemed to have lost control in the Suez Canal on Wednesday evening while heading south.
“She temporarily clogged up traffic and is now facing south again, but moving slowly by tugboat assistance,” TankerTrackers said on Twitter.
Refinitiv ship-tracking data and the Marine Traffic website also showed the Affinity V facing southwards and traveling slowly in the canal, surrounded by tugs.
The Singapore-flagged tanker was headed for the Red Sea port of Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, the tracking sites said.
After the Ever Given ran aground, the SCA had announced accelerated plans to expand the canal, including extending a second channel that allows shipping to pass in both directions along part of its course and deepening an existing channel.
Work on the expansion is due to be completed in 2023.
Ship refloated after running aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal -sources
An aerial view of the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal are pictured through the window of an airplane on a flight between Cairo and Doha, Egypt, November 27, 2021. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
CAIRO, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Tug boats refloated a ship that briefly ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal late on Wednesday, a source from the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) andstate TV reported.
The vessel had been blocking the southern section of the canal, two navigational sources said, but the SCA source said shortly afterwards that traffic had returned to normal.
There was no immediate statement about the incident from the SCA.
According to ship monitoring service TankerTrackers, the Aframax tanker Affinity V seemed to have lost control in the Suez Canal while heading southbound.
“She temporarily clogged up traffic and is now facing south again, but moving slowly by tugboat assistance,” TankerTrackers said on Twitter.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Yousri Mohamed and Yasmin Hussein; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Mark Porter and Christian Schmollinger
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
NYPD searching for gunman after man shot to death on subway train approaching Canal Street
The search continues for a suspect who opened fire on a subway train, killing a man.
Police said the suspect fled the Canal Street subway station in Chinatown, CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis reported.
It was a horrifying Sunday morning for those on board a Manhattan-bound Q train. Those sitting in the last car experienced the unexpected.
One man on board told CBS2 he had no idea what was going on.
“I don’t think that in that moment you really have time to process that,” said Matthew Chavan of Brooklyn.
Chavan was headed to Manhattan on the Q train when it pulled into the Canal Street station. He said he heard shouting, and saw people running to the exit.
“I decided people aren’t running for no reason. Let’s follow them and because something’s going on down the other way,” Chavan said.
He later found out a man was shot in a different train car.
“According to witnesses, the suspect was walking back and forth in the same train car and without provocation pulled out a gun and fired it at the victim at close range as the train was crossing the Manhattan Bridge,” NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said.
Police responded to the Canal Street station at around 11:45 a.m. to find 48-year-old Daniel Enriquez shot in the chest. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, but didn’t make it.
Investigators said the suspect was already gone and they’re calling on witnesses for help.
“Help us find this guy. There’s other people riding the train. We have some of them, others who saw something. Maybe someone who took a photo or some video on their cellphone, share it with us,” Corey said.
The NYPD said it’s pushing more officers into the subway system. That was echoed by Mayor Eric Adams in an audio clip provided by his press secretary.
“We’re going to increase the uniform presence, and it’s also we’re going to have those officers that one may not know they are police officers to ensure that we can find those who are carrying out crimes such as this,” Adams said.
But news of another subway shooting, six weeks after 10 people were shot on board a train in Brooklyn, had commuters feeling uneasy.
“I feel unsafe. I kind of want to get in an Uber right now. That’s really messed up,” said River Anton of Long Island City.
“The violence just seems to be random. It’s very nerve wracking. It doesn’t seem like anyone is doing anything to stop it,” said Symone Wilson of Midtown.
“It seems like the police presence is focused on keeping people from hopping the rails rather than keeping people safe,” added Madison Dickson of Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Charlton D’Souza is president of advocacy group Passengers United.
“I’ve been pleading with the MTA and elected officials, please, put cameras in the subway cars,” D’Souza said. “We need to make New Yorkers feel confident that they can ride the trains, they can get safely from point A to point B.”
Cargo ship runs aground in U.S., a year after sister vessel blocked Suez Canal
March 16 (Reuters) – The Ever Forward container ship is currently grounded in the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, nearly a year after another ship run by the same company blocked the Suez Canal for six days.
The container ship is operated by Evergreen Marine Corp Taiwan Ltd (2603.TW), the same Taiwanese transportation company that operates the Ever Given. The Ever Given ran aground last March, blocking traffic in the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. read more
The Coast Guard received reports on Sunday that the Ever Forward was grounded and is now conducting checks every four hours to ensure the safety of the crew on board and marine life, according to Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Centeno.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
The Coast Guard says the ship is grounded outside of the canal and is not blocking the traffic of other container ships.
Ever Forward container ship, owned by Evergreen Marine Corp, sits grounded in the Chesapeake Bay off the shore of Maryland, U.S., March 15, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Julio Cesar Chavez
Evergreen Marine said in an emailed statement that the incident had not caused a fuel leakage, and did not block the navigation channel or disrupt traffic entering or leaving the port.
“Evergreen is arranging for divers to conduct underwater inspections to confirm any damage to the vessel, and is coordinating with all the concerned parties to refloat the ship as soon as possible,” it said.
“The cause of the incident is under investigation by the competent authority.”
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Kenneth Maxwell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Human Birth Canals Are Seriously Twisted. Researchers Think They’ve Figured Out Why
There’s an odd twist to human physiology not seen in any other primate, that makes giving birth more complicated for our species. Now, a study using biomechanical modelling on gait and posture has provided some insights into this long-standing mystery.
The narrow shape of the human birth canal is kinked at the inlet, so that contractions of the mother must rotate the baby’s big brain and wide shoulders nearly 90 degrees to fit into the pelvis.
Imagine sliding a foot into a tight boot with a twisted entrance and you’ve got a rough idea of how challenging this can be. If the baby gets stuck, it can endanger both the life of the mother and child. In fact, this is thought to occur in as many as 6 percent of all births worldwide.
So what’s the advantage? Surprisingly, for such a key element in the reproduction of our very species, we’re still trying to figure that out.
(Stansfield et al., BMC Biology, 2021)
Above: The rotational birth of humans. A) shows the head turning about 90° to fit into the largest dimension of the pelvic plane; B) shows the layers of the birth canal.
Today, some of the most fundamental parts of human pregnancy are a complete mystery. We don’t know, for instance, why our species undergoes such long and dangerous labors compared to other mammals.
Traditionally, it is thought the human pelvis is shaped the way it is to make walking easier. Evolutionarily speaking, the advantages of bipedal movement on a daily basis were clearly worth the extra risks that came with having narrow hips and big-brained babies.
In the new study, extensive biomechanical models of the pelvic floor suggest the shape of the birth canal doesn’t help us walk so much as it helps us stand up.
“We argue that the transverse elongation of the pelvic inlet has evolved because of the limits on the front-to-back diameter in humans imposed by balancing upright posture, rather than by the efficiency of the bipedal locomotion”, says Philipp Mitteroecker, who was also involved in this study.”
If the inlet from the womb to the birth canal was a deeper oval, a baby could slide right through without very many fussy movements at all, as they do in other primates.
But in a human, this would require the pelvis to tilt at an even greater degree than it already does, which would add a deeper curve to the lower back.
Ultimately, the new models suggest that extra curve would compromise the stability and health of our spines, which is possibly why the inlet to the birth canal evolved a new shape instead.
In comparison, other primates, like chimpanzees, can afford to have a deeper inlet to the pelvis because they are mostly on all fours and aren’t putting a lot of weight on their hips. To get through to the birth canal, chimpanzee young only have to twist their heads a little.
The human baby, by comparison, has to move their body nearly 90 degrees to face the mother’s spine to fit through the tight ellipsoid.
Even after this tricky maneuver, it’s not a straight slide into the world. The outlet of the human birth canal is also shaped slightly different to primates. It requires the baby to once again turn to get its shoulders out, which are widest on a different axis to the head.
The models run by researchers suggest the outlet of the birth canal is shaped this way to better support the pelvic floor.
If the lower birth canal had an outlet that was wider still, the results indicate it would help pelvic floor stability even more; however, it would ultimately make childbirth too risky. The final twist would be too hard for the head and shoulders to shimmy through.
“Our results provide a novel evolutionary explanation for the twisted shape of the human birth canal,” the authors conclude.
It’s an intriguing idea from a well-thought out model, but real-world research will be needed to determine if this is really why humans are born with a twist and a shout.
Evolutionary studies, for instance, have shown female Neanderthals had birth canals more similar to chimpanzees, which suggests twisting is a uniquely human and relatively recent evolutionary development.
Given that Neanderthals also stood and walked on two feet, it would be interesting to compare the biomechanics of ancient humans to figure out why the modern human pelvis stands out.
The study was published in BMC Biology.
Ever Given leaves Suez Canal more than 3 months after blockage
CAIRO — The huge container ship that disrupted global marine traffic after it blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week in March has been released and set sail Wednesday after spending months under seizure.
The 1,400-foot-long Ever Given, which carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground and jammed the single-lane stretch of the canal on March 23 before it was re-floated six days later in a massive salvage operation.
A ceremony was held at the canal to mark the departure of the Panama-flagged ship and television broadcast showed the vessel finally leaving after being stuck in a holding lake in the middle of the Suez Canal for months as canal authorities and the ship owners negotiated a compensation deal after the six-day blockage threw international supply chains into disarray, paralyzing one of the world’s most crucial waterways.
Just days before the ship’s release on Wednesday, it was announced an agreement had been reached, but no details were released.
“I give the permission for the Ever Given to sail,” the Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie said at the ceremony. He added that the Suez Canal will continue to service ships of all sizes.
Khaled Abu Bakr, a lawyer for the SCA, said during the ceremony that the canal authorities were “committed to the terms of secrecy” about what was agreed in negotiations with the ship owners.
A spokesperson for the ship’s Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., said in an emailed statement after the Ever Green set sail that the company will continue to use the canal for its fleet of ships and will remain a “loyal customer.” The company also thanked the crew that stayed on the ship throughout the ordeal and acknowledged the delays for those with cargo stuck onboard.
The compensation is likely to center around the cost of the salvage operation, stalled canal traffic and lost transit fees for the week the Ever Given blocked the canal.
At first, the SCA demanded $916 million in compensation, which was lowered to $550 million in May because of new information about the value of the ship’s cargo. At the time, SCA chief Rabie told Egyptian media the ship owners offered $115 million in compensation.
The two sides have publicly traded blame on which party controlled the speed of the ship in the canal at the time of the incident, which party decided to enter the canal despite heavy winds and the number of tugboats present to escort the ship.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
On Tuesday, a local court officially approved a request from the Suez Canal Authority to lift the Ever Given’s seizure, and allow the ship to leave the canal and complete its journey to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
About 12 percent of world trade flows through the Suez Canal, a narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Asian Sinai Peninsula. The canal usually allows 50 cargo ships to pass daily between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, providing a vital trade corridor between Europe and Asia.
The Ever Given blockage had brought the key global trade route to a standstill and captured global attention as the world watched as dredgers worked non-stop to dislodge the stranded vessel, shifting huge quantities of sand, with experts initially fearing it could take weeks to completely free it.
Hundreds of ships had to wait for the canal to be unblocked, creating a maritime traffic jam visible from space, while some ships pondered taking the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip.
Charlene Gubash reported from Cairo, Yuliya Talmazan from London.
The Associated Press contributed.
Turkish ex-admirals arrested over criticism of Erdoğan’s ‘crazy’ canal scheme | Turkey
Turkey has detained 10 retired admirals over their public criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “crazy” Istanbul canal project, which will create a new waterway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean in addition to the existing Bosphorus strait.
The arrest warrants issued on Monday came a day after a group of 104 former senior navy officials signed an open letter warning that the proposed canal could harm Turkish security by invalidating an 85-year-old international treaty designed to prevent militarisation of the Black Sea.
The statement criticising the plan was met with fury from Turkish officials, who interpreted it as a direct challenge from the military to the civilian government, “echoing coup times”.
The Turkish military has long seen itself as the guarantor of the country’s secular constitution, staging three coups between 1960 and 1980. Erdoğan’s government also survived an attempted coup in July 2016, which it blamed on followers of the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen. Hundreds of thousands of military personnel, civil servants, lawyers and academics have been fired from their jobs or arrested in the past five years accused of links to the preacher.
“A group of retired soldiers are putting themselves into a laughable and miserable position with their statement that echoes military coup times,” the presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said on Twitter.
“The [group] should know that our esteemed nation and its representatives will never allow this mentality,” he added.
Erdoğan’s top press aide, Fahrettin Altun, said: “Not only those who signed but also those who encourage them will give an account before justice.”
The chief prosecutor’s office in Ankara has launched an investigation into the statement, according to the state news agency Anadolu, and four more people suspected of putting the statement together have been called to report to police within the next three days.
The proposed Istanbul canal is the most ambitious of dozens of what Erdoğan calls his “crazy” projects – large-scale infrastructure development projects that have come to define Turkey’s economic boom and bust during his 18 years in office.
Plans to in effect create a second Bosphorus were drawn up in 2011 and finally approved last month. The 28-mile (45km) passage is to be built west of the natural waterway in order to ease heavy traffic and reduce the risk of accidents on the existing strait.
To date, Turkish officials have insisted that the 1936 Montreux convention – which opened the Bosphorus to civilian shipping below a certain size and its Black Sea neighbours’ navies – will not apply to the new canal. In theory this means Turkey could in theory allow whatever vessels it likes passage to the Black Sea, including US warships, in effect militarising the Russian-dominated waters.
The £9.5bn canal plan was put on hold in 2018 when the Turkish lira crashed. Its reintroduction has prompted concern from critics who say it will wreak environmental havoc and that costs are likely to spiral.
“Montreux provided Turkey the possibility to maintain its neutrality during the second world war. We are of the opinion that there is a need to avoid any statements and actions that could cause the Montreux convention, an important treaty in terms of Turkey’s survival, to be brought up for discussion,” the statement from the retired navy personnel said.
The former admirals are suspected of conspiring against state security and constitutional order, according to the news website Habertürk.