Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Chile protests: The students 'woke us up'
Sandra Cuffe. Al Jazeera. December 1, 2019
Santiago, Chile - For 28-year-old Cristina Paillal and many others from her generation in Chile, protesting has almost become the norm.
All Chileans under 30 years of age, including the vast majority of students, were born after the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet ended in 1990.
During Pinochet's rule, state forces killed or forcibly disappeared thousands of Chileans and tens of thousands were tortured or imprisoned for political reasons. Students and youth dissidents were among the victims.
"The dictatorship lasted a long time. Talking about politics could get you killed. Our parents' and grandparents' generations lived with that fear," Paillal, a Mapuche engineering student, said at a protest in Santiago, where tear gas lingered in the air.
"We are the new generation," she said.
Paillal continues to be involved in student and indigenous movements. But she said because secondary students represent all social classes and are usually not yet affiliated with any political party, they tend to be at the forefront.
"The secondary student movement is fundamental," she said.
Secondary students kicked off more than a month of non-stop nationwide demonstrations when they organised mass fare evasion protests in Santiago against a now-lifted subway fare rise. Protests almost immediately broadened into demonstrations over long-simmering grievances, including growing inequality and the dictatorship-era constitution.
"It is not the subway. It is everything," Joaquin*, a 16-year-old student, told Al Jazeera as he made his way from one protest to another.
'Little has changed'
Students have been at the heart of mass protests movements that have taken place since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship.
Secondary students were the protagonists of the 2006 "Penguin Revolution" movement for education reform, named after the appearance of school uniforms. A new education law was passed in 2009, but it did not fundamentally resolve demands for state control and funding of public education. Mass protests by secondary and university students broke out again in 2011, and have occurred sporadically since.
"Little has changed," said Joaquin. "People cannot afford good education."
Along with protests last month, there were spates of arson and looting, with significant damage to many metro stations and supermarkets. President Sebastian Pinera decreed a state of emergency and sent the military into the streets. The measures were lifted after nine days, but police crackdowns continue.
Prosecutors are investigating 26 people killed amid the turmoil, including four young men in their 20s killed by military forces. Thousands have been wounded and arrested. Of the 7,259 detainees visited in custody by the National Human Rights Institute, 867 have been minors.
In spite of the clampdown, daily marches, rallies, occupations, street barricades, citizen assemblies and other actions continue. Police often crack down with tear gas and force regardless of whether people are in joyous mass rallies, small groups fighting back with rocks, or simply bystanders in the area.
Carla*, a 20-year-old psychology student, told Al Jazeera that everything began with the secondary students but now even universities without a history of social struggle have joined the protest movement.
"This is just the beginning," she said, as thousands of people gathered at a roundabout in central Santiago that has been an epicentre for protests in recent weeks.
'We opened our eyes because of the students'
One of the many unifying demands at protests has been a new constitution written by citizens, and after nearly a month, the government reversed its position on the matter. An April 2020 plebiscite will ask citizens whether they want a new constitution and, if so, whether they want a mixed legislator-citizen or all-citizen convention to write the document, ruling and opposition politicians said in a joint announcement in mid-November.
Citizen elections would take place in October 2020. The convention would have at least nine months to write the constitution and pass it with a two-thirds majority. It would require ratification by citizens in a nationwide referendum.
But many gaps remain concerning key procedural details, including issues of gender parity and indigenous representation. The youth who sparked the movement would also be excluded due to age restrictions from voting in the plebiscite and participating in the convention.
Yet, protesters say the students are the ones who have brought thousands of others to the streets.
"We opened our eyes because of the students," said Mario Hernandez, an unemployed nurse technician. "They woke us up. Then, we all woke up."
Claudio Inostroza continued to joke with Hernandez and other friends but winced slightly as a medical student washed the blood off his calf. He was just relieved police had shot him in the leg, not the eye, with a rubber-metal projectile.
"It bounced off me. I was lucky," he told Al Jazeera as police continued to tear gas protesters along a nearby boulevard and adjacent park in the Chilean capital.
Inostroza supports protesters' collective demands for a new constitution, higher wages, and the right to health. But he said, above all, he is in the streets for his children: a son in primary school and a daughter with more than $50,000 of student debt just halfway through her university degree in nursing.
"I want my children to have free and quality education," he said. "I am protesting for their future."
Argentina's Fernandez says doesn't want debt haircuts but priority on growth
Reuters. December 1, 2019
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernandez said on Thursday he did not want to fall short on debt obligations even as his government puts a premium on growth.
Fernandez, who takes office on Dec. 10, will need to negotiate with creditors including the International Monetary Fund as Argentina buckles under the weight of about $100 billion in sovereign debt.
“I do not want to give haircuts to anybody, I do not want to stop paying what we owe,” Fernandez said while speaking at an Argentine industrial chamber event in Buenos Aires.
“We are going to pay the day we have grown, produced more, exported more and obtained the dollars with which to pay this debt.”
Still, Fernandez called the state of the country’s fiscal accounts “deplorable” and said much of its debt had been agreed to in a “delusional way,” taking aim at the economic policies of outgoing conservative President Mauricio Macri.
Macri lost his re-election bid to Fernandez in the October elections.
Fernandez hinted on Tuesday he may not seek an outstanding $11 billion from its $57-billion IMF loan as the South American country grapples to renegotiate its debts and avoid a painful default.
He told the IMF’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, last week he had a “sustainable” plan to meet creditor obligations as well as maintain growth.
Several factions of Argentina’s bondholders are jostling for influence ahead of restructuring talks with Fernandez, but some have said they are frustrated by a lack of clarify on the incoming government’s plans.
Fernandez has not yet named his economic team or set out how he will deal with potential debt restructurings.
Trump Says U.S. Will Impose Metal Tariffs on Brazil and Argentina
Ana Swanson. New York Times. December 2, 2019
President Trump said on Monday that he would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina, widening a global trade war and hitting an ally, Brazil’s conservative president.
Mr. Trump, in a message on Twitter, said what he called currency manipulation by Brazil and Argentina was hurting American farmers. “Therefore, effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the U.S. from those countries.”
The Trump administration never imposed tariffs on Brazilian and Argentine metals, though it did force them to limit shipments to the United States under a quota system last year. The United States initially exempted Brazil and Argentina from the president’s sweeping metal tariffs in 2018, with the United States saying it would continue negotiations with those countries on a trade deal.
It is unclear what prompted Mr. Trump’s message. But last week the Brazilian currency, the real, fell to a record low against the dollar after the country’s economic minister signaled that he was not concerned about exchange-rate fluctuations.
Argentina’s peso has weakened with the country in the midst of an economic crisis.
The surprise announcement on Monday was the latest escalation in the biggest global trade conflict in decades. Mr. Trump has also threatened new tariffs on products from China, Mexico, the European Union, Vietnam and elsewhere.
With next year’s election approaching, the Trump administration appeared to be working toward a resolution on several of these fronts. It has been trying to seal a first-phase trade deal with China, though the two sides are continuing to grapple over terms. And the administration has been pushing for Congress to approve its revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which would check off a major campaign promise for Mr. Trump.
But the tariffs on Brazil and Argentina suggest that Mr. Trump has not abandoned his confrontational approach.
On Monday, he said on Twitter that American stock markets “are up as much as 21%” since he announced the metal tariffs on March 1, 2018, and that the United States was taking in “massive amounts of money” in tariff revenue.
The announcement also revived the threat of steel and aluminum tariffs in particular, which the administration has steadily rolled back over the last year as it reached settlements with Canada, Mexico and other countries.
The president began placing stiff tariffs on global metals last year to stop what his administration contended was a flood of imported steel and aluminum that was threatening American producers and thus American national security. The idea has been disputed, with several countries bringing cases against the United States at the World Trade Organization.
Tariffs have had limited benefits for the steel industry. Many American steel producers supported the tariffs and say they have provided some protection against cheaper metals imported from abroad. But other economic factors have proved more influential, including China’s large-scale production and a weakening manufacturing sector in the United States and abroad.
The tariffs have also angered American manufacturers of automobiles, machinery, food packaging and other products, who must pay more for the metal they purchase.
As of Monday morning, neither the Office of the United States Trade Representative nor the Commerce Department had issued the formal notices that would put tariffs on Brazil and Argentina into effect.
Both Argentina and Brazil have benefited from the president’s trade war with China, which has hurt American exports of soybeans and other products.
Brazil and Argentina have picked up much of that business, replacing the United States as a large purveyor of farm goods to China.
Laboratory-evolved bacteria switch to consuming carbon dioxide for growth
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191127161450.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm
Date:November 27, 2019
Source:Cell Press
Summary:Over the course of several months, researchers created Escherichia coli strains that consume carbon dioxide for energy instead of organic compounds. This achievement in synthetic biology highlights the incredible plasticity of bacterial metabolism and could provide the framework for future carbon-neutral bioproduction.
Over the course of several months, researchers in Israel created Escherichia coli strains that consume CO2 for energy instead of organic compounds. This achievement in synthetic biology highlights the incredible plasticity of bacterial metabolism and could provide the framework for future carbon-neutral bioproduction.
Over the course of several months, researchers in Israel created Escherichia coli strains that consume CO2 for energy instead of organic compounds. This achievement in synthetic biology highlights the incredible plasticity of bacterial metabolism and could provide the framework for future carbon-neutral bioproduction.
The work appears November 27th in the journal Cell.
"Our main aim was to create a convenient scientific platform that could enhance CO2 fixation, which can help address challenges related to sustainable production of food and fuels and global warming caused by CO2 emissions," says senior author Ron Milo, at systems biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. "Converting the carbon source of E. coli, the workhorse of biotechnology, from organic carbon into CO2 is a major step towards establishing such a platform."
The living world is divided into autotrophs that convert inorganic CO2 into biomass and heterotrophs that consume organic compounds. Autotrophic organisms dominate the biomass on Earth and supply much of our food and fuels. A better understanding of the principles of autotrophic growth and methods to enhance it is critical for the path to sustainability.
A grand challenge in synthetic biology has been to generate synthetic autotrophy within a model heterotrophic organism. Despite widespread interest in renewable energy storage and more sustainable food production, past efforts to engineer industrially relevant heterotrophic model organisms to use CO2 as the sole carbon source have failed. Previous attempts to establish autocatalytic CO2 fixation cycles in model heterotrophs always required the addition of multi-carbon organic compounds to achieve stable growth.
"From a basic scientific perspective, we wanted to see if such a major transformation in the diet of bacteria -- from dependence on sugar to the synthesis of all their biomass from CO2 -- is possible," says first author Shmuel Gleizer (@GleizerShmuel), a Weizmann Institute of Science postdoctoral fellow. "Beyond testing the feasibility of such a transformation in the lab, we wanted to know how extreme an adaptation is needed in terms of the changes to the bacterial DNA blueprint."
In the Cell study, the researchers used metabolic rewiring and lab evolution to convert E. coli into autotrophs. The engineered strain harvests energy from formate, which can be produced electrochemically from renewable sources. Because formate is an organic one-carbon compound that does not serve as a carbon source for E. coli growth, it does not support heterotrophic pathways. The researchers also engineered the strain to produce non-native enzymes for carbon fixation and reduction and for harvesting energy from formate. But these changes alone were not enough to support autotrophy because E. coli's metabolism is adapted to heterotrophic growth.
To overcome this challenge, the researchers turned to adaptive laboratory evolution as a metabolic optimization tool. They inactivated central enzymes involved in heterotrophic growth, rendering the bacteria more dependent on autotrophic pathways for growth. They also grew the cells in chemostats with a limited supply of the sugar xylose -- a source of organic carbon -- to inhibit heterotrophic pathways. The initial supply of xylose for approximately 300 days was necessary to support enough cell proliferation to kick start evolution. The chemostat also contained plenty of formate and a 10% CO2 atmosphere.
In this environment, there is a large selective advantage for autotrophs that produce biomass from CO2 as the sole carbon source compared with heterotrophs that depend on xylose as a carbon source for growth. Using isotopic labeling, the researchers confirmed that the evolved isolated bacteria were truly autotrophic, i.e., CO2 and not xylose or any other organic compound supported cell growth.
"In order for the general approach of lab evolution to succeed, we had to find a way to couple the desired change in cell behavior to a fitness advantage," Milo says. "That was tough and required a lot of thinking and smart design."
By sequencing the genome and plasmids of the evolved autotrophic cells, the researchers discovered that as few as 11 mutations were acquired through the evolutionary process in the chemostat. One set of mutations affected genes encoding enzymes linked to the carbon fixation cycle. The second category consisted of mutations found in genes commonly observed to be mutated in previous adaptive laboratory evolution experiments, suggesting that they are not necessarily specific to autotrophic pathways. The third category consisted of mutations in genes with no known role.
"The study describes, for the first time, a successful transformation of a bacterium's mode of growth. Teaching a gut bacterium to do tricks that plants are renowned for was a real long shot," Gleizer says. "When we started the directed evolutionary process, we had no clue as to our chances of success, and there were no precedents in the literature to guide or suggest the feasibility of such an extreme transformation. In addition, seeing in the end the relatively small number of genetic changes required to make this transition was surprising."
The authors say that one major study limitation is that the consumption of formate by bacteria releases more CO2 than is consumed through carbon fixation. In addition, more research is needed before it's possible to discuss the scalability of the approach for industrial use.
In future work, the researchers will aim to supply energy through renewable electricity to address the problem of CO2 release, determine whether ambient atmospheric conditions could support autotrophy, and try to narrow down the most relevant mutations for autotrophic growth.
"This feat is a powerful proof of concept that opens up a new exciting prospect of using engineered bacteria to transform products we regard as waste into fuel, food or other compounds of interest," Milo says. "It can also serve as a platform to better understand and improve the molecular machines that are the basis of food production for humanity and thus help in the future to increase yields in agriculture."
This work was supported by the European Research Council, the Israel Science Foundation, the Beck-Canadian Center for Alternative Energy Research, Dana and Yossie Hollander, the Helmsley Charitable Foundation, the Larson Charitable Foundation, the Estate of David Arthur Barton, the Anthony Stalbow Charitable Trust, and Stella Gelerman, Canada. The authors declare a provisional patent related to the manuscript.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Gleizer et al. Conversion of Escherichia coli to Generate All Biomass Carbon from CO2. Cell, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.11.009
The living world is divided into autotrophs that convert inorganic CO2 into biomass and heterotrophs that consume organic compounds. Autotrophic organisms dominate the biomass on Earth and supply much of our food and fuels. A better understanding of the principles of autotrophic growth and methods to enhance it is critical for the path to sustainability.
A grand challenge in synthetic biology has been to generate synthetic autotrophy within a model heterotrophic organism. Despite widespread interest in renewable energy storage and more sustainable food production, past efforts to engineer industrially relevant heterotrophic model organisms to use CO2 as the sole carbon source have failed. Previous attempts to establish autocatalytic CO2 fixation cycles in model heterotrophs always required the addition of multi-carbon organic compounds to achieve stable growth.
"From a basic scientific perspective, we wanted to see if such a major transformation in the diet of bacteria -- from dependence on sugar to the synthesis of all their biomass from CO2 -- is possible," says first author Shmuel Gleizer (@GleizerShmuel), a Weizmann Institute of Science postdoctoral fellow. "Beyond testing the feasibility of such a transformation in the lab, we wanted to know how extreme an adaptation is needed in terms of the changes to the bacterial DNA blueprint."
In the Cell study, the researchers used metabolic rewiring and lab evolution to convert E. coli into autotrophs. The engineered strain harvests energy from formate, which can be produced electrochemically from renewable sources. Because formate is an organic one-carbon compound that does not serve as a carbon source for E. coli growth, it does not support heterotrophic pathways. The researchers also engineered the strain to produce non-native enzymes for carbon fixation and reduction and for harvesting energy from formate. But these changes alone were not enough to support autotrophy because E. coli's metabolism is adapted to heterotrophic growth.
To overcome this challenge, the researchers turned to adaptive laboratory evolution as a metabolic optimization tool. They inactivated central enzymes involved in heterotrophic growth, rendering the bacteria more dependent on autotrophic pathways for growth. They also grew the cells in chemostats with a limited supply of the sugar xylose -- a source of organic carbon -- to inhibit heterotrophic pathways. The initial supply of xylose for approximately 300 days was necessary to support enough cell proliferation to kick start evolution. The chemostat also contained plenty of formate and a 10% CO2 atmosphere.
In this environment, there is a large selective advantage for autotrophs that produce biomass from CO2 as the sole carbon source compared with heterotrophs that depend on xylose as a carbon source for growth. Using isotopic labeling, the researchers confirmed that the evolved isolated bacteria were truly autotrophic, i.e., CO2 and not xylose or any other organic compound supported cell growth.
"In order for the general approach of lab evolution to succeed, we had to find a way to couple the desired change in cell behavior to a fitness advantage," Milo says. "That was tough and required a lot of thinking and smart design."
By sequencing the genome and plasmids of the evolved autotrophic cells, the researchers discovered that as few as 11 mutations were acquired through the evolutionary process in the chemostat. One set of mutations affected genes encoding enzymes linked to the carbon fixation cycle. The second category consisted of mutations found in genes commonly observed to be mutated in previous adaptive laboratory evolution experiments, suggesting that they are not necessarily specific to autotrophic pathways. The third category consisted of mutations in genes with no known role.
"The study describes, for the first time, a successful transformation of a bacterium's mode of growth. Teaching a gut bacterium to do tricks that plants are renowned for was a real long shot," Gleizer says. "When we started the directed evolutionary process, we had no clue as to our chances of success, and there were no precedents in the literature to guide or suggest the feasibility of such an extreme transformation. In addition, seeing in the end the relatively small number of genetic changes required to make this transition was surprising."
The authors say that one major study limitation is that the consumption of formate by bacteria releases more CO2 than is consumed through carbon fixation. In addition, more research is needed before it's possible to discuss the scalability of the approach for industrial use.
In future work, the researchers will aim to supply energy through renewable electricity to address the problem of CO2 release, determine whether ambient atmospheric conditions could support autotrophy, and try to narrow down the most relevant mutations for autotrophic growth.
"This feat is a powerful proof of concept that opens up a new exciting prospect of using engineered bacteria to transform products we regard as waste into fuel, food or other compounds of interest," Milo says. "It can also serve as a platform to better understand and improve the molecular machines that are the basis of food production for humanity and thus help in the future to increase yields in agriculture."
This work was supported by the European Research Council, the Israel Science Foundation, the Beck-Canadian Center for Alternative Energy Research, Dana and Yossie Hollander, the Helmsley Charitable Foundation, the Larson Charitable Foundation, the Estate of David Arthur Barton, the Anthony Stalbow Charitable Trust, and Stella Gelerman, Canada. The authors declare a provisional patent related to the manuscript.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Gleizer et al. Conversion of Escherichia coli to Generate All Biomass Carbon from CO2. Cell, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.11.009
Leonardo DiCaprio Responds to Brazil’s President About Amazon Fires
Aimee Ortiz. New York Times. November 29, 2019
The actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio said on Saturday that he was not going to let President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil get in the way of his support of the Amazon rainforest.
Mr. DiCaprio released a statement after Mr. Bolsonaro falsely accused him of bankrolling fires recently set in the Amazon.
“At this time of crisis for the Amazon, I support the people of Brazil working to save their natural and cultural heritage,” Mr. DiCaprio posted on Instagram. “They are an amazing, moving and humbling example of the commitment and passion needed to save the environment.”
The statement comes a day after the Brazilian president appeared to allude to disputed social media posts claiming that the World Wildlife Fund, an international environmental organization, paid for images taken by volunteer firefighters during the catastrophic blazes and then used the images to ask for donations, including a $500,000 contribution from Mr. DiCaprio.
Mr. Bolsonaro, standing in front of the presidential residence, said of Mr. DiCaprio: “Cool guy, right? Giving money to torch the Amazon.”
The Brazilian president’s remarks about nongovernmental organizations came after four members of the Alter do Chão fire brigade were arrested on Tuesday, the BBC reported. They were accused of setting fires for the purpose of taking photos to solicit donations.
The arrests were widely condemned by politicians and other organizations who saw them as another move by the far-right president to persecute these groups.
In his statement on Saturday, the Hollywood star wrote, “While worthy of support, we did not fund the organizations targeted.” He also said he was proud to stand by the groups protecting “these irreplaceable ecosystems.”
Mr. DiCaprio, who has played a leading man in movies such as “Titanic” and “The Revenant,” said he remains “committed to supporting the Brazilian indigenous communities, local governments, scientists, educators and general public who are working tirelessly to secure the Amazon for the future of all Brazilians.”
In a statement on Wednesday, the World Wildlife Fund denied receiving a contribution from Mr. DiCaprio and obtaining photos from the firefighters.
Mr. Bolsonaro has frequently railed against activist and environmentalist groups over their concern for the Amazon fires.
In a Facebook Live post in August, he said “everything indicates” that nongovernmental organizations were setting fires in the Amazon but offered no evidence to back up his assertion, Reuters reported.
Mr. DiCaprio, whose foundation is dedicated to “protecting the world’s last wild places,” has spoken at length, both online and in person, about combating climate change and other environmental issues, including the deforestation of the Amazon as well as the fires.
The Amazon, often called the Earth’s “lungs,” stands as a bastion against climate change, but the raging fires could reach a tipping point for the rainforest, leading to a process of self-perpetuating deforestation known as dieback.
In December 2018, Mr. DiCaprio announced that his foundation would match recurring donations to the Amazon Frontlines group for the entirety of 2019.
“Defending the Amazon has never been more urgent for our planet,” he posted on Twitter at the time.
In August, Mr. DiCaprio was one of several high-profile people who shared inaccurate or misleading photos of the blazes. As fires were then consuming the Amazon, celebrities and politicians shared images urging support for the rainforest but many of the photos were old or from places far from the Amazon.
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