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Australian scientists discover ancient ‘echidnapus’

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Scientists have discovered a bizarre creature dubbed the “echidnapus” which they believe roamed Australia in prehistoric times.

Fossilised pieces of the animal’s jaw bone were found in opal fields in northern New South Wales, alongside evidence of several other ancient and now extinct monotreme species.

Officially named Opalios splendens, the new species has been nicknamed for its resemblance to the platypus and echidna – which are the only egg-laying mammals in the world today.

The team behind the research say it indicates that Australia once had an “age of monotremes” – in which the incredibly rare order of animals were abundant and dominant.

“It’s like discovering a whole new civilisation,” lead author Professor Tim Flannery said.

The array of fossils were found about 25 years ago by palaeontologist Elizabeth Smith and her daughter Clytie while they were going through the discards of an opal mine.

They donated the specimens – estimated to be about 100 million years old – to the Australian Museum, where they sat forgotten in a drawer until about two years ago.

Prof Flannery, a mammalogist, says he stumbled across them and immediately knew they were from ancient monotremes.

Some of the bones belonged to the already-discovered Steropodon galmani, a shorter, stumpier and toothier ancestor of the platypus.

But the other fragments were unfamiliar. From them, Dr Flannery and his team discovered evidence of three species previously unknown to science, findings which were published in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology on Monday.

The critters had combinations of features never seen before – in living or fossil monotremes, said Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute Professor Kris Helgen, who also worked on the paper.

“[The Opalios splendens’s] overall anatomy is probably quite like the platypus, but with features of the jaw and snout a bit more like an echidna,” Prof Helgen said.

All opal fossils are rare – monotreme ones even more so – but these specimens are “a revelation”, says Ms Smith.

They take the total number of monotreme species known to have once lived at Lightning Ridge – which was in ancient times a cold, wet forest bordering a vast inland sea – to six.

“They show the world that long before Australia became the land of pouched mammals, marsupials, this was a land of furry egg-layers – monotremes,” Ms Smith says.

“It seems that 100 million years ago, there were more monotremes at Lightning Ridge than anywhere else on earth, past or present.”

Other experts say it is too early to say whether Australia once hosted a multitude of monotremes and that further exploration is needed.

“It may have been at least as diverse as the later Australian marsupial fauna… but I would need more evidence,” Flinders University palaeontologist Rod Wells told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The study’s authors hope their paper will encourage more funding for more targeted digs in the region, to support their findings.

(BBC News)

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Trump gives Elon Musk and Fox News host key jobs

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Elon Musk has been made head of a new “Department of Government Efficiency” by Donald Trump, the latest appointment to his emerging new team.

Trump says the billionaire businessman will co-lead the organisation with former Republican primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

It will “provide advice and guidance from outside of government” to “dismantle government bureaucracy” and cut spending – though it is not yet fully clear what form it will take.

Trump has also picked Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and Army veteran, to be defence secretary, and John Ratcliffe as his director of national intelligence.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been chosen as Homeland Security Secretary.

Property developer Steve Witkoff – Trump’s long-time golf partner and a major campaign donor – has been named as special envoy to the Middle East, while former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee will be nominated as ambassador to Israel.

(BBC News)

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Zhuhai Airshow kicks off

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Zhuhai Airshow kicks offThe 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China or the Zhuhai Airshow, opened on Tuesday in Zhuhai City of south China’s Guangdong Province. 

The highly-anticipated biennial aerospace trade show will run until Sunday, and a four-hour flight demonstration, including performances of aerobatic teams and military jets, will be staged each day of the event. 

On the first day, China’s J-20 and J-35A stealth fighters, along with Russia’s Su-57 stealth fighter, performed stunning aerobatics on the same aerial stage for the first time. 

At the outdoor and indoor exhibition areas of the airshow, equipment of China’s army, navy and air forces are on display, including the debut of the J-15D carrier-based fighter, the debut of the HQ-19 surface-to-air missile weapon system, and the new reconnaissance and strike drone. 

This year’s airshow also features the debut of lunar soil samples brought back by China’s Chang’e-6 mission from the far side of the moon in June this year and a separate exhibition zone displaying unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ships. 

The airshow has attracted 1,022 companies from 47 countries and regions to showcase their star aviation and aerospace products, including a record number of products being debuted to the public at the event. 

On the sidelines of the airshow, domestic airlines signed orders with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) for a total of 130 C909 and C919 passenger planes. 

Meanwhile, Air China has signed an intention agreement with COMAC to become the first customer of the C929 wide-body aircraft.

(CCTV +)

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Car plows into crowds, killing 35, injuring 43 in Zhuhai

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Thirty-five people died and 43 were injured after a car plowed into crowds at a stadium in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, local police reported on Tuesday.

At 19:48 pm on Monday, a divorced man surnamed Fan, 62, allegedly drove a small SUV through a barrier and forced his way into a sports center in Zhuhai, ramming people who were exercising on the road inside the venue, the city’s public security bureau said in a statement, adding that the injured were immediately sent to hospitals for medical treatment.

Fan was caught as he tried to cut himself with a knife in his car, the statement said, revealing that he is currently in a coma as a result of the serious self-inflicted injuries in his neck and other parts of his body.

Due to the coma, the police has been unable to question him, it added.

A preliminary investigation showed that the incident was allegedly triggered by Fan’s dissatisfaction with the split of financial assets in his divorce, police said.

Fan has been detained on suspicion of endangering public security, and further investigation into the incident and medical treatment of the injured are ongoing, it said.

(chinadaily.com.cn)

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