NEW YORK (AP) — An under-construction Manhattan high-rise at risk of collapse was stabilized late Tuesday and some evacuations of nearby buildings were lifted.

“We’ve been monitoring the building for many hours and have not seen any movement,” Ahmed Tigani, commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, said during a news conference Tuesday.

By nighttime, residents were allowed back into several of the seven buildings that were evacuated as a precaution. [...]

The state of New York has reached 8GW of cumulative installed distributed solar PV, putting it ahead of its 10GW target by 2030.

(Alternative article)

Uganda’s military continues to lay siege on the country’s largest non-state newspaper, one of the largest private news broadcasters, alongside other channels and radio stations owned by Nation Media Group (NMG), the largest media conglomerate in East and Central Africa.

Troops raided its Ugandan headquarters and the broadcasting centers located at the Serena Hotel in the capital, Kampala, just after midnight, around 1 am on Sunday, June 28.

Its television stations, including NTV, one of the most viewed private news broadcasters in the country, and the Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, “are being shut down from today!” military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba posted on X.

By 5 am, NTV Uganda and Spark TV went off air. The NMG-owned radio stations, KFM and Dembe FM, fell silent. The newspaper did not roll out of its printing press that morning.

“From now on ALL bad stories about Uganda have to be cleared by my office! In Uganda, I DO NOT believe in a free press!” declared Kainerugaba, who is also the son and heir apparent of Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda since 1986.

Earlier this January, Museveni won a seventh term in an election marred by “widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition, human rights defenders, [and] journalists,” according to the UN.

Army chief threatens to kill opposition leaders; brags about abduction and torture
Soon after Museveni was declared the winner, his son unleashed the military on the opposition. “So far we have killed 30” and arrested 2,000 members of the main opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), Kainerugaba had announced on X only days later. When its leader, Bobi Wine, Museveni’s main opponent, was forced underground and eventually into exile, Kainerugaba told his troops to “bring him in dead or alive!”

Uganda’s military continues to lay siege on the country’s largest non-state newspaper, one of the largest private news broadcasters, alongside other channels and radio stations owned by Nation Media Group (NMG), the largest media conglomerate in East and Central Africa.

Troops raided its Ugandan headquarters and the broadcasting centers located at the Serena Hotel in the capital, Kampala, just after midnight, around 1 am on Sunday, June 28.

Its television stations, including NTV, one of the most viewed private news broadcasters in the country, and the Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, “are being shut down from today!” military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba posted on X.

By 5 am, NTV Uganda and Spark TV went off air. The NMG-owned radio stations, KFM and Dembe FM, fell silent. The newspaper did not roll out of its printing press that morning.

“From now on ALL bad stories about Uganda have to be cleared by my office! In Uganda, I DO NOT believe in a free press!” declared Kainerugaba, who is also the son and heir apparent of Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda since 1986.

Earlier this January, Museveni won a seventh term in an election marred by “widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition, human rights defenders, [and] journalists,” according to the UN.

Army chief threatens to kill opposition leaders; brags about abduction and torture
Soon after Museveni was declared the winner, his son unleashed the military on the opposition. “So far we have killed 30” and arrested 2,000 members of the main opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), Kainerugaba had announced on X only days later. When its leader, Bobi Wine, Museveni’s main opponent, was forced underground and eventually into exile, Kainerugaba told his troops to “bring him in dead or alive!”

Snuffleupagus, a newly described species, is an adorable little predator

S. snuffleupagus, a newly described species of fish, is named after the beloved Sesame Street character, Mr. Snuffleupagus, to which it bears an "uncanny" resemblance.

Solenostomus snuffleupagus, a newly described species of fish, is named after the beloved Sesame Street character, Mr. Snuffleupagus. (David Harasti)

Scientist David Harasti never had any doubt what he would name the tiny orange creature he first spotted on a diving expedition in Papua New Guinea in 2003.

But it would take another two decades for Harasti and his colleague Graham Short to find the elusive fish again, study it, and officially designate it a new species.

Meet Solenostomus snuffleupagus, named after the beloved Sesame Street character, Mr. Snuffleupagus.

"Snuffy for short," Short, an ichthyologist at the California Academy of Sciences and the Australian Museum, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "The resemblance was quite uncanny."

Short and Harasti have now written a new paper, published in the journal Fish Biology, describing S. snuffleupagus as a new species of ghost pipefish that makes its home along coral reefs, and disguises itself as red algae.

'The awesome power of natural selection'

The fish has quite a few things in common with its namesake — mainly its orange-brown colouring, the long filaments that look like shaggy hair, and its elephant-like snout.

Milton Love, a marine biologist at the University of California’s Marine Science Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., says the fish's muppet-like appearance demonstrates "the awesome power of natural selection."

"Clearly, all of the morphological features that we find endearing are of some value to the animal," Love, who was not involved in the research, said in email.

"Or, and here is another hypothesis, Gaia created this fish after having one too many of those rum drinks that come with those little umbrellas."

A snuffy fish photographed by a diver in Tonga. (Darren Rice/Matafonua Lodge)

But its similarity to Snuffleupagus goes deeper than meets the eye.

It's also extremely elusive, much like Mr. Snuffleupagus, who, in his early appearances on Sesame Street, was only ever seen by Big Bird, leading the other characters to mistakenly suspect he was imaginary.

Harasti and Short tried for years to spot a snuffy fish again after that first 2003 sighting to no avail.

Their luck changed in 2021 when some scuba diver buddies started seeing the little creatures on the Great Barrier Reef and got in touch. The scientists headed to Australia to see for themselves, and on their second dive, they found the fish.

"It's an understatement to say that we screamed under water," Short said. "We high-fived, gave each other a hug, and we were just so excited."

An itty-bitty carnivore

In order to describe the fish and confirm it as a previously undocumented species, the scientists looked at CT scans of specimens first collected in 1993 during exhibition to far north of Queensland, Australia, in the Torres Strait.

Short says they were collected alongside several hundred other fish specimens and tucked away until he and his colleague came looking. But even back then, he says ichthyologist Helen Larson, who was part of the expedition, suspected it was a new species.

S. snuffleupagus, like other ghost pipefish, is a cousin of the seahorse.

The newly described Snuffleupagus fish is smaller than a matchstick. (Darren Rice/Matafonua Lodge)

Using iNaturalist, the citizen science platform, the scientists confirmed sightings of it in Tonga, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, suggesting distribution across the southwestern Pacific.

And while it may look like Big Bird's beloved bestie, there are a few significant differences between S. snuffleupagus the fish and Snuffleupagus the muppet.

While Snuffleupagus is famously big — bigger even than Big Bird — S. snuffleupagus is roughly four to five centimetres long, about the size of an airpod.

The Sesame Street character Snuffleupagus, pictured here rehearsing for the 2019 Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, is much bigger and less predatorial than its fish counterpart. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)

And while Snuffleupagus would never harm a fly, S. snuffleupagus is a natural-born killer.

"They look adorable, very cute. They're very delicate and slow moving in the water. And it's been assumed that they only eat small crustaceans like small shrimp," Short said.

Not so, he says. The CT scans found tiny fish skeletons in the specimens' stomachs.

"Every fish has a role, and they are either eating or being eaten. It turns out, ghost pipe fish and in particular, snuffy … they're just like other fish," Short said. "They're predators."

Short says the widespread interest in S. snuffleupagus has been a delight, and he hopes it won't be the last fish he brings attention to.

He and his colleague already have their eyes on another species of ghost pipe fish that is known to divers around the Pacific, but hasn't been formally described.

If it works out, they plan to name it after another muppet, but Short wouldn't say which one.

"Not yet, because I need approval," he said.