Meet the giant dinosaur that roamed southern Africa 200 million years ago

Globally at around 200 million years ago, in what’s known as the Early Jurassic, small and agile two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods roamed the ancient landscapes. In southern Africa, we know of their existence from their rare body fossils but also, importantly, from their fossil footprints.

Now our team’s new discovery, published in PLOS ONE, unexpectedly reveals that very large carnivorous dinosaurs with an estimated body length of between 8 to 9 meters (or 26 feet) – that’s a two-story building or two adult rhinos nose to tail – lived in southern Africa too.

Evidence for this massive beast comes from a set of three-toed, 57cm long and 50cm wide footprints recently found in western Lesotho. This is a first for Africa. It places a huge carnivorous dinosaur in what was then the southern part of the supercontinent Gondwana during Early Jurassic times.
Until this discovery, theropod dinosaurs were thought to be considerably smaller, at three to five metres in body length, during the Early Jurassic.

There has only been one other report of large carnivorous dinosaurs occurring as early as 200 million years ago. This also came from fossil footprint evidence in Poland’s Holy Cross Mountains. Such giants are rare. The iconic and enormous (about 12 metres long) Tyrannosaurus, for instance, only emerged around 128 million years later during the Late Cretaceous.

The dimensions of the trackmaker with the 57cm long feet, although slightly smaller, come close to those of the well-known and younger Late Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex or the similarly huge North African Spinosaurus.
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T-20 International series: Pakistan welcomes Sri Lanka after 8 long years

Pakistan marked a historical moment on Sunday as it will welcomed Sri Lanka on its soil after almost eight years, since they were targeted in a terrorist attack in 2009.

According to Geo news, the Sri Lanka team arrived Lahore in the wee hours of Sunday morning and reached safely to their hotel from Allama Iqbal International Airport.

Amid tight security at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium, the two will play their third and final match of the Twenty-20 International (T20I) series.

The Men in Green are leading the T-20I series with 2-0, having emerged victorious against Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the first game and winning the second in a last-ball suspense match in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The Lahore T-20I match will be Sri Lanka's first match in Pakistan since March 2009 militant attack on the team bus during a test match, killing six Pakistani policemen and injuring some of the visiting players.

Pakistan has only hosted Zimbabwe for a short limited-overs series two years ago since the 2009 terrorist attack.

However, last month it successfully hosted three-match T-20 Independence Cup against a World XI at Lahore, featuring high-profile international players.
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Catalonia crisis shows Spain's constitution is no longer fit for purpose

Amid reports swirling that Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, was either set to call new elections to the Catalan parliament or declare full independence from Spain, he abruptly cancelled a scheduled press conference on October 26. When he did speak, he did not call elections and said it was up to Catalonia’s parliament to decide how to act.

For Puigdemont, calling new elections would be a high-risk tactic. Even though many have come to deeply dislike the government’s violent response to Catalonia’s independence referendum on October 1, there is also dissatisfaction among Catalans who do not want independence. Puigdemont cannot guarantee that another poll will deal him a stronger hand. It could be seen as a tactic to remove the threat of an imposition of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, which would revoke Catalonia’s powers of autonomy – although the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has not officially confirmed that this would be the case.

Following Puigdemont’s semi-declaration of independence on October 10, he called for an opening of negotiations with Rajoy. But due to errors on both sides, the possibility for constructive dialogue remains feeble.

The decision of Catalan nationalists to commit to a legally binding referendum, despite the Constitutional Court ruling it to be illegal, was a statement intended to draw a line in the sand. The Rajoy government, however, fanned the fire rather than put it out. By bringing the Civil Guard onto the streets of Barcelona, and using every little bit of the crowd control legislation passed in July 2015, the government succeeded in turning an increasing amount of Catalans against them. The arrests of Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, the leaders of the two main nationalist organisations in Catalonia, also sparked further outrage.
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Bombs kill at least 25 people near hotel in Somali capital Mogadishu

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Two car bombs killed At least 25 people were killed and 30 others injured in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, police said, two weeks after a huge truck bomb killed hundreds of civilians in the city.

Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attacks on Saturday. A suicide car bomb was rammed into a hotel, Nasahablod Two, about 600 metres from the presidential palace, and then armed militants stormed the building, police said.

A few minutes later, a car bomb exploded near the former parliament house nearby.

Earlier, Ali Nur, a police officer, told Reuters that mostly policemen had died in the blasts.

“Security forces have entered a small portion of the hotel building ... the exchange of gunfire is hellish,” he said.

The police personnel who died had been stationed close to hotel’s gate. The dead also included a former lawmaker, he said.

Fighting continued to rage inside the hotel after the blast and police said the death toll was likely to rise.

Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin ambulances, told Reuters the emergency service had earlier carried 17 people injured from the hotel bombing.

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Catalan crisis: Thousands rally in Madrid, urge jailing of deposed leader

"Prison for Puigdemont," shouted thousands of people in central Madrid, gathered under a giant Spanish flag on Saturday in anger at Catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence under secessionist leader Carles Puigdemont.

As music blared from giant speakers -- from British band Coldplay to Spanish singer Manolo Escobar's "Y viva Espana" ("And long live Spain" in Spanish) -- pro-unity protesters banded together on the square.

Unhappy with Catalonia's secession bid, many also directed anger at Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whom they accuse of having been too soft on the region's separatist leaders.

"It is a disgrace what happened in Catalonia, and it's a disgrace what happened after," said Carlos Fernandez, a 41- year-old mining engineer.

On Friday, the Catalan parliament declared unilateral independence.

Rajoy replied by axing Puigdemont and his executive, dissolving parliament, and calling snap December 21 regional elections to quash what he termed an "escalation of disobedience."

"Nothing is going to change in two months," said Fernandez of Rajoy's intervention, "it's just prolonging the problem."

Sitting on a concrete ledge clutching a large red and yellow national flag, he said he was disappointed at the low pro-unity turnout.
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Young Rohingya hacks to death Bangladeshi amid rising tensions

A young Rohingya man hacked to death a Bangladeshi man on Saturday, police said, amid growing tensions in southeastern Bangladesh which has seen a massive influx of refugees from neighbouring Myanmar.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since a military crackdown in Myanmar in August triggered an exodus, straining resources in the impoverished country.

Police said the attack by the Rohingya man was linked to a family dispute. It is the latest of a string of crimes in the area which have alarmed local authorities.

"We've stepped up security after these incidents," deputy chief of Cox's Bazar district Afruzul Haq Tutul told AFP.

The district's state prosecutor Mamtaz Ahmed told AFP that crime had recently increased in the area.

The UN has described Myanmar's crackdown on the Rohingya as "textbook" ethnic cleansing, and many of the refugees who arrive in Bangladesh bring horrific stories of brutalities including murders, rapes and arson.

This has prompted an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy in Muslim majority Bangladesh.

But Rohingya now outnumber Bangladeshis by two to one in the two main refugee towns of Teknaf and Ukhia in Cox's Bazar district, and local tensions are rising.
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American who joined and escaped Islamic State gets 20 years imprisonment

The only American citizen to be convicted in a US jury trial of successfully joining the Islamic State overseas has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Twenty-seven-year-old Mohamad Khweis of Alexandria, Virginia, was sentenced today in federal court in Virginia after being convicted on terrorism charges earlier this year.

Khweis traveled to Islamic State-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria in December 2015, even obtaining an official membership card. But he found life there distasteful and escaped after a few months.

The 20-year sentence was halfway between the 35-year sentence sought by prosecutors and the five-year term requested the defense. Khweis' lawyers argued that a harsh sentence would deter other Americans who joined the Islamic State from quitting.
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