Cameras, drones: Brazil to put electronic eyes on crime
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Rio de Janeiro state is moving ahead with plans to deploy security cameras and drones to help fight crime, according to its next governor, a far-right politician loyal to president-elect Jair Bolsonaro.
A tender to install 30,000 cameras will be launched soon, Wilson Witzel, who takes up the governorship of the southeast Brazilian state in January, told a media conference late on Monday.
“Security is our priority,” he said.
On Tuesday Witzel travelled to Israel to view drones that could be used to monitor armed drug gangs.
O Globo, a Brazilian news outlet, said it understood the drones included combat versions capable of firing weapons, which could be used for targeting gang members in hardto-access favelas, or high-density slums.
The governor-elect was also reportedly to inspect Israelimade cameras with face-recognition.
Witzel’s communications teams did not confirm details of the Israel visit when contacted by AFP. It said the ‘diverse activities’ on his trip included ‘learning about drone technology’. Quito, Ecuador - Galapagos giant tortoises possess genetic variants linked to DNA repair, immune response and cancer suppression - providing clues into their longevity, according to a study.
A team of international researchers sequenced the genomes of two such tortoises, including Lonesome George - the last known member of the subspecies Geochelone nigra abingdoni, who died in captivity on the Galapagos’s Santa Cruz Island in 2012.
They detected ‘lineage-specific variants affecting DNA repair genes, inflammatory mediators and genes related to cancer development’, according to the study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The Pacific island chain off mainland Ecuador is famous for its unique flora and fauna studied by Charles Darwin. Twelve giant tortoise species still inhabit it.
Galapagos National Park director Jorge Carrion said uncovering the secrets of Lonesome George’s longevity will help with efforts to restore giant tortoise populations in the archipelago.
Giant tortoises, which can live for over 100 years in captivity, arrived in the volcanic Galapagos region three to four million years ago. It is believed that ocean currents dispersed them around the islands, creating 15 different species - three of which are extinct. The second giant tortoise studied was a member of a species found on islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles.