Indian State to Return Unused Land to Farmers

Farmers in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh are getting back land that was taken from them more than a decade ago by the government because it was not used, a rare move in a country riven by conflict over land.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress Party, which won a state election earlier this month with pledges to honor land rights, said he has asked officials to return about 2,000 hectares (7.7 square miles) in Bastar district.

“The process of returning the land will start soon,” Baghel said in a statement earlier this week, without giving details.

Return of land is rare in India, where conflicts have risen as highways and factories are built in one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

About 660 disputes over land have stalled hundreds of projects and forced millions of people from their farms across India, according to research organization Land Conflict Watch.

Chhattisgarh, under the earlier Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, agreed in 2005 to allocate land for a Tata Steel factory in Bastar. Farmers protested giving up their land.

Tata Steel, among the world’s top producers, pulled out of the project in 2016, citing delays.

Authorities said then the land would go into a land bank for other developments to generate jobs in one of India’s poorest states.

“The farmers who lost their land have suffered for years, and struggled to make a living,” said Kishore Narayan, a lawyer with advocacy Human Rights Law Network in Chhattisgarh.

“We hope that the state will look into all cases of lands lying idle and return them,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday.

India has enacted numerous laws to protect the rights of farmers.

A 2013 federal land acquisition law, passed by the Congress government, made consent of farmers mandatory, and introduced adequate compensation and resettlement for those affected.

Any unutilized land is to be returned to owners after five years, or go into the state land bank.

In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered West Bengal state to return land that had been acquired for a Tata Motors factory but was not used, after a decade-long fight by farmers.

Last year, South Korean steelmaker POSCO asked Odisha state to take back land allotted to it for a long-delayed steel project and return it to villagers, although authorities said the land will revert to the state.

Also last year, the Supreme Court heard a petition by an advocacy group, which said about 80 percent of land acquired for large industrial zones was lying idle.

Land rights have come to the fore in recent state elections, and could hurt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party in an upcoming national election, as farmers make up a big voting bloc, analysts say.

From: MeNeedIt

Serena Voted AP Female Athlete of the Year for 5th Time

She showed up in Paris wearing a black catsuit, a reminder that nobody can command the Grand Slam stage quite like Serena Williams.

She reached the finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, proving again how well she can play no matter how little she practices.

Williams didn’t win those or any other tournaments, which in every other situation might have made for a forgettable year.

In 2018, it was a remarkable one.

Her rapid return to tennis after a health scare following childbirth was a victory in itself, and for that, Williams was voted The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the fifth time.

Williams received 93 points in balloting by U.S. editors and news directors announced Wednesday, while gymnast Simone Biles was second with 68. Notre Dame basketball player Arike Ogunbowale was third, while Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim and swimmer Katie Ledecky, the 2017 winner, rounded out the top five.

All of those players won a title or titles in 2018, while Williams had to settle for just coming close a couple of times.

Now 37 and a new mother facing some players who weren’t even born when she turned pro in 1995, Williams isn’t the same person who ruthlessly ran her way to 23 Grand Slam singles titles — the last of which came at the 2017 Australian Open when she was pregnant.

“I’m still waiting to get to be the Serena that I was, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be that, physically, emotionally, mentally. But I’m on my way,” Williams said on the eve of the U.S. Open final. “I feel like I still have a ways to go. Once I get there, I’ll be able to play even hopefully better.”

The Male Athlete of the Year will be announced Thursday.

The women’s award has been won more only by Babe Didrikson Zaharias, whose six wins included one for track and five for golf.

Williams’ previous times winning the AP honor, in 2002, 2009, 2013 and 2015, were because of her dominance.

This one was about her perseverance.

Williams developed blood clots after giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. on Sept. 1, 2017, and four surgeries would follow. She returned to the WTA Tour in March and played in just a pair of events before the French Open, where she competed in a skin-tight, full-length black catsuit .

She said the outfit — worn partly for health reasons because of the clots — made her feel like a superhero, but her game was rarely in superstar shape. She had to withdraw in Paris because of a right pectoral injury and didn’t play again until Wimbledon, where she lost to Angelique Kerber in the final.

Williams came up short again in New York, where her loss to Naomi Osaka in the final will be remembered best for her outburst toward chair umpire Carlos Ramos, who had penalized Williams for receiving coaching and later penalized her an entire game for calling him a “thief” while arguing.

That loss leaves her one major title shy of Margaret Court’s record as she starts play next year in a WTA Tour that will look different in part because of new rules coming about after issues involving Williams. Players returning to the tour may use a “special ranking” for up to three years from the birth of a child, and the exemption can be used for seedings at big events. Also, the tour says players can wear leggings or compression shorts at its tournaments without a skirt over them.

Williams insists she is still driven to play and win as much if not more than before she was a mother. That drive is the focus of a Nike ad showing her in action.

“Getting this far, crazy,” it says. “Stopping now, crazier.”

Williams won’t.

“I’m still on the way up,” she said. “There’s still much more that I plan on doing.”

The rest of the top five:

Simone Biles, gymnastics . The American won four golds and six medals overall in the world championships in Qatar, giving her 20 in her career to tie Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina for the most by a female gymnast.

Arike Ogunbowale, women’s basketball . She hit one jumper to knock off previously unbeaten Connecticut in the Final Four, then a 3-pointer in the championship game to lift Notre Dame over Mississippi State.

Chloe Kim, snowboarding . At 17, the Californian won the halfpipe Olympic gold medal in South Korea, where her parents were from before they immigrated to the United States.

Katie Ledecky, swimming . The 21-year-old U.S. Olympian tuned up for the 2020 Games in Tokyo by winning five medals in the city at the Pan Pacific Championships.

From: MeNeedIt

Former Nissan Executive Released from Tokyo Jail

Former Nissan Motor Co. executive Greg Kelly was released from jail in Japan Tuesday after a Tokyo court rejected prosecutors’ request to continue to detain him.

The Tokyo District Court granted his release after setting bail at $636,000.

Kelly had been detained for 37 days after being arrested and charged with underreporting the pay of his boss, ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, by $44 million.

Ghosn was also arrested along with Kelly on November 19 on suspicion of conspiring to understate Ghosn’s pay. Ghosn remains in custody.

The charge is part of a wider effort by Japanese prosecutors and the auto company to show that Ghosn leveraged his position for personal gain.

The court set restrictions on Kelly’s release. Kelly is prohibited from traveling outside Japan without the court’s permission and from meeting with people linked to the case against him.

From: MeNeedIt

Japan Stocks Fall Below 20,000

Shares on Japan’s key stock exchange plummeted Tuesday, highlighting investor fears about political turmoil in Washington and this month’s massive losses on Wall Street.

The Nikkei 225 Index lost 1,000 points — five percent of its value –to close Tuesday at 19,155, finishing under 20,000 points for the first time since September 2017. Tuesday’s closing numbers are down 21 percent from its October high.

China’s Shanghai index finished nearly one percent lower Tuesday.Markets in Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, the U.S. and Europe were all closed in observance of Christmas.

The losses on the Nikkei were a spillover from Monday’s down day in the U.S., where the Dow Jones Industrial Average index, the S&P 500 Index fell nearly three percent and the NASDAQ Composite Index lost more than two percent.That continued this month’s run of near-daily losses, putting U.S. markets on track for its worst December since 1931, during the Great Depression.

The U.S. Christmas Eve selloff was triggered in part by President Donald Trump’s Twitter attacks on the central bank, the Federal Reserve, and its chairman, Jerome Powell, for a recent hike in interest rates, as well the partial shutdown of the U.S. government.Investors were also rattled by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s phone calls to the heads of the nation’s six largest banks on Sunday to determine if they had enough capital on hand to continue operating normally.

Trump renewed his complaints about the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, telling reporters in the Oval Office it is “raising interest rates too fast because they think the economy is so good.” The president added, however, that U.S. companies were “the greatest in the world” and that their lower share prices presented a “tremendous” buying opportunity for investors.

From: MeNeedIt

Scandal-Plagued Facebook Goes on Charm Offensive in Vietnam   

Before Facebook, Vu Kim Chi thought something was lacking in her job, which is to promote the economy in and around Vietnam’s famed Ha Long Bay. Posting updates to her department’s website, or photocopying missives to send to constituents, she said, was mostly one-sided.

But after she set up an official Facebook page for Quang Ninh province, the conversations started to flow in both directions, between Chi and the local residents or businesses. That’s why, when it comes to social media, she thinks more civil servants need to catch up with the rest of the country.

“Social media, especially the Facebook application, is really used a lot in Vietnam,” said Chi, who is deputy head of the province’s investment promotion and support office. “But for public agencies that use it as a tool to interact with people and businesses, it’s still not necessarily used a lot.”

Facebook on charm offensive

Even as governments around the world are demanding more accountability and transparency from Facebook, public officials in Vietnam are looking for more ways to use the website. And Facebook is happy to oblige.

The company is on something of a charm offensive in Vietnam, where it has roughly 42 million members, nearly half the country. Besides sending top officials to visit Vietnam last year, Facebook has been instructing small businesses on how to sell their products on the site, and now it is giving civil servants like Chi advice for engaging with the public.

The chance to win some good will in Vietnam comes at a time when pressures are piling up on Facebook both inside the country and abroad. Globally, it has been accused of complicity in plots to convince voters to vote for Brexit or for candidate Donald Trump, as well as in what the United Nations calls ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. The company reportedly paid for research that could damage its critics’ and competitors’ reputations, as well as gave users’ data to dozens of other firms without consent.

New cyber law

In Vietnam, the government told advertisers to boycott Facebook and other sites in response to users’ postings that criticized the one-party state. Next month, the country will enact a cyber law requiring firms to store data domestically, which Facebook opposes.

But those troubles were not front and center at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City this month where a company representative gave bureaucrats tips on making a Facebook page.

“We have to understand and put more attention to the social aspect of the platform,” said Noudhy Valdryno, who handles government outreach for Facebook. “That means you have to understand your followers, who are they, where do they live, what are their interests?  Then you can formulate an accurate strategy to engage with your followers.”

The workshop included suggestions for government officials, such as posting updates on Facebook at regular intervals, shooting videos vertically to retain the attention of mobile users, and encouraging conversations among followers on the page.

Tech companies welcome

The event was an example of how Vietnamese officials are open to working with the tech company. It is so ubiquitous in the Southeast Asian country that when Vietnamese people say “social media” they mean Facebook, and when asked what newspapers they read, they give the answer: Facebook. 

“What we’re talking about is effective use of technology in this day and age to achieve our goals,” said Le Quoc Cuong, vice director of the Ho Chi Minh City department of information and communications. “What we’re looking for is being effective, being engaging and enhancing cooperation between the government and the people.”

Chi says more Facebook data would help her better engage with residents around Quang Ninh, a northeastern province that hugs the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Chinese border on another. She would like regular reports, perhaps every month, with information to help analyze the province’s fan page, from key words to number of “likes.” So as many people worldwide have begun to decry tech companies for abusing and cashing in on users’ data, there are those who still continue to see untapped potential in gathering further data.

 

From: MeNeedIt

Actor Kevin Spacey to Face Charge in Sexual Assault of Teen

U.S. actor Kevin Spacey is facing a felony charge for allegedly sexually assaulting the teenage at a Nantucket, Massachusetts, restaurant more than two years ago.

The Oscar-winning actor is set to be arraigned on a charge of indecent assault and battery on January 7.

In November last year, Boston-based news anchor Heather Unruh held a news conference to share her son’s allegation of sexual assault against Spacey.

She said her then-18-year-old son was was sexually assaulted by Spacey in a late-night encounter at the Club Car restaurant and bar in Nantucket on July 7, 2016. She said her son didn’t report the assault right away because he was embarrassed.

On Monday, soon after the charge became public, Spacey posted a video on YouTube titled “Let Me Be Frank,” breaking his year-long silence on the accusation.

On the video, Spacey delivers a monologue in the voice of Frank Underwood, his character on Netflix’s House of Cards, who was written off the show after the sexual misconduct allegations emerged.

He tells his audience, ““Of course some believed everything and have just been waiting with bated breath to hear me confess it all, they’re just dying to have me declare that everything they said is true and I got what I deserved. … I’m certainly not going to pay the price for the thing I didn’t do.”

It is unclear whether Spacey is referring to the charge he faces.  

Spacey is also being investigated for an alleged assault in Los Angeles in 2016. He had also faced accusations of sexual misconduct while he was the artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre.

From: MeNeedIt

Kevin Spacey Charged with Groping Young Man

Kevin Spacey has been charged with groping the 18-year-old son of a Boston TV anchor in 2016 — the first criminal case brought against the Oscar-winning actor since his career collapsed amid a string of sexual misconduct allegations over a year ago.

Spacey, 59, is due in court Jan. 7 on the resort island of Nantucket to be arraigned on a charge of indecent assault and battery, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said in a statement Monday. Spacey could get up to five years in prison if convicted.

A criminal complaint was issued by a clerk magistrate at a hearing Thursday, O’Keefe said.

Shortly after the charge became public, Spacey posted a video on YouTube titled “Let Me Be Frank,” breaking a public silence of more than a year.

In a monologue delivered in the voice of Frank Underwood, his character on Netflix’s “House of Cards” who was killed off after the sexual misconduct allegations emerged, he said: “Of course some believed everything and have just been waiting with bated breath to hear me confess it all; they’re just dying to have me declare that everything they said is true and I got what I deserved. … I’m certainly not going to pay the price for the thing I didn’t do.”

He added, “Soon enough, you will know the full truth.” The three-minute video ended with a burst of cliffhanger music.

A spokeswoman for the actor did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Former news anchor Heather Unruh came forward in November 2017 to say the actor stuck his hand down the pants of her son, who was 18 at the time, and grabbed his genitals at the Club Car Restaurant on Nantucket in July 2016. Her son fled the restaurant when Spacey went to use the bathroom, Unruh said at the time.

Unruh said her son didn’t report the assault right away because he was embarrassed.

“The complainant has shown a tremendous amount of courage in coming forward,” Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer for Unruh’s son, said in a statement Monday. “Let the facts be presented, the relevant law applied and a just and fair verdict rendered.”

Spacey remains under investigation on suspicion of sexual assault in Los Angeles for an incident that allegedly occurred in 2016. Prosecutors declined to file charges over a 1992 allegation because the statute of limitations had run out.

He has also faced accusations of sexual misconduct from his time as artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre.

The two-time Oscar winner was among the earliest and biggest names to be ensnared in the #MeToo movement that was sparked by sexual assault and harassment allegations against Hollywood studio boss Harvey Weinstein in October 2017.

His first accuser, actor Anthony Rapp, said Spacey climbed on top of him on a bed when Rapp was 14 and Spacey 26. Spacey said he did not remember such an encounter but apologized if the allegations were true. Spacey also used the statement to disclose he is gay.

Other accusers followed Rapp’s lead. 

Spacey was subsequently fired from “House of Cards,” the political drama in which he starred for five seasons, and his performance as the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty was cut from the completed movie “All the Money in the World” and reshot with actor Christopher Plummer. Some other projects he was involved in were shelved.

The case against Spacey represents a rare criminal prosecution in the #MeToo era. Weinstein is awaiting trial in New York, but many other cases have been too old to prosecute, and some accusers have declined to cooperate with authorities.

From: MeNeedIt

Trump Blames Fed for Market Turmoil

U.S. stock markets fell sharply on Monday with the S&P 500 down more than two percent and the Dow off nearly three percent.

President Donald Trump is blaming the Federal Reserve (central bank) for stock market declines and other economic problems.

In tweets, Trump has said the only U.S. economic problem is rising interest rates. He accused Fed chief Jerome Powell of not understanding the market and damaging the economy with rate hikes.

The Fed slashed the key interest rate nearly to zero to boost growth during the recession that started in 2007. The central bank kept rates low for several years.

Eventually, growth recovered, and unemployment dropped to its lowest level in 49 years, and Fed officials judged that the emergency stimulus was no longer needed. Fed leaders voted to reduce the stimulus by raising interest rates gradually. The concern was that too much stimulus could spark inflation. Experts say such a sharp increase in prices could prompt a damaging cycle of price increases leading to rising wage demands, which would spark another round of price hikes.

Analysts quoted in the financial press say Trump’s attacks on the Fed make investors worry that the central bank might lose the independence that allows it to make decisions based on economic factors rather than what is politically popular.

Some economists say investor confidence has also been shaken by Trump’s tariffs on major trading partners. Raising trade costs can reduce trade and cutting trade cuts demand for goods and services, which slows economic growth.

Investor confidence, or a lack of it, can cause stock and other markets to decline as worried stock holders sell shares and prospective investors stop buying available stocks. When buyer demand drops, prices fall.

Another factor hurting investor confidence is the political impasse in Washington over money for Trump’s border wall with Mexico. The bickering means Trump and congress can not agree on spending priorities, so legislation paying some government employees has lapsed.

In an effort to calm turbulent markets, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin spoke with leaders of top U.S. banks in an unusual session Sunday. He says they have the money they need for routine operations.

From: MeNeedIt

Euronext Has Launched an All-Cash Bid to Acquire Oslo Bors

The leading pan-European stock exchange has launched a 625 million euro takeover bid to acquire the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Euronext, the operator of stock exchanges in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin and Lisbon, said in a statement that it had approached the board of directors of the Oslo Stock Exchange (Oslo Bors VPS) to seek its support for an all-cash offer for all the outstanding shares of Oslo Børs VPS, the Norwegian Stock Exchange and national CSD operator, based in Oslo.

“Euronext strongly believes that Oslo Børs VPS’ unique strategic and competitive positioning, including a global leading position in seafood derivatives and a deep-rooted expertise in oil services and shipping, would further strengthen Euronext’s position as the leading market infrastructure for the financing of the real economy in Europe,” the statement said. 

If the offer is accepted, Euronext would be fully committed to support the development of Oslo Børs VPS and of the broader Norwegian financial ecosystem, the statement said.

Following the initiative of a group of its shareholders to acquire the Oslo Stock Exchange, Euronext has secured support for the offer from shareholders representing 49.6% of all outstanding shares.

However, it is not certain that a transaction will be completed, Euronext’s statement said, but the pan-European stock exchange will communicate material information, if any, in due course.

From: MeNeedIt

Films on Iconic Justice Ginsburg Detail Exceptional Life and Contributions

As Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recovers from surgery on Friday for early stage lung cancer, two new films are paying tribute to her life and accomplishments. 

The documentary “RBG” by filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West, chronicles the Justice’s life-long legal battles for gender equality, her appointment to the Supreme Court by an overwhelming vote of 96 to 3 in 1993 and her rise as a pop culture icon in America. The feature “On the Basis of Sex,” by Mimi Leder, another female filmmaker, offers a dramatized portayal of the beginnings of Justice Ginsburg’s illustrious career and her fight for women’s rights, through the lens of her personal life and marriage. 

Leder’s film follows Justice Ginsburg’s challenges in a man’s world, starting with her first year as a law student at Harvard, in 1954. She was one of nine female students among more than 500 men, a situation that did not please the law school’s dean, played by Sam Waterston. The film shows him demanding to know why they are occupying seats that could have otherwise gone to young men. 

“On the Basis of Sex” also looks into Ginsburg’s private life as a wife and mother. At some point she was supporting her convalescent husband, who had suffered testicular cancer, by attending both her classes and his.

​Daniel Stiepleman, the film’s screenwriter, is Justice Ginsburg’s nephew. He told VOA that apart from her legal acumen and advocacy for women’s rights, he wanted to share his first-hand experience of Ginsburg’s equal partnership with her husband, renowned tax law attorney, Martin Ginsburg. 

“My wife and I have always looked up to aunt Ruth and uncle Marty as our role models for what a marriage is supposed to be like,” he explained. “They shared the load raising their kids, getting food on the table, and taking care of the house, and we knew that that’s how we wanted to be as well. And so, for me, this was an opportunity to share our good fortune to have them as role models with the rest of the country, the rest of the world.”

Actor Armie Hammer interprets Martin Ginsburg. He says he felt privileged to learn about the man’s character from Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself. “We were very lucky to have time with Justice Ginsburg in her private chambers in the Supreme Court. She invited us in and she was very generous with her time. More than actually answering any of my questions, I learned everything I needed to know about the relationship, [because] the minute his name came up she started smiling. And I could feel that love was very much alive.” Hammer predicts the film will inspire audiences, especially women during the #MeToo era. “I think it is great for women to see a movie about a woman who changed the world without needing superpowers.” 

Ginsburg herself is portrayed by Felicity Jones. It was a role she found, to say the least, challenging. She told VOA, “It was nerve wracking! You don’t enter into that lightly so it was about becoming her in every single way and doing justice to her story.” She also says that though the events surrounding Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life have been dramatized for the sake of entertaiment, they speak truth to power. “It is so important that it does entertain but at the same time, it’s about getting a message into this world and about saying ‘look what men and women can achieve when they work together, when they have absolute equality.’”

The documentary “RBG,” by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, chronicles Justice Ginsburg’s life from her birth to an immigrant Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, to her rise as a pop culture icon after publications and websites coined her as “Notorious R.B.G.” In between were legal victories for gender equality in arguments before the Supreme Court, and her appointment as a Justice in 1993, becoming the second woman on the Court.

“I am 84 years old and everybody wants to take a picture with me,” says a mischevious Justice Ginsburg. She has been hailed as a pioneer for gender equality, a tenacious Supreme Court Justice, determined to work as long as she can make a difference on the bench. In 2011, a year after the death of her husband, Justice Ginsburg spoke with VOA’s Julie Taboh about her legacy. “I hope that I will be remembered as someone who loves the law, loves her country, loved humanity, prizes the dignity of every individual, and works as hard as she can, with whatever talent she has to make the world a little better than it was when I entered it,” she said.

Her dedication for justice and rule of law gave rise to a huge following. Her 

as well as merchandise featuring her picture in her iconic Supreme Court robe and lace collar. Chocolatier Sue Cassidy says her company, Choukette, has dedicated a chocolate box to Ginsburg as part of its Phenomenal Women chocolate line. “She has her own box, and we can’t keep them in stock. They are just selling like crazy.”

Justice Ginsburg has spoken highly of both films depicting her life. Filmmaker Mimi Leder says that the Justice offered advice for “On the Basis of Sex” and fact-checked it. “She saw the film and she gave me a hug and a kiss, and that alone was incredible. I feel that women will be inspired not just in this country, but all over the world by the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which is her fight for equality, inclusion, her fight against injustice.”

From: MeNeedIt

World’s Most Popular Dinosaur Transforms at Chicago’s Field Museum

You don’t often get a second chance to make a first impression, unless, of course, you’re one of the world’s most popular dinosaurs.

“It’s a different profile, a much more impressive profile in many ways, a pretty scary large animal, as opposed to a lighter, swifter animal,” says the Field Museum’s Director of Exhibitions, Jaap Hoogstraten, who has courted the leading lady of the dinosaurs since she arrived in Chicago nearly twenty years ago.

“Since we put her up in 2000, we’ve made discoveries about the pose. We’ve added the gastralia, which are the belly ribs which changes the outline of Sue quite a bit. Sue is much bulkier.”

The belly ribs are not a new discovery… they’ve existed since the fossil was recovered from obscurity in the rock formations of South Dakota in the early 1990s. That was the beginning of a long legal and physical journey for the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Known as Sue, named for paleontologist Sue Hendrickson who discovered it, the well-preserved specimen arrived as the star attraction in Stanley Hall at the Field Museum in 2000.

But scientists only recently learned how the belly ribs fit onto the overall specimen, which now fundamentally changes what we know about the Tyrannosaurus Rex. 

After a nearly year-long transition to a new exhibit specifically designed for her, Sue will look different to the millions who have seen the dinosaur before. 

“I didn’t really realize that Sue weighed nine tons in real life,” says Hilary Hansen, project manager at the Field Museum. “I think really adding this gastralia, these belly ribs, really changes the profile for Sue, and you can get a sense of how formidable and imposing it must have been to share an environment with this animal.”

Hansen explains that the new exhibit doesn’t just change our understanding of the animal itself, such as the fact it probably couldn’t run, but it also show visitors Sue’s natural environment, and place in history.

“What we’re trying to do is bring together everything about Sue that was all over the museum into one space so our visitors can see this as a one stop shop for all things Sue.”

“It pushes what we know about T-Rex forward,” says Hoogstraten, including possible answers to how Sue met her fate.

“One possibility is that there was an infection, and that she possibly starved to death.”

The Field museum typically welcomes over one million visitors a year, a number Hilary Hansen expects to spike when the new Sue exhibit opens to the public just in time for the holiday rush.

“For the next three weeks or so, we’re expecting between seven to ten thousand visitors coming through a day.” Some, revisiting an old friend with a new look. 

But even though science marches on, one mystery about Sue remains. 

Despite the name, experts are still not sure if the dinosaur behind this fossil was male or female.

From: MeNeedIt