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US president says war would be 'end' of Iran as tensions rise

US President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to Iran, suggesting it will be destroyed if a conflict breaks out between the two countries. "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran," he said in a tweet on Sunday. "Never threaten the United States again!" The US has deployed additional warships and planes to the Gulf in recent days. But Mr Trump's tweet marks a shift in tone after recent attempts to downplay the possibility of military conflict. Only a matter of days ago, the president told aides that he did not want US pressure on Iran to turn into a conflict. And when asked by reporters last Thursday if the US was going to war, Mr Trump answered: "I hope not." Iran has also moved to talk down concerns over the escalating tensions. On Saturday, its foreign minister insisted there was no appetite for war. "There will not be a war since neither we want a war nor does anyone have the illusion they can confront Iran in the region," Mohammad Javad Zarif told state news agency Irna.

Why are there tensions?

The latest frictions come after Iran suspended its commitments under the 2015 international nuclear deal, and threatened to resume production of enriched uranium which is used to make reactor fuel and nuclear weapons. The deal aimed to cut sanctions on Iran in exchange for an end to its nuclear programme, but the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement last year. Calling the deal "defective", Mr Trump then re-imposed sanctions. Tehran has allegedly placed missiles on boats in the Gulf, and US investigators reportedly believe the country damaged four tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, claims Iran has denied.

What's the latest in the Gulf?

In recent days, the US has deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the region and reportedly drawn up plans to send 120,000 troops to the Middle East. Diplomatic staff have been ordered to leave Iraq, and the US military have raised the threat level in the region because of alleged intelligence about Iran-backed forces - contradicting a British general who had said there was "no increased threat". Dutch and German soldiers said they had suspended their military training programmes in the country. On Sunday, the Iraqi military said a rocket had been fired into Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies. It reportedly hit an abandoned building near to the US embassy. There were no casualties and it is not yet clear who was behind the attack. Separately, Saudi Arabia accused Tehran of a drone attack on a pipeline on Friday. It alleged that Houthi rebels in Yemen conducted the strike on Iran's orders. A state-aligned Saudi newspaper called for the US to launch attacks on the country. Iran denies the allegations. source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48329852 Read the full article

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Google 'restricts Huawei's use of Android'

Google has cut phone maker Huawei off from some updates to the Android operating system, Reuters reports. New smartphones made by the company will also lose access to Google's app store and software such as Gmail, the news agency's story says.. Huawei declined to comment and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC. What services precisely will be severed is still being discussed at Google, said Reuters, citing an unnamed source. Huawei can still use the version of the Android operating system available through the open source license.

'Big implications"

On Wednesday the Trump administration added Huawei to its "entity list", blocking the sale or transfer of American technology without a licence. "Until there is a clear statement from Google, it is hard to speculate about the ramifications," said Ben Wood, from the CCS Insight consultancy. "But should the Reuters report be accurate, it would have big implications for Huawei's consumer business." Several governments around the world have blocked telecoms companies from using Huawei gear in next-generation 5G mobile networks, citing security concerns. So far the UK has held back from any formal ban. "Huawei has been working hard on developing its own App Gallery and other software assets in a similar manner to its work on chipset solutions. There is little doubt these efforts are part of its desire to control its own destiny," said Mr Wood.

Short-term damage for Huawei?

By Leo Kelion, BBC Technology desk editor

In the short term, this could be very damaging for Huawei in the West. Smartphone shoppers would not want an Android phone that lacked access to Google's Play Store, its virtual assistant or security updates, assuming these are among the services that would be pulled. Longer term, though, this might give smartphone vendors in general a reason to seriously consider the need for a viable alternative to Google's operating system, particularly at a time the search giant is trying to push its own Pixel brand at their expense. As far as Huawei is concerned, it appears to have prepared for the eventuality of being cut off from American know-how. Its smartphones are already powered by its own proprietary processors, and earlier this year its consumer devices chief told German newspaper Die Welt that "we have prepared out own operating systems - that's our plan B". Even so, this move could knock its ambition to overtake Samsung and become the bestselling smartphone brand in 2020 seriously off course. source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48330310 Read the full article

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Organ Stealing and Slave Driving Rampant Among—Plankton

Everyone knows the ocean is full of plankton. How else would whales eat? What you may not know is how slippery and underhanded said plankton can be. Really, it deserves to get eaten by those whales. Because as it turns out, according to a 2017 study, about half of the microscopic plankton traditionally thought of as animal-like - that is, completely dependent on eating things to survive - have a dirty little secret: they also have the option of making their own food, but only after capturing an innocent green microbe and ... well, it's not nice. They may engulf and enslave them. Or they my simply eat them and steal their chloroplasts. The perpetrators are complex single-celled organisms that are fascinating to watch. Here is Dinophysis sucking the chloroplasts out of a hapless victim. And here is Strombidium, doing its best impression of a winged canopic jar or flying heart. There appear to be lots of orange-ish chloroplasts stuffed inside. It periodically inflates and deflates some sort of organelle (a contractile vacuole?), giving he impression of breathing. This Mesodinium is a bowling pin-shaped creature whose cilia appear to rotate. Here's Noctiluca scintillans, a protist that takes photosynthetic hostages but also lights up when disturbed, giving it the nickname "sea sparkle". This individual is lazily waving a flagellum, whose usual function is to stuff food inside and sweep waste out. The baggy body appears to be empty of involuntary house guests. Although completely unrelated to the topic of this post, add some serious joy to your day with this video of Nocitluca's bioluminescent capabilities. Upending previous assumptions that such plankton are oddballs, the 2017 analysis of oceanographic encounters with these organisms revealed that they are "ubiquitous and abundant". The catch-and-enslave type is found most often in the open ocean where food and victims are scarce. Better to ensure a steady supply of eggs than to fry the chicken straight away when you're not sure when you'll find your next bird. The strip-and-consume type is more abundant in the marine equivalent of a 24-hour KFC, such as coastal and upwelling zones with nutrient-rich waters. They need a conveyer belt of prey to keep them well stocked in chloroplasts and essential nutrients. The authors of this study heartily encouraged the creators of ocean models that do not take this rather significant new finding of unsuspected photosynthesis into account to, you know, fix them. Reference Leles, S. G., Aditee Mitra, Kevin J. Flynn, Diane K. Stoecker, Per Juel Hansen, Albert Calbet, George B. McManus et al. "Oceanic protists with different forms of acquired phototrophy display contrasting biogeographies and abundance." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1860 (2017): 20170664. source:https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/organ-stealing-and-slave-driving-rampant-among-plankton/ Read the full article

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Moon Blobs, Collapsars and Long Planets

Moon Blobs The origin of Earth's Moon has long been a puzzle. Solving this conundrum has deep implications for the nature of planetary formation, Earth's geophysical and geochemical history, and for that elusive quality of we call habitability for small rocky worlds across the Universe. In essence; the question is how the rocky parts of the Moon and Earth got to be so similar in elemental composition. The most favored hypothesis is that an early version of the Earth was hit by another planet-scale object some 4.5 billion years ago. That 'Giant Impact' could have mixed up material from the two bodies, and as the Moon assembled from the detritus it would naturally share a composition with the larger Earth. But getting all aspects of this picture to fit with the observed properties of the Earth-Moon system is not so easy. That leaves room for other possibilities, such as the 'synestia' idea where both the Earth and Moon formed from the same spinning cloud of molten filth left from an even larger proto-planetary collision. Now another proposal has been made by Hosono et al. where there was indeed a collision involved, but the Earth at that time was already a molten world - an ocean of magma. Rather than a Giant Impact this might have been a Giant Splash, making it much easier for blobs of material from the early Earth to be flung into orbit to coalesce as the Moon, with its near identical composition. The challenge of decoding what's right under our noses is a sobering reminder of the complex questions involved in learning about planetary histories. Collapsars As I wrote in a recent piece here, the origin of certain heavy elements on Earth is getting a lot of astrophysical attention these days. Researchers are particularly focussed on the r-process elements, thought to be forged in environments of intense neutron flux. Since the gravitational-wave detection of neutron star collisions these 'kilonova' events have become a hot favorite (no pun intended) for producing much of the gold, platinum, and uranium in the Galaxy. But there are other options. A new study by Siegel, Barnes, and Metzger published in Nature suggests that an even rarer astrophysical event - the 'collapsar' - might actually fit the bill for dominating r-process element production. A collapsar is a rapidly spinning massive star that winds up collapsing and creating a supernova. As part of this process a disk of material forms, spinning and accreting on the central mass. That disk resembles the environment in neutron star mergers where lots of r-process elements are thought to be produced. In fact, as this research shows, a collapsar event might expel even more of these heavy elements. The upshot being that, despite their rarity, collapsars could produce more than 80% of the r-process elements in the Universe. Exactly which phenomenon will win out in the end remains to be seen. The heaviest elements play critical roles in the formation and geophysical history of planets, so understanding their origins has broad implications. Long Planets There's a dirty little not-so-secret secret about exoplanets: The vast majority of our discoveries to date have been strongly biased towards worlds on comparatively small, short-period orbits. The simple reason being that techniques like transit detection or radial-velocity measurement generally need to catch repeat orbits, or have very long data timelines in order to allow confidence in the reality of the planets that show up. But it is these longer-period planets - akin to worlds like Jupiter or Saturn in our own solar system - that are essential for testing our ideas of planet formation and for filling in the blanks on whether a system has the right stuff for supporting life on any of its worlds. Finding planets like these takes patience and forward planning. Now a study by Rickman et al. has yielded the fruits of 20 years of astronomical observation using Geneva University's EULER telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. Specifically, the team has revealed a haul of five newly-identified objects circling their stars with orbital periods of between 15 and 40 years. Three of these are hefty gas-giant worlds, two are likely brown-dwarf or sub-stellar objects weighing in at more than ten times the mass of Jupiter. Slowly we're beginning to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of all exoplanets, not just the most convenient ones. source:https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/moon-blobs-collapsars-and-long-planets/ Read the full article

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Switzerland gun control Voters back EU regulations

Voters in Switzerland have backed a tightening of gun laws to conform with European Union regulations. Almost 64% of voters in Sunday's referendum supported tougher restrictions on semi-automatic and automatic weapons, final results show. Switzerland is not an EU member, but risked removal from the open-border Schengen Area if it had voted "no". Nearly 48% of Swiss households own a gun - among the highest rates of private ownership in Europe. The EU had urged the country to tighten its laws in line with rules adopted by the bloc following the 2015 Paris terror attacks. The rules restrict semi-automatic and automatic rifles and make it easier to track weapons in national databases. The EU's initial proposal sparked criticism in Switzerland, because it meant a ban on the tradition of ex-soldiers keeping their assault rifles. Swiss officials negotiated concessions, but some gun activists argued that the rules still encroached on citizens' rights.

What does the projected result tell us?

Analysis by Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Geneva Opponents of the new gun laws described them as a diktat from Brussels, being forced on non-EU member Switzerland against its will. The Swiss national identity, with its long tradition of gun ownership, was, they argued, being undermined. But Sunday's nationwide referendum shows voters think differently: they have overwhelmingly backed the new gun laws, following their government's advice. The Swiss seem keen to co-operate in the EU's attempts to prevent terror attacks, and to keep their often tricky relations with Brussels as smooth as possible.

Why is the EU concerned about Swiss gun laws?

After the 2015 Paris attacks, the EU issued Schengen members with new restrictions on automatic and semi-automatic weapons. The rules called for: The EU hoped the rules would help to protect people across Europe, and prevent a repeat of the 2015 attacks. Failure to adopt the changes could have forced Switzerland to leave the Schengen zone and the Dublin joint system for handling asylum requests.

What did Swiss officials say?

The Swiss government urged voters to back the changes. It said gun enthusiasts would not notice the new rules, while adopting them would allow Switzerland to retain its Schengen membership. Officials said membership of the zone had been beneficial to the economy and to fighting crime. source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48328867 Read the full article

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India election 2019 Exit polls suggest Narendra Modi back as PM

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on course to win the general election, exit polls suggest. The BJP and the main opposition Congress party battled it out with powerful regional rivals in a bruising campaign over seven phases of polling. Results will be announced on 23 May. Analysts warn exit polls have often been wrong in the past. Many saw the election as a referendum on Mr Modi who won a landslide in 2014. A party or coalition needs 272 seats in parliament to form a government.

What are the exit polls saying?

Four exit polls saw big wins for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), predicting that it would win anywhere between 280 and 315 seats, far more than the Congress party. However, a Nielsen-ABP news channel poll suggested that the BJP alliance would win 267 seats, falling short of a majority. This prediction comes despite its projection that the party would lose heavily in the bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to parliament, more than any other. In 2014 the BJP won 71 of the state's seats, and the poll suggests it will lose as many as 51 of those seats to powerful regional parties.

India election

The election began on 11 April and was held in seven phases for security and logistical reasons. With 900 million eligible voters, it is the world's biggest exercise in democracy. Political parties have not commented on the projections so far. As voting ended, there was a flurry of meetings by opposition leaders, sparking speculation.

What were the key issues this election?

With farming in crisis, unemployment on the rise and growing fears that India is heading for a recession, he economy is perhaps the biggest issue. Under Mr Modi, the world's sixth-largest economy has lost some of its momentum. Growth hovers around 7% and a leaked government report claims the unemployment rate is the highest it has been since the 1970s. A crop glut and declining commodity prices have led to stagnant farm incomes, leaving many farmers saddled with debt. Many also see this election as a battle for India's identity and the state of its minorities. A strident - and at times violent - Hindu nationalism has become mainstream in the past five years, with increased attacks against minorities, including the lynchings of dozens of Muslims accused of smuggling cows. And national security is in the spotlight after a suicide attack by a Pakistan-based militant group killed at least 40 paramilitary police in Indian-administered Kashmir in February. India then launched unprecedented air strikes in Pakistan, prompting Pakistan to respond in kind and bringing the two countries to the brink of war. source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-48328259 Read the full article

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Sudan crisis Arrests over protesters' killings

The suspects in the killings of at least five pro-democracy protesters in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, have been arrested, the military council says. Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said the men had signed confessions without giving details about their identities or how many they were. A member of the security forces was also killed in Monday's violence. Gen Dagalo was speaking before talks between the military and the opposition were expected to resume. Sudan has been governed by a transitional military council since President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a coup last month. Protesters have been demanding full civilian government and the killings happened at a sit-in outside military headquarters in Khartoum. Demonstrators said soldiers were responsible, but the army blamed "saboteurs". The authorities believe they have detained the right people. "Juridical experts have seen footage from two cameras that filmed them. And if we are lying, the cameras don't lie," said Gen Dagalo, who is also known as Hemeti. Demonstrators have been occupying the square in front of the military headquarters since 6 April, five days before the president was overthrown by the military. Initially, talks between the ruling generals and the protest organisers had shown little sign of progress. However, just before Monday night's violence, both sides announced they had agreed on the structure of a new administration and a three-year transition period to civilian rule. But they still need to decide on the make up of what has been called the sovereign council, which will be the highest decision-making body in the transition period. They cannot agree on whether civilians or the military should have the majority of positions. Talks, postponed as the army complained that barricades had been erected outside the designated protest area, are due to restart on Sunday evening.

Road to transition

How did we get here?

In December, protesters started demonstrating against a government decision to triple the price of bread. The protests soon morphed into widespread anger against the president's 30-year rule, led by doctors. Five weeks into the protests, on 17 January, witnesses said state forces fired live ammunition at protesters and killed a doctor. He had been treating injured protesters in his home in Khartoum when police fired tear gas into the building. A witness told the BBC that the doctor had walked out with his hands in the air, told the police he was a doctor and was instantly shot. He is one of dozens of people killed during the anti-government protests. The protesters later staged a sit-in outside the military headquarters to demand the military force the president out. A military council assumed power of the country on 11 April, but demonstrators are insisting that it hands over to a civilian administration. source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-48327197 Read the full article

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How Train Can Decrease a Lady's Danger for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Researchers say common train can decrease a girl's danger for RA and profit girls who've the painful situation. Train can typically be a double-edged sword for folks dwelling with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). On one hand, a sure diploma of bodily exercise is inspired for folks coping with the generally debilitating situation. However, many individuals with RA really feel that almost all kinds of exercises are too tough or painful given their signs. "I know I feel better if I exercise," Laura Davidson, a Michigan resident with RA, advised Healthline. "But at the same time I know it could also make me more sore. I feel like I'd be healthier if I moved more and maybe eventually have less pain. But the fear of hurting myself or causing a flare-up holds me back." Davidson is not alone on this sentiment. Nonetheless, a brand new examine does present that train can profit girls who've RA. Maybe as essential, researchers say train generally is a safety measure in opposition to the illness. The examine, which was revealed within the medical journal Arthritis & Rheumatology, concluded that ladies with the next stage of bodily exercise might have a decreased danger for ultimately creating RA. This was decided by first taking a look at their baseline stage of bodily exercise within the two to eight years main as much as their RA analysis. The individuals of the examine had been a part of the Nurse's Well being Research II. The examine was performed from 1989 by way of 2015. It included data on 116,430 registered nurses in the USA. These nurses had been 25 to 42 years previous on the time of the examine. The researchers analyzed the information of 113,366 of the ladies after excluding those that had baseline RA or every other connective tissue ailments. The researchers found there have been 506 instances of RA in the course of the follow-up interval. After adjusting for weight loss program, smoking, and BMI at age 18 years, they discovered that a rise within the common whole hours of bodily exercise per week was related to a decrease danger of creating RA. The conclusion of the examine confirmed the consequences of bodily exercise on RA and the final significance of some day by day bodily exercise for everybody. Extra energetic people had a 20 p.c decrease danger for seropositive RA and a 14 p.c decreased danger for all types of RA. Researchers indicated that increased ranges of bodily exercise and decreased extra weight had been related to decreased danger of RA. Additionally they discovered that sitting for longer durations of time could possibly be detrimental for RA signs.

Rheumatoid arthritis and train

Though this examine centered on girls, this is not the primary time a optimistic correlation between train and RA has been mentioned. Earlier this 12 months, a examine was revealed on the advantages of yoga for arthritis. The Arthritis Basis has additionally shared data from a number of research exhibiting that HIIT (high-intensity interval coaching) might be helpful for folks dwelling with RA. Nonetheless, Kindle Fisher, a licensed American Faculty of Sports activities Drugs well being and health specialist who's labored rehabbing sufferers by way of bodily remedy, therapeutic massage remedy, and private coaching, defined that not all exercises should be intense in case you have RA. "Many individuals who suffer from RA worry that exercise will cause more joint damage and pain. But exercise can help lubricate the joints and strengthen the muscles surrounding the affected joints. In a flare, gentle light exercise, such as walking, swimming, or cycling, would be the most beneficial," she advised Healthline. Fisher provides there are a number of advantages to train for folks dwelling with a power sickness or power ache situation. "Exercise can also boost your mood and mental health. This becomes important to anyone suffering from RA. It can become frustrating that some days are unbearable while others are tolerable. Increased blood flow promotes healing, so the more you move, the better you feel," she mentioned. "My body feels pretty good -- knock on wood -- most of the time, so I may not be the same as a lot of people with RA," Jess Z., a Pennsylvania resident, advised Healthline. "However I do really feel more healthy and stronger basically after I routinely work out. After I do really feel sluggish or have RA points, I haven't got the push or want to train. However I do not assume it makes my RA worse by understanding. I've by no means actually labored out and damage the subsequent day from it. "After I'm actively exercising, I do it for 30 minutes to an hour. I do marvel, although I really feel effective from understanding, whether it is doing a little minor injury to the joints/bones that I simply do not know, since I do nonetheless have RA," she mentioned. Read the full article