daily news update chaeenel

Paralympians enter their chosen sport for all sorts of reasons – whether they have experienced a life-long disability or had a life-changing illness or event – but few have a back-story as dramatic as Australian para-snowboarder Sean Pollard. Pollard’s life was changed in just a couple of minutes when he was attacked by two Great White sharks while surfing in Esperance in October 2014, losing his left arm and his right hand in his struggle to escape. In the aftermath of the attack he needed seven blood transfusions amounting to three litres of blood. “I was pretty lucky to get to hospital within an hour of the attack” he recalls. It took over 150 stitches to close the wounds that had threatened his life, and he spent weeks in hospital. Source :- theguardian

The president of the FIA, Jean Todt, has issued a robust defence of his organisation’s decision to impose the Halo cockpit protection system on Formula One this season. Todt dismissed criticism from the Mercedes executive director, Toto Wolff, as “childish” and stressed that the FIA would not shy away from making difficult decisions in the interests of safety. The Halo device will make its race debut at the opening round in Melbourne but has attracted criticism on aesthetic grounds and because it is in contradiction of the spirit of an open-cockpit series. Mercedes confidence is an ominous sign after Barcelona F1 testing | Giles Richards Read more Wolff has said he would remove it with a chainsaw if given the opportunity but Todt rejected his stance. “I will not react to whatever has been said. It is simply a childish game,” he said. “It’s very inappropriate, whoever you are, to publicly deny something which is introduced. For me, constructive criticism is always good because it makes ...

Relatives of the 96 people killed at Hillsborough in 1989 have severely criticised a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to charge any former West Midlands police officers with criminal offences relating to the force’s original investigation into the disaster. Margaret Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group whose 18-year-old-son James was killed in the disaster, said she was disgusted. She also criticised the CPS for failing to properly explain its decisions and the evidential threshold required to bring criminal charges. Two former West Midlands police officers, who have not been named, were referred by the Independent Office for Police Conduct to the CPS for consideration of possible charges of perverting the course of justice, misconduct in a public office, or conspiracy to do so. Bereaved families and survivors of the lethal crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, where South Yorkshire police was responsible for safety, have long protest...

Bayern Munich moved into the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Besiktas in Istanbul on Wednesday to complete an 8-1 aggregate victory against the Turkish side. It was a record 11th successive victory in the competition for their coach, Jupp Heynckes, who had led Bayern to the title in 2013 before retiring and returning this season. The Bundesliga champions went ahead through Thiago Alcântara in the 18th minute to kill off any lingering hopes of an improbable recovery by the hosts after Bayern had hammered them 5-0 in the first leg in Munich. However, the Spaniard was taken off with a suspected ankle problem a little later, having only recently returned from an injury break. Source :- theguardian

Samcro is not the second coming of Jesus Christ, we have been assured by his owner, but, for many punters here, he will do until Jesus Christ comes along. This place has welcomed many a hyped novice hurdler from Ireland over the years and a fair number of them were sent home without the trophy but Samcro’s reputation proved entirely justified in the opening race. “He’s performed his first miracle,” declared one particularly gleeful fan, after the Ballymore Hurdle. Jack Kennedy, his 18-year-old jockey who was himself praised to the skies from a very early stage, does not do nerves but few of those in the crowd are so blessed. There were rumblings of discontent as Samcro dived over an early hurdle, then seemed to trip over a road crossing. Memories were doubtless stirring of Getabird, the Irish-trained favourite who had completely blown out on Tuesday. Samcro was stuck on the outside of the pack, with no horse directly in front to give him cover, at risk of burning himself up far too ear...

Tottenham Hotspur expect Harry Kane to be back in training next month and to return to action in about four weeks after a scan revealed the extent of the injury he suffered at Bournemouth on Sunday. The club announced that “preliminary assessments have confirmed that Kane has damaged lateral ligaments in his right ankle.” The statement added: “He is expected to return to first-team training next month.” Tottenham apologise for survey asking if ‘a woman’s place is in the home’ Read more It is the third time since the beginning of last season that the striker has suffered this injury. On the first occasion, when he went down at Sunderland in September 2016, he was out for seven weeks while on the second, which came against Millwall at White Hart Lane in March 2017, he was out for four weeks. Tottenham believe the latest set-back is more similar to the Millwall injury. Source :- theguardian

A spectacular display of dominance in the final race from Mullins, with a 1-2-3 and four of the top five. He’s the leading trainer this week with five wins, Gordon Elliott has three (all today) and after Altior’s win, Nicky Henderson has two – and still leads the all-time standings. A great ride from Katie Walsh to end the second day – fitting after the unfortunate injury suffered by her brother, Ruby, earlier in the afternoon. The latest is that the jockey ‘aggravated’ his previous injury – a broken leg suffered in November. He’ll see a consultant next week, and will miss the rest of the Festival. Source :- theguardian

Arsenal versus Milan ought to be one of the glamour fixtures of the season. Not this time. When the sixth-placed team in the Premier League takes on the sixth-placed team in Serie A at Emirates Stadium on Thursday night, it will be in the Europa League rather than the Champions League and, to borrow a line from Gazzetta dello Sport, it has the feel of a clash of lost nobility. Arsenal have stabilised a little since the nightmare defeats by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and the league, followed by another at Brighton & Hove Albion, with the 2-0 win in Milan last Thursday – in the first leg of this last-16 tie – being talked up by the optimists such as Arsène Wenger as the catalyst. His team also beat Watford 3-0 at home on Sunday. Source :- theguardian

Mark Hughes has claimed he could not turn down the opportunity to become Southampton’s new manager after the club confirmed the Welshman as Mauricio Pellegrino’s successor on Wednesday night. Hughes’s first game will be an FA Cup tie at Wigan Athletic on Sunday but the club’s principal focus is on trying to stay in the Premier League. Southampton are one point and one place above the relegation zone with eight matches remaining. Southampton’s misery stems from losing identity and transfer touch Read more Hughes, who made 60 appearances as a player for Southampton between 1998 and 2000, has signed a deal until the end of the season and it is believed he will earn a £1m bonus if he keeps the club in the top flight. “It’s a challenge I’m excited by,” Hughes said. “It’s a great opportunity to come back to a club I know well and a club I’ve got real affinity with, and I couldn’t turn that down. Source :- theguardian

Five men slammed on the brakes simultaneously. Together they had been running towards Lionel Messi and together they turned and ran away from him again, as if he had flicked a switch, as if he had some kind of control over them. Which, in a way, he did. The moment that led to the second goal on a night which ended with the Camp Nou roaring their team into the quarter-finals, was an encapsulation of the power that ultimately took them there. Messi twice sent shots through the legs of Thibaut Courtois and into the net, in the third minute and the 64th, but it was the assist for the second that effectively ended this and there was something in that image, in the way it came in the 19th minute, that may even have said as much as him scoring. Source :- theguardian

They began the night by unveiling a huge banner – “God Save the King” – during the singing of El Cant del Barça in honour of the man they regard here as football royalty. Lionel Messi certainly did not let anyone down and, by the time he had finished with Chelsea, it was difficult not to think far too much had been made of that statistic about him failing to score in his first eight matches against these opponents. Messi’s ninth and 10th appearances against the team from Stamford Bridge have buried that one now Barcelona have safely navigated a route into the quarter-finals and Chelsea are left to consider that no side at this level can expect to get away with defending this generously. Messi contributed three‑quarters of Barcelona’s goals over the two legs. He is a genius, as everyone knows, but Chelsea played an obliging role when the mistakes of Thibaut Courtois and assorted colleagues are totted up. Source :- theguardian

Australian chef de mission Nick Dean wanted at least three medals at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics and he has got it with four days remaining. The country sits 14th on the medal table after winning its first gold since Salt Lake City 2002, where there were significantly more medals offered in alpine skiing than subsequent Games. From shark attack survivor to para-snowboarder: the Sean Pollard story Read more And after Simon Patmore triumphed in snowboard cross this week, alpine skier Melissa Perrine clinched two bronze medals. Australia has beaten its medal counts at Games in Turin in 2006 (one silver, one bronze) and Sochi four years ago (two bronze), achieved despite the injury withdrawal of co-captain and world No 2 snowboarder Joany Badenhorst. It needs one more to level with the Vancouver 2010 team and still has ski slalom and snowboard banked slalom to do so. Source :- theguardian

Antonio Conte has praised Lionel Messi as the kind of talent who emerges only once every half-century after the Barcelona forward registered his 100th Champions League goal en route to eliminating Chelsea from the competition. Messi, who had failed to score in his first eight appearances against the London club, hit three of Barça’s four goals over the two legs and set up Ousmane Dembélé for the other, the secondon Wednesday night, as La Liga’s champions-elect progressed into the quarter-finals. Conte, having thanked his own players for their efforts, sought out the opposition forward at the final whistle to express admiration at his display as they departed the turf. “A fantastic player moved the final result, moved the qualification over the two legs,” the Italian said. Source :- theguardian

Eddie Jones and the Rugby Football Union have both issued apologies after video footage emerged of the England head coach referring to “the scummy Irish” and Wales as a “little shit place” during a speech last year. Jones said he was “very sorry” for remarks he concedes were inexcusable. Jones made the comments during a talk on leadership for the truck manufacturing company Fuso, the Japanese sister company of the England team sponsor Mitsubishi, last July but they have only come to light now. England host a grand slam-chasing Ireland side in the final round of this season’s Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday, with Jones desperate for revenge having lost in Dublin last year. “We’ve played 23 Tests and we’ve only lost one Test to the scummy Irish,” he told his audience. “I’m still dirty about that game, but we’ll get that back, don’t worry. We’ve got them next year at home so don’t worry, we’ll get that back.” Source :- theguardian

The ball is in James Hird’s court after Fremantle confirmed they have offered the former Bomber the chance to join their coaching staff. The Dockers earlier this month confirmed they were considering the controversial figure to fill the vacant opposition analyst role but coach Ross Lyon has now revealed Hird is an “absolute priority”. “It’s great for us because it’ll help us win and I think it’s a nice little entree that could lead to greater and better things for James again,” Lyon told Seven Network. Concussion included in new AFL players' injury fund Read more Hird quit Essendon during 2015 after the club’s drawn-out supplements saga, which resulted in 34 past and present players being banned for the 2016 season. He was welcomed back into the AFL fold at last year’s grand final when he presented the Norm Smith Medal to Richmond star Dustin Martin. Source :- theguardian

Californian teenager Griffin Colapinto has ex-Tropical Cyclone Linda to thank for providing him with the wave of his life. The 19-year-old became the talk of the surfing world on Thursday after standing through three barrels at Kirra Point in Queensland to score the first 10-pointer of the new World Surf League season. The Quiksilver Pro event was moved from nearby Snapper Rocks because of the wild conditions whipped up by the weather system just off the Gold Coast. Colapinto reaped the rich rewards in his quarter-final win over French Polynesian Michel Bourez. Making his first non-wildcard appearance on the tour, he looked delighted after the first barrel and threw his hands into the air in celebration after making it through the second – then dropped them just as quickly when the third appeared. Source :- theguardian

By virtue of being part of the entertainment industry, an AFL footballer’s brand appears every bit as important as their ability to find the ball. And now footballers are being urged to “take back control” of their image and call out what they see as misrepresentation – or in less polite terms lies – in the media. Notwithstanding the irony that the quote “a lie will go ‘round the world while the truth is pulling its boots on” is mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain, social media has only expedited the speed in which these lies can travel. Internet forums and Twitter feeds fuelled by energy drinks and axes to grind make up a banquet of fresh horrors almost daily. And despite having access to almost all of human knowledge with a whorl of our fingertips, our instinct is to instead bounce myth and innuendo off the walls of our echo chamber. Source :- theguardian

Bayern Munich moved into the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Besiktas in Istanbul on Wednesday to complete an 8-1 aggregate victory against the Turkish side. It was a record 11th successive victory in the competition for their coach, Jupp Heynckes, who had led Bayern to the title in 2013 before retiring and returning this season. Barcelona v Chelsea: Champions League – live! Read more The Bundesliga champions went ahead through Thiago Alcântara in the 18th minute to kill off any lingering hopes of an improbable recovery by the hosts after Bayern had hammered them 5-0 in the first leg in Munich. However, the Spaniard was taken off with a suspected ankle problem a little later, having only recently returned from an injury break. Source :- theguardian

Eddie Jones and the Rugby Football Union have both issued apologies after video footage emerged of the England head coach referring to “the scummy Irish” and Wales as a “little shit place” during a speech last year. Jones said he was “very sorry” for remarks he concedes were inexcusable. Jones made the comments during a talk on leadership for the truck manufacturing company Fuso, the Japanese sister company of the England team sponsor Mitsubishi, last July but they have only come to light now. England host a grand slam-chasing Ireland side in the final round of this season’s Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday, with Jones desperate for revenge having lost in Dublin last year. “We’ve played 23 Tests and we’ve only lost one Test to the scummy Irish,” he told his audience. “I’m still dirty about that game, but we’ll get that back, don’t worry. We’ve got them next year at home so don’t worry, we’ll get that back.” Source :- theguardian

Bayern Munich moved into the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Besiktas in Istanbul on Wednesday to complete an 8-1 aggregate victory against the Turkish side. It was a record 11th successive victory in the competition for their coach, Jupp Heynckes, who had led Bayern to the title in 2013 before retiring and returning this season. Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea (4-1 on aggregate): Champions League – as it happened Read more The Bundesliga champions went ahead through Thiago Alcântara in the 18th minute to kill off any lingering hopes of an improbable recovery by the hosts after Bayern had hammered them 5-0 in the first leg in Munich. However, the Spaniard was taken off with a suspected ankle problem a little later, having only recently returned from an injury break. Bayern, who could secure their sixth consecutive Bundesliga title at the weekend, went 2-0 up seconds after the second-half restart when Gokhan Gonul volleyed a Rafinha cross into his own net. Source :- theguardian

Antonio Conte has praised Lionel Messi as the kind of talent who emerges only once every half-century after the Barcelona forward registered his 100th Champions League goal en route to eliminating Chelsea from the competition. Messi, who had failed to score in his first eight appearances against the London club, hit three of Barça’s four goals over the two legs and set up Ousmane Dembélé for the other, the secondon Wednesday night, as La Liga’s champions-elect progressed into the quarter-finals. Conte, having thanked his own players for their efforts, sought out the opposition forward at the final whistle to express admiration at his display as they departed the turf. “A fantastic player moved the final result, moved the qualification over the two legs,” the Italian said. “I have to praise the commitment of my players, and be proud because they gave everything. But Messi made the difference and, when you have the opportunity to make a great compliment to Messi, it’s right to praise a s...

They began the night by unveiling a huge banner – “God Save the King” – during the singing of El Cant del Barça in honour of the man they regard here as football royalty. Lionel Messi certainly did not let anyone down and, by the time he had finished with Chelsea, it was difficult not to think far too much had been made of that statistic about him failing to score in his first eight matches against these opponents. Messi’s ninth and 10th appearances against the team from Stamford Bridge have buried that one now Barcelona have safely navigated a route into the quarter-finals and Chelsea are left to consider that no side at this level can expect to get away with defending this generously. Messi contributed three‑quarters of Barcelona’s goals over the two legs. He is a genius, as everyone knows, but Chelsea played an obliging role when the mistakes of Thibaut Courtois and assorted colleagues are totted up. Source :- theguardian

Five men slammed on the brakes simultaneously. Together they had been running towards Lionel Messi and together they turned and ran away from him again, as if he had flicked a switch, as if he had some kind of control over them. Which, in a way, he did. The moment that led to the second goal on a night which ended with the Camp Nou roaring their team into the quarter-finals, was an encapsulation of the power that ultimately took them there. Messi twice sent shots through the legs of Thibaut Courtois and into the net, in the third minute and the 64th, but it was the assist for the second that effectively ended this and there was something in that image, in the way it came in the 19th minute, that may even have said as much as him scoring. Source :- theguardian

In the just-released thriller Red Sparrow, Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova, a young Russian woman sent to train at an elite spy school. There, she is taught to identify the one thing that a human target desires – and to become that thing to extract information. In one particularly gruelling exercise, Dominika is forced to confront a male student who earlier attempted to rape her, and instructed to “give him what he wants”. However, Dominika niftily flips the terms of the encounter, undressing and offering herself to him instead. The previously eager student suddenly finds himself unable to achieve an erection, and Dominika explains that she figured out what he wanted, as instructed, but that it wasn’t sex: it was power. If this logic sounds familiar, it is because it’s a perspective on sexual violence that has gained unprecedented mainstream awareness over the past few months. Though men can and do leverage their power and influence in order to elicit consensual sex with women...

There is something perfect about the irony of Donald Trump – a man who bragged about the size of his penis during a debate and who is currently being sued by a porn actress – advocating for abstinence-only education. But here we are, in the upside down. Politico reports that Valerie Huber, a longtime abstinence-only activist turned Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staffer, will be making decisions about federal family planning funds. Huber, who was suspended from her position at the Ohio Department of Health after a state ethics investigation in 2006, is founder of the National Abstinence Educators Association, which later became Ascend. (The name change was part of a broader move by the abstinence-only movement to seem more credible.) What I learned when I attended my son's 'abstinence-based' sex ed class Read more This comes on the heels of a leaked White House memo and HHS guidelines showing the administration plans to teach teenagers “fertility awareness me...

There is always the danger of reading too much into any one election. Pundits and partisans try to divine the future through individual performance and assign momentum to one party or the other. Every election seems like the most important ever. So it goes with all special elections for congressional seats in the Trump era. Tuesday night’s was significant, however, regardless of whether Democrat Conor Lamb ultimately takes Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district over Republican Rick Saccone. (The result isn’t out yet, but Democrats have already declared victory). The two men, in a virtual tie, played the role of bellwethers for each of their parties. Lamb, given his performance, clearly came out ahead. The 33-year-old former marine and prosecutor matched Saccone, a state legislator, in a district Donald Trump won by nearly 20 points. Democrats hadn’t bothered to contest it in past cycles: Republicans won eight straight elections and the seat only became vacant once Republican Tim Mu...

A glimpse at the “private, hidden face” of Albert Einstein, including the celebrated scientist’s thoughts on everything from his fears that his best work was behind him to his equivocal feelings about his fame, has been revealed in a cache of letters he wrote to his beloved younger sister, Maja. The collection, which includes a previously unknown photograph of Einstein as a five-year-old and the only surviving letter written by Einstein to his father, comes from the archive of Maja Winteler-Einstein and her husband Paul Winteler. A mix of letters, postcards and photographs, many of which have not previously been published, the documents range in date from 1897 to 1951. Source :- theguardian

Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s surprise firing of Rex Tillerson and the unusual way in which it unfolded. Stephen Colbert On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert announced himself as “the one person Donald Trump hasn’t fired”. He joked that “the strange part of this is everything” while discussing Trump’s decision to fire the secretary of state via Twitter. “It’s too bad Twitter wasn’t around when Trump ended his first two marriages,” he said. “Back then he had to do it by fax.” Source :- theguardian

In one of his last articles for the Guardian, Stephen Hawking confessed that, thanks to the celebrity he had gained – not many theoretical physicists could boast cameo roles in Star Trek and the Simpsons – and “the isolation imposed by my illness, I feel as though my ivory tower is getting taller”. And yet the last scholar who could be accused of living in an ivory tower, aloof from the problems of the world, was Stephen Hawking. Though he gazed at the stars, he never lost sight of the troubles of the Earth, including those of his own country. Which is why his final piece for the Guardian, published in August last year, was headlined, Jeremy Hunt can attack me all he wants – but he is wrong to say the NHS is working. A week earlier Hawking had issued a plea to save the health service from what he saw as a damaging set of policy decisions: “underfunding and cuts, privatising services, the public sector pay cap, the new contract imposed on junior doctors, and removal of the student nurse...

Thousands of students poured out of classrooms in the US on Wednesday in an unprecedented expression of mourning and a demand for action to stem the country’s epidemic of gun violence. In a stunning visual riposte to the public inertia that has followed mass shootings in the US, crowds of students at an estimated 3,000 schools across the country marched on running tracks, through parking lots and around building perimeters, carrying signs that read “Enough” and chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, gun violence has got to go”. Wednesday walkout: students step out of class to spur action on gun control – live Read more The walkout fell one month after a student gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, in the deadliest high school shooting in the country’s history. Survivors of that massacre joined other student activists to organize Wednesday’s demonstration, which was promoted by the Women’s March movement that sprang up after the election of Donald Tr...

As students staged walkouts nationwide to demand stricter gun control, a month after the school shooting in Florida, Congress offered its modest response: a bill that aims to prevent violence in classrooms – but fails to restrict assault weapons or expand background checks. The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the Stop School Violence Act, in a vote of 407 to 10, marking the first – and perhaps only – action Republican leaders will take in response to the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, which killed 17 and sparked a new youth movement against gun violence. The Senate is considering a similar measure. 'Enough': US students come together in spectacular walkout to end gun violence Read more “The action that the House just took is an important first step forward in protecting our children, our teachers and other administrators within our schools,” said John Rutherford, a Republican congressman from Florida and...

A US startup is promising to upload customers’ brains to the cloud using a pioneering technique it has trialled on rabbits. The only catch, according to the company’s cofounder? The process is “100% fatal”. Nectome, founded in 2016 by a pair of MIT AI researchers, hopes to offer a commercial application of a novel process for preserving brains, called “aldehyde-stabilised cryopreservation”. The process, which results in the brain being “vitrifixed” – the startup’s self-named term for essentially turning it into glass – is promising enough that it has won two prizes from the Brain Preservation Foundation, for preserving a rabbit’s brain in 2016 and a pig’s brain in 2018. Influential startup accelerator Y Combinator has taken Nectome in, with the organisation’s chief executive, Sam Altman, becoming one of the 25 people to pay a $10,000 deposit to join its waiting list. “I assume my brain will be uploaded to the cloud,” Altman told MIT Technology Review. Source :- theguardian

Donald Trump has demonstrated yet again that he is the opposite of his reality TV persona who relished telling contestants to their face: “You’re fired!” In real life, FBI director James Comey learned of his termination last year from television screens in a room where he was making a speech to bureau agents in Los Angeles. And on Tuesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson found out about his demise when Trump announced it in a tweet, according to state department officials. Strangely for a hard-nosed, swaggering New York businessman, Trump appears to have a congenital aversion to delivering the bad news in person when it’s not a TV show. Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus was also ousted by tweet, while former chief strategist Steve Bannon got wind of his imminent removal while Trump was at Camp David. Source :- theguardian

The Republican senator Rand Paul said on Wednesday he would oppose Donald Trump’s nomination of Gina Haspel for director of the CIA, accusing her of having shown “joyful glee” during the torture of terrorism suspects. Paul also announced that he would try to block the president’s nomination of the current CIA director, Mike Pompeo, to succeed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. The Kentucky senator’s stance could be especially awkward for Haspel, who is under scrutiny for reportedly overseeing a secret CIA prison in Thailand where detainees endured so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. “To really appoint the head cheerleader for waterboarding to be head of the CIA?” Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I mean, how could you trust somebody who did that to be in charge of the CIA? To read of her glee during the waterboarding is just absolutely appalling.” Source :- theguardian

Out with the Goldman Sachs banker and in with the TV show anchor. On Wednesday Donald Trump was preparing to announce that CNBC host and conservative commentator Larry Kudlow would replace Gary Cohn as director of the White House’s National Economic Council. Kudlow, 70, best known as a CNBC commentator and outspoken proponent of free trade and low taxes, is in many ways a contradictory fit with Trump’s “America First” agenda. But Kudlow, according to White House advisers, was chosen from a shortlist of just one candidate for one of the most powerful economic posts in the administration. The official announcement could come as early as tomorrow, according to CNBC, his employer. The 70-year-old certainly brings some Trump-supporting chops. He helped to shape Trump’s economic policy platform during the 2016 campaign and later worked with the treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, on an overhaul of tax codes. He has reportedly also helped shape economic policy over the past year. Source :-...

What is a fitting tribute to Stephen Hawking? It’s probably not to ask, as John Humphrys unaccountably did, whether the “science community cut him a lot of slack because he was so desperately disabled?” A more insulting idea is hard to imagine: that you spend your life overcoming adversity to get to the top of your field, then the minute you’re dead, someone speculates that you’d never have made it without the adversity. Instead, the question we should be asking in homage to this extraordinary man is what life would be like today for a 22-year-old, recently arriving at Cambridge for graduate studies, diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Well, he would have a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment, and – despite the severity of the disease – would have no guarantee of being successful. Of the nearly one million people moving from Disability Living Allowance to PIP, almost half have had their payments downgraded or stopped. There is a very high error rate – 69% of appeals agains...

Stephen Hawking was a longtime champion of the NHS, but it was a glaring slip in the media that provoked one of his more memorable interventions. As the Obama administration sought to reform the US healthcare system in 2009, the US Investor’s Business Daily argued that Stephen Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless”. It was duly pointed out that Hawking was not only born and educated in England, but received more care than most from the nation’s health service. “I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS,” Hawking told the Guardian at the time. “I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.” Source :- theguardian

Stephen Hawking, who has died aged 76, combined a soaring intellect and a mischievous sense of humour that made him an icon of both academia and popular culture. Here are a collection of some of his greatest quotes:     “For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”     “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all. Source :- theguardian

Stephen Hawking always had something to say. He shook up the world of cosmology with more than 150 papers, dozens of which became renowned. He was told he had only a brief time on Earth, but spent half a century captivating audiences in lecture halls, on TV and in the pages of his books. For newspaper editors, almost any utterance of his could make a headline, and he knew it. Hawking warned about the threats of nuclear war, genetically modified viruses, artificial intelligence and marauding aliens. He pronounced on the human condition and once dismissed the role of God in creating the universe. The statement caused a fuss, as the denial of invisible superbeings still can in the 21st century. It is an unwritten law of nature that when a personality steps into the foreground, their work must take a step back. In Hawking’s case, being the most famous scientist of our time had a mysterious ability to eclipse his actual achievements. At his best Hawking was spectacular: he made intuitive le...

The image of Stephen Hawking – who has died aged 76 – in his motorised wheelchair, with head contorted slightly to one side and hands crossed over to work the controls, caught the public imagination, as a true symbol of the triumph of mind over matter. As with the Delphic oracle of ancient Greece, physical impairment seemed compensated by almost supernatural gifts, which allowed his mind to roam the universe freely, upon occasion enigmatically revealing some of its secrets hidden from ordinary mortal view. Of course, such a romanticised image can represent but a partial truth. Those who knew Hawking would clearly appreciate the dominating presence of a real human being, with an enormous zest for life, great humour, and tremendous determination, yet with normal human weaknesses, as well as his more obvious strengths. It seems clear that he took great delight in his commonly perceived role as “the No 1 celebrity scientist”; huge audiences would attend his public lectures, perhaps not alw...

A Canadian woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by British sailors has filed a lawsuit against the UK government, arguing that it is “vicariously liable” for any harm caused by its employees. The lawsuit stems from a 2015 incident in Shearwater, Nova Scotia, in which four members of the British Navy were charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm. Charges were later dropped against one of the men due to a lack of sufficient evidence. In 2017, charges were withdrawn against another of the accused after a judge ruled that his nearly one and half hour wait to see a lawyer had violated his rights. The two remaining men, Darren Smalley, 37, and Simon Radford,33, will face a criminal trial in Nova Scotia in September. None of the allegations have been proven in court. In a lawsuit filed last week in the supreme court of Nova Scotia, the plaintiff, whose identity is protected by a publication ban in the criminal case, said the alleged assault took place after the sailors arrived ...

United Airlines is investigating after mistakenly flying a Kansas family’s dog to Japan. KCTV reports that Kara Swindle and her two children flew from Oregon to Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday on a United flight. They went to a cargo facility to pick up 10-year-old Irgo, a German shepherd, but were instead given a great Dane. Swindle, of Wichita, Kansas, learned Irgo had been put on a flight to Japan, where the great Dane was supposed to go. Airline officials in Japan put Irgo on a flight back to Kansas City. It was not clear when the dog would arrive. The news of Irgo’s unplanned odyssey comes as United admits another dog died after a flight attendant forced it to travel in an overhead bin on a Houston-to-New York flight. Source :- theguardian

Tributes poured in on Wednesday to Stephen Hawking, the brightest star in the firmament of science, whose insights shaped modern cosmology and inspired global audiences in the millions. He died at the age of 76 in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A brief history of Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time Read more In a statement that confirmed his death at home in Cambridge, Hawking’s children said: “We are deeply saddened that our beloved father passed away today. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. His courage and persistence with his brilliance and humour inspired people across the world. “He once said: ‘It would not be much of a universe if it wasn’t home to the people you love.’ We will miss him for ever.” For fellow scientists and loved ones, it was Hawking’s intuition and wicked sense of humour that marked him out as much as the fierce intellect that, coupled with his illness, came to symbolise the unbound...

Slovakia’s prime minister has offered to resign, under pressure from the opposition for his handling of a scandal over the killing of a journalist investigating political corruption. Robert Fico has been struggling since February with the scandal over the murder of Ján Kuciak, 27, and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová. Police have said the double murder was “most likely” related to Kuciak’s investigation of ties between Slovakia’s top politicians and Italy’s ’Ndrangheta mafia. The killing has prompted large protests against Fico’s government, with tens of thousands of Slovaks turning out for rallies. In a public address late on Wednesday, Fico said: “Today I have offered my resignation to the president of the republic. If the president accepts it, I am ready to resign tomorrow.” Source :- theguardian

The official death toll following Papua New Guinea’s 7.5 magnitude earthquake has risen to 145 but still has further to climb, officials have said. Almost three weeks after the earthquake struck the provinces of Hela and Southern Highlands, some places remain cut off and an estimated 35,000 people have been displaced, the PNG police force said on Wednesday. “From the reports received at the command centres [in Tari and Mendi], 45 have died so far in the Southern Highlands province and in Hela 80 people are confirmed dead,” a spokesman said. “It is expected that the figure might increase once all people have been accounted for.” About 270,000 people, including 125,000 children, require urgent humanitarian assistance, Unicef has said. Source :- theguardian

A roadblock set up by New Zealand police to obtain information on euthanasia activists was illegal and unjustified, an investigation has found. In late 2016, members of pro-euthanasia group Exit International were stopped by police at a roadblock after leaving a meeting. They were asked for their names and addresses, before being breathalyzed. Later, 10 of the women who were stopped at the roadblock were visited by police in their homes. Several members of the group – who were mostly in their 70s – were also visited by police in other parts of the country, in what Exit International believed was a targeted police campaign. The New Zealand Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has concluded that officers used the roadblock to obtain information unlawfully on Exit International members, and were “not justified” in doing so. Police were monitoring the Exit International meeting in Lower Hutt as part of an investigation into the death of a woman who ingested pentobarbitone – a contro...

Syrian regime forces have broken into a key town in the beleaguered rebel enclave of eastern Ghouta amid heavy bombardment, a monitor has said. Syria is a moral defeat for Europeans “Regime forces assaulted Hamouriyah,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Wednesday, adding that the troops were able to control areas in the south of the enclave. Russia-backed regime forces launched an assault on eastern Ghouta in February to retake the last opposition bastion outside Damascus. The offensive has split the enclave into three sections, each controlled by different rebels. The area around Hamouriyah is controlled by the Faylaq al-Rahman faction. It has come under intense bombardment in recent days, according to an AFP correspondent in the area. Source :- theguardian

The nerve agent novichok was developed and produced in Shikhany, home of a military research establishment in central Russia, according to a chemical weapons expert. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said the information was contained in a report submitted several years ago by Russia to the international body that monitors chemical weapons, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The UK government has asked the OPCW to investigate the use of novichok in the attempted murder of the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. Theresa May said in a Commons statement on Wednesday: “We are working with the police to enable the OPCW to independently verify our analysis.” Source :- theguardian

Finland has overtaken Norway to become the happiest nation on earth, according to a UN report. The 2018 World Happiness Report also charts the steady decline of the US as the world’s largest economy grapples with a crisis of obesity, substance abuse and depression. The study reveals the US has slipped to 18th place, five places down on 2016. The top four places are taken by Nordic nations, with Finland followed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Burundi in east Africa, scarred by bouts of ethnic cleansing, civil wars and coup attempts, is the unhappiest place in the world. Strikingly, there are five other nations – Rwanda, Yemen, Tanzania, South Sudan and the Central African Republic – which report happiness levels below that of even Syria. For the first time the UN also examined the happiness levels of immigrants in each country, and found Finland also scored highest. Source :- theguardian

London is the cheapest it has been for overseas visitors in more than two decades as a consequence of Brexit, according to a report. The study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that British cities have dropped to their cheapest levels internationally since at least the 1990s. It said the sharp fall in the pound after the EU referendum – still more than 6% lower than it was on the eve of the vote – had sent London and Manchester sharply down the rankings. Analysing a basket of more than 150 goods in 133 cities around the world, the report found London was now almost a third cheaper than Paris to visit, and almost a 10th cheaper than Dublin. The UK capital fell six places to 30th in the rankings for the most expensive city in Europe, while Manchester dropped five places to 56. Source :- theguardian

Donatella Versace has said her family’s luxury fashion label will no longer use real furs in its products, according to an interview with a British magazine. The Italian fashion queen and Versace’s creative director told The Economist’s 1843 magazine that it would stop the practice, without providing further details on the change. “Fur? I am out of that,” Versace said. “I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion. “It doesn’t feel right.” Versace’s headquarters in Milan, Italy, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday night. 1843 noted the announcement was such a “volte-face” that at the time of the magazine writing its article, which was published online Wednesday, Versace’s website was still urging customers to buy “fur-embellished coats that turn heads”. Source :- theguardian

Russia has claimed at the UN security council that it never made or even researched novichok nerve agents, which the UK says were used in the Salisbury attack on a former Russia spy and his daughter. However, the UK received overwhelming support from its allies on the council, including the US, amid heated debate on Wednesday night. Washington’s envoy, Nikki Haley, delivered the most unambiguous statement of support from the Trump administration so far. In her statement on behalf of the US, Haley said: “Let me make one thing clear from the very beginning: the United States stands in absolute solidarity with Great Britain. The United States believes that Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using a military-grade nerve agent.” Source :- theguardian

Britain is braced for retaliation from Moscow after Theresa May blamed the Russian state for the Salisbury poisoning, and announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and a crackdown on “corrupt elites”. The prime minister told the House of Commons the Kremlin had responded with “sarcasm, contempt and defiance” to the 24-hour deadline the government set on Monday for explaining the attack on former spy Sergei Skripal. “Their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events,” May told MPs. She said: “There is no alternative conclusion other than the Russian state was responsible for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter.” It was “unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom”, May said. Source :- theguardian

The investigation into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia has widened further to take in a Dorset town and detectives have examined computer equipment of some of the former spy’s neighbours. Residents of Gillingham, 30 miles west of Salisbury, were told to stay indoors while detectives and military personnel secured a vehicle connected to the attack. It is believed that the move is linked to Skripal’s BMW, one of the key focuses of the huge police operation. Neighbours of Skripal, who lives on the outskirts of Salisbury, revealed that police have been examining their computer equipment. Resident Chelsie Croes, 21, said: “They came to our house asking to check the wi-fi. The police wanted to check our internet routers. They didn’t say why they were doing it. I don’t know if they wanted to find out if we had been hacked into.” As part of the inquiry - codenamed Operation Lime - officers have been going door to door asking people if they knew the Skripals and ...

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is ending his first diplomatic trip early and flying back to Washington Monday because of new developments in the administration's approach to North Korea. While in Africa, Tillerson met with leaders in Chad. He was also scheduled to travel to Nigeria, where he would meet with the country's president, foreign minister and representatives from the US Embassy there. "Due to demands in the secretary's schedule, he is returning to the US one day early after concluding official meetings in Chad and Nigeria," Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein said. Source :- cbnnews

Russian President Vladimir Putin angered several Jewish organizations and US lawmakers after suggesting in an interview over the weekend that it was "Jews" who were behind Russia's interference in the 2016 US election. In an interview with NBC News, Putin said that perhaps the people responsible for Russia's interference in the election "are not even Russian. Maybe they're Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship. Or a Green card." Putin's comments angered many in Congress who called on President Donald Trump to toughen his rhetoric with Russia. Source :- cbnnews

BEIJING (AP) — Xi Jinping, already China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, received a vastly expanded mandate Sunday as lawmakers abolished presidential term limits that have been in place for more than 35 years and wrote his political philosophy into the country’s constitution. In one swift vote, the rubber-stamp legislature opened up the possibility of Xi serving as president for life, returning China to the one-man-rule system that prevailed during the era of Mao and the emperors who came before him Source :- cbnnews

He's been charged with espionage, acquiring secret political and military information, attempting to destroy constitutional order and overthrowing the Turkish parliament, in addition to alleged "membership in an armed terroristic organization." The prosecutor in İzmir accuses Brunson with being a "member and executive of the terrorist group" suspected of being behind the July 2016 coup attempt. The American Center for Law and Justice is defending Brunson. The group says it is seeking more information before issuing a statement on the latest development. Source :- cbnnews

Aideen Strandsson is a woman without a country.  She may live in Sweden, but she is a stateless person, with no passport, no citizenship and no way to get a job. She lives every day with the knowledge she could be deported to her native Iran where, as a Christian, she would face grave danger. The world was outraged when the Swedish government decided to send Strandsson, who is a Christian and former Muslim, back to Iran where she could face prison, rape and even death. But a worldwide outcry over her situation has apparently not changed anything. After CBN News first brought the former Iranian actress's story to the world stage, the government of Hungary offered her asylum, and many people from around the world contacted the Swedish government asking it to reconsider.  "It was really like a miracle. Source :- cbnnews

Russia has successfully launched a hypersonic missile, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced earlier this month. Russia's Defense Ministry said the missile was launched from a MiG-31 aircraft that took off from an airfield in southwestern Russia. "The launch went according to plan: the hypersonic missile hit its target," the ministry said.However, the news is being downplayed by top US Defense Department officials, including Secretary James Mattis. While on a plane traveling to the Middle East, Mattis said that nothing Putin showed off changed anything from the Pentagon's perspective. "I saw no change to the Russian military capability and each of these systems that he's talking about that are still years away, I do not see them changing the military balance. They do not impact any need on our side for a change in our deterrence posture," he said. Source :- cbnnews

 Britain's prime minister said Monday that it's "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for poisoning ex-spy Sergei Skripal with a military-grade nerve agent in southwestern England last week.   Theresa May said that Russian state involvement if proven would be considered an "unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom" and would draw a strong response.   Shortly after May's remarks, Russia's Foreign Ministry dismissed suggestions it could be behind the poisoning as a "circus show."   May said that British scientists have determined that Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in Salisbury with Novichock - a form of nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union near the end of the Cold War - and there were two possible explanations. Source :- cbnnews

Tillerson announced Tuesday afternoon that he had spoken with President Trump earlier in the day by phone and plans to hand over his responsibilities by the end of the day to assist in a smooth transition. In a press conference Tillerson encouraged his policy planning team and undersecretaries to "remain at their post."  He was ousted just four hours after returning from an Africa mission, and the Associated Press reports it took place with no face-to-face conversation with the president. Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein and other State Department officials had claimed Tillerson hadn't learned he was dismissed until he saw Trump's early-morning tweet. Hours later, Goldstein was fired, too.  Source :- cbnnews

The View" co-host Joy Behar publicly apologized Tuesday morning for her comments mocking Vice President Mike Pence's faith. The segment opened with co-host Whoopi Goldberg referring to Pence's appearance on Monday's "Hannity" program on Fox News and then played a clip of Pence saying he asked Behar to make her apology in public. Behar then addressed the audience, looking directly into the camera, and said: "I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said." Source :- cbnnews

Powerful tech companies rule our communications today, and shocking stories are coming out about how they're silencing the worldviews of millions of Christian and conservative Americans, censoring the messages you're allowed to read and post online. The latest high-profile case might be called a gaffe or "mistake," but it actually exposes the tip of the iceberg in a much deeper, darker agenda. This week, social network powerhouse Facebook came under fire for a survey asking users whether pedophiles should be able to ask underage girls for photographs. Source :- cbnnews

The Bible calls for people to pray for our leaders, so one congressman went to the people of his district to make that happen. It was meant to be a positive gesture, but not everyone on the internet saw it that way. Congressman Mike Bost, R-IL, didn't like what he was seeing in our country at the beginning of 2017. Protests were happening everywhere and many well-known people made it clear they did not support the new administration. So his wife had an idea: They should collect thoughts and prayers to encourage President Donald Trump. "We thought maybe we'd get 30, whatever," Rep. Bost told CBN News. "It came back – there were hundreds." Source :- cbnnews

The Northeast is seeing its third nor'easter in less than two weeks as winter storm warnings stretch from Tennessee to North Carolina and into Maine. A blizzard warning is in effect for much of the Massachusetts coast. There's also a winter storm warning for most of New England and a winter weather advisory for portions of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Millions in the Northeast are still recovering from the previous back-to-back storms that left many without power. Source :- theguardian

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman reached an agreement Tuesday evening, ending speculation by Israeli media that the coalition crisis would likely lead to early elections. The stalemate revolved around supporting legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox youth from serving in the military and the passage of the 2019 state budget. It's a familiar problem, with people on both sides of the issue reportedly refusing to compromise. In the end, the parties worked together to resolve their differences and keep the government intact. UTJ (the United Torah Judaism party) agreed to support the budget in exchange for passing legislation ensuring that yeshiva students will not have to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Source :- cbnnews

In the most recent round of musical chairs at the White House, President Donald Trump has removed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from his post. The administration announced Tillerson will be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. ANALYSIS: 'He's a Very Devout Christian:' Why Pompeo Is Perfect Pick for Secretary of StateTillerson announced Tuesday afternoon that he had spoken with President Trump earlier in the day by phone and plans to hand over his responsibilities by the end of the day to assist in a smooth transition. In a press conference Tillerson encouraged his policy planning team and undersecretaries to "remain at their post."  He was ousted just four hours after returning from an Africa mission, and the Associated Press reports it took place with no face-to-face conversation with the president. Source :- cbnnews

Nickolas Cruz, the 19-year-old former student charged with killing 17 people at Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month will face the death penalty, prosecutors said Tuesday. Cruz is scheduled for formal arraignment Wednesday on a 34-count indictment, including 17 first-degree murder charges. CBN News has learned the office of Broward County State Attorney Michael Satz filed the formal notice of its intentions Tuesday. Source :- cbnnews

A widely watched special congressional election is underway Tuesday in Pennsylvania, and Democrats believe it could give them a sign about their chances of taking control of Congress in the fall midterm elections. Democrats think they can win the district even though President Trump carried it by 20 points in 2016. That's one reason why Trump campaigned there over the weekend for the Republican candidate. "This guy should win easily, and he's going to win easily. You've got to know, he's an extraordinary person. Go out and vote on Tuesday for Rick Saccone," Trump said. Source :- theguardian

Tim Tebow was reassigned by the New York Mets to their minor league camp on Tuesday after he went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts in an exhibition against the Houston Astros.   The former NFL quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner hit .056 (1 for 18) with 11 strikeouts in seven big league exhibition games. The 30-year-old, who is not on the Mets' 40-man roster, has been hampered by a left ankle sprain.   "I'll just continue to work in all the areas we've been working and making progress. That's really the focus - to continue the process and the journey and keep working," Tebow said to reporters following the game.   Tebow's only hit was a hard single to center off Washington's Erick Fedde on March 2. He has been used solely as a designated hitter or pinch hitter because of the injury. Source :- theguardian

Immigration is has been a hot-button political issue in the United States. America, like all other countries, controls and limits who may enter its territory, for how long, and on what terms, and these restrictions are a part of the laws of the nation. In recent decades, millions of people from Latin America have bypassed this legal process, earning them the controversial designation of "illegal aliens." Source :- theguardian

Vice President Mike Pence addressed the Independent Women's Forum Tuesday night to celebrate Women's History Month and the many contributions women have made to the United States.This may be a month when we remember women's history in America but the truth is women in America are making history every single day," Pence said. "Women are graduating from college and getting advanced degrees in record numbers today. They're driving our economy through entrepreneurship and innovation as never before," he added. "They've built business, they've built communities, they've helped build families into this extraordinary fabric that we call American life." Pence mentioned the millions of new jobs that have been added since President Trump entered office, an achievement he says has a particular impact on women. Source :- theguardian

A student was kicked out of a Christianity class at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania recently when he questioned the instructor's teaching and said there are only two genders. Lake Ingle, a senior religious studies major, was barred from the class after he questioned Professor Alison Downie during her lecture titled "Christianity 481: Self, Sin, and Salvation," according to a report from the website Campus Reform. The professor showed a 15-minute TED Talk to the class by transgender and ex-pastor Paula Stone Williams.  In the video, Williams discussed "mansplaining," 'sexism from men," and "male privilege." The instructor then asked the women in the class to share their thoughts.  Source :- theguardian

The annual New York City gay pride parade is known for its eccentric themes and over the top, sexually charged floats but this year's headliner has left many in the gay community shaking their heads. The organizers have employed a 10-year-old child as the 'face' of this year's festivities. The young boy, Desmond Napoles says he is unashamedly a boy who likes to dress as a woman but says he is not transgender, rather, he identifies as a "drag kid." Source :- theguardian

During her recent trip to India, Hillary Clinton told an Indian audience in Mumbai the reasons she lost the 2016 election.  She said that Donald Trump's voters "hated black people getting rights and women getting jobs."  She claimed that she won the successful parts of the country and that Trump won the "backwards" areas. "I won the places that represent two-thirds of America's gross domestic product," Clinton said. "So I won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward. And his whole campaign, 'Make America Great Again,' was looking backwards." Source :- theguardian

JERUSALEM, Israel – An article in a Turkish daily called for the formation of an "Army of Islam" to attack and destroy the State of Israel. The article, written by Yeni Safak and published before the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul in December, called on OIC's 57 member nations throughout the Muslim world to join forces against the Israeli "occupiers," who would be vastly outnumbered and unable to defend itself. Translated and posted by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), the article details how combined ground, air and naval forces could defeat Israel militarily in 10 days and diplomatically in 20 days, thereby liberating "Palestine." Source :- theguardian

Despite skepticism over the latest White House cabinet shakeup, observers say CIA chief Mike Pompeo's replacement of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state will likely have a positive effect on US foreign policy. "This is actually a very good change and the timing of it couldn't have been any better," CBN News National Security Correspondent Erik Rosales said.  "We're dealing with tariffs right now; we're dealing with the negotiations that are taking place with North Korea. That's something that Tillerson was never on the table with," he explained. Source :- theguardian

"The View" co-host Joy Behar publicly apologized Tuesday morning for her comments mocking Vice President Mike Pence's faith. The segment opened with co-host Whoopi Goldberg referring to Pence's appearance on Monday's "Hannity" program on Fox News and then played a clip of Pence saying he asked Behar to make her apology in public. Behar then addressed the audience, looking directly into the camera, and said: "I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said." Source :- theguardian

In a race down to the wire, Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone battled for Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District's House seat Tuesday night in an election too close to call. Nearly three hours after polls closed and with 100 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial results had Lamb leading Saccone by 579 votes. Some absentee ballots were not expected to be counted until Wednesday morning, and the final result could be decided by a recount. The race drew national attention as Democrats believe it could be a precursor to their chances of taking control of Congress in the fall midterm elections. They must flip 24 GOP-held seats to claim a House majority. Source :- theguardian

In the most recent round of musical chairs at the White House, President Donald Trump has removed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson from his post. The administration announced Tillerson will be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. ANALYSIS: 'He's a Very Devout Christian:' Why Pompeo Is Perfect Pick for Secretary of State. Source :- theguardian

The writer of Disney's "A Wrinkle in Time" is defending her decision to remove Christian themes from the movie. She removed references to Jesus and various Biblical passages, from the film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's popular book by the same name, she says, for a message of inclusiveness. In an interview with Uproxx, screenwriter Jennifer Lee explained why she decided to remove Biblical references found throughout L'Engle's popular 1962 children's fantasy novel. "The book is pretty open about its Christian ideals," said Mike Ryan, a senior entertainment writer at Uproxx, while interviewing Lee. "The movie doesn't directly reference them," he noted. Source :- theguardian

This is to dirt bike culture what the Grammys are to hip hop,” beamed veteran rider Albert “Al Capone” Elkerson as he took to the stage of a swanky historic theatre in Manhattan for the second annual Motocross Freestyle Streetriders awards. It was a family-friendly event, packed with young fans ogling their role models. Smartphones broadcast to millions of followers while Oscars-style trophy girls handed out accolades for best swag, best swerve and longest no-hander. Standing between two mounted dirt bikes frozen into wheelies, Elkerson sported a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Don’t Chase” – a reference to riders’ run-ins with police and a clue to the sport’s origins. Source :- theguardian

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murders of a teenage boy and a man in Camden, Scotland Yard said. The teenager has also been charged with violent disorder following an incident in Pembury Circus, Hackney, east London, on the same day, 20 February. He will appear at Highbury Corner magistrates’ court on Wednesday. Detectives previously charged 18-year-olds Ben Drummond and Isaiah Popoola with the murders of Abdikarim Hassan, 17, and Sadiq Aadam Mohamed, 20. Drummond, of Kentish Town, north London, was also charged with grievous bodily harm and attempted grievous bodily harm on two victims aged 17 and 24 in Aldenham Street, Camden, the same evening. Popoola, of Grafton Way, Fitzrovia, was also charged with grievous bodily harm and attempted grievous bodily harm in connection with the same incident. Both will next appear at the Old Bailey. Source :- theguardian

Under a fiercely blue sky, the sun shines down on groves of oranges and almond blossom. I am in the mountain village of Sella, in Spain’s Alicante province, enjoying a sneak preview of spring – a month or more before it arrives in Britain. The migrant birds are not yet back, but half a dozen different butterflies are on the wing and birdsong fills the air. The scratchy sound of Sardinian warblers, the metallic song of the black redstart, and, from every little bush and tree, the liquid tinkling of serins. A cousin of the canaries trapped in their cages nearby, the serin is Europe’s smallest finch, a plump, yellow ball of feathers fringed with grey and green. Serins are such a common bird here and throughout most of western Europe it’s hard to believe they are so scarce in the UK. Yet from the 1960s onwards they did breed for a while in Devon and Dorset, before deciding that our climate wasn’t quite what they were looking for and retreating back across the channel. Source :- theguard...

The EU crime-fighting agency Europol should jointly lead the investigation into the murder of a Slovak journalist, senior members of the European parliament have said, amid concerns that the Slovakian government is not doing enough to solve the crime. Robert Fico’s government is on the brink of collapse, after the murder last month of the investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, and the biggest street protests in the country’s 25-year history amid widespread public distrust. His junior coalition partner has called for early elections and a no confidence vote is to be held on Monday. Claude Moraes, a British Labour MEP who was co-chair of a European parliament delegation to Bratislava last week, urged Slovak authorities to set up a joint investigation with Europol into the double murder. Source :- theguardian

Members of an alleged anarchist organisation have gone on trial accused of attempting to sabotage part of France’s high-speed rail network a decade ago. Investigators say the Tarnac group deliberately placed steel rods on overhead power cables on three TGV lines. The eight accused, who deny the charge, claim politicians manipulated the police and legal system to portray them as dangerous, ultra-left anarchists with terrorist links. Though high-profile in 2008, the prosecution’s case has slowly receded over the last 10 years, reportedly owing to a lack of evidence. On Tuesday the most serious offence that group members faced was of damaging public property and lesser charges of violent protests and refusing to give a DNA sample. Defence lawyers claim politicians put pressure on investigators, some of whom allegedly infiltrated the group, to come up with information confirming it was terrorist-linked, in order to show they were being tough on crime. They say it was a “political, police, ...

A solar panel that can generate electricity from falling raindrops has been invented, enabling power to flow even when skies cloud over or the sun has set. Solar power installation is soaring globally thanks to costs plunging 90% in the past decade, making it the cheapest electricity in many parts of the world. But the power output can plummet under grey skies and researchers are working to squeeze even more electricity from panels. The new device, demonstrated in a laboratory at Soochow University in China, places two transparent polymer layers on top of a solar photovoltaic (PV) cell. When raindrops fall on to the layers and then roll off, the friction generates a static electricity charge. “Our device can always generate electricity in any daytime weather,” said Baoquan Sun, at Soochow University. “In addition, this device even provides electricity at night if there is rain.” Source :- theguardian

Tributes have started to pour in for Stephen Hawking, the modern British physicist and author who has died aged 76. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the world wide web, was one of the first to respond to news of his death, saying on Twitter: “We have lost a colossal mind and a wonderful spirit”. Nasa also tweeted, saying: “his theories unlocked the universe of possibilities that we & the world are exploring.” “May you keep flying like superman in microgravity.” Source :- theguardian

When Donald Trump views the prototypes of his proposed border wall outside San Diego on Tuesday he could say, truthfully, that just a few miles south there are hundreds of Mexican men desperate to break into the United States. You can find them at shelters like Casa del Migrante, a hostel for migrants in Tijuana, a sprawling city with a soaring murder rate. They admit they have no permission to live in the US and are determined to enter illegally. Some have glimpsed the prototypes the president will inspect and concede they look formidable: 30ft high with state-of-the-art technology to withstand or impede blowtorches, jackhammers, ropes and ladders. “Honestly, I don’t know how I’d get over it,” said Félix Mateos, who saw the eight prototypes last week while trying to sneak across the border. The stories of Mateos and many other would-be border crossers here, however, dent the case for the wall. Source :- theguardian

Just past midnight in a snow-covered forest near Kiev, four men dressed in black with truncheons strapped to their waists listen carefully for the telltale buzzing of chainsaws that belong to illegal loggers. “The police in our country are ineffective, corrupt or drunk,” says Zhenya, one of the men. “That’s why we have to deal with this problem ourselves.” These woodland vigilantes, all in their early to mid-twenties, are not your typical environmental activists. They are members of the National Militia, an ultranationalist organisation closely linked to Ukraine’s Azov movement, a far-right group with a military wing that contains openly neo-Nazi members, and its political spin-off, the National Corpus party. “There’s nothing inherently wrong with national socialism as a political idea,” says Alexei, another militia member, as the men move stealthily through moonlit trees frosted with ice. “I don’t know why everyone always associates it immediately with concentration camps.” Besides il...

Archaeopteryx, one of life on Earth’s first stabs at building a bird, evaded predators and cleared obstacles on the ground by bursting into flight like a startled pheasant, a new analysis suggests. High-resolution x-ray images of the creature’s skeleton reveal tell-tale similarities with the bones of birds that cannot glide or soar but instead take to the air in frenetic, flapping bounds, scientists say. The findings add to a debate that has surrounded the Late Jurassic beast since the first fossilised remains were recovered from a limestone quarry in Bavaria in the 19th century. While Archaeopteryx definitely sported an elaborate plumage, how and even whether it flew was far from clear. Source :- theguardian

Even at £9 a bottle, beer from Saint Sixtus abbey was flying off the supermarket shelves. Until the monks found out. Angry Trappists from the 19th-century Cistercian monastery in Westvleteren, west Flanders, have accused the Dutch supermarket brand Jan Linders of a breach of their “ethical values” for selling the brew. Under the abbey’s rules, the beer, produced on-site by 20 monks, is only available by the glass at a “meeting centre” or by the crate under strict conditions. Indeed, according to the Saint Sixtus abbey’s website, those seeking to buy bottles of Westvleteren in bulk must have “a lot of patience and luck”. Source :- theguardian

National Geographic has acknowledged that its coverage of black and minority ethnic people in America and the wider world has been historically racist, frequently promoting caricatures of the “noble savage” and barely featuring the US’s minority ethnic population. An internal investigation last year showed that until the 1970s, National Geographic in effect ignored minority ethnic Americans who were not labourers or domestic workers, and portrayed non-white people around the world as “exotics, famously and frequently unclothed, happy hunters, noble savages – every type of cliche.” In the magazine’s April issue devoted to race, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, the editor-in-chief, Susan Goldberg, wrote that the commemoration is “a worthy moment to step back, to take stock of where we are on race”. The publication republished a number of examples of historical racism in its coverage. One 1916 article about Australia included a photo of t...

The sort of severe winter weather that has rattled parts of the US and UK is becoming more common as the Arctic warms, with scientists finding a strong link between high temperatures near the pole and unusually heavy snowfall and frigid weather further south. A sharp increase in temperatures across the Arctic since the early 1990s has coincided with an uptick in abnormally cold snaps in winter, particularly in the eastern US, according to new research that analyzed temperature data from 1950 onwards. Extreme cold winter weather is up to four times more likely when temperatures in the Arctic are unusually high, the study found. Researchers compared daily temperatures from across the Arctic region with something called the accumulated winter season severity index, which grades winter weather based on temperature, snow fall and snow depth, across 12 US cities. “There’s a remarkably strong correlation between a warm Arctic and cold winter weather further south,” said Judah Cohen, a climato...