| DNC chair candidates spar on future of party as race tightens Posted: 23 Feb 2017 03:46 AM PST  The two most prominent candidates to lead the Democratic Party appeared to agree with each other on most of the issues in a CNN debate Wednesday night, while outsider candidates and the moderators needled them about how sharply the party should focus on President Donald Trump and whether sitting Democratic officeholders should be primaried in 2018.
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| Iowa pig farmer to Sen. Grassley: You’re going to create ‘one great big death panel’ by repealing Obamacare Posted: 22 Feb 2017 07:34 AM PST  Farmer Chris Peterson pleads with Sen. Chuck Grassley in Iowa on Tuesday. Republican lawmakers returning home this week to host town halls are being greeted by overflow crowds filled with angry voters and protesters demonstrating against President Trump's polarizing policies.
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| FBI using billboards for tips in killings of 2 Indiana teens Posted: 23 Feb 2017 01:32 PM PST  DELPHI, Ind. (AP) — The FBI is using electronic billboards across Indiana to seek information in the killings of two teenage girls slain during a hiking trip, a federal agent said Thursday.
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| Le Pen top aide put under formal investigation Posted: 22 Feb 2017 01:42 PM PST ![Le Pen top aide put under formal investigation]( "Le Pen top aide put under formal investigation") The chief of staff of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was put under formal investigation on Wednesday after a day of questioning over the alleged misuse of EU funds to pay parliamentary assistants, a judicial source said. Catherine Griset was taken into custody for questioning along with Le Pen's bodyguard Thierry Legier, who was later released without being put under investigation, according to the source. In reaction to the news, Le Pen said that she formally denied any wrongdoing in a case that she said was being used to undermine her campaign.
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| France Is Training Eagles to Take Down Terrorist Drones Posted: 23 Feb 2017 09:41 AM PST  The latest tool in ISIS's armory could soon be foiled by an original aerial ace.
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| Last stand for Standing Rock Posted: 23 Feb 2017 05:37 AM PST ![Last stand for Standing Rock]( "Last stand for Standing Rock") Protesters opposed to the Dakota Access pipeline braced for a showdown with authorities as some vowed to defy Wednesday's deadline to abandon the camp they have occupied for months to halt the project. President Trump has pushed for the completion of the multibillion-dollar pipeline since he took office last month, despite objections from Native Americans and environmental activists who say it threatens the water resources and sacred land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set a deadline of Wednesday afternoon for protesters to leave the Oceti Sakowin camp.
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| Scientists discover 7 earth-size planets with possible life orbiting star Posted: 23 Feb 2017 06:46 AM PST  NASA announced the discovery of the most Earth-size planets found in the habitable zone of a single star. The dwarf star, TRAPPIST-1, was discovered in 2008.
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| The Russian Foreign Ministry Wants to Truth Squad ‘Fake News’ Posted: 22 Feb 2017 07:52 AM PST  The article puts forward information that very much corresponds to reality.
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| Hillary Clinton to Republicans ducking town halls: ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the ... Congress’ Posted: 22 Feb 2017 01:40 PM PST  Hillary Clinton speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in December 2016. Hillary Clinton has a message for Republican members of Congress who are ducking angry constituents as they return to their home districts. "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the…Congress," Clinton tweeted Wednesday, linking to an op-ed in the Kansas City Star about the growing wave of demonstrations seen at town halls across the country this week.
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| You Won't Have To Work At Apple To Visit The New Apple Park Posted: 22 Feb 2017 01:08 PM PST  The new Apple Park will have a visitors center, an apple store and a cafe for the public to enjoy. The new Apple campus' location is in Cupertino, Calif.
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| Austria detains Ukraine tycoon after extradition ruling Posted: 21 Feb 2017 08:03 PM PST  Austria arrested one of Ukraine's richest men, a fresh twist for the one-time ally of ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Gas magnate Dmytro Firtash was taken into custody over alleged links to organised crime in Spain, moments after a Vienna court ruled he could be extradited to the US on corruption charges. Firtash, 51, made money through connections with Russian gas giant Gazprom, and was at one time linked to a former campaign aide of US President Donald Trump.
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| Women in sports ad strikes nerve in Arab world Posted: 23 Feb 2017 02:53 AM PST ![Women in sports ad strikes nerve in Arab world]( "Women in sports ad strikes nerve in Arab world") An online commercial released by Nike this week that showed Arab women fencing, boxing and spinning on ice-skates has stirred controversy over its attempt to smash stereotypes about women leading home-bound lives in the conservative region. Maybe they'll say you exceeded all expectations." Within 48 hours the video was shared 75,000 times on Twitter and viewed almost 400,000 times on YouTube. "An ad (which) touches on the insecurities of women in a society digs deeper and becomes an empowerment tool rather than just a product," Sara al-Zawqari, a spokeswoman for the International Red Cross in Iraq, wrote on her Twitter page.
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| Seeing Double? Puppy Born in Shelter Has Bizarre Image of Herself on Left Ear Posted: 23 Feb 2017 11:25 AM PST  "We had put up a picture of her trying to get her adopted, and someone commented, 'Oh look, she's got a dog on her ear,'" said a shelter representative.
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| Wonder-ful news: 13-year-old girl wins Supreme Court decision over service dog Posted: 23 Feb 2017 03:01 PM PST  You may have seen photos of a young girl and her goldendoodle Wonder on the steps of the Supreme Court on social media, so who is she and why is she smiling? On Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously sided with Fry, which may allow her to sue her local school board for damages for the emotional distress she said she suffered by being denied the assistance of her service dog. "The school district had decided that Wonder wasn't necessary," Stacy Fry, Ehlena's mother, told Yahoo News.
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| US-born panda Bao Bao lands in China after leaving DC zoo Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:35 PM PST  BEIJING (AP) — An American-born panda started settling into her new home Thursday in southwest China where she will eventually join a breeding program.
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| Why Did People on Medicaid Vote for Trump? Posted: 23 Feb 2017 06:47 AM PST ![Why Did People on Medicaid Vote for Trump?]( "Why Did People on Medicaid Vote for Trump?") Here's a question that's baffled health reporters in the months since the election: Why would people who benefit from Obamacare in general—and its Medicaid expansion specifically—vote for a man who vowed to destroy it?
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| What's Happening At Standing Rock? Posted: 22 Feb 2017 07:53 AM PST  Gov. Doug Burgum signed an emergency order for protesters to clear out of the Standing Rock camp sites by Wednesday.
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| The Latest: Wis. gov tells conservatives 'go big, go bold' Posted: 23 Feb 2017 07:51 AM PST  OXON HILL, Maryland (AP) — The Latest on the Conservative Political Action Conference (all times local):
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| Texas Preschool Teacher Fired Over Anti-Jewish Tweet Posted: 22 Feb 2017 09:16 PM PST  Nancy Salem, a preschool teacher in Arlington, Texas, was among 24 anti-Israeli activists at the University of Texas, Arlington. She was exposed by a campus watchdog group, Canary Mission.
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| Turkey says only 100 jihadists left in IS-held Syria battleground Posted: 22 Feb 2017 09:41 AM PST  Turkey said Wednesday fewer than 100 jihadists were still holed up in the flashpoint Islamic-State Syrian town of Al-Bab, as rebel commanders predicted its capture was imminent. The fight for Al-Bab has seen the bloodiest clashes of Ankara's half-year campaign inside the conflict-torn country and its capture would be one of the most significant reverses for Islamic State in Syria. Speaking to NTV television, Defence Minister Fikri Isik said half of the town of Al-Bab was in the hands of Turkish troops and allied pro-Ankara Syrian rebels, after the government repeatedly said it was "largely under control".
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| Stranger Rescues 2 Little Girls From Dark Highway: 'We're Going to the Store!' Posted: 21 Feb 2017 05:58 PM PST  Two little girls, ages 5 and 6, were found on a busy highway late at night after they decided to go shopping.
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| Norwegian Air launches $65 flights between the US and UK Posted: 23 Feb 2017 06:24 AM PST  New pair of shoes? Or transatlantic flight from the UK to the US? That's the new conundrum at travelers' disposal, with this week's launch of bottom-of-the-barrel fares by Norwegian Air, which is offering flights for as low as $65 USD one-way.
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| Harrison Ford’s plane narrowly missed taxiing plane Posted: 22 Feb 2017 09:06 AM PST  Newly released video shows a plane flown by actor Harrison Ford narrowly avoided hitting a taxiing plane at a Southern California airport last week. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, and Ford could have his pilot's license suspended.
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| After protest, China says will address army veterans' issues Posted: 23 Feb 2017 02:25 AM PST ![After protest, China says will address army veterans' issues]( "After protest, China says will address army veterans' issues") BEIJING (AP) — China's defense ministry said Thursday it expects economic growth and a strengthened social security system to solve problems faced by former soldiers, following reports of new street protests by disgruntled veterans who say they've been denied their promised retirement benefits.
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| Trump expected to revoke rules on transgender bathrooms: draft document Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:29 AM PST  Republican President Donald Trump's administration was expected to revoke landmark guidelines issued to public schools in defense of transgender student rights, according to a draft document seen on Wednesday by Reuters. The draft reverses former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature initiative on transgender rights, which instructed public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their gender identity.
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| Police End 'High-Five Fridays' Amid Complaints Posted: 22 Feb 2017 11:02 AM PST  A Massachusetts police department started the program in December to establish a positive relationship with youth in the community.
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| Life expectancy to keep rising; S. Korean women could hit 91 Posted: 21 Feb 2017 07:30 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — While most people born in rich countries will live longer by 2030 — with women in South Korea projected to reach nearly 91 — Americans will continue to have one of the lowest life expectancies of any developed country, a new study predicts.
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| The Best Keyboards For Serious Typists Posted: 23 Feb 2017 09:32 AM PST |
| UN concerned over new West Bank demolition plans Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:09 AM PST  The United Nations raised concerns Wednesday over newly announced demolition plans in a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank that threaten dozens of buildings including a primary school. Israeli officials have over the past week issued dozens of demolition orders threatening "nearly every structure" in a part of the village of Khan al-Ahmar, the UN said. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Robert Piper, visited the village where the primary school is among 140 structures at risk of demolition.
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| Cop's Home, Truck Vandalized After Viral Video Shows Him in Confrontation With Teen and Firing Shot Posted: 23 Feb 2017 02:08 PM PST  Neighbors have also come to the officer's defense.
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| Russian defense minister happy with results of Syria mission Posted: 22 Feb 2017 03:41 AM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's defense minister on Wednesday hailed the military's performance in Syria, saying new Russian weapons have proven their worth in the conflict.
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| Behold: This all-screen iPhone 8 with a Touch Bar looks like a game-changer Posted: 23 Feb 2017 08:08 AM PST 
We're just days away from the start of the annual Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, where the world's top Android device makers will show off their latest and greatest creations. LG will reportedly unveil its next-generation LG G6 flagship phone, Samsung seemingly has a fresh new tablet to show off, and dozens of other companies will unveil hot next-generation Android phones as well. But despite all of the new announcements expected at MWC 2017 in just a few days, there's still one phone that continues to generate more hype and buzz than any other device... and we're still seven months away from seeing it unveiled. That's right, it's the iPhone 8, and now Apple's hotly anticipated new iPhone has been imagined running iOS 11 with a Touch Bar. The results are so awesome, they need to be seen to be believed. Despite the painfully long wait Apple fans still have to endure before the completely redesigned iPhone 8 finally becomes a reality, we already know plenty about the new phone. Reliable sources headed by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo have revealed that the upcoming iPhone 8 will be the first in a new line of iPhones, and will be released separately from the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus Apple is seemingly still planning. Even though it's early in the game, it's already a safe bet that the iPhone 8 will feature a new OLED display that occupies most of the phone's face. The home button will be removed to allow Apple to shrink down the bezel beneath the screen, and the top and side bezels will reportedly see significant size reductions as well. In fact, Apple's new iPhone 8 will supposedly fit a large 5.8-inch OLED screen into a phone that is roughly the same size as the iPhone 7, which sports a 4.7-inch display. We've had no shortage of concept mockups that attempt to imagine what the new iPhone 8 will look like. Most recently, we saw a gorgeous all-screen iPhone 8 running iOS 11 and another iPhone 8 mockup that imagined a new "function area" where the home button used to be. Now, YouTube user AGVIDEOS has taken that concept a big step forward and imagined what it might be like to have an all-screen iPhone 8 with a dedicated Touch Bar region like the MacBook Pro. There are a few glaring technical issues with the hardware imagined in this video — namely, the phone doesn't have an ear speaker or any front-facing cameras and sensors — but the iOS 11 software features mocked up by the video's creator look incredible. The new Touch Bar area makes multitasking a breeze, and the on-screen navigation gestures would be welcomed with open arms by all iOS devices users. There's also a next-generation AirDrop feature with a brilliant interface that we would love to see Apple take inspiration from. Will any of these fantastic features actually make their way to the iPhone 8 or iOS 11? Only time will tell. But for now, at least we can enjoy the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVnot_tMEtc
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| Britain's top court backs government on immigration income test Posted: 22 Feb 2017 03:29 AM PST ![Britain's top court backs government on immigration income test]( "Britain's top court backs government on immigration income test") By Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top court backed a government attempt to limit immigration by ruling on Wednesday that an income test for those who want to bring their non-European spouses to the UK is acceptable and does not infringe human rights. Prime Minister Theresa May introduced a rule in 2012 when she was interior minister that Britons who wanted to bring spouses from outside the European Economic Area to the UK had to be earning at least 18,600 pounds ($23,170) a year. The Supreme Court said the minimum income requirement had caused significant hardship to many, but ruled that in principle it was not inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.
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| Wiping a North Carolina town off the map? Posted: 23 Feb 2017 05:40 AM PST  North Carolina lawmakers are considering a proposed bill that could wipe one town off the state map.
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| A Bodyboarder Dies In Fatal Shark Attack On Reunion Island Posted: 22 Feb 2017 12:16 PM PST  A man bodyboarding on the northwest coast of Reunion Island died after a fatal shark attack.
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| Pipeline fights move from Dakota prairie to Louisiana bayous Posted: 22 Feb 2017 08:56 AM PST ![Pipeline fights move from Dakota prairie to Louisiana bayous]( "Pipeline fights move from Dakota prairie to Louisiana bayous") By Liz Hampton HENDERSON, Louisiana (Reuters) - When Hope Rosinski's father gave her a six-acre plot in Louisiana more than a decade ago, she was surprised to find oil and gas pipelines crisscrossing the property. Pipeline companies later secured her permission for two more lines, one of which has since caused flooding and consistently leaves her land saturated. Rosinski is fighting the latest request for a right-of-way, this time from Energy Transfer Partners - the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.
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| Young Immigrants Are Too Afraid To Apply For College In California Posted: 23 Feb 2017 03:39 AM PST  President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to enforce the nation's immigration laws more aggressively.
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| New Volkswagen eGolf offers more power and more range Posted: 22 Feb 2017 10:15 AM PST  VW has announced that the latest-generation plug-in electric Golf will come with an EPA-estimated range of 125 miles (200km) when it goes on sale in the US this spring. Despite a more potent motor, the car can go further on a single charge because of improved and more efficient battery chemistry.
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| Death in Mississippi: Man held in quadruple slaying Posted: 22 Feb 2017 11:20 AM PST  MERIDIAN, Miss. (AP) — A man who lived in a rural home with his romantic partner, her young son, her mother and her sister was arrested on murder charges after all four were found shot to death, authorities said Wednesday.
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| Poland ousts 90 percent of top brass in defence overhaul Posted: 22 Feb 2017 01:32 PM PST  About 90 percent of Poland's top military brass have been replaced in an overhaul launched by the rightwing government, the defence ministry said Wednesday. Several leading generals had already resigned over the past year as Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz pushes to consolidate the government's control of the armed forces. The defence ministry did not say how many generals had left the army, which now stands at 106,000 soldiers, up from 96,000 in 2015.
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| One Android company wants to use smartphones to make PCs truly dead Posted: 22 Feb 2017 08:08 PM PST 
Android is an operating system that's supposed to power smartphones, tablets, cars, wearables, and other gadgets. But it's not an OS meant to take over your primary PC. Or is it? Recent reports indicate that Google has some great plans for Android, including turning the OS into a platform that can run on any device, laptops and desktops included. Even Samsung is heading in that direction on its own, as the Galaxy S8 is rumored to come with a special accessory that can be used to connect the smartphone to an external display. But until any of these plans get official, there's an Android company based in China that's already doing novel things with Google's mobile OS. Jide Technologies, which makes its Android-based, Windows-like Remix OS, is ready for the next big thing: Turning Android smartphones into full-fledged computers. We talked about Remix OS in the past, a free OS that lets you install Android on any Windows or Mac to offer you a Windows-like user interface and overall experience. The best part is that you still get to use the same apps you downloaded from Google Play on a bigger screen, complete with modified UI elements for the larger display real estate. But Jide is ready to move forward with an even bolder plan. Rather than installing Remix on your desktop, you could install Remix OS on Mobile (ROM) on your smartphone, and then just connect it to a display or TV. That's Remix Singularity in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUbnref3kGM That certainly sounds great, at least on paper. ROM will be "as close to stock Android as possible," Jide co-founder David Ko told The Verge in an interview. "But imagine when you get back to your office or study, you connect your phone, and it turns into a PC mode, just like a laptop or desktop." Yes, that sounds amazing in theory. In practice. ROM will not ship with Google Play preloaded, so users will have to sideload the app to get their Play apps working on bigger screen. Furthermore, Jide needs partners to agree to have ROM installed on their devices, something that might not coincide with their contractual obligations to Google. Finally, there's the hardware factor. You'd probably need a rather powerful mobile device to drive a great ROM experience on a monitor. But Jide is primarily targeting first-time Android users who won't all have the means to afford a powerful enough device. That said, Remix Singularity definitely sounds exciting, so we'll just have to wait to see it in action.
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| Emails show ties between new EPA head, energy firms: watchdog Posted: 22 Feb 2017 12:52 PM PST ![Emails show ties between new EPA head, energy firms: watchdog]( "Emails show ties between new EPA head, energy firms: watchdog") Emails released by the Oklahoma attorney general's office show a cozy relationship between energy companies and Scott Pruitt, who was the state's top prosecutor before being sworn in last week as the new chief U.S. environmental regulator, a media watchdog group said on Wednesday. The Center for Media and Democracy has sought the release of emails between energy companies and Pruitt for the past two years, saying they show energy companies drafted language that Pruitt's attorney general office then used in suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the office he now heads, over regulations on energy operations.
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| The 2018 Range Rover Velar Is a Glass Roof With Some Car Attached Posted: 23 Feb 2017 09:42 AM PST  And it shares its name with the first Range Rover prototype.
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| Here's what the Ice Age tells us about future sea level rise Posted: 22 Feb 2017 05:00 PM PST  A new study on an ancient ice sheet may hold important clues about our planet's future. The research focuses on the Laurentide Ice Sheet, the massive expanse covering North America during the last Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. A team of scientists found that small spikes in the temperature of the ocean — not the air — likely caused periods of rapid melting and splintering of the ice. SEE ALSO: This 'GOT' star teamed up with Google to capture Greenland's melting ice Their findings add to a growing body of evidence that climate change could ultimately drive sea levels even higher than today's models predict, according to the study published Feb. 15 in the journal Nature. Glaciers in Greenland, Antarctica and other areas have been melting rapidly in recent years due in part to increasing ocean temperatures. "It is possible that modern-day glaciers ... are more sensitive to ocean warming than we previously thought," said Jeremy Bassis, the study's lead author and an associate professor of climate and space sciences at the University of Michigan. Ice floats near the coast of West Antarctica as viewed from a NASA research aircraft. Image: Mario Tama/Getty Images For the study, Bassis and his colleagues looked at so-called Heinrich events: the periods during which the Laurentide Ice Sheet would rapidly disintegrate. Roughly every 8,000 years, the ice sheet's edges would break off, sending a vast armada of icebergs flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. The icebergs carried sediment from around Canada's Hudson Bay and deposited the dirt on the ocean floor. They also boosted sea levels by more than 6 feet over the course of hundreds of years. What triggered these Heinrich events has largely befuddled scientists. The rapid melting periods occurred during the coldest times of the last Ice Age — exactly the opposite of what you'd expect during a major ice melt. Image: university of michigan To determine why the ice melted despite the cold air temperatures during these times, the University of Michigan team focused on the role the oceans played, studying ice core and ocean-floor sediment records to estimate how temperatures varied over thousands of years. They also used Bassis' mathematical model for describing how ice reacts to air and ocean temperatures, and the implications for sea level rise. The scientists next created simulations of the timing and size of the massive Laurentide melting events. They found that even small changes in sub-surface ocean temperatures — of just 1 degrees Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit — could lead to sea level-boosting Heinrich events. "Warm warm ocean water that's just tickling the edge of the ice sheets can trigger these catastrophic [ice] retreats that could last for centuries," Bassis said. The Nature study supports earlier findings that warmer North Atlantic water temperatures may have set the Heinrich events in motion. Image: university of michigan A 2011 study led by Shaun Marcott of the University of Wisconsin proposed that, thousands of years ago, sub-surface warming likely destabilized the ice and caused ice shelves to collapse near the Hudson Strait, which links the Hudson Bay to the Atlantic Ocean. The Nature study also lends further credence to the idea that Heinrich events reflect what's happening today on the rapidly melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, said Richard Alley, a professor of geosciences at Penn State University, who was not involved in the new research. Alley co-authored a 2015 paper that concluded that — based on the Ice Age's events — changes in ocean temperatures could drive future sea level rise even before the air grows significantly warmer in Antarctica. Unlike in the past, when air and ocean temperature shifts were natural in origin today's oceans are warming largely due to human-driven climate change. More than half of the increase in global ocean heat content has occurred in the last two decades, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Image: U.S. environmental protection agency "This new paper is a nice demonstration supporting earlier hypotheses that ice sheets are highly sensitive to warming in the surrounding water, as well as to warming in the air," Alley said. It also shows "that predicting the future of the ice sheets will mean understanding the changes in the ocean and the air," he added. For Peter Clark, however, the fact that Wednesday's study only affirmed earlier conclusions meant the researchers didn't actually offer new evidence that future sea levels may be higher than we're predicting. "Current models may be underestimating future sea level rise, but the results of this new paper don't give us any reason to think that this is the case," said Clark, an earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences professor at Oregon State University. BONUS: Leonardo DiCaprio's new film 'Before the Flood' says we can fix global warming
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| Exclusive: Trump wants to make sure U.S. nuclear arsenal at 'top of the pack' Posted: 23 Feb 2017 03:09 PM PST  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to ensure the U.S. nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack," saying the United States has fallen behind in its weapons capacity. In a Reuters interview, Trump also said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea "very easily if they want to," ratcheting up pressure on Beijing to exert more influence to rein in Pyongyang's increasingly bellicose actions. Trump also expressed support for the European Union as a governing body, saying "I'm totally in favor of it," and for the first time as president expressed a preference for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but said he would be satisfied with whatever makes the two sides happy.
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