| Trump’s DACA decision sparks a day of protests at the White House Posted: 05 Sep 2017 05:10 PM PDT  President Trump's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program led to protests across the country, including one all day Tuesday in front of the White House.
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| Ohio Police Officer Accused Of Shooting News Photographer Posted: 05 Sep 2017 02:22 AM PDT  A photojournalist in the small Ohio town of New Carlisle was reportedly shot by a police officer on Monday night after his camera and tripod was "apparently [mistaken] for a weapon."
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| China seeks to silence critics at U.N. forums: rights body report Posted: 05 Sep 2017 09:15 AM PDT  Beijing is waging a campaign of harassment against Chinese activists who seek to testify at the United Nations about repression, while the world body sometimes turns a blind eye or is even complicit, Human Rights Watch said.
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| Girl Pulls Sword From Legendary Lake Of King Arthur's Excalibur Posted: 05 Sep 2017 08:57 AM PDT  England's got a new Queen ― that is, if Excalibur's legend is true.
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| EPA Accuses Reporter of Hurricane Harvey ‘Fake News’ Posted: 04 Sep 2017 06:36 AM PDT  The Associated Press' retorted that the EPA was not on site at toxic chemical dumps around Houston, Texas.
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| Russia says UN vote Monday on North Korea sanctions 'premature' Posted: 05 Sep 2017 09:03 AM PDT  Russia on Tuesday expressed doubt that tough new sanctions on North Korea will be quickly adopted by the UN Security Council, and said any new measure should support efforts to open up talks with Pyongyang. The United States is planning to circulate as early as Tuesday a draft sanctions resolution in response to North Korea's sixth and most powerful nuclear test, with Ambassador Nikki Haley pushing for a vote on the new measures on Monday.
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| Journalist Kim Wall Died After Submarine Hatch Hit Her, Peter Madsen Says Posted: 05 Sep 2017 07:23 AM PDT  The Danish inventor said the 15-pound submarine hatch accidentally hit her in the head when he slipped.
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| Poor design, construction blamed in damage to California dam Posted: 05 Sep 2017 05:39 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bad design and construction of the tallest U.S. dam a half-century ago and inadequate state and federal oversight since then led to a disastrous spillway collapse in February, an independent national team of dam safety experts said Tuesday as they urged tougher safety reviews nationwide.
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| This is what Melania Trump wore over Labor Day weekend Posted: 05 Sep 2017 07:02 AM PDT  The first lady traveled to back to Houston, Texas, on Saturday to visit the victims of Hurricane Harvey for the second time. Trump donned a $650 pair of Manolo Blahnik snakeskin pumps -- again -- and a $1,590 Ralph Lauren safari shirt dress as she was leaving the White House. The first lady, however, changed her ensemble upon arriving in Texas.
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| Robert E. Lee's Descendant Leaves Church After Denouncing White Supremacy Posted: 05 Sep 2017 09:00 AM PDT  The descendant of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Rev. Robert Lee IV, has left the Bethany United Church of Christ after receiving backlash for his denouncement of white supremacy at the MTV Video Music Awards last week.
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| Trump’s Pick To Head NASA Doesn’t Believe Humans Cause Climate Change Posted: 05 Sep 2017 07:48 AM PDT  President Donald Trump has finally made his choice for NASA's next chief, but the nominee has been met with opposition from scientists and politicians on both sides of the aisle.
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| Louise Linton Apologizes For 'Indefensible' Instagram Post Posted: 05 Sep 2017 07:12 AM PDT  Actress Louise Linton, who came in for widespread denunciation last month after flaunting her lavish lifestyle on social media and then berating a critic, has expressed remorse for the post and her subsequent remarks, saying she is "very sorry" for the incident and that she "deserved the criticism."
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| Landlords demand rent for flooded homes from Hurricane Harvey victims Posted: 05 Sep 2017 01:23 AM PDT  Victims of Hurricane Harvey have spoken out after landlords demanded rent from their flooded, uninhabitable homes. As they piece their lives back together, buying new furniture and other belongings after replacing those lost and finding alternate accommodation, some have been slapped with fees from landlords, who demand rent for the flooded homes the victims had to flee. Rocio Fuentes told The Guardian she has been asked for money by her landlord. She said: "Our landlords say we have to pay rent and late fees and every day it is going up. "We are paying rent for somewhere we can't live in. They said 'you aren't the only ones in this situation', but what are we supposed to do? We don't have any money. We don't have anything." Texas property code states that if a property is "totally unusable" due to a disaster then either the landlord or tenant can terminate the lease through written notice. Homes were destroyed in the flood Credit: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg However, if the property is deemed "partially unusable" because of a disaster, a tenant may only get a reduction in rent determined by a county or district court. Many people are still living in shelters and relying on handouts to live after Hurricane Harvey. More than 203,000 Texas homes were damaged or destroyed by Harvey, which dumped as much as 52 inches (132 cm) of rain across the region and killed as many as 60, according to authorities. Some of those homes are still flooded. Two area reservoirs will for at least another 10 days release water into an overflowing drainage system to relieve pressure. That has some advising homeowners to demolish their homes, rather than repair them. Hurricane Harvey shelter evacuated after more flooding 01:21 For those displaced, finding a new place to stay could prove difficult. "It's going to be really tight now," Hall said. For the city's home sales, which were already soft because of a two-year oil price downturn, Harvey adds yet another kink. Some "For Sale" signs on properties around the city are already bedazzled with notices to entice prospective buyers: "Did Not Flood." "Home sales are probably going to have a stigma for a while until we have things cleaned up," said Jennifer Fuller, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Memorial. "I would advise anyone with water in their home to keep all documents related to remediation and take pictures so they can put the future buyer at ease about what was done." Hurricane Harvey: rescuers reach people trapped on vehicle roof as waters rise 00:59 It's not clear, though, if there'll be much of a demand for homes that were waterlogged. "I don't know that I would want to own a house that has been sitting in water for more than a day or two," said David Stone, owner of Texas Fine Homes, a residential home builder in Houston. After Melinda Loshak's one-story home in the city's Meyerland neighborhood flooded two years ago, she and her husband renovated it and put it on the market. With no prospective buyers, they leased it, only to see it flood again last week. "It doesn't make any sense to repair this house if it's just going to flood again," she said. Additional reporting by Reuters.
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| Prowling the Syrian Desert, U.S. Picking Off ISIS Fighters in Stranded Convoy Posted: 05 Sep 2017 10:23 AM PDT  Packed with fighters and their families, the buses remain struck in the desert.
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| Ash covers Oregon cities, wildfire smoke chokes US West Posted: 05 Sep 2017 05:01 PM PDT  TROUTDALE, Ore. (AP) — A growing Oregon wildfire covered parts of Portland's metropolitan area Tuesday with ash and forced the shutdown of a lengthy stretch of highway through the state's scenic Columbia River Gorge.
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| Refugee on trial for rape, murder of German student Posted: 05 Sep 2017 03:21 AM PDT  A young refugee who claims to be from Afghanistan went on trial Tuesday for the rape and murder of a German student, in a case that shocked the country and reignited tensions over its liberal asylum policy. The accused, identified by the court as Huseen K., was arrested in the southwestern town of Freiburg last December, accused of brutally raping a 19-year-old medical student and leaving her for dead on a river bank seven weeks earlier. The crime made headlines nationwide and triggered a fresh wave of anger over Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open Germany's borders to refugees at the height of Europe's migrant crisis in 2015.
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| Steve Harvey: My Wife Told Me To Skip Meeting With Trump, I Should’ve Listened Posted: 05 Sep 2017 01:24 PM PDT  When comedian and TV host Steve Harvey met with President Donald Trump earlier this year, he didn't expect the degree of outrage he'd receive.
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| The 20 Most Beautiful Countries to Visit Posted: 05 Sep 2017 11:49 AM PDT  From tropical beaches to wintry fjords
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| Burning Man Attendee Dies After Running Into Flames Posted: 04 Sep 2017 01:00 PM PDT  An attendee of Nevada's Burning Man festival has died after breaking through security and running into a burning effigy Saturday night.
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| Trump Is 'Not My Bride,' Putin Says At Economic Summit Posted: 05 Sep 2017 03:58 PM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed a question about U.S. President Donald Trump at a news conference Tuesday, refusing to comment on U.S. political affairs and distancing himself from the American leader.
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| China's Wuhan bans new shared bikes on safety concerns: Xinhua Posted: 04 Sep 2017 09:08 PM PDT  The central Chinese city of Wuhan has banned the further deployment of shared bikes as it tries to deal with congestion and "chaos", the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Monday. The number of shared bikes in Wuhan's urban districts is already approaching 700,000, far exceeding the city's "carrying capacity" of 400,000, with operators such as Ofo and Mobike expanding rapidly since launching in the city at the end of last year, Xinhua said citing an official statement. Shared bikes have become ubiquitous throughout China's major cities, with users now able to access an estimated 16 million vehicles nationwide through apps downloaded on their mobile phones, according to estimates from the transport ministry.
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| Panic on the Beach as Hurricane-Force Winds Caused by Microburst Strike Without Warning Posted: 05 Sep 2017 01:17 PM PDT  Anything not tied down went flying as a result of the powerful winds.
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| 'Stop the Kimsanity' - How news of North Korea's nuclear test was reported around the world Posted: 04 Sep 2017 06:20 AM PDT  North Korea has claimed a "perfect success" for its most powerful nuclear test so far, a further step in the development of weapons capable of striking anywhere in the United States. Sunday's test by Kim Jong-un's regime had an estimated strength of 50 kilotons, defence ministry officials told a parliamentary briefing on Monday as Seoul agreed "it is time to strengthen" a military response against the North. The nuclear test was the first since US President Donald Trump took office in January. Mr Trump, asked if he would attack the North, said, "We'll see." Here's how regional and world media reacted... North Korea: Enemies are 'hell-bent' on escalation North Korea has launched a scathing attack on the "warmongers" in Seoul, along with South Korea's allies in Washington and Tokyo, following Sunday's missile launch. Official media in Pyongyang criticised the response from the South Korea "puppet forces" in calling for more UN action against the North and the "introduction of nuclear strategic assets into South Korea". North Korea detonate sixth and most powerful nuclear test 00:56 "This is not only the height of the persecution mania of those upset by the recent launch of the Juche weapon but also useless racket of those hell-bent on escalating confrontation," said a commentary from the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which was produced by official KCNA news agency. Juche is North Korea's home-grown ideology which promotes self-reliance and devotion to the country's rulers. China: Seoul and Washington are at fault China's Global Times newspaper said Beijing should resist tougher sanctions on North Korea and blamed heightened tensions on the US and South Korea. The newspaper, which is produced by The People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, also warned against cutting off Pyongyang's oil supply and closing the border. "If North Korea's nuclear activities don't contaminate China's northeastern regions, China should avoid imposing overly aggressive sanctions on North Korea, it said in an editorial. "The root cause of the North Korean nuclear issue is that the military pressure of the Washington-Seoul alliance generates a sense of insecurity for Pyongyang who then believes that owning a nuclear strike capability is its sole guarantee for the survival of the regime." Officials in Beijing regularly blame Seoul and Washington for raising tensions on the Korean peninsula. Taiwan: Pyongyang must stop undermining security in the region Taiwan's newspapers splashed on Monday with the escalating crisis over North Korea's nuclear test, with the China Times opting for a chilling full page picture of a mushroom cloud. Other newspapers opted to show Kim Jong-un inspecting his missiles. "World criticizes N Korean nuclear test," said the frontpage headline in the The Taipei Times, the island's only English-language newspaper, next to a picture of joyful Pyongyang residents reacting to a televised announcement about the hydrogen bomb test that was displayed on a large city centre screen. The newspaper revealed that President Tsai Ing-wen convened a national security meeting on Sunday. "Tsai condemned North Korea for its action, and urged Pyongyang to stop any moves to undermine security in the region," it said. Although not directly in the firing line of Pyongyang's missiles, Taiwan, just a two hour flight from Seoul, would be caught in the crosshairs of any regional conflict. Japan The Japan Times Australia The Australian The Sydney Morning Herald Philippines The Daily Inquirer America New York Times New York Post Daily News The Washington Post United Kingdom The Daily Telegraph TELEGRAPH: US warns it is ready to annihilate N Korea #tomorrowspaperstodaypic.twitter.com/XvElzPsEet— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) September 3, 2017 The Guardian GUARDIAN: Inquiries into custody deaths 'failing families' #tomorrowspaperstodaypic.twitter.com/71ut0ZfRZZ— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) September 3, 2017 The Times THE TIMES: US threat to attack Kim after bomb test #tomorrowspaperstodaypic.twitter.com/lf0hitqZgx— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) September 3, 2017 City AM CITY AM: Nuclear Reaction #tomorrowspaperstodaypic.twitter.com/K5MEadCk0z— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) September 3, 2017 France Liberation
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| Earthquake swarm continues to rattle southeastern Idaho Posted: 05 Sep 2017 03:47 PM PDT ![Earthquake swarm continues to rattle southeastern Idaho]( "Earthquake swarm continues to rattle southeastern Idaho") BOISE, Idaho (AP) — More than 100 aftershocks have rattled southeastern Idaho since a 5.3 magnitude quake hit near the town of Soda Springs late last week, and experts say they could continue for another week or so.
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| California woman believed kidnapped by ex is found in Nevada Posted: 05 Sep 2017 10:54 AM PDT  HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — A California woman believed kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend was found at a Las Vegas-area casino-hotel, authorities said.
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| Twitter erupts over Melania Trump's dress in President Trump’s 'American' post Posted: 05 Sep 2017 08:41 AM PDT  President Donald Trump and his wife are under fire after he took to Twitter on Monday to praise "American labor" and "American hands" for Labor Day while posting an image of the first lady wearing an Italian-made dress.
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| Firefighter Finds Fiancée's Wedding Gown Safe And Dry In His Harvey-Flooded Home Posted: 05 Sep 2017 01:27 PM PDT  Firefighter Kyle Parry and his fiancée Stephanie Hoekstra had been planning their wedding for Sept. 10 in Galveston, Texas.
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| Watch Flames Erupt From a Japan Airlines Flight After a Bird Strike Posted: 05 Sep 2017 05:57 AM PDT  A Japan Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Tokyo on Tuesday after a suspected bird strike to one of the plane's engines.
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| What is THAAD? South Korea's best defence against a missile attack Posted: 05 Sep 2017 02:27 AM PDT  The US Army's Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system that has been deployed in South Korea is the most advanced interceptor in the world and is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of their approach to a target. The need for the system was identified as far back as the mid-1980s but gained new momentum in 1991 when Iraqi forces launched attacks against coalition targets with Russian-built Scud missiles during the Gulf War. Developed primarily by Lockheed Martin, with input from a number of other companies, including BAE Systems, a THAAD interceptor carries no warhead but relies on advanced infra-red tracking to intercept its target and the kinetic energy of the impact to destroy the inbound missile. A kinetic energy strike minimises the risk of detonating a conventional warhead, while it will also not trigger an explosion of a nuclear warhead. Each missile weighs just over 1,980lbs and is 20 feet long. The system has an operational range of around 125 miles and a missile travels at Mach 8.24 - or slightly more than 6,260mph - to its target. THAAD missile defence system A single battery is made up six launchers that are mounted on a truck, 48 missiles, an AN/TPY-2 radar unit and associated command and communications facilities. The US initially planned to deploy THAAD in 2012, but development was sufficiently rapid that the first battery was delivered to the US Army, at Fort Bliss in Texas, in 2008. THAAD batteries have been deployed in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and, most recently, South Korea. Seoul initially approached the Pentagon about the capabilities and cost of THAAD in October 2013, but later decided to develop its own long-range, surface-to-air missile. The crisis on the Korean Peninsula has deepened far more rapidly than Seoul anticipated, however, and the US and South Korean defence ministries agreed in July 2016 that THAAD would need to be deployed by the end of the following year. America begins testing its missile interception defence 00:41 That decision triggered concern and protests at home and abroad. People living near the planned site of the new unit, a golf course in North Gyeongsang Province purchased by the South Korean government specifically for the battery, have protested that the unit's radar is harmful to their health. They have also complained that siting THAAD close to their towns, about 180 miles southeast of Seoul, makes them a target for a North Korean first strike. The mayor of one nearby town briefly went on hunger strike to protest the decision, but opposition has waned after North Korea's recent provocations. The Chinese government has protested more fiercely, with Beijing insisting that THAAD's radar can be used to monitor the movements of its military within China and that the deployment will further destabilise the region. US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system equipment is seen at a former golf course in the southern county of Seongju on September 4, 2017 Credit: AFP The South Korean government has tried to play down those concerns, although Beijing remains adamant that THAAD should be removed from South Korea. To back up its demand, China has imposed a number of undeclared economic sanctions on South Korea, including banning domestic travel agents from selling tours to South Korea. Beijing insists, however, that the measures are not sanctions and are unconnected to the THAAD dispute. In early September, South Korea's Environment Ministry granted permission for the deployment of THAAD to go ahead. Previously, only two batteries were operational, but the introduction of a further four units was to go ahead from later in the month.
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| Trump Supporters Flip Out After Completely Misreading NPR Headline Posted: 04 Sep 2017 09:07 PM PDT  It was a simple report about a health study, but the headline took on a life of its own on social media.
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| 13 Great Food Gifts For The Ultimate Host Or Hostess Posted: 05 Sep 2017 12:45 PM PDT |
| If Trump says Iran violating nuclear deal, does not mean U.S. withdrawal: Haley Posted: 05 Sep 2017 11:05 AM PDT  If U.S. President Donald Trump tells Congress in October that Iran is not complying with a 2015 nuclear deal it brokered with world powers, that does not mean a U.S. withdrawal from the agreement, U.S. envoy to the U.N. Nikki Haley said on Tuesday. Under U.S. law, the State Department must notify Congress every 90 days of Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal.
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| Syria army nears regime enclave besieged by IS Posted: 04 Sep 2017 12:55 PM PDT  Syria's army battled the Islamic State group on the edges of Deir Ezzor Monday, seeking to break the siege of a government enclave and oust the jihadists from a key stronghold. The jihadist group has already lost more than half of its nearby bastion of Raqa to attacking US-backed forces, and the loss of Deir Ezzor city and the surrounding oil-rich province would leave it with only a handful of isolated outposts. Deir Ezzor province borders Iraq, where IS has also been expelled from former strongholds Mosul and Tal Afar.
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| Fresh iPhone 8 leak shows how Apple is dealing with the phone’s biggest change Posted: 04 Sep 2017 08:48 AM PDT 
Apple's upcoming iPhone 8 will undeniably represent the biggest change to the iPhone form factor we've ever seen. According to reports, the venerable home button -- a mainstay on the iPhone since the original was introduced back in 2007 -- will be tossed aside to make room for an edgeless OLED display. And though Apple initially tried to embed its Touch ID sensor underneath the display itself, those plans were ultimately abandoned due to yield issues Apple wasn't able to overcome.
With the home button being kicked to the curb, Apple will reportedly implement a number of new software-based gestures that will enable iPhone 8 users to return to the home screen and activate the multitasking pane. Of course, the iPhone home button was impressively versatile and was also used as a means for users to quickly activate Siri. With the home button on its way out, you might naturally be wondering how iPhone 8 users will be able to call Siri into action, the "Hey Siri" command notwithstanding. Well, iOS developer Guilherme Rambo recently unearthed code -- presumably from Apple's inadvertent HomePod firmware release -- which suggests that users may be able to invoke Siri by holding down the iPhone 8 lock button in a particular manner. https://twitter.com/_inside/status/903794884301160448 This is intriguing, but also raises a number of usability issues. First and foremost, invoking Siri via the lock button would have to be sufficiently different from current lock button actions used to put the iPhone to sleep or shut it down entirely. All that said, it's worth noting that the code Rambo is looking at -- assuming it's the HomePod firmware -- is possibly months old and may include gestures and source code that will not ultimately appear in the final iPhone 8 design. On a related note, Bloomberg last week published a slew of interesting details regarding some of the new gestures Apple is adding to iOS 11 to replace the home button. "Across the bottom of the screen there's a thin, software bar in lieu of the home button," the report reads in part. "A user can drag it up to the middle of the screen to open the phone. When inside an app, a similar gesture starts multitasking. From here, users can continue to flick upwards to close the app and go back to the home screen." In light of that, some visualizations which purport to illustrate how these gestures will look and feel surfaced just a few days ago https://twitter.com/_inside/status/902907902784139265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbgr.com%2F2017%2F08%2F31%2Fiphone-8-home-button-multitasking-gestures-ios-11%2F https://twitter.com/_inside/status/903088612119642113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbgr.com%2F2017%2F08%2F31%2Fiphone-8-home-button-multitasking-gestures-ios-11%2F All that said, it's becoming apparent that iOS 11 will usher in a number of sweeping changes to the way we interact with iOS devices. The good news is that we won't have to wait much longer to see what the future of the iPhone looks like. Apple last week sent out invitations to a special media event set to take place at the company's new spaceship campus on September 12. In addition to new iPhones, it's widely believed that Apple will also introduce a new iteration of the Apple Watch and a revamped Apple TV with support for 4K streaming.
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| Glider Sets New Height Record for Engineless Flight Posted: 05 Sep 2017 12:56 PM PDT  The ultimate goal is to get a glider into the stratosphere. It's not as crazy as you think.
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| The Latest: Fire prompts Oregon fish release Posted: 05 Sep 2017 05:15 PM PDT  TROUTDALE, Ore. (AP) — The Latest on wildfires burning across the U.S. West (all times local):
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| Israel evicts Arab family from Jerusalem home Jews claimed Posted: 05 Sep 2017 01:54 PM PDT  Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family from their home in east Jerusalem on Tuesday to make way for new Jewish tenants who claimed ownership.
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| Aspiring Pastor Accused Of Murdering Wife Blames It On Cough Syrup Posted: 04 Sep 2017 03:51 PM PDT  A man in Raleigh, North Carolina, said that after he awoke from "a dream" early Friday morning, he found his wife "dead on the floor" and, as he told a 911 dispatcher, "I think I did it."
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| Scientists discover strange form of black hole at the heart of Milky Way Posted: 04 Sep 2017 09:41 AM PDT  A strange form of black hole has been detected for the first time at the heart of the Milky Way. It's a "mini-me" version of its neighbouring supermassive "cousin" - shedding light on how it formed. Looming in the middle of every galaxy, supermassive black holes weigh as much as ten billion suns - fuelling the birth of stars and deforming the fabric of space-time itself. The centre of the Milky Way, 27 000 light-years away from Earth Credit: AFP/Getty Images But the mass of the newly identified black hole is only about 100,000 times that of our sun - placing it in the "intermediate sized" class. These were believed to exist but none had ever actually been identified - until now. Lying about 25,000 light years from Earth it could help answer one of the really big questions - how did the Milky Way evolve? Milky Way It was found hiding in a cloud of molecular gas by Japanese astronomers using the Alma (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) 16,400 feet above sea level in the Andes in northern Chile. The radio telescope's high sensitivity and resolution enabled them to observe the cloud 195 light years from the Milky Way's centre spot. It sheds fresh light on the most mysterious objects in the universe. Uncovering their secrets is the 'Holy Grail' of astronomy. Night Sky Recent research has shown supermassive black holes are essential to the creation of galaxies, stars - and even life itself. Each one is about half a per cent of the host galaxy's size - which indicates they are the driving force behind their evolution. The finding published in Nature Astronomy provides important insights into how supermassive black holes like the one at the very centre of our galaxy were created. Although it is well established they reside in seemingly all galaxies we do not know how they get so enormous. Space tourism: 10 ways you can leave planet Earth This is despite them appearing to have been in place when the universe was comparatively young - only a few hundred million years old. Now the mystery could be solved by the identification of the intermediate-type black hole - something astrophysicists suspected were around but for which there have been only tentative candidates in the past. It's believed they could be the seeds of their more massive counterparts - merging together to form a gigantic one. intermediate black holes might simply turn out to be their progenitors. It's difficult to find black holes - because they are completely black. But in some cases they cause effects which can be seen. A black hole is a region of space that has such an extremely powerful gravitational field that it absorbs all the light that passes near it and reflects none. Professor Tomoharu Oka and colleagues used computer simulations to show the high velocity motion, or kinematics, of the gas could only be explained by an intermediate black ole conceal ed in its midst. They also found the emission from this cloud closely resembles a scaled-down version of the Milky Way's quiescent supermassive black hole. Astrophysicists have suspected an intermediate class of black hole might exist - with masses between a hundred and several hundred thousand times that of the Sun. But such black holes had not previously been reliably detected and their existence has been fiercely debated among the astronomical community. Prof Oka, of Keio University in Japan said it is widely accepted black holes with masses greater than a million solar masses lurk at the centres of massive galaxies, but their origins remain unknown. He said: "One possible scenario is intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) - which are formed by the runaway coalescence of stars in young compact star clusters - merge at the centre of a galaxy to form a supermassive black hole. "Although many candidates for IMBHs have been proposed none is accepted as definitive. Recently we discovered a peculiar molecular cloud near the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. "Based on the careful analysis of gas kinematics we concluded a compact object with a mass of about 100,000 solar masses is lurking in this cloud." Prof Oka said it suggests "this massive object is an inactive IMBH which is not currently accreting matter." Theoretical studies have predicted 100 million to one billion lack holes should exist in the Milky Way - but only 60 or so have been identified through observations so far. Despite their popularity both in real science and science fiction the concept of a black hole has only been around for a hundred years - as predicted by Albert Einstein. The term itself did not come into use until 1967, and it was just 46 years ago that the first one was identified. Prof Oka said: "Further detection of such compact high-velocity features in various environments may increase the number of non-luminous black hole candid ate and thereby increase targets to search for evidential proof of general relativity. "This would make a considerable contribution to the progress of modern physics."
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| At Last, Lisa Murkowski Is Acting Like The Independent Many Alaskans Wanted Posted: 05 Sep 2017 02:01 AM PDT  ANCHORAGE, Alaska ― At 74, Carroll Knutson has seen Alaska go through a lot of changes.
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| China's Xi urges 'healthy' India ties after border spat: Xinhua Posted: 04 Sep 2017 11:53 PM PDT  Chinese President Xi Jinping sought Tuesday to move past a tense border dispute with India, telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi the two nuclear-armed neighbours should pursue "healthy, stable" relations, according to China's state media. Xi told Modi that "healthy, stable bilateral ties" were "in line with the fundamental interests" of the neighbours, the official Xinhua news agency said. "China is willing to work with India on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence which were put forward by both countries to improve political mutual trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and push Sino-Indian ties along a right track," the report quoted him as saying.
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| Turkey criticizes German 'populism' after Merkel shift on EU membership Posted: 04 Sep 2017 02:20 AM PDT  A spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused German politicians on Monday of indulging in populism after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would seek an end to Ankara's European Union membership talks. Merkel, seeking a fourth term in office in Germany's Sept. 24 election, said in a debate on Sunday it was clear that Turkey should not join the European Union, and that she would talk to other EU leaders about ending its stalled accession process. "It is not a coincidence that our president Erdogan was the main topic of the debate," Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted, criticizing what he described as mainstream German politicians' "indulgence in populism".
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| Janis Ian From 'Mean Girls' Got Married And It Looked So Fetch Posted: 04 Sep 2017 05:45 PM PDT  "Mean Girls" actress Lizzy Caplan had a beautiful wedding.
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