Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Six In The Morning Wednesday 3 April 2019

A Brexit war is looming in Theresa May's Conservative party

Updated 0845 GMT (1645 HKT) April 3, 2019


Theresa May has finally made a decision. And it's not one her hard-Brexit allies will like.
The Prime Minister has recognized what many have been saying for weeks -- that there's no majority for her deal in Parliament.
In offering talks with the opposition Labour Party -- and, crucially, offering to accept the result of any vote in Parliament for an alternative Brexit plan -- May has also recognized that she will never be able to persuade her supposed allies in the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, nor a hard core of Brexiteers in her own Conservative Party.



Toxic air will shorten children's lives by 20 months, study reveals

Global air pollution crisis is taking its greatest toll on children in south Asia



The life expectancy of children born today will be shortened by 20 months on average by breathing the toxic air that is widespread across the globe, with the greatest toll in south Asia, according to a major study.
Air pollution contributed to nearly one in every 10 deaths in 2017, making it a bigger killer than malaria and road accidents and comparable to smoking, according to the State of Global Air (SOGA) 2019 study published on Wednesday.
In south Asia, children can expect to have their lives cut short by 30 months, and in sub-Saharan Africa by 24 months, because of a combination of outdoor air pollution caused by traffic and industry, and dirty air indoors, largely from cooking fires. In east Asia, air pollution will shorten children’s lives by an estimated 23 months. However, the life expectancy burden is forecast to be less than five months for children in the developed world.

Global outcry as Brunei implements draconian sharia laws including death by stoning for gays

New sharia laws in Brunei include death by stoning for gay sex and adultery. Experts say the harsh punishment is unlikely to be implemented due to the high bar of proof.

Harsh new sharia laws — including death by stoning for gay sex and adultery entered into force in Brunei on Wednesday.
The expanded list of crimes punishable by death in the small sultanate on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo also includes rape, robbery and insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
The laws, which also call for the amputation of limbs for thieves, make Brunei the first country in East or Southeast Asia to implement the harsh Islamic legal code at the national level. Sharia is practiced to varying degrees in some countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.

Chicago makes history with election of first black female mayor

Chicago on Tuesday became the biggest US city to elect a black woman its mayor, as voters put their faith in an openly-gay political novice to tackle difficult problems of economic inequality and gun violence.
Lori Lightfoot, a 56-year-old former federal prosecutor and practicing lawyer who has never before held elected office, won the Midwestern city's mayoral race in a lopsided victory.
She beat out Toni Preckwinkle, a career politician who is also black, by a wide margin of 74 to 26 percent with most ballots counted.
"We were up against powerful interests," Lightfoot said in a victory speech, with her wife and young daughter by her side.

Ghosn tweets he'll 'tell the truth' at April 11 news conference

By Kenneth Maxwell and Tim Kelly

Ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn promised to "tell the truth" at a news conference next week, taking to Twitter to announce his first briefing since being released on bail and hours after a report that prosecutors were preparing a fresh case against him.
Ghosn, widely lauded for rescuing Nissan Motor Co from the brink of bankruptcy two decades ago, has experienced a dramatic fall from grace that shook the global auto industry and raised questions about the future of Nissan's alliance with France's Renault SA.
He was arrested in Tokyo in November and faces charges of financial misconduct and aggravated breach of trust over allegedly failing to report around $82 million in salary and temporarily transferring personal financial losses onto Nissan's books during the financial crisis.

Most images of black holes are illustrations. Here’s what our telescopes actually capture.

Finally, next week, we may get to see one up close for the first time.


Impossibly dense, deep, and powerful, black holes reveal the limits of physics. Nothing can escape one, not even light.
Even though black holes excite the imagination like few other concepts in science, the truth is that no astronomer has actually seen one. We’ve “heard” them, so to speak, as scientists have recorded the gravitational waves (literal ripples in spacetime) emanating from black holes that collided with one another billions of years ago.
But any photo you’ve seen of a dark mass warping spacetime … well, that’s just an illustration. Like this one:




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