Icetruck

Spain says Catalonia leader Puigdemont 'unclear' on independence

The Spanish government has said that the head of the Catalonia region has failed to clarify whether he declared independence last week.

In a letter to Madrid on Monday, Carles Puigdemont instead called for negotiation over the next two months.

The Spanish government has warned that Catalonia must revoke the declaration or face direct rule from Madrid.

Separately, a judge ruled that the Catalan chief of police will not be held in custody.

Spain's state prosecutor had asked for Josep Lluis Trapero to be detained while he is investigated for sedition against the state.

A court spokesman told Reuters news agency that Mr Trapero's passport will be withdrawn while the investigation is ongoing.

His force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, is accused of failing to help Spain's Guardia Civil police tackle thousands of pro-independence protesters in Barcelona during the run-up to the referendum.

• Catalan crisis in 300 words
• The man who wants to break up Spain

Last week, Mr Puigdemont signed a declaration of independence, but halted its implementation to allow negotiations.

Spain's Deputy PM Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Mr Puigdemont now had until Thursday to clarify his position.

But Catalan TV station TV3 said Mr Puigdemont would not respond by then, citing unnamed sources.

'Still no clarity'

Ms Sáenz de Santamaría said on Monday that Madrid "deeply regrets" that the Catalan government had "decided not to respond" to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's request for clarity on the region's independence decision.

Speaking at the official residence of the Spanish prime minister, the Moncloa Palace, she said that any future dialogue between Madrid and Catalonia's regional government must take place "within the law".

Ms Sáenz de Santamaría added that the Spanish government's handling of the Catalonia crisis was widely backed in the Spanish parliament.

Spain's Justice Minister Rafael Catalá earlier said that Mr Puigdemont's response to the Madrid deadline was "not valid", Spanish news agency Efe reported.

Mr Catalá said the letter had failed to clarify Catalonia's position or explain what measures Mr Puigdemont's regional government was planning in order to fulfil Madrid's demands.

What was in the letter?

In a letter to Mr Rajoy on Monday, Mr Puigdemont said his "suspension of the political mandate given by the polls on 1 October demonstrates our firm will to find a solution and not confrontation".

"For the next two months, our main objective is to bring you to dialogue," he said, asking for a meeting as soon as possible.

"Let's not let the situation deteriorate further. With good will, recognising the problem and facing it head on, I am sure we can find the path to a solution," Mr Puigdemont wrote.

What happened with the declaration?

In a speech to the Catalan parliament on 10 October, Mr Puigdemont said that he had been handed a clear mandate to move towards secession.

"Today I assume the mandate for Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic," he said.

However, despite signing a declaration of independence, Mr Puigdemont said that parliament would "suspend the effects" of the move to allow negotiations to take place.

"We're suspending the declaration of independence for a few weeks because we want a reasonable dialogue, a mediation with the Spanish state," he said.

Mr Puigdemont added that Catalonia had "won the right to be independent, to be listened to and to be respected".

• Catalan leader calls for mediation

Why is the vote so divisive?

Catalonia's controversial independence referendum result, which was immediately rejected by the Spanish government, has plunged Spain into turmoil.

The vote was declared illegal by Spain's Constitutional Court.

Catalan authorities said that slightly fewer than 90% of voters backed independence, although the turnout for the poll was only 43%.

Polling day was marred by scenes of violence as Spain's police confiscated ballot boxes and attempted to prevent members of the public entering polling stations.

• The view from Barcelona v Madrid
• The reasons for the referendum

What measures can Madrid take?

Article 155 of Spain's 1978 constitution allows Madrid to impose direct rule in a crisis, but it has never been invoked in democratic Spain.

It would be Spain's Senate – the upper house of parliament, controlled by Mr Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) – that would launch the transfer of powers from Catalonia to Madrid.

Madrid may also decide to call new regional elections, hoping to thwart the independence drive.

Some 4,000 national police who were dispatched to Catalonia during the crisis have remained there since polling day.

• Catalonia crisis: What are the options now?
• Why these are uncharted waters for Spain

Source – bbc.com

UK TV drama about North Korea hit by cyber-attack

North Korean hackers targeted a British television company making a drama about the country, it has emerged.

The series – due to be written by an Oscar-nominated screenwriter – has been shelved.

In August 2014, Channel 4 announced what it said would be a new "bold and provocative" drama series.

Titled Opposite Number, the programme's plot involved a British nuclear scientist taken prisoner in North Korea.

The production firm involved – Mammoth Screen – subsequently had its computers attacked.

The project has not moved forward because of a failure to secure funding, the company says.

'Hair on fire'

North Korean officials had responded in anger when details of the TV series were first revealed. Pyongyang described the plot as a "slanderous farce" as it called on the British government to pull the series in order to avoid damaging relations.

The North Koreans did more than protest though – they hacked into the computer networks of the company behind the show.

The incident was first reported by the New York Times, which cited Channel 4 as the main target. However, the BBC understands that it was actually Mammoth Screen that was hit by hackers.

The attack did not inflict any damage but the presence of North Korean hackers on the system caused widespread alarm over what they might do.

"They were running around with their hair on fire," a TV executive from another company told the BBC, describing the level of concern.

British intelligence was also aware of the attack.

The concern was compounded because Sony Pictures experienced a significant cyber-attack in November 2014. A group called the Guardians of Peace claimed it was behind it but US officials said they believed North Korea was responsible.

That attack was also in retaliation for a drama – in this case the planned release of the film The Interview, a comedy in which the North Korean leader was assassinated.

The studio had its emails stolen and publicly released but also had a significant portion of its computer network destroyed by the attackers. The film was eventually released online amid concerns that cinemas would not show it because of threats.

It also led to a strong reaction from the Obama White House, including the imposition of sanctions. There was no commensurate complaint from the British government, despite officials knowing that a UK company had also been targeted – although not affected in the same way as Sony Pictures.

Increased aggression

In the UK, Opposite Number has been shelved. The drama was due to be the second commission to come out of Channel 4's newly formed international drama division.

At the time, Mammoth Screen and its distribution partner, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, said they were seeking an international partner. But a spokeswoman for ITV Studios – which purchased Mammoth Screen in 2015 – told the BBC in February that "the co-production hasn't progressed because third-party funding has not been secured".

Those involved will not comment on whether the failure to attract funding and move forward with the production was in any way linked to the cyber-attack.

The cyber-threats from North Korea have not stopped. Its hackers have proved increasingly aggressive and adept, targeting banks to steal money and media in South Korea.

British officials also believe North Korea was behind the Wannacry ransomware that struck around the world in May, with significant parts of the NHS affected, although there has been no official response from the UK government to this incident.

But the revelations about an attack on a TV production company may raise further concerns about what North Korea is capable of and how companies in the UK – and the British government – react when it happens.

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Source – bbc.com

Ahmad Khan Rahimi found guilty of New York bombing

A 29-year-old New Jersey man has been convicted on all charges of planting two bombs on New York City streets last year, injuring dozens of people.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, an Afghan-born US citizen, left two devices in Manhattan on 17 September 2016.

The first bomb on West 23rd Street in Chelsea blew up injuring more than 30 people, and the other four blocks away was disarmed by the authorities.

Rahimi was a "soldier in a holy war against Americans", prosecutors said.

The bomber, who lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey, faces a mandatory punishment of life in prison.

Jurors returned their guilty verdict on Monday morning on their second day of deliberations after a two-week trial at a federal court in Manhattan.

"Rahimi's crimes of hate have been met with swift and resolute justice," Acting US Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement.

The bomber had planned to "kill and maim as many innocent people as possible", the prosecutor added.

He was convicted of eight charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place.

The court heard that Rahimi left his home on the morning of the crime armed with nine bombs in order carry out a "cold and calculating attack".

The first bombing location he chose was along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

Due to a last-minute change to the race schedule, no people were injured when that pipe bomb detonated.

The remaining devices were left in a backpack at a train station in New Jersey on the day after the weekend attack.

The trial heard that Rahimi's fingerprints and DNA were discovered on both bombs laid in New York City.

Jurors also saw CCTV footage of the suspect walking the Manhattan streets to where the bombs were placed.

They were also shown the 100lb (45kg) mangled rubbish bin, which was blasted more than 120ft (36 metres) in the air by one of the pressure cooker bombs.

Rahimi was arrested two days after the attacks following a shootout with police in New Jersey that left him in hospital for weeks.

Prosecutors told the trial that police found a notebook on the suspect which contained a "claim of credit" for the bombs.

He still faces charges in New Jersey of attempted murder of police officers.

The trial heard he began following terrorist propaganda in 2012, and was inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda.

A sentencing is scheduled for 18 January.

Source – bbc.com

Portugal and Spain wildfires: Dozens dead and injured

A wave of wildfires in central and north Portugal which started at the weekend has killed at least 31 people, civil defence authorities say.

Dozens of the 145 fires still raging are considered serious, a spokeswoman said.

To the north, fires which broke out across the border in Spain's Galicia region claimed at least three lives.

Thousands of firefighters are battling the flames, which erupted after a hot dry summer.

Conditions were worsened by Hurricane Ophelia, as it approached Europe's western coast, bringing strong winds to fan and spread the flames.

Raging wildfires – in pictures

More than 50 people have also been injured in Portugal; 15 are reported to be in a serious condition. Local media say several people are still missing there, including a month-old baby.

In Spain, two of the victims were found in a burned-out car by the side of the road.

Rain is forecast for the affected regions late on Monday.

A state of emergency has been declared in Portugal north of the Tagus river – about half of the country's land area. More than 6,000 firefighters in 1,800 vehicles were deployed by early Monday morning.

As a result of the fires, at least a dozen roads were closed, as well as schools in some places.

The Portuguese deaths were in the Coimbra, Guarda, Castelo Branca and Viseu areas.

"We went through absolute hell. It was horrible. There was fire everywhere," a resident of Penacova, near Coimbra, was quoted as telling Portuguese RTP radio and TV.

Fabio Ventura, who lives in Marinha Grande, in Leria district, told the BBC that some of his friends in villages in the nearby forest had lost their homes.

"Currently, we don't have water in our homes because the pipes were damaged by the fire. We are avoiding taking showers to save water. The mobile network is going down several times and there is a huge cloud of smoke and ashes above my city.

"Schools were closed, public services are closed, some roads are also closed. I have friends that lost their homes, but everyone is OK in my area."

• Why are Portugal's wildfires so deadly?

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy travelled to the Pontevedra area of Galicia and met emergency workers on Monday afternoon.

"What we are dealing with here is something that is not caused by accident. It has been provoked," Mr Rajoy said.

"We are here in Pazos de Borden where there has been a big fire which began at 01:30 (22:00 GMT) in the morning at five different points. So as you can see it's impossible for this to be triggered under natural circumstances."

Galician leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo has claimed the fires were deliberately set by arsonists, in what he called "terrorist acts".

Earlier, Spain's Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said several people had already been identified in connection with the fires, and appealed for anyone with further information to share it with the national protection service.

The wildfires follow a massive forest blaze in Portugal in June which killed 64 people and injured more than 130. Firefighters tackling that blaze also alleged it had been started by a "criminal hand".

But in the aftermath, questions were raised about the speed of the response and the readiness to tackle such a fire. It also emerged that the country's rescue network, a public-private partnership, failed to connect several emergency calls to firefighters.

Are you affected by the wildfires? Email us with your story at [email protected].

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Source – bbc.com

If you feel that your phone is your private thing, you are very wrong. So far, there is no such device that cannot be hacked. To reduce the potential risks, here are few ways to recognize that your phone has been hacked. Pro tips are also given for your phone’s safety.

5. Spy Apps:

Image Credits: Shutterstock

There is an excess of phone checking applications intended to secretively track somebody’s area and snoop on their correspondences. Many are publicized to suspicious partners or incredulous businesses. Yet more are promoted as an honest to goodness safety for well being, concerned parents to watch their children. Such applications can be utilized to remotely see instant messages, messages, web history, and photographs.

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Log telephone calls and GPS areas; some may even commandeer the phone’s mic to record discussions made face to face. Fundamentally, nearly anything a programmer could conceivably need to do with your telephone, these applications would permit.

How to protect yourself:

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Spy applications require physical access to your device, putting a password on your telephone enormously lessens the odds of somebody having the capacity to get to your phone in any case. Furthermore, since spy applications are frequently introduced by somebody near you pick a code that would not be guessed by any other person. Go through your applications list for ones you don’t perceive. Don’t escape your iPhone.

Image Credits: iStock

If a device is not jailbroken, all applications show up. Spy applications can conceal somewhere down in the device and whether security programming can discover it relies upon the advancement of the covert operative application. For iPhones, guaranteeing your phone is not jailbroken additionally keeps anybody from downloading a covert agent application to your phone, since such programming messes with framework level capacities. Android clients can download a mobile security app that will signal malevolent projects. There is not a similar kind of versatile security applications for iOS, because of App Store limitations, though Lookout Security and Sophoswill caution you if your iPhone has been jailbroken.

4. Phishing by a message:

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Regardless of whether it is a text from your money related foundation or a companion urging you to look at this photograph of you the previous evening, SMSes containing beguiling connections that mean to rub touchy data (generally known as phishing or “smishing”) keep on making the rounds.

Image Credits: iStock

Android phones may likewise fall prey to messages with links to download noxious applications. A similar trick is not for iPhones, which are regularly non-jail broken and in this way can’t download applications from anyplace aside from the App Store. Such noxious applications may uncover a client’s phone information or contain a phishing overlay intended to take login data from focused applications. For instance, a client’s bank or email application.

How to protect yourself:

Image Credits: iStock

Remember how you generally confirm your character with different records. For instance, your bank will never request that you input your full secret word or PIN. Abstain from clicking joins from numbers you don’t have a clue, or in inquisitively ambiguous messages from companions, particularly in the event that you can’t see the full URL. On the off chance that you do tap on the connection and wind up downloading an application, your Android telephone ought to tell you. Erase the application and additionally run a versatile security filter.

3. SS7 global phone network vulnerability:

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About two years back, it was found that a correspondence convention for the mobile system over the world, Signaling System No 7 (SS7), has a weakness that gives programmers a chance to keep an eye on instant messages, telephone calls and areas, furnished just with somebody’s cell phone number.

Image Credits: iStock

An additional worry is that instant message typically intends to get two-factor validation codes from, say, email administrations or budgetary organizations – if these are caught, a venturesome programmer could get to secured accounts.

How to protect yourself:

Image Credits: iStock

Utilize a conclusion to-encrypted message benefit that works over the web (along these lines bypassing the SS7 convention), says Wisniewski. WhatsApp (free, iOS/Android), Signal (free, iOS/Android) and Wickr Me (free, iOS/Android) all encode messages and calls, keeping anybody from capturing or meddling with your communications. Know that if you are possibly focused on aggregate your telephone discussions could be checked and act appropriately.

2. Snooping via open Wi-Fi networks:

Image Credits: iStock

Suspected that secret word free Wi-Fi connect with full flag bars was unrealistic? It may very well be. Busybodies on an unsecured Wi-Fi system can see all its decoded activity. What is more, evil open hotspots can divert you to twin saving money or email locales intended to catch your username and secret key.

Image Credits: Shutterstock

Also, it is not really a tricky director of the foundation you’re frequenting. For instance, somebody physically over the street from a well-known espresso tie could set up a without login Wi-Fi arrange named after the bistro, with expectations of getting valuable login points of interest available to be purchased or fraud.

Here Are 9 Ways To Get The Perfect Hollywood Smile

How to protect yourself:

Image Credits: Shutterstock

Just utilize secured systems where all movement is encoded of course amid transmission to keep others from snooping on your Wi-Fi flag. Download a VPN application to scramble your cell phone traffic. SurfEasy VPN (iOS, Android) gives 500MB of activity free, after which it’s $2.99/month.

Image Credits: Shutterstock

You should interface with an open system and don’t have a VPN application, abstain from entering in login subtle elements for keeping money destinations or email. On the off chance that you can’t maintain a strategic distance from it, guarantee the URL in your program address bar is the right one. Furthermore, never enter private data unless you have a safe association with the other site (search for “https” in the URL and a green secure symbol in the address bar).

1. Unauthorized access to iCloud or Google account:

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Hacked iCloud and Google accounts offer access to an amazing measure of data moved down from your cell phone – photographs, phonebooks, current area, messages, call logs and on account of the iCloud Keychain, spared passwords to email records, programs, and different applications.

Image Credits: iStock

What is more, there are spyware dealers out there who particularly advertise their items against these vulnerabilities. Online lawbreakers may not discover much an incentive in the photographs of consistent people unlike nude pictures of VIPs that are rapidly leaked– however, they know the proprietors of the photographs do.

How to protect yourself:

Image Credits: iStock

Make a solid password for these key records (and as usual, your email). Empower login warnings so you are informed regarding sign-ins from new PCs or areas. Empower two-factor authentication so that regardless of the possibility that somebody finds your secret key they can’t get to your record without access to your phone.

Image Credits: iStock

To counteract somebody resetting your password, like when setting up secret word security questions, you would be flabbergasted what number of security questions depend on data that is effortlessly accessible on the Internet or is broadly known by your family and companions.

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Article by Born Realist

The post 5 Signs That Prove Your Phone Was Hacked appeared first on Born Realist.

Source – bornrealist.com

Bowe Bergdahl pleads guilty to desertion and misbehaviour

Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held as a Taliban captive in Afghanistan for five years, has pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy.

The 31-year-old Army sergeant entered his plea on Monday before a military judge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The Idaho native's lawyers have argued he cannot get a fair trial following criticism from Donald Trump during last year's presidential campaign.

Mr Trump had called him "a no-good traitor who should have been executed".

"We may as well go back to kangaroo courts and lynch mobs," Sgt Bergdahl said in a 2016 interview that was obtained by ABC News and broadcast on Monday.

In the remarks to British filmmaker Sean Langan, who was himself held captive by the same Taliban group in 2008, Sgt Bergdahl denied he had left his post in order to meet Taliban militants.

• What do we know about Bergdahl's disappearance?
• BBergdahl appeals to Obama for pardon

"You know, it's just insulting frankly," he said. "It's very insulting, the idea that they would think I did that."

Sgt Bergdahl, who remains on active duty desk work in San Antonio, Texas, was first charged in 2015, a year after his release.

He is scheduled to face a pre-sentencing hearing starting on 23 October.

The maximum penalty for misbehaviour before the enemy is life in prison, and the maximum sentence for desertion is five years.

Army General Kenneth Dahl, who led the investigation into Sgt Bergdahl's disappearance, has testified that a jail sentence would be "inappropriate".

In a podcast interview last year, Sgt Bergdahl said he walked off his combat post to prove to senior officers his commanders were "unfit" for service.

• Profile: Sgt Bowe Bergdahl

Upon his return to the US, an Army Sanity Board evaluation determined that he had schizotypal personality disorder "at the time of the alleged criminal conduct" and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The decision to exchange five Taliban captives from Guantanamo Bay in order to secure Sgt Bergdahl's release was heavily criticised by Republican lawmakers as contrary to US policy of not negotiating with terrorists.

Several former platoon mates have alleged US soldiers were killed or wounded during the frantic 45-day search for the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment trooper.

The judge has allowed wounded servicemen to testify that they were hurt because of the search for Sgt Bergdahl.

Much of Sgt Bergdahl's captivity was spent in a "cage", he said, and he was extensively tortured by his captors, a military expert has previously testified.

During Mr Trump's presidential campaign, he called Sgt Bergdahl "garbage" and suggested he should be summarily executed.

"You know in the old days – bing, bong," Mr Trump said at a campaign rally as he imitated firing a gun. "When we were strong."

Source – bbc.com

Kirkuk: Iraqi government forces enter disputed city

Iraqi government forces have entered central Kirkuk, residents say, after taking key installations outside the disputed city from Kurdish fighters.

Witnesses told the BBC they saw federal forces entering the provincial government building.

Clashes were reported south of Kirkuk earlier in the day, while thousands of residents fled the city.

It comes three weeks after the Kurdistan region held a controversial independence referendum.

While Kirkuk is not inside Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurdish voters inside the city were allowed to take part.

Iraq's prime minister has said the vote – in which residents of Kurdish-controlled areas, including Kirkuk, overwhelmingly backed secession – was unconstitutional.

• Iraqi Kurds decisively back independence
• Independence: What is at stake?

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) insisted it was legitimate.

US officials said they were "engaged with all parties in Iraq to de-escalate tension".

Earlier in the day, the Iraqi military said its units had taken control of the K1 military base, the Baba Gurgur oil and gas field, and a state-owned oil company's offices.

Baghdad said the Peshmerga had withdrawn "without fighting". However, clashes were reported to the south, and the sound of gunfire was caught by a BBC cameraman as a team filmed near a checkpoint.

The Peshmerga General Command said Iraq's actions on Monday amounted to a "declaration of war" on the Kurdish people.

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Meanwhile Turkey, which fears Kurdish independence in Iraq could lead to similar calls from its own Kurdish minority, praised Baghdad, saying it is "ready for any form of cooperation with the Iraqi government in order to end the PKK presence in Iraqi territory".

The PKK – or Kurdistan Workers' Party – is a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group which has been fighting for autonomy since the 1980s. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey.

Why is Kirkuk disputed?

Kirkuk is an oil-rich province claimed by both the Kurds and the central government. It is thought to have a Kurdish majority, but its provincial capital has large Arab and Turkmen populations.

• Sykes-Picot: The map that spawned a century of resentment
• Why don't Kurds have a state?
• Iraqi Kurdistan profile

Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of much of the province in 2014, when Islamic State (IS) militants swept across northern Iraq and the Iraq army collapsed.

The Iraqi parliament asked Mr Abadi to deploy troops to Kirkuk and other disputed areas after the referendum result was announced, but he said last week that he would accept them being governed by a "joint administration" and that he did not want an armed confrontation.

On Sunday, his cabinet accused the KRG of deploying non-Peshmerga fighters in Kirkuk, including members of the PKK, which it said was tantamount to a "declaration of war". But KRG officials denied this.

Source – bbc.com

Somalia attack: 165 unidentified bodies buried

As many as 165 unidentified bodies have been buried after a massive truck bomb attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday.

At least 276 people have died and the government news agency Sonna says only 111 of them have been identified.

A Turkish military plane is taking 40 of the injured to Turkey for medical treatment.

It is the deadliest terror attack in Somalia since the Islamist al-Shabab group launched its insurgency in 2007.

Some of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition.

Of those who were identified, one of the victims was a medical student who was due to graduate the next day.

Her father had flown to Mogadishu to attend her graduation but instead witnessed her burial.

• Africa Live: BBC news updates
• Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?

No group has yet said it was behind the bombing at a busy junction, destroying hotels, government offices and restaurants.

But President Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmajo" Mohamed blamed al-Shabab, calling it a "heinous act".

Al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaeda, and which often attacks Mogadishu, normally claims them fairly quickly afterwards.

On Sunday, some Somalis took to the streets of Mogadishu to condemn the group.

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Maryam Abdullahi had been due to graduate as a doctor the following day.

Ms Abdullah's sister Anfa'a told the BBC Somali Service that she was devastated.

"The family is so shocked, especially our father who travelled all the way from London to attend her graduation, but instead he attended her burial."

Anfa'a said she had spoken to her sister 20 minutes before the blast.

"At that time she was in Banadir Hospital where she was working. She told me she was waiting for some files from the hospital and she promised to call back".

A BBC Somali reporter at the scene of the main blast said the Safari hotel collapsed with people trapped under the rubble.

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An eyewitness, local resident Muhidin Ali, told AFP it was "the biggest blast I have ever witnessed, it destroyed the whole area".

Meanwhile, the director of the Madina Hospital, Mohamed Yusuf Hassan, said he was shocked by the scale of the attack.

"What happened yesterday was incredible, I have never seen such a thing before, and countless people lost their lives. Corpses were burned beyond recognition."

Source – bbc.com

Einstein’s waves detected in star smash

Scientists have detected the warping of space generated by the collision of two dead stars, or neutron stars.

They have confirmed that such mergers lead to the production of the gold and platinum that exists in the Universe.

The measurement of the gravitational waves given off by this cataclysmic event was made on 17 August by the LIGO-VIRGO Collaboration.

The discovery enabled telescopes all over the world to capture details of the merger as it unfolded.

David Reitze, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory at Caltech in Pasadena, California, said: "This is the one we've all been waiting for."

• Einstein's waves win physics Nobel
• Gravitational waves quest to go into space
• Getting your head around Einstein's waves
• Gravitational waves: A triumph for big science

The outburst took place in a galaxy called NGC 4993, located roughly a thousand billion, billion km away in the Constellation Hydra.

It happened 130 million years ago – when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. It was so far away that the light and gravitational waves have only just reached us.

The stars themselves had masses 10-20% greater than our Sun – but they were no larger than 30km across.

They were the crushed leftover cores of massive stars that long ago exploded as supernovas.

They are called neutron stars because the process of crushing the star makes the charged protons and electrons in the atoms of the star combine – to form an object made entirely of neutrons.

Such remnants are incredibly dense – a teaspoonful would weigh a billion tonnes.

In the landscaped campus of one of the laboratories that made the detection, a fountain sprays jets of water skyward which are then pulled back down by gravity, sending ripples across the crystal clear pond.

The LIGO detector, sitting incongruously in the vast woodland of Livingston in Louisiana, was designed to detect the gravitational ripples across the Universe created by cataclysmic cosmic events.

Since it was upgraded two years ago, it has four times sensed the collisions of black holes.

Gravitational waves caused by violent events send ripples through space-time that stretch and squeeze everything they pass through by a tiny amount – less than the width of an atom.

The LIGO lab at Livingston consists of a small building with two, two-and-a-half-mile pipelines stretching out at right angles. Inside each pipe is a powerful laser accurately measuring any change in its length.

I walk along one of the pipes with Prof Norna Robertson, a Scot who used to work at Glasgow University – and more recently helped to design the instrument's detection system.

Prof Robertson's work has helped the LIGO-VIRGO Scientific Collaboration to make the first ever detection of the gravitational waves given off by the collision of two neutron stars.

"I'm really thrilled about what we have done. I started off as a student in Glasgow 40 years ago working on gravitational waves. It's been a long long road; there have been some ups and downs but now it's all come together," she told BBC News.

"These last couple of years, first of all with the detection of black holes mergers and now a neutron star merger, I really feel we are opening up a new field, and that's what I wanted to do and now we've done it."

The detection enabled 70 telescopes to obtain the first ever detailed pictures of such an event.

These show an explosion 1,000 times more powerful than a supernova – a burst called a kilonova.

Gravitational waves – Ripples in the fabric of space-time

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• Gravitational waves are a prediction of the Theory of General Relativity
• It took decades to develop the technology to directly detect them
• They are ripples in the fabric of space-time generated by violent events
• Accelerating masses will produce waves that propagate at the speed of light
• Detectable sources ought to include merging black holes and neutron stars
• Ligo/Virgo fire lasers into long, L-shaped tunnels; the waves disturb the light
• Detecting the waves opens up the Universe to completely new investigations

Researchers had suspected that this huge release of energy leads to the creation of rare elements, such as gold and platinum.

Dr Kate Maguire, from Queen's University Belfast, who analysed the collision's burst of light, said that the theory was now proven.

"Using some of the world's best telescopes, we have discovered that this neutron star merger scattered heavy chemical elements, such as gold and platinum, out into space at high speeds.

"These new results have significantly contributed to solving the long-debated mystery of the origin of elements heavier than iron in the periodic table."

Dr Joe Lyman, of the University of Warwick said described the observations as "exquisite".

"They tell us that the heavy elements, like the gold or platinum in jewellery are the cinders, forged in the billion degree remnants of a merging neutron star."

Improvements coming

It was also direct confirmation that short bursts of gamma-ray radiation are linked to colliding neutron stars.

By combining information from gravitational waves and the light collected by telescopes, researchers also used a new technique to measure the expansion rate of the Universe. This technique was first proposed in 1986 by the University of Cardiff's Prof Bernard Schutz.

Prof Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University told BBC News that this was "the first rung of a ladder" for a new method of measuring distances in the Universe.

"A new observational window on the Universe typically leads to surprises that cannot yet be foreseen. We are still rubbing our eyes, or rather ears, as we have just woken up to the sound of gravitational waves," he said.

Prof Nial Tanvir, from Leicester University, uses the VISTA telescope in Chile.

He and his colleagues started searching for the neutron star collision as soon as they heard of the gravitational wave detection.

"We were really excited when we first got notification that a neutron star merger had been detected by LIGO," he said. "We stayed up all night analysing the images as they came in, and it was remarkable how well the observations matched the theoretical predictions that had been made."

LIGO is now being upgraded. In a year's time it will be twice as sensitive – and so will be able to scan eight times the volume of the space.

The researchers believe that detections of black holes and neutron stars will become common place. And they hope that they will begin to detect objects that they currently cannot even imagine and so usher in a new era of astronomy.

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Source – bbc.com

Huawei Mate 10 uses AI to distinguish cats from dogs

Huawei says it has given its latest smartphones advanced object-recognition capabilities to help them take better photos than the competition.

The Chinese company says the artificial intelligence-based technology can even distinguish between cats and dogs in a split-second, allowing it to automatically tweak how their fur and eyes appear.

It says this is possible because of a new type of chip in the Mate 10 phones.

But experts question the tech's appeal.

Huawei is currently the world's third best-selling smartphone maker, according to research company IDC, with a market share of 11.3% in the April-to-June quarter.

That put it slightly behind Apple, which had a 12% share.

The Shenzhen-based company has previously said it aims to overtake its US rival before the end of 2019, and then eventually leapfrog the market leader, Samsung.

Artificial brain

Huawei says it trained the Mate 10's camera-controlling algorithms with more than 100 million pictures to teach them to recognise different scenarios and items.

To ensure the decisions are taken quickly enough, the company said, it had developed its own processor – the Kirin 970 – which has a neural processing unit (NPU) in addition to the standard central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) used to power most computers.

The architecture of the NPU is a specialised part of the chip designed to handle matrix multiplications at speed – a type of calculation used by artificial intelligence neural networks, which attempt to mimic the way the brain works.

Huawei says the inclusion of an NPU in its chip allows it to recognise about 2,000 images per minute.

That is about double the rate that the new A11 processor in the iPhone 8 would be able to handle, Huawei says.

The company is not alone in designing a part of its processor to handle AI-enhanced tasks.

Apple has introduced what it calls a "bionic neural engine" in the A11, which will be used for facial recognition tasks by the forthcoming iPhone X.

And Google has developed what it terms a "tensor processing unit", which it uses in its data centres to support its Search, Street View, Photos and Translate services.

One expert suggested Huawei's move was significant but difficult to market to consumers.

"All of this could have been done on a GPU," said Ian Cutress, from the Anandtech engineering news site.

"But having the NPU makes the processes faster while potentially using less power.

"The thing is that it's very difficult to explain all this to potential customers as it gets very technical very quickly.

"For now, the use cases are limited and probably not going to be the sole reason to buy the device."

Fur analysis

Many smartphone cameras make automatic tweaks to the images they take, but Huawei suggests its technology takes this to the next level.

In the example of cats and dogs, it says:

• because cats' eyes are more reflective than dogs', in bright interior light and sunlight the camera adjusts down the ISO level when a close-up of the animal is being taken
• to take account of differences in the type of hair or fur the pets have, the software alters the image sharpness via the amount of noise reduction it applies
• since the camera has been trained to expect cats to be smaller than dogs, it also makes an adjustment to the depth of field

"Without doing lots of tests, it's difficult to tell how much value this really adds to the camera capabilities," said Ben Wood, from the technology consultancy CCS Insight.

"The problem with any of these techniques is that whether they are of benefit or not is in the eye of the beholder – it's very subjective."

Huawei also says the NPU is used to optimise tasks carried out by Microsoft's pre-loaded Translator software, which converts words and images of text between dozens of languages.

According to the Chinese company, the software runs about three times faster than it would do otherwise.

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The company is now inviting third-party developers to build other apps to take advantage of the NPU.

But Mr Wood said that he had concerns that Huawei was putting too much emphasis on the technology.

"I don't believe most consumers understand what AI is," said Mr Wood.

"So, if Huawei intends to market the new phones around the technology, it will have to clearly articulate what the benefits are beyond it just being the buzzword of the moment."

Source – bbc.com