North Korea calls Donald Trump's nuclear button boast the 'bark of a rabid dog'

Seoul: North Korea on Tuesday denounced US President Donald Trump's tweeted message that he has a bigger nuclear button than its leader Kim Jong-Un as the "spasm of a lunatic" and the "bark of a rabid dog".

Kim used his annual New Year address to warn he has a "nuclear button" on his table, sweetening his remarks by expressing an interest in dialogue and taking part in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the South next month.

In response, Trump wrote on Twitter: "Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

In Pyongyang's first reaction to the tweet, the North's official party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Tuesday dismissed Trump's "swaggering" as nothing but the "spasm of a lunatic" frightened by North Korea's power, and the "bark of a rabid dog".

In the days after Kim's New Year speech the two Koreas underwent a rapid apparent rapprochement, culminating last week in their first official talks for two years, when they agreed Pyongyang would attend the Games.

But the North has since issued a series of warnings against both the South and the United States.

Pyongyang has made apocalyptic threats against its enemies for years, but Trump has repeatedly used highly menacing rhetoric towards the nuclear-armed North, sparking criticism that he is ratcheting up already-high tensions on the Korean peninsula.

He has threatened to rain "fire and fury" on the North, warning Kim he was on a "suicide mission" by developing nuclear missiles.

Trump's "button" tweet "reflects the desperate mental state of a loser," Rodong Sinmun said in its commentary, diagnosing him as "suffering from anger disorder and schizophrenia".

China builds world's tallest air purifier - higher than Qutub Minar, Statue of Liberty

In its battle against alarmingly high pollution levels, China has a new weapon - a 330-feet tall purifier that is now dubbed the world's tallest structure dedicated to cleaning the air.

The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that the air purifier was built in Xian in Shaanxi province and is currently being tested at the Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Initial experiments by researchers reportedly show a significant reduction in pollution levels over an area of 10 square kilometres with 10 million cubic metres of clean air being released every day.

So how does the air purifying tower work?

The main operation is through greenhouse covering close to the size of a football field around the foot of the tower. Toxic air is taken into the glasshouses at the base, heated by solar energy and then made to pass through several filters before being released back. According to officials, on extremely polluted days, the tower has managed to bring down levels to 'moderate.'

While it does require solar energy, it is reported that the tower works even on cold and/or cloudy days because of a special coating on the greenhouses that enables it to absorb solar radiation.

The project was launched in 2015 and while initial tests are successful, it is expected to take time before being launched officially in other parts of the country.

'Quasars' help scientists detect the structuring of the universe for the first time

The enigmatic universe harbours countless secrets within it, compelling scientists to put in every effort to delve deeper in order to extract information about its existence and consequent evolution.

The universe is also home to numerous super-massive black holes, which emanate incredibly bright and luminous distant points of light called Quasars.

Using the spatial distribution of these quasars, researchers have recently managed to detect the structuring of the universe for the first time.

The big announcement was made on Monday by the National Astronomical Observations (NAOC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The work was conducted by the international group of eBOSS, the biggest ongoing spectroscopic survey in the world, which discovered redshift distortions signals when observing the spatial distribution of quasars that are 6.8 to 10.5 billion light years from Earth.

Redshift distortion refers to a special three-dimensional cluster mode formed by stars under the effect of gravitational potential, and is considered one of the most important probes in researching gravitation on the cosmological level due to its direct correlation with gravitation.

The signals discovered this time were generated during the time when the universe was only one third or half the size of today, according to a report published by the eBOSS group on the finding.

The discovery is significant for future research in cutting-edge cosmological subjects such as dark energy and the essence of gravitation.

Launched in 2014, eBOSS has attracted research institutes from a number of countries, including the NAOC.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope passes critical milestone

On July 10, the cryogenic testing of the telescope began. 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope -- the world's premier infrared space observatory of the next decade -- has successfully completed critical testing in a massive thermal vacuum chamber, enabling it to function properly in the extremely cold and airless environment in space in 2019, the agency said.

Webb Space Telescope, developed in coordination among NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, is the most sophisticated -- and expensive -- space observatory ever designed.

It features a 21.3-foot-wide primary mirror made up of 18 adjustable gold-coated segments.

Webb Telescope is a barrier-breaking mission for engineers and astronomers that will help solve mysteries of our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it, NASA said in a statement.

Webb telescope arrived at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston in May 2017, where it underwent critical cryogenic testing for nine months inside Chamber A, a massive thermal vacuum chamber at the center.

On July 10, the cryogenic testing of the telescope began.

During approximately 100 days in the chamber, Webb was put through a series of tests designed to ensure the telescope functioned as expected in an extremely cold, airless environment akin to that of space.

The engineers also checked on the alignment the telescope's 18 primary mirror segments to make sure that all of the gold-plated, hexagonal segments acted like a single, monolithic mirror in a space-like environment.

This test also showed Webb's science instruments were properly aligned with its mirrors and could detect simulated "starlight" within the chamber.

Webb emerged from Chamber A on December 1, the statement said.

Scheduled for launch in the spring of 2019 aboard a European Ariane 5 rocket, the gamut of tests ensured that Webb will safely reach its orbit at Earth's second Lagrange point (L2) and be able to successfully perform its science mission. 

Indian Army opens retaliatory fire, 7 Pakistani soldiers killed along LoC

The Indian Army on Monday carried out "retaliatory action" against Pakistan, killing seven soldiers and injuring four others in forward areas along LoC in J-K's Poonch district on Monday.

Jammu: The Indian Army on Monday carried out "retaliatory action" against Pakistan, killing seven soldiers and injuring four others in forward areas along LoC in J-K's Poonch district on Monday.

Pakistan government, however said that four, and not seven, soldiers were killed.



Govt of Pakistan
✔
@pid_gov
Four soldiers of #Pakistan Army have embraced martyrdom in unprovoked #Indian firing along the Line of Control in Jandrot-Kotli Sector.
The troops were busy in line communication maintenance when they were fired upon and hit by heavy mortar round by Indian forces.
1:06 PM - Jan 15, 2018
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Earlier today, Indian security forces killed five Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists in Dulanja village, Uri, in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district.

Speaking at the 70th Army Day celebrations in New Delhi, Army chief General Bipin Rawat lashed out at Pakistan for repeatedly trying to sneak terrorists into India, adding that forces will keep retaliating to any provocative action by the neighbouring country.

"If we are forced, then we may resort to 'other action' by stepping up military offensive. We will not let anti-India activities succeed at any cost," said General Rawat. 

Twenty dead in California mudslides, major highway closed

The death toll from Southern California mudslides that swallowed dozens of homes and forced the closure of a major highway along the picturesque Santa Barbara County coast rose to 20 on Sunday, with four other people still reported missing.

LOS ANGELES: The death toll from Southern California mudslides that swallowed dozens of homes and forced the closure of a major highway along the picturesque Santa Barbara County coast rose to 20 on Sunday, with four other people still reported missing.

Emergency officials said chances of finding more survivors in the ravaged landscape of hardened muck, boulders and other debris had waned considerably since heavy rains unleashed torrents of mud down hillsides before dawn last Tuesday.

Still, the 20 fatalities confirmed in and around the affluent community of Montecito, 85 miles (137 km) northwest of Los Angeles in the coastal slopes adjacent to Santa Barbara, ranks as the greatest loss of life from a California mudslide in at least 13 years.

The official death toll early on Saturday had stood at 19, with seven people listed as missing. Four remained unaccounted for on Sunday, including the 2-year-old daughter of the latest victim whose remains have been positively identified.

Ten people perished in January 2005 when a hillside saturated by weeks of torrential rains collapsed in the seaside hamlet of La Conchita, just 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Montecito, burying more than a dozen homes in seconds.

Unlike the La Conchita tragedy, the stage was set for Montecito`s slides by a massive wildfire last month -- the largest on record in California -- that stripped hillsides bare of any vegetation to hold soils in place following a day of drenching showers.

Another 900 emergency personnel arrived this weekend to join the relief effort conducted by more than 2,100 personnel from local, state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy and the American Red Cross.

But authorities said on Sunday that the search-and-rescue mission had shifted into a "search-and-recovery" effort, reflecting the diminished likelihood of finding anyone else alive.

The destruction covered 30 square miles (78 square km), leaving 65 single-family homes demolished and more than 450 others damaged. Nearly 30 commercial properties were damaged or destroyed, officials said.

The slides also forced a 10-mile (16-km) stretch of one of California`s most celebrated coastal roads, the heavily traveled Highway 101, to be closed indefinitely.

The shutdown has posed a major traffic disruption, forcing motorists to drive 100 miles out of their way on back roads to commute around the closure, said Jim Shivers, a spokesman for the state transportation department.

He said parts of Highway 101 were under 6 to 7 feet (1.8 to 2.1 meters) of water and mud. Cleanup crews were working around the clock in 12-hour shifts.

Seeking to ease the detour for commuters, ferry boats were making commuter runs twice a day between Santa Barbara and the town of Ventura to the south.

A community group formed in the aftermath of last month`s devastating Thomas Fire also began coordinating free airplane and helicopter rides for doctors and emergency personnel.

As a precaution against the possibility of further slides, officials have ordered residents in most of the southeastern corner of Montecito to leave their homes for what was likely to be one or two weeks.

Are “Frozen” And “The Shining” The Same Movie (10 Pics)

A fan recently discovered that there are a lot of similarities between "Frozen" and "The Shining." The movies are so similar that they might actually be the same movie. The scariest part about this crazy theory is that it actually makes a lot of sense.