التصنيف: أخبار

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has brushed off the potential threat of US funding being withdrawn for Ukraine if Donald Trump wins this year’s presidential election.

Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, the Ukrainian leader said “one man cannot change the whole nation”, but admitted stances taken by some in the Republican Party have raised concerns in his country.

Political infighting has delayed more military aid from the US, with Republicans resisting Democrat President Joe Biden‘s request to offer more support to Kyiv in its war against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces.

And Mr Trump, who is the leading Republican presidential candidate, has declined to commit to continuing military assistance for Ukraine, and has said he could end the war “in 24 hours” if re-elected to the White House.

In December last year, Mr Zelenskyy declined to answer when asked if a victory for Mr Trump would threaten the independence of his country.

But he said on Tuesday that “radical voices really scare the society in Ukraine”, not just from Mr Trump but also “the voices of a significant part of Republicans”.

Meanwhile, residents of more than two dozen villages in the eastern Kharkiv region were urged to evacuate on Tuesday because of worsening Russian attacks as the war nears its second anniversary.

Mr Zelenskyy warned that Mr Putin “will not stop” and said he “embodies war” as he criticised him for imposing “the terrifying feeling that the war may never end”.

“Anyone [who] thinks this is only about us, this is only about Ukraine, they are fundamentally mistaken,” he added, in a bid to cast Ukraine as a pillar in defence of democracies.

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He said his “heart goes out to the people of Mykolaiv”, where a Sky News team is, as the city has faced “constant attacks”.

Asked if Ukraine can still win when allies like the UK and US continue to restrict its military from hitting targets within Russia, Mr Zelenskyy said his country needs outside support.

He said without such backing Ukraine would be “weak on the battlefield”, specifically in “artillery” and “air defence”.

Gamers could be at risk of irreversible hearing loss and tinnitus, according to new research.

A review of worldwide studies involving more than 50,000 people concluded that sound levels are often close to or exceed safe limits.

The risk is exacerbated by people typically gaming for long periods of time while impulse noises – such as gunfire – can also be very loud, experts said.

The study, published in medical journal BMJ Public Health, was conducted by a team including experts from the World Health Organisation and the University of South Carolina.

They warned “gamers who are listening at high-intensity sound levels and for long periods of time may be at risk of permanent sound-induced hearing loss and/ or tinnitus”.

More needs to be done to highlight the risks of gaming, given its popularity among children and teenagers, the researchers said.

They added: “Findings suggest that there may be a need to prioritise interventions, such as initiatives focused on education and awareness of the risks of gaming, that can help promote safe listening among gamers.”

The study pointed to guidelines outlining the “permissible” time people should be exposed to 83 decibels (dB) of sound is 20 hours per week.

This drops to 10 hours per week for 86dB and just 38 minutes per week for 98dB.

For children, noise exposure levels are lower – 75dB for 40 hours a week.

Under this marker, children can safely listen to 83db sound for around 6.5 hours – and 98dB for just 12 minutes.

However, on average, sound levels are often close to or above this range, the data showed.

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The team called for more research to be conducted: “The limited available experience suggests that gaming may be a common source of unsafe listening, which could place many individuals worldwide at risk of permanent hearing loss/tinnitus.

“Additional research on these relationships is needed along with steps to promote safe listening among gamers.”

How loud is too loud?

According to hearing loss charity the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), some 12 million people in the UK are deaf or have hearing loss or tinnitus.

Hearing loss can be triggered by repeated or long exposure to sounds above 85dB, the equivalent of the noise created by a food blender.

The safe exposure for this level of noise is up to eight hours a day, the RNID says.

Heavy traffic is 88dB while a pneumatic drill is 91dB and the sound at a live concert is 110dB.

An aeroplane taking off from around 100m away creates 130dB.

According to the charity, 140dB is the sound level which causes pain for most people, however lower levels can also lead to discomfort.

The sound intensity doubles with every 3dB increase – so the safe exposure time is four hours for 88dB.

“Remember that you’re exposed to lots of different sounds that are 85dB or over throughout the day, and this exposure time adds up,” the RNID warns.

“For sounds of 110-120dB, even a very short exposure time can cause hearing damage.”

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A cloned rhesus monkey has survived for more than two years and has led to “valuable insights” into the scientific process, according to experts.

Scientists in China used a modified version of the same technique that was used to create Dolly the sheep, the world’s first cloned mammal.

Out of the 113 cloned embryos, 11 were implanted into surrogate monkeys, but only one survived. It has been named ReTro.

The team said that although the success rate of producing viable and healthy clones is low – less than 1% in this case – it pushes forward the understanding of primate cloning.

The world’s first cloned monkeys – a pair of identical long-tailed macaques – were created six years ago by the same researchers, led by Qiang Sun and Zhen Liu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.

At that time, the researchers wanted to create populations of genetically uniform monkeys that could be customised for research into human diseases.

It also raised major ethical questions by bringing the world closer to human cloning.

But experts now say these fears “were entirely unfounded” and the efficiency of the cloning process still remains low.

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Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the authors said: “These discoveries provide valuable insights into the reprogramming mechanism of monkey SCNT [single-cell nuclear transfer] and introduce a promising strategy for primate cloning.”

Also commenting on the findings, Dr Lluis Montoliu, a researcher at the National Centre for Biotechnology in Spain, who was not involved in the study, said: “Both the cloning of macaques and rhesus monkeys demonstrate two things.

“First, it is possible to clone primates.

“And second, no less important, it is extremely difficult to succeed with these experiments, with such low efficiencies, once again ruling out human cloning.”

Dolly made history nearly three decades ago after being cloned at Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute.

It was the first time scientists had managed to clone a mammal from an adult cell, taken from the udder of a Finn Dorset sheep.

Since then many other mammals have been cloned using the same SCNT technique, which involves transferring cell nucleus DNA to a donated egg cell that is then prompted to develop into an embryo.

They include sheep, cattle, pigs, dogs, cats, mice and rats and long-tailed monkeys.

A New York architect has been charged with the murder of a fourth woman, as police revealed how DNA evidence from his daughter’s drink can helped to make a link.

Rex Heuermann, 59, was formally charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, having already been accused of killing three other women left near Gilgo Beach, in Long Island.

He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of all the women – collectively known as the Gilgo Four, who were part of the Netflix film Lost Girls.

He did not speak at a brief court hearing on Tuesday and remains jailed without bail, local media reported.

Heuermann was connected to the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello – who investigators say were sex workers – in part by his wife’s hair, which was found at the crime scene, officials said.

Unsealed court documents on Tuesday revealed undercover agents followed Heuermann’s 26-year-old daughter onto the Long Island Rail Road and used her discarded Java Monster can to link him to the killings.

Mobile phone data and DNA taken from a slice of pizza were also used to link him to the deaths.

In all, 11 sets of human remains were found in 2010 and 2011 along an isolated stretch of the beach, about 30 miles (50km) east of New York City, drawing national attention.

The four Heuermann is accused of killing were last seen between July 2007 and September 2010.

Heuermann used a burner mobile phone to contact sex workers who advertised their services online, according to prosecutors.

Police concluded that an 11th person found dead in a tidal marsh on the same barrier island accidentally drowned.

Investigators have said Heuermann, who lived in Massapequa Park across the bay from where the bodies were found, was probably not responsible for all the deaths.

Prosecutors also said in Tuesday’s court filing that Heuermann feared getting caught in the months leading up to his arrest in July.

He obtained data wiping software to try and remove evidence on his electronic devices, they said.

Investigators seized hundreds of devices from Heuermann’s home that prosecutors say contained bondage and torture pornography.

Internet search terms also included “how does cell site analysis work”, “Gilgo news” and “how cell phone tracking is increasingly being used to solve crimes”.

Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown, said his client maintains innocence and looked forward to defending himself in court.

He also called into question some of the evidence, suggesting new DNA analysis was “problematic” since it was being introduced about 13 years after Ms Brainard-Barnes’ body was discovered.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in response more sophisticated DNA testing had allowed investigators to more conclusively determine the hairs found with Ms Brainard-Barnes belonged to Heuermann’s ex-wife and daughter.