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Massive Explosion on Jupiter-Sized Star More Powerful Than Anything Seen on Our Sun

April 17, 2019

A stellar flare ten times more powerful than anything seen on our sun has burst from an ultracool star almost the same size as Jupiter.

The star is the coolest and smallest to give off a rare white-light superflare, and by some definitions could be too small be considered a star.

The discovery, funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters as the version of record today (17 April) and sheds light on the question of how small a star can be and still display flaring activity in its atmosphere. Flares are thought to be driven by a sudden release of magnetic energy generated in the star’s interior. This causes charged particles to heat plasma on the stellar surface, releasing vast amounts of optical, UV and X-ray radiation.

Lead author James Jackman, a Ph.D. student in the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics, said: “The activity of low mass stars decreases as you go to lower and lower masses and we expect the chromosphere (a region of the star which support flares) to get cooler or weaker. The fact that we’ve observed this incredibly low mass star, where the chromosphere should be almost at its weakest, but we have a white-light flare occurring shows that strong magnetic activity can still persist down to this level.

“It’s right on the boundary between being a star and a brown dwarf, a very low mass, substellar object. Any lower in mass and it would definitely be a brown dwarf. By pushing this boundary we can see whether these type of flares are limited to stars and if so, when does this activity stop? This result takes us a long way to answering these questions.”

The L dwarf star located 250 light years away, named ULAS J224940.13-011236.9, is only a tenth of the radius of our own sun, almost the same size as Jupiter in our solar system. It was too faint for most telescopes to observe until the researchers, led by the University of Warwick, spotted the massive stellar explosion in its chromosphere in an optical survey of the surrounding stars.

Paul Joseph Watson asks why scaremongers should continue to be believed.

Using the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) facility at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory, with additional data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), they observed the brightness of the star over 146 nights.

The flare occurred on the night of 13 August 2017 and gave off energy equivalent to 80 billion megatonnes of TNT, ten times as much energy as the Carrington event in 1859, the highest energy event observed on our sun. Solar flares occur on our Sun on a regular basis, but if the Sun were to superflare like this star the Earth’s communications and energy systems could be at serious risk of failing.

It is one of the largest flares ever seen on an L dwarf star, making the star appear 10,000 times brighter than normal.

James adds: “We knew from other surveys that this kind of star was there and we knew from previous work that these kinds of stars can show incredible flares. However, the quiescent star was too faint for our telescopes to see normally — we wouldn’t receive enough light for the star to appear above the background from the sky. Only when it flared did it become bright enough for us to detect it with our telescopes.”

James’s Ph.D. supervisor Professor Peter Wheatley said: “Our twelve NGTS telescopes are normally used to search for planets around bright stars, so it is exciting to find that we can also use them to find giant explosions on tiny, faint stars. It is particularly pleasing that detecting these flares may help us to understand the origin of life on planets.”

(Photo by NASA)

L dwarfs are among the lowest mass objects that could still be considered to be a star, lying in the transition region between stars and brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are not massive enough to fuse hydrogen into helium as stars do. L dwarfs are also very cool compared to the more common main sequence stars, such as red dwarfs, and emit radiation mostly in the infra-red, which may affect their ability to support the creation of life.

James adds: “Hotter stars will emit more in the optical spectrum, especially towards the UV. Because this star is cooler, around 2000 kelvin, and most of its light is towards the infra-red, when it flares you get a burst of UV radiation that you wouldn’t normally see.

“To get chemical reactions going on any orbiting planets and to form amino acids that form the basis of life, you would need a certain level of UV radiation. These stars don’t normally have that because they emit mostly in the infra-red. But if they produced a large flare such as this one that might kickstart some reactions.”

Professor Wheatley adds: “It is amazing that such a puny star can produce such a powerful explosion. This discovery is going to force us to think again about how small stars can store energy in magnetic fields. We are now searching giant flares from other tiny stars and push the limits on our understanding of stellar activity.”

Regulations being enacted by the EU/UN actually benefit Big Tech and the globalist agenda of censorship. Alex breaks down solutions for President Trump to act on to keep America from this digital tyranny.

Source: InfoWars

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China’s car market to return to growth this year, executives say

April 17, 2019

New cars are seen at a parking lot in Shenyang
FILE PHOTO: New cars are seen at a parking lot in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China, January 16, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

April 17, 2019

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s car market will return to growth in the second half of this year due to government support although the days of high single or double-digit growth are over and consolidation is likely, senior automotive executives said on Tuesday.

The predictions from executives including the head of Mitsubishi Motors on the first day of the Shanghai Autoshow point to a vehicle market that is heading for more balanced growth, especially if the trade war with the U.S. is resolved.

Automotive sales in China contracted for the first time last year since the 1990s as a slowing economy and the trade friction between Beijing and Washington affected consumer sentiment.

Recent moves by the Chinese government to cut taxes, carmakers’ plans for new model launches as well as the hopes that the U.S.-China trade spat will soon be resolved could start to turn things around, the executives said.

“We predict there will be negative growth in the first half this year, even double digit,” said Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd’s (GAC) general manager Feng Xingya.

“But due to government subsidies, carmakers’ discounts and better macroeconomic conditions, sales will turn to positive in the second half,” he said.

The decline in Chinese automotive sales has already started to slow. They fell by 5.2 percent in March, the smallest decline since August 2018.

“It’s only natural for the China market to transition to slower growth,” Mitsubishi Motors’ Chief Executive Osamu Masuko told Reuters in an interview, saying that the market was showing some “level of maturity.”

“Going forward the market still has more growth left in it, but it will likely grow moderately. Growth of 5-6 percent a year on a consistent basis might not be that easy to achieve.”

UNEVEN GROWTH

The opening day of the autoshow was marked by launches of new sports utility vehicles from carmakers such as General Motors Co and Daimler, aimed at rejuvenating customer interest with fresh designs in the fast-growing market segment.

Some firms were more optimistic with luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce Motor Cars saying that it would likely achieve double digit sales-growth in China again this year, although below 2018 levels.

But others predicted that more pressure is to come as Beijing institutes tough rules to transform the industry which could kick off a round of consolidation or prompt some to leave the Chinese market.

“That’s more likely to happen to small, non state-owned players who really don’t have a whole lot to offer,” said GM’s China President Matt Tsien, adding that it could extend to some foreign players.

The government has this year tightened the screw on makers’ ability to add manufacturing capacity and is instituting electric car production quotas for automakers to combat pollution.

“But I don’t believe the number is going to be significant, Tsien said. “Because at the end of the day this is still one of the most attractive markets in the world. And everybody wants to be here.”

(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu, Yilei Sun, Joseph White, Aditi Shah and Edward Taylor; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Aaron Sheldrick)

Source: OANN

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China’s Xi, in scandal-plagued Chongqing, praises city’s achievements

April 17, 2019

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China April 1, 2019. Kenzaburo Fukuhara/KYODONEWS/Pool via REUTERS

April 17, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping offered praise on Wednesday for what he called the achievements of the southwestern city of Chongqing, one of the country’s most important cities, hit by two major graft scandals in recent years.

Chongqing has been ground zero for Xi’s war against graft, with two of its former Communist Party chiefs, both once seen as contenders for China’s top offices, jailed for corruption.

On a visit to the city, Xi “gave affirmation to the achievements Chongqing has made in its work”, the official Chongqing Daily said, after he heard a report from party and government officials.

Xi said he hoped that the city could ensure party instructions are fully implemented and continue to create a “pure and honest political ecology”, the paper added.

“Cultivate a team of high-quality cadres who are loyal and clean,” it paraphrased Xi as saying. “Maintain high pressure on punishing corruption and consolidate the overwhelming victory in the anti-corruption struggle.”

Last year, a court sentenced former Chongqing party boss Sun Zhengcai to life in prison for corruption.

Before being jailed, Sun had been abruptly removed from his post, and replaced by Chen Miner, who is close to Xi.

Another former Chongqing party boss, Bo Xilai, was jailed in 2013 for bribery, corruption and abuse of power in a dramatic scandal kicked off by his wife’s murder of a British businessman.

The Chongqing Daily report said Chen attended the meeting in Chongqing with Xi, but did not say if Xi had directly talked about the cases of Sun or Bo.

Xi has presided over a sweeping corruption crackdown since coming to power in 2012, vowing to target both “tigers” and “flies”, a reference to elite officials and ordinary bureaucrats.

The campaign has led to the jailing or punishment of thousands of officials and brought down dozens of senior party and military officials.

Beyond issues of bribery and use of public money to funds lavish lifestyles, the anti-corruption effort has taken aim at those who express doubt in public about party policies or are found lacking in political loyalty.

China has rebuffed criticism that the campaign is as much about settling political scores as about stamping out criminal acts.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: OANN

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Notre Dame: Media Claim Prosecutors Have ‘Ruled Out Arson’ Before Start Of Police Investigation

April 17, 2019

Dozens of media outlets are claiming Paris prosecutors’ office has “ruled out arson” less than 24 hours after the Notre Dame Cathedral fire was extinguished, though that doesn’t appear to actually be the case.

From AP:

The Paris prosecutors’ office says investigators are treating the blaze that destroyed part of Notre Dame as an accident for now.

The prosecutors’ office said late Monday they have ruled out arson in Monday’s fire, including possible terror-related motives for starting the blaze.

Prosecutors say Paris police will conduct an investigation into “involuntary destruction caused by fire.”

TIME Magazine, under the headline “Prosecutors Rule Out Arson at Paris’ Famous Notre Dame Cathedral as Firefighters Extinguish Blaze,” had this line as their source:

“There is no indication that this was a deliberate act,” Paris prosecutor Rémi Heitz told a press conference Tuesday morning, adding that investigators considered an accident the most likely cause.

That’s not the same as “ruling it out.”

Contrast those reports with this one from German media site DW: “Notre Dame fire was likely accident, not arson — prosecutor“:

“Nothing suggests that it was a voluntary act … We are favoring the theory of an accident,” Heitz told reporters, adding that a team of 50 people were working on a probe into how the fire started.

He said the investigation would likely be “long and complex.”

Here’s a snapshot of coverage from Google News:

To be clear, I doubt they’d even tell the public if this was revealed to be arson, but claiming the police have already definitively ruled it out appears to be flat out false.

As to the arson angle, The Sun reported earlier this month that 875 churches were vandalized in France just last year.

Multiple fires have broken out just recently:

If Muslims or leftists started this fire — and I’m not saying they did — revealing that to the public could kickstart a revolution.

As it stands now, Macron — who has been down in the dumps in the polls for over a year and desperately trying to shut down the yellow vest protests — is getting to pose as a great unifier.

Source: InfoWars

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No-frills no longer: GM’s China brand Baojun attempts a major makeover

April 16, 2019

FILE PHOTO: Shen Yang, general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, attends a Baojun launching event in Shanghai
FILE PHOTO: Shen Yang (3rd R), general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, a joint venture of General Motors and its Chinese partners, attends a Baojun launching event in Shanghai, China April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Yilei Sun/File Photo

April 16, 2019

By Yilei Sun and Norihiko Shirouzu

LIUZHOU, China/BEIJING (Reuters) – By many measures, General Motors’ China brand Baojun has been an exceptional success story, growing at breakneck speed by selling low-cost no-frills vehicles in smaller cities and rural areas.

But as Chinese consumer tastes shift away from basic and affordable, Baojun is engineering a different image for itself – launching mid-market models that will sport a redesigned logo and be sold through new or revamped showrooms.

The move is aimed at ensuring Baojun has offerings in the 100,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan ($15,000-$22,300) range that holds the most potential for the brand, said Mike Devereux, executive vice president at SGMW, GM’s venture with Chinese partners SAIC Motor Corp and Guangxi Automobile Group.

“When you look at what might happen in terms of some of the shrinking segments, you are going to make sure you don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” he told Reuters in an interview.

The first model off the block is the RS-5 SUV, which went on sale last week.

More sleekly designed than other Baojun vehicles, it is the first to feature semi-autonomous driving technology and will be priced from 96,800 yuan to 132,800 yuan. By comparison the most expensive model under Baojun’s old badge is priced from 85,800 yuan to 117,800 yuan.

Another three models will be rolled out this year, Devereux said, declining to provide further details on the cars.

GM executives and analysts see Baojun’s move upmarket as a natural progression as the brand seeks to stay relevant to younger consumers.

It is also supported by a large existing customer base. Most of Baojun’s sales are in smaller and less economically developed cities, but those were areas few Western automakers sought to target and the brand, which only got its start in 2011, rocketed to sales of almost 1 million in 2017.

Amid a slowing economy, sales slipped last year to around 840,000, accounting for 23 percent of GM vehicles sold in China.

For a graphic, click: https://tmsnrt.rs/2X5Th9E

Han Dehong, senior sales manager at SGMW, said the venture had been exploring a makeover of the Baojun brand since 2014 in tandem with a wide-ranging overhaul of its R&D, supply chain and distribution system.

“Younger groups have become the main force of consumer spending in our society and we need to respond to this new younger wave with brand upgrades and revamped models,” he said.

NEW SHOWROOMS, BIGGER CITIES

Compared to 10 years ago when there few models in the mid-market price range, competition has become fierce. Popular models include Toyota Motor Corp’s Corolla and Volkswagen’s Lavida. VW’s newly launched Jetta brand, which like Baojun is a China-only brand, is expected to also be sold in the same range.

“Baojun will need a competitive edge,” said Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight, noting that Volkswagen is known for quality, Geely Automobile Holdings is known for design while Great Wall Motor vehicles offer roomy interiors.

To set itself apart, the revamped Baojun brand will emphasize self-driving technology and internet connectivity, GM officials said.

The new models will be sold in 365 new or refurbished showrooms, equivalent to 60 percent of Baojun stores across China. The brand will also strengthen its presence in bigger cities like Chengdu, Tianjin and Nanjin.

A new mobile phone app was also recently launched, allowing customers to arrange a test drive and buy the new models online.

GM officials declined to say how much the automaker had invested in the new models, the logo redesign and new stores.

The move upmarket for Baojun is partial as some cheaper models will still carry the old Baojun badge although others will be folded into the Wuling brand, – the other marque sold by SGMW, said Matt Tsien, GM’s chief in China.

Tsien said GM had little concern that a more upmarket Baojun might eat into sales of GM’s Chevrolet as Chinese customers interested in buying a Chevy tend not to be attracted to domestic brands.

Roughly equivalent vehicles would also be priced differently. Whereas the most expensive version of the RS-5 will cost 132,800 yuan, the Chevy Equinox SUV will start from 174,900 yuan.

“No matter how far you take Baojun, Baojun is still going to be domestic, it’s going to focus on the local market here and it’s going to still represent very good value for customers,” said Tsien.

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Norihiko Shirozhou; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

Source: OANN

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Astronomers discover third planet in the Kepler-47 circumbinary system

April 16, 2019

Astronomers have discovered a third planet in the Kepler-47 system, securing the system’s title as the most interesting of the binary-star worlds.

Using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, a team of researchers, led by astronomers at San Diego State University, detected the new Neptune-to-Saturn-size planet orbiting between two previously known planets.

With its three planets orbiting two suns, Kepler-47 is the only known multi-planet circumbinary system. Circumbinary planets are those that orbit two stars.

The planets in the Kepler-47 system were detected via the “transit method.” If the orbital plane of the planet is aligned edge-on as seen from Earth, the planet can pass in front of the host stars, leading to a measurable decrease in the observed brightness. The new planet, dubbed Kepler-47d, was not detected earlier due to weak transit signals.

As is common with circumbinary planets, the alignment of the orbital planes of the planets change with time. In this case, the middle planet’s orbit has become more aligned, leading to a stronger transit signal. The transit depth went from undetectable at the beginning of the Kepler Mission to the deepest of the three planets over the span of just four years.

The SDSU researchers were surprised by both the size and location of the new planet. Kepler-47d is the largest of the three planets in the Kepler-47 system.

Astronomers discover third planet in the Kepler-47 circumbinary system
Artistic rendition of the Kepler-47 circumbinary planet system. An overhead view of the orbital configuration. Credit: NASA/JPLCaltech/T. Pyle

“We saw a hint of a third planet back in 2012, but with only one transit we needed more data to be sure,” said SDSU astronomer Jerome Orosz, the paper’s lead author. “With an additional transit, the planet’s orbital period could be determined, and we were then able to uncover more transits that were hidden in the noise in the earlier data.”

William Welsh, SDSU astronomer and the study’s co-author, said he and Orosz expected any additional planets in the Kepler-47 system to be orbiting exterior to the previously known planets. “We certainly didn’t expect it to be the largest planet in the system. This was almost shocking,” said Welsh. Their research was recently published in the Astronomical Journal.

With the discovery of the new planet, a much better understanding of the system is possible. For example, researchers now know the planets in this circumbinary system are very low density—less than that of Saturn, the Solar System planet with the lowest density.

While a low density is not that unusual for the sizzling hot-Jupiter type exoplanets, it is rare for mild-temperature planets. Kepler-47d’s equilibrium temperature is roughly 50 o F (10 o C), while Kepler-47c is 26 o F (32 o C). The innermost planet, which is the smallest circumbinary planet known, is a much hotter 336 o F (169 o C).

The inner, middle, and outer planets are 3.1, 7.0, and 4.7 times the size of the Earth, and take 49, 87, and 303 days, respectively, to orbit around their suns. The stars themselves orbit each other in only 7.45 days; one star is similar to the Sun, while the other has a third of the mass of the Sun. The entire system is compact and would fit inside the orbit of the Earth. It is approximately 3340 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Cygnus.

“This work builds on one of the Kepler’s most interesting discoveries: that systems of closely-packed, low-density planets are extremely common in our galaxy,” said University of California, Santa Cruz astronomer Jonathan Fortney, who was not part of the study. “Kepler47 shows that whatever process forms these planets—an outcome that did not happen in our solar system -is common to single-star and circumbinary planetary systems.”

Norm Pattis joins Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson to give his take on the recent arrest of Julian Assange.

Source: InfoWars

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3.5-Million-Year-Old Comet to Reveal Solar System Secrets

April 16, 2019

A small chunk of a 3.5 million-year-old comet found nestled securely inside a meteorite could potentially contain the building blocks of life, a new study has revealed.

“It gave us a peek at material that would not have survived to reach our planet’s surface on its own, helping us to understand the early solar system’s chemistry,” Carnegie Institution for Science’s Larry Nittler explained of the comet sliver’s fortuitous journey to Earth.

The meteorite has been dubbed ‘LaPaz Icefield 02342’ and belongs to “a class of primitive carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that have undergone minimal changes” since being formed over 4.5 billion years ago outside Jupiter’s orbit.

Previously discovered similar meteorites have been found to contain organic compounds like water and amino acids and nucleobases, which are the building blocks of protein and DNA, and allowing scientists incredible insight into the development of the early solar system.

Alex Jones reveals the truth behind China’s exploration of the dark side of the moon, an adventure that, in all likelihood, has already been carried out by covert, American run space programs.

Research on the incredible find suggests particles migrated from the outer edges of the solar system to the closer area beyond Jupiter where the carbonaceous chondrites formed, giving fresh insight into how our solar system operated as the planets were forming.

“When I saw the first electron images of the carbon-rich material [inside the meteorite], I knew we were looking at something very rare,”said Jemma Davidson of Arizona State University’s Center for Meteorite Studies. “It was one of those exciting moments you live for as a scientist.”

Meteorites derive from asteroids, and both the comets and asteroids in our galaxy are formed from the gas and dust that used to surround the sun. They form in different parts of space, though, which gives them a different composition: Comets tend to form further from the sun and contain more carbon and water ice.

The researchers conducted chemical and isotopic analysis of the material and determined it had likely come from the icy outer solar system along with objects from the Kuiper Belt, where many comets originate.

Although Islamic terrorism and threats against Christians are on the rise in Europe, the MSM appears ready to censor any opinions that the fire at Notre Dame may have been a terror attack. Alex breaks down how even French officials are now questioning the true motives of this tragedy.

Source: InfoWars

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Daimler suspends Mercedes franchise in China after customer complaint goes viral

April 16, 2019

FILE PHOTO: A Mercedes Benz logo is pictured at a Mercedes Benz branch in Stuttgart
FILE PHOTO: A Mercedes Benz logo is pictured at a Mercedes Benz branch in Stuttgart, Germany, April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo

April 16, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – Germany’s Daimler has suspended a local sales franchise for its Mercedes-Benz brand in China after a customer complaint about service from the dealership went viral on social media.

Daimler said in a statement on Tuesday that the dealership in Xi’an city in the northwestern province of Shaanxi had reached an agreement with the customer and was investigating its customer service and business operations, and had suspended the franchise in the meantime.

It made no further comment about the move, which came after a video emerged on Chinese social media showing an unhappy Chinese customer protesting at a dealership, and which also prompted a critical response from regulators.

In the video, the customer complained that a car she had recently bought was leaking oil and that she was subsequently treated poorly by the dealer, highlighting poor consumer rights in the world’s second largest economy.

She also said she had paid a “financial service fee” of 15,000 yuan ($2,235) to an employee at the dealership when she bought the car.

China’s banking and insurance regulator has asked Mercedes-Benz’s car finance unit to investigate its dealership arrangements, state media said on Tuesday.

Car dealers should not be allowed to collect so-called financial services fees and should make efforts to protect customers’ rights, China National Radio quoted Pang Xuefeng, an official from China’s Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, as saying.

(Reporting by Min Zhang and Sun Yilei in Beijing and Lee Chyen Yee in Singapore; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: OANN

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Flowers bloom in war-torn Syria’s battered cities

April 16, 2019

People visit a cemetery in al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo
People visit a cemetery in al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

April 16, 2019

By Angus McDowall

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) – A mantle of gold smothers Aleppo’s ruins, hiding the rubble and filling the craters with wild flowers that for a moment seem to transform a landscape scarred by war, destruction and death.

After an unusually wet winter, the warm days of spring have suddenly brought an abundance of color and life to a weary Syria, blooming in city and desert.

But they blanket a scene of war. The hummocks and dells are piles of debris, barricades, craters and trenches. The flowers grow where people once lived, fought, died.

Eight years of conflict have killed perhaps half a million people, destroyed whole towns and city districts and made half of all Syrians homeless.

In most parts of the country, the fighting is now over – at least for now. President Bashar al-Assad holds most of Syria, including the city of Aleppo, taken after months of bitter fighting in 2016.

However, Kurdish-led groups hold northeast Syria, and, in the northwest near Aleppo is the frontline with the last big rebel stronghold, where there has been bombardment in recent weeks. 

The war destroyed much of Aleppo’s beautiful Old City and many poor eastern districts, leaving neighborhoods of rubble and fallen stone.

In the remains of the Attariyeh section of the souk, where the stone roof collapsed, a young couple sat on a pile of stones courting in the warm evening air, the sun illuminating the yellow flowers and picking out the woman’s red headscarf.

The steep sides of the ancient citadel’s round hill in the center of the city are thick with blooms and families gather at sunset to stroll or sit.

“It’s God’s message to make everything beautiful after mankind destroyed everything,” said Majd Kanaa, 35, standing at the end of a souk alleyway where he was repairing his late father’s shop, ready to reopen.

BUTTERFLIES, SWALLOWS, FROGS, STORKS

Clouds of butterflies, russet, black and white, flutter from the undergrowth and bees hum round the flowers. Flocks of swallows flit from the sky to roost in the ruins.

At night, in the fields and olive groves just outside the city, a cacophonous croaking of frogs drowns out the noise of cars from a road lined with cypress and pine trees.

Along the road from the south, precariously held for years by the army with rebels on one side and Islamic State on the other, the fighting left a chain of fortifications.

The war has moved far from here and these are now mostly deserted. Grass and flowers grow thick between the oil drums, sandbags and stacked tires guarding the old gun emplacements and concrete boxes.

Yellow broom, purple thistles and fat red poppies spring from the desert floor and paint it a psychedelic swirl of color. In one place, a huge patch of ground seems to bleed with thousands of poppies springing from the softly undulating earth.

“In Syria we believe that poppies are the blood of the martyrs,” said Aleppo lawyer and historian Alaa al-Sayed, explaining that their Arabic name comes from a dead king. “There are so many martyrs,” he added.

In the hills beyond the poppies are the pretty pointed mud domes of traditional “beehive” villages and young shepherds watching flocks of sheep and goats.

When the strong west wind ruffles the ground in the late afternoon, it makes the grass shimmer. Flocks of small birds suddenly rise from the ground and bob in the air. Migrating storks beat their wings in the distance.

Little electricity means little light, and at night the heavens are lit by a sharp crescent moon and brilliant constellations of stars. A fox slinks across the desert road in the light of car headlights.

But from time to time they also illuminate the burnt-out wrecks by the roadside, the remains of battles past, while two heavy trucks bear tanks onwards to today’s front line.

(Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Source: OANN

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Ford’s China JV Changan eyes sales rebound at end-2019: president

April 16, 2019

FILE PHOTO: People walk by a Ford Escape SUV displayed during the media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai
FILE PHOTO: People walk by a Ford Escape SUV displayed during the media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

April 16, 2019

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s China Changan Automobile Group expects sales at its joint venture with Ford Motor Co to rebound at the end of this year as the U.S. automaker boosts its China product line, Changan’s president said on Tuesday.

Zhu Huarong made the comment to Reuters on the sidelines of the Shanghai Autoshow.

Ford earlier this month announced that it plans to launch more than 30 new models in China over the next three years as it seeks to reverse slumping sales in the world’s biggest auto market.

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh)

Source: OANN

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