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World

CGTN: UK regulators pull license of Chinese state-owned broadcaster

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Media regulator Ofcom said Thursday that it had withdrawn the channel’s license after an investigation “concluded that the license is wrongfully held by Star China Media Limited.”

Ofcom said that Star China Media Limited did not have “editorial responsibility” for the channel’s output, and therefore “does not meet the legal requirement of having control over the licensed service.” Star was acting as the distributor, rather than the provider of the news channel, it added.

The regulators also rejected a proposal by CGTN to transfer the license to a new entity after finding that it would ultimately be controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and therefore be disqualified under UK law.

“We’ve provided CGTN with numerous opportunities to come into compliance, but it has not done so. We now consider it appropriate to withdraw the license for CGTN to broadcast in the UK,” an Ofcom spokesperson said.

The channel will be removed from UK airwaves with immediate effect. CGTN has the right to request a judicial review, according to an Ofcom spokesperson, and they could apply for another license in the future.

Ofcom previously ruled that CGTN repeatedly breached impartiality standards with its coverage of protests last year in Hong Kong.
CGTN was launched in 2016. It says it provides “global audiences with accurate and timely news coverage as well as rich audiovisual services, promoting communication and understanding between China and the world, and enhancing cultural exchanges and mutual trust between China and other countries.”

Headquartered in Beijing, CGTN has three production centers in Nairobi, Kenya, Washington D.C. and London.

CGTN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Science

There Is One Way Humans Could ‘Safely’ Enter a Black Hole, Physicists Say

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To solve the mysteries of black holes, a human should just venture into one.

However, there is a rather complicated catch: A human can do this only if the respective black hole is supermassive and isolated, and if the person entering the black hole does not expect to report the findings to anyone in the entire Universe.

 

We are both physicists who study black holes, albeit from a very safe distance. Black holes are among the most abundant astrophysical objects in our Universe.

These intriguing objects appear to be an essential ingredient in the evolution of the Universe, from the Big Bang till present day. They probably had an impact on the formation of human life in our own galaxy.

A person falling into a black hole and being stretched. (Leo Rodriguez/Shanshan Rodriguez/CC BY-ND)

Two types of black holes

The Universe is littered with a vast zoo of different types of black holes.

They can vary by size and be electrically charged, the same way electrons or protons are in atoms. Some black holes actually spin. There are two types of black holes that are relevant to our discussion.

The first does not rotate, is electrically neutral – that is, not positively or negatively charged – and has the mass of our Sun. The second type is a supermassive black hole, with a mass of millions to even billions times greater than that of our Sun.

Besides the mass difference between these two types of black holes, what also differentiates them is the distance from their center to their “event horizon” – a measure called radial distance.

A person falling into a supermassive black hole would likely survive. (Leo & Shanshan Rodriguez/CC BY-ND)

The event horizon of a black hole is the point of no return. Anything that passes this point will be swallowed by the black hole and forever vanish from our known Universe.

At the event horizon, the black hole’s gravity is so powerful that no amount of mechanical force can overcome or counteract it. Even light, the fastest-moving thing in our Universe, cannot escape – hence the term “black hole”.

The radial size of the event horizon depends on the mass of the respective black hole and is key for a person to survive falling into one. For a black hole with a mass of our Sun (one solar mass), the event horizon will have a radius of just under 2 miles (3.2 kilometres).

A person approaching the event horizon of a a Sun-size black hole. (Leo and Shanshan Rodriguez/CC BY-ND)

The supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, by contrast, has a mass of roughly 4 million solar masses, and it has an event horizon with a radius of 7.3 million miles or 17 solar radii.

Thus, someone falling into a stellar-size black hole will get much, much closer to the black hole’s center before passing the event horizon, as opposed to falling into a supermassive black hole.

 

This implies, due to the closeness of the black hole’s center, that the black hole’s pull on a person will differ by a factor of 1,000 billion times between head and toe, depending on which is leading the free fall.

In other words, if the person is falling feet first, as they approach the event horizon of a stellar mass black hole, the gravitational pull on their feet will be exponentially larger compared to the black hole’s tug on their head.

The person would experience spaghettification, and most likely not survive being stretched into a long, thin noodle-like shape.

Now, a person falling into a supermassive black hole would reach the event horizon much farther from the the central source of gravitational pull, which means that the difference in gravitational pull between head and toe is nearly zero.

Thus, the person would pass through the event horizon unaffected, not be stretched into a long, thin noodle, survive and float painlessly past the black hole’s horizon.

Other considerations

Most black holes that we observe in the Universe are surrounded by very hot disks of material, mostly comprising gas and dust or other objects like stars and planets that got too close to the horizon and fell into the black hole.

These disks are called accretion disks and are very hot and turbulent. They are most certainly not hospitable and would make traveling into the black hole extremely dangerous.

 

To enter one safely, you would need to find a supermassive black hole that is completely isolated and not feeding on surrounding material, gas, or even stars.

Now, if a person found an isolated supermassive black hole suitable for scientific study and decided to venture in, everything observed or measured of the black hole interior would be confined within the black hole’s event horizon.

Keeping in mind that nothing can escape the gravitational pull beyond the event horizon, the in-falling person would not be able to send any information about their findings back out beyond this horizon. Their journey and findings would be lost to the rest of the entire Universe for all time. But they would enjoy the adventure, for as long as they survived … maybe ….

Leo Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Physics, Grinnell College and Shanshan Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Physics, Grinnell College.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

 

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US

Ignoring calls to pull back, Gaetz slams Cheney in her home state

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“Defeat Liz Cheney in this upcoming election, and Wyoming will bring Washington to its knees,” he told a group of hundreds of spectators, many of whom did not wear masks. “How can you call yourself a representative when you don’t represent the will of the people? That’s what all the neocons ask about the Arab dictators. I figure maybe we ought to ask the same question of a beltway bureaucrat turned fake cow girl that supported an impeachment that is deeply unpopular in the state of Wyoming.”

Gaetz revealed his intention to campaign against Cheney after she and nine other House Republicans voted to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection on the Capitol. The measure was the most bipartisan impeachment in U.S. history. But the move against a president who has become a rousing figure for his party sparked vitriol, with calls for Cheney’s ouster from her leadership position among the caucus’ right flank.

But talk of impeachment made only a glancing appearance in Gaetz’s rally Thursday. The congressman mostly opted to portray Cheney as in cahoots with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democrats like President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to sustain a status quo that works for Washington at the expense of main street America. He accused Cheney of being out of touch with the cowboy values of her home state of Wyoming, calling himself a supporter of “prairie populism.”

“The truth is that the establishment in both political parties have teamed up to screw our fellow Americans for generations,” Gaetz said. “The private insider club of Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney, they want to return our government to its default setting: enriching them.”

The claim that Cheney and her Democratic counterparts are batting for the same team came in contrast with the congresswoman’s simultaneous introduction Thursday of legislation challenging Biden’s recent executive order on energy production.

Gaetz also attacked Cheney for the role her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, played in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He disparagingly called Liz Cheney a “neocon,” saying she advocated unnecessary wars in the Middle East.

“The neocons say we got to fight them abroad so we don’t have to fight them at home,” Gaetz said. “I was going to say that maybe we ought to fight the neocons at home so we don’t have to fight them in Washington, D.C. But that’s problem, isn’t it, because the neocons are home at Washington, D.C.”

“The real cowboys, I guess, fought the Indians so they could use the land, but what are America’s soldiers even fighting for that Liz Cheney sends around the world?” he added. “Places that most Americans couldn’t even point to on a map.”

Much of the event followed Trump’s rally playbook, with talking points mirroring the former president’s bombastic public comments. Trump frequently expressed his contempt for Cheney while he was president, telling his supporters shortly before they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6: “We’ve got to get rid of the weak congresspeople, the ones that aren’t any good, the Liz Cheneys of the world.”

At one point, Gaetz even echoed Trump’s disdain for developing countries in a dig at Congress, saying: “A nation that sends its best to fight in the worst nations in the world should not send its worst to be its representatives in the United States Congress.”

Cheney’s team has largely brushed off Gaetz’ attacks, with one member of her office telling CNN this week: “Rep. Gaetz can leave his beauty bag at home. In Wyoming, the men don’t wear make-up.” (The dig is an apparent reference to Gaetz’s use of makeup in an HBO documentary about his time in office).

In a statement to POLITICO, former Wyoming State Rep. Amy Edmonds put it equally bluntly Thursday: “Wyoming doesn’t like it when outsiders come into our state and try to tell us what to do.”

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Sports

3 observations after Sixers pass their biggest test yet, pull off dramatic win over Lakers

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Though Wednesday night’s game was never going to provide a definitive answer to whether the Sixers are a bona fide NBA title contender, it was the team’s most significant early-season test yet.

The Sixers just about passed it, earning a 107-106 win over the defending champion Lakers to improve to 13-6.

Tobias Harris’ pull-up jumper on the Sixers’ last possession won the team the game and saved it from what would’ve been a bitterly disappointing loss.

Up 14 points with a little over five minutes to go, the Sixers late-game execution simply wasn’t good enough as they seemed more eager to watch the clock wind down than score.

“It shouldn’t have gotten that close,” Danny Green said. “We were up double digits most of the game and us growing and showing some maturity, hopefully, throughout the season we’ll keep that lead and keep our foot on the gas. But we had too many lapses, too many lulls of not playing solid offense and moving the ball, too many turnovers and bad shots on goal. And then defensively, just a couple lapses.”

Harris ultimately saved the day, and an off-balance Anthony Davis heave at the buzzer came up short. 

“I’m a person that visualizes myself in those spots,” Harris said. “When the opportunity came, we came out of the timeout and me and Seth (Curry) were talking and basically discussing how they’re more likely to switch that pick-and-roll coming off if Joel (Embiid) isn’t open, and just let me iso at the top and get to my spot.

 

“That’s a shot I work on time and time again. In those moments, being confident enough to let it go and being OK with the result. Tonight, it fared well.”

LeBron James posted 34 points, six rebounds and six assists in a losing effort, keeping Los Angeles competitive throughout the game. 

The win is the 2020-21 Sixers’ best thus far, an impressive response to the notion that their place at the top of the Eastern Conference is attributable to an easy schedule. 

Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey was not at the game as he’s working remotely because of COVID-19 contact tracing unrelated to the Sixers, according to a report from The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey. 

The Sixers next play on Friday night, a road matchup against the Timberwolves. Here are observations on their win over the Lakers: 

Simmons vs. James

Ben Simmons was in attack mode from the jump, scoring six of the Sixers’ first nine points, quickly eating up the ample space James gave him to operate and setting the tone well. 

James was predictably the focal point of the Lakers’ offense, and he burned Simmons and the Sixers’ zealous defense early by scoring off of multiple back cuts. James’ sense for when and how to use his wide array of skills remains special; he’s a basketball genius who happens to have extraordinary physical gifts. His aggression was necessary in the first half as Los Angeles shot 1 for 11 from three-point range and received no meaningful scoring from anyone besides James and Davis. 

Though James scored much more than his mentee, Simmons left his mark on the game in many ways, recording a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. 

“He was huge,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “The numbers will say the offense, but the defense and all these other little things he did was unbelievable. He’s playing great. It’s funny, on his low-scoring nights, you look at the game film and he’s flying all over the place.

“The stuff he does for us, the winning things he does, it’s hard to put into numbers, and unfortunately we’re in this numbers generation where everything’s numbers. His brilliance sometimes is missed by a lot of people.”

Green said after the Sixers’ shootaround Wednesday that he sees why people link James and Simmons, but that he thinks it’s “unfair” to compare anyone to James. We think that’s a reasonable assessment. 

Embiid’s eventful evening 

It didn’t take long for Embiid to frustrate Marc Gasol, the man who guarded him during his career-worst 0-for-11 performance last season, as the 35-year-old picked up a technical foul in the first quarter for objecting to an Embiid and-one. The Sixers’ All-Star center started rolling after that, squaring up and making his move in the post before double teams could arrive. 

 

Rivers left Embiid in for over 10 minutes and played him in a lineup with no true power forward. That unit was excellent as the Sixers shaded help in the direction of whichever man was facing a size disadvantage on a particular defensive possession and continued to cook offensively, gaining a 34-18 lead. 

The non-Embiid minutes that followed were a lot less fruitful for the Sixers as the Lakers went on an 8-0 run. Dwight Howard missed four throws during that stretch and didn’t play well, prompting Rivers to insert Simmons as his team’s defensive center. A member of the Los Angeles bench yelled out “No rim protection” upon seeing that decision and, with all due respect to Simmons and his diverse defensive talents, the sentiment wasn’t wrong. 

That said, the Sixers were at least able to muster some offense and stabilize things a bit when Simmons replaced Howard. Rivers’ willingness to use Simmons at center is certainly a notable development; perhaps it’s a look the Sixers will start incorporating more if they envision featuring it in the playoffs. Rivers did give Howard his normal backup center minutes in the second half. 

The Sixers welcomed back Embiid’s ability to draw fouls (along with his many other skills, of course) after he missed the team’s loss Monday to the Pistons with back tightness. Embiid was 11 for 13 from the foul line and is now averaging 10.9 free throw attempts per game through 15 contests. 

Embiid (28 points, six rebounds, four assists) had an injury scare in the third period when he went up for a dunk and fell hard to the floor after James made contact with his chest. He pounded his fist into the floor and got up gingerly but stayed in the game and made both free throws. James was called for a Flagrant 1 foul, though Embiid said after the game he thought the 16-time All-Star should’ve been ejected.

Embiid was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul of his own about a minute later when he hit Davis in the face with an elbow while looking to draw a foul on a drive. 

Complementary pieces step up 

In a star-centric game, the Sixers won in large part because their complementary players were better overall than the Lakers’.

At an important juncture early in the third quarter, Harris drove into Gasol’s body and laid the ball in to give the Sixers a 57-53 lead. Harris (24 points on 10-for-16 shooting) and Green (14 points on 5-for-11 shooting) both drained three-pointers shortly thereafter, helping the Sixers build their advantage back up to 12 points, forcing a Lakers timeout and removing some of the uneasiness that might have stemmed from the Lakers’ second-quarter comeback. 

Though the Lakers didn’t go away, Harris was vital again later in the third, converting a lefty layup, stopping Davis one-on-one twice in the post and enabling the Sixers to maintain their lead. His All-Star case certainly grew a little stronger Wednesday night, especially with his clutch jumper to cap a high-drama game.

 

“I hope we do all make it together,” Harris said when asked about himself, Embiid and Simmons possibly all being All-Stars. “Obviously, this season we’ve been playing great basketball as a team. We have the MVP on our team in Joel. He’s been playing lights-out since Day 1. Ben has been a great player. This year he’s been playing at a great pace, really dictating everything and defensively, offensively, doing his thing all around.

“I hope we do all make the game. For myself, I’ve always just been about winning and letting that handle itself, but I’ve been playing consistently at an All-Star level every night. I’m not one to always toot my own horn but in the past I’ve had a couple times where I felt like I should’ve been there and didn’t make it, so that would be my little pitch for it right there.”

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