A new study shows that Greenland's ice sheet is melting at an "unprecedented" rate.

Greenland's massive ice sheets contain enough water to raise global sea levels by 23 feet, and a new study shows that they are melting at a rate "unprecedented" over centuries -- and likely thousands of years.

The study, published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature, found that Greenland's ice loss accelerated rapidly in the past two decades after remaining relatively stable since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s.
Today, Greenland's ice sheets are melting at a rate 50% higher than pre-industrial levels and 33% above 20th-century levels, the scientists found.

In the wake of October's dire report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that civilization has just more than a decade to stave off climate catastrophe, Thursday's report spells more bad news for the planet, especially the millions of people living near the world's oceans.
Melting from Greenland's ice sheet is the largest single driver of global sea level rise, which scientists predict could swamp coastal cities and settlements in the coming decades.
Eight of the 10 largest cities in the world are near coasts, and 40% to 50% of the global population lives in coastal areas vulnerable to rising seas.

The study also found that Greenland's ice loss is driven primarily by warmer summer air and that even small rises in temperature can trigger exponential increases in the ice's melt rate.

"As the atmosphere continues to warm, melting will outpace that warming and continue to accelerate," said Luke Trusel, an assistant professor at Rowan University and study co-author.

According to Trusel, the current thought in the scientific community is that there is a temperature threshold that could trigger a point of no return for the eventual melting of Greenland and Antarctica's ice sheets. And though we don't know exactly what that temperature tipping point is, "what's clear is that the more we warm, the more ice melts."

"Once the ice sheets reach these tipping points, it's thought that they'll go into a state of irreversible retreat, so they'll be responding to what we do now for centuries and milliennia into the future," Trusel said.

The arrest of a top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei at the request of the US government has angered Beijing, alarmed investors and raised new doubts about the fragile truce that the leaders of the world's top two economies reached just days ago.

"You have to see this as a significant escalation in the trade war," said Christopher Balding, a China expert at the Fulbright University Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City.

Viewed by US intelligence agencies as a national security threat, Huawei is one of China's most prominent tech companies. It sells more smartphones than Apple (AAPL) and builds telecommunications networks in countries around the world.

Canadian authorities said late Wednesday that Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, had been arrested in Vancouver and that the United States is seeking her extradition.

The US and Canadian governments haven't specified what charges Meng faces, but her arrest follows reports this year that the US Justice Department was investigating whether Huawei violated American sanctions on Iran.

"Under the Obama administration, the US indicted Chinese personnel on similar charges, but was reluctant to take more drastic action such as arresting the individuals in third countries, over fear that Beijing would retaliate against US interests in China or in other countries," Eurasia Group political risk analysts wrote in a note.

Meng's arrest "suggests that the gloves are now fully off in this arena," the analysts said.

What happens next to Meng, the daughter of Huawei's reclusive founder, could have huge repercussions for the US-China relationship and Huawei's business.

What does it mean for the trade war?

The arrest comes as the US and Chinese governments are discussing ways to tackle problems that led to their trade conflict, which has resulted in new tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods.

"This type of action will affect the atmosphere around the negotiations — making them less likely to bring a sustainable settlement," the Eurasia Group analysts said.

China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday it was confident a trade agreement with the United States could still be reached in time to hit a 90-day deadline set by President Donald Trump.

But the Chinese government is clearly angry about Meng's arrest. The Foreign Ministry called on the United States and Canada to "immediately correct the wrongdoing" and restore her "personal freedom."

The big question is what Beijing and Washington do now. Analysts suggest China could retaliate, and the Trump administration may be preparing other moves against Chinese interests.

The stakes are extremely high.

"This case is like a sharp tug on a loose thread that could be part of an unraveling of the relationship," said Scott Kennedy, an expert on the Chinese economy at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. "Both sides need to proceed with abundant caution and a clear sense of their long term interests."

Technology is at the heart of the trade war. The Trump administration says the huge waves of tariffs it has slapped on Chinese goods are part of an effort to stop China from getting its hands on American technology unfairly through practices like cybertheft and forcing companies to hand over trade secrets.

The return to the negotiating table follows a ceasefire reached at a dinner between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Saturday.

Balding pointed out that the deal was reached the same day that Meng was arrested in Canada.

"That is very politically embarrassing to Xi," he said. "It has to be considered an escalation."

What does it mean for Huawei?

The arrest is one of the strongest moves yet against Huawei by US authorities.

The company is largely shut out of supplying telecommunications equipment to US carriers. American officials have repeatedly alleged that the Chinese government could use Huawei products for espionage — claims the company denies.

Meng's case "could be a prelude to further action against the firm and its senior officials," Eurasia Group analysts said.

Huawei's smaller rival, ZTE (ZTCOF), provides an example of how the US government could go further. The Chinese company was crippled for months after the US Commerce Department blocked it from buying vital parts from American companies.

The ban threatened to put ZTE out of business and highlighted China's continued reliance on American technology, a vulnerability Beijing is eager to reduce. ZTE eventually got a reprieve after Xi personally asked Trump for help. But the crisis caused disruption for telecommunications carriers ZTE supplies around the world.

A similar ban on Huawei would have a bigger impact because its equipment is more widely used.

A Huawei stand at an artificial intelligence conference in Shanghai. The company is one of China's leading tech businesses, filing huge numbers of patents.

Huawei said in a statement about Meng's arrest that it "has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng."

"Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, US and EU," it added.

The next moves in Meng's case are key.

"There is a lot of legal and diplomatic wrangling ahead," Balding said. "The US and Canada would not have taken this move lightly and it puts everything in a brand new light."

Rare JRR Tolkien poem The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun to be republished

Early version of Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings can be seen in this take on a medieval Breton ballad, out of print for 70 years

Santa Claus sits in his chamber at the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, the provincial capital of Finnish Lapland and situated on the Arctic Circle.

1. Malta

Visiting presepju, or nativity scenes, is an integral part of Christmas in Malta. Every year, residents proudly open their shutters, and sometimes even their garage doors, to display their holy crib confections to the public.

On a grander scale, the Bethlehem f'Ghajnsielem is a life-size nativity spread over 20,0000 square meters of formerly abandoned fields.

Inhabited and animated by more than 150 actors, including entire families, the village takes visitors back in time to Judea of 2,000 years ago, complete with oil lamps, turn mills, grazing animals, crafts areas teaching traditional skills and folklore, a tavern and, of course, a grotto housing baby Jesus.

Downtown Valletta is also home to a lively Christmas spirit, with carolers singing outside the Baroque St. John's Co-Cathedral during Advent, and a dizzying display of Christmas lights on Republic Street.

The Manoel Theater is well known for its annual Christmas pantomime. (Old Theatre Street, Il-Belt Valletta, Malta; +356 2124 6389)

A visit to the privately owned Malta Toy Museum, featuring dolls, soldiers, train sets, and clockwork tin trinkets dating as far back as the 1790s, is a heartwarming homage to childhood. (222 Republic St, Valletta, Malta; +356 2125 1652)

Downtown Valletta, Malta, is filled with Christmas spirit. Visitors can check out carolers singing outside the Baroque St. John's Co-Cathedral during Advent and a dizzying display of Christmas lights on Republic Street. Click through the gallery for 14 more great Christmas vacation destinations

2. Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona's Copa Nadal is a 200-meter swimming competition across the harbor on Christmas Day.

Anyone who can manage to extend their Christmas holiday until Three King's Day (January 6 in 2019), can catch up with Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar in Barcelona.

On the evening of January 5, they arrive at the city's port on the Santa Eulalia -- their very own ship -- in bearded and velvet-robed splendor. Cannons are fired, fireworks are set off, and as the mayor hands them the keys to the city, the magic of the Magi officially commences.

They parade through the streets in a magnificent cavalcade of floats that includes camels, elephants, giraffes and dazzling costumes.

3. Salzburg and Oberndorf, Austria

Is this Christmas or Halloween in Salzburg? You'll have to go there to find out.

Birthplace of Mozart and filming location for "The Sound of Music," Salzburg is chocolate-box perfect. Think snow-capped mountains, Baroque architecture and traditional Christmas markets.

It's even the home of "Silent Night." The popular hymn was performed for the first time in nearby Oberndorf on Christmas Eve 1918.

The town also plays host to a more unusual Yuletide tradition. Across Austria and Bavaria, in December people dress up as terrifying Alpine beasts known as krampuses and rampage through the streets in search of naughty children in need of punishment.

The Krampus Runs in Salzburg are held on various dates in December.

A poem “from the darker side of JRR Tolkien’s imagination”, which hints at an early version of the elf queen Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings, is due to be published for the first time in more than 70 years this November.

Tolkien’s The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, which was published in 1945 in literary journal The Welsh Review and has been out of print ever since, is a lengthy poem in the tradition of the medieval lay, inspired by the Celtic legends of Brittany. It tells of a couple who are desperate for a child. Aotrou visits a witch “who span dark spells with spider-craft, / and as she span she softly laughed”. She gives him a potion and his wife bears twins. But riding through the forest, he meets the witch again. Now transformed from a “crone” into a beautiful woman, the Corrigan – a generic Breton term for a person of fairy race – says he must marry her or die.

From the darker side ... Laura Michelle Kelly as Galadriel and James Loye as Frodo in the 2007 adaptation of The Lord Of The Rings at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

He refuses and dies three days later. His wife then dies of grief. “And if their children lived yet long, / or played in garden hale and strong, / they saw it not, nor found it sweet / their heart’s desire at last to meet.”

HarperCollins, which will publish the poem along with Tolkien’s other poems about the Corrigan on 3 November, called it “an important non Middle-earth work to set alongside his other retellings of existing myth and legend”. These include The Story of Kullervo, a teenage Tolkien’s retelling of a Finnish epic poem, and his 200-page poem The Fall of Arthur.

According to Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of the author, the earliest manuscript for The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (Breton for “lord and lady”, explains Carpenter) is dated September 1930.

HarperCollins said: “The sequence shows the Corrigan’s increasingly powerful presence, as she takes an ever more active role in the lives of Aotrou and Itroun … She would finally emerge, changed in motive and character but still recognisable, in The Lord of the Rings as the beautiful and terrible Lady of the Golden Wood, the Elven queen Galadriel.” It added that the poem comes “from the darker side” of Tolkien’s imagination.

In the poem, the Corrigan’s voice is described as “cold / as echo from the world of old, / ere fire was found or iron hewn, / when young was mountain under moon”, echoing the cold beauty of Galadriel.

Tolkien annotated map of Middle-earth acquired by Bodleian library

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Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger, a professor emerita at the University of Maryland, is editing and introducing the new edition, which also includes a new preface from Christopher Tolkien. Flieger called it “dark, powerful, compelling, a significant departure from the Tolkien we think we know”.

It is derived, said Flieger, “from a well-known folkloric tale-type of the human who strays into the Faerie world and who pays the price, such as the ballads of Tam Lin and Thomas Rhymer”. Although there are Irish and Welsh versions of the story, she says that Tolkien’s version is closest in subject matter to the Breton ballad Lord Nann and the Corrigan, which the author owned a copy of.

With a flurry of “new” works by Tolkien released over the last decade, from 2007’s Middle-earth story The Children of Hurin, to the 2014 release of his translation of Beowulf, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun “is worthy of publication now for several reasons”, said Flieger. “First, it is a fine example of Tolkien’s poetic power and his ability to handle different verse forms – in this case the octosyllabic rhyming couplets of French romance, which he also used for The Lay of Leithian from his own legendarium.” The Lay of Leithian is a long poem telling the story of Tolkien’s Middle-earth characters Beren and Lúthien.

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, said Flieger, vividly shows the author’s interest “in paganism and in the dark side of what he called Faerie, the perilous realm or Otherworld of enchantment.” She said it will also give Tolkien’s readers “his most developed example of a folklore archetype I will call The Dark Lady, the beautiful but malevolent fay or fairy who preys upon humans, and thus foreshadows his Guinevere, described as ‘fair as fay-woman in the world walking for the woe of men’.”

In his JRR Tolkien: Author of the Century, Tom Shippey writes that the poem is animated by the question of how far a believing Christian could go “in dealings with pre- or non-Christians”. While the poem is derived from a late Breton ballad, he writes, “what seems original to Tolkien is the poem’s stern morality”, because in Tolkien’s version the death of Aotrou “is deserved, or at least prompted by [his] attempt to sway Providence by supernatural forces”.

“Aotrou’s sin lay not in submitting to the Corrigan,” he writes. “It lay in having any dealings with her at all.”

Over 40s 'have more babies' than under 20s

Women over 40 are having more babies than the under 20s for the first time in nearly 70 years, official figures for England and Wales show.

The Office for National Statistics data showed there were 697,852 live births in 2015.

There were 15.2 births per 1,000 women aged over 40, compared with just 14.5 per 1,000 women in their teens.

The last time the over 40s had the higher fertility rate was in 1947, in the wake of WWII.

The figures show two key trends in who is having children and when in England and Wales.

What U.S.-Russian cooperation in space might look like in ten years: a moon base.

Iconic grunge band Temple of the Dog is reuniting for their first ever tour. The band originally consisted of Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron from Soundgarden, with Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Mike McReady from Pearl Jam. Vedder's name is omitted from the press release and video, so he may not be taking part in the reunion.

The band's first and only album was released in 1991 and the band is using the tour to celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the record. Cornell started the band as a tribute to Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. Wood died of a heroin overdose in 1990. Cornell enlisted the help of Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament who were Wood's bandmates in Mother Love Bone.

Behind the singles "Hunger Strike" and "Say Hello to Heaven" the album would eventually go platinum in the US and Canada. The record initially sold poorly, but saw a resurgence in popularity following Pearl Jam's sudden rise to fame in 1992.

The fully reformed band will play 5 shows across the US in November. Full list of dates and venues are at templeofthedog.com.

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CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi's death, official says

(CNN)Emmanuel Macron is braced for one of the toughest tests of his 18-month presidency on Saturday with planned protests over rising fuel taxes set to bring France's roads to a halt.

Opposition has mounted to France's spiraling fuel costs, which has seen diesel prices surge 16% this year from an average €1.24 ($1.41) per liter to €1.48 ($1.69), and even hitting €1.53 in October, according to UFIP, France's oil industry federation.

A grassroots movement -- dubbed the "gilets jaunes" or "yellow vests" in reference to the hi-vis safety vests worn by drivers -- has galvanized motorists up and down the country, who are now threatening to cause blockages on arterial road networks.

Agence France-Press reports that 700 blockages are planned for Saturday, while website www.blocage17novembre.com states that protests are planned in all 95 of France's mainland departments.

A petition on Change.org has also received more than 850,000 signatures, calling on the French government to lower the cost of fuel.

The price hike is in large caused by a leap in the wholesale price of oil, with Brent Crude oil -- a benchmark for worldwide oil purchases -- increasing by more than 20% in the first half of 2018 from around $60 a barrel to a peak of $86.07 in early October.

French protesters are however not directing their anger at Opec for reducing oil production, or at the US administration for implementing tariffs on Iran, crippling its oil exports.

Macron is instead bearing the brunt of widespread French chagrin, with many protesters furious at the current leader's extension of hostile environmental policies implemented under François Hollande's government.

Notably, taxes were increased by 8 centimes last January on diesel, and by 4 centimes on petrol. Tax on diesel will also increase by another 6.4 centimes in 2019, and by 2.9 centimes for petrol. These rises follow many decades of under-taxation of diesel in France.