text: Exploring deep space or colonizing Mars could be far more difficult than previously believed, according to new research looking at cancer-causing cosmic rays.
  Health scientist Frank Cucinotta teamed up with Eliedonna Cacaoat, of the University of Las Vegas, to investigate the effect of cosmic rays. In the study, published in the journal Nature, the team examined results of previous studies into tumors in mice and found that the animals were twice as susceptible to cancer in deep space than previously thought.
  The team believes previous studies failed to recognise that cosmic rays can spread from both the directly affected cell to secondary cells, damaging the DNA and turning them, too, into cancerous cells.
  Shielding methods were also said to have only “modestly decreased” the amount of radiation the mice were exposed to.
  Cosmic rays, which can also cause cataracts, nerve damage and problems with blood circulation, are made up of high-energy atomic and subatomic particles that emanate from exploding stars and black holes.
  Astronauts are exposed to much higher radiation levels than people on Earth, as the planet’s atmosphere provides a natural protection from harmful energy. Crew members aboard the International Space Station are also protected by the Earth’s magnetic field which diverts cosmic rays away from Earth’s orbit.
  While there are “significant differences” between the cancer rates in mice and humans, the findings could still hinder manned deep-space exploration in the future.
  Various agencies are developing methods of withstanding the effects of radiation in space, including a radiation-absorbent vest and a satellite capable of deploying an artificial magnetic shield to divert radiation away from a chosen site.
  NASA is aiming to send human missions to Mars in the 2030s, while China has said it hopes to get there sooner, beginning with its first independent Mars landing mission in 2020.
  CNN to continue broadcasting in Russia as long as US HQ doesn’t incite it to breach laws – watchdog — RT World News
  The company broadcasting CNN International in Russia can continue operations after it rectified previous violations of local media laws, the Russian communications watchdog has announced. It has promised, however, to monitor the company’s further compliance.
  "Claims against CNN have been dropped, the channel will continue its work in Russia," head of the Roskomnadzor regulator, Aleksandr Zharov, told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday.
  The official said the decision had been made after the watchdog studied documents received from the company in connection with the case.
  Violations of Russian media law, connected with wrong license data shown on screen during broadcasts, had been eliminated, Zharov explained, saying that such breaches "happen often" and are considered to be fairly minor.
  "Roskomnadzor will continue to monitor the compliance of the American company's activities with Russian law," he added.
  The regulator's specialists "are checking whether a direct or indirect influence of CNN headquarters in Atlanta leads to the company's Russian broadcast violating Russia's laws," Interfax quoted Zharov as saying.
  "If such violations are detected, we will be compelled to take measures against CNN," the official added.
  The Roskomnadzor chief has previously said that "the procedure of recalling a media license is initiated only after two warnings, and it's done through court." On this occasion, the US company received an administrative warning.
  Recently, Russian media operating in the US, including RT, have come under pressure from Washington. The US Department of Justice last month sent a letter to a company providing for the needs of RT America, demanding that it register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The conditions in which the US branch of RT is placed make its work there impossible, RT's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, has said.
  Pointing out that such pressure on Russian media violates freedom of speech, Moscow has not ruled out retaliatory measures if the crackdown continues. On Monday, the Russian Justice Ministry warned the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that several of its services might be restricted in Russia.
  The authorities said that the measure comes in response to Washington's recent moves against Russian media in the US, and warned the organization that its activity falls under the Russian law on NGOs whose operations are regarded as those of a foreign agent.
  However, in the case of CNN, the communications regulator has previously stated it "wouldn't like one to draw parallels between the activities of Roskomnadzor and the activities our colleagues from the US Justice Department conducted regarding [Russian] media."
  A man with three wives is accused of having plotted with them to kill a 14-year-old girl he sexually abused. Two of the women allegedly dressed up as ninjas and attempted to murder the victim before she could testify against him in court.
  Kain Blackwing, 47, was charged Thursday with three counts of solicitation for aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder. All the charges are in the first degree and are the result of him conspiring to murder a teenager who accused him of forcible sexual abuse in 2014, KSL reported.
  It was four days before the trial was to begin when Blackwing instructed two of his wives, Raven Blackwing, now 24, and an unnamed woman, now 19, to dress all in black and break into the teen’s house to murder all the occupants. Raven Blackwing, formerly known as Madeline Baker, and the other woman were found armed with a stun gun, knife, plastic wrap, matches, a screwdriver, syringes, tourniquets and formalin.
  Their bizarre toolkit served a purpose. After spending time monitoring the girl’s home in West Jordan, Utah, the two women planned to suffocate the teenager with the plastic wrap and stage a heroin overdose for the other two occupants.
  The teenager was staying with her mother and her mother’s fiance, Jeremy Beck, who is Blackwing’s half-brother, according to the New York Daily News.
  “She came at me with a stun gun, and I instinctively blocked it with my arm, and I hit her in the head, then proceeded to jump on top of her,” he told KUTV.
  The two women apparently had not been prepared to fight a ninja, because Beck was able to use a samurai sword he kept on the wall.
  “I grabbed my sword on the mantle, unsheathed it and told her to sit down, that if she moved, she would lose body parts,” Beck said.
  Both Raven Blackwing and the other woman were tried and convicted for the incident in 2015. They were both charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and retaliation against a witness or victim. The other woman received probation, which she has since completed, while Raven received up to 15 years in Utah State Prison.
  However, it was not until Thursday that Kain Blackwing and his third wife, Theresa Baker, had been charged. Theresa, also known as Diana Blackwing, is believed to have assisted Kain in plotting the murder.
  Blackwing was convicted of abusing that teenager and in 2015, faced similar charges from one of his wives. That woman also claimed to have met Kain when she was a teenager and he taught her “fighting and survival skills.” He allegedly claimed to have been a “Shen lord,” a god and required his wives to call him “Lord.”
  He also allegedly told the women that “if he ever bonded with a woman she became his and the only way out of the relationship was death,” the charges state.