Donald Trump said during his campaign that he would, if elected president, convince the air-conditioner manufacturer Carrier not to shutter a plant in Indiana and move over 2,000 jobs to Mexico.
Trump was elected, and he has evidently made good on that pledge. Or at least some of the pledge.
Carrier said late Tuesday that it would keep more than 1,000 jobs across two locations in Indiana. (Besides the Carrier plant, a facility operated by parent United Technologies was also facing cuts.)
This Trump deal follows a negotiation he reportedly had with Ford about what the president-elect erroneously thought was a plant relocation to Mexico. It was really just an altered plan by Ford to keep manufacturing a Lincoln vehicle at a Louisville, Kentucky, plant where the automaker wanted to increase production of a similar SUV badged as a Ford.
Ford wasn't considering the production move until 2019, when the current United Auto Workers contract is up. And no jobs would have been lost as a result of the move, according to Ford.
These are wins of a sort for Trump, but a pattern is emerging.
The art of the deal
Some of the Carrier and United Technologies jobs are being saved. Some of the Lincoln production — around 2,000 vehicles per month — is staying put in Kentucky.
It should be fairly clear what's going on here. United Technologies said that it could save $65 million a year by moving, but it has $56 billion in annual revenue, according to The New York Times. Indiana will provide $700,000 in tax incentives, but adding the whole thing up is a rounding error in terms of United Technologies' overall business.
Trump wants to make a deal because that what he does — he's a deal guy. His vice president is Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana. United Technologies keeps some workers in Indiana. Everybody gets to look good.
But, of course, a whole bunch of jobs are still going to Mexico: 1,300, Fortune reported. The outsourcing trend remains intact.
The Ford plant in Louisville.Bryan Woolston/Reuters
Ford didn't even have to worry about juggling jobs. All it had to do was not move production of a vehicle it wasn't planning to move for three years anyway. The Lincoln production could also be discontinued at the Louisville plant, replaced with production of the vehicle that Ford had wanted to build, the Ford Escape. It's basically the same car.
There isn't much that changes in terms of Ford's long-term thinking about sending unprofitable vehicle production to Mexico. Ford has, after all, been operating plants in Mexico since the 1960s.
We're talking about only two announcements here, so it may be a stretch to call it a pattern. But if this is the way things are going to go, Trump is going to be spending a decent amount of time and energy negotiating deals that tweet well, but that aren't really what you'd call needle-moving in the grand scheme of things.
Maybe as president he'll up the stakes. Then again, companies that have planned to use NAFTA to their financial advantages will learn what works with Trump — give away something, but keep the master plan intact.
THESE fearsome-looking teeth aren’t just for show. This common fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta) is an aggressive hunter, and members of its species have been observed eating fish one-third their size. It has the largest teeth of any marine species relative to the size of its body.
German photographer Solvin Zankl snapped the 20-centimetre-long fish when he joined a deep sea expedition off the African island nation of Cape Verde in November 2015.
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Marine biologists on board the German research vessel Maria S. Merian took net samples between 150 and 1000 metres down and Zankl photographed the species they collected in a temperature-controlled tank.
Solvin Zankl/naturepl.com
The fangtooth is found 500 to 5000 metres below the surface in tropical and temperate oceans. The two middle fangs on its lower jaw grow so long, they have to slot into sockets on either side of its brain when it closes its mouth.
However, these hunters are also vulnerable to predation by bigger fish such as tuna and marlin, and so they use their dark colour as camouflage in the murky depths.
The expedition found many other bizarre deep sea creatures. Zankl also snapped a see-through octopus, a strange flattened fish and a squid with a single, bulging eye.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Ready for its close-up”
IT IS one of the planet’s last true wildernesses, yet a handful of the world’s wealthiest nations are plundering its riches to satisfy the appetites of luxury consumers – all with the help of billions in public money.
The great blue wilderness in question is the “high seas” – the 58 per cent of the ocean outside the 200-nautical-mile limit that defines the area each coastal country can exploit as an exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The vast majority of the high seas is a fishing free-for-all with almost no legal protection, but now a bold idea is taking root: why not ban fishing there altogether?
The plan might seem an impossible conservation dream, especially with a new US president who has rejected internationalist foreign policy and environmental protections, but it has been gaining momentum. At the Our Ocean conference, hosted by the US Department of State in Washington DC in September, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke warmly about the notion of placing the high seas off limits. Turning this vast area of ocean into a marine protected area would be “an extraordinary step”, he argued.
The notion has obvious appeal for conservationists, but that isn’t enough by itself. The fact that talk of a ban has reached diplomatic circles is testament to the persistence of a handful of marine scientists who have steadily built the ecological, economic and social case underpinning it.
The idea was put on the map in 2014 by Christopher Costello at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who tackled one of the chief objections. Seafood is a vital source of ...
Buckland fought for a dependable supply of fish for the UK’s poorest
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
By Stephanie Pain
BIG bushy beard: check. Bizarre childhood: check. House stuffed with exotic and sometimes scary animals (not all stuffed): check. In the roll call of Victorian eccentrics, a man who dissects his dad, dines on fried viper and roast giraffe and tries to become a salmon must rank somewhere near the top.
Thanks to Richard Girling’s biography, my current favourite nutty naturalist is Frank Buckland: surgeon, zoologist, pioneering fish farmer. What gives him the edge is that for all his wacky ways, he was tireless in his search for knowledge about the natural world and for the best of reasons. Buckland wanted to find better sources of food to feed the poor and became a tireless champion of fish. He never made the grade academically yet became a respected expert, sell-out speaker and hugely popular writer.
Buckland was never going to be ordinary. He grew up among piles of fossils, bones and a menagerie of strange animals because his father was the equally eccentric William Buckland, the University of Oxford’s first geology professor and an eminent churchman. It was Buckland senior who instigated the family interest in improving the nation’s diet. Dinner might include hedgehog, horse, puppy – even crocodile, turtle or half-rotten bear. Surrounded by animals alive, deconstructed or on his plate, Buckland junior began his own investigation of the natural world.
Throughout his life, Buckland observed, dissected and tasted. Secondhand facts weren’t good enough: he had to find out for himself. There was nothing he wouldn’t taste. Roasted field mice made “a splendid bonne bouche for a hungry boy”. Boa constrictor tasted like veal. Kangaroos were an ideal source of good meat, with their long tails better than oxtail. But earwigs were “horribly bitter”.
Decomposing panther wasn’t a huge success either. Hearing that the panther at a friend’s zoo had died, “I wrote… at once to tell him to send me down some chops. It had, however, been buried a couple of days, but I got them to dig it up… It was not very good.”
Buckland’s eating habits make for entertaining reading, but there are other reasons to remember him. He had hoped to do good as a surgeon, but spent much of his time as unofficial vet at London Zoo (a good source of previously untasted species) until he threw himself into the cause that occupied the rest of his life: fish.
“Earwigs were ‘horribly bitter’ to eat and decomposing panther was not a huge success either”
Buckland founded the UK’s Acclimatisation Society to identify and introduce new food crops and animals. But he quickly concluded that the best way to feed protein-starved families was to ensure a dependable supply of fish.
He developed techniques for hatching fish eggs, hoping to restock depleted rivers. He spelled out why so few rivers supported salmon: most were filthy. “Manufacturers of all kinds of materials… seem to think rivers are convenient channels kindly given to them by nature to carry away… the refuse of their works.”
Weirs were another problem, preventing salmon returning upriver to spawn. Those that did make it were poached before they could breed. Buckland tackled every problem, river by river – even wading in to see for himself the obstacles salmon face.
He identified threats to coastal fisheries and argued for government-sponsored research. “We shall keep stumbling and blundering along until there are no fish left to catch, unless we at once grasp the lamp of science and guided by its light, boldly strive to find out for ourselves what actually is going on.”
When Buckland wasn’t leaping into rivers, he was writing a stream of articles that changed how people looked at the natural world. Nature, he convinced a previously uninterested public, was to be admired and protected. In his lifetime he was revered. After he died, he was forgotten. But unlike the panther, Buckland was well worth digging up again. And if you want to know why he dissected his dad, read the book.
The Man Who Ate the Zoo: Frank Buckland, forgotten hero of natural history
Richard Girling
Chatto & Windus
This article appeared in print under the headline “A curious life”
President-elect Donald Trump is down to his final four candidates in a drama-filled search for his secretary of state.
Republican National Committee Communications Director Sean Spicer told reporters during a Wednesday morning press call that Trump was down to four candidates for the administration post. Spicer said no additional appointments are expected this week.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported the search was down to five candidates: 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker, former CIA Director David Petraeus, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, who is meeting with Trump on Wednesday.
It's not clear which of the four is out of the running. But in addition to Kelly, Romney, Corker, and Petraeus all had recent meetings with Trump to discuss the post. Giuliani, an early favorite for the post, has seemingly fallen out of favor over the past few weeks.
Following a high-profile dinner with Trump last night, Romney told reporters he has "increasing hope" the president-elect can lead the US to a "better future."
"What I've seen through these discussions I've had with President-elect Trump, as well as what we've seen in his speech on the night of his victory, as well as the people he's selected as part of his transition — all of those things combined give me increasing hope that President-elect Trump is the man who can lead us to that better future," Romney said.
But while Romney is viewed as the frontrunner by many, some within Trump's camp, such as senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, have criticized Romney for ridiculing Trump throughout the campaign.
Corker, a Tennessee Republican, seemed to needle Romney following a meeting the senator had with Trump at Trump Tower on Wednesday, noting that the head of the State Department must be extremely loyal to the president.
"The secretary of state's role is so important to a president," Corker told reporters, according to a pool report. "He needs to choose someone that he's very comfortable with and he knows that there's going to be no daylight between him and them. He needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president."
Asked whether Trump told him about a timeline for the decision, Corker said they "didn't talk about that."
And following his meeting with Petraeus, who pleaded guilty in 2015 to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information, Trump tweeted that he "was very impressed!"
But the idea of Petraeus serving as secretary of state, after Trump and fellow Republicans lambasted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information as secretary of state, has been criticized. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky on Wednesday said he didn't know how Senate Republicans could confirm the ex-CIA director "with a straight face."
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney arrives to talk with reporters after eating dinner with President-elect Donald Trump at Jean-Georges restaurant, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, in New York.AP Evan Vucci
Mitt Romney had some glowing words about President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday night after the two men met for dinner in New York.
Romney is one of the top candidates to be Trump's secretary of state. Speaking to the press on his way out of the Jean-Georges restaurant in Manhattan Tuesday night, Romney said that he believes the president-elect "can lead us to that better future."
The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee applauded the Trump transition team and the incoming president for his Cabinet selections thus far. He specifically praised South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected as UN ambassador, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who got the nod for attorney general, and Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, who was chosen Tuesday to be Trump's health and human services secretary.
Romney added:
"What I've seen through these discussions I've had with President-elect Trump, as well as what we've seen in his speech on the night of his victory, as well as the people he's selected as part of his transition — all of those things combined give me increasing hope that President-elect Trump is the man who can lead us to that better future."
Romney met with Trump earlier this month and has seemingly emerged as a frontrunner for the secretary of state position. Trump has also met in recent days with former CIA Director David Petraeus and Sen. Bob Corker about the position. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was an early favorite for the job, but he has seemed to fall out of favor over the past few weeks.
The Romney development caught many by surprise, both inside and outside of Trump's inner circle. The 2012 Republican nominee was one of Trump's harshest critics, at one point calling him a "phony" and a "fraud" on the campaign trail.
Word of Romney's potential appointment was met with rhetorical boos from Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway last week. She continued her public crusade against Romney on the Sunday political talk shows, warning Trump that his supporters would feel "betrayed" if he selected Romney. Trump was reportedly "furious" at her public comments.
Watch Romney's comments below:
WATCH: @MittRomney addresses reporters following dinner with President-elect @realDonaldTrump. #Breaking #KellyFile pic.twitter.com/eWakmDTnuU
Entomologist Richard Toft searching for great white butterflies in Nelson, New Zealand
Tim Cuff/Alamy
By Alice Klein
Bye bye butterfly. New Zealand has become the first country to successfully eradicate an invasive butterfly species.
The great white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) is found in Europe, Africa and Asia. A member of the species was spotted in New Zealand for the first time in 2010.
An elimination plan was soon launched by the government to protect agricultural crops from being destroyed by the invaders.
Before morphing into a butterfly, P. brassicae starts out as a caterpillar that feeds voraciously on brassica crops – including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts. It can also eat New Zealand’s 79 native cress species, 57 of which are at risk of extinction.
“The caterpillars feed in groups on a wide range of host plants and will completely defoliate a plant, and can travel more than 100 metres to find another,” says Jaine Cronin at New Zealand’s department of conservation.
Without swift intervention, the butterfly was predicted to spread rapidly through the country.
Bounty hunters
Between 2010 and 2014, the department of conservation carried out more than 263,000 searches of 29,000 properties in Nelson on the South Island, where the pest was first discovered, to wipe them out. The species is thought to have arrived by ship at the city’s port.
To encourage children to join the eradication effort, the department also offered a NZ$10 bounty for every dead great white butterfly brought in during the 2013 spring school holidays.
Children captured 134 great white butterflies, while department staff caught 3000 butterflies, pupae, caterpillars and egg clusters. Killing was done by hand or using insecticide spray, and care was taken not to destroy any native butterfly species. Wasps that attack P. brassicae were also released in 2015 to bolster the efforts.
Banished from New Zealand
S Sepp/New Zealand Department of Conservation
Since the NZ$3 million campaign finished in December 2014, careful searches have not found any more great white butterflies. “We’re confident we can declare them eradicated,” says Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.
“If none have been seen for two years despite intensive searches, that is a reasonable claim,” says Myron Zalucki at the University of Queensland, Australia.
The success of the programme was probably down to the butterflies being plucked out early, he says. In countries like Australia and the US where pest butterflies are widespread, it has not been possible to eradicate them. Similarly, another pest butterfly in New Zealand – the small white butterfly (Pieris rapae) – is believed to be too firmly established to eliminate.
New Zealand’s great white butterfly eradication is part of a larger scheme to remove all introduced pests. In July, the government announced that it would also wipe out all rats, stoats and possums by 2050.
Read more:Animal invaders on Europe’s kill list are set to be wiped out
US Rep. Tom Price of Georgia tearing a page from the national healthcare bill during a press conference at the US Capitol in 2012.Win McNamee/Getty Images
Rep. Tom Price of Georgia on Tuesday was nominated as the new secretary of health and human services by President-elect Donald Trump.
Price has an impressive record in the healthcare field, as a former orthopedic surgeon. He is also a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and perhaps signals Trump's seriousness in intending to dismantle the law.
"The Trump administration's mantra has been that the ACA is a disaster and the only way to fix it is to repeal and replace it, and this appointment seems to confirm that idea," Timothy Jost, a law professor and health-policy expert at Washington and Lee University and an advocate of the ACA, told Business Insider.
Price has been at the forefront of congressional fights to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's signature health law.
While Trump's own details on how to replace the law have been spotty, Price has written legislation called the Empowering Patients First Act, which would repeal most of the sections of Obamacare and shift toward what Republicans call a "market-based" approach.
How it would work
Price's plan would significantly restructure the benefits given to Americans without health insurance through their employer or the government. Price's plan structures these tax credits based on age brackets — $1,200 for people aged 18 to 35, and up to $3,000 for those 50 years and older. This is different from the ACA, which bases its tax credits on the income of the patient.
Another key aspect of Obamacare — one Trump has said he would consider keeping — that prevents insurers from denying coverage due to a preexisting condition, would change. Under Price's proposal, people would be able to continue coverage if they shifted from the employer market to the individual market, but only if they have no interruptions in coverage. Thus, a break in care would allow insurers to deny coverage to people with an illness.
For those that do not maintain that care, Price's plan would institute state-level high-risk pools to help cover them. The Price plan would provide $1 billion in federal funding to help control costs for these pools. The Commonwealth Fund, a nonpartisan health-policy think thank, estimates that these pools would require well over $170 billion a year in federal funding to cover those with ACA-based plans now, however.
Additionally, such high-risk pools typically have premium costs double those of normal individual market plans.
The expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare would also be rolled back under Price's plan, shifting roughly 15 million people from the government-sponsored insurance to the individual marketplace. The expansion provided coverage for those making roughly $16,490 and below annually. Even with a subsidy, questions loom over how affordable it will be for those people to obtain plans on the individual market.
In total, Price's proposal bears much of the same hallmarks of other Republican plans from congressional leaders, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, who called Price the "absolute perfect choice" for the position in Trump's Cabinet.
"We could not ask for a better partner to work with Congress to fix our nation's healthcare challenges," Ryan said in a statement.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
'Asking the fox to guard the hen house'
The appointment of Price has drawn criticism from Democrats and advocates of the Affordable Care Act. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Price's healthcare proposals are "far out of the mainstream of what Americans want."
"Nominating Congressman Price to be the HHS secretary is akin to asking the fox to guard the hen house," said Schumer's statement.
Jost said Price's proposals would, incidentally, end up hurting many of the people who elected Trump to the White House.
Price's plan "shows where we're heading," Jost told Business Insider. "It will help wealthier people and does nothing to help the working-class people who actually voted for Trump."
Critics point to potential rollbacks of provisions in the ACA that compel insurance companies to provide certain types of care, meaning insurance companies could exclude comprehensive coverage needed by sick people need. For older individuals, Price's plan would take away the provision linking what insurers can charge young people compared to seniors, providing the potential for insurers to jack up rates for older people with chronic-care needs.
Even for the majority of Americans that get their insurance through their employer, Jost said, might see their costs increase under a Price-type plan. Currently, those with insurance through their workplace do not pay federal taxes on premiums paid to these plans.
Price's plan would cap this at $20,000 for a family and $8,000 for an individual. While such a provision could hurt affordability for those with employer-based insurance, according to the Tax Policy Center, the exemption cost the federal government $250 billion in lost taxes in 2015.
Jost also suggested many of the provisions in Price's plan — such as state-level tribunals for malpractice cases and limitations on what patients may use in cases as evidence against a doctor — are designed to guard physicians from patients.
"The bill should probably be called 'Empowering Doctors First,'" Jost told Business Insider. "He's a doctor, and it's clear he is trying to shield doctors."
President-elect Donald Trump went head to head on Twitter with CNN anchor Jeff Zeleny over Trump's unfounded claims that there were "millions" of illegal votes cast in the 2016 election.
Zeleny referred to Trump as a "sore winner" in an on-air report Monday night, after the president-elect failed to provide any evidence of the rampant voter fraud that he asserted.
In response, Trump promoted a series of tweets from his supporters attacking Zeleny, including one that called the newsman a "part time wannabe journalist."
Zeleny fired back at Trump, challenging him to provide proof of his voter fraud claims: "@realDonaldTrump Good evening! Have been looking for examples of voter fraud. Please send our way. Full-time journalist here still working," Zeleny wrote on Twitter.
The argument stems from a missive Trump tweeted on Sunday without any evidence to back it up: "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
Trump's Twitter followers leaned in on Zeleny, and he promoted several of their tweets:
"@HighonHillcrest: @jeffzeleny what PROOF do u have DonaldTrump did not suffer from millions of FRAUD votes? Journalist? Do your job! @CNN"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
"@JoeBowman12: @jeffzeleny just another generic CNN part time wannabe journalist !" @CNN still doesn't get it. They will never learn!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
"@sdcritic: @HighonHillcrest @jeffzeleny @CNN There is NO QUESTION THAT #voterfraud did take place, and in favor of #CorruptHillary !"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
.@CNN is so embarrassed by their total (100%) support of Hillary Clinton, and yet her loss in a landslide, that they don't know what to do.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
Top election officials in states where Trump alleged voter fraud have rebuked his assertions, calling them "unsubstantiated."
The president-elect previously stoked claims of voter fraud in the weeks leading up to the presidential election, urging his supporters to be watchful of irregularities at the polls.
Before the election, Trump and his surrogates openly predicted that it would be "rigged."
Trump's latest allegations of fraud followed news that Wisconsin officials were preparing a vote recount that was requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Although Trump won the Electoral College 306-to-232 to beat Democrat Hillary Clinton, he trails by more than 2 million votes nationwide.
For its part, Clinton's campaign said it would participate in the recount despite having found no "actionable evidence" of impropriety in the polling.
Aspartame is used as a sweetener in many diet drinks
TMG/Getty
By Andy Coghlan
It may sound like a healthy switch, but sometimes people who drink diet soft drinks put on more weight and develop chronic disorders like diabetes. This has puzzled nutritionists, but experiments in mice now suggest that in some cases, this could partly be down to the artificial sweetener aspartame.
Artificial sweeteners that contain no calories are synthetic alternatives to sugar that can taste up to 20,000 times sweeter. They are often used in products like low or zero-calorie drinks and sugar-free desserts, and are sometimes recommended for people who have type 2 diabetes.
But mouse experiments now suggest that when aspartame breaks down in the gut, it may disrupt processes that are vital for neutralising harmful toxins from the bacteria that live there. By interfering with a crucial enzyme, these toxins seem to build up, irritating the gut lining and causing the kinds of low-level inflammation that can ultimately cause chronic diseases.
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“Our results are providing a mechanism for why aspartame may not always work to keep people thin, or even cause problems like obesity, heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” says Richard Hodin at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Irritating bacteria
Aspartame is used around the globe and many reviews have found it safe to consume. “Decades of scientific research, including human clinical trials, show that low-calorie sweeteners such as those in diet drinks, have been found to help consumers manage their calorie intake when part of an overall healthy diet,” said Gavin Partington, of industry body the British Soft Drinks Association. “These [latest] claims are being made by a study conducted on mice, and run contrary to the overwhelming body of scientific evidence.”
The enzyme in question is called intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP). “There’s a lot of it in our gut and it seems to protect us, enabling us to live symbiotically with bacteria,” says Hodin.
IAP works by neutralising lipopolysaccharides, bacterial toxins that can irritate the gut lining. But when Hodin’s team mixed IAP with drinks that contain aspartame in the lab, it blunted the enzyme’s activity. This didn’t happen when it was mixed with sugary drinks instead.
When the team injected aspartame into segments of mouse intestine, levels of IAP plummeted by 50 per cent.
Weight gain
The team also found evidence that, when consumed in combination with a fatty diet, aspartame may lead to greater weight gain in mice. When the group fed mice a high-fat diet for 18 weeks, those that were also given aspartame put on more weight than those that weren’t.
Mice fed aspartame also had higher blood sugar levels between meals. Failure to soak up excess blood sugar is an early sign of diabetes, and this was seen in aspartame-fed mice that received a normal-fat diet too.
Aspartame was also associated with higher levels of inflammation in the mice. “It adds another mechanism suggesting some artificial sweeteners might not be as inert in the human host as once believed,” says Eran Elinav, at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. His team has previously found evidence that some artificial sweeteners can change the balance and functioning of gut bacteria communities, leading to problems with glucose control.
“This research questions the effectiveness of sweeteners for weight reduction and adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting they might actually lead to weight gain,” says Katherine Jenner of UK campaign group, Action on Sugar.
Human tests needed
Hodin says his team’s findings may only apply to aspartame and not other sweeteners, because they don’t produce the same IAP-blocking chemical when they break down.
Researchers also caution that what has been observed in mice might not apply in people. “Validation of these various mechanisms and their possible effects on human health merit further clinical studies,” says Elinav.
The results do, however, also hint at a possible treatment for chronic diseases like metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Hodin and his colleagues say it might be possible to give people extra IAP, perhaps as a pill or supplement. In a 2013 study, they found that giving IAP to mice could prevent metabolic disease developing in mice given high-fat diets, and ease the symptoms of those already affected.
Journal reference: Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2016-0346
Read more: Sugar on trial: What you really need to know
Urgent action is needed to halt a global decline in pollinators which threatens economies and food supplies, a new review says.
The authors of a major United Nations report blame the decline of pollinators on habitat loss, climate change and farming methods.
Possible solutions include building “bee highways” to allow the insects to move freely between foraging locations, reducing “green deserts” – landscapes dominated by a single crop species – and helping farmers work with nature.
“We conducted the most thorough review of the science ever undertaken, sifting through all the available evidence, to provide governments with the best and latest evidence on pollinator decline,” says lead author Simon Potts, from the University of Reading, in the UK.
“The UN report is a good start, but now we need action,” he says. “We need governments, farmers, industry and the public around the world to act to stop further declines in bees and other pollinating animals.”
“It’s not all bad news for bees, and luckily we still have options to help. Doing nothing is a big risk that could endanger the global supply of nutritious foods and the livelihoods of millions of people.”
The report estimates that 1.4 billion jobs worldwide depend on pollinating insects such as bees, beetles and butterflies. Three quarters of the world’s crops, worth $500 billion, rely on nature’s pollinators, say the experts.
In addition, the report highlights how safety procedures for new pesticides and genetically modified crops could be tightened to protect beneficial wild insects.
Currently, regulators only require manufacturers to assess risks to managed honeybees, not wild species.
UN conservation talks
Pollinator decline will be high on the agenda at UN conservation talks taking place in Cancun, Mexico, next month.
Bee expert Norman Carreck, from the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex, says the report is “wide-ranging and novel”.
“It has been widely reported in the media that the human population would starve without bees,” Carreck says. “This is not true, because many of the world’s staple food crops are wind pollinated, but this review emphasises the complexity of the relationship.
“Animal pollinated crops supply many vital micronutrients and a lack of such crops due to pollinator decline could lead to deficiencies and other human disease.”
Lena Wilfert, senior lecturer in molecular evolution at the University of Exeter, in the UK, says the review shows that diverse pollinator populations are crucial for a wide range of factors influencing human well-being, beyond the immediate pollination of crops.
“Importantly, the work shows how ecological intensification of agriculture and ecological infrastructure can tackle the threats to pollinator diversity and abundance.”
Donald Trump with Kellyanne Conway during a visit to Goody's Restaurant on September 5 in Brook Park, Ohio.Associated Press/Evan Vucci
President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly furious over comments his former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has made about Mitt Romney, who is under consideration for the secretary of state post in his Cabinet.
Conway suggested Sunday that Trump supporters felt "betrayed" by the consideration of Romney for the post. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and 2012 Republican presidential nominee, had been one of the most vocal critics of Trump during the 2016 election.
Two high-level sources on Trump's transition team told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the president-elect was "furious" that Conway went rogue at Trump's expense "at the worst possible time." Aides are reportedly "baffled" by Conway's comments and concerned that "instead of driving Trump's message," Conway is "pushing her own agenda," according to the report, which was laid out on air by hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
One top aide described Conway's behavior as "dangerous."
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, the incoming chief of staff in Trump's administration, is also reportedly frustrated with Conway.
Conway responded to the MSNBC report by calling it "sexist" and saying she could have any job she wanted in a Trump administration.
Conway continued her public attacks on Romney over the weekend, telling CNN on Sunday that while she hoped Romney would be a gracious secretary of state if selected, his aggressive criticism of Trump during the primaries did not sit well with the president-elect's supporters.
"It's just breathtaking in scope and intensity the type of messages I have received from all over the country," Conway said. "The number of people who feel betrayed to think that Governor Romney would get the most prominent Cabinet post, after he went so far out of his way to hurt Donald Trump — there was the Never Trump movement, and then there was Mitt Romney."
She added: "If President-elect Trump chooses Mitt Romney as his secretary of state, or whomever he chooses, that will have the full support and backing of all of us. I respect the brilliance and judgment and sheer instincts of President-elect Trump to form his Cabinet as he wishes. But I felt compelled to come forward on behalf of the people who were weighing in."
Romney is reportedly Trump's top pick for secretary of state, but the infighting over Romney's potential appointment has reached a boiling point inside Trump's camp. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York is also under consideration, as are former CIA Director David Petraeus and Sen. Bob Corker.
Trump will meet with Petraeus in Trump Tower on Monday. He'll meet with Corker and Romney again on Tuesday, his transition team said.
Watch the 'Morning Joe' report below:
BREAKING - Sources: Trump 'furious' over Conway comments about Romney https://t.co/Sd4kogEPGz
President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday alleged a mysterious bloc of millions of "illegal" voters cast ballots for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton on Election Day, costing him the popular vote.
Clinton is likely to defeat Trump in the popular vote by over 2 million votes.
"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally," Trump wrote in a tweet Sunday, without providing any factual evidence to support his claim.
Various far-right sites known for peddling false or misleading information, like the conspiracy-riddled InfoWars, claimed following the election that close to three million immigrants living in the US illegally cast votes. Fact-checking sites like PolitiFact, Factcheck.org, and Snopes have all ruled that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Trump furthered the accusation on Sunday night by alleging in a subsequent Tweet that there was "serious voter fraud" in Virginia, New Hampshire, and California. No evidence of voter fraud in those states has surfaced as of yet.
This isn't the first time Trump has indulged his conspiratorial impulses about supposed voter fraud. Before the election, the president-elect frequently claimed that there was a "massive problem" with immigrants living without permission in the US voting despite providing no credible evidence to support his claim.
And despite lacking strong evidence, he also alleged voter fraud in the Florida Republican presidential primary and the Iowa caucuses. He too floated several different conspiracy theories claiming "dead voters" supported President Barack Obama's reelection in 2012.
Before it was apparent that he was slated to win on Election Day, Trump's attorneys were already preparing to challenge election results in Nevada, alleging poll workers in left-leaning precincts violated rules.
The president-elect's allegation came as infighting over Trump's pick for secretary of state spilled into the public view, and as he has refused to change his business practices to reduce potential conflicts of interest to the office of the presidency.
It also came as Wisconsin officials prepared for a possible recount of the state's presidential election initiated by a request from Green Party nominee Jill Stein. The Clinton campaign said it would participate in the recount, though it said it has not found "actionable evidence" of voting irregularities or hacking. It also suggested it didn't expect results to change.
Trump spent much of the weekend raging against Stein and the Clinton campaign amid the recount effort.
"Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change," Trump wrote in a Sunday tweet.
President-elect Donald Trump continued his screed against an election recount effort in Wisconsin in an hours-long tweetstorm that continued into Sunday morning.
In a series of tweets early Sunday, Trump predicted that nothing would come of a recount in Wisconsin initiated by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and tacitly endorsed by Hillary Clinton's lawyers.
"Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change," Trump wrote.
He continued by quoting an answer from Clinton during a presidential debate:
Hillary's debate answer on delay: "That is horrifying. That is not the way our democracy works. Been around for 240 years. We've had free --
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a -
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
during a general election. I, for one, am appalled that somebody that is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind --
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
of position." Then, separately she stated, "He said something truly horrifying ... he refused to say that he would respect the results of --
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
this election. That is a direct threat to our democracy." She then said, "We have to accept the results and look to the future, Donald --
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Trump is going to be our President. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead." So much time and money will be spent - same result! Sad
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Since winning the presidency earlier this month, Trump has made almost no public appearances and has not yet held a press conference. Yet the president-elect has largely maintained his prolific Twitter habits.
Since Clinton's lawyers announced Saturday that the campaign will participate in a recount, Trump has repeatedly taken to Twitter to denounce Stein and the Clinton campaign for participating in the recount.
For its part, the Clinton campaign said it would participate in Stein's recount in Wisconsin and would follow if similar steps are taken in Pennsylvania and Michigan. But campaign officials have tamped down expectations that the recount could change the results of the election.
In a post on Medium on Saturday, Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias wrote that because of a lack of "actionable evidence" of foul play, the campaign was not planning on initiating a recount on its own. He said the campaign joined Stein's recount in order to ensure the results were "fair to all sides."
"The campaign is grateful to all those who have expended time and effort to investigate various claims of abnormalities and irregularities," Elias wrote.
He added: "While that effort has not, in our view, resulted in evidence of manipulation of results, now that a recount is underway, we believe we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported."
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday ripped what he termed a "scam" effort from Green Party nominee Jill Stein aimed at requesting recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
In a statement labeling the recount request "ridiculous," Trump said "the people have spoken and the election is over."
"And as Hillary Clinton herself said on election night, in addition to her conceding by congratulating me, 'We must accept this result and then look to the future,'" Trump said.
In a tweet Saturday evening, Trump also chastised the "badly defeated & demoralized Dems" for joining the Green Party's efforts to "fill their coffers by asking for impossible recounts."
The Clinton campaign said it would participate in the recount despite not finding any "actionable evidence" of hacking or attempts to "alter voting technology."
"We had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides," Elias wrote.
In his statement, Trump highlighted the fact he won the vast majority of battleground states, total states, and the more than 2,600 counties in the country.
"This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than 1% of the vote overall and wasn’t even on the ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount," he said. "All three states were won by large numbers of voters, especially Pennsylvania, which was won by more than 70,000 votes."
"This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded, and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing," he continued.
Stein, along with another third-party candidate, filed petitions in Wisconsin on Friday to conduct a recount in the state, where Trump narrowly beat Clinton by roughly 30,000 votes. Stein has also been raising money for potential challenges in Michigan, where Trump appears to have won by just more than 10,000 votes, and in Pennsylvania, Trump won by roughly 70,000 votes.
The Green Party nominee came under fire after asking for additional money after her first goal of $2 million was surpassed earlier this week, claiming she now needed as much as $7 million to successfully push for a recount.
Fidel Castro has issued a handful of written statements in recent weeks, amid rumors surrounding his health.Getty Images
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has died, his brother, Cuban President Raul Castro, announced on state-run media.
President Castro announced Fidel's death in a televised address.
"At 10:29 in the night, the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died," he said.
"Ever onward, to victory."
Castro had been in failing health for years, and was the subject of death rumors for nearly as long.
His cause of death was immediately unclear.
Cuba declared nine days of national mourning as people took to the streets in Little Havana, Miami to celebrate the late Cuban revolutionary's death on Friday night.
Carlos A. Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade county, tweeted on Saturday that Castro's passing "closes a very painful chapter for Cubans on the island and Cuban-Americans throughout the world."
People celebrate the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in Little Havana, Miami, Florida, U.S. November 26, 2016.Reuters
Fidel Castro was born Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz on August 13, 1926, in the small eastern village of Biran. His father was a wealthy sugarcane farmer; his mother worked as a maid to his father’s first wife.
Castro received a Roman Catholic education through high school. He later excelled as an athlete and went on to law school at the University of Havana, where he would find an interest in politics.
A more radical bent soon emerged, as Castro plotted and executed several attempts at overthrowing Cuban leaders and making an attempt at a bid for Cuba's House of Representatives. Following a series of offensives, he seized power in 1959 from Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He did not look back.
Though he was admired by leftists worldwide, Castro was demonized by the US and many of its allies.
Once in power, Fidel Castro moved quickly to nationalize businesses across the island, moving away from the US and toward the Soviet Union. The US officially cut all diplomatic ties with Cuba in January 1961.
Fabian Escalante, who served as the head of Cuba's intelligence services and was tasked with protecting Castro for much of his career, estimated that the CIA and Cuban exiles had made 638 attempts on Castro's __life by the timehe surrendered power to his brother Raul in 2006, after 47 years of rule.
Fidel Castro. JFK Library
Some extended condolences to Cuba over Castro's death, including Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia and Castro's close ally, and European Union president Jean-Claude Juncker.
"With the death of Fidel Castro, the world has lost a man who was a hero for many," Juncker tweeted on Saturday.
China's president, Xi Jinping, said in a televised statement on Saturday that "the Chinese people have lost a good and true comrade. Comrade Castro will live forever."
China is one of the world's few remaining communist states.
China's president, Xi Jinping, mourned Castro's death on Saturday, saying that "the Chinese people have lost a good and true comrade."Reuters/Jason Lee
To many exiles awaiting Castro's death, however, the late revolutionary embodied a heavy-handed regime that jailed political opponents, suppressed civil liberties, and wrecked the island's economy.
Florida senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American whose parents left Cuba in 1956, released a statement Saturday morning saying that "history will not absolve Fidel Castro."
"His communist regime turned [Cuba] into an impoverished land prison," Rubio wrote. "Over six decades, millions of Cubans were forced to flee their own country, and those accused of opposing the regime were routinely jailed and even killed."
Rubio added that "sadly, Fidel Castro's death does not mean freedom for the Cuban people...the dictator has died, but the dictatorship has not."
Raul Castro took over from his brother, Fidel, in 2006.
Cuba is still being ruled by Castro's brother, Raul.
Texas senator Ted Cruz, whose father fled Cuba in 1957, wrote on Facebook that "Fidel Castro's death cannot bring back his thousands of victims, nor can it bring comfort to their families. Today we remember them and honor the brave souls who fought the lonely fight against the brutal Communist dictatorship he imposed on Cuba."
President-elect Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday morning, "Fidel Castro is dead!"
US President Barack Obama has not yet released an official statement on Castro's death.
Cuba's insular policies began to thaw a bit in 1998, when Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the nation. Pope Benedict would follow more than a decade later.
In 2003, Castro was confirmed as president for another five-year term. Then in the waning years of his rule, Castro oversaw several initiatives that led to a major crackdown on independent journalists, dissidents and activists, and a strengthening of ties with Venezuela.
The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas was birthed from that, in which Cuba sent health professionals to Venezuela in return for discounted oil.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro looks out over a 3,000 stong crowd that screaming "Fidel, Fidel," in a concert hall were left-wing groups were holding a rally against the UN summit for Social Development in Copenhagen. Reuters/FOR P-BASE- FILE PH0TO
By 2006, Castro handed provisional control of Cuba to his brother, Raul, while Fidel reportedly recovered from a major intestinal surgery. That was the first time he surrendered control of his power in 47 years.
He did not return.
In 2008, when the National Assembly prepared to reconfirm Fidel as Cuba’s leader, he declined in a letter.
At that point, he hadn’t been seen publicly for nearly two years.
The letter was posted to the Communist Party’s website Granma, in which Castro said, “I do not bid you farewell. My only wish is to fight as a soldier of ideas.”
Castro made several more public appearances in 2010, but officially stepped down from the Communist Party of Cuba in 2011, leaving the younger Raul Castro to introduce possibly the most significant change in Cuba since the 1960s, announcing a deal with the Obama administration to reinstate diplomatic ties with the US in 2014.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition that affects the lungs and other organs
Guy Viner/SPL
By Michael Le Page
If the instructions for what you’re building are wrong, what can you do? That’s the problem posed when DNA mutations in people with genetic disease lead to the production of faulty proteins. But a new technique could help cells get around that problem and potentially treat conditions like some genetic types of cystic fibrosis.
Most of our genes are recipes for making proteins. Each successive three-letter DNA sequence – known as a codon – specifies which amino acid should be added next to a growing chain of amino acids to create a protein. This goes on until the protein-making machinery reaches a codon that says stop.
But sometimes, DNA mutations create a stop codon in the wrong place. A single mutation can truncate a protein that should be 100 amino acids long to one that is just 15 long, rendering it completely useless. These are known as nonsense mutations, and they cause about 10 per cent of all genetic diseases.
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Ignoring the stop sign
There might be ways to get around these premature stop codons. One approach was first proposed in the 1980s, but only now have people managed to get it to work in human cells. It focuses on tRNAs, the molecules that recognise codons during the production of a protein, and match the right amino acid to them.
It’s possible to make artificial tRNAs that recognise a premature stop codon, and instead of terminating the protein-making process, add the amino acid required to make a useful protein.
In 2014, Carla Oliveira at the University of Porto in Portugal and her team restored the production of a healthy protein in cells carrying a mutation that leads to hereditary stomach and breast cancer. The only option currently available for people who have this mutation is to have their stomach or breasts removed.
Now Christopher Ahern at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and his team have used artificial tRNAs to restore some production of the protein that is usually missing or broken in people who have cystic fibrosis.
Smuggling into cells
Like Oliveira’s team, they did this with cells in a dish, but after further experiments, it may offer an alternative to drugs and gene therapy for those looking to treat cystic fibrosis. “If we could recapitulate it in the lung, that would do it,” says Ahern.
It should one day become possible to cure cystic fibrosis by fixing or replacing the mutant gene, Ahern says. But getting the long gene sequences needed for gene therapy or gene editing into lung cells is a huge challenge.
Artificial tRNAs are smaller, so it might be possible to develop treatments more quickly.
Once inside a cell, the artificial tRNAs compete with the proteins that normally bind to stop codons and halt protein production. This means that artificial tRNAs will not fix every protein made by the faulty gene, but they may be able to fix just enough to make a difference – for many genetic disorders, even low levels of protein can make a huge difference.
“I think it’s really exciting,” says Malcolm Brodlie of Newcastle University, UK, who studies cystic fibrosis and also treats people with the condition at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle. But he points out that while Ahern’s team got cells to produce proteins with the right amino acid sequence, they have not yet shown these proteins are fully functional.
Messing with the code
Is it safe to muck about with the genetic code like this? One danger is that the artificial tRNAs may interfere with correct stop codons, messing up other proteins. This might happen occasionally, but cells do have other ways of telling when they have reach the end of the instructions.
Evidence from other kinds of research suggest that artificial tRNAs should be safe. “It is known that the introduction of tRNAs that are targeted to stop codons is tolerated in animals,” says Jason Chin of the University of Cambridge, whose team is using artificial tRNAs to expand the genetic code in animals such as worms and fruit flies.
There have already been trials of drug compounds that interfere with the protein-making machinery, making it ignore premature stop codons. The most advanced of these read-through drugs, called ataluren, has been shown to be safe. Unfortunately, it isn’t very effective. Earlier this year the US decided not to approve its use for Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy.
Artificial tRNAs should be more effective, not least because the resulting proteins are completely normal. With a read-through drug, by contrast, there is either a missing amino acid or an incorrect substitute in the final protein.
Any treatment based on this approach is still a long way off, warns Brodlie, not least because artificial tRNAs are harder to deliver to cells than conventional drugs. The field is advancing rapidly, though, Ahern says. “The delivery systems are becoming available.”
Both teams are hoping industrial partners will come forward to help develop this early work into potential treatments.
Marin Cilic beat Federico Delbonis in five sets to give Croatia the lead over Argentina in the Davis Cup final
Croatia and Argentina ended day one of the Davis Cup final all-square at 1-1 after wins for Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro.
Cilic outlasted Federico Delbonis in five sets to win the opener in Zagreb, but Del Potro hit back for Argentina to beat Ivo Karlovic in four and level the scores ahead of Saturday's doubles rubber.
World No 6 Cilic was given the task of getting the hosts off to a fast start and appeared on course to deliver easily as he cruised into a two-set lead.
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But the 41st-ranked Delbonis, roared on by Diego Maradona among others, saved three break points in the seventh game of the next and fought his way back to level with some spectacular tennis.
The Argentine looked the likelier winner at 2-2, but Cilic regrouped and came through the decider with the help of two breaks for a 6-3 7-5 3-6 1-6 6-2 win.
Diego Maradona was in Zagreb to cheer on Argentina
Del Potro had trouble with Karlovic in the day's second rubber as the big-serving Croat got the better of a gruelling second-set tie-break to level the match at 1-1.
Two tightly-contested sets followed, Del Potro edging both as his more consistent serving helped secure a 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-5 success.
Karlovic's 35 aces were offset by 12 double faults, while Del Potro won 68 of 76 points on his first serve.
Juan Martin Del Potro beat Ivo Karlovic to level the final at 1-1 after day one
Saturday's doubles match seed Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor face Argentinian pair Leonardo Mayer and Guido Pella, with the four singles competitors switching opponents on Sunday.
Argentina are yet to win a Davis Cup, while Croatia's sole victory came in 2005.
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Andy Murray caught and overtook Novak Djokovic in 2016 to become the No 1 tennis player in the world
To mark his remarkable rise to the top, Sky Sports and HPE have combined to look at Andy Murray’s amazing year and how he did it.
From the courts of Dunblane to the best player on planet tennis, Murray rubber-stamped his remarkable rise with a ninth title of the season at the ATP World Tour Finals, that confirmed his position as the number one ranked player in the world.
As recently as June, when Novak Djokovic became the first man in 47 years to hold all four major titles at the same time, the Serbian's lead appeared unassailable.
But Murray has been imperious in the months since, winning Wimbledon, Olympic gold, six other titles and losing just three matches.
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He is reaping richly-deserved rewards for an outstanding end to 2016 and has set his sights of remaining at the very top of the game.
Murray has recorded a season's best tally of 78 victories and ended the year on a 24-match winning streak.
His form over the second half of the season has strengthened claims that Murray is now the best player in the world - and he has the ranking to prove it. The new challenge is whether he __can command a period of dominance and achieve the longevity that has made his rivals legends of the game.
But Murray's story is a long one that started in the tortuous winter months of his training camp in Miami and began with another Australian Open final...
More Aussie anguish
With his wife, Kim, expecting the arrival of the couple's first child, Murray's mind was sure to be elsewhere. A renowned family man having spent his winter training in South Florida, he went to the Aussie Open with no pre-tournament practice other than an exhibition but reached a fifth final in Australia.
He had dropped two sets on route to the semi-final, where he faced Milos Raonic, and, but for injury, the Canadian may have turned a 2-1 advantage into victory. Murray rallied to set up another Grand Slam showdown with Djokovic.
The Serb claimed a fifth crown in Melbourne and a tearful Murray was left to reflect on an encouraging start, a flight home and the prospect of becoming a father.
In his speech, he said: "And to my wife Kim, I'm sure she's going to be watching back home just now. You've been a legend the last few weeks. Thank you for your support and I'll be on the next flight home."
Slow start
Murray took an extended break to enjoy the birth of his daughter, Sophia, and he resurfaced to win his two singles rubbers in Great Britain's Davis Cup match against Japan after a month off.
The following week, he headed to America for the traditional start to the Masters 1000 Series, with back-to-back tournaments in California and Florida.
Indian Wells has been a friend to Murray with just one final to his name, but a shock third-round exit to world No 53 Federico Delbonis was not on the cards - and neither was a loss to Grigor Dimitrov at the same stage in Miami, a tournament Murray has won twice before.
Murray then began to show signs of form with a strong start to his clay-court season, reaching the semi-final in Monte Carlo before a defeat to Rafael Nadal, who went on to claim his ninth title at the tournament.
Djokovic beat Murray in Paris but that proved to be a catalyst for Murray's memorable second half of the season
The Scot made amends in Madrid a few weeks later, beating Nadal in the last four before a three-set defeat to Djokovic in the final.
At the Rome Masters the following week and without a coach, Murray's golden run was to begin. He eased to another final showdown with Djokovic without dropping a set.
A magnificent match saw Murray claim his first title in the Italian capital with a 6-3 6-3 win over the world No 1 and he would head to Roland Garros and the French Open boosted by a notable win against Djokovic.
After three semi-final appearances in Paris, Murray went on to make a first final, but standing in his way again would be Djokovic. Murray, inspired by his Rome efforts, took the first set.
However, with Djokovic aiming for a career Grand Slam, Murray was to slump to another defeat to the Serb who claimed his 12th major title and would hold all four major titles at the same time.
A familiar face
With the grass court season in sight and an impressive clay-court season behind him, Murray was to turn to a familiar face before the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club.
Ivan Lendl returned to the Murray camp. The man who had been in the box when Murray claimed his first and second Grand Slam titles as well as Olympic gold would take up a familiar role alongside Murray for the Grand Slams and training blocks.
The result was instant as Murray claimed his sixth title at Queen's, recovering from a set down to beat Milos Raonic in the final. He headed to Wimbledon with hopes high of a third Grand Slam title.
Grand Slam glory
Straight-sets wins over fellow Brit Liam Broady, Yen Hsun Lu and John Millman at Wimbledon set up a last-16 clash with the enigmatic Nick Kyrgios. The Aussie was dispatched in three uncomplicated sets and an untroubled Murray was into the last eight again, while Djokovic's troubles were to begin with a third-round defeat to Sam Querrey.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the opponent, and when Murray eased into a two-set lead, Britain relaxed. However, Tsonga was inspired and reeled off the next two sets to force a fifth, but Murray kept his cool and got the job done.
A routine win over Tomas Berdych followed and Milos Raonic lay in wait as Murray made an 11th Grand Slam final but for the first time would face an opponent that was not Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic.
The result was emphatic as Murray claimed Grand Slam title No 3 with a 6-4 7-6 7-6 victory.
Golden summer
Murray enjoyed a well-deserved summer off with the break seemingly invigorating the 29-year-old, who rather than slowing down, picked up the pace for what would become the run of his career.
As a fan of team sports, he made no secret of his desire for more Olympic success and having claimed the Olympic men's singles gold medal on Wimbledon's Centre Court at London 2012, he headed to Rio de Janeiro 2016 in spectacular form (one defeat in 24 matches) and confident of a second title.
Murray claimed a second Olympic gold medal with victory over Juan Martin del Potro in Rio
The Games got off to the perfect start when he was selected to be the flag bearer for Team GB at the opening ceremony, and he went on to defend the gold medal
Viktor Troicki, Juan Monaco, Fabio Fognini, Steve Johnson and Kei Nishikori were all dispatched as part of Murray's brilliant run to the final. There, he ran into Juan Martin del Potro, who had beaten world No 1 Djokovic in the first round.
The Argentine proved a tough nut to crack before Murray eventually prevailed in a near four-hour four-set marathon 7-5 4-6 6-2 7-5.
Targeting Novak
With a third Grand Slam in the bag and a second Olympic gold around his neck, Murray re-evaluated his goals and set his sights on the seemingly impossible task of overhauling Djokovic at the top of the rankings.
Amazingly, after his draining success in Rio de Janeiro, he was back in action the following week at the Cincinnati Masters, where he progressed to the final without dropping a set before losing to Marin Cilic in the final.
Murray returned to Grand Slam action in New York but he suffered another early exit. His quarter-final defeat to Nishikori meant he had not gone beyond the last eight at Flushing Meadows since his 2012 Grand Slam breakthrough.
After Great Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Argentina, which included a loss as Del Potro gained his revenge, back-to-back titles in Asia took Murray to within striking distance of Djokovic, whose second half of the season did not match the heights of the first.
Murray's Shanghai victory took him to six titles in a year for the first time since 2009, and he added number seven in Vienna with a dominant display to head to the Paris Masters on the back of three successive tournament victories and within striking distance of Djokovic.
When the Serb crashed to a straight-sets defeat to Marin Cilic in the last eight, Murray followed up with victory over Berdych before claiming top spot when Raonic withdrew from their semi-final.
For good measure Murray claimed the title in the French capital and headed to London as the best player in the world.
Both Murray and Djokovic racked up three straight wins in the group stages, Murray encountering a three-and-a-half hour epic against Nishikori along the way was the Serb was showing ominous signs of being back to his very best.
The semi-finals were very different affairs, Djokovic breezed past Nishikori for the loss of a just a couple of games in just over an hour, while Murray saved a match point against Milos Raonic before eventually prevailing in 3hrs 38mins, the longest match in World Tour Finals history.
Was the Djokovic of the first half of the season back, how on earth could Murray gear himself to go again.
The answer was unequivocal as Murray triumphed 6-3 6-4 to claim his first ever title in the season-end event and confirmed his position as the number one player in the world, the challenge now is to build on it.
In much the same way Nadal rose to Federer's dominance, Djokovic to the Spaniard now Murray has to Djokovic.
Does the Serb have it in his locker to rise again, or will a new force emerge. Next year promises to be every bit as fascinating.
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Marin Cilic (second left) and Ivo Karlovic will be in singles action for Croatia on Friday
Croatia's Marin Cilic will take on Federico Delbonis of Argentina in the opening match of the Davis Cup final in Zagreb on Friday.
Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro will then tackle big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the second singles contest of the day.
Saturday's doubles rubber is scheduled to pit Croatia's Franko Skugor and Ivan Dodig against Leonardo Mayer and Guido Pella, ahead of the reverse singles on Sunday.
World No 6 Cilic won the US Open in 2014 and will be fancied to get the hosts off to a winning start against Delbonis.
Cilic is hoping to guide Croatia to a second Davis Cup title
Del Potro admits the big serving Croatian is still one of the world's best players.
"Marin is a good player, I've known him since 12 years old and we've had a similar career," he said.
"He's a very good friend of mine on the tour. He deserves to be No 6 in the world at the moment. He's a great player and he has a chance to win this trophy this weekend, but we will try and win as well."
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Karlovic is back in the Croatia squad after a four-year absence and he will face a tough task against Del Potro, who won the US Open himself in 2009 and has enjoyed a renaissance this year, after a period when he struggled with injury.
Croatia are seeking a second Davis Cup title while Argentina have been runners-up on four occasions but have never won.
Juan Martin del Potro will be a key figure for Argentina this weekend
Cilic is desperate to secure a second Davis Cup triumph for his country, having watched Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic claim a first title back in 2005.
"It was a huge achievement for our team, winning in 2005," reflected Cilic. "We hope we __can continue with this good run."
However, Argentina have a 3-0 head-to-head record against Croatia, winning quarter-finals in 2002 and 2012 in Buenos Aires and 2006 in Zagreb.
