The common breakfast drink may be able to help you live longer

A popular morning beverage may offer more than just a caffeine hit. Cardiologist José Abellán explained in his latest video that having the drink regularly could help people “live longer and have fewer cardiovascular diseases”.

José Abellán said according to La Vanguardia: “People who drink up to five cups of coffee a day have a lower risk of suffering a cardiovascular event”. The expert explained, according to AS: “Coffee provides bioactive compounds such as chlorogenic acids, which are a group of antioxidant compounds that have various health benefits, diterpenes, triogoneline, phenolic acids, melanoidins, and minerals like magnesium and potassium.”

Altogether, these compounds are what make us feel alert, concentrated and energised after a cup of coffee. Abellán recommended sticking to around four cups of coffee per day as a “safe threshold” for most people, with evidence suggesting this amount could protect your heart and extend your life.

He also highlighted evidence that suggests filtered coffee may be the best for reducing cardiovascular risk, as it can eliminate compounds linked to an increase in cholesterol.

The cardiologist continued: “Those who drink it regularly live longer and have fewer cardiovascular diseases. Current data suggest that it can be part of a perfectly healthy lifestyle as long as it is consumed in moderation and individual caffeine intolerance and health conditions are taken into account.”

Coffee does cause a temporary increase in blood pressure and heart rate, which can trigger consequences, but the expert urged people to simply not consume it if they’re experiencing side effects like heart palpitations.

A number of recent studies have highlighted the potential underlying health benefits of coffee. A study in November found that people may be able to slow their biological ageing if they drink a maximum of four cups of coffee each day. It found that people with a severe mental illness may particularly benefit and could get an extra five biological years.

A different study last September in the British Journal of Nutrition also found that combining daily coffee intake with a mix of tea and water, too, could lower your risk of death from all causes.

The researchers recommended having coffee and tea daily in a ratio of 2:3 cups, and topping up with water to have a total of seven to eight cups a day. Once people reached nine or more cups a day, this was linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality.

However, these scientists urged people to focus on just getting enough fluids to start with, around seven to eight drinks a day. Most adults aren’t getting the amount of fluids they need.

Once you are regularly having enough fluids, the researchers then recommended switching out plain water for a mix of coffee and tea. The scientists did admit their research had some limitations, namely that the study cannot prove that having these drinks caused this reduced risk in mortality, but only that it has an observational link.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, according to two officials familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.

The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that the U.S. intelligence has not uncovered that Russia is directing Iran on what to do with the information.

Still, it’s the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war that the U.S. and Israel launched on Iran a week ago. Russia is in the rare club of countries that maintains friendly relations with Tehran, which has faced years of isolation over its nuclear program and its support of proxy groups that have wreaked havoc in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

The White House downplayed reports that Russia was sharing intelligence with Iran about U.S. targets in the region. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday told reporters that “it clearly is not making any difference with respect to the military operations in Iran because we are completely decimating them.”

Leavitt declined to say if Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the reported intelligence sharing or whether he believed Russia should face repercussions, saying she would let the president speak to that himself.

Asked whether Russia would go beyond political support and offer military assistance to Iran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there has been no such request from Tehran.

“We are in dialogue with the Iranian side, with representatives of the Iranian leadership, and will certainly continue this dialogue,” he said Friday.

Pushed on whether Moscow has provided any military or intelligence assistance to Tehran since the Iran war’s start, he refrained from comment.

Russia has tightened its relationship with Iran as it looked for badly needed missiles and drones to utilize in its four-year war Ukraine.

The Biden administration declassified intelligence findings that showed Iran supplies Moscow with attack drones and has assisted the Kremlin with building a drone-manufacturing factory.

The former U.S. administration also accused Iran of transferring short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Details about the U.S. intelligence were first reported by the Washington Post.

Asked whether the revelation had shaken Trump’s faith in Putin’s ability to cut any peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war, Leavitt said, “I think the president would say that peace is still an achievable objective with respect to the Russia-Ukraine war.”

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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

All pharmacies and patients who use the widely prescribed medication have been told to urgently check the packaging

Pharmacies and patients using a commonly prescribed high blood pressure medication are being advised to urgently check the packaging. Crescent Pharma Limited is recalling one batch of Ramipril 5mg Capsules as a precaution due to a potential manufacturing error that may have resulted in two different blood pressure medicines being incorrectly packaged.

The recall was initiated after a pharmacy lodged a complaint when a patient reported that a pack labelled Ramipril 5mg Capsules (batch number GR164099) contained blister strips of Amlodipine 5mg Tablets inside the sealed box. Both medications are produced by the same company at the same facility, and it’s believed the error likely occurred during the packaging process.

Patients who use Ramipril are advised to inspect the packaging for the batch number GR164099 and return any packs with blister strips labelled “Amlodipine” to their pharmacist. According to a statement on Gov.uk, the likelihood of patients inadvertently receiving one common blood pressure medicine instead of another is low, the Mirror reports.

The most frequent side effect could be dizziness due to low blood pressure. The NHS states that Ramipril is a widely used medication for treating high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart failure, and is also prescribed following a heart attack.

Ramipril aids in preventing future strokes, heart attacks, and kidney problems, and improves survival rates if taken for heart failure or post-heart attack. Shareen Doak, Deputy Director, Benefit-Risk Evaluation, at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a statement.

It reads: “If you take Ramipril, check the packaging for batch number GR164099. The batch number and expiry date information can be found on the outer carton. If you have received this batch, check that the medication name on the carton matches the blister strips inside.

“If the carton contains blister strips that are labelled as Amlodipine 5mg tablets, contact your dispensing pharmacy.

“If the carton contains blister strips that are correctly labelled as Ramipril 5mg Capsules, you do not need to take further action.

“If you have an affected pack and think you may have taken the Amlodipine 5mg Tablets that were supplied in error, and you are currently experiencing any side effects, then please seek immediate medical advice.

“Please take the leaflet that came with your medicine and any remaining tablets with you to your pharmacy or GP practice.

“If you’ve already taken Amlodipine, please be reassured that there is a very low risk to your health. Both medications are used to treat high blood pressure.

“However because your body may not be used to a different type of medicine, your blood pressure may become lower than normal, and you may experience dizziness because of taking amlodipine.

“Any suspected adverse reactions should also be reported via the MHRA Yellow Card scheme.”

The MHRA has instructed pharmacy and healthcare professionals to send back all remaining stock to their suppliers.

The regulator oversees all medicines and medical devices in the UK, ensuring they meet standards for effectiveness and acceptable safety.

The zoo was home to three Barbary lions- a species extinct in the wild – consisting of one male named Qays and the two females Thheiba and Fidda

Belfast Zoo has said a deeply sad farewell today to two of its most loved and rarest animals – Barbary lion sisters Thheiba and Fidda.

The 22-year-old siblings were put to sleep due to failing health and their inseparable nature. With the average lion living to just 14 the two were an essential lifeline to the survival of their sub species through international breeding programmes.

The last wild Barbary lion was shot in Morocco in 1942 and now they only live on in zoos and private collections. It’s thought there are just 200 Barbary lions left in the world. The zoo was home to three animals – consisting of one male named Qays and the two females.

A firm favourite at the zoo on the slopes of Cave Hill in North Belfast, where their roars often echoed out to the delight of children of all ages, the lion Thheiba started to experience weight loss and mobility issues and the call was make to euthanise her. As a result and to avoid highly stressing and compromising the welfare of Fidda, she too was put to sleep peacefully.

A statement from Belfast Zoo said: “We’re sad to share the news that our two remaining Barbary lionesses at Belfast Zoo, Thheiba and Fidda, have passed peacefully. Both were 22 years old – much older than the average life expectancy for lions, either in the wild or in captivity.

“During their lives, the sisters received exceptional care and became key contributors to conservation as part of the EAZA Ex-Situ Programme, producing multiple offspring and helping secure the future of Barbary lions, a lion sub-species now extinct in the wild.

“In recent weeks, Thheiba experienced mobility issues and weight loss. We took the decision to euthanise her and end her suffering after a veterinary assessment. Lions are highly social pride animals that rely on companionship within a group.

“Thheiba and Fidda had lived together their entire lives and shared a very strong bond. On veterinary advice, and to avoid significant stress and welfare challenges if left alone, Fidda was also euthanised.

“Belfast Zoo has had an association with lions for many decades, with Barbary lions first arriving at the Zoo in the 1960s. Thheiba and Fidda’s longevity, their strong bond and their vital role in conservation is testament to our long-standing commitment to the care and conservation of this iconic species.

“Both lionesses will be fondly remembered by the staff who cared for them and the thousands of visitors who loved them.”

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Somewhere in the North Atlantic, more than a kilometre beneath its surface, a cold-water coral reef stretches across an unnamed seamount. Despite never appearing on a chart, this underwater forest has existed for centuries, growing a centimetre or two each year.

The reef is a home and feeding ground for dozens of species that depend on it the way a woodland creature depends on trees. It has survived ice ages – but whether it will survive increasing pressures from industrial fishing, deep-sea mining and climate change is, in part, a question about data. If we don’t know it exists, how can we protect it?

A new project called Deep Vision could fundamentally transform our understanding of the deep ocean by digging into pictures and videos sat largely unexamined in research archives around the world. By using AI, thousands of hours of seafloor footage can be analysed to produce the first comprehensive maps of vulnerable marine ecosystems across the entire Atlantic basin.

Over the past two decades, robotic and autonomous underwater vehicles have collected vast quantities of footage from the deep sea. This represents an extraordinary resource – a record of ecosystems that most humans will never see.

The difficulty is that less than half of this imagery has ever been analysed. A single dive can take a trained human analyst two months to process. Multiply that by thousands of dives and you begin to appreciate why this treasure trove of information has remained largely locked away.

The solution, I am convinced, is artificial intelligence.

In research published in 2022, my colleagues and I showed that AI could be trained to successfully analyse over 58,000 deep-sea images in under ten days. The AI model helped us map the distribution of a fragile xenophyophore – a giant single-celled organism that is a recognised indicator of vulnerable marine ecosystems – at a depth of 1,200 metres in the north-east Atlantic. What would have taken a human analyst many months was accomplished in days.

AI also provides consistency. Human analysts, however expert, do not always agree with one another. Indeed, they do not always agree with themselves: a researcher identifying marine species may classify specimens differently at different times. A machine makes errors but it makes them consistently, which means these errors can be identified, corrected and accounted for.

Forests of the deep

Deep Vision is focusing specifically on what we call vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator taxa, such as deep-sea corals and sponges.

These are the organisms I think of as the forests of the deep. In an environment where there are no plants to provide habitats, these animals fulfil this role. They are keystone organisms in the most literal sense: remove them and the ecosystem collapses.

Once AI has extracted biodiversity observations from the imagery, the next stage is to build habitat-suitability models – predictive maps that extend our understanding beyond the specific locations where cameras have surveyed.

Our research shows that high-resolution habitat suitability models are a useful tool in spatial management, capable of informing decisions about where marine-protected areas should be located. However, the quality of the underlying seafloor data remains critical to how well they perform.

As a marine biologist, I sometimes get asked why people should care about a sponge living two kilometres beneath the surface of the Atlantic. It is a fair question, and the answer is more immediate than most people expect. These animals recycle essential nutrients and play a key role in the carbon cycle, and that effects us all.

The ocean is the engine room of a planetary life-support system, and effective management of it relies on having the best possible understanding of the species and ecosystems within it.

If this project succeeds in the Atlantic, the methods could be replicated in other ocean basins. The Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean all present the same challenges of insufficient data and vast unexplored territory.

The actress played Tina Carter on the BBC soap for nearly a decade

EastEnders star Luisa Bradshaw-White has said that she ‘nearly didn’t survive serious mental illness’ as she provided a candid insight into her life away from the spotlight.

Rising to fame in Herte in A Friendship in Vienna in 1988, Luisa went on to land roles in hit shows on the BBC and ITV such as Grange Hill, The Bill and Birds of a Feather.

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Prior to landing a role on Albert Square, Luisa worked on Holby City from 2001 to 2005, where she played a midwife named Lisa Fox.on the hospital soap. Gaining further soap experience on Doctors, Luisa joined EastEnders as Tina Carter in 2011.

Appearing in 673 episodes, Tina was the sister of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), joining around the same time as Danny Dyer’s Mick Carter and Kellie Bright’s Linda Carter in 2013.

Tina was involved in a number of major relationships over the years, including when she was abused by her partner Tosh Mackintosh (Rebecca Scroggs), in a relationship with onia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) and accidentally hit Janet Mitchell (Grace) with her car.

Sadly, Luisa’s exit was a permanent one in December 2020, when Tina was murdered by Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith), who hid her body under the floorboards of the Argee Bhajee restaurant.

Remaining undiscovered for over a year, Tina appeared in a special flashback in 2021 before Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) finally discovered her body in 2022.

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Taking to Instagram on Thursday (March 6), Luisa took to Instagram with a selfie to reveal that she ‘used to be an actor’ and has now ‘found her space in the world’ in ‘musical journeys’.

Sharing a selfie, she captioned her post: “Hey to all new people finding their way to this account. This is me. Luissa. I have very big feelings. I used to be an actor so I had a place to put those big feelings, but it didn’t feel like where I was supposed to be.

“I also tried to suppress those big feelings and that led to a serious mental illness, psychiatric hospitals and something I nearly didn’t survive. I now feel like I have found my space in the world.

“I don’t try to hide my big feelings. I know they are powerful indicators for how to live my life fully. I know that when I go in deep to the big feelings I experience, with a feeling of curiosity and love, i emerge out the other side with new wisdom with new insights and feeling so much more self love and clarity about who I am. I am not afraid of the dark.”

She continued: “I now create musical journeys for free form dance and Breathwork ceremonies using my big feelings. I listen deeply to spirit to create waves of music to help me express all I feel about life and the life I have lived and all that wants to move thru my body.

“My favourite thing about my life now is that I have found people like me who want to come and dance and breathe to feel all this too.

“And somehow they move thru some of the same feelings that I have been experiencing. I’m so grateful that I have access to all these big, wild emotions…

“If you would like to come and experience and explore your own deep feelings you would be so welcome. Sometimes it takes a while to find them… & Sometimes they are there in the discomfort of just turning up new to something, raw and out of your comfort zone.”

Luisa’s post arrives after she said last year that she ‘cries every day’ due to ‘experiences’ she ‘couldn’t fit into words’.

“Finding it hard to post these days as the experiences I am having can’t fit into words. My ability to feel just keeps expanding. And when I say this I mean feeling ALL of it! I am nearly always cracked wide open at the beauty of life….. and the pain. Devastatingly beautiful.

“I cry every day. I can’t stop. There are so many similarities to when I was diagnosed Bipolar years ago and then sadly heavily medicated. It makes me question the diagnosis and DEFINITELY question the medication but that is another story and another timeline. WE HAVE BEEN MADE TO FEAR OUR FEELINGS OUR EMOTIONS.

“I have so many people around me experiencing the same. I am so grounded and without fear. I am able to hold these intense energies and frequencies. I love myself so fiercely in this intense energy,” she said.

Luisa added: “I cry to move the energy. I cry because life is so beautiful. I cry because I get to be this free, this sovereign in this lifetime. I cry because I am not alone, even when there are no human souls around me I have everything in nature holding me.

“I cry because it gets to be THIS GOOD TO FEEL EVERYTHING. It has never felt so good and so safe to feel so much. Whatever you are experiencing in this portal we are in… surrender. And love.”

Nick Foligno is joining his brother Marcus with the Minnesota Wild, who started off NHL trade deadline day by making two moves they hope will finally deliver some playoff success.

Minnesota acquired Foligno from the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the deadline Friday, sending future considerations back to a rebuilding organization doing its 38-year-old captain a favor by giving him a chance not only to play with his brother but chase the Stanley Cup.

The Wild, who have not advanced beyond the first round since 2015 and have only one trip beyond the second in franchise history back in 2003, have been active all week. Before getting Foligno, they acquired forward Bobby Brink from Philadelphia, sending defenseman David Jiricek to the Flyers.

Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin, fresh off constructing the U.S. roster that won gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics, has been active all week. He claimed forward Robby Fabbri off waivers from St. Louis and made trades with Nashville for center Michael McCarron and Florida for defenseman Jeff Petry, filling a handful of depth needs and getting better at faceoffs, one of the Wild’s biggest weaknesses.

They’re not the the only ones adding.

Tampa Bay acquired Corey Perry from Los Angeles for a 2028 second-round pick, with the Kings retaining half of his salary.

Perry, who turns 41 in May, has reached the final and lost in five of the past six years, including 2022 with the Lightning. The pesky winger has a Cup ring from 2007 with Anaheim and gives coach Jon Cooper’s team veteran experience and an edge.

It’s a seller’s market on deadline day

With the likes of Vincent Trocheck, Nazem Kadri, Justin Faulk and maybe even Robert Thomas still on the market with an hour left, sellers appeared to be in control, with prices high and leaving playoff-contending buyers weighing a range of options.

Trocheck remains with the New York Rangers, who traded Sam Carrick to Buffalo. Toronto has multiple players on the block. And St. Louis is open for business with almost everyone on its roster gettable at the right price, from Thomas and Faulk to Colton Parayko and Jordan Binnington.

Toronto sat three players — forwards Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann, and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson — for its past two games to prevent them from getting injured.

John Carlson to the Ducks headlined the overnight trades

John Carlson is going to the Anaheim Ducks as part of a surprising deal from the Washington Capitals agreed to just after midnight. Anaheim sent a conditional first-round pick in either this or next year’s draft plus a 2027 third-rounder to Washington for Carlson, a 36-year-old defenseman who has only played in the league for the Capitals since 2009 and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2018.

Carlson is a pending free agent without a contract beyond this year but was not expected to get moved before the deadline. He joins the Ducks as they look to end a seven-year playoff drought.

“John Carlson brings leadership, character, a high hockey IQ and a presence to our lineup,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said. “We are very excited to add a Stanley Cup winner to complement our group and make a big push down the stretch.”

Also overnight, the Sabres added defensemen Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley from Winnipeg, while the Blue Jackets won a bidding war to get winger Conor Garland from Vancouver.

Poised to end an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought, the Sabres sent forward Isak Rosen, defenseman Jacob Bryson, a 2026 fourth-round pick and a 2027 second-rounder to the Jets for Schenn and Stanley. They also got Carrick for third- and sixth-round picks.

Though they struck out on finalizing a deal with the Blues for Parayko, who invoked his no-trade clause in rejecting a trade to Buffalo, the Sabres have already shored up plenty of depth needs without affecting their core roster.

Columbus sent a third-round pick in the draft this year and a 2028 second-rounder to the Canucks for Garland, the soon-to-be 30-year-old who drew interest from multiple Eastern Conference contenders.

Which teams are still looking to make moves?

Much of the action Friday could be in the Eastern Conference after most of the top teams in the West did their shopping earlier this week. Back-to-back Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton is expected to be done after shoring up its defense with Connor Murphy and getting shutdown center Jason Dickinson in separate trades with Chicago; Dallas made moves for Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting; and league-best Colorado filled its biggest need at center by getting Nicolas Roy from Toronto.

Minnesota has added around the edges, though the Wild remain on the lookout for a top-six center who can help them match up with the Stars and Avalanche to get through a gauntlet of a Central Division.

Carolina and Tampa Bay are atop a wide-open East and, along with Detroit, would seem to be in the running for Trocheck and others. The Sabres, who swung big and missed on Parayko and Blues teammate Robert Thomas, also could be active.

Two-time defending champion Panthers have players available

Florida, after winning the Stanley Cup back to back and making three trips to the final in a row, is heading toward missing the playoffs, the first time for a defending champ since Los Angeles in 2015. Captain Aleksander Barkov’s torn ACL started a series of injuries that derailed the Panthers’ season and made them unexpected sellers.

As such, they are a team to watch in the final hours. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is a pending free agent, though depth forward A.J. Greer appears more likely to get traded, along with a handful of others.

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AP Sports Writers Greg Beacham and Dave Campbell contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Pakistani and Afghan troops have been exchanging fire along their border in their conflict, which the United Nations estimates has displaced more than 100,000 people.

Fighting began last week with Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan ​that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds.

Afghanistan described the attacks as a violation of sovereignty, and announced retaliatory operations. It also denied harbouring militants executing attacks on Pakistan from its soil.

The Taliban claims the militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.

On Friday, Afghan officials ​said Taliban forces struck Pakistani military installations in more than two dozen locations along the 1,600-mile (2,600km) border, destroying 14 posts and ‌shooting down a drone.

It said seven Afghan civilians and three Taliban fighters were killed in overnight fighting.

Meanwhile, Pakistani security sources said they carried out ground and air operations against military targets ​including Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban, and destroyed several Afghan border posts.

Both sides have regularly said that they inflicted heavy ​damage on the other, and killed hundreds of opposition troops, without providing evidence.

“The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan remains tense amid active conflict along the border,” the United Nations refugee agency said.

It added that some 115,000 people in Afghanistan, and 3,000 in Pakistan, were thought to have fled their homes.

Dozens gathered in Kabul on Friday to protest against the attacks on Afghan territory, chanting anti-Pakistan slogans, a witness said.

The Bakhter news agency said a large gathering in Laghman Province ​demonstrated against Pakistan’s recent attacks.

Several countries have offered to negotiate a truce, most recently Turkey, although the Iran war has diverted the attention of some nations which had stepped forward.

Pakistani government ⁠spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi said no negotiations were taking place to end the conflict.

“There is nothing to talk about. ​There will be no dialogue, and no negotiations,” he told state-owned Pakistan TV.

“Terrorism from Afghanistan has to ​end – that is Afghanistan’s problem. Pakistan’s responsibility is to protect its citizens.”

Read more from Sky News:
Who’s in charge of Iran – and who could lead next?
The global economy’s worst nightmare is here

The UN ​mission in Afghanistan has said 56 civilians have been killed in the country, and 128 wounded, since fighting began.

The Taliban government has said that 110 civilians have been killed. Pakistan has rejected both sets of figures, saying it targets only ‌militants and support infrastructure.

Trump previously claimed the “big wave hasn’t even happened”

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Donald Trump has reportedly dispatched B-2 stealth bombers, the world’s most expensive warplanes, to UK bases for use in Iran.

The heavy strategic bombers will arrive at Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands, which has sparked a rift between Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the latter’s deal to transfer sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius while securing a 99-year lease to operate the military base.

RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire, will also see the B-2 stealth bombers this week, The Telegraph reports.

The move follows Trump’s words that Iran will soon be hit with a devastating wave of strikes. “We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon,” Trump said on Monday (March 2).

B-2 stealth bombers cost about $2 billion each, making them the world’s most expensive aircraft, according to Fox News.

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