Forget global warming – the Earth may soon be plunged into a 250-year cooling period, scientists have claimed.

Russian climate experts believe that every 200 years the Sun’s activity temporarily wanes and it emits less heat.

They believe this ‘cooling period’ could cause the earth’s average temperature to fall by several degrees.

The last time this occurred was between 1650 and 1850 – a period known as the ‘Little Ice Age’.

At the time, most of Britain’s rivers would freeze over during the bitter winters.

Contemporary paintings show people could even cross the Thames using ice skates.

The next ‘cooling period’ is scheduled to start between 2030 and 2040.

But scientists from Pulkovo Observatory in St Petersburg think the cold period is unlikely to be as harsh as the last one.

And Vladimir Kotlyakov, from the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: ‘There are no grounds to claim that global warming will continue till the end of this century.

‘Climate moves in natural cycles of warmer and colder, as well as drier and more humid times.

‘Early signs of cooling are already there and the trend may pick up in coming years.

‘Human activity and industrial discharges do have a great impact on the environment, but forces of nature are far more powerful.’

The biggest Nike shoe ever was not made for a tall basketball player, but for an elephant with a limp.

A PR representative for the sneaker company shared a photo of this gargantuan piece of footwear on Twitter, explaining that the shoe was engineered to help one elephant find balance, since one of its legs was shorter than the others.

The leather sneaker is designed to look like elephant skin, and it features stylish white buckles on the heel, grey shoelaces, and remnants of baby pink trademark Nike swooshes on the sides.

The PR representative captioned the photo: ‘Biggest shoe Nike ever made was for an elephant that had one leg shorter than the others. Nike fitted him with lifts.’

No details about the age or size of the shoe or elephant were given, but from its tattered appearance it would appear the sneaker was well worn.

Joel Colley, an Oregon-based art director, took to Instagram to share a photo of the shoe back in October.

According to Mr Colley, the immense sneaker belonged to a female elephant named Bandula, who was also developing arthritis.

And some have speculated that Bandula may have had an aesthetic influence on the the sportswear brand.

An EU-led court in Kosovo on Monday sentenced five doctors to up to eight years in prison for illegal organ harvesting and transplants.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed Monday that his office has received money from the US Central Intelligence Agency over the past decade, with wads of cash reportedly handed over in suitcases and backpacks.
Karzai thanked the US spy agency for what he said was money well spent just hours after The New York Times reported that Karzai’s office received tens of millions of dollars in cash in a CIA effort to win influence.
“Yes, the NSC of Afghanistan has received money from CIA in the past 10 years. The amount was not big, rather it was small,” Karzai said in a statement, referring to the National Security Council which is part of his office.
Karzai said the money had been used for good causes in Afghanistan, where endemic corruption has undermined efforts to establish a stable state, more than 11 years after the US-led invasion to dislodge the Taliban.
“The money was spent for different reasons: operation objectives, helping wounded and sick (people) and for house rents and others objectives,” the president said, without giving further details.

Botswana President Ian Khama has had stitches in his face after being scratched by a cheetah, officials say. The animal was reportedly being fed in its enclosure at an army barracks when it jumped up and scratched Mr Khama, who was standing nearby. The incident was “a freak accident, but not an attack”, government spokesman Jeff Ramsay told local media. Mr Khama’s injuries were minor and there were “no real security implications”, the official added. The incident is said to have happened very fast, catching the president and his bodyguard by surprise. “He was scratched by a cheetah but not really attacked per se,” said Mr Ramsay. Mr Khama was seen sporting a plaster at a meeting following the attack. Cheetahs, the world’s fastest land mammals, are listed as an endangered species. Around 12,400 are thought to remain in the wild in African countries, including Botswana.

Taiwan on Wednesday reported the first case of the H7N9 bird flu outside of mainland China.

A Sunni member of the Iraqi cabinet resigned on Tuesday after security forces moved in against Sunni protesters in the north of the country, sparking clashes that left dozens dead, an official said.
“The minister of education, Mohammed Ali Tamim, resigned from his post after the Iraqi army forces broke into the area of the sit-in in Kirkuk” province, the official from Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak’s office said.
“The resignation is final, and there will be no going back,” the official added.