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Editor's note
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A few hours after Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, loading more sanctions on Iran, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry took to Twitter. Abbas Mousavi wrote that the move to impose sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, marked the “permanent closure of the path of diplomacy”.
Before Trump took office, tensions with Iran were beginning to thaw, eased by the signing of the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the deal in May 2018 has led to steadily mounting tensions. Attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and the recent downing of a US drone have brought the two countries teetering perilously close to war. Trump said he had only pulled out of launching strikes on Iran last week because he found out 150 people could be killed.
Trump’s approach of pushing things to the brink and assuming that others will cave in may work in the world of business, but this is foreign policy, and Iran has little left to lose. Trump’s strategy on Iran has backed the US into a corner.
A third of adults will experience chronic pain at some point in their life. Scientists still don’t know exactly why some people get such pain and others don’t, but genetic research is helping us better understand the biology behind it. Now, a huge DNA study, involving more than 300,000 people, found chronic pain was linked to depression, body mass index, schizophrenia – and more.
Alongside some spellbinding football, the 2019 Women’s World Cup will be remembered for some controversy and ill-feeling about refereeing decisions made with the help of the Video Assisted Referee, or VAR. The problem is that a football referee’s decisions always involve a degree of discretion, which technology makes impossible.
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Gemma Ware
Society Editor
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Top stories
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New sanctions heading Iran’s way.
Kevin Dietsch/EPA
Natasha Lindstaedt, University of Essex
The US has imposed new sanctions against Iran's top leaders, but its foreign policy has no clear focus.
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Shutterstock
Keira Johnston, University of Glasgow
Discovery of genetic overlap between chronic pain and a host of other conditions could help provide better treatments.
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German referee Felix Brych looks at a replay of the video assistant referee (VAR) during the UEFA Nations League semi final soccer match between Portugal and Switzerland, June 2019.
EPA-EFE/Fernando Veludo
Mike Ryder, Lancaster University
Many fans think the VAR is ruining the Women's World Cup.
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Health + Medicine
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Elisabet Englund, Lund University; Keivan Javanshiri
People with Alzheimer's disease have lower rates of type 2 diabetes than the general population.
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Arts + Culture
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Matt Graham, Manchester Metropolitan University
The 'bad boy' of 1980s US fiction is back with his first foray into non-fiction. As you'd expect, he's still courting controversy.
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Business + Economy
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Karen Jackson, University of Westminster; Oleksandr Shepotylo, Aston University
Donald Trump says trade wars are easy to win. Is he right?
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Politics + Society
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Ilia Xypolia, University of Aberdeen
Turkey and the EU are trading insults over the rights to exploit the huge gas reserves over the eastern Mediterranean island.
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Featured events
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Open University, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — The Open University
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Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Essex
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Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, Campus West, York, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of York
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Berrill Lecture Theatre, Walton Hall, The Open University, MK6 7AA, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK6 7AA, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — The Open University
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