Manchester United Stock Is Surging: What’s Going On?

Published

2 years ago

June 13, 2023

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If you’ve ever passed by a field of horses at night, you’ve probably noticed that they rarely lie down to sleep. So why do these mammals sleep standing up?

The answer is one of survival: Horses slumber while standing to balance their need for sleep against the ever-looming threat of predators.

Horses come from a long line of prey animals in the family Equidae, and sleeping on their hooves is an adaptation against predation. “Standing gives them a literal jump on predators and a better chance of getting away than if they were [lying] down,” Karen Waite, an equine specialist at Michigan State University, told Live Science in an email.

Simply put, horses are big animals, and it takes time and energy for them to get off the ground. A standing horse is therefore much better able to run away when roused from sleep. According to BBC Science Focus, the same goes for other large prey herbivores, such as zebras, bison, elephants and giraffes, all of which are capable of sleeping on their feet.

Related: Why do horses wear shoes?

Horses have specialized anatomical features that enable them to stay on their hooves while catching some z’s. These features, known as a “stay apparatus” include a series of tendons and ligaments — soft tissues that connect muscle to bone, and bone to bone, respectively — that run throughout both the forelegs and hind legs, according to Waite. When a horse relaxes its leg muscles, the stay apparatus ligaments and tendons act as tension bands that stabilize the shoulder, knee and ankle joints in the legs. This enables the horse to remain standing without having to maintain much tension in their muscles.

These horses feel safe enough to lie down. (Image credit: mokuden-photos via Getty Images)

But while horses do most of their sleeping while standing, they do need to lie down for more restorative sleep. “Horses will spend most of their time sleeping standing up, but they don’t actually reach full REM sleep when they’re standing,” Sarah Matlock, a senior instructor of equine behavior at Colorado State University, told Live Science. During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in humans — when a sleeping individual’s eyes move rapidly under closed eyelids — dreaming can occur, and so muscles become temporarily paralyzed so we don’t act out our dreams. During REM sleep,the brain also consolidates and processes new information for long-term memories. People who don’t get enough REM sleep may experience problems with mental concentration and mood regulation, a weakened immune system and less cell growth.

Adult horses are often able to get by on as little as 5 hours of sleep per day, and they can get most of it while standing up. And while standing horses can achieve “slow-wave,” or deep, dreamless sleep, but an adequately rested horse requires at least 25 minutes of REM sleep per day, which can only happen while lying down, Matlock said.Related mysteries—Why do we still measure things in horsepower?

—Can any animal survive without sleep?

—How long can you go without sleep?

Because of this, horses must lie down every day. If they don’t, they may experience sleep deprivation, which can be a serious health risk for a horse. For instance, putting it at risk of injury from falling, according to the American Association of Equine Practitioners. “Horses that don’t get enough REM sleep can be misdiagnosed with narcolepsy,” Matlock said. “Like, they might fall over while you’re riding them.”

Because standing while sleeping is an adaptation to avoid predators, horses need to feel comfortable and safe before they are willing to lie down and sleep, Matlock said. In feral horse populations, if multiple horses lie down to get REM sleep at the same time, there will always be at least one horse that remains standing, likely to watch for potential predators.

“If they don’t feel safe in their environment, or they don’t have other horses with them, or if they’re isolated, then they’re less likely to feel safe enough to lay down to sleep,” Matlock said.

Politics

Met Police chief ‘frustrated’ at planned protest to support Palestine Action – as government moves to ban the group

Published

34 mins ago

June 23, 2025

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Met Police chief 'frustrated' at planned protest to support Palestine Action - as government moves to ban the group

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says he is “shocked and frustrated” at a planned protest in support of Palestine Action.

The demonstration, due to take place in Westminster later, comes as the government moves to ban the group under anti-terror laws.

Activists from Palestine Action hit the headlines last week after targeting RAF Brize Norton and damaging two military aircraft in a significant security breach.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will update MPs on the move to proscribe the organisation, which would make it a criminal offence to belong to or support it.

Sir Mark said that – until this happens – the force has “no power in law” to prevent the protest from taking place, but lawbreakers will be “dealt with robustly”.

He added: “This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered.

“Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft.

“Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences.”

He added that – while the right to protest is essential – “actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as a legitimate protest”.

Over the weekend, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign power being behind Palestine Action.

Any move to proscribe the group must be debated and approved by MPs and peers.

Speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News, former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer suggested that vandalising aircraft would not solely provide legal justification for such a move.

Lord Falconer said: “I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn’t know.

“But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn’t justify proscription so there must be something else that I don’t know about.”

Palestine Action has staged a series of protests in recent months – spraying the offices of Allianz Insurance in London, and vandalising Donald Trump’s golf course in Ayrshire.

US

Regime change: Is Trump about to ‘Make Iran Great Again’?

Published

34 mins ago

June 23, 2025

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Regime change: Is Trump about to 'Make Iran Great Again'?

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The US bombs Iran. Three nuclear sites heavily hit. Cue condemnation from Iran – and promises of retribution.

As the Iranian foreign minister heads to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin and discuss what to do next, we ask: what has happened, why did the Trump administration decide to take action, what’s the response domestically and internationally – and what on earth could happen next.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

Don’t forget, you can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

US

The Americans want the attack on Iran’s nuclear sites to be a ‘one-and-done’

Published

34 mins ago

June 23, 2025

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The Americans want the attack on Iran's nuclear sites to be a 'one-and-done'

The Pentagon briefing was big on what happened but short on detail of what happens next.

Neither defence secretary Pete Hegseth nor General Dan “Raisin” Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, can answer that.

Mr Hegseth called the bombing an “incredible and overwhelming success” with “focused and clear” instructions from President Trump.

The focus now is on what follows and that’s not so clear.

The briefing laid out the details of the military deception plan behind Operation Midnight Hammer.

B-2 stealth aircraft were flown west towards the Pacific on Saturday as a decoy, while the B-2s with bunker-busting bombs on board flew east towards Iran.

Israel-Iran live: World continues to react to US attack on nuclear facilities

Mr Hegseth called it a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and came down, in the end, to “precision, misdirection and operational security”.

Gen Caine, Mr Trump’s top military man, offered a measured assessment. While Mr Trump had spoken of Iran’s nuclear sites being “obliterated”, Gen Caine revised that downwards when he spoke of “extremely severe damage”.

Full battle damage assessment will reveal the complete picture – only then can the mission’s success be measured in full, mindful that Iran had shifted at least some of its enriched uranium in the days before the strike.

On the politics of it, Mr Hegseth said this wasn’t about regime change in Iran. It might offer precious little reassurance to Tehran, particularly as he also said part of the operation was to defend Israel and the ongoing defence of Israel.

If the US is tethered to Israel’s interests to the extent of an unprecedented attack on Iran, where does its influence end?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared almost giddy in response to the US attack. He is a PM strengthened by Mr Trump’s spectacular response to his rhetoric around Iran.

Suspicions weren’t softened around Netanyahu’s influence over Mr Trump when Mr Hegseth was asked about the basis for the attack. He has long lobbied the US president on Iran being close to building a nuclear bomb, contrary to American intelligence which indicates otherwise.

Mr Hegseth was asked what was the new intelligence, was it American or from other countries? He avoided a direct answer, saying only that Mr Trump had looked at all the intelligence information and concluded Iran was a threat.

There were a number of questions about what comes next, with an assortment of non-answers in response from Mr Hegseth.

A consistent line was that the US wanted Iran to negotiate peace, coupled with the threat of further aggression if it doesn’t.

The US defence secretary said Washington was in touch with Tehran privately and publicly, giving it every opportunity to come to the table, every opportunity for peace.

He made the point that America hadn’t targeted Iranian troops or civilians – clearly, a measure by the US to limit response and leave open a door.

The Americans want this attack to have been a “one-and-done”.

The scenario it’s left with, however, is an Iran talking of a diplomatic door closed and sending its foreign minister travelling to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.

Iran is wounded, no doubt. Combined attacks have left it degraded and, without a network of support in the Middle East, its ability to strike back is limited. For now, if not necessarily forever.

Donald Trump clearly enjoyed the sugar rush of military success but he will be wary of the come-down and all of its uncertainties.

In circumstances with world implications, he won’t be alone.