Theresa May has agreed to delay Brexit until Halloween to avoid Britain crashing out of the EU with no deal on Friday.

During an historic six hour summit in Brussels, the other 27 EU leaders thrashed out the length and terms of a so-called “flextension” which will come to an end on October 31 over four hours, with the prime minister locked out of the room. 

May had been asking for a short delay until June 30 to avoid a no-deal Brexit on the previously agreed cliff edge April 12, previously suggesting she could resign if Article 50 was extended any longer.

But she accepted the six-month postponement after stressing that her main goal was ensuring the UK could get out of the EU early if she could find a way to break the Westminster impasse and pass a Brexit deal in parliament.

The lengthy delay will anger Tory Brexiteers wanting to oust May, who plans to stay on as PM until Brexit is delivered rather than use the extension to make way for a new face.

MPs on the powerful 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers are said to be working on a timeline for May to stand down, which would see her resigning as party leader by May 23, when the UK will have to take part in European elections if it is still an EU member.

But a Tory source suggested she will remain in post until the UK leaves the EU, making way for a new PM to take over negotiations on a long-term trade relationship.

The source said: “She understands that the Conservative party feels a sense that new leadership is required for the second phase of negotiations.

“That was the commitment she gave to her parliamentary colleagues and that’s one she stands by.”

The European Council summit had threatened to drag on into the small hours after French president Emmanuel Macron argued against a wider consensus for  a long delay until the end of the year or even into 2020, backing May’s preference for the end of June.

But in the end a compromise of October 31 was reached by EU leaders and accepted quickly by May.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.

MUMBAI — In the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on Thursday in Maharashtra, there will be live webcast from over 1,400 polling booths.

Wardha, Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur and Yavatmal-Washim Lok Sabha constituencies go to polls in this phase.

Read live election updates here.

A total of 116 candidates are in the fray for these seven seats, said the state’s additional chief electoral officer Dilip Shinde.

Some 1,30,35,000 voters will be casting votes at as many as 14,919 polling booths, he said.

“There will be live webcast (so that senior election officials can monitor the proceedings remotely) from 1,400 polling booths,” he added.

The highest number of candidates are in the fray for Nagpur (30), while the lowest number of candidates (five) are contesting from Gadchiroli-Chimur.

Shinde said as per the directions from the Election Commission of India, drinking water and shaded areas to protect voters from the summer heat will be arranged, and `Sakhi’ polling booths (where all officials will be women) have been set up in every Assembly segment.

In Amgaon, Armori, Gadchiroli, Aheri and Arjuni Morgaon areas of Gadchiroli-Chimur and Gondia, which are Naxal-affected, polling is being held between 7 am to 3 pm.

Elsewhere, the polling is from 7 am to 5 pm.

NEW DELHI — The Election Commission’s order stalling the screening of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s biopic has no co-relation with NaMo TV, EC officials said hours after they had maintained that the order on the film will impact the channel as well.

The officials said the order on the biopic was “misinterpreted” by them and it has no co-relation with NaMo TV.

They had earlier said the order on the film will also apply to NaMo TV, which also cannot be aired during the poll period.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan military on Wednesday took a group of international media personnel and foreign diplomats on a tour of the seminary and its surrounding areas in Balakot, where India carried out a counter-terror operation on JeM’s biggest training camp 43 days ago.

Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in an aerial combat and captured an IAF pilot, who was handed over to India on March 1.

According to BBC Urdu, the group was flown from Islamabad in a helicopter to Jabba in Balakot. The visitors trekked for about one-and-a-half hour to reach the madrassa on the top of a mountain surrounded by lush green trees.

The group, while going up, also saw a ditch on a hillside where India jets dropped its payload, according to Pakistan military.

About 150 students, aged 12-13, were present inside the seminary building and were being taught Quran when the group reached inside the madrassa, they said.

The visit by the group lasted for about 20 minutes and the participants were allowed to take pictures and even some of them spoke to the teachers present there.

Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor held formal and informal chat with the reporters.

“This is an old madrassa and has always been like this,” he said, indicating that Indian claim of hitting it was not true.

This was the first formal visit of foreign media and diplomats to the place about which India claimed that its strike killed scores of militants.

The purpose of organising the trip was apparently to fortify Pakistan’s claim that Indian failed to destroy any structure or kill anyone during the ariel attack of February 26 which brought the two nations to the verge of a war, he said.

LUCKNOW, Uttar Pradesh —  There is a story that Ravikant, an assistant professor of Hindi literature at Lucknow University, has grown up hearing from his mother. Every few days, she said, his grandfather would visit the open air market near his village and wait for the farmers and traders to leave. It would be dusk by the time he could begin scrounging the ground near the empty sacks of wheat. He would then take the fallen grain to feed his family.

By the time Ravikant was growing up in Bundelkhand, the semi-arid, desperately poor and caste-ridden region in southern Uttar Pradesh, his father had found work as a teacher in a government school.

Ravikant considers himself “lucky”.

After all, says the 39 year old, it can take three generations for a Dalit family to emerge from the centuries of persecution inflicted by India’s caste system and enter the mainstream. It helps if someone in the family—like his father—catches a break.

“Self-respect” is what matters the most to Dalits, and when someone like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is in power, Dalits feel a difference in their daily lives, he said.

“Do you know what a Dalit votes for? When he leaves his house, he does not have to avert his eyes. When he walks down the street, he does not have to hear a gaali. If there is a disagreement, he does not have to get beaten or lose his life. These are the things that a Dalit votes for,” he said.

For Ravikant, elections have always been about safeguarding the social justice movement that has empowered Dalits.

The 2019 election, however, is different.  

The academic, whose literary award was cancelled because of his critical views of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, believes “this election is about saving the country, the Constitution and our conscience.”

In other words, how India votes over the next five weeks will determine whether he can live in India as a freethinking citizen and exercise his right to free speech for the next five years.

“Does speaking against Modi make one a traitor? Does offering a contrary opinion to the government make one an ‘anti-national’?” he asked.

Cancelling an award

In 2012, two women were arrested for a Facebook post on Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s funeral, which said, “Today Mumbai shuts down due to fear and not due to respect.” Their arrest made news and sparked outrage.

In the five years since the BJP came to power in 2014, someone getting arrested—or even charged with sedition—over a Facebook post has become a run-of-the-mill occurrence.

Last year, HuffPost India reported that dozens of Indians—teachers, students, businessmen, auto-rickshaw drivers, and members of the police and paramilitary force—have been arrested for sharing memes, cartoons and messages criticizing Modi.

Many live in fear of imprisonment for sharing a WhatsApp message, and others have been murdered for dissenting.

Govind Pansare, a Leftist scholar critical of the Hindu right, was murdered in Mumbai in February 2015. A few months later, M.M. Kalburgi, a Kannada scholar and rationalist, was shot dead in Karnataka. In 2017, Gauri Lankesh, a noted journalist who was critical of right-wing politics, was shot dead in Bengaluru.

Even when the Congress was in power, India has never been a beacon of press freedom.

In 2018, it was ranked 138 out of 180 countries by Reporters Without Borders (RSF - in French), down two places from 2017, behind Myanmar and just ahead of Pakistan.

In its report, RSF said, “In India, hate speech targeting journalists is shared and amplified on social networks, often by troll armies in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pay.”

Over the past two years, Ravikant has been subjected to foul language and threatening messages for his Facebook posts. He has been accosted by angry students who have questioned him about his posts in an intimidating manner.

In March 2018, Ravikant, while commenting on the alliance between Mayawati’s BSP and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP), posted an old slogan in a Facebook post: “Mile Mulayam aur Kanshi Ram, hawa mein ud gaye Jai Shri Ram.”

This throwback to the alliance between the SP and BSP in 1993, triggered a blowback in the comments section, with messages like, “Master ji, stay in your senses…”, “maneater”, and others that HuffPost India has decided not to reproduce here.

In March, after he praised Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for sending Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman back to India, Ravikant was hit with messages like, “First, you should be declared a traitor and sent to jail... you will forget all your professor-ree.”

Ravikant is now used to the foul language that greets his posts on Facebook, but he was stunned when Uttar Pradesh’s Rajya Karamchari Sahitya Sansthan (State Employees Literary Association) decided to revoke the Raman Lal Agarwal Award, a few weeks after it was conferred on him.

In a letter to Ravikant, the state-funded Association, which is supposed to be autonomous, made it clear that his award was being cancelled because of his Facebook posts.

It was a third party, a Delhi-based NGO called Human and Animal Crime Control Association, which had complained to the literary body about Ravikant’s Facebook posts.

“That award was for literature. For them to cancel the award because of my private views on Facebook—well, that is just shocking. If the government is going to fixate on such minor things, then what direction is the country going to take? Is all dissent going to be crushed?” he said.

The Association, which was founded in 1996, has been giving away more than 25 awards every year to distinguished literary personalities who write in Hindi.

His criticism of the Modi government is well-known, said Ravikant. His two books challenging the rightwing version of Hindu nationalism, Azadi aur Rashtravaad and Aaj ke Aayiney mein Rashtravaad, were best sellers. Aaj ke Aayiney mein Rashtravaad was included in Dainik Jagran’s bestsellers list for 2018.

While speaking to The Wire, general secretary of the literary association, Dinesh Chandra Awasthi, said that unlike the other awards the association gives, the Raman Lal Agarwal Award is privately funded, and it was cancelled to avoid “any political controversy”.

Ravikant recalled Hindi writer Munshi Premchand’s address at the first All India Progressive Writers’ Association meeting in Lucknow in 1936.

He remembered the gist of the speech as — a writer does not follow politics, but is a flaming torch that precedes it.

Premchand’s words were: “The writer’s aim is not to cheer the audience and not to provide material for entertainment. Don’t degrade him to such a level. He is not even that truth which follows behind patriotism and politics; instead he is the standard bearer who shows the path.”

Hindutva for Dalits

Ravikant’s politics is straightforward. He opposes the BJP, and finds “unis-bees ka farak” (19-20% difference) in the Congress, the SP and BSP.

He plans to vote for the SP-BSP alliance to beat the BJP.

The SP and BSP’s mutually exclusive and loyal voters, made up of Yadavs and Jatav Dalits, account for 21% of the voting population and present a significant challenge to the BJP.

While Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav can count on their core vote bank, BJP has made inroads into Dalit communities other than the Jatavs, and into Other Backward Class (OBC) communities other than the Yadavs.

Ravikant thinks that the BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have been trying to make Hindutva relevant to Dalits. He illustrates this with an example.

When the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government was in power in UP in 1991, the RSS, Ravikant said, revived the theory that Lucknow was named after Laxman, revered by millions as the brother of Hindu god Ram.

When Mayawati came to power, the BSP, according to Ravikant,  started saying that Lucknow was named after Lakhan Pasi, a medieval-era king of the Pasi community, included in the Scheduled Caste category.

“And now, the RSS has moved the discourse to Lakhan Pasi being a reincarnation of Laxman,” he said. “They have included Dalits in the middle of Hindutva.” 

In 2014, the  BJP won the highest number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) in the Lok Sabha, 66 out of 131.

In UP, it won all the 17 reserved seats.

In the 2017 state assembly election, of the 86 reserved seats, the BJP and its allies won 76, with BSP getting two seats and failing to finish second on the majority of seats.

An analysis of data from the Election Commission also reveals that the BJP has won more reserved seats than the Congress in eight elections from 1989, according to The Times of India. Analysts, however, attribute this to a decline in dominant caste votes for the Congress in the same constituencies.

Observers say that 2019 is different from 2014. There is no Modi wave, and the BJP has lost favour with Dalits after a series of events: Dalit student Rohith Vemula’s suicide in Hyderabad, the flogging of Dalit tanners in Gujarat and the attempted dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989.

The Modi government, in the wake of nationwide protests, passed an ordinance nullifying the Supreme Court order that weakened the Act.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, atrocities against SCs increased by 25% from 2006 to 2016. The BJP came to power in 2014. According to the data, atrocities against Dalits increased 5.5% in 2016 from the previous year.

In 2016, UP accounted for 25.6% of atrocities against Dalits, followed by Bihar and Rajasthan.

Dalit leaders have pointed out that atrocities against Dalits in recent years have also been committed by OBC communities, not just the dominant castes.

Eventually, the success of the alliance will depend on whether Dalits vote for the SP and the OBCs vote for the BSP. The by-polls in Kairana and Phulpur in 2018, where the BSP and SP joined forces and defeated the BJP, suggests that these votes will transfer.

Observers do detect a certain reluctance among party workers of SP and BSP to work together, but they do not see it as a major roadblock for the alliance.

Ravikant, who will vote for the BSP candidate standing in Jalaun, said he would have voted for the SP candidate if needed.

“Right now, the country needs to fight for our diversity, with all its religions, with all its colours to survive. If not, the BJP is ready to  impose Hindutva and just one colour: bhagwa (saffron).”

Fighting for his alma mater  

Ravikant was 12 years old when Hindu kar sevaks demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. He grew up believing that razing the 16th century mosque was the right thing to do—until he joined Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.

“It was the most significant thing that happened in my life. It opened up a whole new world. Everything, national, international and local issues, was up for debate and disagreement,” he said. “Now, JNU is called a hub of traitors—the tukde, tukde gang. This is too too much.” 

While JNU has always been a favourite target for the right wing, the attack on the institution has been particularly vicious since 2016, with students expressing contrarian opinions being labelled as “anti-nationals”, “traitors” and “communists”, and, in some cases, arrested and charged with sedition.

Ravikant did not leave JNU a “communist” or even inclined to the Left, he said.

 The Left political parties, he has come to believe, are riddled with casteism just like the other parties.

In the first ever general election in India, the Communist Party of India (CPI) finished second, with 16 seats, while the three rightwing parties  — the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad, and the Bharatiya Jan Sangh — won 3-4 seats each.

“So, what happened? Where did it go wrong?” he asked. “We should ask how the Left Parties how many tribals, Dalits and women they have in their politburos.”

What the Left ideology did for Ravikant, though, was help him counter the Hindutva school of thought, which had led him to believe that demolishing the Babri Masjid was the right thing to do.  

Ravikant, who loves his alma mater, is worried that if the BJP returns for a second term, JNU will change in ways that will fundamentally alter its character.

The most disturbing trend to him is the changes in reservation policies that have led to a drastic drop in the admission of SC, ST and OBC students in JNU after 2017.

“They are changing policies that have allowed Dalits and Adivasis with no money to reach JNU. Those policies helped me reach JNU. I was able to learn and grow to the extent that I’m able to teach others,” he said.

Mayawati vs Chandrasekhar

Mayawati did not win a single seat in UP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Ravikant is not surprised.

There was a time when the literature professor had looked up to Mayawati, even though the Dalit leader did little to inspire people.

Till date, the BSP supremo rarely ventures out to meet voters and is notorious for reading out written speeches at election rallies.  And still, the grounds at her rallies are packed.

For the “Dalit self-respect” and power that she had come to symbolize, Ravikant was willing to ignore the lavish self-promotion, the multi-crore money garland she wore in 2010, and persistent allegations of massive corruption.

“Mayawati had come to represent Dalit swabhimaan (self-respect). So even this display of wealth was seen through the prism of self-respect. But all this—I’m a devi, give me chadhava—it appealed to Dalits then. I’m not sure it does anymore,” he said. “There is a feeling that she only reaches out when she wants votes. That does not inspire people.”

Ravikant’s admiration for Mayawati has waned after Dalit empowerment took a backseat to political expediency.

While she brought Brahmins into the BSP fold, Mayawati lost influential Dalit leaders like R.K. Chaudhary, a face of the Pasi community, who quit the party, accusing the BSP supreme of running the party like a “private real estate company.”

Then there was Swami Prasad Maurya, who accused her of “auctioning off tickets” and quit in 2016. Also Naseemuddin Siddique, the Muslim face of the party until she fired him after the BSP’s abysmal performance in the 2017 UP Assembly election. Siddique claimed that Mayawati used the word “traitors” to describe Muslims.

There are three reasons why Ravikant lost faith in Mayawati:  her bias towards her own Jatav community, allying with Brahmins in order to win elections, and leaving no room for other Dalit leaders to emerge.

In 2019, Ravikant prefers Chandrasekhar Azad, the young Dalit activist from Saharanpur, who was slapped with the National Security Act by the Yogi Adityanath government in connection with caste violence in western UP, and jailed for over one year.

Azad has tried to reaching out to Mayawati, calling her bua, but the senior Dalit leader has rebuffed him time and again.

Mayawati, who also sees the Congress as potentially poaching her Dalit vote in UP, lashed out after Azad’s meeting with Priyanka Gandhi last month.

Not only did she announce that the BSP would not form an alliance with the Congress anywhere in the country, the BSP accused Azad of being a tool of the RSS.

Ravikant doesn’t believe it.

“It is absurd. There is no young Dalit, who is educated and has a mind of his own, who would join the BJP or the RSS,” he said.

A menacing environment

No political party, including the Congress, has wholeheartedly protected the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed to Indians under the Constitution.

It was the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, Ravikant recalled, which banned Marxist writer Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh’s Bharat Itihas aur Samskriti, during his lifetime. Muktibodh, now recognized as one of India’s finest Hindi-language poets, died in 1964. He was 46 years old.

But there is a difference between Congress and the BJP, the professor of Hindi literature insisted.

“There was a sense of shame in Congress. When there was a lot of criticism, they would take it into account. There was some sense of caring, accepting mistakes and apologizing for it,” he said. “Now, it isn’t just books and thoughts that are getting banned, but people are getting killed.”

Ravikant teaches the works of several writers and poets, including Premchand, Bihari Lal, Suryakant Tripathi aka Nirala and Kabir. His syllabus is approved by the university. His classes are not political, but politics does come up during discussions.

So far, university authorities have not interfered with his classes, but he remains on edge.

On two occasions students have surrounded him on campus, objected to his Facebook posts, and spoken to him in a threatening manner.

He can’t help but think about Gauri Lankesh, and the Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen, who was threatened with gang rape after she supported a fellow poet’s poem criticising UP Chief Minister Adityanath.

Ravikant, who does not intend to censor himself, says there isn’t a lot he can do to address these fears. He is, however, taking precautions like not venturing far from campus at night, and using his helmet while riding his bike even for short distances.

“My fear is that someone will hit me from the back,” he said. “But if we don’t fight back, we will have neither a country nor a Constitution. There will only be Narendra Modi.”

A boy named Kabir

In a private act of rebellion against the intolerance that has come about, Ravikant named his son, who was born last year, Kabir.

Kabir, Ravikant’s favourite poet, condemns religiosity in Hinduism and Islam.

Ravikant recalled two of his favourite dohas (couplets).

“paththar pooje hari mile, to main poojun pahad isse to chakki bhali pees khaye sansar.”

“kankar pathad jodi ke masjid leyi banaye, ta chadhi mulla baang de kya bahra hua khudaye.”

The first one says Hindus are better off praying to a chakki that grinds flour instead of worshipping a stone.

The second asks why Muslims need to build large mosques and shout for Allah, unless they think Allah is deaf.

Ravikant said, “We are in desperate need of Kabir right now.”

A Jana Sena Party candidate was arrested in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday for damaging an Electronic Voting Machine, IANS reported.

Police say Madhusudan Gupta threw the EVM on the floor of a polling station in the Guntakal Assembly constituency because he was angry with the polling staff that the names of the assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies had not been displayed properly. He was arrested immediately, according to the report.

Andhra’s 175-member state assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state went to polls on Thursday in the first phase of the 2019 general elections.

Read live updates here. 

In Guntur’s Vinukonda, angry voters damaged a disfunctional EVM.

Upset over delayed voting due to EVM trouble, CM Chandrababu Naidu has said that he will file a review petition on counting of VVPAT slips.

In many places in Andhra Pradesh, EVMs had glitches resulting in some delay in polling, an official told PTI.

Technical teams were on the job to rectify the defects and enable polling, he said.

There are a total of 3,93,45,717 registered voters in the state, including 1,94,62,339 male, 1,98,79,421 female and 3,957 transgenders.  Of the total, 10.15 lakh are first-time voters in the age group 18-19.

As many as 2,118 and 319 candidates are in the fray for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats respectively.

(With PTI inputs)

NEW DELHI — As voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections started, Congress President Rahul Gandhi urged voters to vote wisely for the soul of India and its future.

Referring to promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before assuming power, Gandhi reminded voters that instead of jobs and Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of people, the Modi government has given them “no jobs, distrust, violence, hate and fear”.

Read live updates from first phase of elections here.

“You vote today for the soul of India. For her future. Vote wisely,” he said on Twitter.

“No 2 Crore JOBS. No 15 Lakhs in Bank A/C. No ACCHE DIN. Instead: No JOBS. DEMONETISATION. Farmers in Pain. GABBAR SINGH TAX. Suit Boot Sarkar. RAFALE. Lies. Lies. Lies. Distrust. Violence. HATE. Fear,” he also said.

The Election Commission has refuted BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan allegation of “fake” voting was taking place in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar because faces of women wearing burqas were not being checked.

Muzaffarnagar is among the eight constituencies in Uttar Pradesh voting in the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Balyan, who won from this seat in 2014 and is the BJP’s candidate for 2019, spoke to reporters soon after casting his vote on Thursday.

“Faces of women in burqa are not being checked and I allege that fake voting is being done. If not looked into, I will demand a re-poll,” Balyan said, according to ANI.

However, additional chief election officer BR Tiwari rejected this claim.

“If a woman is in a veil, there are women officials who verify their identity and only then allow them to vote. No such incident has come to our notice,” he said, ANI quoted.

Read live election updates here.

In Muzaffarnagar, Balyan is up against Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal. RJD is fighting this election in UP in alliance with Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

In April of 2017, a young MIT graduate student took to the stage at a Ted Talk and outlined a plan to do the seemingly impossible – take a picture of a black hole.

Two years later and Katie Bouman, 29, has done just that, part of a team who have just validated a pillar of science put forward by Albert Einstein more than a century ago.

“We’re a melting pot of astronomers, physicists, mathematicians and engineers, and that’s what it took to achieve something once thought impossible,” she told the Guardian.

Black holes are monstrous celestial entities exerting gravitational fields so vicious that no matter or light can escape, making observing them immensely difficult. 

The scientists looked for a ring of light - super-heated disrupted matter and radiation circling at tremendous speed at the edge of the event horizon - around a region of darkness representing the actual black hole. This is known as the black hole’s shadow or silhouette.

The key was to use radio waves. Speaking in 2016, Bouman said: “Radio wavelengths come with a lot of advantages. Just like how radio frequencies will go through walls, they pierce through galactic dust.

“We would never be able to see into the centre of our galaxy in visible wavelengths because there’s too much stuff in between.”

Bouman’s role was to develop a a new algorithm that could stitch together data collected from radio telescopes around the world, effectively turning the entire planet into a large satellite dish in an endeavour called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project,

This created a lot of data and one of the pictures doing the rounds on social media is Bouman with the stacks of hard drives on which it was contained.

Once the data was collected, Bouman’s algorithm turned into into a coherent image and a photo posted to her Facebook account shows the very moment it all came together.

It’s captioned: ”Watching in disbelief as the first image I ever made of a black hole was in the process of being reconstructed.”

There’s no overstating the feat – the team’s observations strongly validated the theory of general relativity proposed in 1915 by Einstein, the famed theoretical physicist, to explain the laws of gravity and their relation to other natural forces.

“We have achieved something presumed to be impossible just a generation ago,” said astrophysicist Sheperd Doeleman, director of the Event Horizon Telescope at the Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Harvard & Smithsonian.

And Bouman, now at CalTech, looks set to go down the history books if the reaction on social media is anything to go by as people heap praise upon her.

The M87 black hole observed by the scientific team resides about 54 million light-years from Earth and boasts an almost-unimaginable mass of 6.5 billion times that of the sun.

A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

The discovery provides a unique insight into the ruthless gravitational fields which remain impossible to see with the naked eye.

Because one side of the ring is brighter than the other, scientists believe that the black hole, or matter around it, is rotating.

“This is a huge day in astrophysics,” said US National Science Foundation Director France Cordova. “We’re seeing the unseeable.”

“It did bring tears to my eyes,” Cordova added.

MEERUT, Uttar Pradesh — Nine hundred million people, just shy of the combined populations of Europe and America, will have the chance to vote as Indians line up to decide who will lead the country for the next five years.

The phased polls begin on April 11 and will continue for a month in different parts of the country. The results are expected on May 23.

Five years after Narendra Modi and his right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power, the country appears at a crossroads: Indian society is fractured along the lines of caste and religion, the economy is still recovering from a series of ill-considered shock measures, and unemployment is rampant.

Yet many still expect Modi and the BJP to hang on to power, largely due to an opposition that has struggled to counter the current government’s potent brew of toxic religious nationalism, a supine press that actively sides with the government on most issues, and the ruling party’s vast online army of trolls that spread government propaganda and intimidate critics.

Despite this, the government was struggling earlier this year, right up to 14 February when a suicide bomber killed over 40 paramilitary troopers by driving a van-laden with explosives into a troop convoy. A brief military skirmish with Pakistan followed, ensuring that national security dominated the headlines for the next several weeks.

“This is not a real election. It is a virtual election being fought on the imaginary issues of national security,” said Shiv Visvanathan, a social anthropologist and professor at O.P. Jindal Global University. “It is a total invention.”

If the 2014 elections were about hope for India’s vast swathes of unemployed youth, the 2019 elections are about fear.

“This election has become a patriotic election,” Visvanathan said. “Development was round one. Patriotism is round two.”  

Rashmi Jain, a 40-year-old homemaker in Meerut, a northern Indian city with a history of communal violence, said she saw no alternative to Modi.

“After the attack in Kashmir, Modi took action. That is how it should be,” she said. “He has a great personality. He has put India on the map. The leader of countries like Japan, America and Indonesia support him. They want to work with him.”

The world’s largest election is a referendum on one man. 

As she turned to look at television screen, which showed Modi raising his arms while giving an election speech in his home state of Gujarat, Jain said, “He has a vision. He doesn’t think short-term, but long term, even if it means getting a lot of criticism. Is this not enough for anyone to want to vote for him?”  

Visvanathan noted there was a difference between the Modi who ran in 2014, and the man who is contesting the election now. “Modi is not an aspiring character anymore. Aspiration has moved to permanence. Modi wants to be a legend.” 

Yet Sudha Pai, a political science professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, cautioned that the outcome of the election was not a foregone conclusion.

“We still have to see whether people are sold on national security and all this ‘we have to be a great nation.’” she said. “We still have to see whether the election is going to be about the economy or national security.” 

Guns, Butter And Fake News

 In 2014, Modi and the BJP swept to power on the promise of delivering jobs to India’s legion of unemployed youth. Over 1 million young Indians enter the job market every month, by some estimates, and the economy does not produce nearly enough jobs.

Five years down the line, the government has clearly failed to deliver.

Recently, 93,000 candidates, including several with Phds and post graduates, applied for 62 posts to be police messengers - a job that requires the applicant to have passed the fifth grade. A leaked jobs report, that the government tried to suppress, estimated that unemployment was at a 45 year high.

Some of the government’s wounds have been self-inflicted. In November 2016, Modi took the unilateral and ill-advised decision to remove 85% of India’s cash in circulation by “demonetizing” high-value currency notes. The move, justified as a way to eliminate hoards to undeclared wealth, triggered a slump that the economy is yet to recover from. 

Yet so strong is Modi’s grasp on the public imagination, that many voters say they will vote for him anyway.

Yashpal Saxena, a voter in Delhi, toldHuffPost India that demonetization had ruined his small business, making parts for electrical appliances, but he still feels there is no one other than Modi who is capable of leading the country.

Saxena has heard that Modi is thick friends with Donald Trump and has some sway over the president of the United States. This leads him to believe that Modi has a standing among world leaders. 

One big reason for Saxena’s beliefs is the BJP’s digital army of fake news peddlers who lose no opportunity to stretch the truth to serve their leader’s ends.

Saxena knows that everything he reads and hears about Modi — on TV and Facebook — is not true, but the 60-year-old electrician says there is nothing he can do to counter misinformation.

“I don’t know whether Trump listens to him or not. What choice do I have but to trust the media? I cannot go to America and check with Trump,” he said.

This election will also witness a new generation of leaders, drawn into politics to oppose the BJP’s authoritarianism.

One such candidate is Kanhaiya Kumar, a former student leader who was briefly jailed on charges of sedition by the Modi government.

Modi’s popularity, Kumar said, is a myth that would be exposed in the election.  

“It is a false narrative created by the mainstream media of this country, but the perception is being broken,” he toldHuffPost India in 2018. 

Religious Strife

As Modi’s economic policies have faltered, his party and its rightwing allies have sought to ratchet up tensions between the country’s Hindu majority and religious minorities like Christians and Muslims. 

One consequence has been a coarsening of political discourse that has empowered bigots on all sides.

Zahid, a shopkeeper in Meerut, is voting for opposition candidate, Haji Mohammad Yaqub, a wealthy meat exporter, who, in 2005, said that he would give Rs 510 million for the head of the Danish caricaturist who satirized the Prophet Muhammad in a set of 12 cartoons. At the time, Yaqub was a minister with a state government.

Zahid is confident that Yaqub will win. The 26-year-old, who has studied till the 10 grade, would have liked to be a cricketer instead of sitting at a shop, but he had to support his family after his father died.

“BJP is not good for Muslims. They are interfering in our personal laws,” he said. “We don’t know when or where a Muslim can be attacked,” he said.

Referring to the recent incident in which a Muslim family in Gurugram, a city bordering Delhi, was attacked by a Hindu mob, he said, “If Muslims had done the same thing, they would have been called terrorists, but they are Hindus, so nothing.”

Win or lose, the Modi government’s insistence on playing the majority against the minority is likely to leave deep scars on Indian politics.

The party’s Hindu-revivalist agenda, or Hindutva, has already pushed the Indian National Congress, the party of India’s freedom struggle and the principal opposition party, rightwards.

“The BJP copied the Congress and tried to invent history,” Visvanathan, the professor said, referring Modi’s determination to find a place in the pantheon of Indian leaders. “The Congress has copied BJP and tried to invent Hindutva. This has convinced no one.”

Electronic voting machine (EVM) glitches were reported in several places in Andhra Pradesh, prompting Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to demand repolling. 

In a letter to the Election Commission, Naidu said that 30 percent of the EVMs were not functioning till 10 am, according to Hindustan Times. 

The Chief Minister referred to technical glitches in EVMs and said he was demanding that ballot papers be re-introduced.

“No developed country is using EVMs as they are prone to manipulation. We have hence been demanding that we revert to the ballot paper system,” Naidu said.

He also demanded re-polling in some of the booths. Naidu said that three hours of polling time had been wasted by faulty EVMs and there were complaints that votes cast for TDP were going to YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), reported The Hindu.

In his letter, Naidu said it is likely that people who went back (because of EVM glitch) may not return to vote when polling resumes. He, therefore, said that re-polling is needed in all polling stations where voting had not begun till 9.30 am.  

State Chief Electoral Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi himself could not cast his vote at Christianpeta Municipal High School in Tadepalli town in Guntur district due to malfunctioning of EVM, the Hindustan Times report added. He pulled up election officials for not taking enough precautions.

Meanwhile, clashes broke out between workers of Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress at various places in Andhra Pradesh. 

(With PTI inputs)

NAGPUR, Maharashtra — Two days before campaigning ended for the first phase of the Lok Sabha election, union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari stepped out into the blazing Nagpur sun. He was campaigning that day in the East Nagpur area, a hub of the city’s retail trade.

Gadkari, who won his first ever direct election from the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat in 2014 at the height of the ‘Modi wave’, is looking to defeat a former party colleague this time—Nana Patole, a former BJP MP from Bhandara-Gondiya, who is contesting on a Congress ticket.

Much before Gadkari left his house, hundreds of BJP workers had assembled in the posh Ramnagar locality in cars bikes and e-rickshaws. By the time the minister emerged, the crowd had grown to around 5,000 people.

Throughout the three-hour long rally, East Nagpur residents thronged the streets, chowks and rooftops to catch a glimpse of a man many believe may have a shot at becoming India’s next prime minister if the BJP fails to get a majority in the general election beginning Thursday. Nagpur is one of the constituencies voting in the first phase.

But ask any of the jubilant BJP workers what they think of Gadkari’s chances and they become guarded.

“Now you are trying to fuel a fire,” one of them shot back.

Even a leader as close to the RSS as Gadkari is wary of expressing his political ambitions too openly in the BJP—when his cryptic utterances after the party lost three key states in the assembly election last year began making headlines, a rattled Narendra Modi and Amit Shah sent a senior functionary to warn him off.

Like in 2014, Modi has not campaigned for his long-time rival this time as well, despite visiting districts near Nagpur.

“When he came to Wardha last week, he went via Nagpur but Gadkari did not meet him. Gadkari was instead campaigning in Chandrapur for BJP candidate Hansraj Ahir, who was present in Modi’s Wardha rally,” said a close associate of Gadkari on condition of anonymity.

Gadkari has denied his prime ministerial ambitions in multiple interviews, and people close to him say that the stress is now visible on his face.

“The way Modi-Shah duo has concentrated power in their own hands, it is troubling him. Many ticket aspirants came to him for tickets this time, but he straightaway directed them to Amit Shah. His health is also a concern,” said another BJP office-bearer close to Gadkari.

This person added that Gadkari’s eye on the top post has never been a secret.

After all, political observers believe that if it comes down to it, the RSS will always back Gadkari over Modi.

In October, SN Vinod, a senior journalist based in Nagpur, had told HuffPost India that the RSS doesn’t want the Modi-Shah combine to come back to power.

“The RSS and Bhagwat know that Modi, if elected PM again with a comfortable majority, will try to bulldoze the RSS. He will make sure that his man becomes the RSS chief,” he had said.

Opinion polls published before voting began to indicate that the BJP will return to power, but its tally will drop from last year’s 282 seats.

On the road

Many of the BJP supporters HuffPost India spoke to were unhappy with the party’s record on jobs and its policy decisions such as demonetisation and GST, but still maintained they would vote for Gadkari for different reasons.

Ritesh Khairkar, who runs a Chinese food stall, proudly carries a BJP flag, but admits he is not very happy with Gadkari’s performance as MP.

“These cement roads and the metro aren’t going to educate or feed us,” he complained.

So who will he vote for?

“Gadkari, of course. Not only me, my entire family would vote for him. Who else is there? We haven’t even seen the Congress candidate. I heard on some TV channels that he (Gadkari) could become PM. We would like to vote for someone who stands a chance to be PM. But they will have to generate employment this time,” he said.

Trader Thakurdas Bhagwani, said that GST hit his business badly.

“But I am with the BJP on the issue of Rashtrawad (Nationalism) and Hindutva,” he claimed. 

Every 500m, groups of BJP supporters rushed to meet Gadkari, who told them to go to 100 families who don’t support BJP and convince them to vote for him.

In his speeches, the minister sticks to what he has done for the constituency during his term and what he will do if he wins again. Missing from the address are any mention of his opponent, PM Modi or the issues that appeal to core Hindutva supporters, such as Ram Temple and Pakistan.

“He has asked us not to mention a single negative thing during the campaign,” said BJP leader Chandan Goswami.

As the rally passed through the Itwari area, the police stopped traffic on one side. One of the cars stuck waiting for the roadshow to pass belonged to Congress candidate Patole. There was nothing to mark out the vehicle as belonging to the sitting MP’s key opponent—no flag, no hangers-on.

“He (Patole) has changed so many parties in his career. It looks like even the Nagpur Congress hasn’t accepted him. Look at him and look at our mahaul,” exulted a BJP worker, before rushing off to follow his leader.

Kim Kardashian made one of her most shocking announcements yet as the cover star for Vogue’s May 2019 issue: She’s studying to become a lawyer.

Vogue’s Jonathan Van Meter revealed the reality TV star is currently doing a four-year apprenticeship with a law firm in San Francisco and plans to take the bar in 2022. 

Though the announcement might not be all that shocking to fans who know of Kardashian’s love of detective work or her recent advocacy for criminal justice reform, the 38-year-old says she thought “long and hard” about her decision to pursue law. 

It all started with visiting President Donald Trump at the White House to advocate for clemency for Alice Johnson, a grandmother who received a life sentence for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense.

“The White House called me to advise to help change the system of clemency,” Kardashian told Vogue. “And I’m sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, shit. I need to know more.” 

She said that while she had her points down about the case, the lawyers with her could present facts ― something she wanted to be able to do, too. 

“I’ve always known my role, but I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society,” the star added. “I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more.” 

Trump later granted Johnson clemency. Van Jones, a CNN commentator and activist, told Vogue that it all boiled down to Kardashian’s help and ability to explain the situation to the president. 

“I was in the Oval Office with Kim and Ivanka and Jared and the president, and I watched with my own eyes Trump confess to having tremendous fears of letting somebody out of prison and that person going and doing something terrible, and the impact that that would have on his political prospects,” Jones said.

“He was visibly nervous about it,” the commenter and activist added. “And I watched Kim Kardashian unleash the most effective, emotionally intelligent intervention that I’ve ever seen in American politics.” 

Jones added that Kardashian, whose father was O.J. Simpson’s defense attorney Robert Kardashian, is moving further away from the preconceived notion many have of her.

“This is the daughter of an accomplished attorney and the mother of three black kids who is using her full power to make a difference on a tough issue and is shockingly good at it,” he said.  

Considering the reality star never graduated from college and won’t be going to law school, she has a few more steps ahead of her before taking the bar. She must take a “baby bar” beforehand, in addition to “reading the law” and completing her apprenticeship.

“First year of law school, you have to cover three subjects: criminal law, torts, and contracts,” she said. “To me, torts is the most confusing, contracts the most boring, and crim law I can do in my sleep. Took my first test, I got a 100. Super easy for me.”

“The reading is what really gets me,” she added. “It’s so time-consuming. The concepts I grasp in two seconds.”

Head to Vogue to read more of Kardashian’s interview. Look for the issue on newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on April 16 and nationwide April 23.

If you’re of a certain age, you’ve likely run into a friendship problem that seems more grade school than grown up: Two friends in your inner circle get into some petty argument that becomes long-standing, and inevitably you’re dragged into the middle.

It happened not long ago to Kali Rogers, the CEO and founder of Blush, an online life coaching company for girls.

“It was a very precarious situation from the start,” Rogers told HuffPost. “I tried my best to stay out of it, but in the end, one of the friends actually ended up turning on me and reacquainting herself with the other friend.” 

No good deed goes unpunished, especially in the messy arena of adult friendships. 

Rogers’ tale of feuding friends is all too common, but there’s no real playbook for how to handle it: To intervene or stay out of it? What do you do about social events like your birthday, where you want both to attend? Have no fear, friendship feud advice is here! Below, five tips to make this sticky situation a little less stressful. 

Don’t let them wrangle you into taking sides.

You might not mind playing mediator ― maybe you even relish doing so if you’ve got a bit of a savior complex. But don’t let either of your friends talk you into taking a referee role, where you’re forced to weigh in on who’s in the right and who’s in the wrong, said Marie Land, a psychologist based in Washington, D.C.

“To be clear with them, say something like, ‘I care about your feelings, but I’m not going to take sides,’” Land said. “If they aren’t getting it and are defensive, you have the right to explain how this is impacting you.”

For instance, say something like: “It kind of makes me uncomfortable to talk about X with you. Can we talk about something else? What’d you think of that new Jordan Peele movie?”

To deflect further and remind them that responsibility for the situation lies with them, Land suggests saying, “I hope that you guys can talk about it or feel better about things.” 

Don’t overpersonalize the situation.  

Your circle of friends ― and the state of each of those friendships ― obviously matters to you. But ultimately you’re dealing with adults who dictate how they spend their free time and with whom. They call the shots when it comes to friendships they want to invest or not, said Andrea Bonior, a psychologist and the host of Baggage Check, a live weekly chat on The Washington Post. 

“It’s not your job to manage other people’s conflicts, and although it can be very frustrating and stressful to have two friends fighting, remember that the more you make it about you, the more miserable you will be,” she said.

Plan ahead for shared events. 

When social events roll around, hold your ground and invite whomever you damn please to your party, said Melissa S. Cohen, a psychotherapist in Westfield, New Jersey. Part of being an adult is growing out of the self-centeredness and drama of our youth. Your friends should be able to recognize when they’re not the focal point of the event. (Plus, if it’s a party setting, all the extra people there should help bring down the intensity of the scorched-earth vibes going on between them.) 

“Everyone needs to rise above their own issues to focus on why they’re gathering in the first place,” Cohen said. “Maybe in advance, remind them that it takes a lot more effort to snub someone than to simply be cordial. Even if we are hurt, everyone deserves to be treated with respect.”

Cohen’s pro tip for interacting with someone you’d just as rather not? Extend the same level of politeness that you would to a stranger on the subway. 

“Acknowledge their existence and then focus elsewhere,” she said. 

Set healthy boundaries and rules for conversation. 

Put your own peace of mind first here. Set clear boundaries with each friend to establish your role ― or really, your lack thereof ― in this feud, Rogers said. 

“I recommend enforcing rules such as no negative speech about the other friend in front of you, no relaying messages between the two enemy friends and no referencing the feud in your presence,” she said. 

Be willing to accept that their friendship may have run its course.

Friendships are fluid things. Sometimes, in the process of growing individually or just living our daily lives, we outgrow each other. You might get along swimmingly with both of these people, but if they no longer “click” as friends, it doesn’t need to bring additional stress into your life. 

“At this point, they may have little in common except their friendship with you,” said Irene S. Levine, a psychologist and author of “Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup With Your Best Friend.” “If being together as a trio gets too uncomfortable, you may need to see each of them individually from now on.” 

“Of course, it’s helpful to try to clear up any misunderstandings, but pushing too much may backfire,” she said. “All you can do is reassure your two friends that, individually, their friendship with you will always be important.” 

Plants are known to perk up our mood and bring life into our spaces, but they can do a lot more than that. Plants are essential for purifying the air and can be connected to our overall health. So if you don’t already have a plant in your home, you probably should think about adding one.  

Indoor air pollution is a big threat to human health, according to a Clean Air Study conducted by NASA, and our separation from plants and their microorganisms is a contributing factor to various health issues.

Indoor air pollution comes from a lot of sources, including toxic emissions like benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene and toluene — all of which can have negative effects on our health. These toxins are most commonly found in airtight spaces with limited air circulation, like office buildings and apartments. So, what can you do? 

“The answer to these problems is obvious,” the NASA report says. “If man is to move into closed environments, on Earth or in space, he must take along nature’s life support system.”

Challenge accepted. 

Most plants have many benefits and are natural air purifiers, but some houseplants are more effective than others at removing carcinogenic chemicals from the air. To help you on your quest to breathe easier, we’ve rounded up the best air-purifying plants that can help you fight allergies, improve your sleep and reconnect with nature. 

Take a look below at 12 air-purifying plants you should consider adding to your space ASAP.  

HuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. 

Two people were killed near a polling booth in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday after workers from Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress workers clashed, reports said. 

The TDP worker, identified as Siddha Bhaskar Reddy, was hacked to death at Veerapuram in Anantapur’s Tadipatri constituency, The Hindu reported.

YSRCP’s worker Pulla Reddy was also killed in the clashes in which party workers pelted stones at each other, the Hindustan Times said.

Workers of both the parties have clashed at various places in Andhra Pradesh. 

The state is voting for its 175-seat assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase of the elections today.

In Guntakal, former MLA and contesting candidate of Jana Sena Party, Madhusudan Gupta, smashed an EVM in a fit of rage alleging that party symbols were not properly printed on the ballot unit.

A mandal parishad member of YSRC was seriously injured when TDP workers allegedly attacked him at a polling station in Eluru city.

In Jammalamadugu in Kadapa district, tension prevailed in Ponnathota village as YSRC and TDP workers indulged in stone-throwing.

In Narsaraopet constituency in Guntur district, YSRC leaders alleged TDP men ransacked a polling station in Yelamanda village and damaged the furniture.

Police personnel were also preventing YSRC sympathisers from entering into the polling booth, they alleged.

State Chief Electoral Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, however, said polling was going on peacefully across the state.

In a statement, the CEO asked people not to believe in rumours as the poll process was going on peacefully.

He said the technical defects in EVMs, reported from various places, have been rectified.

This is the first general election in the state after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and creation of Telangana in June 2014.

As many as 2,118 and 319 candidates are in the fray for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats respectively.

(With PTI inputs)

The mystery is finally over. Someone has owned up to NaMo TV, a channel which created a political storm soon after its launch on 31 March. There were questions raised on its ownership, compliance with law and violation of model code of conduct.

Now, at least one of those questions has been answered. We finally know who owns it. Unsurprisingly, it is the BJP. 

The BJP admitted that NaMo TV is run by its own IT Cell, according to a report by The Indian Express. “NaMo TV is a feature of NaMo app which is run by BJP IT cell. (The) Party has taken slots on DTH for which provisions are there to show it,” head of BJP IT Cell Amit Malviya told The Indian Express. 

This admission comes just days after the Election Commission directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi to ensure that the contents of NaMo TV are pre-certified by the local media certification and monitoring committee. 

The report further said that Delhi Chief Electoral Office’s Media Certification and Monitoring Committee’s told the EC that the NaMo TV content, which is mostly pre-aired speeches of Modi, did not qualify as advertisement.

DTH service provider Tata Sky had said the channel is a “special service” and its content comes from the BJP. Initially though, it had called NaMo TV a “Hindi news service which provides the latest breaking news on national politics.”

Meanwhile, the EC has banned the release of PM Modi biopic, PM Narendra Modi, till election period, saying any such film that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media.

(With PTI inputs)

K-pop band BTS is performing on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, and you know what that means: fangirls. 

Host Emma Stone and several members of the “SNL” cast were featured in a teaser for the program as they eagerly awaited the arrival of the beloved boy band ― much like so many of their fierce fans, known as ARMYs ― with a perfectly BTS-filled slumber party. 

In the sketch, Stone is so busy fangirling that at one point she casually just gives away her hosting gig. 

It happens to the best of us. 

BTS has continued its steady rise this year. The group became the first Korean act to appear on stage at the Grammys in February. And recently the band received a Billboard Awards nomination for Top Social Artist, marking their third year in a row to receive the nod. 

When you’re in a long-distance relationship, being apart sucks for a number of reasons, not least of which is that you’re missing out on that all-important physical connection: holding hands, cuddling on the couch, kissing and, of course, having sex. 

“It’s normal to crave intimacy when you are apart but sometimes maintaining intimacy and keeping things spicy is not as easy as it seems,” Jennifer Craig of the blog Survive LDR told HuffPost. 

That’s why we asked people who have been in long-distance relationships (or LDRs, for short) and sex therapists to share their best advice for keeping the sexual spark alive when you’re not physically together — and a few tips for the times that you are. 

1. First, make sure you’re on the same page about whether this will be a monogamous LDR and what constitutes cheating. 

“In order to prevent your significant other from feeling insecurity and jealousy, there needs to be frank and open discussion about what constitutes ‘betrayal.’ Set aside a time with your partner and talk in detail about what you each perceive as emotional and sexual infidelity. You might be surprised how your definition of infidelity might be different than your [partner’s]. We all have different thresholds about what is ‘OK’ and what is ‘not OK’ in the relationship.” — Nazanin Moali, sex therapist and host of the podcast “Sexology”

2. Get comfortable talking about your feelings, needs and desires and listening to your partner’s, too.

“Be open with your partner. The key to intimacy in LDRs is open communication. Discuss the best ways to maintain intimacy with your partner. Don’t be shy to experiment with intimate activities that you both are comfortable doing. Communicate your sexual desires and be open to your partner’s desires, too.” — Craig

3. Start with sexting.

“For beginners, sex toys or video sex might be too much. I recommend sexting because it’s a great activity to maintain intimacy while you are physically apart — not too direct for beginners, less awkward, and you can build up as you go along and get more comfortable.” — Craig 

4. Create a secret photo album where you can safely store your partner’s saucy selfies. 

“In the beginning of our three-year long-distance relationship, we would often find ourselves sexting to keep the sexual spark alive in between trips to see each other. This would mostly be just writing, however, there were a few cheeky pictures exchanged from time to time, which we each kept on a secret photo album app on our phones.” ― Casee Brimblecombe

5. And *always* make sure you’re sending those sexy pics to the right recipient. 

“Just make sure you double-check you’re in the right phone conversation when you’re sending saucy messages or pictures! I’ve made the mistake once. You best believe I tripled-checked every message after that.” ― Brimblecombe

6. Schedule regular times to connect via phone or Skype.

“It’s important to schedule those times so you and your partner know that this is the designated time to connect. Also, it’s important to continue living your own life when your significant other is away. Continue to interact with friends, remain social and carry on as you normally would. If you start to give up your life in order to preserve your ongoing relationship, it could lead to resentment and frustration.” — Moali

7. Embrace technology, like remote-controlled sex toys.

“The good news is that modern digital technology has made it easier than ever for lovers — even ones separated by an ocean, several time zones and different cultures, to stay in touch. For instance, there are new sex toys that will allow you to have an interactive sex life apart, giving you the opportunity to sync your device with your lover and providing you with an interactive experience. Additionally, you may also indulge in your most eroticized fantasies by adding an element of virtual reality to these toys.” — Moali

8. But don’t forget about old-school options like snail mail. 

“I still prefer the old-fashioned handwritten letter. With any method, people can still role-play. Create an alter ego, engage in cosplay, be willing to use your imagination and try something new.” ― Douglas Brooks, sex therapist 

9. Don’t just rely on your partner: Make sure you’re getting yourself off, too.

“The reality of the long-distance relationship is that, in most cases, your partner will not be able to fulfill all your sexual needs. Therefore, it is important for you to take ownership of your sexual needs. It’s important for you to learn ways to enjoy solo sex; it may help you keep your sexual desires alive and present.” — Moali

10. When you are together, use all that anticipation you’ve accumulated to your advantage. 

“When you don’t see each other for months at a time, things tend to get pretty spicy on their own. When you let the anticipation build for a while, it turns into a very powerful aphrodisiac and you don’t really have to think about how to keep it all fresh — you’re just busy thinking about how to get your hands on your loved one! Being physically apart feels like torture, but once you’re reunited, the mutual attraction is just through the roof.” ― Olga Baker

11. If you want to kick off a visit by having sex right out of the gates, go for it.

“When together, it’s OK to have sex immediately to reduce the nerves. Then you can enjoy the rest of your time together. While sex is important, focusing on intimacy and romance can definitely keep the long-distance relationship alive.” — Brooks 

Sex Ed for Grown-Ups is a series tackling everything you didn’t learn about sex in school — beyond the birds and the bees. Keep checking back for more expert-based articles and personal stories.

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and style.