A major DNA study has shed new light on the fate of millions of Africans who were traded as slaves to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. More than 50,000 people took part in the study, which was able to identify more details of the “genetic impact” the trade has had on present-day populations in the Americas. It lays bare the consequences of rape, maltreatment, disease and racism. More than 12.5m Africans were traded between 1515 and the mid-19th Century. Some two million of the enslaved men, women and children died en route to the Americas. 

The DNA study was led by consumer genetics company 23andMe and included 30,000 people of African ancestry on both sides of the Atlantic. The findings were published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. Steven Micheletti, a population geneticist at 23andMe told AFP news agency that the aim was to compare the genetic results with the manifests of slave ships “to see how they agreed and how they disagree”. (BBC)…[+]

Accusations from the US and UK that Russia recently tested anti-satellite weaponry in space are “distorted”, Russia’s defence ministry says. “Tests carried out [on 15 July] did not create a threat for other spacecraft,” the ministry said, adding that it had not violated international law. Moscow said earlier that it had been using new technology to perform checks on Russian space equipment. But the US and UK said they were concerned about the satellite activity. “We are concerned by the manner in which Russia tested one of its satellites by launching a projectile with the characteristics of a weapon,” the head of the UK’s space directorate, Air Vice Marshal Harvey Smyth, said on Thursday. 

It is the first time that the UK has made accusations about Russian test-firing in space, and comes just days after an inquiry said the UK government “badly underestimated” the threat posed by Russia. The US State Department also said it had observed the use by Russia of “what would appear to be actual in-orbit anti-satellite weaponry”. The US and Russia are to hold bilateral talks on space security in Vienna next week, the first since 2013.(BBC)…[+]