Decades after burnishing his reputation as a wealthy daredevil mogul in a series of boating and hot-air balloon expeditions, Richard Branson is poised to promote his burgeoning astro-tourism venture by launching himself to the final frontier. Branson’s Virgin Galactic is due on Sunday to send the company’s passenger rocket plane, the VSS Unity, on its first
The government is considering paying families to help them offset the rising cost of gas bills and to incentivise a switch to green heating. The potential scheme, first reported in The Times newspaper and confirmed by Sky News, means that the amount paid would remain the same even if a homeowner reduced their gas bills
Chadwick Boseman has appeared as the voice of his superhero alter-ego in the trailer for a new Marvel project, ahead of his final outing as the character. Boseman passed away last year after a bout of colon cancer – a diagnosis he kept hidden for four years. In a trailer released on Thursday for new
There’s a small town in Texas that has taken a stance against solar panels in a weird way. That stance was actually taken back in 2012 via a city ordinance. Tyler, Texas, is what I’ve always considered the midpoint between Shreveport, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas. Stop at the truck stop to get some rocks, fudge,
Business leaders say employers should be willing to be flexible on working hours on Monday, to enable football fans to celebrate England’s Euro 2020 victory… or recover from defeat. England face Italy in the tournament on Sunday night in their biggest game for men’s football since the 1966 World Cup final. The match will be
NASA on a regular basis shares pictures on its social media handles of missions currently underway. But occasionally, it takes us down the memory lane too. On Thursday, July 8, the American space agency shared images of a mission from a decade ago on its Twitter and Instagram handles. It was on this day back
Cigarette maker Philip Morris International says it will buy Vectura Group as part of an expansion beyond tobacco and nicotine. The deal values Vectura at £1.05bn and its shareholders will get 150p per share in cash, the British pharmaceutical company said in a joint statement with Philip Morris (PMI). Vectura had agreed to a £958m
There was a time, in the wake of the first wave of COVID-19, that politicians and economists yearned for a V-shaped recovery – an immediate bounce-back from the financial devastation of lockdowns. The second wave put paid to that, and as we tiptoe out of the most recent restrictions, the line drawn by GDP is
Britney Spears’s father has said he opposes paying for the extra security costs of the singer’s carer, after claims she had received death threats. Lawyers for Jodi Montgomery, who has looked after Spears‘s healthcare as part of the star’s controversial conservatorship arrangement since 2019, said that she had been sent death threats after the performer
Details of a plan to allow vaccinated expats into the UK without having to quarantine could be revealed in the “next couple of weeks”, the transport secretary has said. Grant Shapps told Sky News that ministers are “actively working” on proposals to allow those who received their jabs outside of the UK to be exempt
A 14-year-old girl has made history by becoming the first African American to win the 96-year-old US Scripps National Spelling Bee. Zaila Avant-garde, a sporting prodigy with several Guinness World Records to her name for dribbling multiple basketballs at a time, won the event by correctly spelling Murraya – a genus of tropical Asiatic and
The economy grew by 0.8% in May but remains 3.1% below its pre-pandemic peak, according to the Office for National Statistics. The figure was just over half of the 1.5% growth predicted by economists and it was also lower than the 2% growth seen in April, when restrictions eased for non-essential retailers, hairdressers, pubs and
For nearly a decade, utility companies have been targeted by companies and individuals selling a particular kind of snake oil. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think a lot of these people are acting maliciously (I’ll get to that in a minute). In fact, I think a lot of these people have the best of
Police bodycam footage shows officers rescuing a six-year-old girl after she was kidnapped from outside her home in Kentucky. The victim was riding her bicycle in Louisville on 2 July when she was snatched by a stranger in a car, witnesses told the Louisville Metro Police Department. Neighbour Prentiss Weatherford told WHAS-TV that he saw
When Rory Graham, the artist better known as Rag’n’Bone Man, performed on stage at the Brit Awards earlier this year, he was wearing the same sunglasses as he is for our interview. He needed them, he tells Sky News. Singing Anywhere Away From Here, his duet with Pink, in front of an audience filled with
Singapore researchers have developed a smart foam material that allows robots to sense nearby objects, and repairs itself when damaged, just like human skin. Artificially innervated foam, or AiFoam, is a highly elastic polymer created by mixing fluoropolymer with a compound that lowers surface tension. This allows the spongy material to fuse easily into one
Reducing the sensitivity of the NHS COVID app to bring down the number of people being told to self-isolate is “like taking the batteries out of the smoke alarm”, Sir Keir Starmer has said. On Thursday, the head of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, confirmed that ministers plan to “tune” the app
Three billionaire entrepreneurs – Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson – are each vying to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel. Here is how their rival ventures compare in the race to open up space travel. Tickets Bezos, Branson, and Musk have been investing billions of dollars in their space
As Virgin Galactic finalises plans for founder Richard Branson to join five others on a test flight to the edge of space on July 11, the British billionaire said his wife may be nervous about the launch but he himself wasn’t the least bit afraid. “I’ve been looking forward to this for 17 years,” Branson
3:42 PM ET Associated Press HAMPTON, Ga. — After 24 years, Speedway Motorsports officials could no longer allow drivers to have the final word in delaying the inevitable repaving of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Sunday’s NASCAR race will be the final event for the battered and heavily patched track surface. Construction will begin immediately on the