Author: SKYNEWS

China is hiding secret military activity in space, NASA chief Bill Nelson has claimed.”We believe that a lot of their so-called civilian space programme is a military programme,” he told the House Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday. “China has made extraordinary strides, especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive,” he said.The NASA administrator was giving evidence during a committee hearing to sign off the US space agency’s £20.3bn ($25.4bn) budget request for 2025.He was asked by the committee’s chairman Hal Rogers about China’s “very significant investments” in their space programmes and how NASA would maintain…

US music stars Ashanti and Nelly have revealed they are engaged and are expecting their first child together.The award-winning performers – who first dated over 20 years ago – rekindled their romance last year. They first met at the Grammy Awards in 2003, and dated for a decade before going their separate ways. Image: The stars pictured in 2011, during their first relationship. Pic: AP Ashanti shared a video on Instagram, saying she’ll need “about nine months” to prepare for her next big gig.Nelly also shared the post, which was captioned, “Baby baby baby baby”, on his official Instagram feed.…

Ministers are to kick off a search for the inaugural chair of the new football watchdog, even as it faces growing hints of opposition to its establishment from the Premier League.Sky News has learnt that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will launch the appointment process for the role at the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) as soon as this week. The chair, who is expected to be paid a six-figure salary, will be responsible for overseeing a landmark period in the English game.The regulator will have three primary objectives, including promoting clubs’ financial sustainability and the financial resilience…

Smoking among younger middle-class women has jumped more than 25% in the last decade, according to new research. By contrast, smoking rates fell among working-class women. Using data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, an ongoing monthly survey of adults in England, researchers from University College London (UCL) looked at the smoking habits of 197,266 people, including 44,052 women of reproductive age (18 to 45).They found smoking rates in more advantaged women rose from 11.7% to 14.9% between 2013 and 2023, while rates among women in lower socioeconomic groups fell from 28.7% to 22.4%.Smoking rates among men remained stable across the decade.…

Sir Salman Rushdie has told Sky News he thought it would be “the end” for him after he was repeatedly stabbed at a public lecture in 2022.The Indian-born British author suffered life-changing injuries including the loss of his right eye following the attack at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state. Speaking to The World with Yalda Hakim, the author described the “unpleasant experience” where he recalled the attacker having a “clear run” at him and within 30 seconds Sir Salman had sustained more than a dozen different injuries.”Half a minute with a knife… You can do a lot,” he…

Calls made to an anti-slavery helpline have reached a record high, with the number of potential victims in the care sector rising by almost a third.According to anti-slavery charity Unseen, the number of calls to the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline in 2023 increased by more than 19%, up from 9,779 in 2022 to 11,700 last year. Labour abuse remained the main form of exploitation up by 11% from 464 cases in 2022 to 516 in 2023.Potential victims indicated in the care sector went up by 30% from 708 in 2022 to 918.There was also a 21% increase in potential…

Crisis-hit Boeing has rushed to defend itself from fresh whistleblower allegations of poor practice, as the airline continues to grapple its latest safety crisis.A Congressional investigation heard evidence on Wednesday on the safety culture and manufacturing standards at the company – rocked in January by a mid-air scare that saw an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flight suffer a panel blowout. One Boeing quality engineer, Sam Salehpour, told members of a Senate subcommittee that Boeing was taking shortcuts to bolster production levels that could lead to jetliners breaking apart.Money latest: How to claim for pothole damage He said of Boeing’s…

A former sub-postmaster who was wrongly jailed while pregnant for the failures of the Post Office Horizon IT system has demanded jail for those who denied her justice, declaring “nobody’s above the law”.Seema Misra was speaking to Sky News after watching the investigator in her case give evidence to the inquiry into the scandal. Jon Longman expressed regret, with hindsight, that disclosures that could have assisted her case were not made.Money latest:Reaction to latest easing in inflationMr Longman told the inquiry he did not think of it at the time and he “always thought” the accounting system was “robust”. He…

Six years ago, singer VV Brown was at breaking point. After two decades of frequently enduring racism, sexual harassment and “male ego” in the music industry she had reached rock bottom.”If I had not walked away, I think I would have been dead,” she tells Sky News. “I was addicted to sleeping pills, I suffered from depression… and there was a moment where I tried to go.” Brown, an indie-pop singer-songwriter, rose to fame with the release of one her early hits, Shark In The Water, from debut album Travelling Like The Light in 2009. She went on to release…

A French firm has struck a deal to buy a majority stake in Edinburgh Airport for around £1.27bn.Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has agreed to sell a 50.01% stake to French infrastructure group VINCI Airports. VINCI Airports is one of the world’s biggest private airport operators, with more than 70 airports in 13 countries – including London Gatwick Airport and Belfast International.GIP, which has owned Edinburgh Airport since 2012, said it will retain the remaining 49.99% stake and form a strategic partnership with VINCI Airports to support the site’s future growth.Edinburgh Airport’s chairman Sir John Elvidge and chief executive Gordon Dewar…