Indian Army says it has spotted Yeti’s giant footprints in the Himalayas, tweets proof
The Yeti footsteps measured 2.6 feet, army personnel say.
The current contract battle could shape American national security — and the future of private space companies. Now, as lawmakers consider a total reorganization of the US military ’s space operations, the Pentagon’s latest attempt to purchase new launch vehicles has become a hotly contested rivalry
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos ’ bids to build US military rockets could reshape national security (qz.com).
© Provided by Atlantic Media, Inc. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, third from right, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, fourth from right, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson, second from right, and U.S. Strategic Command Commander Gen. John Hyten, right, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington , Thursday, April 11, 2019, on the proposed Space Force. The US Air Force has, traditionally, done a terrible job of buying new rockets.
Now, as lawmakers consider a total reorganization of the US military’s space operations, the Pentagon’s latest attempt to purchase new launch vehicles has become a hotly contested rivalry featuring the military-industrial complex and rocket billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Of course, there’s a Russia angle, too.
Asian tiger mosquitoes carrying tropical diseases could swarm on UK this summer
Tiger mosquitoes that may potentially carry the Zika virus could swarm on to British shores this summer, warn experts. The Asian tiger mosquitoes have spread to Europe from South East Asia, potentially bu the transportation of goods. It is a well-known carrier of tropical diseases such as Zika, dengue fever and West Nile virus. The disease carrying species is already present Italy and the South of France, with experts predicting it is travelling 93 miles further west each year. It is believed the insects are attracted to rising temperatures in Europe, linked to climate change.
The Space Barons: Elon Musk , Jeff Bezos , and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport Hardcover .56. I especially enjoyed learning about how NASA has changed in response to the pioneerism of Musk and Bezos . The author makes no effort to hide his admiration for
Bezos also want to build the infrastructure to colonize space one day, starting with a presence on SpaceX, the vision of Tesla founder Elon Musk , has built reusable rockets and a sleek space " We still haven't launched anyone yet," Musk said. "But hopefully we will later this year, and that would
The battle could shape not just US national security but also the future of private space companies writ large—access to revenue from military launches bolster a rocket-maker’s offerings to a range of potential customers. Musk’s SpaceX revolutionized the space industry and became the world’s leading commercial launcher thanks, in part, to winning Pentagon business.
© Getty Elon Musk, multi millionaire, rocket scientist, Tesla and Space X founder and the man who inspired Tony Stark's character in Jon Favreau's 'Iron Man' SpaceX’s success forced its primary competitors—longtime military contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman—to compete on price and innovation for the first time in years. Add in Bezos’s company Blue Origin, with its own Silicon Valley-inflected approach to space, and the US boasts perhaps the deepest industrial base for space-launch in world history.
Revealed: Overdue Meghan's home birth dream was dashed as she was secretly whisked to a London hospital on Sunday by Harry and his Scotland Yard security team before their 'to die for' baby boy was born at 5.26am
EXCLUSIVE: The Mail understands that the Duchess of Sussex – who was a week overdue – was whisked off amid such secrecy that even senior royals weren't told. It is understood she was taken to a London hospital – most likely the Portland – where even a 'basic' delivery costs upwards of £15,000. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were delivered there.
Elon Musk 's SpaceX successful landed the Falcon 9 rocket ; Jeff Bezos landed New Shepard earlier. Musk 's plan is to build a heavy lift rocket that would make spaceflight more economical. Musk 's rockets can orbit, so his technology is far superior in this regard. SpaceX's success on
Blue Origin will spend 0m building rockets and capsules in Florida, and Bezos also teased a new Bezos also teased a new 'megarocket' the firm is planning to build . Scroll down for video. Surrounded by Florida Governor Rick Scott and various national and local politicians, Blue Origin Blue Origin will go up against space firms from Elon Musk and Richard Branson with its plans to
The Air Force will only choose two companies to fly five years’ worth of national-security missions, a prize of more than a billion dollars in annual revenue split 60-40 between the winning companies. The losing firms will be left to compete for civil or commercial launches without the support of the traditional third leg of the rocket-business stool.
The stakes had Blue Origin scrambling to convince the Air Force to change the way it is structuring the contracts, or at least delay the final choice. Despite political pressure, the Air Force has stood firm and will choose just two companies.
Perhaps the most conservative customers in the space world will be responsible for choosing the culture that will define American rockets for the next decade.
Can it do so without halting the last decade’s progress?
How not to buy a rocket
If you want to understand the current fight over Air Force space dollars, you need to look at some history.
North Korea fires unidentified projectile - South's military
South Korea's military says North Korea has fired at least one unidentified projectile from its western area. It's the second such launch in the last five days. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff had no other immediate details of the Thursday afternoon launch. North Korea and the United States are currently deadlocked in diplomacy meant to rid the North of its nuclear arsenal.
Bezos had filed a patent for the technology to build reusable rockets . A tactic which could have Dave Mosher: The problem is Musk had previously announced that and so he called Jeff Bezos a They both want to move humanity out into space where we can have a bigger bolder future than we
The US military ’s plan to buy rockets is missing major trends in the space industry, according to Blue Origin, the rocket -making company started by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos .
In the 1990s, the Air Force began the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV) program to replace old rockets based on ballistic missiles. This year, it was renamed the National Security Space Launch program (NSSL), in part because some of its newer SpaceX vehicles are reusable, not expendable. In its early years, the new design process produced a string of failures. Over-optimistic assumptions by its two participants, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, almost pushed their rocket-building divisions to go out of business.
© Getty Space X's Falcon 9 rocket as it lifts off from space launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida In 2006, the US military—desperate for access to space—overruled the Federal Trade Commission and allowed the two firms to join forces in a subsidized rocket monopoly called United Launch Alliance, which left the American space industry globally uncompetitive and stagnant.
By the end of 2014, the program that began as EELV had cost taxpayers $60.5 billion, more than twice the original estimate when it kicked off 16 years before. This is in part because space technology is expensive and difficult to design and, as auditors pointed out for years, the Air Force did not understand what it was paying ULA to do and did not manage the process.
After Trump invite, Iran commander says: No talks with US
Thousands of Iranians have rallied after Friday prayers in support of the country's leaders, chanting traditional anti-U.S. slogans of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." The demonstrators burned U.S. flags and some threw fake punches at a protester wearing a Trump costume mask. The Trump administration has not offered specific details of the threat allegedly presented by Iran that prompted the U.S. to dispatch the aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Mideast. © Getty B-52 bomber (file photo) The B-52 bombers arrived at an American air base in Qatar, the U.S. Air Force acknowledged Friday.
Then Musk’s SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket arrived on the scene, with plans to explore the solar system and build reusable rockets. Musk, looking for more business, sued the Air Force for the right to compete against ULA, arguing its much cheaper rockets could put satellites into orbit just as well.
© Provided by Atlantic Media, Inc. SpaceX benefitted from a geopolitical turn of events as well: ULA’s workhorse rocket, the Atlas V, is powered by Russian-built rocket engines as part of a post-Cold War policy to keep former Soviet engineers away from rogue states. After Putin’s invasion of Crimea, however, buying expensive engines from a Russian state-owned enterprise became politically damaging, through no fault of ULA.
The legal battles ended in a sealed settlement that allowed SpaceX to compete and win 10 launches; a rough comparison with ULA’s prices suggests the competition saved taxpayers more than $1 billion. Today, US military and spy agencies rely on SpaceX and ULA to fly surveillance, communication and navigation satellites seen as vital to projecting US power overseas. However, those contracts expire in 2022, and Congress has forbidden the Air Force from paying for any new Russian engines—which is to say, the Atlas V—after that year.
Related: Things to know about billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk (Photos)
May's new Brexit gamble: PM to put her withdrawal deal to MPs for a FOURTH time on June 3 in high-risk move as she bids to take UK out of EU before summer with or without Labour support
As the Tories continue to leak voters to Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, the Prime Minister's spokesman today said she wanted a deal done before the Commons rises for its summer recess in July.
In September 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk when he tweeted, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The Federal agency claimed that the tweet, made in August, was propagating false statements to the public regarding a buyout deal for his company, Tesla, Inc. Both Musk and the company were fined $20 million each and he had to relinquish his position as the chairman for three years.
Here are some facts you may not have known about the inventor-entrepreneur.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971, to Maye, a model and nutritionist, and Errol, an engineer, pilot and sailor.
At the age of nine, Musk taught himself computer programming. Three years later, he created a space-themed video game - "Blastar." The source code for the BASIC-based game was published in South African magazine "PC and Office Technology" for $500.
In 1995, when he only 24 years old, Musk began reading for a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Materials Science from Stanford University in California, U.S. He left - after two days - to pursue an entrepreneurial career in the then-emerging software industry.
That same year, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, started Zip2, a web-based city guide for newspapers. The start-up was funded by a small group of investors, one of whom was reportedly their father. However, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in November 2017, Musk denied his father provided any financial assistance.
Labour reveals plans to renationalise the National Grid
Labour reveals plans to renationalise the National Grid
Either way, four years after founding Zip2, computer products and services giant Compaq bought the software for $307 million. Musk’s share of the deal was a check for $22 million.
In November 1999, Musk used $12 million from the sale of Zip2 to co-found X.com, an online banking company. The following year, it merged with rival firm Confinity and, two years later, it was renamed PayPal. In 2002, PayPal was bought by eBay for a massive $1.5 billion, albeit against Musk’s advice. Nevertheless, the “real-life Iron Man” still made a profit on X.com, turning his initial $12 million to $180 million.
(Pictured) With PayPal co-founder and former CEO, Peter Thiel (L) in 2000.
In 2003, Musk co-founded Tesla Motors (later renamed Tesla, Inc.). As a company, Tesla’s stated mission has been to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future. On that note, in 2008 Tesla debuted the Roadster sports car.
Powered by electronic motors, Tesla claims the new version (expected to be available in 2020) is “the quickest car in the world,” with a top speed in excess of 250 mph (402 kph). Tesla's other cars include the Model S, the Model X and the Model 3.
(Pictured) At the launch of Tesla Model X all-electric crossover SUV in September 2015.
Musk is also founder, CEO and lead designer at SpaceX, a space exploration company involved in the development and manufacturing of spacecraft and rockets. Founded in 2002, it took SpaceX only six years to develop and launch Falcon 1 – the first privately-developed liquid-fuel launch vehicle. Four years after that, it created history again – the Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to deliver cargo to and return from the International Space Station (ISS).
Superhero fans will love this – Robert Downey Jr., the actor who brought Tony Stark, the cinematic “Iron Man,” to life – may have been inspired by Musk. In fact, the latter actually made a cameo in “Iron Man 2” (2000), where he meets Stark at a party and tries to discuss the idea of an “electric jet.”
Jeff Koons ‘Rabbit’ Sets Auction Record for Most Expensive Work by Living Artist
A shiny stainless steel sculpture created by Jeff Koons in 1986, inspired by a child’s inflatable toy, sold at Christie’s on Wednesday night for $91.1 million with fees, breaking the record at auction for a work by a living artist, set just last November by David Hockney. Robert E. Mnuchin, an art dealer and the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, made the winning bid for Mr. Koons’s 1986 “Rabbit” from an aisle seat near the front of the salesroom. He was seated near Peter Brant, the collector and private museum-owner, and Jeffrey Deitch, the dealer. It was the ultimate prize among six works offered at Christie’s from the collection of the magazine publisher S.I.
Did you know Musk owns Wet Nellie – a custom-built submarine from the James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977)? The movie prop was built around the body of a Lotus Esprit S1 sports car and cost in excess of $700,000 when bought at auction in 2013.
Apart from his “Iron Man 2” (2000) cameo, Musk has also made appearances in TV shows - “The Simpsons” (2015), “The Big Bang Theory” (2015), “South Park” (2016) and "Young Sheldon" (2017). His only other movie appearance was in “Why Him?” (2016).
(Pictured) With Simon Helberg in "The Big Bang Theory."
For the record, Musk earns approximately $37,000 per year as CEO of Tesla, Inc. He’d prefer not to draw a salary at all, but California law prohibits earning less than the minimum wage. That said, according to a March 2018 report, Musk stands to earn over $50 billion in stock and awards over the next few years.
Musk believes humanity must expand its frontiers to include building civilizations in space, because the earth will probably become uninhabitable. In an article published in the academic journal New Space, Musk warned of an “eventual extinction event” for humankind, later tweeting: “Humanity is not perfect, but it’s all we’ve got.”
He thinks Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be the “most serious threat to the survival of the human race.” Speaking at a symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he said: “I'm increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish.”
Despite (or perhaps because of) his reservations, Musk is co-founder and co-chairman of OpenAI, a “non-profit AI research company, discovering and enacting the path to safe artificial general intelligence.”
When Musk does hang up his entrepreneur’s boots, he wants to retire to Mars - the Red Planet. No, seriously. In a March 2018 interview, he said: "I will go if I can be assured that SpaceX would go on without me. I've said I want to die on Mars, just not on impact."
Musk provided early concepts and financial capital for the SolarCity Corporation (now a subsidiary of Tesla, Inc.), a firm specializing in solar-powered services. One of the largest solar energy firms in the United States, it was co-founded by Musk’s cousins – Lyndon and Peter Rive – in 2006.
In August 2013, he unveiled plans for a $10 billion hyper-fast transportation system. Built around the idea of a vactrain (vacuum tube train), the Tesla-SpaceX hyperloop is basically a system of sealed tubes within which passenger pods can travel at frighteningly fast speeds – potentially up to 760 miles per hour (1,223 km per hour).
(Pictured) At the 2017 SpaceX Hyperloop competition in Hawthorne, California, U.S.
On Feb. 6, 2018, SpaceX successfully launched Falcon Heavy, the company’s largest rocket to date and one regarded as the world’s most powerful since NASA’s Saturn V. Next up for Musk and SpaceX is the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which is expected to replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch rockets and the Dragon spacecraft. More intriguingly, the BFR could ferry large numbers of passengers to Mars.
He is also the founder of The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company billed as providing an alternative to traffic congestion in major cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. And, keen on recycling, Musk plans to use excavated rock and soil to create interlocking Leg-style bricks to build homes.
In 2016, Musk unveiled solar roof tiles that eliminate the need for traditional panels and longer-lasting home battery. “This is sort of the integrated future. An electric car, a Powerwall and a solar roof. The key is it needs to be beautiful, affordable and seamlessly integrated,” Musk said while showcasing the products in Los Angeles.
In November 2017, Musk unveiled Tesla’s first electronic truck; he used the occasion to call diesel trucks “economic suicide.” The new truck, which is scheduled to go into production in May 2019, will reportedly offer a range of 500 miles (805 km) when fully loaded and come equipped with “thermonuclear explosion-proof glass” in the windshield.
On March 14, 2018, Musk posted a rather cryptic tweet. It said: “Thud!” and was followed by another that said: “That’s the name of my new intergalactic media empire, exclamation point optional.” The following day, reports confirmed the hiring of six staff members from The Onion, a digital satirical news organization. Quite what he intends to do with “Thud!” though, is anyone’s guess.
In mid-2018, when the young members of a junior football team got trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Thailand, he offered to help out the rescue teams by asking the engineers at SpaceX and the Boring Company to build a mini-submarine, which he personally delivered to the location. By the time the vessel reached Thailand, eight of the 12 children were already rescued and hence, the authorities decided against using it.
On the personal front, Musk married Canadian author Justine Wilson in 2000. Their first child together was born two years later but, sadly, he died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) when he was only 10 weeks old. In 2004, the couple became parents to twin boys – Griffin and Xavier – and triplets – Damian, Saxon and Kai – in 2006. Musk and Justine divorced in September 2008.
In 2010, Musk married English actress, Talulah Riley. The couple were granted a divorce in 2012 but re-married the following year. The applied for a second divorce in 2014, which was withdrawn, and a third in 2016, which was granted.
25/25 SLIDES
A new round of procurement
The military is preparing to purchase a new round of about 25 satellite launches between 2020 and 2024. It still wants to select just two providers when it makes the final cut, arguing that there is not enough business to support three American rocket companies.
This time there are four competitors: Bezos’ Blue Origin and the defense contractor Northrup Grumman have joined SpaceX and ULA in the race.
The Air Force started out by offering cash for the competitors to develop their rockets and launch systems before the final selection was made. In October 2018, Blue, Northrop and ULA split $2.3 billion of this funding to prepare next-generation designs. That includes ULA’s Vulcan rocket, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and Northrop’s OmegA.
SpaceX did not receive any of that development funding, with Musk later telling acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan that his company’s proposal was poor and “missed the mark.” The company’s next rocket, Starship, is a huge vehicle designed for space exploration and isn’t expected to fly for several years.
© Provided by Atlantic Media, Inc. In this Thursday, May 29, 2014 file photo, Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, listens to a question during a news conference in front of the SpaceX Dragon V2 spacecraft, designed to ferry astronauts to low-Earth orbit, at the headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. The capsule was named for Turns out this space stuff is pretty lucrative.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets—still the newest orbital rockets on the planet—are likely to be leading competitors in the final selection, if only because no competitor has a new rocket that will be ready to fly by 2022. That’s one reason Blue Origin pushed for a two-year delay: The Air Force will have to make decisions based on designs and plans, not operational vehicles.
Industry sources outside Blue Origin say the parameters of the contest were clear when bidding began. Blue, which originally hoped to fly its New Glenn rocket for the first time next year, is now expecting a 2021 debut. The company still has yet commit to a final design of the rocket and complete test programs on the two different engines that will propel it into space. Competitors also point out that the procurement request doesn’t prioritize factors like system readiness and schedule, which gives an advantage to companies who haven’t finished their rockets yet.
Others argue that the haste to make a choice is designed to favor the incumbents, ULA and SpaceX, and their existing vehicles. That concern is focused on a provision allowing the use of backup vehicles if the primary rocket isn’t ready, which could allow ULA to compete its unbuilt Vulcan rocket, then use an Atlas V to complete the mission. And the competitors are skeptical of language in the final procurement that allows the Air Force to select the second provider based on how it complements the first, a criteria they say is totally subjective.
Above all, the Air Force insists it cannot wait to fund a rocket program if it wants to have viable options by the time the Atlas V is retired in 2022. But given the lack of flight-ready new rockets, some observers expect the outcome will be purchasing the same rockets the US military uses today, at least for the early years of this procurement. That doesn’t necessarily match the Air Force’s stated goal of driving innovation in the rocket industry—and ending reliance on the Russian engines used by ULA.
An opaque decision process
Adam Smith, a Washington Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, wrote a letter to the Pentagon last month asking for the Air Force to delay the procurement decision until the service can get a look at the newest options and their prices. The result was a slightly altered contract. But the military is full speed ahead. “The industrial base is ready,” Air Force secretary Heather Wilson said in a statement.
Related: The extraordinary rise of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (Lovemoney)
The participating companies each spent more than a million dollars on lobbying in 2018. Smith, whose district includes operations for both Amazon and Blue Origin, certainly has an interest in his home-state company. It’s not unusual: ULA has its own powerful backers like senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, whose state hosts ULA’s largest factory. SpaceX found a champion in the late senator John McCain, whose anti-Russia stance led the Arizona Republican to take SpaceX’s side in the rocket-competition battle. Musk’s company now counts on California’s congressional delegation in the battle for launch contracts.
One political wrinkle for Blue Origin is that its business model has long been investment from the richest man in the world. During Blue’s first partnership with NASA in 2012, more than a decade after its founding, Blue employees told their contact at the space agency they had never sent anyone an invoice. Now, as the company seeks to make its space operations sustainable, the prospect of billions in revenue is worth fighting for.
© Provided by Atlantic Media, Inc. Jeff Bezos poses with the New Shepard space capsule after a test launch in April 2018. Space cowboy.
Another is that ULA is almost entirely dependent on government business for its survival as a company; its rockets are just too expensive for commercial customers. Failing to win the contract would be disastrous for the company, which might endanger US access to space in the near-term. But selecting ULA and SpaceX, the two companies that have working rockets, would mean not just cutting off development funding to Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman, but making them return it.
The situation is even more complicated to assess because of the web of relationships between the three non-SpaceX competitors. Blue Origin is building the primary engines for ULA’s new Vulcan rocket, and Northrop Grumman will build the solid-rocket boosters expected to give it extra power. Those connections may influence how the Air Force picks its two launch providers.
Space Force, of course
Behind all of these machinations, lawmakers are debating how to split out extra-terrestrial military operations into the US Space Force. It’s not clear yet what the result will be, but one thing is sure: Managing this rocket-buying program will be one of its biggest and most expensive tasks.
And officials are worried about screwing up: The military has seen the growing gap, now going on eight years, between the end of NASA’s space shuttle in 2011 and the debut of a new vehicle that will carry astronauts into orbit. Military planners believe that any similar gap when it comes to launching satellites would be disastrous.
The same dynamics helped lead to the initial EELV debacle. The military’s willingness to pay any price led it to pay, well, any price. SpaceX introduced competition, but even now it is charging the government far more than commercial customers. That’s not just because the military requires additional services during launch. The government can’t get a better deal. One reason NASA and Air Force officials have been so bullish on Blue Origin is that its ambitions represent a competitive threat to SpaceX that ULA, so far, does not.
At the moment, anything from an immediate bidding process to a year-long delay is possible. Just as SpaceX’s protests led the Air Force to carve out a block of launches that could be bid out among rivals, the USAF could reluctantly create a new competition block. Few industry sources and legislative aides express much certainty about the final outcome, but they don’t expect that long-established ULA’s bid will be rejected. It’s also difficult for them to imagine the military rejecting SpaceX, which still offers the best value and newest working rockets.
That could leave Northrup and Blue Origin on the outside. Northrop, with a diversified defense business, might accept the result.
But if we have learned one thing about sidelining a deep-pocketed rocket entrepreneur, it’s that he might decide to sue.
Jeff Koons ‘Rabbit’ Sets Auction Record for Most Expensive Work by Living Artist.
A shiny stainless steel sculpture created by Jeff Koons in 1986, inspired by a child’s inflatable toy, sold at Christie’s on Wednesday night for $91.1 million with fees, breaking the record at auction for a work by a living artist, set just last November by David Hockney. Robert E. Mnuchin, an art dealer and the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, made the winning bid for Mr. Koons’s 1986 “Rabbit” from an aisle seat near the front of the salesroom. He was seated near Peter Brant, the collector and private museum-owner, and Jeffrey Deitch, the dealer. It was the ultimate prize among six works offered at Christie’s from the collection of the magazine publisher S.I.
The Yeti footsteps measured 2.6 feet, army personnel say. 
Tiger mosquitoes that may potentially carry the Zika virus could swarm on to British shores this summer, warn experts. The Asian tiger mosquitoes have spread to Europe from South East Asia, potentially bu the transportation of goods. It is a well-known carrier of tropical diseases such as Zika, dengue fever and West Nile virus. The disease carrying species is already present Italy and the South of France, with experts predicting it is travelling 93 miles further west each year. It is believed the insects are attracted to rising temperatures in Europe, linked to climate change. 
EXCLUSIVE: The Mail understands that the Duchess of Sussex – who was a week overdue – was whisked off amid such secrecy that even senior royals weren't told. It is understood she was taken to a London hospital – most likely the Portland – where even a 'basic' delivery costs upwards of £15,000. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were delivered there. 
South Korea's military says North Korea has fired at least one unidentified projectile from its western area. It's the second such launch in the last five days. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff had no other immediate details of the Thursday afternoon launch. North Korea and the United States are currently deadlocked in diplomacy meant to rid the North of its nuclear arsenal. 
Thousands of Iranians have rallied after Friday prayers in support of the country's leaders, chanting traditional anti-U.S. slogans of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." The demonstrators burned U.S. flags and some threw fake punches at a protester wearing a Trump costume mask. The Trump administration has not offered specific details of the threat allegedly presented by Iran that prompted the U.S. to dispatch the aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Mideast. © Getty B-52 bomber (file photo) The B-52 bombers arrived at an American air base in Qatar, the U.S. Air Force acknowledged Friday. 
As the Tories continue to leak voters to Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, the Prime Minister's spokesman today said she wanted a deal done before the Commons rises for its summer recess in July. 
Labour reveals plans to renationalise the National Grid 
A shiny stainless steel sculpture created by Jeff Koons in 1986, inspired by a child’s inflatable toy, sold at Christie’s on Wednesday night for $91.1 million with fees, breaking the record at auction for a work by a living artist, set just last November by David Hockney. Robert E. Mnuchin, an art dealer and the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, made the winning bid for Mr. Koons’s 1986 “Rabbit” from an aisle seat near the front of the salesroom. He was seated near Peter Brant, the collector and private museum-owner, and Jeffrey Deitch, the dealer. It was the ultimate prize among six works offered at Christie’s from the collection of the magazine publisher S.I. 
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