Alex Jenkinson, 39, from Suffolk is expected to stand trial in July, with the former duke of York to give evidence
A man has denied threatening Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after reports the former prince was accosted near his Sandringham home earlier this week.
Alex Jenkinson, 39, pleaded not guilty at Westminster magistrates court on Friday to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear or provoke unlawful violence against the former duke of York.
Continue reading...Diplomatic efforts continuing despite fighting in and around contested strait of Hormuz in recent days
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said that Washington is expecting a response from Iran on Friday to its proposals for an interim deal to end the conflict in the Middle East, as Iran accused the US of breaching the increasingly fragile ceasefire announced last month.
In recent days there have been the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the contested strait of Hormuz since the informal truce began. The rise in violence followed Donald Trump’s announcement – then rapid pause – of a new naval mission aimed at opening the strategic waterway.
Continue reading...Fast-tracked redesign will reduce electrical energy use
Max Verstappen has been a vocal critic of new engines
Formula One has agreed to make engine design changes for the 2027 season in response to the unhappiness of many leading drivers at the way this year’s new-generation engines have affected how they race.
At a meeting on Friday, the FIA, F1, teams and engine manufacturers reached an agreement, subject to formal approval, to fast-track changes to the regulations to allow fresh engines to be used next season.
Continue reading...Release follows Trump directive for agencies to declassify government files related to unidentified flying objects
The Pentagon on Friday released an initial group of previously secret files documenting reports of UFOs – a move sought for decades by some.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, said in a statement posted on X.
Continue reading...

De eerste regel bij memes: BRONVERMELDING anders komt een EU-copyright-rechter je halen. Dus dat doet de Europese Commissie dan ook netjes in de vervolgtweet: "Content idea and inspiration: @francediplo", oftewel het Franse EU-promokanaal France Diplomatie. Tweede regel: de grap in de afbeelding zelf met heel veel tekst nadrukkelijk uitleggen. Dus daarom in het vlak rechtsonder op de boorden: "Once great now ignored", "Closed, out of business", "No growth", "High taxes", "Too many regulations", "No innovation", "Brain drain", "Culture faded". En ja kijk weet je die teksten zouden de 'grap' nog kunnen dienen als ze niet, ja kijk weet je, overwegend waar waren.
Dan in ander nieuws: het Europees Parlement wil na een nieuwe definitie van verkrachting ook een nieuwe definitie van privacy, want het richt nu zijn vizier op VPN's. Net als die hele Europese Digital Services Act natuurlijk onder het voorwendsel van het beschermen van kinderen. Gelukkig toont o.a. die studie in de Community Note onder de tweet bijvoorbeeld aan dat 82% van de VPN-gebruikers dit middel inzet om zichzelf te beschermen, en er zijn geen studies die aanwijzen dat VPN's door kinderen gebruikt worden om leeftijdsbarrières te omzeilen. En zo wel, dan wordt die Brusselse privacy-vernietigende app voor de leeftijdscheck er dit jaar nog doorheen gedrukt. Afijn, de wereld het internet van gisteren.

The University of Michigan has sent a legal threat over a yearlong pause that would prevent water hookup to a proposed nuclear weapons research and AI data center. Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Michigan are looking to build a $1.2 billion, 220,000 square foot data center in Ypsitlanti Township. On April 22, the Ypsilanti Community Utility Authority (YCUA) passed a 365-day moratorium on the delivery of water to hyperscale data centers in the area while it conducted environmental sustainability and long-term water use studies.
As first reported by MLive, the University hand delivered and emailed a legal threat to the YCUA on April 21, the day before it was to vote on the proposed water moratorium. According to a copy of the letter obtained by 404 Media, the university feels the moratorium is “unlawfully discriminatory” against data centers and it promised to pursue “all rights and claims for relief” if its demands weren’t met.
Luther Blackburn, YCUA’s executive director, told 404 Media that the organization had no comment on potential or pending litigation, but did confirm that he’d received a legal communication from the university. “YCUA staff are working on a Request for Proposal to complete the investigations and studies outlined in the moratorium,” he said. “I believe YCUA has acted lawfully and in accordance with industry best practices by issuing the moratorium.”
The university disagreed. “The University objects to any such sector-specific moratorium which would be legally invalid because, among other defects, it would be unrelated to any documented utility or public health needs,” the letter said, according to a copy obtained by 404 Media. “As a threshold matter, a moratorium on utility service is permissible only when linked to legitimate utility considerations such as documented capacity constraints, public health issues, or genuine financing challenges.”
The University argued, citing various legal precedents, that the courts will not be on Ypsilanti’s side and claimed that the area has plenty of water. “The record contains no evidence supporting any such YCUA capacity constraint,” the letter said. “To the contrary, YCUA’s leadership has publicly stated that serving the University’s proposed facility would not affect the authority’s ability to provide or treat water.”
The letter quoted Blackburn as saying he had confirmed in 2025 that the data center’s proposed use of 200,000 gallons a day were within YCUA’s 8-10 million gallon per day capacity. “In addition, YCUA leadership has stated that serving the University's project would likely help mitigate overall utility costs by improving efficiency and cost distribution,” the letter said.
Sean Knapp, the YCUA’s director of service operations, told Planet Detroit last year that the YCUA is operating below capacity at the moment. “Adding the data center as a customer would help mitigate overall costs by improving efficiency and cost distribution,” he said at the time.
After saying it was illegal for the Ypsilanti community to not give it water, the University claimed the moratorium discriminated against data centers. “Beyond the above legal deficiencies, the proposed moratorium is pretextual and unlawfully discriminatory because it singles out ‘data centers’ by label rather than by utility impact,” the letter said. “It is discriminatory to permit other users to connect and consume currently available capacity while the utility conducts undefined studies to determine whether there is sufficient capacity for the University’s proposed facility.”
The University then asked the YCUA not to pass a moratorium and promised to “pursue” the matter. “The University respectfully requests that YCUA refuse to issue any sector-specific moratorium, instead basing any service decisions on documented utility factors, applied evenhandedly through existing permitting and technical review processes,” the letter said. “If these legal requirements are not followed by YCUA, the University reserves the right to pursue all rights and claims for necessary relief.”
The University of Michigan did not return 404 Media’s request for comment.
Ypsilanti Township has been fighting the proposed datacenter for more than a year now. Data centers are wildly unpopular in the United States. They often cause noise pollution, affect water quality, and drive up utility bills for their neighbors. Local opposition to the Ypsilanti Township data center has been compounded by its connection to America’s nuclear weapons industry.
Pioneering abstract artist Hilma af Klint’s Paintings for the Temple (1906‑1915) will be on display at the Grand Palais in Paris from May 6 - Aug 30, 2026.
europeanspaceagency posted a photo:
A view of the Vega launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, with the Vega-C rocket that will carry Smile to space.
Smile is due to launch on 19 May 2026. Preparations are taking place on the launch pad, with the rocket built up stage-by-stage inside a mobile building. About four hours before launch, the building will roll away to reveal the complete rocket inside.
Vega-C is made up of four stages, with the fairing (a nose cone that splits into two) sitting on top of the fourth stage. The fairing will protect Smile during its ascent to space through Earth’s atmosphere. Almost five minutes after liftoff, the fairing will split open, revealing Smile inside. At that point, Smile will still be attached to the third and fourth stages of the Vega-C.
Find out more about Smile’s journey from launch to orbit
Find out more about the Vega launch site
Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Vega-C programme is led by ESA, working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority. It ensures that Europe has versatile and independent access to space.
[Image description: A photo showing a rocket launch pad at night. At the centre of the image is a tall rectangular cream-coloured building, with a thin white rocket inside. Platforms at various heights give people access to different parts of the rocket. The building is surrounded by metal pylons.]
Credits: ESA-M. Pédoussaut
europeanspaceagency posted a photo:
A lorry carries the fairing of a Vega-C rocket, with the Smile spacecraft inside, to the launch pad.
Smile is due to launch on 19 May 2026. Preparations are taking place on the launch pad, with the rocket’s four stages already assembled inside the mobile building on the left of this image. About four hours before launch, the building will roll away to reveal the complete rocket inside.
The fairing (a nose cone that splits into two parts after launch) sits on top of the rocket’s fourth stage. The fairing will protect Smile during its ascent to space through Earth’s atmosphere. Almost five minutes after liftoff, the fairing will open, revealing Smile inside. At that point, Smile will still be attached to the third and fourth stages of the Vega-C.
Find out more about Smile’s journey from launch to orbit
Find out more about the Vega launch site
Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Vega-C programme is led by ESA, working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority. It ensures that Europe has versatile and independent access to space.
[Image description: A photo showing a lorry driving along a narrow road with a large rocket nose cone standing upright on its trailer. Ahead of the lorry (to the left in this image) is a tall rectangular cream-coloured building, which has the ESA and Vega logos on its side. The building is surrounded by metal pylons.]
Credits: ESA-M. Pédoussaut
europeanspaceagency posted a photo:
Inside this Vega-C rocket fairing is the Smile spacecraft, ready to meet the rest of the rocket that will take it into space.
Smile is due to launch on 19 May 2026. Preparations are taking place on the launch pad, with the rocket already built up and waiting inside the mobile building seen in the background of this image. About four hours before launch, the building will roll away to reveal the complete rocket inside.
Vega-C is made up of four stages, with the fairing (a nose cone that splits into two after launch) sitting on top of the fourth stage. The fairing will protect Smile during its ascent to space through Earth’s atmosphere. Almost five minutes after liftoff, the fairing will split open, revealing Smile inside. At that point, Smile will still be attached to the third and fourth stages of the Vega-C.
Find out more about Smile’s journey from launch to orbit
Find out more about the Vega launch site
Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Vega-C programme is led by ESA, working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority. It ensures that Europe has versatile and independent access to space.
[Image description: A photo showing the nose cone of a rocket hanging from a crane in front of an open technical building. Inside the building stands the rest of the rocket, with a platform at the top where people stand, waiting for the nose cone to arrive.]
Credits: ESA/CNES/Avio/Optique vidéo du CSG–S. Martin
europeanspaceagency posted a photo:
Part of the rugged and deeply indented coast of northeastern Greenland is featured in this radar image captured by Copernicus Sentinel-1.
Greenland is the world's largest island and about 80% of its surface is covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet, the second largest ice mass on Earth after the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
This image combines three acquisitions taken by Sentinel-1’s radar over the same area in January, February and March 2026. Radar images are not usually in colour, but here each acquisition has been assigned a different colour, and, when overlaid, the resulting colours represent variations that have occurred on the surface between the three scans.
Stable ice can be seen in white in the left of the image, while the shades of grey depict surfaces that have either not changed or changed very little. Colours are mainly concentrated in the water along the coast and show visible changes in type and cover of the constantly moving sea ice.
Three main outlet glaciers are visible in the image: the 79N (Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden) and the Zachariae Isstrøm to the north and the Storstrømmen to the south. These glaciers constitute the main front ends of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS), a long ice stream that connects the interior to the ocean, draining approximately 12–17% of the Greenland Ice Sheet into the North Atlantic through these three glaciers.
Global warming is driving the rapid melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Current ice mass loss is already affecting coastal regions, including low-lying areas vulnerable to flooding and storm surges. The Greenland Ice Sheet contains 12% of the world’s glacier ice and if it melts completely, the global seas will rise by up to 7 m with catastrophic consequences.
Furthermore, any increase in melting from this ice sheet can cause an influx of freshwater into the North Atlantic, weakening the Gulf Stream and potentially seriously affecting the climate of northern Europe as well as other continents.
It is therefore vital to monitor its changing shape and the rate at which it is melting in a sustained manner. The Sentinel-1 constellation images the entire Earth every six days, which is important for monitoring rapid change. Each satellite carries an advanced radar instrument that captures images of Earth’s surface through cloud and rain and regardless of whether it is day or night. This is particularly useful when observing these vast, inaccessible areas which are prone to long periods of bad weather and extended darkness.
Observations of Greenland runoff from space can be used to verify how climate models simulate ice sheet melting, which will allow improved predictions of how much Greenland will contribute to the global rise of sea level in the future.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Jon Siegel has added a photo to the pool:
Grocery shopping somewhere quiet, deep in the countryside.