Category Archives: The Sun

Aurora australis offers second chance of ‘bloody awesome’ southern lights display on Sunday

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Solar storm effects delight stargazers in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia but most in NSW miss out

Australians should have a second chance to see the aurora australis on Sunday night, experts say, after a Saturday southern lights display so spectacular it left at least one astronomer in tears.

Social media users posted pictures of brightly coloured skies in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and around the world.

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Aurora australis: spectacular southern lights might be seen as far north as Queensland after ‘extreme’ solar storm

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Social media users post pictures of skies lit up around the country while the Bureau of Meteorology warns of solar storm’s impacts

Aurora australis has lit up skies across southern Australia after an “extreme” geomagnetic solar storm.

Social media users in posted pictures of brightly coloured skies in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and across the Tasman in New Zealand.

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Video of sun’s surface shows solar rain, eruptions and coronal moss

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Ethereal scenes of flowing super-heated material may help explain why atmosphere is hotter than surface

The sun’s otherworldly landscape, including coronal moss, solar rain and 6,000-mile-tall spires of gas, is revealed in footage from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

The observations, beamed back by the European Space Agency probe, reveal feathery, hair-like structures made of plasma and also capture eruptions and showers of relatively cooler material falling to the surface.

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The Sun’s Hillsborough stories used to teach MPs how to recognise fake news

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Exclusive: Russian bot attempt to stir up Islamophobia also part of course on misinformation and disinformation

Fabricated stories in the Sun blaming Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough stadium disaster are among examples that will be used in a parliamentary initiative to teach MPs to recognise misinformation and disinformation.

Other examples include a Russian bot campaign on Twitter, now X, that tried to use a photograph taken in the aftermath of the Westminster Bridge attack to stir up Islamophobic hatred.

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Rupert Murdoch knew of unlawful news tactics, Prince Harry documents claim

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High court papers filed by prince and others allege media mogul was aware of unlawful news gathering at newspapers from 2009

Rupert Murdoch “turned a blind eye” to an extensive cover-up of wrongdoing at his newspapers, Prince Harry’s lawyers have alleged at the high court in London.

The direct allegations against the 93-year-old billionaire about activity at his publications are the latest stage in Harry’s war against the tabloid media, with lawyers for the Duke of Sussex and others accusing the media mogul of overseeing a “culture of impunity” at News Group Newspapers, the publisher of the Sun and the now defunct News of the World.

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Aditya-L1: India’s solar mission reaches sun’s orbit

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After four-month journey, Aditya-L1 will measure and observe sun’s outermost layers

India’s solar observation mission has entered the sun’s orbit after a four-month journey, the latest success for the space exploration ambitions of the world’s most populous country.

The Aditya-L1 mission was launched in September and is carrying an array of instruments to measure and observe the sun’s outermost layers.

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Astronomers spot ‘overweight’ planet that appears too big for tiny host star

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Fact that planet 13 times bigger than Earth is orbiting star nine times smaller than sun shows ‘how little we know about the universe’

Astronomers have spotted an “overweight” planet that appears to be far too massive for its petite host star.

The planet, which is 13 times bigger than Earth, is orbiting a star called LHS 3154, which is nine times smaller than the sun. The planet’s heft is unremarkable in its own right, but its pairing with an ultracool dwarf star, the smallest and coldest stars in the universe, has puzzled scientists.

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Three former senior Lib Dems sue Sun and NoW publisher over phone hacking

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Exclusive: Vince Cable, Chris Huhne and Norman Lamb claim they were targeted for stories or to 'exert political influence’

Two former Lib Dem cabinet ministers and a former party whip are suing the publisher of the Sun and the defunct News of the World, claiming that their phones were hacked for stories or to “exert political influence”, including when Rupert Murdoch was seeking approval for a takeover of BSkyB.

Journalists working at Murdoch’s newspapers are said to have unlawfully targeted the former business secretary Vince Cable as well as Chris Huhne, a former energy and climate change secretary, and Norman Lamb, a whip and sometime adviser to the then deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

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News UK hires lawyers to look at claims against former Sun columnist

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Dan Wootton accused of offering Sun colleagues tens of thousands of pounds for sexual material

The Sun’s parent company has hired external lawyers to help investigate “very serious” allegations regarding Dan Wootton’s time at the tabloid, the Guardian has been told.

Wootton is facing allegations he used a pseudonym to secretly offer current and former Sun colleagues tens of thousands of pounds in return for sexual material

If you wish to contact the author of this article with further information, please email jim.waterson@theguardian.com or contact the Guardian securely.

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Planets aligned: how to see the astronomical phenomenon set to light up Australia’s sky

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Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus will be in alignment near the moon and visible using binoculars from Tuesday evening

A planetary alignment is set to light up Australia’s night sky.

Five planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus – will be in alignment near the moon from Tuesday evening.

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Sussexes dismiss Sun apology for Clarkson column as ‘PR stunt’

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Paper’s apology followed piece in which columnist said he ‘hated’ Meghan

A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has said an apology by the Sun over a column in which Jeremy Clarkson said he “hated” Meghan is “nothing more than a PR stunt”.

The column has become the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s (Ipso) most complained about article, with more than 20,000 people contacting it over the piece, according to Ipso.

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The Sun apologises for Jeremy Clarkson’s column on Meghan

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Paper says that ‘as a publisher, we realise that with free expression comes responsibility’

The Sun has apologised for Jeremy Clarkson’s column, in which he said he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex, but has not stated whether any action has been taken against him.

Last week’s column has become the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s most complained about article, with more than 17,500 people contacting it over the piece as of Tuesday morning.

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Jeremy Clarkson condemned over Meghan column in the Sun

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Outcry after presenter writes he is ‘dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets’

A Jeremy Clarkson column in the Sun about the Duchess of Sussex has provoked outcry online, with social media users labelling it “vile”, “horrific” and “abusive”.

In an article for the paper published on Friday, Clarkson wrote that he loathed Meghan “on a cellular level”. He said he was “dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.

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The Sun always backs the winner: can the Murdoch papers warm to Keir Starmer?

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Former DPP Starmer tried to send head of News UK Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking 10 years ago

Ten years ago Keir Starmer attempted to send Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking.

Now Starmer could cause another headache for the boss of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire. She has to work out how her Tory-backing newspapers – which include the Sun and the Times – handle the growing popularity of the man who is favourite to become the next prime minister.

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Wayne Rooney had ‘awkward’ chat with Jamie Vardy about wife’s column, court told

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Roy Hodgson was concerned Rebekah Vardy’s career was distracting Euro 2016 squad, ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial hears

Wayne Rooney asked Jamie Vardy if his wife could cut back on her media activities during the Euro 2016 football tournament because it was causing “distractions” for the England team, the high court has heard.

Rooney told the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial that the then-England manager Roy Hodgson and assistant manager Gary Neville were both concerned that Rebekah Vardy’s decision to write a column for the Sun during the contest was disrupting the squad.

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‘Wagatha Christie’ trial: Rebekah Vardy accused of throwing friend ‘under bus’

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Lawyer for Coleen Rooney suggests Vardy is trying to shift blame for leaking of information to Sun newspaper

Rebekah Vardy has been accused of throwing her former agent and friend “under a bus” in a last-ditch attempt to save her reputation in the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial.

The footballer’s wife was accused – during the third day of a libel trial at the high court on Thursday – of deliberately destroying evidence, habitually leaking stories to the Sun newspaper, and trying to shift the blame on to her adviser Caroline Watt.

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Hugh Grant brings phone-hacking claim against the Sun

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Ten years after settling case against News of the World, actor now taking action against another Rupert Murdoch title

Hugh Grant is leading a renewed attempt to prove phone hacking took place at the Sun, even as Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper continues to maintain no illegality took place there.

The actor has followed Paul Gascoigne and Sienna Miller in bringing a so-called “Sun-only” phone-hacking claim, specifically alleging that illegality took place at the daily tabloid in the 2000s. Rebekah Brooks, the current chief executive of Murdoch’s News UK business, was editor of the Sun during the period in question.

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Inquiry into leak of Matt Hancock kiss images leads to no prosecutions

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ICO finds insufficient evidence against those suspected of capturing footage of minister with colleague

No one will be prosecuted over the leak of CCTV footage showing Matt Hancock engaged in a clinch with a colleague in his office, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced.

The footage and stills of the embrace, which prompted his resignation as health secretary, were leaked to the Sun in June last year. It was most likely obtained by someone using their phone to record a CCTV screen, the ICO said.

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Will the news boom prevent more media outlets going bust?

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Analysis: newspapers have attracted record numbers of readers seeking trusted sources in uncertain times

From the pandemic and the war in Ukraine to the Westminster partygate saga, newspapers are benefiting from a financially lucrative news boom. However, is the news industry enjoying a one-off blip in the battle for survival against big tech, or is this proof that publishers have finally forged commercial models fit for the new media age?

In a sign of the shifting fortunes amid unprecedented news events, Rupert Murdoch’s Times and Sunday Times last week reported a doubling of operating profits to their highest level since 1990 and the Sun, a one-time cash cow turned high-profile casualty of the digital age, is within £1m of returning to operating profit for the first time in a decade.

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Rebekah Vardy said she would ‘love’ to leak stories about Coleen Rooney to media

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Vardy is suing Rooney for libel over allegation that Vardy leaked stories from Rooney’s private Instagram account

Rebekah Vardy said she would “love” to leak stories about Coleen Rooney to the media, according to messages disclosed at the high court.

The court filings suggest Vardy and her former agent Caroline Watt had an ongoing relationship with reporters at the Sun newspaper and discussed at length how to leak stories to the tabloid.

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