Is Mercury’s core liquid or solid, and why — on the smallest planet in our solar system — is it so big? What can the planet closest to the Sun tell us about how our solar system came into being?   An unmanned European-Japanese space mission, dubbed BepiColombo, blasted off early Saturday morning from French Guiana, to probe these and ...

Photo: British Prime Minister Theresa May. London, Oct 21 : The vast majority of British firms are poised to implement their Brexit contingency plans by Christmas if there isn’t greater clarity over the country’s exit from the European Union, a leading business lobby group warned Sunday. The Confederation of British Industry said these could include cutting jobs, adjusting supply chains ...

Protesters calling for a referendum on the final Brexit deal are gathering in London for what organisers say will be the “biggest, loudest and most important” demonstration of its kind. The event, organised by the People’s Vote campaign, will see a march ahead of a rally in Parliament Square.   Young voters will lead the march, which organisers are expecting ...

The Ariane 5 rocket carrying BepiColombo lifts off from its launch pad at Kourou in French Guiana, for the mission to Mercury, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. Tokyo, Oct 20 : European and Japanese space agencies said an Ariane 5 rocket successfully lifted a spacecraft carrying two probes into orbit Saturday for a joint mission to Mercury, the closest planet to ...

The EU says it is ready to extend the proposed length of the post-Brexit transition period if the UK wants. The current plan is for a transition period of 21 months to smooth the path from Brexit to the UK and EU’s future permanent relationship.   But with the two sides failing to reach a deal yet, UK Prime Minister ...

Brexit-backing MPs have reacted angrily to the idea that the UK’s transition out of the EU could be extended for another year, to the end of 2021. No. 10 refused to rule out an extension after a summit of EU leaders in Brussels failed to make progress.   The move could buy the two sides more time to come up ...

Social networking giant Facebook is developing a camera-equipped set-top box for TVs that would support functionalities like video-calling, a media report said.   Internally codenamed “Ripley”, the device would use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automatically detect and follow people as they move through the frame during a video call, news website Cheddar reported on Tuesday.  Apart from facilitating video-chat, the ...

Theresa May will urge other EU leaders to give ground on the issue of the Irish border when she addresses them at a summit in Brussels later. Brexit talks are deadlocked over the border, but the EU says it’s up to the UK to bring new ideas to the table.   BBC political correspondent Iain Watson says Mrs May will ...

Recent findings show that ‘Vampire burial’ techniques were used in ancient times to prevent a child, possibly infected with malaria, from rising from the dead and spreading the disease to the living.   The discovery of an ancient grave of a 10-year-old at a Roman site in Italy suggested that measures were taken to prevent the child–probably infected with malaria–from ...

Theresa May will try to rally ministers behind her this morning at the start of a critical 48 hours for Brexit. On Monday, the PM told MPs an agreement with the EU was “still achievable” despite apparent deadlock over the issue of the Irish border.   EU officials, though, have warned no-deal is “more likely than ever before”.   The ...