Author: News Desk

Telegraph – Cyclist in fear of toxic trans row Leading British cyclists are scared to speak out against the sport’s transgender policies amid fears of being cancelled and losing sponsorship deals, Telegraph Sport understands. The back pages features a large image of Arsenal players following yesterday’s win over stumbling Chelsea – the paper says the title race is still on. Read today’s back pages 

Star Sport – ‘Never Gunner give you up’ The Daily Star are also highlighting Arsenal’s rout at the Emirates as well as suggesting Sam Allardyce is the man to get Leeds out of trouble and could receive a £1m bonus should he keep them in the top flight. The paper says the title race is still alive after the win.  Read the full story here Read today’s back pages 

Carol McGiffin has cleared up her Loose Women absence (Picture: ITV)

The Loose Women stars have come out in support of Carol McGiffin after she clarified her absence from the show.

It’s been months since the presenter was last seen on the Loose Women panel and the 63-year-old has now confirmed why.

The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant revealed she’s taken a break from Loose Women due to her ‘unjust’ contract.

‘The problem was, ITV were insisting, for the first time since I went back in 2018, that if I wanted to carry on doing the show, I would have to sign a contract that was totally unjust and unworkable for me, so I had to say ‘no thanks,’” she wrote in Best magazine.

She added that she’s been ‘quite upset about it’, and said it was a decision she was ‘forced to make’.

‘No one in their right mind would have signed that contract,’ she continued. ‘And I can’t see a way back from it.’

The Loose Women star has been missing from the panel for months (Picture: ITV)

Her co-stars have backed her all the way though, sharing their support on Instagram.

Brenda Edwards commented: ‘Carol, I always enjoy when you are on as we have such a laugh, but you of course must always do what is best for you! I really hope I get to see you again love you lots lovely lady. Keep Smiling.’

Denise Welch also shared she was ‘gutted’, while Carol’s regular sparring partner Nadia Sawahla said: ‘Miss you smelly poo! Even though we disagreed on most things you’ve always made me laugh my head off!

‘As I’ve always said thank god we weren’t at school together it would have been #carnage !! Big hugs x.’

‘I really miss you, and am so gutted xx,’ added Charlene White.

An ITV spokesperson said in a statement sent to Metro.co.uk: ‘ITV will not comment on or disclose details of individual contracts but all ITV contracts comply with the required employment and HMRC legislation.’

Carol has always been one of the most outspoken Loose Women stars since her very first appearance in 2000.

She took a break from Loose Women in 2013, returning in 2018.

Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.

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A new Fortnite leak has hinted at yet another Marvel crossover arriving in the battle royale, as soon as Chapter 4 Season 3 kicks off. 

Express Sport – ‘We’re Gunner fight to end’ The Daily Express highlights Arsenal’s win over Chelsea last night, suggesting the Gunners will not give up their title fight just yet. There’s also mention of Sam Allardyce’s reportedly imminent appointment at Leeds. Read today’s back pages

Saturn’s rings are its most famous feature (artist’s impression) (Picture: Getty/Science Photo Libra)

Saturn’s rings are eroding – at what could be a cosmic rate of knots.

Since the 1980s astronomers have known the Ringed Planet’s most striking feature is slowly disappearing, falling as icy rain into the atmosphere below.

However, they don’t know how quickly this is happening, or how long they have left.

Enter the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Since revealing its first stunning images in July last year, Nasa’s JWST has already contributed to numerous breakthroughs in the field of astronomy, not least potentially upending the entire timeline of the universe when finding the oldest galaxies ever seen.

Using the JWST and Hawai’i’s powerful Keck telescope, a team from Reading University plans to study the Saturn phenomenon in search of answers.

‘We’re still trying to figure out exactly how fast they are eroding,’ said team leader Dr James O’Donoghue. ‘Currently, research suggests the rings will only be part of Saturn for another few hundred million years. 

Saturn, captured by Voyager 2 in 1981 (Picture: Nasa/JPL)

‘We could be very lucky to be around at a time when the rings exist.’

A few hundred million years may not sound like they’re going anywhere fast, but on a cosmic timescale, they could be well into their twilight years.

‘I think it would be fascinating if the lifetime of the rings was only 100million years or so and that their age was billions of years,’ said O’Donoghue, speaking to Space.com. ‘That means we evolved just in time to see them before they vanished.’

Other estimates suggest the rings only appeared 100million years ago – meaning humans are lucky to have been alive to see them during their relatively brief existence in the solar system’s 4.5billion-year history.

Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope has already provided helped make multiple scientific breakthroughs (Picture: AP)

The rings are thought to be made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock – pieces of comets, asteroids and moons that were broken up by Saturn’s powerful gravity. 

They are aligned with the planet’s magnetic field lines, but that strong gravitational pull is drawing the inner rings towards it, which then fall as rain. 

However, astronmer’s the Sun’s energy may also have an effect.

Saturn has a long year – it takes 29.5 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun, and each season lasts about seven years. Like Earth, Saturn is angled on its axis, meaning at different times of the year the rings will be ‘edge-on’ with the Sun, and at others tilted towards it. 

Saturn, captured by Nasa’s Hubble telescope (Picture: NASA/ESA/A/ Simon/OPAL Team)

‘We suspect that when the rings are edge-on with the sun, the ring rain will slow down,’ O’Donoghue told Space.com. ‘And that when they are tilted to face the sun, the ring rain influx will increase.’

To determine if this hypothesis is correct, the team will measure levels of a specific hydrogen molecule in the upper atmosphere which spikes when the icy ring rain is low, and dips when the rain increases.

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‘Saturn may be many millions of miles away, but I believe the key to understanding how fast its rings are disappearing may lie with some of the world’s leading atmospheric scientists in Berkshire,’ said Dr O’Donoghue.

‘Working with the meteorology experts at Reading will give me the opportunity to finally find out what is going on with our giant planetary neighbour.’

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The Guardian – New anti-protest powers rushed into law in time for coronation Summary of the front page New criminal offences to prevent disruption at the King’s coronation have been rushed into law, according to an exclusive by The Guardian. The paper says that, from Tuesday, protesters who block roads, airports or railways could be imprisoned for 12 months, while anyone locking themselves to objects or buildings faces six months in jail and an unlimited fine. It adds that the Home Office’s police powers unit has written to anti-monarchy campaign group Republic to advise it of the changes. The front…

Financial Times – AI claims first scalp as shares in education sector tumble Summary of the front page The Financial Times says shares in the education sector fell sharply yesterday as investors bet that artificial intelligence could upend business models. US company Chegg, which provides online study guides, said that a “significant spike in student interest” in AI tool ChatGPT was harming its customer growth. The paper says it marks “one of the first instances of a company acknowledging a hit to its finances as a direct result of advances” in the technology. The front page features an image of…