Uber’s five-year battle against giving its drivers basic employment protections, including minimum wage and holiday pay, has reached the Supreme Court. The company could be forced to pay tens of millions in compensation to impacted workers, as may other firms which fail to class their drivers and couriers as employees. The judgment will reverberate across
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The United Arab Emirates has launched its first mission to Mars. The £160m mission is aimed at providing a picture of the Martian atmosphere and studying daily and seasonal changes on the planet. It is also aimed at advancing the UAE’s science and technology sector, enabling it to move away from its economic reliance on
Researchers trialling an experimental drug on critically ill coronavirus patients say it prevented their disease from progressing in 79% of cases. The experimental drug known as SNG001 is an inhaled formulation of beta-interferon developed by the pharmaceutical company Synairgen and was given to patients in hospital with COVID-19 who needed oxygen assistance. Although the treatment
Matt Hancock was clear: it was all Apple’s fault. Standing at the same Downing Street podium where he had promised the government’s contact-tracing app would “save lives”, Mr Hancock now admitted it would not be ready for the lifting of lockdown. For months, the health secretary had insisted a homemade app was better than one
The country’s first so-called battery “gigafactory” has moved a step closer after a site in South Wales was identified as the preferred location. Britishvolt said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Welsh government to develop its plans for the “green” factory, which would mainly produce electric car batteries under its own solar
The government has told care homes and the public to immediately stop using coronavirus testing kits produced by a healthcare firm after safety problems were discovered. The government said all labs must pause the use of COVID-19 test kits produced by Randox laboratories “with immediate effect until further notice”. It said the tests, which were
The closest images ever taken of the sun have been revealed, showing mini solar flares dotted across its surface. The Solar Orbiter, a European Space Agency satellite designed and built in the UK, took the pictures when it came within 47 million miles of the sun’s surface in mid-June. Known as a perihelion, the close
Cryptocurrency scams are a common menace on Twitter. So, unfortunately, are incidents where individual accounts get hacked. Last year, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account was briefly taken over by a hacker who posted a series of racist and abusive messages. The reason the latest hack is so significant is because it penetrated deep into Twitter’s
Researchers at the University of Oxford believe they have made a breakthrough in the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Human trials are reported to have shown promising results after the team discovered the jab could provide “double protection” against the virus. Blood samples taken from volunteers in phase one trials have shown the vaccine stimulated
Amazon has issued an urgent warning over its Echo Buds earphones, saying there is risk they could overheat while being charged. The product was released earlier this year as a direct competitor to Apple’s AirPods Pro. But in an email sent to customers today, and seen by Sky News, users are told to install “an
Plans for the WiFi router used by SpaceX’s satellite-based broadband business Starlink have been revealed in a regulatory filing. The Starlink Router, which has now been approved for consumer use by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will connect an external satellite dish or terminal to any computers or phones inside the house. According to
Burping cows are a massive contributor to emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, which has reached record levels according to new research. The amount of methane in the atmosphere grew massively between 2000 and 2017, leading to what researchers believe could be a global warming increase of up to four degrees Celsius by the
Contact tracers in England have been locked out of their work accounts this morning, preventing them from reaching people who could have contracted coronavirus, Sky News understands. A Tier 2 COVID-19 contact tracer has told Sky News that anyone whose Amazon Web Services (AWS) account was activated on 13 May has been unable to log
Lord Browne of Madingley, the former BP boss, is to step down early as the UK chairman of Huawei Technologies as it faces a government ban on involvement in the UK’s 5G infrastructure. Sky News has learnt that Lord Browne gave two months’ notice of his resignation in the last few days, meaning he will
The British government is expected to take a new and final decision on the future 5G network today, further restricting the involvement of the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei. Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the National Security Council later before the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden makes a statement to parliament. An original decision, made
A freeze in Britain’s trading relationship with China triggered by banning the telecoms equipment manufacturer Huawei would depress UK GDP and spark inflationary pressures, one of the country’s leading economic think tanks will say this week. Sky News has obtained copies of separate reports to be published in the coming days by the National Institute