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China has ‘secretly embedded microchips' across UK capable of bringing country to standstill, MPs warned

China has ‘secretly embedded microchips' across UK capable of bringing country to standstill, MPs warned

The Sun13-05-2025

CHINA could bring Britain to a standstill by switching off traffic lights and freezing electric vehicles, MPs were warned.
Beijing has secretly embedded microchips across UK infrastructure that could be weaponised to trigger blackouts, experts claimed at a private briefing in Parliament.
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Ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove and veteran diplomat Charles Parton told a dozen Labour MPs the threat lies in Chinese-made CIMs - control interface modules - which act as 'gateways to computers' and are already found in vehicles, routers and payment terminals.
Mr Parton warned the Communist regime could use them to 'turn off the traffic light system' or remotely paralyse electric cars to block roads and cripple supply chains.
Sir Richard added that Chinese electric vehicles were essentially 'computers on wheels' and could be reprogrammed at any moment - raising the alarming prospect they could be used to 'immobilise London'.
The session, hosted by Labour MP and chair of the Coalition on Secure Technology Graeme Downie, focused on China's push to dominate the world through non-military means - using science and technology as its 'battlefield'.

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The cheap foreign meat flooding Britain's supermarket shelves: Farmers' fury over rise in beef and chicken imports from countries 'with lower animal welfare standards'
The cheap foreign meat flooding Britain's supermarket shelves: Farmers' fury over rise in beef and chicken imports from countries 'with lower animal welfare standards'

Daily Mail​

time29 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

The cheap foreign meat flooding Britain's supermarket shelves: Farmers' fury over rise in beef and chicken imports from countries 'with lower animal welfare standards'

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‘Son of Concorde' jet that could fly from London to NYC in 3.5 hours steps closer to reality as major ban is lifted
‘Son of Concorde' jet that could fly from London to NYC in 3.5 hours steps closer to reality as major ban is lifted

The Sun

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  • The Sun

‘Son of Concorde' jet that could fly from London to NYC in 3.5 hours steps closer to reality as major ban is lifted

CONCORDE-STYLE flights capable of blasting passengers from London to New York City in 3.5 hours have edged closer to reality after a major ban was lifted. "Son of Concorde" maker Boom Technology has welcomed President Trump 's executive order that effectively lifts the 52-year ban on civil supersonic flight over land in the US. 4 4 4 Tight restrictions on supersonic flights have been in place due to the loud sonic boom created by the shock waves from a flying object travelling faster than the speed of sound. "America once led the world in supersonic aviation, but decades of stifling regulations grounded progress," the White House said. "This Order removes regulatory barriers so that U.S. companies can dominate supersonic flight once again." To hit supersonic speeds, an airplane needs to travel at 768 miles per hour. But Boom Technology has been working on a jet that has no audible sonic boom. The firm managed to make its XB-1 test jet fly faster than the speed of sound for the first time in January this year. Writing on X, the company welcomed the latest move, saying: "Thank you, President Trump, for unlocking the future of faster and quieter travel. "This presidential action comes after a bipartisan group of key Congressional leaders introduced the Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act on May 14, 2025. "The legislation calls on the FAA to revise the regulation prohibiting supersonic flight over land." After finishing tests with XB-1 in January, Boom is now focused on building a plane suitable for passengers called Overture. Boom 'son of Concorde' flies supersonic for first time Some 130 aircraft pre-orders have already been made by the likes of American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines. The executive order does come with a set of rules that the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been directed to impose. An interim "noise-based certification standard" must be established that considers "community acceptability, economic reasonableness, and technological feasibility". Why did the Concorde fail? CONCORDE was the supersonic passenger jet considered the ultimate luxury in air travel. Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their fleet of Concorde planes on April 10, 2003. The plane had its first commercial flight on January 21, 1976, so was retired after 27 years of service and 50,000 flights. Several reasons led to the decision to retire Concorde. Air France and British Airways cited low passenger numbers and high maintenance costs. By the early noughties, the planes were outdated and expensive to run, despite being incredibly advanced when they were first introduced almost three decades previously. The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 majorly impacted passenger numbers, as people opted not to fly. Passenger numbers also fell after an Air France Concorde crashed just minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000. The disaster killed all 109 people on board and four others on the ground. The plane ran over a small piece of metal on the runway, which burst a tyre and caused an engine to ignite. It was also the only aircraft in the British Airways fleet that required a flight engineer. Image credit: Alamy Trump was presented with a miniature model of Overture earlier this year from Boom Technology's CEO. He suggested that Boom should manufacture Air Force One - the President's personal plane - and made a dig at China President Xi Jinping. "Air Fore Once should be supersonic. Xi [President of China] can keep his 747-8," he wrote. 4 Supersonic and Hypersonic Jets There are several types of hypersonic and supersonic jets. A breakdown of what's been happening in the industry and what's expected in the coming years. Talon-A Built by Stratolaunch Reported speeds of Mach 5 The first test flight conducted in 2024 X-59 Quesst Built by Nasa and Lockheed Martin Predicted max speeds of Mach 1.4 The first test flight in 2024 - but subject to delays Venus Stargazer M4 Built by Venus Aerospace and Velontra Predicted max speeds of Mach 6 First test flight in 2025 Quarterhorse MKII Built by Hermeus Predicted max speeds of Mach 2.5 First test flight in 2026 Halcyon Built by Hermeus Predicted max speeds of Mach 5 First test flight by 2030 Nanqiang No 1 Built by China's hypersonic plane programme Predicted max speeds of Mach 6 First test flight in 2025 DART Built by Hypersonix Launch Systems Predicted max speeds of Mach 7 First test flight in 2025

What could go wrong? Scientists create the world's first black hole BOMB in the lab
What could go wrong? Scientists create the world's first black hole BOMB in the lab

Daily Mail​

time44 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

What could go wrong? Scientists create the world's first black hole BOMB in the lab

It might sound like the culmination of a Bond villain's latest evil scheme. But the world's first 'black hole bomb' has officially become a reality. This theoretical doomsday device uses a series of spinning mirrors to reflect and amplify the waves of energy escaping from a black hole. In real black holes, this energy grows exponentially until it is either vented or the whole system explodes with the power of a supernova. Thankfully, the version created in the lab is just a safe demonstration model. Instead of drawing its power from a black hole, the bomb amplifies magnetic fields through a complex series of mirrors. During testing, the black hole bomb did explode - although the scientists reassure that this was 'nothing serious'. Professor Danielle Faccio, co-author of the study from the University of Glasgow, said: '[It was] more of a "pop" than an actual explosive "bang". However, she added: 'If one scaled this up in size, the "bang" would become more serious.' The key to the black hole bomb is an effect known as 'superradiance'. Professor Vito Cardoso, an expert on superradiance from the Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal who was not involved in the study, told MailOnline: 'Superradiance is the phenomenon whereby radiation is amplified when it interacts with a rotating object. 'In simple terms: if you send sound or electromagnetic waves of very low frequency to a spinning cylinder then certain "modes" will come back with more energy! In other words, energy is transferred from spinning objects to radiation.' There isn't anything mysterious about taking energy from a spinning object - just think about how you gain energy by stepping onto a spinning carousel. The black hole bomb simply applies this idea to a strange quirk of black hole physics - with explosive results. Due to 'weird and counterintuitive' rules of general relativity, when objects spin very close to a black hole they appear to gain energy from nothing. Professor Faccio explained: 'Seen from the outside, you will see an object or wave reflect away from the black hole and gain energy in the process. 'If you now create a surrounding cavity or mirror of some kind so that the wave gets reflected back and forth between the mirror and black hole, you will have a continuous and runaway amplification effect.' How does a black hole bomb work? A black hole bomb works by exploiting an effect called superradiance. When radiation approaches a spinning black hole it gains energy before escaping. This slightly slows down the spin of the black hole like someone stepping onto a carousel. But if the energy is reflected back inwards, this speeds up the spin of the black hole and amplifies the energy again. The radiation bounces back and forth from the black hole and the mirror becomes stronger each time. Eventually, there is so much high-energy radiation that the heat and pressure overwhelm the system and it explodes. Eventually, this high amplitude energy builds up between the mirror and the black hole and heats up so much that the pressure causes the entire system to explode. Since the nearest black hole is around 1,500 light-years from Earth, testing this theory in practice has been essentially impossible. However, in their pre-print paper, the researchers demonstrated that the basic physics behind the theory really does work. Instead of using a black hole, the experimental version rotates a 4-centimetre-diameter aluminium cylinder inside three layers of metal coils which are spun around the cylinder. The rotating coils can be used to both produce a magnetic field and reflect some of the field back into the system. In this model, the coils take the place of the mirrors while the magnetic fields play the role of light spinning around a black hole. During their testing, the researchers discovered that the small, low-frequency magnetic fields were quickly amplified into much larger signals. Even without the coils producing a magnetic field, the spinning device would still generate a runaway signal just like a black hole would. While the lab-based black hole bomb isn't nearly as powerful as a real black hole bomb, it was still capable of producing shocking amounts of power. Professor Faccio said: 'The electrical components in our setup were literally exploding!' While you might worry that the technology could be used to make an actual bomb, Professor Faccio insists it is 'hard to see' how this could happen. In fact, the researchers point out that this process could be beneficial in energy collection processes like what is already happening inside wind turbines. Instead, the more terrifying possibility is creating a real black hole bomb out in space. Theoretically, this could allow you to create a limitless source of energy. Although our own civilisation isn't yet up to the task, there is nothing to prevent another society from creating a scaled-up version of Professor Faccio's device. Professor Cardoso says: 'We can easily imagine a slightly more advanced civilization than us using something like this with a black hole! 'It's amazing, extracting energy from the vacuum to power a society.' But, just like nuclear power, a vast source of energy can quickly become a bomb if it isn't managed correctly. 'Any piece of technology with an immense power can always be dangerous,' concludes Professor Cardoso. 'In this particular case, a bad regulation - like nuclear plants - could lead to overproduction of radiation and therefore to explosion.' BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light. They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around. How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole. Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy. Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses. When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space.

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