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A tiny planet that orbits the Sun beyond Neptune has a Saturn-style ring, it has been revealed. Astronomers say the discovery suggests the stunning bands made up of dust, rocks and ice are not as rare in our solar system as previously thought. They used observations from 12 ground-based telescopes across Europe to measure Haumea's size, shape and density with unprecedented accuracy. The mysterious icy world was only discovered in 2004. It's the first time a ring has been spotted...

Worrying signs have emerged that the BHS saga is set to repeat itself after the chair of the Work and Pension select committee said mega-rich individuals are set to walk away again from a collapsed company as ordinary people face pension woes. Monarch Airlines ceased trading earlier this month after running into financial issues. Its administration resulted in 110,000 passengers left stranded overseas and 300,000 future bookings cancelled, with 2,100 employees out of work. And now an influential group of MPs has...

A woman has died after falling 100ft from the Whispering Gallery at St Paul's Cathedral. She fell from the first level of the viewing gallery to the floor and was pronounced dead at 10.30am on Wednesday. Her death is not being treated as suspicious, but the cathedral remained closed for the rest of the day. The Whispering Gallery sits in the cathedral's iconic dome, and is 30 metres above the cathedral floor. A St Paul's Cathedral spokesperson said: "The Cathedral...

These pictures show the moment an elderly tea-lady was forcibly moved from her month-long post set up at a controversial fracking site by police. Great grandma Jackie Brookes, 79, set up shop at the Kirby Misperton site in Yorkshire where she provided provisions of tea and home-made cake to both protesters and police. According to North Yorkshire Police, she and other people were moved this morning because of fears that a nearby ten-foot high tower made of wooden pallets might...

There has been a ten-fold increase in global childhood obesity over the past four decades and now 20 per cent of American children are obese. Leading scientists called for a sugar tax, cheaper fruit and veg and a curb on processed food as it was revealed girls in the USA had the 15th highest obesity rate in the world, and boys had the 12th highest obesity in the world. Although figures have levelled off there is a ticking fat time...

A tubby, tusked mammal that survived the biggest extinction in Earth's history may hold the key to saving the planet, according to new research. Lystrosaurus lived through the 'Great Dying' at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago which wiped out 70 per cent of land living vertebrates. This drastic loss of biodiversity led to global 'disaster faunas' dominated by a small number of species, say scientists. One of those still standing was Lystrosaurus, an early relative...

Petrol and diesel vehicles are to be banned from a city centre in what is believed to be the world's first Zero Emissions Zone. The new zone in Oxford City Centre will see all petrol and diesel taxis, cars and buses excluded from six central streets from 2020. The area will then be expanded in 2025 and 2030 to encompass the entire city centre, and finally in 2035 HGVs will be banned from the same zone - making it what...

Jeremy Corbyn will be rubbing his hands after a new report by the International Monetary Fund backed Labour's tax strategy and discredited the Conservatives' approach. Higher income tax rates for rich would reduce inequality without impacting economic growth. The research revealed higher income tax rates for the rich would help reduce inequality without having an adverse impact on growth. The highly influential half-yearly fiscal monitor ridicules the Tories' rationale for the reductions in tax for the highest earners in recent decades. In...

A water firm has been ordered to pay almost £500,000 after supplying water infected with a parasite - leaving thousands of homeowners with unsafe tap water, a court heard. United Utilities used water from an underground rural reservoir which may have contained contamination from farm animal faeces after a heavy downpour. The reservoir had structural defects which allowed in microscopic parasite cryptosporidium and "inherent hazards" from the surrounding environment. Preston Crown Court, Lancs., heard the company's Franklaw treatment works had...