How To See Mercury Passing The Sun

Mercury only passes in front of the Sun a few times every century, and the last time was a decade ago.

While the celestial event is visible from most of Western Europe and North America on Monday 9 May between 12.12pm BST and 7.42pm BST, catching a glimpse of it is no easy task.

The first thing to know is that you should not look directly at the Sun, because it'll injure your eyes.

Special glasses used to view solar eclipses are also pretty useless - Mercury is so small that magnification is needed to see it.

A pair of binoculars or a telescope is likely to suffice, but the eye risk remains.

That means you'll need a special solar filter, or to project an image of the Sun on to a piece of paper.

If that sounds like too much fuss, there is a far easier way to see it: by watching one of the numerous online live streams.

Both the European Space Agency and NASA are broadcasting the event.

At one time the passing of Mercury in front of the Sun was a useful scientific opportunity because it allowed astronomers to measure distances in the solar system.

The Open University's David Rothery told the New Scientist: "When I was a lad in Birmingham I saw the 1973 transit.

"It's going to be especially important for me this time, because I’m now involved in the European Space Agency’s mission to Mercury."

The agency's spacecraft is due to blast off in two years and arrive at Mercury in 2024. Its mission is to study Mercury's surface and its magnetic field.

Last year NASA's Messenger spacecraft slammed into the surface of Mercury, ending a successful 11-year mission.

Top Nigeria Official named in #PanamaPapers

At least 110 Nigerian individuals and companies have so far been identified by PREMIUM TIMES in the leaked internal data of Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonsecca, as operators of offshore shell companies in tax havens.

Prominent among the new names being revealed today, in addition to the several that were published in the past one month, are the founder of telecommunication company, Globacom, Mike Adenuga; Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sadiq Sani Bello and the late Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade, among others.

The list also contained names of Arik Chairman, Joseph Arumemi-Johnson and his wife, Mary, as well as two serving senators – Andy Uba (Anambra) and Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto).

Other top business persons, politicians, and their family members were also found in the infamous database, including those currently holding public offices. See full list below.

The publication details names of companies, their owners and the particular tax havens the offshore firms are domiciled.

PREMIUM TIMES is the only Nigerian media organisation with exclusive access to the documents obtained by German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with over 80 media organisations around the world.

Since April 3, 2016, when the news of the unprecedented leak broke worldwide, PREMIUM TIMES has published series of exclusive reports about the offshore assets of prominent Nigerians named in the database that is now globally referred to as #PanamaPapers. Some of them, who are public officer holders, held the assets in violation of Nigerian law, failing to declare them to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The investigation revealed the assets of some of Nigeria’s most powerful individuals, including Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote; President of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki; convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori; the boss of Oando, Nigeria’s biggest indigenous oil firm, Wale Tinubu, in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Panama, and Seychelles.

The unprecedented year-long investigation involving 11.5 million secret documents – which stretch from 1977 to December 2015 – exposed the hidden underground of the world economy, a network of banks, law firms and other middlemen that utilize shell companies, sometimes using them to hide illegal wealth.

The 2.6 TB files, involving 214,488 entities, also revealed hundreds of details about how former gun-runners, contractors and other members of the spy world use offshore companies for personal and private gain.

The investigation unveiled the cloak of secrecy provided by Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that specializes in creating offshore companies, some of which have been used by con men and women to hide Ponzi schemes, predatory lending scams, and other financial frauds from their victims and from the authorities.

The use of shell companies is not illegal and there are individuals and firms who incorporate them for purely legitimate purposes.

Below is a comprehensive list of other Nigerians named in the leak, although this may not be final as this newspaper will continue its investigation in the weeks and months ahead.

Top Pensions Lawyer To Aid MPs' BHS Probe

A leading pensions lawyer is being drafted in to assist a parliamentary probe into the collapse of BHS, the high street retailer, amid a furious row about the stewardship of its 20,000-member retirement schemes.

Sky News understands that Robin Ellison, who serves as a trustee of several blue-chip pension funds, is being lined up to join a specialist panel being assembled by Frank Field MP, chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

The appointment of Mr Ellison, a visiting professor of pensions law at Cass Business School, is expected to be announced ahead of the inquiry's first hearing on Monday, at which officials from the Pensions Regulator and Pension Protection Fund will give evidence.

Westminster sources said that Prem Sikka, a professor of accounting at Essex University, was also likely to be appointed to the advisory panel.

They will serve alongside Lord Myners, the former City Minister whose recruitment by Mr Field has intensified the sense of drama associated with the BHS investigation.

Former BHS owner Sir Philip Green

Both Lord Myners and Sir David Norgrove, the former pensions regulator and one-time chair of the M&S pension trustees, locked horns with BHS's former owner Sir Philip Green during his attempt to buy Marks & Spencer in 2004.

Sir David has also been enlisted by Mr Field's committee to support its work.

The appointment of the specialist advisors underlines the complexity of the MPs' inquiry as they attempt to unpick the details of how BHS's principal staff pension scheme went from being in surplus when Sir Philip bought the company to running a deficit of hundreds of millions of pounds when it was sold last year.

Sky News revealed on Saturday that the chief executive of the PPF would disclose on Monday that its estimate of the top-up cost to the pensions lifeboat would be between £250m and £300m.

In total, BHS's pension schemes have approximately 20,000 members, with 11,000 jobs at risk from the company's collapse into administration.

The PPF is sponsored by the Government but is funded through a levy on other defined benefit pension schemes, and steps in to protect the retirement benefits of insolvent companies' employees.

Schemes which are transferred to the PPF typically pay out 90% of the accrued benefits, with a cap on the maximum they can receive.

The PPF's £300m bill relating to BHS is just over half the £571m estimated cost of transferring the high street chain's pension schemes to an insurance company.

It is likely to be closer to the figure that the Pensions Regulator could ultimately seek to extract from Sir Philip Green, BHS's former owner, and other BHS stakeholders if they are deemed to have left its pension schemes under-funded.

The full buyout cost has sparked a furious row between MPs and Sir Philip, who this week accused Frank Field, chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, of pre-judging the outcome of their investigation.

The former BHS owner demanded that Mr Field stand aside from the inquiry.

Monday's hearing will be the first since the announcement of a parliamentary probe into the crisis at BHS, which called in administrators last month little more than a year after being sold Retail Acquisitions, the vehicle of an inexperienced group of executives, for £1.

Several inquiries have since been launched, including one by the Insolvency Service under the instruction of Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary.

Soldier Dies In Brecon Town Centre Incident

A soldier has died after being found unconscious and injured in Brecon town centre, the MoD has confirmed.

Sky News understands that early indications show his death is not related to terrorism and Sky's Defence Correspondent Alistair Bunkall said the soldier had not been in uniform when he died.

Police say the man, who has not yet been named, was found on Lion Street at around 1am on Sunday morning.

He was taken to hospital by ambulance but died later.

His death is being treated as unexplained.

Kirsty Williams, the Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, described the incident as "shocking".

The soldier was found in Lion Street, Brecon

She tweeted: "Clearly very shocking incident unfolding in Brecon town centre this morning. Will be keeping in touch with local police."

Police are appealing for anyone with information or anyone who was in the vicinity of Lion Street, Bethel Square, Tredegar Street and High Street between 12.30am and 1.30am to contact them by phoning 101.

An Army spokesman said: "We are aware of an incident involving the death of a soldier in Brecon.

"Dyfed-Powys Police are investigating and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

'Swarm' Of Earthquakes Shake Mount St Helens

A "swarm" of 130 earthquakes have trembled beneath Mount St Helens in the past eight weeks, seismologists have revealed.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the series of small quakes showed "the volcano is still very much alive".

Although there are no signs of an imminent eruption, the volcano - 95 miles south of Seattle - is recharging, the seismologists have said.

There are no unusual gases reported, and no signs that the magma - the molten rock beneath the surface of the Earth, is expanding.

The volcano erupted and killed more than 50 people in 1980

Most of the tremors are less than 0.5 in magnitude and the largest was 1.3 - rumbling about 1.2 to four miles beneath the surface.

Although the quakes are relatively small, it is the frequency that is concerning scientists. 

"Earthquake rates have been steadily increasing since March, reaching nearly 40 located earthquakes per week," a USGS statement read.

The earthquakes are volcano-tectonic in nature, indicative of a slip on a small fault." 

Mount St Helens is experiencing about 40 small quakes each week

The USGS said the volcano's collection of magma is "re-pressurising", but said the process can continue for years without an eruption.

Similar patterns of "earthquake swarms" were detected in 2013, 2014 and in the 1990s, said the USGS.

Mount St Helens erupted on 18 May 1980, leaving a huge crater and spewing hot ash across the northwestern US, killing 57 people.

It also started forest fires and caused floods as the snow melted from mountain tops.

Alberta Fire: A Community Displaced But United

The people of Alberta in Canada know wildfires, but not like this.

The city they love has been overwhelmed and defeated by the flames that enveloped their lives so quickly and ferociously.

Lac La Biche is the next town south of Fort McMurray.

It's still three hours away - this a remote part of the world. That makes communities close and intimate.

The Bold Recreation Center has opened up its doors as a sanctuary for those who are so much in need.

Donations are constantly pouring in - water, food, clothes, nappies, toys, pet food, books - the essentials that people didn't think of when they were running for their lives.

Volunteers keep arriving - fire and rescue groups, caterers with barbecues, kind locals who say they just want to make some of the children smile.

The Red Cross is here, offering one-on-one support, so are insurance companies so people can start working out how to start again.

A makeshift animal rescue centre is full of cats and dogs - some claimed - others still looking for their owners.

A lot of people I speak to don't know what has happened to their home - and that part of them doesn't want to.

They've seen the images of the monster fire that have shocked the world.

For them, it's not an unfamiliar place thousands of miles away - it's home. It's where they grew up, went to school, got married.

The precious items they've gathered through the years - a baby's lock of hair, wedding dresses, family photos, engagement rings, are gone.

Fort McMurray resident Marlene Cardinal says the fire came fast.

"When we were told to evacuate, from our side of town, it didn't seem urgent - it was a calm sunny day," she says.

"Then suddenly we saw the smoke - then the flames. It was just unreal."

She gets tearful.

"It's not just houses and objects - its lives, jobs, security."

Brian Jean is a local politician, the leader of the opposition in the province of Alberta.

Dressed in a suit, he walks around the refuge centre shaking hands and offering words of comfort and optimism.

His own home and everything in it doesn't exist anymore.

"We're going to get through this. We're a strong community and we will recover," he says.

Canada's 'Out Of Control' Fire Doubles In Size

A wildfire that is raging across the province of Alberta is due to become Canada's costliest natural disaster later today, after reaching the size of Warwickshire.

The blaze, which has forced the evacuation of 88,000 people from the city of Fort McMurray, doubled in size on Saturday to around 494,000 acres, according to firefighters.

The English county of Warwickshire is 488,000 acres.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale warned that the situation in the parched Alberta oil sands region was "unpredictable and dangerous".

"This remains a big, out of control, dangerous fire," he added.

Officials said the inferno is being propelled by high winds northeast towards neighbouring Saskatchewan province.