(Reuters) -SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tapped the rocket maker for a $1 billion loan around the time he was acquiring

Sporting events tend to attract some high-profile names to sing the national anthem before the competition gets underway – from Lady Gaga’s take on the “Star Spangled Banner” at the 2016 Super Bowl, to Homeland actor Damian Lewis singing “God Save the King” at Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Yes, really. Taking over from Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder, who performed it at the F1 race last year, the Wolf Hall star decided to deliver a jazzier rendition of the song alongside a saxophonist in sunglasses. As Lewis - who released his debut album Mission Creep last month - dragged out almost every word of the well-known chorus, one spectator was caught on camera letting out a small laugh, before the performers finished up their song with a flyover from the iconic Red Arrows. At least that offered some pre-show entertainment for those in attendance. Meanwhile, those watching at home decided to have some fun with some memes, because of course they did: Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In amongst all this ridicule, one Twitter user joked The Simpsons – the iconic animated series which has become famous for seeming to ‘predict’ cultural events – managed to see Lewis’s cringeworthy performance coming: Taken from the season two episode “Dancin’ Homer”, in which the dysfunctional dad becomes the team mascot for the Springfield Isotopes baseball team, the musician picked to sing the American national anthem is that of “Bleeding Gums” Murphy – the jazz singer and saxophonist who is Lisa Simpson’s idol. As he takes to the mic to sing the “Star Spangled Banner” at 7:30pm, Murphy proceeds to deliver a version which – like Lewis’s – stretches out every word and has a more soulful feel to the melody. However, taking 26 minutes to finish his performance, the Simpsons family (all except Lisa) and the rest of the crowd can be seen getting more and more exhausted as the song progresses, to the extent they all collapse back in their seats as soon as he finishes singing. Ouch. And this wasn’t the only bit of drama to emerge from Sunday’s British Grand Prix, as Suicide Squad actor Cara Delevingne was slammed for her “rude” response to an interview request on the grid from Sky Sports F1 presenter and racing legend Martin Brundle. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

After going up in weight to face lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, Alexander Volkanovski is back at featherweight to face interim champion Yair Rodriguez.Volkanovski has never lost at this weight class, and is the heavy favorite to stay that way on Saturday night in the UFC 290 main event. R...

Experts have discovered a fluffy “alien” planet where it rains sand in stunning new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope. The bizarre-looking planet is officially known as exoplanet WASP-107b and has a cloud of silicate sand that exists high within its atmosphere giving it its strange fluffy appearance. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been responsible for some astounding findings since it was launched in 2021, including a mysterious galaxy shaped like a question mark. Now, observations made by the telescope have been used by experts who have been able to determine the atmospheric composition of the exoplanet that was pictured. A team of European astronomers found that water vapour, sulfur dioxide and silicate sand clouds existed in the exoplanet’s diverse atmosphere. The exoplanet WASP-107b is one of the lowest-density planets that astronomers are aware of. To put it into context, it is the same size as Jupiter, but has just 12 per cent of Jupiter’s mass. Thanks to its low density, it has allowed scientists to take a deeper look into the planet’s atmosphere, exploring 50 times deeper than would be possible with denser planets. The discovery of sulfur dioxide was a surprise because the host star it orbits only emits a small amount of high-energy light photons. But, its low-density atmosphere allows the photons to penetrate WASP-107b’s atmosphere where the chemical reaction that creates sulfur dioxide can occur. They also discovered that it essentially rains sand on the exoplanet due to the presence of clouds high in the atmosphere made up of fine silicate particles. Experts believe the clouds of sand form in the same way as rain does on Earth as the droplets continually fall and condense back into cloud form. The lead author of the study, Leen Decin from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, explained: “JWST is revolutionizing exoplanet characterisation, providing unprecedented insights at remarkable speed.” She added: “The discovery of clouds of sand, water, and sulfur dioxide on this fluffy exoplanet… is a pivotal milestone. It reshapes our understanding of planetary formation and evolution, shedding new light on our own solar system.” How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Mexico's top diplomat says her country has sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government expressing concern that Texas' plan to deploy floating barriers on the Rio Grande may violate 1944 and 1970 treaties on boundaries and water

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The European Union (EU) is set to usher in a new era of smartphones with