RICHARD BRANSON is to make another attempt to fly around the world by balloon. Per Lindstrand and Rory McCarthy will join him in the adventure this winter. Their last attempt in which Alex Ritchie replaced McCarthy at the last minute, ended in disaster last January.
Ritchie saved his colleagues' lives when he freed heavy propane tanks from the outside of the gondola as it plummeted towards the Algerian desert.
Branson and his team are expected to face competition from two other crews whose initial attempts also failed the Swiss Belgian Breitling Orbiter and Steve Fossett's US team.
Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Mike Royko, whose commentaries appear in newspapers across the United States, was in critical condition yesterday after suffering a seizure at his home.
Royko (64) was taken from his home in Winnetka, north of Chicago, an Tuesday night to nearby Evanston Hospital, where he was reported in critical condition. The Chicago Tribune, where he is based, quoted his family as saying he suffered an aneurysm.