Author: SKYNEWS

Playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Shakespeare In Love, has died at the age of 88.A statement from United Agents said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family. “He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language.”It was an honour to work with Tom and to know him.”King Charles said in a tribute: “My…

The government is lining up bankers to conduct a review of options for Britain’s embattled steel industry amid calls for ministers to orchestrate mergers between some of the sector’s biggest players.Sky News has learnt that Evercore, the independent investment bank which now employs George Osborne, the former chancellor, was expected to be appointed in the coming weeks to oversee a strategic review of the sector. If its appointment is confirmed, Evercore will report its findings to Peter Kyle, the business secretary, and UK Government Investments (UKGI), the Whitehall agency which manages taxpayers’ interests in a range of companies, including the…

“Many women end up losing their children,” says Alessandra Korap, a community leader of the Munduruku people from the Brazilian Amazon.”Either they can’t get pregnant, or they lose their [foetus] over time. “So, women are afraid of getting pregnant.”For centuries, the indigenous Munduruku have lived in an area across what is now the states of Amazonas and Para in northern Brazil, especially around the Tapajos River.But in recent decades, villagers had been plagued by curious symptoms that they didn’t realise could be related: children unable to lift their heads, adults unable to walk any more, muscle tremors, memory loss, fading…

A senior executive at Netflix is among the contenders vying to become the next boss of Channel 4, the state-owned broadcaster.Sky News has learnt that Emma Lloyd, the streaming giant’s vice-president, partnerships, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is one of a handful of media executives shortlisted to replace Alex Mahon as Channel 4’s chief executive. Ms Lloyd, whose previous employers included Sky, the immediate parent company of Sky News, also served on the board of Ocado Group, from which she stepped down this month after nine years as a non-executive director.She is understood to be a serious contender…

Rachel Reeves has been accused of failing to “support the great British pub” as she promised in the budget, with owners facing skyrocketing business rates bills.In her speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the chancellor said she was backing small businesses by introducing “permanently lower tax rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties – the lowest tax rates since 1991”. But while the government gave itself the powers to discount the business rates bills for high street businesses through legislation earlier this year, the chancellor only implemented a reduction of a quarter of what the government…

Artificial intelligence is getting very good, very fast. Whether it’s music, text, code or imagery, the time when it was reliably possible to tell the difference between AI and human outputs is disappearing at an alarming rate.Yet for all their wizardry, AIs can also be quite useless. They make things up and misunderstand instructions. They are brilliant as toys but incompetent as assistants. All this makes it hard to know how to put AI into perspective. Is it the most important technological trend since the iPhone? Or since the industrial revolution? At this distance, it’s hard to say.There are industry…

The creator of an AI actress has told Sky News that synthetic performers will get more actors working, rather than steal jobs. AI production studio Particle6 has ruffled feathers in Hollywood by unveiling Tilly Norwood – a 20-something actress created by artificial intelligence. Speaking to Sky News’ Dominic Waghorn, actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden – who founded Particle6 – insisted Norwood is “not meant to take jobs in the traditional film”.AI entertainment is “developing as a completely separate genre”, she said, adding: “And that’s where Tilly is meant to stay. She’s meant to stay in the AI genre…

Day two after a budget is always an important moment.This is when the nerds and boffins of Britain’s fiscal thinktanks assemble to deliver their snap verdict on the chancellor’s decisions. The moment is more important than ever when, as was certainly the case this time, the budget is a big one.So what did the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Resolution Foundation make of this year’s budget?Well, as you’d probably expect, they both fell short of distilling it into a single soundbite, but in broad terms, they both sounded somewhat positive. Money latest: Budget blow to holidays Yes, there…

An NHS screening programme for prostate cancer could come one step closer if it’s backed today by a key committee that advises the government.The National Screening Committee, comprised of doctors and economists, will reveal whether it now believes the benefits of screening outweigh any risks, and whether testing could be done at a reasonable cost to the NHS. When it last looked at the evidence in 2020, it rejected calls for screening, even though prostate cancer kills 12,000 men a year.But in recent months, there has been growing pressure for screening from high-profile public figures such as Olympian Sir Chris…

Prince William wasn’t close to being born when Fawlty Towers first aired – but now even his children have fallen in love with it.The Prince of Wales, 43, revealed his kids’ love of the classic British sitcom – which first aired in 1975 – during a conversation with star John Cleese. The pair shared a few words at the Tusk Conservation Awards at London’s Savoy Hotel on Wednesday night, which honoured those safeguarding the habitats and animals of Africa.William told Cleese they were having “a lot of family laughs” watching the show, and his children “love it”. Image: The Prince…