Author: SKYNEWS

Banksy prints, handwritten notes, a pair of trainers – and even a collection of “burner phones” – are among scores of items set to be auctioned from “the most definitive archive” of his early work.Steve Lazarides, the anonymous street artist’s former agent and photographer, is auctioning artwork and other mementos amassed over more than 10 years of collaboration from the late 1990s. He has held on to his collection since he and Banksy parted ways, but told Sky News it is now time “to move on”. The sale is estimated to make $2m (about £1.54m).Julien’s, in California, will host the…

Boeing staff have rejected the latest 35% pay rise, committing to further strikes as the company faces massive losses and delivery delays. As many as 33,000 workers at Boeing plants in Washington state, Oregon and California have rejected a proposal to increase wages by just over a third over four years as their union said “after 10 years of sacrifices we still have ground to make up”. Just hours earlier the plane maker published results showing whopper losses of $6bn (£4.6bn) for just three months in part due to the industrial action as it deals with the fallout of a…

As new laws go, the Data Use and Access Bill sounds like one of the most boring imaginable. But don’t nod off just yet…The revamp of data laws, claims the government, has the potential to boost the economy, benefit patients, police and parents – even help reduce disruption from road repairs. But done wrong, privacy and digital rights campaigners warn it could open the door to the state or shady big-tech firms using our data for their benefit not ours.Streamlining the use of and access to data could generate £10bn of economic benefit, the government says.In the NHS for example,…

Liam Payne’s girlfriend has said they planned to get married next year in a statement a week after his death. The former One Direction star died in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from a third-floor balcony at the Casa Sur hotel. Kate Cassidy, who had been in Argentina with Payne, 31, until two days before his death, wrote on Instagram: “A few weeks ago, we sat outside on a beautiful evening manifesting our lives together.”I keep your note close, even though you told me not to look at it. It said ‘me and Kate to marry within a year/engaged &…

A healthcare software company which helps medical professionals manage patient data has clinched a £10m-plus funding boost from a string of prominent technology investors.Sky News understands that Semble, formerly known as Heydoc, is close to announcing its largest funding round to date. Octopus Ventures and Mercia are backing Semble for the first time, while Smedvig Capital and Triple Point Ventures, both of which are existing investors, are also participating in the round, according to insiders.Launched in 2018, the company provides software to medical practitioners to help them overcome the administrative challenges posed by legacy technology systems.One source said that Semble…

A new pioneering Alzheimer’s drug has been rejected for widespread use in the NHS in England.The announcement comes as the UK’s medicines regulator said that donanemab could be licenced for use in the UK. However the health spending watchdog, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), said that it “does not currently demonstrate value for the NHS”.It is the second time a new Alzheimer’s treatment has been rejected by NICE in a matter of months.Manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, donanemab is a targeted antibody drug that slows down the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Along with another new…

A new interactive space – offering visitors hands-on access to over half a million creative objects – will open in east London next spring.V&A East Storehouse will open its doors on 31 May 2025, and will offer items spanning 5,000 years of history – from costumes belonging to Sir Elton John and the Sex Pistols, to Roman frescos and Mid-Century furniture, through to the journey of the iPhone and vintage football shirts. Image: The David Bowie Centre opens on 13 September 2025. Pic: Victoria And Albert Museum The vast warehouse space sits across four levels, and at 16,000 square meters…

Water companies across England and Wales are asking for bills to be made even higher than they first requested, with one company seeking an 84% hike.The biggest water company in the UK, Thames Water, is now looking for bills to rise 53% and cost £667 a year by 2029/30, according to figures published by water regulator Ofwat. It would make them the most expensive water bills in the country.The biggest rise – 84% – is sought by Southern Water.Of all eleven English and Welsh water and wastewater firms only one utility, Wessex Water, is not seeking even higher bills than…

A meteorite four times the size of Mount Everest may have helped life to thrive after it smashed into Earth, research suggests.The S2 meteorite crashed into our planet around 3.26 billion years ago and such impacts are usually considered disastrous for life. But experts suggest the conditions caused by the impact of the space rock, which had a diameter of 37-58km, might have caused certain life forms to bloom.”We think of impact events as being disastrous for life,” said Nadja Drabon, an early-Earth geologist and assistant professor in the department of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of Harvard…

Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing new sexual assault and rape accusations, including one that involves a 13-year-old girl.Five new civil lawsuits, obtained by Sky News’s US partner NBC News, were filed on Sunday in the Southern District of New York by Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee. They include allegations the rapper, known as P Diddy, sexually assaulted or raped the claimants in separate incidents from 2000 to 2022.Two of the anonymous accusers are men and three are women, including one who alleged Combs raped her when she was 13 years old, according to the suits.Combs, 54, is also accused of drugging…