Author: SKYNEWS

Lord Cruddas, the former Conservative Party treasurer, is plotting a £40m raid on Winterflood, one of the City’s best-known broking franchises, as its parent reels from the crisis engulfing the motor finance sector.Sky News has learnt that CMC Markets, the online financial trading and investment group founded and run by Lord Cruddas, is among a number of parties which have held recent talks with Close Brothers Group about a possible acquisition of Winterflood. Close Brothers, which has set aside £165m for compensating customers who were mis-sold car loans, is said to be working with bankers at UBS on a potential…

Gossip Girl actress Michelle Trachtenberg died as a result of complications from diabetes, New York City’s medical examiner has said.The 39-year-old, who was also known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harriet the Spy, was found dead at her home in New York City after officers responded to a 911 call on 26 February. According to a source quoted by Sky News’ US partner network NBC, she had recently received a liver transplant.At the time of her death, officials said no foul play was suspected, and the medical examiner’s office had listed her death as “undetermined”. Trachtenberg’s family had objected…

Scientists have found what they are calling the strongest sign yet of possible life beyond our solar system after detecting the chemical footprint of gases in an alien planet’s atmosphere that on Earth are only produced by living organisms.Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists found traces of two gases – dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) – on a planet named K2-18 b. On Earth, those gases are generated primarily by living organisms including algae, suggesting K2-18 b could be teeming with microbial life.Researchers have stressed the findings are not an announcement of the discovery of actual living…

US stock markets suffered more significant losses on Wednesday, with stocks in leading AI chipmakers slumping after firms said new restrictions on exports to China would cost them billions.Nvidia fell 6.87% – and was at one point down 10% – after revealing it would now need a US government licence to sell its H20 chip. Rival chipmaker AMD slumped 7.35% after it predicted a $800m (£604m) charge due to its MI308 also needing a licence.Dutch firm ASML, which makes hardware essential to chip manufacturing, fell more than 5% after it missed order expectations and said US tariffs created uncertainty.The losses…

Body camera footage of Gene Hackman’s home has been released by authorities investigating the deaths of the actor and his wife.The video captured by Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office shows officers inside and outside the property in northern New Mexico, with a German shepherd barking at some points as they carry out their search. Image: Hackman and Arakawa pictured in 2003. Pic: AP/ Mark J Terrill The bodies of Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, were found in separate rooms of their home on 26 February.”He’s guarding her,” a male officer can be heard saying, about the dog…

The UK may be on track to see its worst year for wildfires, according to latest figures.Satellite data shows 2025 is already the second worst year on record by area burned and number of fires. It also reveals that in the last week there have been more blazes in the country compared with other parts of Europe experiencing similar weather conditions.As of Monday, there have been 115 blazes and an area of more than 95 square miles (24,890 hectares) – nearly the size of Edinburgh – has been scorched since 1 January, according to European Forest Fire Information System figures.Only 2019…

China’s economy performed better than expected in the first quarter of the year – but it reflects a moment in time before the explosive trade war with the US, which has seen the world’s two biggest economies effectively decouple.Economists had predicted that gross domestic product would grow by about 5.1% in January to March, compared with a year earlier. In the end, it grew 5.4%. But these impressive figures obscure the very serious challenges China’s economy is facing in the wake of Donald Tump’s trade war – and it is almost certain growth will not remain this strong as the…

Sean “Diddy” Combs has pleaded not guilty to additional charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, which were added to the indictment against him earlier in April.The new allegations take the total number of criminal charges against the rap mogul to five – following the three original counts, which also included racketeering conspiracy, filed in September.Combs, 55, has already pleaded not guilty to the original charges and strenuously denied all allegations against him.He appeared in court on Monday to enter his additional plea before US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan, New York. Image: Combs sketched at…

A sassy crew, a billionaire and a celebrity circus in the desert. Space missions don’t get any weirder.But this is the new world of Blue Origin and its publicity machine. It brought together six women – all at the top of their game – and dressed them in designer flight suits. One of them, singer Katy Perry, said they “put the ass into astronauts”. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:44 Katy Perry’s journey into space They launched in a rocket called New Shepard, rising to 65 miles above the Earth, where they unbuckled and floated.Perry…

The City financier Edi Truell has tabled a fresh proposal to buy De La Rue, the Bank of England’s currency printer, fuelling hopes of a broader bidding war for the 211-year-old company.Sky News has learnt that Mr Truell’s vehicle, Pension SuperFund Capital, wrote to the board of De La Rue on Monday night to indicate its willingness to offer 132.17p-a-share for De La Rue. If formally confirmed, that would trump a recommended 130p-a-share offer from private equity firm Atlas Holdings disclosed by Sky News and confirmed by the London-listed company in a statement on Tuesday morning.The Atlas bid values De…