Author: SKYNEWS

British astronaut Tim Peake hopes to take an all-British crew to the International Space Station (ISS), he has revealed to Sky’s FYI children’s news show.”Possibly as early as next year, we’re taking four astronauts back [to the ISS] to do lots of science and lots of education outreach,” he said. The 52-year-old became the first Briton to complete a spacewalk outside the ISS in 2016 and is one of only two astronauts Britain has ever sent to space.”We’re hoping to announce the whole crew in June this year,” he told FYI.Asked if he would be part of that mission, Major…

Taylor Swift’s music is reportedly back on TikTok just weeks after the social media app and her record label Universal Music publicly exchanged furious messages.Universal accused TikTok of bullying ahead of their agreement to license content on the video platform expiring on 31 January – while the social media firm dismissed the “false narrative and rhetoric”. After the deal expired, TikTok removed the music label’s songs from its platform and muted videos featuring those songs, written by anyone signed on to Universal.But the Financial Times reports Swift’s return to the Chinese short-video app had been in the works for some…

Financial markets are scaling back expectations about interest rate cuts in countries such as the UK this year.Many Western nations have imposed rate hikes in recent years as part of attempts to bring down soaring inflation – which has now started to ease. However, new figures in the US on Wednesday showed that inflation was stronger than expected in March – and the pace of price rises remains “sticky” in other nations too.Investors believe the Federal Reserve will now take longer to cut interest rates as a result of the latest data – and that other central banks could act…

Baldur’s Gate 3 was the big winner at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, taking home five prizes including the prestigious best game.It also won BAFTAs for music, narrative, and performer in a supporting role for Andrew Wincott, along with the EE players’ choice award, which is voted for by the public. The Dungeons and Dragons-based game faced strong competition from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2 and indie hit Dave the Diver. Image: (L-R) Sarah Baylus, Swen Vincke and David Walgrave who won the best game award for Baldur’s Gate 3 Alan Wake 2 won two BAFTAs for…

Caroline Flack’s mother has told Sky News that her daughter’s celebrity status is likely to have contributed towards the Metropolitan Police’s decision to charge the TV presenter with domestic abuse.Chris Flack has called for the Met Police to give its side of the story in the lead-up to her daughter’s death. It comes as the force announced it would reinvestigate the circumstances leading up to the decision to charge the TV presenter with assaulting her boyfriend.The 40-year-old former Love Island host died in February 2020, with a coroner saying she took her own life after discovering she was definitely going…

The drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZ) promised this morning to raise its annual dividend by 7% this year.The UK’s biggest company said the pledge underlined its confidence in its performance and cash generation and had taken into account other capital allocation priorities as well as previously announced acquisitions and business development. What is particularly interesting about the announcement, which has sent shares of AZ up by 2%, is its timing.Because it comes just hours before AZ’s annual general meeting, during which shareholders will vote on whether to raise pay for the company’s chief executive Sir Pascal Soriot.The vote comes at a time…

The owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram is going to introduce a new safety tool to stop children from receiving nude pictures – and discourage sending them.It follows months of criticism from police chiefs and children’s charities over Meta’s decision to encrypt chats on its Messenger app by default. The company argues that encryption protects privacy, but critics have said it makes it harder for the company to detect child abuse. Image: Pic: Meta The new nudity protection feature for Instagram direct messages will blur images detected as containing nudity, and prompt users to think before sending nude images.It will…

Former American footballer O.J. Simpson has died at the age of 76, according to reports.In a statement on X, his family said: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.”He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.”During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”Simpson was tried for murder in October 1995, in what was dubbed the “trial of the century”. He was found not guilty of murdering two people. Follow Sky News on WhatsApp Keep up with all the latest news from the UK…

Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge fund tycoon, is preparing to step down from the board of GB News’ parent company as he eyes a renewed bid to acquire The Daily Telegraph.Sky News has learnt that Sir Paul, the co-founder of Marshall Wace and largest shareholder in the television news channel, is expected to hand over his board seat at All Perspectives to Lord Agnew, chair of the UnHerd Ventures vehicle he bankrolls. A source close to Sir Paul insisted on Thursday that no decision had been taken and that it remained possible that he would ultimately remain on the All…

Sky Mobile is down for some customers, with people experiencing issues with 3G, 4G and 5G services.Users reported not being able to use the internet on their phones at around 9am on Thursday morning. One user on X wrote: “I have a phone that won’t work for anything if I turn off my WiFi and I need to leave for work soon.”Another said: “Is there something up with #skymobile… having issues this morning and don’t know why.”Downdetector, which measures outages, showed hundreds of people had reported issues. A total of 65% of those users reported problems accessing the internet, while 30%…