Author: SKYNEWS

The former home of music legend Freddie Mercury is up for sale – on the market for offers in excess of £30m.Garden Lodge in Kensington, west London, is set in a quiet enclave in the borough, and used to be described by Mercury as “his country house in central London”. Image: The house is in Kensington, west London. Pic: Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock Image: The citrus yellow dining room. Pic: Knight Frank Built in the Neo-Georgian style in 1907, features include a double-height dining room, a fully mirrored dressing room, a bar, library, and a Japanese-style garden with water features and a…

The investment firm which owns Waterstones has returned with a second offer for Currys, the electrical goods chain, amid investor hopes of a rare bidding war for a London-listed company.Sky News has learnt Elliott Advisors has tabled a marginally improved bid that insiders said was highly likely to be rebuffed by Currys’ board. City sources said on Tuesday that the revised proposal valued Currys at between 65p and 70p-a-share, compared with an initial 62p-a-share bid worth £700m.One shareholder in Currys questioned Elliott’s logic in submitting an offer of less than 70p after analysts and shareholders suggested that only a range…

The BBC has apologised to the family involved in the Huw Edwards scandal over the way it handled their complaint.The BBC faced accusations it did not respond quickly enough to complaints from the family of a young person, after it took seven weeks for allegations of inappropriate behaviour to be put to Edwards. Image: Pic: BBC Edwards, who was the BBC’s highest-earning newsreader, was accused of paying a teenager thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos.In July 2023 the BBC commissioned a review of its non-editorial complaints policies and processes, which promised to “assess how some complaints are red-flagged up…

Jeremy Hunt has held talks with the boss of Shein, the Chinese-founded fast fashion giant, in a bid to persuade the company to commit to what would be one of London’s biggest-ever corporate flotations.Sky News can exclusively reveal the chancellor met Donald Tang, Shein’s executive chairman, this month as part of British regulators’ and government officials’ efforts to convince it to list in the UK. Insiders confirmed the two men had held “productive” discussions about a London initial public offering amid signs its initial target of a New York flotation is faltering.Sky News revealed Shein’s deliberations over a London listing…

Music fans attending Niall Horan’s gig at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow this week are being warned by venue bosses not to camp out ahead of the show.Those planning to head to the former One Direction star’s gig on Wednesday are being reminded that queuing and camping overnight at The SEC (Scottish Event Campus) is not permitted. The SEC includes the OVO Hydro, SEC Armadillo and SEC Centre.It comes after fans of The 1975 braved freezing temperatures earlier this month to camp out for two nights in an attempt to secure a spot at the front of the stage.Camping out…

Southern rail and Thameslink services suffered a “major signalling fault” – meaning some commuters are facing train delays and cancellations this morning. At around 4am on Monday, both Southern rail and Thameslink warned their customers they had suffered a “major signalling fault” on their networks and “no trains” would be running until further notice. Passengers were warned “do not travel”.By 7am, some services had resumed – however, Gatwick Express trains are not running, and all services between Littlehampton and London Victoria have been cancelled.The disruption is expected to last until 3pm. Reduced services are operating between Three Bridges and Brighton,…

Scientists have discovered one of the world’s smallest fish is capable of making sounds registering more than 140 decibels – which is louder than a pneumatic drill.The translucent Danionella cerebrum is just 12mm-long and has the smallest known brain of any vertebrae. The sound was first noticed by scientists studying the species in Berlin, Germany, who could hear sounds as they walked past the fish tanks.Researchers then set up high-speed cameras on a tank containing the fish to work out exactly what was going on. Image: Noises from the Danionella cerebrum could be heard by scientists walking past the fish…

The UK will “miss out” on economic growth unless it finally comes up with an industrial strategy to green the economy, the leading business group has warned.As the UK economy has stagnated in recent years, the value of green industries like renewables, eco-friendly heating and energy storage is growing and will help unlock further cash for the UK, according to economists at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). They found that while Britain’s GDP growth was stuck at around 0.1% last year, its net zero economy grew by 9%, and attracted billions of pounds in private investment.It argues private investment…

The Odysseus probe will cut short its mission on the moon today, with engineers expecting to lose contact with the lander this morning.The craft touched down on the surface last week in a “nail-biting” descent that saw the first ever privately owned lander reach the moon and the first from the US since 1972. Odysseus was meant to last between a week and 10 days, but is now set to wind down five days after landing on its side on the moon and it remains to be seen how much scientific data might be lost.Intuitive Machines – which launched the…

A music producer has accused Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to sleep with sex workersThe suit, filed in New York, accuses the music mogul of repeated instances of unwanted groping and sexual touching. It also says the music producer was forced to work in a bathroom while Combs showered and wandered around in the nude.Combs’ lawyer, Shawn Holley, labelled the events described in the lawsuit “pure fiction”.”We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies,” he said. “We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who…