Author: SKYNEWS

The chief executive of Thames Water has refused to rule out bill increases of up to 40% for customers as the troubled company tries to secure its future.It comes as the business, which serves nearly a quarter of the UK’s population, struggles with more than £15bn of debt and the huge interest payments required to service it. Earlier on Thursday, its situation got worse when it was revealed that a £500m funding injection from shareholders expected by the end of this month would not be forthcoming.Analysis: Why nationalising Thames Water won’t workWhen asked by Sky News’ Ian King if bills…

New Earth-like planets could soon be discovered after scientists made a technological breakthrough.Physicists have developed an astrocomb that can analyse the blue-green light emitted by stars. Astrocombs can detect tiny variations in a star’s light created by orbiting exoplanets (those beyond our own solar system) – potentially revealing one similar to Earth.They have been mainly limited to the green-red part of the light spectrum, but the new system offers the chance to uncover even more space secrets.The breakthrough was made by physicists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and Cambridge University. “This is a really exciting development that will enable us…

Sean Combs – also known as P Diddy and Puff Daddy – has been embroiled in a string of serious allegations in recent months. The 54-year-old’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security Investigations agents on 25 March. But what exactly is he accused of – and what has he had to say about it?What are the allegations?The raids on the rapper’s properties were part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.According to Sky’s US partner network NBC News, three women and a man were interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan in relation…

Energy bills are projected to fall by less than expected this summer and autumn due to an increase in wholesale prices, according to a closely-watched forecast.The energy price cap projection in both quarters – July to September and October to December – has risen by around 7% since predictions made last month. This means the summer quarter prediction increases from £1,465 a year to £1,559 for the average user, research firm Cornwall Insight said.The October to December forecast has risen from £1,524 to £1,631.A marginal increase is expected in January next year, bringing the cap to £1,634 for a typical…

A “game changer” test could detect signs of motor neurone disease (MND) before symptoms appear, according to scientists.It can spot damaged cell proteins in samples of brain tissue – which are early indicators (biomarkers) of the disease. Motor neurone disease – also known as ALS – is an incurable condition that affects the brain and nerves and causes muscle weakness that gets worse over time.It can significantly shorten life expectancy and about 5,000 people in the UK are affected.The new test is known as TDP-43 aptamer and has been developed by experts from the University of Aberdeen. The university’s Dr…

Stephen Bear has been ordered to pay £22,305 over profits he made from a sex tape he posted of his former partner Georgia Harrison.The former Celebrity Big Brother winner was released from prison earlier this year having served 10-and-a-half months for posting on his OnlyFans page intimate footage of him and Harrison, a former The Only Way Is Essex star, without consent. Bear, 34, has now been ordered to pay the £22,305 that prosecutors said he earned from illegally sharing a sex tape during the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court. He faces nine months in prison…

More than £1m of unexplained transactions were transferred in to Post Office profit at the height of the Horizon scandal, leaked documents have showed.The papers seen by Sky News show a snapshot of transfers from a Post Office “miscellaneous client” suspense account over a four year period, up to 2014. A suspense account is where unexplained, or disputed, transactions remain until they are able to be “reconciled”.Unaccounted-for transactions were transferred out of the Post Office suspense account and into their Profit and Loss account after three years.Money latest: Further fall in energy bills expected in summer Ian Henderson, director of…

“Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!” wrote poet John Betjeman in 1937.The scruffy trading estate west of London may only have got uglier since. But it’s definitely not somewhere you’d want to obliterate. Slough is now Europe’s largest data hub and the second largest in the world.Nearly every foreign exchange transaction passes through a single data centre here.Others handle 95% of card purchases in the capital, not to mention the majority of data traffic on the global internet, from AI models to cat videos. And that demand is growing – by around 35% a year according to industry data.But…

Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan will receive a knighthood, documents published by the government show.His wife, movie producer Emma Thomas, is to receive a damehood. British filmmaker Nolan won a best director Oscar this month for his biopic Oppenheimer, which also won the prize for best picture and swept the awards season.He had previously been nominated for six Academy Awards.Born in London to a British father and American mother, Nolan read English at University College London, choosing the school because of its filmmaking facilities. It is also where he met his future wife, Thomas, with whom he has four children.Nolan and…

High margins for fuel retailers may mean drivers are still paying over the odds at the pump, according to the competition regulator.In a monitoring report, following its fuel market study of 2022, the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) said fuel margins – the difference between what retailers pay for their fuel and the price they sell it at – remained “concerning”. The watchdog previously found motorists were overcharged by £900m in 2022 due to supermarkets failing to pass on cuts from falling oil prices.In its latest update covering the end of October last year to the end of February, the…