Author: SKYNEWS

Professor Sir Roy Calne, a pioneering surgeon who led Europe’s first liver transplant operation in 1968, has died at the age of 93.Sir Roy died in Cambridge late on Saturday evening, his family said. The surgeon led the landmark transplant operation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, on 2 May 1968.In 1978, he became the first doctor to use an immunosuppressant, which was found to be effective in reducing organ rejection.Immunosuppressants remain an important part of life for modern transplant patients, who take the drugs for the rest of their lives to ensure donated organs are not rejected. Nine years later, he…

Gill Catchpole, the wife of singer James Morrison, has died. Ms Catchpole, who had two daughters aged 15 and five with the singer, was found dead in her home in Whitminster, Gloucester, on Friday.In a statement, Gloucestershire Constabulary said: “Police were called to Whitminster in Gloucester at around 9.10am on Friday 5 January following concerns for the welfare of a resident.”Officers attended and the body of a woman in her 40s was found within an address.”The death is being treated as non-suspicious at this time.”The coroners and woman’s next of kin have been informed.”The couple were together for around two decades,…

Apple has reportedly started making payments to US owners of certain iPhone models over claims handsets are slowed down.Complainants are due about $92 (£72) for each affected model owned as part of a maximum $500m (£394m) total payout. The sum only applies to owners in the US and covers the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus and SE if they ran iOS 10.2.1 or later before 21 December 2017 – along with iPhone 7 or 7 Plus on iOS 11.2. It comes as UK owners await developments in a similar case against Apple that was given the go-ahead in…

A private lunar lander which launched from the US this morning has suffered an “anomaly” – with experts trying to resolve the issue.Peregrine Mission 1 – which took off on a new Vulcan rocket at 7.18am UK time – aimed to become the first US spacecraft due to land on the moon’s surface since Apollo 17 in 1972 and appeared to lift off into space as planned. American company Astrobotic, in control of the launch, said Peregrine “successfully” separated from the rocket but an “anomaly” has since occurred which prevents it from “achieving a stable sun-pointing orientation”.That suggests its solar…

Controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate will regain access to his supercars, properties and designer watches after a court overturned a decision to seize his assets.Tate and his brother Tristan are facing rape and human trafficking charges in Romania, where they live, and had previously been in jail and later under house arrest since they were detained in December 2022. In January 2023, prosecutors said they had seized 15 luxury vehicles and more than 10 properties and homes belonging to the suspects to prevent the assets from being sold or hidden.Fourteen designers watches, two ingots – blocks of usually precious…

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has reported another year of record sales, bolstered by a recovery in China and the launch of its new all-electric Spectre model.The Goodwood-based firm, which is owned by BMW, said 6,032 vehicles were delivered to customers in 2023 – a slight uptick on the previous 12 months. The performance was driven, the company said, by demand for its existing Cullinan, Ghost and Phantom marques, with buyers all securing a degree of individuality for their cars under its growing Bespoke programme.A burgeoning Coachbuild operation also allows for the customer to be involved in every stage of the design…

A new era of commercial missions to the moon is due to lift off today as NASA gambles on a ride on an untested private lunar lander – alongside human remains and a marketing stunt by a sports drink manufacturer.Peregrine Mission-1 will be the first US spacecraft with the aim of landing on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. But the robotic lander, which is the size of a garden shed, will be under the control of the American company Astrobotic.NASA has paid the start-up just $108m (£85m) for five scientific instruments to be carried to the moon, a…

The Sky News Breakfast programme has a fresh new look and will start earlier from Monday 15 January.Live from 6am every weekday presenter Gareth Barlow will be joined by political correspondent Mhari Aurora with news from around the world and Westminster. They will stay in the studio for Breakfast with Kay Burley from 7am-10am while Burley conducts the morning’s biggest interviews.Wilfred Frost will also join Sky News Breakfast with previews of the day’s news agenda live from the main newsroom.The Breakfast team will join Anna Jones for Breakfast every Friday-Sunday, while Jacquie Beltrao will deliver the sports headlines every weekend.…

Dramatic footage shows the moments after a window and chunk of fuselage blew out of a passenger plane in mid-air, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the Boeing 737-9 MAX. One Alaska Airlines passenger on the affected flight said a boy and his mother were sitting in the same row as the damage and the boy’s shirt was torn off him and sucked out of the plane. While only minor injuries were reported, the situation could have been “very dangerous,” according to David Learmount, consulting editor at Flightglobal. “If there were people near it who were not wearing the…

New images have revealed Neptune and Uranus look more like each other than was previously thought.Many people will think of Neptune as being a rich blue colour, and Uranus more green. However, Professor Patrick Irwin from the University of Oxford and his team found that the two ice giants, the most distant planets in our solar system, are a similar shade of greenish blue.Experts suggest the idea that both planets were different colours arose because images of them captured in the 20th century – including by NASA’s Voyager 2 mission in the 1980s – recorded images in separate colours.The single-colour…