Author: SKYNEWS

Tube strikes will affect commuters over several days from 7 January as London Underground workers walk out over pay.A strike by Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) members is set to cause heavy disruption to Tube services until 12 January. Union members from various departments of London Underground will strike on different days, meaning there will be “little to no service” on strike days.The industrial action comes after RMT members voted against the latest pay offer of 5% at the end of last year.Transport for London (TfL) has urged passengers to only travel on the strike days if their journey…

I don’t go to many parties, but I was hardly going to turn down an invitation to one hosted by pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo.I know what you’re thinking… a “grown man” whose idea of cool is getting Lego for Christmas, hanging out with superfans of one of the hottest properties in music. Bad idea, right?Fortunately, this particular party didn’t even require me to leave the house, let alone dress up, have some drinks, and dance the night away with strangers.Instead, it’s the latest example of a music icon making their presence felt in the metaverse – an online space purists…

Two horror films and a video game featuring Mickey Mouse were announced just hours after Disney’s earliest versions of the cartoon character entered the public domain in the US.The copyright on Disney’s 1928 short film Steamboat Willie expired in the US on New Year’s Day, 95 years after it was released. It means the early versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse featured in the film – their first screen release – can be used without incurring a cost. Image: A poster for Steamboat Willie Pic: Snap/Shutterstock Mickey’s Mouse Trap, a slasher film that features imagery from Steamboat Willie, is expected…

A start-up which raised hundreds of millions of pounds to buy digital brands such as the children’s luggage manufacturer Trunki is itself exploring a sale.Sky News has learnt that Heroes, one of a breed of companies set up to acquire third-party Amazon Marketplace merchants, is working with bankers at Houlihan Lokey on options including an outright sale. Sources said on Wednesday that Heroes was working with its advisers to examine a range of options, and that it had approached a range of potential debt and equity investors.A sale of the company was not certain to be its shareholders’ preferred option,…

A teenager from Oklahoma appears to have become the first person to “beat” Tetris.Willie Gibson posted a video on YouTube which shows the moment when the classic video game crashes as he reaches level 157. The stunned 13-year-old gasps: “Oh my god … I’m going to pass out.””I can’t feel my fingers, I can’t feel my hands… I’m going to pass out,” Willie adds, as he tries to catch his breath. “I’m shaking so bad.”It took the teenager, who goes by the name blue scuti on YouTube, just 38 minutes to cause the game to crash – which has never…

Vanessa Feltz has been the subject of over 2,000 Ofcom complaints after her controversial comments on coeliac disease.The This Morning presenter came under fire after saying a caller’s mother-in-law not allowing them to bring their own food to a gluten-free Christmas dinner was “completely unreasonable”. During the episode of the ITV show on 18 December, the caller explained that their mother-in-law made the meal gluten-free to accommodate a guest who had coeliac disease.Feltz responded, saying: “So she’s treating coeliac disease as if it’s a potentially fatal peanut allergy and they can’t have anything with gluten in the house, which is…

Michelle Mone has hit out at the “obsession” with her personal life – claiming she is surprised the Daily Mirror hasn’t asked about her “bras and knickers” following their latest report.Baroness Mone, who had been a Tory before she had the whip removed, admitted she lied when she denied links to firm PPE Medpro – a group led by her husband Doug Barrowman – which won contracts worth more than £200m to supply gowns and face masks during the pandemic. She also conceded in an interview last month that she and her family stand to benefit from the £60m in…

British police are reportedly investigating the sexual abuse of a child’s avatar in the metaverse – prompting the NSPCC to warn that tech firms must do more to protect young users.Online abuse is linked with physical abuse in the real world and can have a devastating impact on victims, the charity’s campaigners said. The comments were made in response to a report published by Mail Online that officers are investigating a case in which a young girl’s digital persona was sexually attacked by a gang of adult men in an immersive video game.It is thought to be the first investigation…

Andrew Lloyd Webber said he once called a priest to his London home to help remove a poltergeist.The acclaimed composer, whose hit West End musicals include The Phantom Of The Opera, claimed the spirit would place theatre scripts in an “obscure room”. The spooky activity came to an end after a priest had visited the 19th-century property he owned in Belgravia, he said.In an interview with The Telegraph, Lord Lloyd Webber was discussing whether any of his theatres were haunted.The 75-year-old said he had never seen a ghost – but had witnessed some unusual activity at his home. He said:…

Price cuts to lure shoppers helped supermarkets rake in record revenues ahead of Christmas, according to industry data.Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks sales and prices among chains, said £13.7bn passed through tills or via websites over the four weeks to 24 December. It took average household grocery spending to an all-time high of £477 across the month, the report said, an increase of £28 on 2022.The research noted a 2% rise in sales volumes – a statistic that will be particularly welcomed by chains.It said that almost a third of all spending over the four-week period was made on items with…