Author: SKYNEWS

One of Britain’s biggest estate agency groups is drawing up plans for an £800m sale amid speculation that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is plotting a fresh tax raid on homeowners in her autumn Budget.Sky News has learnt that LRG, which is owned by the American buyout firm Platinum Equity, is being groomed for an auction that would take place during the coming months. Bankers at Rothschild have been appointed by Platinum to oversee talks with potential bidders.Platinum acquired LRG, which owns brands including Acorn, Chancellors and Stirling Ackroyd, in January 2022.The estate agency group, which handles residential sales and lettings,…

The world’s first AI-generated government “minister” has been introduced to the Albanian parliament to a mixed reception.The so-called state minister for artificial intelligence, named Diella, appeared in front of parliament with a three-minute address delivered on two screens on Thursday, almost a week after Prime Minister Edi Rama revealed it would be part of his cabinet. Mr Rama said he was presenting Diella – the female form of the word for ‘sun’ in the Albanian language – as a symbol of his government’s push for transparency and innovation, assigning it the task of addressing corruption concerns.The avatar, which was depicted…

Penn & Teller have finally been inducted into the Magic Circle – after 50 years of being denied membership.Rock stars of magic, Penn & Teller found fame in the mid-1980s, earning them fans on both sides of the pond, but their habit of explaining their tricks to the audience also earned them magical disapproval. The duo were famously barred from the Magic Circle for exposing their tricks as part of their act, flying in the face of the organisation’s belief in keeping magical secrets from the public.Formed in 1905, the Magic Circle currently has around 1,750 members from around the…

Government borrowing last month was the highest in five years, official figures show, exacerbating the challenge facing Chancellor Rachel Reeves.Not since 2020, in the early days of the COVID pandemic with the furlough scheme ongoing, was the August borrowing figure so high, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Money blog: Borrowers warned of wider market risk Tax and national insurance receipts were “noticeably” higher than last year, but those rises were offset by higher spending on public services, benefits and interest payments on debt, the ONS said.It meant there was an £18bn gap between government spending…

MI6 is launching a new dark web portal to recruit spies for the UK.The secure messaging platform Silent Courier aims to boost national security by making it easier for the intelligence agency to recruit potential agents in Russia and around the world, the Foreign Office said. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “As the world changes, and the threats we’re facing multiply, we must ensure the UK is always one step ahead of our adversaries.” Image: Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Pic: PA Silent Courier is accessible from Friday and enables a secure avenue to submit sensitive information to the UK relating…

Sally Rooney says she could not come to the UK to pick up an award earlier this week because she can “no longer safely enter the UK without facing arrest”.The Irish author of hit novels including Normal People and Conversations With Friends recently pledged her royalties to proscribed group Palestine Action, meaning she is at risk of committing a terror offence under UK law. Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK on 5 July.The 34-year-old had won a Sky Arts Award, in the literature category, for her latest novel, Intermezzo, beating fellow writers Alan Hollinghurst and…

Octopus Energy Group has picked bankers to oversee the sale of a minority stake in Kraken Technologies, its multibillion pound software arm.Sky News has learnt that Octopus Energy – now Britain’s biggest household gas and electricity supplier – has engaged Goldman Sachs to handle the demerger of Kraken Technologies. The Wall Street bank will also orchestrate discussions with prospective investors about the disposal of a minority stake in Kraken, sources said on Thursday.Money blog: ESTA prices to go up – here’s how to beat the riseA deal could value Kraken in the region of $10bn, the sources added. The demerger…

Chimpanzees consume the equivalent of two human alcoholic drinks each day thanks to their fondness for ripe fruit, researchers have said.Wild chimpanzees regularly eat around 10% of their body weight in ripe fruit daily, and because the fruit often is undergoing natural fermentation – the process that turns sugar into alcohol – it means the apes are consuming the human equivalent of two cocktails daily. A team from the University of California, Berkeley, measured the alcohol content of the fermented ripe fruits consumed regularly by chimps at two sites – in Uganda and Ivory Coast. Image: A chimpanzee eating figs…

Bob Geldof has confirmed he will not be running for the Irish presidency – and says it’s partly because he’d “miss London”.Speaking to Sky News at the Sky Arts Awards on Tuesday night, the 73-year-old musician and aid campaigner said: “My kids are here, my missus is here, my homes are here. “I’d miss London. The band is here, I wouldn’t be able to play.”In Ireland, any Irish citizen over 35 can run for president – but to get on the ballot, a candidate must be nominated by 20 members of parliament or four local authorities.Geldof said: “I simply wouldn’t…

The investor which swooped on WH Smith’s high street business earlier this year is in pole position to snap up the British operations of Claire’s, the accessories retailer which collapsed last month.Sky News has learnt that Modella Capital has agreed the outline of a deal with Claire’s new US-based owner, private equity firm Ames Watson, which paves the way for it to buy the UK chain. Modella is said to have edged ahead of rival bidders in recent days including Touker Suleyman, the Dragons’ Den judge, and HMV-owner Doug Putman in recent days.Ames Watson is understood to have been seeking…