Author: SKYNEWS

The director of The Brutalist has defended his lead actors’ performances after it emerged that artificial intelligence had been used to “refine” their Hungarian accents.Brady Corbet insisted that the performances of Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones were “completely their own”. Brody leads the three-hour film, playing Hungarian architect Laszlo Toth, a man trying to rebuild his life in the US following World War Two. Felicity Jones plays his wife, Erzsebet.The film won three Golden Globes earlier this month, and is expected to receive nods at the forthcoming Oscar nominations.In a statement, shared with Deadline, Corbet said: “Adrien and Felicity’s performances…

There has been a surge in the pace of wage growth but a rise in the jobless rate following a big drop in the number of payrolled employees, according to the latest official figures.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that both basic pay excluding bonuses, and average weekly earnings, rose at an annual rate of 5.6% in the three months to November. That was up from a rate of 5.2% reported the previous month.The ONS said the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3%.Money latest: Pound gets boost after Trump omission The employment figures were the first to take…

Dear White People star DeRon Horton says he was shot days before Christmas and is lucky not to have been killed or paralysed.The 32-year-old star shared photos of him being treated for his injuries in hospital, saying he had been shot at while he in a car. He said he was now out of the hospital and still “healing”.His co-star from The Last Days Of Ptolemy Grey, Samuel L Jackson, was among the celebrities posting to wish him well.Horton said in a message that he wanted to “give an honour to God for covering me and protecting me to make…

Donald Trump, who has long called climate change as a “hoax”, is to waste no time in his plans to strip nature protections, ban wind turbines and drain every last drop of oil from US soil.Some have likened him to a “wrecking ball” for climate action. But perhaps things won’t be as bad as they fear.Yes, he has vowed to stop new “windmills” – his disdaining term for wind turbines – from being built offshore “from day one”, despite it being among the cheapest energy sources in the US.And, yes, he wants to gut environmental rules, roll back Joe Biden’s…

TikTok has begun restoring service to the app in the US after Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order pausing its ban.A law signed by President Joe Biden last April required ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner by Sunday or face a ban. Some users reported that they lost access on Saturday night, and Americans opening the app on Sunday have been greeted with a message saying they “can’t use” TikTok “for now”.But in a post on Truth Social ahead of his inauguration, Mr Trump said he would issue an executive…

Director Claire van Kampen has died, aged 71, on the 65th birthday of her husband, Sir Mark Rylance. She died in the German town of Kassel on Saturday morning after being diagnosed with cancer. A statement, shared on behalf of Sir Mark and her daughter Juliet, described her as “one of the funniest and (most) inspiring women we have ever known”. It added: “We thank her for imbuing our lives with her magic, music, laughter, and love.”Ring the bell, sound the trumpets reverie, something is done, something is beginning. One of the great wise ones has passed.”Van Kampen was a…

Hotel pools on Greek islands could be filled with seawater this summer as politicians try to combat the country’s two-year drought.Proposed new laws debated in the Greek parliament this week could pave the way for pipes to be installed connecting swimming pools at coastal hotels with the sea. The aim is to save shrinking water reserves on many Greek islands and use the water in other areas facing shortages.Elena Rapti, a deputy minister of tourism, told a parliamentary committee on Monday the legislation “regulates the framework for carrying out seawater extraction and pumping it for swimming pools.”The focus, of course,…

TikTok users in the US are opening the app to find a message saying they “can’t use” the social media platform “for now” due to a law enacted in Washington.A ban on the app was due to take effect today after outgoing President Joe Biden signed a law last year requiring ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to divest TikTok on national security grounds or face a ban in one of its biggest markets. The app was no longer appearing on either Apple or Google’s app stores.”A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately that means you can’t…

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse videos, including AI-generated material.The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said it received an alert from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone was uploading 18 files of child sex abuse videos. Officers said a total of 134 videos of child sex abuse material was located and linked to the same account, which they said was owned and controlled by Bell, 49.Police served a search warrant at Bell’s home in California on Wednesday and said they recovered evidence related to the case and computer-generated…

I’m watching a black disc of wonder material hovering over a bubbling bath of liquid nitrogen.”This is superconducting magnetic levitation,” says magnet scientist Greg Brittles. “The closest you’ll get to magic in the real world.” And magical it is.The ceramic-like substance, called rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO), is suspended – half a centimetre-or-so – in mid-air above a strip of copper.Poke it with a finger and it won’t budge, give it a push and it will spin without wanting to stop. REBCO is what’s known as a superconductor. Materials that have near-zero electrical resistance. But most need to be cooled…