Author: SKYNEWS

The Treasury is preparing to kick off a search for a new boss of Britain’s prudential financial watchdog – one of the world’s key banking regulatory jobs.Sky News has learnt that officials are drawing up plans to advertise for a chief executive to replace Sam Woods at the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) next year. A recruitment process is not expected to formally get under way until after the summer.It is likely to draw interest from senior regulatory figures from around the world, City sources said on Thursday.Mr Woods has served two terms in the post, and will step down at…

Cassie Ventura broke down in tears in court as she described her “personal shame” at taking part in “freak off” sex sessions for Sean Combs – and also accused him of raping her as their relationship came to an end.During her second day of testimony, the singer and model told jurors of several alleged violent incidents and said the hip-hop mogul, who was known as Puff Daddy and Diddy throughout his career, blackmailed her with compromising videos.At one point, the courtroom in Manhattan, New York, fell silent as sexually explicit images from “freak offs” were shown to jurors, but kept…

AIs are able to come to group decisions without human intervention and even persuade each other to change their minds, a new study has revealed.The study, carried out by scientists at City St George’s, University of London, was the first of its kind and ran experiments on groups of AI agents. The first experiment asked pairs of AIs to come up with a new name for something, a well-established experiment in human sociology studies.Those AI agents were able to come to a decision without human intervention.”This tells us that once we put these objects in the wild, they can develop…

The UK economy showed strong growth in the first three months of the year, according to official figures.Gross domestic product (GDP) – the standard measure of an economy’s value – grew 0.7% in the first quarter of 2025, the Office for National Statistics said. The rise is better than expected. An increase of just 0.6% was anticipated by economists polled by the Reuters news agency.Money blog: Reaction as UK economy grows more than expectedIt’s significantly better than the three months previous, in which a slight economic expansion of just 0.1% was reported for the final quarter of 2024. Read more:Burberry…

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s former girlfriend Cassie has told his sex-trafficking trial that “freak offs” with male escorts became like a job, as the music mogul allegedly abused and sexually exploited her for years.The musician and model, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, did not look at Combs as she took to the witness stand in court in Manhattan, New York.Over about six hours, the 38-year-old, who is eight months pregnant with her third child with husband Alex Fine, at times became emotional as she alleged she was degraded by her former partner during their 10-year on-off relationship.Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial:…

A government AI tool used to test public feeling on different issues is to be rolled out nationwide. The tool, called Consult, was first used by the Scottish government to understand public views on the regulation on non-surgical cosmetic procedures like Botox and fillers. It was able to produce results identical to those of human officials, according to the UK government, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations.It is claimed it could help save human workers from 75,000 days of manual analysis each year and around £20m in staffing.”No one should be wasting time on something AI…

A pub group founded by the ex-boss of Greene King is in advanced talks to buy a swathe of sites from his former employer in a £90m deal.Sky News has learnt that RedCat Pub Group, which was established by Rooney Anand during the Covid pandemic, is close to finalising the purchase of 39 pub-hotels from Greene King. Sources said a deal could be struck within days.RedCat, which is backed by the US investor Oaktree Capital Management, has had a mixed track record since it was founded in 2021.The company trades from roughly 100 sites, about a third of which operate…

Rapper Tory Lanez has said he was stabbed 14 times while serving his prison sentence for shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the foot. Lanez, 32, sustained “7 wounds to his back, 4 to his torso, 2 to the back of his head, and 1 to the left side of his face”, according to a post on his verified Instagram account. Canadian Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, was attacked at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi at 7.20am (3.20pm UK time) on Monday, according to a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.He was hospitalised following the…

Weight-loss jabs for obese children are effective and help prevent battles around mealtimes, researchers have claimed.Experts presented the findings at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga, Spain. They found that the drugs helped obese youngsters lose weight on top of a diet and lifestyle plan.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), however, is “unable to make a recommendation” about use of the jabs on teenagers because of a lack of evidence of their impacts.Weight-loss jabs, also known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, work by reducing food cravings but are known to cause nausea, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and vision…

A new government initiative is being launched with pension providers aimed at boosting investment in UK companies.Seventeen workplace pension providers will today sign up to a voluntary initiative called the Mansion House Accord, which ministers say could release £25bn directly into the UK economy by 2030. Those signing up must commit to allocating at least 10% of the funds they hold in what are known as defined contributions to private markets within the next five years, with at least 5% of the total allocated to the UK, assuming that there is a sufficient supply of suitable assets.It comes amid debate…