Author: SKYNEWS

Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, is not given to emotional outbursts or shooting from the hip.Being measured in your public comments is part of the job description for running a central bank, and Mr Bailey has stuck to it since succeeding Mark Carney in 2020. (To understand the constraints of the job, consider the transformation in the Canadian’s public persona since he swapped Threadneedle Street for his country’s premiership).Epstein files latest – Andrew’s photo claims undermined You need javascript enabled to view this content Enable javascript to share Share King heckled over Andrew and Epstein links So…

Anthropic, one of the biggest and most influential tech companies in the world, is launching a new model: Claude Opus 4.6.Until now, this would mostly be big news for techies, where Anthropic is admired as the maker of Claude Code, the code-writing AI tool which many engineers say is taking over their work entirely. All of a sudden, however, the impact of these tools is being felt more widely, after a seemingly small release from Anthropic shook some sections of the stock market.Earlier this week, Anthropic released a plug-in to their Claude chatbot, which added new tools for legal analysis.This…

US TV host Savannah Guthrie has pleaded for the return of her mother and said the family is “ready to talk” to her captor – but asked them to provide proof she is alive.In an emotional video message posted on social media, the NBC anchor, flanked by her siblings, said: “We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. “We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to…

A wealth platform which targets professionals whose finances are becoming increasingly complex is raising nearly £8m from a syndicate of investors.Sky News understands that Sidekick, which was founded in 2022, will announce on Friday that it has secured the backing in a Series A round led by Eos Ventures and the Development Bank of Wales. Sidekick is aimed at consumers whose financial needs have outgrown the services offered by entry-level investing apps but whose wealth is less than that demanded by full-service private banks.The company’s new funding round also includes participation from funders including Koro Capital, Seedcamp, MS&AD Ventures, TheVentureCity,…

The world’s second-largest economy and major electric car maker is to ban hidden door handles, a common feature on electric vehicles (EVs). China will ban hidden door handles from next year, making it the first country to do so. Instead, cars must have a mechanical release function for handles, except for car boots, according to details released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.Money blog: Gold set for biggest rise since 2008; Greggs taking on Costa and Starbucks with new productIt’s doing so to address safety concerns after EV accidents where electronic doors reportedly failed to operate and trapped…

Saturday Night Live has announced the comedians cast for the first UK incarnation of the hit late-night US series.They include Taskmaster stars Ania Magliano and Emma Sidi, Black Ops star Hammed Animashaun, and Ayoade Bamgboye, who was named best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards last year. Larry Dean, who has appeared on Live At The Apollo, and Celeste Dring, whose credits include This Country and Lazy Susan, also feature in the SNL UK cast of 11, along with Paddy Young (Everyone Else Burns and Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping) and “Instagram heartthrob” Al Nash.George Fouracres (Steve), Jack Shep…

Food and drink giant Nestle has recalled a further batch of its SMA baby formula due to concerns about the presence of a vomit-inducing toxin.It joins a list of more than 60 batches of SMA formula recalled last month due to the possible presence of cereulide, a heat-resistant toxin that can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps. The full recall covers several SMA products, ranging from powders and pre-mixed formula for newborns and toddlers.”We want parents and caregivers to know Nestle are updating their recall to include one more batch of infant formula,” investigators at the Food Standards Agency said…

The UK’s information watchdog will investigate reports that Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, has been used to generate sexual imagery of children.Grok was developed by Musk’s xAI in 2023, designed to be a “truth-seeking” assistant with a witty, rebellious personality. Integrated into X, formerly Twitter, it uses real-time data from the platform to generate text, images and code.But complaints have mounted that Grok was being used to generate sexual photos of real women and children, and now the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating. You need javascript enabled to view this content Enable javascript to share Share Grok: ‘The creators…

Investigators looking into the disappearance of US TV host Savannah Guthrie’s mother have found signs of forced entry at her Arizona home.Savannah Guthrie is a main co-anchor on Today, the morning show on NBC News, the US sister network of Sky News. A person familiar with the inquiry told the Associated Press that evidence in the home of Nancy Guthrie, 84, indicated that she had been kidnapped during the night.They said that several of Nancy Guthrie’s personal items, including her mobile phone, wallet and her car, had been left in her property.Investigators do not believe at this point that the…

Peter Jones, the entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den judge, is close to teeing off with the addition of American Golf, the retail chain, to his array of business interests.Sky News has learnt that Mr Jones is in advanced talks to buy American Golf from Endless, its long-standing private equity backer. Mr Jones, a keen golfer who is understood to play off a handicap of eight, has invested in a string of British companies, including the camera retailer Jessops, which he bought in 2013.His current portfolio includes Localised, an e-commerce platform for consumer brands, and Levi Roots, founder of the Reggae Reggae…