Twitter will finally remove “legacy” blue ticks from verified accounts on Thursday. Elon Musk announced earlier this month that 20 April was the final date for culling the checkmarks – almost three weeks after the original plan to do so on April Fool’s Day. The only blue ticks left will be those with a Twitter
Business
The government has made it its primary aim to halve inflation by the end of the year but things aren’t quite going to plan. Britain has shot up the leader board and now has western Europe’s highest rate of consumer price inflation. Economists were expecting the headline rate to fall from 10.4% to 9.8% in
Elon Musk has said he plans to create a “TruthGPT” to counter what he claims is liberal bias shown by a popular chatbot. The billionaire Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX owner told Fox News his alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT would be a “maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe”. Musk also
Google’s chief executive had admitted the potential dangers of AI development “keep me up at night”. Sundar Pichai said the technology “can be very harmful if deployed wrongly” and backed growing calls for regulation amid concern about its impact on jobs, privacy, and how information is shared online. “We don’t have all the answers there
China’s economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter of the year, according to its official figures, following the end of strict COVID curbs at the end of 2022. The country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported an annual expansion of 4.5% between January and March. Economists polled by the Reuters news agency
The pace of price rises in the US has eased faster than expected. The consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation fell to 5% in the 12 months to March, the lowest level in nearly two years and down from 6% in the year to February. The rate of inflation in the US is now
You can actually get more of a sense of the mood at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from looking not at their latest forecasts, but at the kind of vocabulary they’re using around them. Words like “ominous”, “perilous” and “significant vulnerabilities” rather sum it up. The IMF is getting very nervous about the state of
The world economy is entering a “perilous phase” of low economic growth and high financial risk, the International Monetary Fund has warned in its latest set of assessments. The IMF, which is holding its spring meetings in Washington this week, downgraded its outlook for global growth and said its medium term forecast for economic output
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin has reached a 10-month high following the worst banking turmoil since the 2008 global financial crash and is now worth more than $30,000. One Bitcoin was worth $30,438 in Asian trading on Tuesday, a high not seen since June last year – but still less than half the all-time high value of more
Atom Bank, the app-based lender, has picked advisers to secure a further £100m in capital in what is expected to be its final fundraising before an attempt to list its shares publicly. Sky News understands the Durham-based company is working with bankers at Jefferies on a share sale that will take place in the coming
The average house price continued to rise in March – but at a slower rate than the previous month, according to a closely-watched index. The Halifax House Price Index shows that average prices rose by 0.8% in March – following a 1.2% rise in February, with the typical UK property now costing £287,880. The annual
Nintendo will now fix faulty Joy-Con controllers for its Switch console for free after years of complaints. The Japanese gaming company has been criticised since shortly after the system launched in 2017 over a fault that saw its analogue sticks register movement when not being used. It was dubbed “Joy-Con drift” and can impact players
Full-size self-driving buses will hit the road next month in what is believed to be a world first. Stagecoach has announced the ground-breaking service over Scotland’s Forth Road Bridge will start on May 15. It will cover a 14-mile route between the Ferrytoll park and ride in Fife and the Edinburgh Park train and tram
One of Britain’s biggest online jewellery retailers has hired bankers to explore a sale after a string of unsolicited takeover approaches. Sky News understands that The Diamond Store, which was founded in 2006, has appointed finnCap Cavendish to oversee talks with prospective buyers. City sources said financial and strategic buyers were expected to look at
Tesla saw its sales rise by 36% in the first financial quarter, after two price cuts aimed at boosting demand. The electric car, SUV and heavy truck manufacturer said it delivered 422,875 vehicles worldwide between January and March – up from just over 310,000 a year ago. Over the same period it produced 440,808 vehicles
Tesla saw its sales rise by 36% in the first financial quarter, after two price cuts aimed at boosting demand. The electric car, SUV and heavy truck manufacturer said it delivered 422,875 vehicles worldwide between January and March – up from just over 310,000 a year ago. Over the same period it produced 44,808 vehicles
Oil prices are up almost 5% after Saudi Arabia and other major producers vowed to cut production. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was up 4.85% early on Monday to $83.77 per barrel after it was announced that production would be cut by 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the
Three energy suppliers have lost a High Court challenge over the government’s handling of the sale of rival Bulb. Bulb was placed in special administration in November 2021 and, almost a year later, Octopus Energy announced it had reached a deal to buy the firm and take on its 1.6 million customers. It was later
The grocery chain Planet Organic has put insolvency practitioners on standby as it races to find new backers in a bid to secure its future. Sky News has learnt that the company filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on Thursday – a move which provides it with breathing space from creditors as it
Ian King is joined by Steve Scrimshaw, vice president of Siemens Energy UK & Ireland, to discuss the government’s plans to drive what it hopes will be a revolution in the UK’s energy sector. The chief executive and co-founder of BrewDog James Watt speaks to Ian about an investment competition being launched. And Jeremy de