According to The Sun, the man was detained last month over an incident that allegedly happened in 2024. He cannot be named for legal reasons. It is understood that the woman who made the complaint was not a contestant or professional dancer on the BBC programme. Hertfordshire Police has confirmed an arrest took place in London on 13 October, and he was later released on bail as an investigation continues. A BBC spokesperson said: "It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation." However, a source within the corporation told the newspaper that it is an "absolute nightmare" for the BBC and "a heartbreaking situation". They added: "Bosses have done their utmost to steady the ship and make the show as scandal-free as possible, and yet now this has happened. "The BBC is taking this very ­seriously and will absolutely offer support to all concerned." This arrest comes three months after another male Strictly star was also arrested on suspicion of rape. The man in his 30s, who has not been named, faces a separate alleged offence of "non-consensual intimate image abuse". Strictly Come Dancing - one of the BBC's biggest entertainment shows - has faced several controversies of late. Over the summer, an external law firm was fired to investigate claims that two of the programme's stars had taken cocaine. Last year, the BBC apologised to Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington, who had accused her dancing partner of verbal bullying and harassment. "Some, but not all" of the allegations were upheld against Giovanni Pernice. He has denied "threatening or abusive behaviour" - and claimed the complaints had been made to destroy his career. Read more from Sky News:The Stone Roses bassist Mani diesCan novels survive the AI revolution? Welsh opera singer Wynne Evans, who competed in 2024, also apologised for making an "inappropriate and unacceptable" remark to a woman during the show's live tour launch. Last month, Strictly presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman jointly announced they will be leaving the show at the conclusion of the current series - and passing on "the very sparkly baton" to new hosts.

Mani's brother, Greg, wrote in a post on Facebook: "It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the sad passing of my brother." "RIP RKID," he added. Formed in 1983, The Stone Roses were a mainstay of the "Madchester" scene. The bassist joined the band in 1987 and formed part of its classic line-up alongside singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren. He remained with the group until their split in 1996. Mani's death comes two years after that of his wife, Imelda Mounfield, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2020. The couple welcomed twin boys in 2012. The Stone Roses frontman Brown shared a tribute online, writing: "REST IN PEACE MANi X." Oasis singer Liam Gallagher said he was "in total shock and absolutely devastated", describing the bassist as "my hero" in a post on X. "RIP Mani - my heartfelt condolences to his twin boys and all of his family," wrote the Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder, whose bandmate Rowetta added: "Back with your Imelda, Mani. Going to miss you so much. All my love to the boys, the family & all those who knew & loved him." The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess shared a photo of himself with Mani, writing alongside it: "I shared this photo a week or so ago on Mani's birthday. "It never failed to bring a smile to my face - and that was exactly the same for the man himself. "One of the absolute best in every way - such a beautiful friend." Echo & the Bunnymen vocalist Ian McCulloch said Mani was someone "who I have always loved and always will love, deeply and forever. Like a brother". He continued: "I am in shock to be honest. Please tell me I'm just having a bad, bad dream. My thoughts and feelings and Mani. Love to all of his family from me." The "Madchester" bands were known for blending indie with acid house, psychedelia, and pop. Mani played on both The Stone Roses' eponymous debut album, released in 1989, and their 1995 follow-up, Second Coming. The first record, featuring tracks such as I Wanna Be Adored and I am the Resurrection was a huge success and later named the second greatest album of all time in a "Music of the Millennium" poll - losing out only to The Beatles' Sgt Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band. When The Stone Roses split in 1996, he joined Primal Scream and played with the Scottish outfit until 2011, when he left to rejoin the reuniting Roses.

Prince William and Kate made their first appearance at the event since her recovery from cancer. Wednesday's red carpet show at the Royal Albert Hall was headlined by the cast of Paddington The Musical. After arriving and being presented with posies by nine-year-old twins Emelia and Olivia Edwards, the family of staff at a care home for entertainment industry workers, Kate asked if they were fans of Paddington Bear. The princess, wearing a green velvet gown, then told the girls that her children were "very sad" not to attend the show and added she had to tell them children were not allowed to go. "My kiddies were very sad, we're going to have to keep it a big secret that I saw you guys," she said. "They were very sad not to be joining us." It is the sixth time William and Kate have attended the annual charity event. When Olivia told the prince, wearing a tuxedo, her favourite singer was Billie Eilish, he replied she had good taste. He said: "It's very nice to see you both. You're very smiley, you two." The royals were also greeted on the red carpet by ITV board members and representatives from the Royal Variety Charity, of which the King is the royal patron. The Paddington cast were set to take to the stage on Wednesday evening, while pop star Jessie J and Grammy award-winning singer Laufey were also expected to perform. Read more from Sky News:New record for wind-powered electricity in BritainWeather warnings for snow and ice updated Held annually, the Royal Variety Performance was first staged in 1912 for King George V and Queen Mary in support of the charity, which helps those working in the entertainment industry. Ahead of the show, its executive producer Giles Cooper said the charity was "thrilled" the prince and princess would "once again attend the Royal Variety Performance". Mr Cooper, also chairman of the charity, added: "This annual great British institution, viewed by a worldwide TV audience of over 150 million, continues to be a crucial fundraising event supporting people in all areas of performance, either on or off stage. "In this pressurised world of working in the entertainment industry, our mental health initiative, started in 2024, has been a lifeline for many who are experiencing issues such as anxiety, depression or addiction." On Tuesday, the princess called on businesses to value "time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success" in her first speech since she was diagnosed with cancer at the start of 2024. Speaking at the Future Workforce Summit, Kate told 80 business leaders: "Every one of you interacts with your own environment; a home, a family, a business, a workforce, a community. "These are the ecosystems that you yourselves help to weave. Imagine a world where each of these environments were built on valuing time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success. "As business leaders, you will face the daily challenge of finding the balance between profitability and having a positive impact. But the two are not, and should not be incompatible."

Prakazrel "Pras" Michel, who was part of 1990s hip-hop group The Fugees, was convicted of illegally funnelling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012. The Justice Department had accused the 53-year-old of accepting $120m (£92m) from Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, who wanted to gain political influence in the US. Prosecutors said Michel "lied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his actions" - and sought to deceive the White House, senior politicians and the FBI for almost a decade. In 2018, it is claimed he urged the Trump administration and the justice department to drop embezzlement investigations against Low. Michel was convicted of 10 counts by a federal jury in 2023 - and last month, he was ordered to forfeit about $65m (£50m) for his role in the scheme. Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio testified at the trial, and Low was a primary financier in his 2013 film The Wolf Of Wall Street. The Oscar-winning actor said the businessman's funding and legitimacy had been carefully vetted before they entered a partnership. Prosecutors had been seeking a life sentence to "reflect the breadth and depth of Michel's crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed". However, the rapper's lawyer Peter Zeidenberg has argued that the 14-year term is "completely disproportionate to the offence" - and is vowing to appeal. Last year, a judge rejected Michel's request for a new trial after claiming that one of his lawyers had used AI during closing arguments. Read more from Sky News:Strictly star 'arrested on suspicion of rape'The Stone Roses bassist Mani dies aged 63 Low Taek Jho has been accused of having a central role in the 1MDB scandal, amid claims billions of dollars were stolen from a Malaysian state fund. The 44-year-old is a fugitive but has maintained his innocence, with his lawyers writing: "Low's motivation for giving Michel money to donate was not so that he could achieve some policy objective. "Instead, Low simply wanted to obtain a photograph with himself and then President Obama." Michel, who was born in Brooklyn, was a founding member of The Fugees with childhood friends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean - selling tens of millions of records.

Half (51%) fear that they will be replaced by AI entirely, according to a new survey, even though for the most part they don't use the technology themselves. More immediately, 85% say they think their future income will be negatively impacted by AI, and 39% claim their finances have already taken a hit. Tracy Chevalier, the bestselling author of Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Glassmaker, shares that concern. "I worry that a book industry driven mainly by profit will be tempted to use AI more and more to generate books," she said in response to the survey. "If it is cheaper to produce novels using AI (no advance or royalties to pay to authors, quicker production, retainment of copyright), publishers will almost inevitably choose to publish them. "And if they are priced cheaper than 'human made' books, readers are likely to buy them, the way we buy machine-made jumpers rather than the more expensive hand-knitted ones." Why authors are so worried The University of Cambridge's Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy asked 258 published novelists and 74 industry insiders how AI is viewed and used in the world of British fiction. Alongside existential fears about the wholesale replacement of the novel, many authors reported a loss of income from AI, which they attributed to "competition from AI-generated books and the loss of jobs which provide supplementary streams of income, such as copywriting". Some respondents reported finding "rip-off AI-generated imitations" of their own books, as well books "written under their name which they haven't produced". Last year, the Authors Guild warned that "the growing access to AI is driving a new surge of low-quality sham 'books' on Amazon", which has limited the number of publications per day on its Kindle self-publishing platform to combat the influx of AI-generated books. The median income for a novelist is currently £7,000 and many make ends meet by doing related work, such as audiobook narration, copywriting or ghost-writing. Read more: The author embracing AI to help write novels These tasks, authors feared, were already being supplanted by AI, although little evidence was provided for this claim, which was not possible to verify independently. Copyright was also a big concern, with 59% of novelists reporting that they knew their work had been used to train AI models. Of these, 99% said they did not give permission and 100% said they were not remunerated for this use. Earlier this year, AI firm Anthropic agreed to pay authors $1.5bn (£1.2bn) to settle a lawsuit which claimed the company stole their work. The judge in the US court case ruled that Anthropic had downloaded more than seven million digital copies of books it "knew had been pirated" and ordered the firm to pay authors compensation. However, the judge sided with Anthropic over the question of copyright, saying that the AI model was doing something akin to when a human reads a book to inspire new work, rather than simply copying. Read more from Sky News:Scientists sound alarm over ultra-processed foods'What is it really like being a British journalist in Moscow?' Most novelists - 67% - never used it for creative work, although a few said they found it very useful for speeding up drafting or editing. One case study featured in the report is Lizbeth Crawford, a novelist in multiple genres, including fantasy and romance. She describes working with AI as a writing partner, using it to spot plot holes and trim adjectives. "Lizbeth used to write about one novel per year, but now she can do three per year, and her target is five," notes the author of the report, Dr Clementine Collett. Is there a role for government? Despite this, the report's foreword urges the government to slow down the spread of AI by strengthening copyright law to protect authors and other creatives. The government has proposed making an exception to UK copyright law for "text and data mining", which might make authors and other copyright holders opt out to stop their work being used to train AI models. "That approach prioritises access to data for the world's technology companies at the cost to the UK's own creative industries," writes Professor Gina Neff, executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy. "It is both bad economics and a betrayal of the very cultural assets of British soft power." A government spokesperson said: "Throughout this process we have, and always will, put the interests of the UK's citizens and businesses first. "We've always been clear on the need to work with both the creative industries and AI sector to drive AI innovation and ensure robust protections for creators. "We are bringing together both British and global companies, alongside voices beyond the AI and creative sectors, to ensure we can capture the broadest possible range of expert views as we consider next steps."