Author: SKYNEWS

It’s 13 December 2023. Excited reports of a “landmark” global climate agreement reverberate around the world from the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.At around 11am, weary diplomats with circles under their eyes from fierce, all-night negotiations cheer, cry and hug. The US’s climate envoy John Kerry throws his arms around German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. There’s a round of applause for Tina Stege, a fierce representative from the Marshall Islands who had fought among the hardest for the pledge.They and more than 190 other countries have just agreed to “transition away from fossil fuels” – the culmination of a fraught…

Margot Robbie has reportedly given birth to her first child.The Australian actress has welcomed a baby boy with her husband, British actor and film producer Tom Ackerley, according to People magazine. The couple have not publicly announced the arrival or revealed the baby’s name.The 34-year-old actress went into labour two weeks ago, shortly before her due date, according to the Mail On Sunday. Image: (L-R) Tom Ackerley, film producer Bronte Payne, Robbie and Josey McNamara. Pic: Reuters Robbie’s pregnancy became public in July, when the couple were pictured on holiday in Italy, followed by several red carpet appearances. Robbie and…

Restaurant chain TGI Fridays has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.The bankruptcy protection filing was made by TGI Fridays Inc, a Dallas-based American arm of the casual dining brand, which operates 39 restaurants in the US. It comes after the company faced financial challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after a deal for it to be sold to its UK arm collapsed.The firm has said its 39 branches would stay open after it secured a financing commitment to support operations.In its filing with the US bankruptcy court for the Northern District of Texas, TGI Fridays Inc listed both…

Scottish comedian Janey Godley has died a month after she moved to a hospice for end-of-life care, her agent has said. The 63-year-old, who found viral fame with her dubbed imitations of Nicola Sturgeon’s COVID-19 news briefings during the pandemic, had announced last month that she was receiving end-of-life care for terminal cancer. “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our client Doctor Janey Godley on 2nd November,” her agent said on Saturday.”Janey died peacefully in the wonderful Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow surrounded by her loved ones. She will be hugely missed…

The NHS has begun trialling a new iPhone adapter which can check whether someone has throat cancer.It is hoped the device will allow thousands of patients to be given the all-clear from the disease within hours – rather than days or weeks – as well as helping to detect cases early. People suspected of having throat cancer are usually given an endoscopy, which involves a long, thin tube with a camera inside being passed through their mouth or nose to look inside their body.The endoscope-i adapter, which can be attached to one of Apple’s smart phones, includes a 32mm lens…

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has called the UK’s current assisted dying law “psychopathic” after his terminally ill ex-wife travelled to Dignitas in Switzerland to die alone.The 60-year-old supported former music industry and charity sector worker Paola Marra – who he married in the 1990s – as she battled breast and bowel cancer before she flew alone to Zurich in March following a terminal diagnosis. She made the decision because the “pain and suffering can become unbearable”, she said in a film released after her death at the age of 53 called The Last Request. Please use Chrome browser for a…

The cost of government borrowing has jumped, while UK stocks and the pound are up, as markets digest the news of billions in borrowing and tax rises announced in the budget.While there was no panic, there had been concern about the scale of borrowing and changes to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules. At the market open on Friday, the interest rate on government borrowing stood at 4.476% on its 10-year bonds – the benchmark for state borrowing costs.It’s down from the high of yesterday afternoon – 4.525% – but a solid upward tick.As the morning has worn on that high…

Climate change caused by humans fuelled all the ten deadliest weather events of the last two decades, analysis has found.The ferocious cyclones, heatwaves, drought and flooding, including in Europe, have killed more than 570,000 people. All were all made more intense and more likely in a hotter atmosphere, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group at Imperial College London said as it marked its 10th anniversary.Its research shows how scientists can detect the “fingerprint of climate change” in complex weather events – such as the recent deadly flooding in Spain.”Climate change isn’t a distant threat,” said Dr Friederike Otto, co-founder and…

GB News has been fined £100,000 for breaking impartiality rules over a programme featuring Rishi Sunak, Ofcom has said.The regulator announced in May that the show called People’s Forum: The Prime Minister was found to have broken broadcasting rules. In response, GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos said the fine was a “direct attack on free speech and journalism in the United Kingdom”.”We believe these sanctions are unnecessary, unfair and unlawful,” he added.The hour-long show, which aired on 12 February, saw members of the public put questions to the then-prime minister. However, Ofcom received 547 complaints about the programme. The…

Google has reportedly racked up a fine of more than two undecillion rubles – two followed by 36 zeros – after it removed state-run and pro-government accounts from YouTube.Put another way, an undecillion is a trillion times a trillion times a trillion. The fine is far greater than the world’s total GDP, estimated at $110 trillion by the International Monetary Fund.Google – which owns YouTube – has a current stock market value of $2.16 trillion, so probably won’t be stumping up the cash any time soon.The fine is also still growing due to non-payment and, if not paid within nine…