Author: SKYNEWS

The Labour government was elected with a hefty green mandate to build out clean energy and tackle climate change.The endorsement/sanction is bolstered by the electoral success of the Green Party and Lib Dems – which both campaigned on green issues – and the failure of the Tories’ strategy to talk down climate action. This week the new Energy Secretary Ed Miliband committed to six priorities.Here’s why they are harder to achieve than they sound.Priority one: Boost energy independence and cut bills through clean power by 2030 Labour says it can get the UK off foreign fossil fuels, cut energy bills…

Alec Baldwin “played make believe with a real gun and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety” on the day of the fatal shooting on the set of his Western film Rust, a court has heard.Special prosecutor Erlinda Johnson made the statement as she opened the case against the Hollywood star in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Wednesday. But the defence team presented a different picture, saying cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ death was “an unspeakable tragedy” – but Baldwin “was an actor, acting” and “committed no crime”.During day one of the trial, jurors were also shown footage of medics desperately trying…

More compensation, possible refunds and new customer panels have been announced as part of the government’s “initial steps” towards ending what it describes as the crisis in the water sector. Steve Reed, the environment secretary, said he is to meet water bosses and communicate a tougher stance on customer performance and sewage leaks that have plagued the industry, in an announcement confirming Sky News reporting. Four reform announcementsA programme of reforms will be presented to the assembled firms:• Water companies will have to pay out more money more often. Compensation will be paid in expanded circumstances such as when boil…

Low-carbon energy sources are not growing sufficiently quickly to keep up with energy demand – but global demand for oil will peak next year.Those are two of the key points in BP’s 2024 energy outlook published today – which also forecasts that, while global demand for oil will fall until the middle of the century, it will continue to play a significant role in the global energy system for the next 10-15 years. Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist, said the world was still in a so-called ‘energy addition’ phase, in which countries were putting on more renewable energy capacity while…

Passengers are entitled to compensation for a flight cancelled due to airline staff illness, the UK’s highest court has ruled. “Tens of thousands” of claims made annually could potentially be affected, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday afternoon. The case was brought against British Airways (BA) by a couple whose flight was cancelled due to the pilot being sick and the fact no replacement was available.Money blog: Popular coffee brand issues price warningDoes it matter who is sick or when? BA had argued this was an “extraordinary circumstance” which was out of their control and could not be avoided -…

There are worse places to suffer a travel delay than on the International Space Station. At least astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams get to gaze at the planet rotating beneath them as they wait for engineers to work out what’s gone wrong with their spacecraft’s thrusters so they can fly home. In a news conference from the ISS, they certainly seemed to be having a good time, helping out with science experiments and maintenance – and taking photos of tropical storms.But for Boeing the technical glitches with the Starliner, on its first crewed test flight, are yet another embarrassment.The company…

Hollywood star George Clooney has called on Joe Biden to pull out of the race for a second term in the White House, stating he’s “not the Joe ‘big f***ing deal’ Biden of 2010”.Clooney, a lifelong Democrat, wrote a guest essay in the New York Times three weeks after he was in President Biden’s company at a fundraising event. On the night, questions were raised about the president’s health after his predecessor, Barack Obama, took his hand to exit the stage. Instagram This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this…

Actor Danny Dyer has said he suffered a “major panic attack” and forgot his lines while performing in a Harold Pinter play after a drug-fuelled night out.The EastEnders star said he “didn’t have a clue what to say” on stage while playing a waiter in the British playwright’s Celebration, on Broadway, in 2001. Dyer, 46, told the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast he had “smoked crack” the night before because it was his first time in New York and he was “very excited” and “took a lot of drugs out there”.The actor said: “I take it very seriously,…

The fossil of a herbivorous dinosaur, as big as an American male bison, has been discovered on the Isle of Wight. It is the most complete dinosaur skeleton discovered in the UK in a century, with 149 bones in total. The hefty dinosaur, now called Comptonatus chasei, roamed southern England around 125 million years ago and would have weighed as much as an African elephant.The isle of Wight only became separated from the mainland around 7,000 years ago.”It was likely to be a herding animal, so possibly large herds of these heavy dinosaurs may have been thundering around if spooked…

Sharon Stone has described how people “took advantage” of her financially while she was recovering from a near-fatal stroke.The Basic Instinct star suffered a stroke in 2001 that led to a nine-day brain bleed, which forced her to step away from Hollywood for seven years while she recovered. “People took advantage of me over that time,” the US actress told The Hollywood Reporter.”I had $18m (£14m) saved because of all my success, but when I got back into my bank account, it was all gone.”My refrigerator, my phone – everything was in other people’s names. “I had zero money.”The 66-year-old…