Author: SKYNEWS

For the first time since the pandemic a million cars were sold in the first half of a year, according to industry data.But the numbers are still well below the 2019 pre-pandemic year sales and demand from individual private buyers has collapsed amid a cost of living crisis, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show. Money latest – savers have a rare opportunityIn the first six months of 2024 – 1,006,763 new cars have been registered. While the sum is 6% higher than the previous year it’s still down 20.7% on 2019 registrations.The overall new car…

Forget the UK general election.The poll that financial markets will be watching most closely over the next few days is the second round parliamentary ‘run-off’ in France this Sunday. The French poll is unpredictable, to say the least.The first round of voting last week raised the prospect of a hung parliament and prompted a relief rally in French assets on Monday this week.Markets would prefer a hung parliament because Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN or National Rally) and the New Popular Front (NPF) – an alliance of the far-left France Unbowed, the Greens and the Socialists – both…

Pop star Paloma Faith is set to read a CBeebies bedtime story as part of a Glastonbury Festival special.The 42-year-old singer recorded her story at Worthy Farm, in Somerset, where she performed barefoot on the Pyramid Stage on Sunday, calling the experience “life-affirming and euphoric”. Image: Faith performing on the Pyramid Stage in Glastonbury. Pic: PA Faith is reading The Party Animals by Alex Willmore, and it will air on Thursday at 6.50pm.The story is about a group of cheeky monkeys who move into the forest and disturb the peace of the other animals with their all-night partying.It offers lessons…

An easyJet flight to Tenerife had to make a sudden U-turn and return to Gatwick due to a “technical issue”.The captain of flight EZY8033, which left the London airport at 7.26am and was due to arrive in Tenerife at 11.50am, decided to return to Gatwick “as a precaution”, easyJet said. Image: The Easyjet flight turning back after the emergency call. Pic: Flightradar The airline added: “The captain performed a routine landing in accordance with standard operating procedures and passengers have disembarked normally.”We are arranging for an alternative aircraft to operate the flight to Tenerife and would like to thank customers…

Vanessa Hudgens has given birth to her first child with husband Cole Tucker. The High School Musical actress, 35, revealed her pregnancy at the Oscars in March when she arrived in a bump-hugging black gown. Hudgens was spotted leaving a hospital in Santa Monica, California, on Wednesday.She was being pushed to a waiting car in a wheelchair as she cradled her newborn. Image: Vanessa Hudgens and Cole Tucker. Pic: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni On the same day, Hudgens had posted on Instagram wishing her husband a happy birthday as he turned 28. “Happy birthday to my slice of heaven,” she wrote. “You make…

David and Victoria Beckham have recreated their iconic throne wedding scene to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.The couple shared photos on Instagram, dressed in the matching purple ensembles they wore as their second outfit on the big day back in 1999. Image: Announcing their engagement in January 1998. Pic: Reuters They wrote: “Look what we found…”, with David adding in a second post, “Yep, still got it! Can’t believe it’s been 25 years and they still fit!”The former England footballer and Spice Girl married on 4 July 1999 in Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland, in front of an intimate audience of…

Cineworld is drawing up plans to axe dozens of British cinemas as part of a radical restructuring that would also include extensive rent cuts.Sky News has learnt that the company, which until last year was listed on the London Stock Exchange, is considering closing about a quarter of its roughly-100 British multiplexes. Cineworld also wants to renegotiate rent agreements at a further 50 sites, with the remaining 25 untouched by the restructuring.Sources said the proposals were expected to be formally outlined to creditors including landlords in the coming weeks.They added that the insolvency mechanism employed by the cinema operator was…

P Diddy – aka rap mogul Sean Combs – is reportedly being sued over another allegation of sexual assault and trafficking.A former porn actress has accused him of forcing her to have sex with a guest at a 2007 party, according to US media. Adria English alleges Combs also demanded she have sex with guests at other parties he held in New York and Florida.Her lawsuit was filed on Wednesday and alleges he threatened to wreck her career – and that of her boyfriend – if she didn’t agree.Combs faces multiple other sex lawsuits filed in the last year, and…

Tiny fragments of glass fibre widely used to make small boats around the world have been found in the marine food chain for the first time.Scientists at the universities of Portsmouth and Brighton found the glass shards, just a fraction of a millimetre long, in shellfish caught off the south coast of England. The needle-shaped fragments of fibreglass, or glass reinforced plastic, were so sharp that some had speared biological tissue.Professor Faye Couceiro, lead researcher and an expert in environmental pollution, told Sky News more research was urgently needed to understand the risk to people who consume oysters and mussels.”The…

Fraud groups take billions of dollars a year out of the music industry through fake streams, a streaming technology company has warned. At least 10% of all song streams are fraudulent, and this takes between $2bn and $3bn (£1.6bn and £2.4bn) out of the global music industry each year according to Beatdapp, the streaming fraud detection platform. Global streaming jumped by a third last year with 7.1 trillion song streams recorded in 2023, according to the latest figures published by Luminate, the music data provider.The revenue from streaming was $19.3bn in the same year, according to the International Federation of…