Author: SKYNEWS

Rishi Sunak dressed as a purple wizard and Sir Keir Starmer’s feeble punches in a gym.These are the images teenagers are sharing in school on TikTok – all being pushed out by party campaign teams to target the young. For our Bench Across Britain series, we took our people’s parliamentary bench to Cardinal Newman Catholic School in the Bedfordshire town of Luton, where we discovered young people are following this election closely online.”I’m getting some from the Conservative Party and some from Labour,” says 17-year-old Hope Campbell, a Year 12 pupil.She and other students quickly pull up a photoshopped image…

TV personality Katie Piper has been forced to withdraw from her morning show this weekend for “unexpected” medical reasons.Ms Piper, who suffered life-changing burns in an acid attack in 2008, announced on Saturday morning that ITV presenter Charlotte Hawkins would be filling in for her last minute. The former model-turned-activist said “all is well” and she should be back presenting Katie Piper’s Breakfast Show on ITV next weekend after recuperating.Her hour-long weekend morning show features celebrity guests and topical discussions. Read more:Harvey Weinstein appeals against LA rape convictionLast known movements of missing TV doctor Michael MosleyTaylor Swift in pictures: US…

One of Britain’s biggest cinema chains is in secret talks about a sale as part of a strategic review that could lead to a wholesale restructuring of its business.Sky News has learnt that Cineworld, whose parent company went through a series of insolvency processes last year, is working with advisers on a potential disposal of its UK operations. Cineworld, which trades from more than 100 sites in Britain and employs thousands of people, has begun contacting prospective bidders in recent days.Money blog: How to avoid adverts at cinemaAlixPartners, the restructuring adviser which handled the administration of Cineworld’s London-listed holding company…

Harvey Weinstein has appealed against his LA rape conviction, six weeks after his separate New York rape conviction was overturned.Lawyers for the 72-year-old disgraced film producer say he didn’t get a fair trial in the 2022 California case, where he was convicted of rape and sexual assault, which resulted in a 16-year jail sentence.He is requesting a new trial.Weinstein’s landmark 2020 New York conviction saw him handed a 23-year prison sentence and kickstarted a global #MeToo movement – but in April it was overturned by the state’s highest court.It was ruled that the hearing had been prejudiced by “egregious” improper…

The Netherlands has warned it may stop taking part in Eurovision after this year’s contestant was abruptly disqualified.Dutch broadcaster Avrotros has called for “structural problems” in the contest to be addressed, and may not make an entry until improvements are made. Joost Klein was kicked out of the competition after allegedly making verbal threats to a female production worker during last month’s event in Malmo. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:49 How did Eurovision 2024 unfold? Eurovision’s organisers are now investigating the incident, which marked the first time that an act had been disqualified after…

The search for missing TV doctor Michael Mosley has become a “race against time”, as rescuers shift focus to a snake-infested mountainous path amid soaring temperatures.CCTV images have emerged showing the 67-year-old at 2pm on Wednesday in the town of Pedi, half an hour after he left Saint Nikolas Beach on the Greek island of Symi. Having gone to the beach with his wife Clare and another couple, Mosley preferred to return on foot, according to Athens-based newspaper Kathimerini.Pedi is a small town in a bay around 1.2km from the beach.The CCTV images – captured by a restaurant – appear…

Administrators to The Body Shop are aiming to clinch a sale of the stricken cosmetics retailer by the end of the month, even as its former owner veers away from making an offer for it.Sky News has learnt that FRP Advisory, which was appointed to handle the chain’s insolvency in January, has asked for indicative bids by next Tuesday. Sources said FRP wanted to seal a sale of The Body Shop’s remaining British business before the end of June.Aurelius, the investment firm which took control of the retailer only weeks before administrators were called in, is not expected to submit…

Taylor Swift has kicked off the UK-leg of her tour in Edinburgh.The pop megastar put on a colourful show for her fans in Murrayfield Stadium on Friday. On the first of 15 stops in the UK, Swift wowed more than 70,000 fans with a show running over three hours.Catch up: Taylor Swift’s Murrayfield Stadium performance as it happenedFriday is the first of three shows in Scotland before she moves on to Liverpool and Cardiff, with two stretches in London.Fans sang along through the night as Swift moved through a grand tour of her 11 albums.Read more from Sky News:Netherlands may…

It is impossible to overstate the significance of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s acquittal by a San Francisco jury.Dr Lynch, the founder and former chief executive of Autonomy, was cleared on Thursday night of criminal charges that he fraudulently inflated the FTSE-100 software company’s revenues prior to its $11bn takeover in 2011 by Hewlett-Packard. Odds stacked against himVery few people in Dr Lynch’s position – a British businessman extradited to the United States to face federal trial – would have been brave enough to face trial and plead not guilty.The vast majority of defendants to US criminal charges tend to…

Checking our bodies for unusual lumps and bumps has become a normal way of looking after our health.But what about considering how our genes might predispose us to cancer or cognitive decline? Should we find out – even in cases where we are powerless to stop it?It’s been more than a decade since the so-called “Angelina Jolie effect”.In 2013, the actress announced she’d had a double mastectomy, having tested positive for faults in the BRCA1 gene, which gave her an 87% chance of developing breast cancer and a 50% chance of ovarian cancer. She later had her ovaries and fallopian…