Author: SKYNEWS

The four members of ABBA have been given one of the most prestigious knighthoods in their native Sweden – which has not been handed out to anyone in almost 50 years.Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad received the Order of the Vasa in the capital Stockholm. They became “Commander of the First Class” of the order for “very outstanding efforts in Swedish and international music life”.The stars were given the knighthoods by King Carl XVI Gustaf in the gilded Vita Havet Assembly Rooms of the Royal Palace – in a ceremony aired live on Swedish media. Image:…

Life comes at you fast if you are the person responsible for maintaining the shareholder register at NatWest.Until last week, it was hoped that the bank would be at the centre of Jeremy Hunt’s plans to get millions more Britons investing in the stock market. Money latest: Income growth ‘worst in generations’The chancellor first said last year that he hoped a new generation of retail investors could “engage with public markets” by buying some or all of the government’s remaining shareholding in NatWest.With a nod to Margaret Thatcher’s successful privatisations in the late 1980s – which saw more than 10…

Nicki Minaj’s upcoming Amsterdam show has been cancelled, after she was arrested in the Dutch capital last Saturday for allegedly attempting to take “soft drugs” out of the country.The Trinidad-born rapper and singer was forced to cancel a gig in Manchester the same evening after she was detained in custody at Schiphol Airport for around six hours. After paying a fine of 350 euros (£300), she was allowed to fly to the UK.The 41-year-old star had performed at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome on 23 May and she was due to play at the same venue this Sunday, but concert promoter Mojo…

Labour is asking company bosses to sign a letter backing the party’s plan for a new Skills and Growth Levy, days after controversy erupted over its claim of widespread private sector support ahead of the general election.Sky News has seen a letter being circulated among executives which lambasts the existing Apprenticeship Levy, which it says “isn’t doing enough for our economy, for young people entering the job market or for adults needing to learn new skills”. It said that apprenticeship starts had fallen by a third since the Levy was introduced, and claimed that billions of pounds had been “lost,…

A personalised cancer vaccine jab that could help prevent the illness returning after surgery, has been given to a patient for the first time in what’s been called a “landmark moment” for people who have the disease.Elliot Pfebve, a bowel cancer patient, was referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for chemotherapy and to take part in the clinical trial after having a 30cm tumour removed from his large intestine. How do cancer vaccines work?Mr Pfebve, a 55-year-old father-of-four, discovered he had the illness during a routine health check with his GP. Image: Mr Pfebve (centre), with the team that…

Leaning out the open door of a helicopter, 75-year-old photographer Donn Delson shows no fear as he clicks away on his camera capturing the buildings below.Taking up aerial photography in his 60s, the LA-based entrepreneur has since sold nearly £1m worth of artwork since switching careers. Image: Donn Delson. Pic: Elizabeth Callaghan Delson has flown more than 300 hours in countries including Japan, the Netherlands, Hawaii and Israel but London, he tells Sky News, is his “favourite city”.Before photography, Delson founded the world’s fourth-largest entertainment merchandising company, working with stars including Rihanna, Billy Joel and Alanis Morisette. He sold the…

The housing market is showing signs of “resilience” with prices rising slightly, according to new figures from the UK’s largest building society.Nationwide said house prices were up 0.4% in May, compared to April. It said the average cost of a home was now £264,249 – with year-on-year prices also increasing by 1.3%.The figures represent a rebound in month-on-month prices, after they fell on Nationwide’s index by -0.4% in April and -0.2% in March.Other lenders have also reported modest falls in recent months. Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner, said: “The market appears to be showing signs of resilience in the face…

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will vow on Friday to “get working within months to build clean power across the United Kingdom” if his party wins the general election. At an event in Scotland – and joined by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar – the prime ministerial hopeful will reiterate his plans for Great British Energy, first announced at the party’s conference in 2022. Headquartered north of the border, the new, publicly owned company will generate homegrown green energy up and down the country, with the party claiming it will help to “turn the page” on the cost of living…

The establishment of Great British Energy is among the last remnants of the ‘green prosperity plan’ devised and championed by Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, three years ago.The former Labour leader’s vision was to spend £28bn per year in the first five years of an incoming Labour government on decarbonising the UK economy. However, as the current leader Sir Keir Starmer recognised, the issue was swiftly weaponised by the Conservatives because all the money – as Mr Miliband himself had made clear – would have been borrowed.More importantly, the plan did not…

Jeremy Renner is set to star in his first film since he was seriously injured in a snowplough accident.The 53-year-old American is the latest actor to join the cast of Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, more than a year after he suffered more than 30 broken bones in the accident. The Avengers star was injured on New Year’s Day in 2023 while trying to help his nephew free his pickup truck from the snow when the six-tonne plough began to roll down a hill, according to a police report. Image: Jeremy Renner after the accident…