Author: SKYNEWS

The board of Thames Water was locked in crunch talks on Wednesday as shareholders prepare to dilute a pledge to inject funds into the company that would secure its survival.Sky News has learnt that the directors of Britain’s biggest water company met to discuss its financial future after months of talks involving debt and equity investors, lenders, regulators and government officials. One industry source said that Thames Water’s shareholders, who include the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and China’s sovereign wealth fund, were poised to conclude that they were unable to contribute hundreds of millions of pounds of promised funding after…

Anne Hathaway says she insisted on being called by her character’s name in her latest project in order to protect herself from her “worst fear”.The Oscar winner stars alongside Jessica Chastain in the thriller Mothers’ Instinct which follows the lives of two 1960s housewives whose lives and friendships are destroyed after a tragic event. Image: (L-R) Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Pic: StudioCanal “It was one of those jobs you really, really didn’t want to take home with you,” Hathaway told Sky News.An adaptation of the 2018 French film of the same name, Mothers’ Instinct is the directorial debut of filmmaker…

The competition regulator has urged UK fashion businesses to give accurate information about how environmentally friendly their clothes are after three fast-fashion firms signed a new agreement.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had initiated an investigation into Boohoo, ASOS and George by Asda over concerns about the way products were marketed as eco-friendly. Its initial review of the fashion sector had identified concerns of possible greenwashing – making items appear environmentally friendly when they are not.Money latest – Eight things that are going up in price next weekWhat’s changed? But the firms have pledged to provide clear, prominent and transparent…

US gaming streamer Ninja has revealed he has been diagnosed with cancer.Tyler Bevins, who goes by the name Ninja, shot to fame playing the video game Fortnite for the millions of viewers who watch his streams. Known for his dyed blue hair, he is one of the highest paid and best known personalities among the world of video game streaming on platforms like Twitch and YouTube.But the 32-year-old recently took to social media to tell his 19 million followers that a mole removed from his foot was found to be cancerous.He’s now urging others to get regular check ups as…

Insurance companies have been told they must offer full value to settle claims relating to written-off and stolen cars after further “shortcomings” were found by an industry regulator.A review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that some firms were offering customers less than their vehicle was worth and, in some cases, only increased the offer when a customer complained. The exercise followed up on previous warnings from the watchdog, the latest in 2022, about behaviour in determining claim values.The FCA said it was engaging with the firms included in its review to ensure they made improvements.Money latest: Eight things…

A comedian has been forced to remove a picture of a hot dog from posters promoting his stand-up tour after falling foul of Transport for London’s (TfL) advertising policies.Ed Gamble used an image of the popular barbecue staple in advertising posters for his upcoming Hot Diggity Dog tour. But when the billboards were sent to TfL for display on the London Underground, the stand-up comic was told to alter the poster because it failed to comply with the organisation’s advertising policy on junk foods.So the 38-year-old, who recently starred as the host of the Traitors: Uncloaked, improvised by offering to…

Ian King speaks to Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Bank commercial banking, about rising UK business confidence. Cecilia Parker Aranha, the CMA’s director of consumer protection, talks about a crackdown on so-called ‘greenwashing’ by major fashion retailers.And could 2024 be the year more European companies come to the market? Ian discusses that with Jos Dijsselhof, chief executive of SIX Group, owner of the Swiss and Madrid stock exchanges.Listen and subscribe to The Ian King Business Podcast here. Source link

Bruce Springsteen has been made a fellow of the UK’s Ivors Academy – the first international songwriter to do so.The American icon, 74, was named as the next recipient of the academy’s highest honour on Tuesday in recognition of the impact his career has had on the cultural landscape of the UK. The Born to Run musician has sold more than 140 million records worldwide, as well as winning 20 Grammys, an Oscar and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Image: Joe Biden presents Springsteen with a National Medal of Arts medal in the White House last March. Pic: Reuters Springsteen…

The first City trader to be jailed for rigging Libor interest rates has lost his appeal against his 2015 conviction. Tom Hayes, 44, a former Citigroup and UBS trader, was handed a 14-year jail sentence – cut to 11 years on appeal – in 2015, which was one of the toughest ever to be imposed for white-collar crime in UK history. His case, as well as that of Carlo Palombo, 45, who was jailed for four years in 2019 over rigging the Euribor interest rates, was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which…

Police raids on two properties owned by rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs were an “unprecedented ambush” and a “gross use of military-level force”, his lawyer has said.Combs’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami were searched by Homeland Security Investigations agents on Monday. The searches were connected to a sex trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York, US news outlets reported on Tuesday.In the first statement released on behalf of the rapper and music mogul since Monday’s raids, his lawyer Aaron Dyer said: “Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr Combs’ residences.”There…