Author: SKYNEWS

The British government is no longer the controlling shareholder in NatWest bank, reducing its stake in the lender to below 30%.NatWest received several multibillion-pound bailouts at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, resulting in the government being left with an 84% stake in what was then known as RBS Group. A stock exchange announcement on Monday confirmed the Treasury’s stake in the bank, which also owns Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Coutts, is now 29.82%.The reduction – a little over one percentage point – leaves the government with a stake worth just under £7bn.The government…

Olivia Colman has criticised gender pay disparity, saying if she was a man, she would be earning “a f*** of a lot more than I am”.The Oscar-winning actress, who starred as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, was also scathing about the long-held idea that male actors draw more people to cinemas. Colman, 50, was asked on CNN’s Christiane Amanpour programme about women being taken more seriously in Hollywood.She said: “Research suggests that they’ve [women have] always been big box office draws… don’t get me started on the pay disparity but male actors get paid more because they used to…

The scale of the management changes announced by Boeing are a recognition from the company of the grave situation in which it finds itself.It is pretty rare for the chairman and chief executive of an organisation to step down at roughly the same time as Larry Kellner and Dave Calhoun are doing. For the departure of another senior executive, running one of that company’s most important businesses, to be announced at the same time is almost without precedent.Stan Deal, who steps down immediately as head of Boeing’s commercial airlines operation, is clearly carrying the can for the crisis to have…

Scientists are looking for mysterious hidden particles which they believe could help answer some of our most burning questions about the universe.The so-called “hidden sector particles” have so far evaded all previous attempts to observe them and line up very weakly, if at all, with the current theory of particle physics, known as the Standard Model. The Search For Hidden Particles (SHiP) experiment, an international collaboration between 54 institutes over 18 countries, will see a proton beam used to hit a fixed target and produce a variety of particles – far more than current methods have been able to.Scientists hope…

Billy Porter says he’s struggled to be taken seriously over the years – as he warns critics that while he “may wear dresses on the red carpet, make no mistake, I am no clown”.The Emmy-winning actor – whose movies include Cinderella, The Intern and Like A Boss – tells Sky News it’s taken around 25 years to be treated like a professional artist. “My brand, once I got in, has been ‘fabulous’, ‘Billy Porter is fabulous’, ‘Billy Porter does fabulous’.”I am a very serious human being – and the conversation that I am having with the world is ‘fabulous’ and…

Boeing has revealed that its under-fire chairman and chief executive are leaving their roles while pledging to “fix” the safety crisis engulfing the planemaker.The company said Dave Calhoun, who has been CEO for just over three years, planned to step down by the year’s end as part of a management shake-up. It will also see the head of its commercial airlines division, Stan Hope, retire and chairman Larry Kellner stand down from the board.The changes were revealed as Boeing customers, including Ryanair, pile pressure on the company over the fallout from its latest safety issue, which has resulted in further…

Apple, Meta and Google’s parent company are being investigated by the European Union under new laws designed to clamp down on the market power of the world’s tech giants.The Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force at the beginning of March and aims to tackle “gatekeeping” behaviour among tech giants. If the companies are found guilty of non-compliance, they face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover.Under the new rules, companies are expected to allow app developers to steer users to products outside their own platforms for no extra charge.Also, platforms that rank search results must treat all…

Rebel Wilson has named Sacha Baron Cohen as the “a**hole” who she has written about in her upcoming memoir.The Australian actress and comedian, 44, previously said she intended to write a chapter in the book about “a massive a**hole” she had previously worked with in Hollywood – though she did not reveal the person’s identity. However, in a post on Instagram on Monday, Wilson said the person she was referring to was Ali G and Borat star Baron Cohen.”I will not be bullied or silenced by high-priced lawyers or PR crisis managers,” she wrote.”The ‘a**hole’ I was talking about in…

A total solar eclipse will be dazzling us Earthlings on 8 April in what’s been described as “our planet’s greatest spectacle”.The perfect alignment of Earth, the sun and the moon will be seen again on 8 April – but where exactly will it be spotted from, can I watch it in the UK and what makes this solar eclipse particularly special? Who will see it and when?The US, Mexico and Canada will be in the totality path of the eclipse, meaning more than 31 million people across 15 states will be treated to the mesmerising sight of the sun being…

Ofgem has launched a discussion on the energy price cap, floating options such as a cap based on things such as vulnerability and when energy is used.The watchdog said it will examine how energy regulation must change “to ensure customers are protected, they continue to pay a fair price for their energy, and they get to realise all the benefits of net zero”. Energy bills shot up after major gas supplier Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – Ofgem’s energy price cap in the winter of 2021/22 was £1,216 but by January 2023 it had climbed…