Author: SKYNEWS

A planned merger between Vodafone and Three is in doubt after the competition watchdog said it would launch a major investigation into the deal.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the move was being taken after the firms failed to offer any measures to ease its concerns that mobile phone users could face higher prices and reduced quality of service if the plans went ahead. The proposed £15bn merger, announced last year, would bring 27 million customers together under a single provider and create the UK’s largest mobile network.However, fears have been raised that it will reduce rivalry between operators,…

School closures, pet care and fake glasses are just three of the things that have prompted warnings ahead of Monday’s total solar eclipse. Residents in multiple US states, as well as parts of Mexico and Canada, will be able to witness the natural phenomenon on Monday 8 April. The first place to experience ‘totality’ – the moment when the face of the sun is completely blocked by the moon – will be Mexico’s Pacific Coast at around 11.07am local time.The eclipse’s path will then enter the US where it will be visible across states from Texas all the way up…

Peter Andre and his wife Emily MacDonagh have welcomed their third child together.The Mysterious Girl singer, 51, shared images of his newborn daughter at “just minutes old” on Instagram. His baby girl is “very healthy” after she was born on Tuesday, as Andre wrote: “We feel so overwhelmed right now. So happy to welcome our beautiful girl to the family.”Mum and daughter are doing amazing.”Andre married doctor MacDonagh in 2015 and one of the pictures was of her and the newborn. The singer said the baby had been “spoilt with cuddles” from his seven-year-old son, Theo, and daughter, Amelia, 10,…

Tens of thousands of people are facing crippling tax demands from HMRC for tax their employers failed to pay. It’s an injustice that has been compared with the Horizon scandal.At least 23 victims have taken – or attempted to take – their own lives. For the first time, two of those who tried to end their lives have shared their story with Sky News.This story contains references to suicide that readers may find distressing.”I went for a drink. And I don’t remember – I know why I did it – but I don’t remember making the decision to do it.…

Google is considering charging users for “premium” internet search results powered by artificial intelligence (AI), according to a report.The tech giant is said to be exploring several ideas about how to use the technology, including incorporating enhanced search tools as part of its premium subscription services. Google’s main search engine would remain free to use under the proposals, with additional content available to those who pay a fee, sources told the Financial Times.Adverts would continue to appear alongside search results, even for subscribers, according to the report.More than a billion people use the search tool every month, according to estimates.…

Singer Ian ‘H’ Watkins, better known as ‘H from Steps’, is to be honoured with an 8ft statue.The statue of the 47-year-old has been announced by a community group in his hometown of Cowbridge. Funded through private donations and designed by a local artist, it will be erected at the heart of the town, outside The Bear Hotel.The aim is to unveil the statue at Cowbridge Pride in June, an event founded by ‘H’ two years ago.’H’ – one-fifth of the Brit award-winning group Steps – also hosts a weekly show on Radio Wales and sits on his local town…

The former pensions arm of KPMG, the big four accountant, is to be put up for sale, netting a potential bonanza for its private equity backer.Sky News has learnt that Exponent, the buyout firm, has hired investment bankers at Evercore to sell Isio. City sources said on Wednesday that a deal was not imminent but that an auction was likely to get underway this year.It could see Isio changing hands for several hundred million pounds, they added.Isio, which provides pensions and wealth advice to thousands of clients, was created when Exponent backed a buyout from KPMG in 2020. The business…

The moon will get its own time zone after the White House directed NASA to develop a unified lunar time standard by the end of 2026.The Coordinated Lunar Time, or LTC, would provide a time-keeping benchmark for lunar spacecraft and satellites that will require extreme precision for their missions. Having a standard lunar time is vital – and complicated – because time unfolds differently on the moon compared to how it is perceived on Earth due to the difference in gravitational force.”The same clock that we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the moon,” Kevin Coggins,…

Nigerian singer-songwriter Davido has said he is taking legal action after an April Fools article said he had been arrested for drug offences.The popular Afrobeats singer, 31, said in a statement on X that he had received a “barrage of calls” after the story – which claimed he had been detained after cocaine was found on his private jet – went viral. “I find the fabrication of allegations of such international crimes extremely irresponsible regardless of the light of ‘April Fools’,” he wrote.The three-time Grammy Award nominee added that the reports were “entirely untrue” and that he has since returned…

Scotland could become the first nation in the UK to ban egg companies from keeping chickens in cages.The Scottish government has launched a consultation on banning the use of cages to house laying hens for egg production. Views are being sought on the phasing out of “enriched cages”, which offer more room for the birds to nest, roost, scratch and rest than the battery or barren cages that were banned in the UK in 2012.Agriculture minister Jim Fairlie highlighted Holyrood’s most recent programme for government, which included a commitment to “improve the welfare of laying hens to ensure their confinement…