Author: SKYNEWS

<a href='https://news.sky.com/story/advertising-watchdog-reverses-ruling-that-fka-twigs-poster-was-overly-sexualised-13087829'>Ban on 'overly sexualised' FKA twigs ad overturned</a> Source link

The private equity giant which owns a stake in Six Nations Rugby is plotting to revive plans for an Amsterdam stock market listing within weeks.Sky News has learnt that CVC Capital Partners, which has its head office in London, is considering launching another attempt to go public as soon as next month. No firm decision has yet been taken to proceed with a listing process, and it could yet be delayed beyond the spring or early summer, according to City sources.CVC, which was preparing to float last autumn, is expected to seek a valuation of well over $15bn.Since it aborted…

Arguably the most famous white shirt in history – worn by Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in the 1995 TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice – has sold at auction for £25,000. In an iconic scene, the aristocratic Mr Darcy emerges from a lake soaking wet in the shirt after a swim, before he unexpectedly bumps into his blushing love interest, Elizabeth Bennet (played by Jennifer Ehle). The white linen garment went under the hammer in London on Tuesday as part of the Lights, Camera, Action sale of creations by BAFTA and Academy Award-winning costumier, Cosprop.It was listed…

Jeremy Hunt has promised to help families with “permanent cuts” in tax ahead of today’s budget.The chancellor, who is expected to announce a 2p reduction to national insurance (NI) in what could be the last major fiscal event before the next election, said “lower tax means higher growth”. While he did not confirm what taxes he plans to slash, Sky News understands that a cut to NI is on the cards and the 5p freeze on fuel duty will be extended.Money: What 2p cut to national insurance means for your payMr Hunt is also said to be considering: • A…

Madonna has told fans she “couldn’t walk” after her “near death experience” last summer, when she spent time in intensive care for a serious bacterial infection.The pop icon, 65, was rushed to hospital last June and forced to reschedule the North American leg of The Celebration Tour, marking the 40th anniversary of her musical career. Opening the first of five performances at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Madonna said the illness was a “surprise” and thanked a “very special man” in the audience, her doctor David Agus.”When I was sick this summer, and I literally couldn’t walk from my…

Young drivers with automatic-only licences face paying £760 more for car insurance than those who can also drive a manual vehicle, according to new figures.In what is described as a “concerning” rise, figures from comparison site Compare the Market show motorists under 25 with automatic licences now pay £2,803 on average. That is a year-on-year increase of £916.It is a concern for the increasing number of drivers taking automatic-only tests, with DVLA data showing that 138,354 passed in an automatic car in 2022-23.That figure was 34,749 in 2012-13. “The increasing cost of car insurance is concerning for young drivers across…

Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Threads suffered widespread problems on Tuesday afternoon, with users locked out of their accounts and pages failing to load properly. Facebook outages reported on Down Detector shot up just before 3pm, with more than 300,000 problems logged. More than 25,000 Instagram outages were also reported via the website, which collates status reports from several sources, including users.Problems on Facebook left some users unable to login, while others were logged out and unable to reset their passwords or access their accounts.Meanwhile, Instagram users struggled to load timelines, stories and comments. The social media platforms were back up and…

The advertising watchdog has reversed its ruling that a Calvin Klein poster presented musician FKA Twigs as a “stereotypical sexual object”.The advert was banned in January after the Advertising Standards Authority received two complaints that the image used was “overly sexualised” and objectified women. But this week, it said the decision had been reviewed due to “our concern that our rationale for banning the ad was substantially flawed”.”After careful thought, our council, the independent jury that decides whether UK ads break the rules, considers that the image was not sexually explicit, that the ad presented FKA twigs as confident and…

Ian King talks to Karen Johnson, from Barclays, about consumer card spending which grew just 1.9% year-on-year in February.Helen Qiao, from Bank of America Global Research, comes on to discuss China’s growth target.And Guy Gittins, from Foxtons, talks to Ian about profits at the estate agent.:: Listen and subscribe to The Ian King Business Podcast here. Source link

The value of the best-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has reached a new high. For the first time ever one Bitcoin bought $69,202, surpassing the previous high just below $69,000 recorded in November 2021. It comes, as the previous high did, as a ‘halving’ event approaches, whereby Bitcoin production is cut by 50%.A recent boost for the digital asset also came in January as a new product was launched that allows people to track the value of Bitcoin without owning it, something known as an exchange-traded fund (ETF).The next halving occurs on 19 April. The volatile cryptocurrency has crashed from the previous…