Author: SKYNEWS

“The Welsh government need to realise that what they’re doing is damaging the industry.”That’s according to Sam Regan, owner and managing director of the Lemon Tree – a hotel and restaurant in Wrexham. The city has gained international attention in recent years as the home of the football club with the Hollywood star owners.But despite the high-profile investment of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the hospitality industry here, and across Wales, is struggling amid a series of challenges.”We’ve been in a little bit of a bubble because of the media attention brought by Wrexham football club. But it’s not the…

A celebrity antiques expert who was attacked in his west London store by two men with hammers has revealed the extent of his injuries, saying he was in “incredible pain”.Ian Towning, 76, has appeared as an antiques expert on ITV’s Dickinson’s Real Deal and Posh Pawn on Channel 4. His shop, the Bourbon Hanby Antiques Arcade just off the King’s Road in Chelsea, was targeted last Tuesday by the two attackers who damaged property inside the store and stole thousands of pounds worth of jewellery. Image: Ian Towning on The Alan Titchmarsh Show in 2012. Pic: Steve Meddle/Shutterstock Three people…

Adnams, one of the most historic names in British brewing, is to explore an outright sale amid a funding squeeze across the industry which has triggered a growing wave of insolvencies.Sky News has learnt that Adnams has begun contacting prospective investors and buyers after hiring advisers earlier this year to shore up its finances. A source close to the 134 year-old Suffolk brewery acknowledged that a full sale of the company was now an option, having indicated last month that it was not under consideration.They insisted, however, that Adnams’ preferred routes to raising capital remained a funding injection from a…

Co-stars of the British-American actor Chance Perdomo have expressed their “devastation” after his death aged 27.Perdomo, who was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Southampton, died after a motorbike crash last week. He was best known as Andre Anderson in the superhero show Gen V, a spin-off of the satirical TV series The Boys, and Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose Spellman in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Netflix’s adaptation of Sabrina The Teenage Witch.Lizze Broadway, who played Emma Meyer/Little Cricket in Gen V, wrote on Instagram that Perdomo’s death has left “a profound void in my heart”.She said: “Chance possessed so…

With the window for April Fool’s Day pranks now closed, we round up some of the more creative and canny jokes.Search and rescue sheep deployed on Dartmoor Anyone getting into trouble while hiking on the Bank Holiday could be aided by a rescue sheep, Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team announced.They are equipped with hi-vis bandanas and bells around their necks so casualties can hear them coming.”They’re the perfect animal to be searching,” team vet Ashley said. “They’re already domesticated, there’s plenty of them, they’re adapted to our hill conditions, they come with their own jackets, you don’t need to carry…

Shakira has criticised the Barbie movie as “emasculating”, adding men and women both have a “purpose” in society and one shouldn’t be at the expense of the other. Speaking to Allure magazine, the 47-year-old Colombian popstar spoke about the blockbuster film released last summer, as well as her new album and her break-up with former footballer Gerard Pique. Barbie is set in Barbie Land – a matriarchal system where women work all the high-end jobs, while the men (Kens) are subordinates to the Barbies and spend all their time at the beach.The Mattel dolls travel to the real world where…

A New York-listed car dealer is plotting a bid for the UK operations of Inchcape.Sky News has learned that AutoNation, which has a market capitalisation of nearly $7bn (£5.5bn), is among the suitors circling the business since Inchcape confirmed in January it was conducting a strategic review. AutoNation is said to be at the early stages of considering an offer and may yet not decide to proceed with one, according to industry sources.If it does go ahead, it would represent a first step into the UK for AutoNation after it withdrew six months ago from a bidding war for Pendragon,…

Scientists are gearing up for next week’s total solar eclipse – but what will they be hoping to learn as parts of the Earth temporarily fall dark?NASA’s deputy chief Pam Melroy says it will give an “entirely different” opportunity to study the interaction between the Earth, moon and sun. The US space agency and others will focus much of their work on observing the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere.It can’t normally be seen because the sun is too bright, but during an eclipse the corona’s white halo can be seen bursting out from behind the shadow.The corona is hundreds of…

A burial crypt next to the resting place of Marilyn Monroe and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has been bought by a tech investor for £154,000 ($195,000).The one-space mausoleum at Pierce Brother Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles went up for auction between 28 and 30 March. Anthony Jabin, from Beverly Hills, said: “I’ve always dreamt of being next to Marilyn Monroe for the rest of my life and I bought Hugh Hefner’s round bed and Marilyn Monroe’s bathing suit at Julien’s this weekend.”The marker on Monroe’s grave, which had to be replaced due to damage, sold for…

This Easter, chocolate lovers will no doubt have noticed they had to pay more for their eggs.Now, the cost of chocolate could soar after changing climate patterns hit cocoa supplies in west Africa. Seasonal dusty winds from the Sahara have been severe in recent months, blocking out the sunlight needed for cocoa bean pods to grow in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon – where around three-quarters of the world’s cocoa is produced.In the previous season, heavy rainfall spread a rotting disease among the cacao trees, which produce cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate. Image: Around three-quarters of the…