Author: SKYNEWS

Philip Jansen, the outgoing BT Group boss, has been approached about becoming the next chairman of WPP, the FTSE-100 marketing services giant.Sky News has learnt that Mr Jansen, who is to step down from the telecoms company in the spring, is one of a number of prospective candidates to have been sounded out in recent weeks about the post. City sources said on Monday that WPP’s search was not yet at an advanced stage and there was no certainty that Mr Jansen or WPP would decide to progress his candidacy further.His impending exit from BT has prompted speculation about his…

Google and Amazon must do more after a British woman made a suicide pact with two people she met online and used the internet to buy poison, a coroner has said.Chloe Macdermott, 43, died in May 2021 after buying a lethal substance from the US on Amazon.An inquest at Inner West London Coroner’s Court was told earlier this month she had “formed an association” with two people.A day later, she contacted them while her husband was away and “an agreement was made to act that night”.Coroner Paul Roger, recording a conclusion of suicide, issued a prevention of future deaths report…

Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner said he had “so many things to live for” as he detailed his recovery one year after his near-fatal snowploughing accident.The Avengers actor, 52, broke more than 30 bones and had multiple operations after he was accidentally run over by his six-tonne snowplough while trying to help his nephew on 1 January 2023. Discussing his recovery, Renner told CNN: “I’m just so blessed that I have so many things to live for.”I have a giant family, I have a 10-year-old daughter. I would’ve disappointed and really messed up a lot of people’s lives if I would’ve…

A British buyout firm is hoping to triumph in a two-way battle for Princes Foods, one of Britain’s biggest tinned produce manufacturers.Sky News understands that Epiris wants to secure a deal to buy Princes within days. Epiris has been bidding against Italy’s Newlat in recent weeks, with both said to remain in the running.Princes produces tinned fish and fruits, as well as a range of soft drinks and sunflower oil under the Flora brand.The auction is the latest attempt by Mitsubishi Corporation, the giant Japanese conglomerate which owns Princes, to offload the company. An earlier process conducted this year failed…

COVID vaccines could soon be sold on the high street, according to retailers.One industry leader said it was in talks with vaccine suppliers and the scheme could be introduced as soon as next year. A Superdrug spokesperson said the firm is speaking “with suppliers about potentially offering a private COVID vaccination service in 2024.”Ensuring healthcare is as accessible as possible for people is our priority and we’re interested in offering a private COVID vaccination.”Currently we are gathering information to assess whether it’s a viable option.” A Boots spokesperson said: “We would like to offer private COVID vaccinations and we are…

Paula Abdul has accused former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe of sexually assaulting her when she was a judge on the show.The singer’s lawsuit also accuses him of another assault, years later, when she worked on So You Think You Can Dance. Lythgoe denied the accusations and said he is “shocked and saddened”.Abdul claims the 74-year-old Briton groped her breasts and genitals and “began shoving his tongue down her throat” in a lift after a day’s filming in the early 2000s.She said she pushed him away and ran to her hotel room when the doors opened. Image: Lythgoe was part…

Campaigners say hundreds of neglected historic buildings across the UK should be put to new uses to help meet the country’s net zero emissions targets.Eighteen buildings in Greater Manchester have been added to the Buildings at Risk register run by the campaign group SAVE Britain’s Heritage. They join more than 1,000 buildings nationwide which have fallen into disrepair and disuse but which could potentially be saved with benefits for historical preservation and efforts to cut carbon emissions.The group says the buildings – among them former theatres, churches, schools and bars – are at risk of dereliction or demolition which would…

British Oscar-nominated actor Tom Wilkinson, best known for his role in The Full Monty, has died aged 75, his family has announced.The Yorkshire-born star played the character Gerald Cooper in the 1997 comedy, which tells the story of a group of redundant steelworkers from Sheffield on their journey to set up an all-male striptease act.Wilkinson received a BAFTA for best supporting actor for his performance.He also featured in the 1998 romcom Shakespeare In Love, the 2005 Christopher Nolan blockbuster Batman Begins, and starred alongside Dame Judi Dench, Dame Penelope Wilton, and Bill Nighy, in the all-British ensemble cast of the…

If you crack open a bottle of something – be it wine, water or soft drinks – over the festive season, there’s a good chance the glass came from the Encirc factory in Cheshire.Here, on the banks of the River Mersey, you will find one of the world’s largest glass factories. They take sand from Norfolk, soda ash created from the salt sitting beneath the Cheshire countryside and a lot of recycled glass and throw it into two of the biggest glass furnaces in the world. There, in the furnace, at temperatures of around 1,600 degrees centigrade, the sand melts…

Scientists have debunked a theory that the “beer goggles” effect is due to drinkers finding someone more attractive because their faces appear more symmetrical under the influence.Researchers from the University of Portsmouth questioned 99 men and women aged between 18 and 62 in a pub to test how people rate looks after a few drinks. But the study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, found that while alcohol did impair face symmetry detection, it did not influence judgments of attractiveness. A spokesperson said: “The term ‘beer goggles’ has been used for decades to describe when a person finds themselves sexually…