Author: SKYNEWS

Jeremy Hunt has cast doubts over introducing big tax cuts at the next budget, saying he is unlikely to have the fiscal “room” he had in the autumn.Earlier this month, the chancellor hinted at further reductions come 6 March, saying the government’s plan of “prioritising tax cuts” was working, and that it would “stick to it”. Politics live: Minister makes awkward admission about his brief The comments followed his decision in the autumn statement to reduce national insurance by two percentage points, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) saying it would cost the Treasury £9.76bn in the 2028 tax…

Mark Zuckerberg was one of several social media bosses accused of having “blood on [their] hands” at a hearing where companies were criticised for not doing enough to protect children from being exploited on their platforms.Mr Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, faced a sea of people who held pictures of their dead children all affected by online harms. Also at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing were the chiefs of X, Linda Yaccarino, Snap Inc’s Evan Spiegel, TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew and Discord’s Jason Citron. Image: Mark Zuckerberg faces the room. Pic: Reuters Image: (L…

Adele has announced she will play in Europe for the first time since 2016, with four nights booked in Germany.The Grammy-winning singer shared on social media that she will be performing in Munich’s Messe exhibition centre – which boasts a capacity of 80,000 – in a booking she called “a bit random”. At the end of 2023, she was asked if she wanted to perform a summer run of shows in Germany, saying: “I’ve been content as anything with my shows in London’s Hyde Park and my residency in Vegas, so I hadn’t had any other plans.” Adele explained however…

The new chief executive of BT Group and the boss of Britain’s biggest high street lender are among a cohort of business leaders who will be unveiled by Downing Street on Wednesday as advisers to Rishi Sunak.Sky News has learnt that Allison Kirkby, who will replace Philip Jansen as BT CEO on Thursday, is to join the prime minister’s final business council before the next general election. She will be joined by Charlie Nunn, the Lloyds Banking Group CEO, along with a group of senior business figures from both listed and private companies, a Downing Street source said on Tuesday.The…

Elon Musk must give up a compensation package awarded by Tesla’s board of directors that is potentially worth more than $55bn (£43.4bn), a judge has ruled.The Delaware court decision comes five years after a shareholder lawsuit targeted the Tesla chief executive and the directors. The company is incorporated in the state, with oversight for the tech giant resting there. The defendants were accused of breaching their duties, resulting in a waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment of Mr Musk.Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the pay package was dictated by Mr Musk and was the product of sham negotiations…

Alec Baldwin will be arraigned on Thursday after he was again charged with involuntary manslaughter over the shooting of a cinematographer.Halyna Hutchins died in October 2021 when the star shot her during an on-set rehearsal for Western movie Rust. The movie’s director, Joel Souza, was wounded in the shoulder by the same bullet.The 65-year-old actor has insisted he pulled back the hammer but didn’t pull the trigger.All charges were dropped last year based on evidence the hammer might have been modified, allowing it to be shot without pressing the trigger. However, a new examination cast doubt on this theory.Forensic tests…

Institutional investors in Britain’s biggest public companies are to pave the way for bigger boardroom pay packages amid arguments from corporate chiefs that ‘restraint’ over remuneration is causing irreversible damage to London’s stock market.Sky News has obtained the draft of a letter from the Investment Association, whose members collectively manage £8.8trn in assets, to the chairs of FTSE 350 remuneration committees in which it signals a significant change in its stance towards bosses’ pay. In the letter, which is expected to be released publicly within days, the IA says it intends to conduct a “fundamental review of the Principles of…

You could say the age of the cyborg has dawned.Brain chips are increasingly being tested in paralysed people to help them move. The chips “read” electrical signals from neurons that determine movement and then reroute the instructions around a spinal injury to control the muscles or a robotic arm.Last year, Gert-Jan Oskam demonstrated an implant that enabled him to stand, walk and even climb stairs. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:39 Watch paralysed patient walk again His muscle control was slow and deliberate, but it was astonishing to see his thoughts, his intent to move,…

Lily Gladstone says Native American history has essentially been “banned” from the US school curriculum, with teachers who want to include it “intimidated” and “left in fear of losing their licence”.The Oscar-nominated star says she hopes her latest film, Killers Of The Flower Moon, will help raise awareness of a neglected part of history, which she says “absolutely deserves to be in the curriculum”. Image: Pic: Apple TV+ The 37-year-old native of Montana’s Blackfeet reservation told The World With Yalda Hakim: “It’s unfortunately a history that while it really must be taught, especially in the place where it originates, is…

An inquiry has found no evidence of “corruption or illegality” at the Teesworks site in the North East of England – but has raised concerns over “transparency and oversight.The development of the former Redcar Steelworks began in 2015 and has seen the area transformed into a large industrial site, with plans to turn it into a freeport to create a tax-free zone for shipping. Tees Valley Conservative mayor Lord Ben Houchen claimed it had raised £2bn of private sector investment and created almost 3,000 jobs.But the government ordered an independent inquiry into the site after claims private companies – which…