Author: SKYNEWS

More vinyl LPs were bought this year than at any time since 1990 and are growing at their fastest rate this decade.With just a few more days to go to year-end, the vinyl market has increased by nearly 12%, rising for the 16th year in a row, according to analysis of Official Charts data by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Over a quarter of a million vinyl albums were sold in the week before Christmas, the highest sales for the format this century.Continuing her domination of the music industry and pop culture as a whole, Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version)…

Apple has won the right to import two of its most popular smartwatches into the United States, after the appeals court paused a previous ban on imports.The tech giant was ordered in October to stop importing and selling Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches, following a complaint from medical-monitoring technology company Masimo that it had infringed patents. Masimo accused Apple of hoovering up its employees, stealing its pulse oximetry technology and incorporating it into Apple watches.US President Joe Biden’s administration declined to veto the ban by Boxing Day, allowing it to come into effect.Apple had appealed the ban that was…

Actress Sophie Winkleman said she hardly knew anyone at her wedding to the King’s second cousin, after her mother-in-law Princess Michael of Kent took charge of everything – including her dress.Best known for playing “mental posho” Big Suze in the cult comedy Peep Show, Winkleman married Lord Frederick Windsor in 2009 after a chance meeting 17 years ago. She has since become a regular in royal circles.”I didn’t know anyone at my wedding,” she told Tatler, for this month’s cover issue.”I had my best pals there but basically it was full of faces I’d never seen before. My mother-in-law, Princess…

The owner of one of Britain’s biggest bingo businesses has picked bankers to oversee an auction next year.Sky News understands that Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has asked Nomura to prepare a sale process for Buzz Bingo, which it has owned since 2021. The timing of an auction and ICG’s price expectations were unclear on Thursday, with one insider saying that the launch of an attempt to find new owners would be dependent upon market conditions.Buzz Bingo operates more than 80 clubs across the country, and has a prominent digital presence offering bingo, casino and other gaming products.The company was acquired…

The father of Molly Russell, the teenager who took her own life after viewing harmful material, has been given an MBE in the New Year Honours. Ian Russell is among hundreds of activists, campaigners, and charity workers being recognised by the King in this year’s honours list. He has been recognised for services to child online safety.On what Molly would have made of his MBE, he said: “Molly was quite content to get on stage and take part in school plays, but she was a quiet person, she didn’t like the limelight, so I think she would have found this…

Donald Trump did not “bully” his way into a Home Alone 2 cameo, he has told his followers on his social media site, adding he was responsible for the film’s success.The former US president was referring to an interview given by the film’s director Chris Columbus in 2020, where he claimed including Trump was a condition of being allowed to film inside the Plaza Hotel. Columbus told Business Insider: “Trump said okay. We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘the only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie’. So we agreed to put him…

House prices are expected to remain static or fall again next year after a drop of 1.8% since the end of 2022, according to one of the UK’s largest mortgage lenders.Nationwide building society has said a rapid rebound in prices is “unlikely” in 2024 after the fall recorded from December 2022 to 2023. “It appears likely that a combination of solid income growth, together with modestly lower house prices and mortgage rates, will gradually improve affordability over time, with housing market activity remaining fairly subdued in the interim,” said Robert Gardner, the mortgage provider’s chief economist.”If the economy remains sluggish…

Fourteen newly discovered species of wasps have been named after the villainous Daleks from Doctor Who.The insects were given the genus by London’s Natural History Museum to mark the show’s 60th anniversary. Another doctor, the museum’s scientific associate John Noyes, said naming them after the aliens was a “a bit of fun”, having been a childhood fan of the BBC series. Image: Doctor Who has battled the Daleks for decades New fungus honours Peter Rabbit writerThey were among 619 wasp species described by the museum across more than 700 research papers in 2023, which detailed 815 new species overall. One…

Holly Willoughby will be back on television next month when she hosts the new series of Dancing On Ice with Stephen Mulhern, ITV has said.Mulhern replaces Phillip Schofield, who has presented the ice skating competition alongside Willoughby since 2006. Schofield left ITV earlier this year after admitting to an “unwise but not illegal” relationship with a younger male colleague on This Morning. Image: Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern presenting Dancing On Ice in 2022 Willoughby, who first worked with Mulhern 20 years ago, has been off air since she left This Morning in October following 14 years on the sofa.The…

The cost of shipping goods has again grown significantly as freight giants continue to avoid the key Red Sea route and unions expand protections for mariners.Freight prices rose 80% in the past week, having already gone up nearly 50% the week before.The most widely used measure of freight cost, the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI), increased to $2,694 (£2,113) per container, up from $1,497 (£1,177) last Friday 22 December, according to data given to Sky News by global logistics company, DSV.Not since 30 September 2022, 15 months ago, had the price been so high.The index measures the average cost of…