Author: SKYNEWS

Two traders jailed for rigging benchmark interest rates have had their convictions overturned by the Supreme Court. Tom Hayes, 45, was handed a 14-year jail sentence – cut to 11 years on appeal – in 2015, which was one of the toughest ever to be imposed for white-collar crime in UK history. The former Citigroup and UBS trader, along with Carlo Palombo, 46, who was jailed for four years in 2019 over rigging the Euribor interest rates, took their cases to the country’s highest court after the Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals last year.The Supreme Court unanimously allowed Hayes’…

Social media limits for children are being planned by the government to tackle “compulsive” screen time, the technology secretary has told Sky News. Peter Kyle said he was concerned about “the overall amount of time kids spend on these apps” as well as the content they see. A two-hour cap per platform is being seriously considered after meetings with current and former employees of tech companies. A night-time or school-time curfew has also been discussed.Children would be blocked from accessing apps such as TikTok or Snapchat once they have hit the limit, rather than just reminded of how long they have…

Christina Aguilera has told Sky News it is “magical” to see her hit film Burlesque being brought to London’s West End – and also opened up about her rise to fame in the late 1990s.The US star topped the US and UK charts with Genie In A Bottle in 1999, before finding an even bigger audience with her acclaimed album Stripped and hits including Dirrty, Beautiful and Fighter in the early 2000s. Image: Christina Aguilera is a producer for the stage adaptation of Burlesque. Pic: Hayden Coens @daydreamsmedia In 2010, she starred in Burlesque alongside Cher, Julianne Hough and Stanley…

The government has given the final go-ahead for a £38bn nuclear power plant in eastern England.The Sizewell C project in Suffolk will be jointly funded by Canadian pension fund La Caisse, UK energy firm Centrica and Amber Infrastructure. The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) said Sizewell C will deliver clean power for the equivalent of six million homes, as well as support 10,000 jobs and create 1,500 apprenticeships once it is operational, which is expected to be in the 2030s. Image: Sizewell in Suffolk in the east of England The government will be the largest shareholder in…

The online safety regulator should use powers to fine social media companies that are not quickly removing racism, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News, after concerns were raised by England defender Jess Carter.Carter has declared herself ready to play in the Women’s European Championship semi-final against Italy on Tuesday after speaking out on the hate she has faced online during the tournament. Players have expressed frustration they are having to use their platform to pressure the tech firms, given how often footballers have had to deal with racist abuse. Image: Carter has said she’s taking a step back from…

A brief scuffle broke out at London’s Royal Opera House after a performer unfurled a Palestinian flag during a show.The incident took place during a performance of Il Trovatore on Saturday. During the final night of the 11-night run of the show, a performer held up the flag on stage.In video footage, shared online, someone backstage could be seen attempting to take it off the performer. The performer grabs it back following a brief scuffle.A spokesperson for the Royal Ballet and Opera said: “The display of the flag was an unauthorised action by the artist. “It was not approved by…

Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review of the water sector is comprehensive, clear-eyed, and about as radical as allowed by terms of reference that explicitly ruled out renationalisation of England’s private water and sewage companies.With that key demand of many campaigners off the table, the former Bank of England governor has focused on more effective regulation and securing a better deal for consumers and the investors without whom the industry will sink. Image: Author of the report Sir Jon Cunliffe, former deputy governor at the Bank of England. Pic: PA So Ofwat, the embattled current regulator, is to be swept away on…

Labour will eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages in 10 years, the environment secretary has told Sky News.Steve Reed also pledged to halve sewage pollution from water companies by 2030 as he announced £104 billion of private investment to help the government do that. But he told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips this “isn’t the end of our ambition”.”Over a decade of national renewal, we’ll be able to eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages,” he said.”But you have to have staging posts along the way, cutting it in half in five years is a dramatic improvement to the problem getting worse and worse and…

Huge steel fences have been erected to prevent ticketless fans from watching the Oasis reunion tour in Manchester.Liam and Noel Gallagher will resume their sold-out run of shows – their first since 2009 – with a performance at Heaton Park tonight, and two more on Saturday and Sunday. While tens of thousands bought tickets for Oasis’s first two shows last weekend, crowds gathered to glimpse the large screens above the stage in the distance – in an area dubbed “Gallagher Hill” by some on social media. Image: People walk past a temporary security fence erected ahead of concerts by Oasis…

The owner of stakes in Six Nations and Premiership Rugby and the top flights of French and Spanish football is plotting refinancing expected to value its sports portfolio at more than £9bn.Sky News has learnt that CVC Capital Partners has hired Goldman Sachs, PJT Partners and Raine Group to advise on a deal involving SportsCo, a new entity established to optimise the buyout giant’s investments in the sector. City sources said this weekend that the refinancing was likely to involve raising new debt against one of the largest private equity-owned sports portfolios in the world.CVC also owns stakes in international…