Author: SKYNEWS

Administrators are on standby this weekend to handle the collapse of Petrofac, the oil and energy services group – an insolvency which could threaten the future of more than 2,000 jobs in Scotland.Sky News has learnt that directors of Petrofac has lined up Teneo for an administration process which could be confirmed as early as Monday morning. The company’s board, chaired by former Anglo American finance director Rene Medori, is said to be holding emergency talks this weekend.One industry executive said a decision to file for administration was likely to be taken before the stock market opens on Monday.Ed Miliband,…

More than 2,000 counterfeit weight loss jabs have been confiscated from a factory in Northampton, in what’s believed to be the world’s largest seizure.The UK’s medicines regulator and police joined forces to smash the illicit facility, which was manufacturing and distributing unlicensed products. Labels suggested the knock-off pens contained tirzepatide, an ingredient found in Mounjaro.But Eli Lilly, the company behind the real medication, said anyone who bought these jabs on the black market would have “no way of knowing what they actually contain”. Image: Pic: MHRA This is the first seizure of its kind in the UK – with raw…

The rapper Ghetts has been charged after a man was killed in a hit-and-run in northeast London.The musician, whose real name is Justin Clarke-Samuel, was charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He allegedly failed to stop after hitting a 20-year-old man in Ilford last Saturday, the Met Police said.The 41-year-old appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday – the same day the man died in hospital.The indictment is expected to change from causing serious injury to causing death by dangerous driving at the next hearing. Ghetts was remanded into custody and is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates’…

Spotify is increasing the cost of its UK premium subscription, the Money blog has revealed.Emails have started going out to subscribers informing them the cost for an individual subscription will rise from £11.99 to £12.99 a month. It equates to an 8.3% increase.Money latest: Restaurant sends bitter message to customersSpotify says subscribers will get a one-month grace period. It had announced earlier this year that prices would go up in various territories – but it had not been clear if this included the UK.The last hike, also of £1, was introduced in the spring of 2024. Image: Spotify users have…

A mum with multiple sclerosis has become the first patient in the UK to receive an experimental treatment that could slow or even stop progression of the disease.Emily Henders, 37, was given an infusion of her own cells that had been weaponised in the lab to hunt down rogue elements in her immune system that drive the disease’s disabling relapses. Sky News was given special permission to be present as the cells arrived deep frozen in liquid nitrogen before being carefully thawed and infused into her bloodstream.”Someone’s got to do it. Someone’s got to be the first,” she told me.Emily…

Electronic musician Dave Ball, who was one half of the popular 1980s band Soft Cell, has died at the age of 66.The musician, who formed the duo with Marc Almond, died on Wednesday, just days after completing a new Soft Cell album. Formed in the late 1970s, Soft Cell were pioneers of the synth-pop sound which would become popular in the 1980s, and became best known for songs such as their chart-topping cover of Gloria Jones’s Tainted Love, Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, and Torch.Paying tribute, Almond, 68, described Ball as a “wonderfully brilliant musical genius” and said they were “always…

Google has struck a multimillion pound investment deal with the e-commerce fulfilment and logistics business which demerged from the online beauty and nutrition brand-owner THG earlier this year.Sky News has learnt that dozens of shareholders in THG Ingenuity were notified this week that the Alphabet-owned internet behemoth had agreed to invest in it through a structured equity deal. Sources said the investment was in the form of a convertible instrument which could eventually lead to Google holding a small direct equity stake in THG Ingenuity at a valuation of $1bn (£749m) or more.The investment forms part of a broader partnership…

Cows bred to produce less methane in their burps could prove to be an important ally in the fight against climate change, scientists have told Sky News.A groundbreaking breeding programme in Scotland is proving so successful that the amount of the greenhouse gas produced by cattle when they belch or break wind could fall by 40% in just 20 years. Cows and other farm animals produce at least 12% of global methane emissions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.But reducing levels could have a significant impact on global warming.The gas traps 80 times more heat…

The Louvre has reopened, three days after “priceless” pieces from the French crown jewels were stolen by thieves in an audacious daytime raid.Crowds – hundreds deep – waited outside the Paris museum’s famous glass pyramid entrance and bunched at the barriers as they were being removed on Wednesday morning. The Apollo Room, the scene of Sunday’s robbery, was still closed to visitors, with a folding screen closing off the doorway at the gallery’s entrance.The Paris landmark, the world’s most-visited museum, is normally closed on Tuesdays and has been shut since the heist for investigation. Image: The museum reopened on Wednesday.…

You know bad economic news is looming when a Chancellor of the Exchequer tries to get their retaliation in first.Treasury guidance on Tuesday afternoon that Rachel Reeves has prioritised easing the cost of living had to be seen in the light of inflation figures, published this morning, and widely expected to rise above 4% for the first time since the aftermath of the energy crisis. In that context the fact consumer price inflation in September remained level at 3.8% counts as qualified good news for the Treasury, if not consumers. Money latest: What inflation hike means for state pension and…