Author: SKYNEWS

Aviva has agreed a deal to buy rival company Direct Line for £3.7bn ahead of a Christmas Day deadline.The insurance firm announced the agreement with its smaller competitor a few weeks after a £3.3bn bid was turned down in November. A deal for the two firms would make them a force in motor insurance, estimated to cover more than 20% of the UK market.Aviva’s chief executive Amanda Blanc welcomed the deal as “excellent news”.”Aviva and Direct Line share a deep commitment to excellence in looking after customers and this will remain a top priority following the acquisition,” she added. “The…

The preserved remains of a juvenile mammoth have been discovered in thawing permafrost after more than 50,000 years.The creature was recovered by scientists from the Batagaika crater in Russia, a huge depression more than 80m (260ft) deep that is widening as a result of climate change. The carcass, weighing more than 110kg (240lb), was brought to the surface on an improvised stretcher, according to Maxim Cherpasov, head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory in the city of Yakutsk. Image: Researchers Gavril Novgorodov and Erel Struchkov. Pic: Gavril Novgorodov via Reuters He said the mammoth was probably a little over a…

Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer who worked with Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr and the Beatles, has died aged 82.Perry, a recipient of a Grammys Trustee Award in 2015, died on Tuesday at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, his friend Daphna Kastner said. “He maximised his time here,” said Ms Kastner, who called him a “father friend” and said he was godfather to her son.”He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it’s a little bit sweeter in heaven.”Perry, who…

An Oxford University spinout which is developing a new generation of weed-resistant herbicides has begun planting a $40m (£32m) fundraising with prospective backers.Sky News understands that Moa Technology, which was co-founded by the world-leading university’s head of plant sciences Professor Liam Dolan, is kicking off a Series C funding round. Moa has already raised $59m (£47m) from prominent investors including Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), BGF and Lansdowne Partners, the Mayfair-based hedge fund.Its existing shareholders are understood to be supportive of the new fundraising plans, although potential new investors will also be approached.Moa is developing active ingredients which can break weeds’…

Astronauts stranded on the International Space Station over Christmas have sent a festive message back to Earth.Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore, Don Pettit and Nick Hague were launched into space on 5 June on what was due to be an eight-day test flight mission. But the Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft suffered several technical issues, including helium leaks and thruster failures, and has been unable to return since.In the video message, recorded on 23 December, Mr Hague says: “The holiday season, it’s about spending time with friends and family and loved ones – this year we’re going to be in orbit away from…

Alec Baldwin will not appear again in court for involuntary manslaughter over a fatal shooting on the set of Rust after New Mexico prosecutors dropped their appeal.The trial against him earlier this year collapsed after just three days over testimony that prosecutors had withheld potential evidence from the defence. Baldwin was holding a gun which went off on the set in New Mexico in 2021, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.The 66-year-old, an actor and co-producer on the film, denied ever pulling the trigger and said he had been directed to aim it at a camera. Please…

Cadbury says it is “disappointed” after losing its royal warrant after 170 years.The chocolate maker behind festive favourites such as Heroes and Dairy Milk is among the brands that have had their warrants withdrawn under King Charles. The development was reported in a list published by Buckingham Palace’s Royal Warrant Holders Association.Warrants are granted as a special mark of recognition to people or companies who have regularly supplied goods or services to the royal household.Cadbury was first granted the warrant in 1854. Unilever, which owns consumer brands Dove and Lipton, was also stripped of its warrant. Read more from Sky…

The fastest object ever built by humans will fly within a whisker of the sun today.The Parker Solar Probe will race past at 435,000mph as it studies the sun’s surface and atmosphere. That’s so fast it would cover the distance between London and New York in just 29 seconds.It has picked up such an extraordinary speed because it is being pulled in by immense gravitational forces.Now in its closest orbit yet, Parker will pass just 3.8 million miles above the sun’s surface. It will be within the corona, the super-heated outer atmosphere that’s visible from Earth as bright whisps during…

Actor Amber Heard has said social media is where lie becomes truth after Blake Lively accused co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment.In a legal complaint, Lively, 37, also claims 40-year-old Baldoni, the film’s director, and the studio behind the movie It Ends With Us embarked on a subsequent “multi-tiered plan” to damage her reputation.The complaint stated Baldoni retained PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, the same woman Johnny Depp hired during his high-profile defamation trial against ex-wife Heard.In a statement given to Sky News’s US partner NBC News, Heard said: “Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘a…

Japanese car giants, Honda and Nissan, have announced plans to merge. That would make them the third largest car maker by sales. The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding, which would also include the smaller Nissan Alliance member, Mitsubishi Motors, in the talks on integration.Japan’s car makers have struggled to match their big rivals in electric vehicles (EVs) and are trying to cut costs.If the merger is finalised it could result in a company worth more than 50 billion dollars (£39.77bn) based on the market capitalisation of all three car makers. Honda would initially lead the…