Author: SKYNEWS

Standard Glastonbury Festival tickets for 2025 sold out in less than 40 minutes after organisers adopted a new booking system.The new system saw Glastonbury hopefuls get “randomly assigned a place in a queue” instead of having to refresh the holding page once they went live. Organisers said: “Thanks to everyone who bought one and sorry to those who missed out, on a morning when demand was much higher than supply. There will be a resale of any cancelled or returned tickets in spring 2025.”Earlier in the week coach tickets sold out within half an hour for the famous festival in…

A former Conservative cabinet minister has thrown his hat into the ring to become the inaugural chair of Britain’s new independent football regulator.Sky News has learnt that Chris Heaton-Harris, who stood down as an MP at July’s general election, is among those who applied for the role ahead of a deadline on Friday. Mr Heaton-Harris is himself a qualified football referee who has officiated at matches for decades.A former Northern Ireland secretary and chief whip under Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson respectively, he said in 2022 of his part-time career as a football official: “I took a [refereeing] course and…

The frozen remains of a sabre-toothed cat thought to be about 31,800 years old have been studied for the first time in history, according to a study.The cub’s mummified remains, including its head, front arms and paws, and part of its chest, were found well-preserved in Arctic permafrost on the banks of the Badyarikha River in Yakutia, in Russia’s Siberia region, in 2020. “Findings of frozen mummified remains of the Late Pleistocene mammals are very rare,” the researchers explained, referring to the period in which it lived.They added: “For the first time in the history of palaeontology, the appearance of…

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul has defeated one of the greatest-ever fighters, former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson, who is more than twice his age.Paul, 27, won the bout via a unanimous points decision at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – home of the Dallas Cowboys and the biggest NFL stadium in the US. The fight was already controversial but then arguably failed to live up to the hype. Boos were heard from the crowd in the final two rounds, after a perceived lack of action.Afterwards, the pair heaped praise on each other. Paul said: “This man is an icon and…

The former head of Britain’s audit watchdog is being lined up as the next chairman of high street billionaire Mike Ashley’s London-listed retail empire. Sky News has learnt that Sir Jon Thompson, who joined the board of Frasers Group earlier this year as a non-executive director, is expected to take over from David Daly at some point next year. City sources said on Friday that Sir Jon’s appointment as chairman had yet to be finalised by Frasers’ board, but added that it was almost certain to take place. If confirmed, it would underline a remarkable turnaround in the company’s approach…

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, The Guardian newspaper, and even the Clifton Suspension Bridge have joined swathes of people deserting Elon Musk’s social media site X.Millions have instead joined Bluesky, a site run by former Twitter founder Jack Dorsey that has a stronger focus on moderation. According to the official Bluesky account, a million people joined the platform in just one day this week, after Musk was given a position in Donald Trump’s government. Instagram This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.…

Davina McCall has revealed she is undergoing a brain operation after doctors discovered a benign tumour.The 57-year-old television presenter said in a video posted on Instagram that the tumour was a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”. She said the chances of having it were “three in a million,” and she had discovered it a few months ago, after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.McCall admitted the result came as a shock as she had thought she would “ace” the check up, but instead discovered she had a tumour.She said:…

The UK economy grew by 0.1% between July and September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).However, despite the small positive GDP growth recorded in the third quarter, the economy shrank by 0.1% in September, dragging down overall growth for the quarter. The growth was also slower than what had been expected by experts and a drop from the 0.5% growth between April and June, the ONS said.Economists polled by Reuters and the Bank of England had forecast an expansion of 0.2%, slowing from the rapid growth seen over the first half of 2024 when the economy was rebounding…

Consumer rights group Which? is suing Apple for £3bn over the way it deploys the iCloud. If the lawsuit succeeds, around 40 million Apple customers in the UK could be entitled to a payout. The lawsuit claims Apple, which controls iOS operating systems, has breached UK competition law by giving its iCloud storage preferential treatment, effectively “trapping” customers with Apple devices into using it.It also claims the company overcharged those customers by stifling competition.The rights group alleges Apple encouraged users to sign up to iCloud for storage of photos, videos and other data while simultaneously making it difficult to use…

The government is calling on the music industry to introduce a voluntary levy on tickets for concerts at stadiums and arenas to help fund grassroots venues.Ministers expect the music industry to push through their proposals “as soon as possible” for shows next year, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said. The government argues that an “industry-led” levy “within the price of a ticket” would be the quickest and most effective way for revenues from the biggest shows to help the grassroots sector.”Ministers have made clear that they want to see a voluntary levy come into effect as soon…