Author: SKYNEWS

In an unusually unpredictable Oscars race, there is only one moment experts agree is a dead cert – Jessie Buckley, on stage once again, to collect the award for best actress.The big honours started with a Critics Choice award in January. A Golden Globe followed, then a BAFTA, and most recently, a statuette at the Actor Awards.Buckley is the only acting nominee to take home all four this year, and she has picked up other smaller awards, too. The Oscar, it seems, is hers to lose.Latest updates – The Oscars Image: Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes and Joe Alwyn as…

Lawyers in a landmark social media addiction trial – which has seen tech giants face a jury – have made their final arguments.After a month of hearings, 12 jurors are set to decide on whether or not social media companies should be liable for harm caused to children using their platforms. The two defendants in the case are Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, and video-streaming platform YouTube, which is owned by Google.TikTok and Snapchat each settled before the trial began. You need javascript enabled to view this content Enable javascript to share Share Social media’s ‘tobacco’ moment? The…

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has warned petrol retailers of a “shared obligation” to keep prices down for motorists amid soaring prices and war in the Middle East.The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) had threatened to pull out of the Downing Street meeting with Ms Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband hours before, citing “inflammatory language”. That language had led to an increase in abuse against forecourt workers, the PRA said.The meeting only went ahead after assurances from the Treasury that it would be held largely in private, with the PRA’s Gordon Balmer saying the government did not apologise for its language. Image:…

The piano John Lennon used to compose some of his most notable songs for The Beatles has set the record for the most expensive piece of memorabilia sold from the band.Lennon used the Broadwood upright piano to write songs such as Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, A Day In The Life, and Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!, which featured on The Beatles’ eighth studio album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The piano sold for nearly $3.3m (£2.5m) at Christie’s New York auction house after being estimated it would fetch between $400,000 and $600,000, setting the record…

Lab-grown foie gras and chicken are being tested by scientists to ensure they are safe for humans to eat, and could hit British restaurants and dinner tables in the next five years.It is the closest any such “cultivated meat” product has yet come to approval for human consumption in the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said today as it published an update on “innovative” foods. Other products like edible insects, 3D-printed chocolate, vegetables with extra vitamins and cheese that is “brewed” in a lab could also reach the public in roughly the next 15 years, the regulator said.”The science…

One Battle After Another and Sinners are two films set for big wins at the Oscars this weekend – but with the studio behind them potentially facing a huge takeover, industry experts say this is a time of great uncertainty in Hollywood.Warner Brothers has 30 Oscar nominations in total, more than any of its rivals – and mainly thanks to these two films, with period vampire horror Sinners alone picking up a record-breaking 16 nods. But after a century of filmmaking influence, the studio is poised for a takeover so vast it could reshape Hollywood’s structure, power dynamics, and even…

The Oscars celebrate the craft and creative excellence behind the best movies of the year – but the red carpet ahead of the ceremony is quite a different matter.It’s about one thing only: Fashion.The world’s most famous catwalk, it has the power to take a celebrity’s style moment and elevate it into historical popular culture.So, as we get ready for the 2026 Academy Awards on Sunday, we’re celebrating the red-carpet risk-takers and most memorable Oscar looks over the years. Image: Cher told designer Bob Mackie ‘I don’t want to look like a housewife in an evening gown’. Mission very much…

Tech companies have been warned to protect young people online after MPs voted down a blanket social media ban for under-16s.The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Ofcom, the communications regulator, have written to several platforms to demand stronger protections for children. Ofcom has given Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube until the end of April to explain what actions they’re taking on age checks and preventing online grooming.The platforms must also set out how they’re tackling harmful algorithms, and how they roll out updates for users, with Ofcom demanding an “end to product testing on children”.Similarly, the ICO has…

The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) has announced its first annual bonus since 2022 following further progress in its post pandemic turnaround .The employee-owned retailer, which encompasses not only the department store chain but also Waitrose supermarkets, revealed that its staff, known as partners, would receive an award worth 2% of salary for its last financial year to the end of January. The company said this was on the back of a 6% rise in trading profits to £134m, built on partnership sales increasing to £13.4bn – up 5%.Iran latest: Oil prices surge again as tankers burn But it did report…

Kneecap rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh will not face a new terror trial after judges at the High Court rejected a Crown Prosecution Service appeal against the decision to throw out the case.The rapper, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May 2025 with the alleged display of a flag in support of the proscribed terrorist group Hezbollah at a gig in London on 21 November 2024. But the case against the Belfast-born Kneecap rapper was dismissed last September on technical grounds.At the time, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring told Woolwich Crown Court that the charge was…