Author: SKYNEWS

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will this week hold further talks with bank bosses amid industry anxiety that she will raise the tax burden on it at this month’s budget.Sky News has learnt that Ms Reeves will meet the chief executives of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Santander UK on Wednesday. It will be the latest in a series of discussions she has held with the sector since being named chancellor in the wake of Labour’s election victory in July.Coming five days before the International Investment Summit and a fortnight before Ms Reeves’s inaugural budget, the meeting will…

Coleen Rooney claims her legal fees during her high-profile legal battle with Rebekah Vardy came up to over £1.8m, the High Court has been told.Returning to court two years after the original trial, the women’s lawyers have returned to court in a dispute over legal costs. The case, which gained worldwide attention after it came to court in the summer of 2022, was dubbed “Wagatha Christie” in a nod to the famous British crime novelist and Rooney’s detective skills.The wife of ex-England footballer Wayne Rooney accused Vardy of leaking stories from her private Instagram account to The Sun newspaper. She…

Using fluoride in drinking water to improve dental health may be less effective now than it was in the past, according to a new major review.Ten per cent of people in England have fluoride added to their drinking water by the council and the government is considering expanding the reach of fluoridation projects. But a new study found the benefits of fluoridating water seem to have declined since fluoride toothpaste became widely available in the 1970s.Academics at Manchester, Dundee and Aberdeen universities compared 157 studies looking at the effect of fluoridation on the dental health of communities.When the government began…

Actor Adam Pearson, who has a disfiguring facial condition, wants to help others learn about such differences as he plays a man with the same illness in his latest film.The British star, 39, has neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic condition that causes tumours, which are most often benign, to grow along your nerves. Pearson, who made his acting debut in the 2013 film Under the Skin, said: “There are two ways to lose your anonymity in a society – to either become famous or have a disfigurement so I’ve kind of shot myself in both feet a little bit…

Before we get onto the budget and what Rachel Reeves might do to fiddle her fiscal rules and give herself a little more room to spend, I want you to ponder, for a moment, a recent report from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).This wasn’t one of those big OBR reports that get lots of attention – such as the documents and numbers it produces alongside each budget, full of the forecasts and analyses on the state of the economy and the public finances. Instead, it was a chin-scratchy working paper that asked the question: if the government invests in…

“I went on Facebook to see if he would go the extent of meeting up with me. He did… but I never went.” Savanna Harrison, 27, is a professional “checker”, using social media to expose cheating partners after being cheated on herself. She wanted to help other women avoid the same heartbreak she felt, so she started working for a company called Lazo, which describes itself as a “tool designed to see intentions and let go of toxic relationships”.Now, she gets paid to run dozens of loyalty tests a month on people suspected of cheating on their partners.”I’ve seen some…

Donald Glover has cancelled the remainder of his Childish Gambino tour due to a health issue.The American actor, comedian, and singer was set to head to the UK in November and early December to perform in Manchester, Glasgow, London, and Birmingham, as well as Dublin in Ireland. He had already postponed the remainder of his North American tour last month to focus on his “physical health”.In a post on social media on Friday night, he said: “After my show in New Orleans, I went to the hospital in Houston to make sure of an ailment that had become apparent.”After being…

The owner of one of Britain’s biggest chains of country clubs has hired bankers to oversee a sale of the business.Sky News has learnt that Epiris, the private equity firm, has appointed DC Advisory to run an auction of The Club Company that could kick off as soon as this year. Buyout industry sources said that informal conversations with prospective buyers were already underway.Money latest: Zuckerberg becomes second-richest person for first timeThe Club Company trades from 17 sites across the UK, each of which boasts a championship-standard golf course, as well as health and fitness facilities, bars, restaurants and accommodation.…

The UK needs a strategy to meet growing demand for data centres or risk losing its advantage in the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI), one of the sector’s largest players has told Sky News.Data centres – warehouses housing processors that power cloud computing – are central to the digital economy. They provide the power, connections and security required for the vast amount of processing power on which everything from personal device browsing to AI learning relies. The UK is currently Europe’s largest data hub, with more than 500 data centres, the majority in the South East.Slough in west London…

Prosecutors in Los Angeles are reviewing new evidence that could lead to the release or a new trial in the case of two brothers who were convicted of killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion.Lyle Menendez, 56, and his 53-year-old brother Erik are serving life in prison without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders. Their father and mother – Jose and Kitty Menendez – were shot several times at close range. Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time. Image: Lyle and Erik Menendez. Pics: Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility The Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon…