Business

UK supermarket chains have demanded government intervention to prevent “unworkable” new Brexit regulations causing disruption to food supplies to Northern Ireland. The chief executives of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Iceland, Co-op and Marks & Spencer have written to Cabinet office minister Michael Gove warning that enforcement of new procedures when a grace period expires on 31

Hollywood Radio and Television Society announced newly elected executive officers, board members and newly appointed advisory council members on Wednesday. The organization, which bills itself as the “industry’s premier information and networking forum,” elected the following officers to two-year terms: Warner Bros. Television’s Odetta Watkins as president, UTA partner Dan Erlij as chairperson of the

The government must make tackling poverty a priority in 2021 or risk being defined by a “record of worsening hardship”, according to a new report from a leading anti-poverty charity.  The “state of the nation” report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that people who were already trapped in poverty were “particularly vulnerable” to the

EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Depp may believe that he has handed Amber Heard all the documentation he needs to in the former couple’s multi-million-dollar defamation battles, but the Aquaman star is now going fishing in some very deep seas. In subpoenas submitted today, Heard wants to know what the Los Angeles Police department and Walt Disney Motion

John Lewis has suspended click-and-collect services at its department stores in the latest tightening of rules for shoppers as the coronavirus crisis intensifies. The department store chain said it was responding to a “clear change in tone and emphasis” from governments across the UK urging the public to stay at home. It came as all

Acquired titles — chief among them The Office — dominated streaming in 2020, according to a newly released year-end summary from Nielsen. The measurement firm began incorporating subscription streaming into its weekly ratings last summer, though with an extended lag time. It tracks only viewing through a TV screen — meaning no mobile devices —

British retail suffered its worst annual performance on record in 2020, new figures reveal. Total sales fell by 0.3% on 2019 – the biggest year-on-year change since the BRC-KMPG retail sales survey began in 1995. Non-food sales dropped by 5% as a result of national and local lockdowns closing non-essential stores offering fashion, lifestyle and

YouTube overnight announced a first round of winners for its YouTube Black Voices Class of 2021, an initiative to invest in fresh narratives on the video platform “that emphasize the intellectual power, authenticity, dignity, and joy of Black voices.” The 132 creators and artists are from the U.S., U.K., Kenya, Brazil, Australia, South Africa and

The chancellor has warned that there are tough times ahead for the UK economy as it struggles through a third national lockdown. In an update to MPs on Monday, Rishi Sunak said: “We should expect the economy to get worse before it gets better.” Mr Sunak said restrictions placed on people and businesses were necessary

Nationwide Covid surges and a disappointingly slow vaccine rollout notwithstanding, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci reiterated over the weekend his belief that live theater venues could reopen during fall 2021. Participating in a virtual conference held Saturday by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Fauci said that, depending on the vaccine rollout, the reopening of live

A record 250,000 small firms are set to close this year under combined pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit, according to an industry body. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said its survey revealed a “huge cost” ahead for employment without additional support from the Treasury to help mitigate the challenges faced by its

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House will take up a resolution on Monday calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and “declare the President incapable of executing the duties of his office.” In a letter to members, Pelosi said that Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will request

A former Ocado executive who has been involved in the NHS Test and Trace programme will this week be appointed as the next boss of Royal Mail. Sky News has learnt that Simon Thompson, who has worked for companies including Apple, Honda, Lastminute.com and Wm Morrison, is to be named as the former state monopoly’s

Los Angeles County saw nearly 100,000 new Covid-19 cases in a matter of one week, bringing the region to a total of 906,171 total cases. Public Health reported that the county reached another grim marker, just a week after Los Angeles topped 800,000 coronavirus cases. Officials confirmed 16,982 new Covid-19 cases and 221 related deaths

Martin Gilbert, the veteran fund management boss, is joining forces with a group of City grandees and former Aberdeen Asset Management colleagues to spearhead a fresh wave of deal-making activity across the sector. Sky News has learnt that Mr Gilbert, who stepped down from the helm of Standard Life Aberdeen last year, will next week

Amazon has followed in Apple and Google’s footsteps with plans to kick the conservative social platform Parler off its Web Services. Founded in 2018, Parler is described as a far-right alternate to Twitter. Numerous posts on the app, which bills itself as “the world’s town square,” advocated for violence and promoted participation in Wednesday’s attack

Saracens, the Championship rugby club plunged into crisis last year after breaching salary cap rules, has secured new backers even as the coronavirus crisis hammers elite sport’s commercial income. Sky News has learnt that Saracens will this weekend unveil a multimillion pound long-term naming rights and kit sponsorship with StoneX, a global financial services group

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Emergency Services announced on Thursday that a temporary morgue would be erected in the parking lot adjacent to the L.A. County Coroner’s building to handle the record number of bodies it’s seeing. The facility will include at least five 53-foot trailers supplied by the state and five more supplied

It is fair to say most of America’s business leaders never took to Donald Trump. Now, in the dying days of what has arguably been the most divisive presidency in US history, the gloves are off. US business leaders are taking to the airwaves and queuing up to condemn the outgoing president for egging on

Google said today that it has banned the alt-right Parler app from its Google Play Store “in order to protect user safety.” Separately today, Buzzfeed obtained an email Apple to Parler brass that gave them 24 hours to “remove all objectionable content” and submit “requested moderation improvement plan” or face being axed from the Apple