Day: September 23, 2018

    EU leaders have insisted a Brexit deal remains possible despite flatly rejecting the Chequers proposal put forward by Theresa May during an acrimonious summit in Salzburg. The prime minister endured a brutal reception from the national newspapers upon her return to London, with her treatment in the Austrian city widely seen as a humiliation. Amid the fallout, Mrs May used a surprise statement in Downing Street on Friday to issue an ultimatum to the bloc to accept her strategy or come up with counter proposals. She declared the UK would continue preparations for a no-deal Brexit, acknowledging that the two parties had reached an impasse over two big problems in negotiations. The address was commended by senior Conservatives and Brexiteer MPs, although the latter ha...

    Britain’s first unmanned trains have sparked a safety row as politicians and union officials voiced concerns about football crowds on match days. The new Glasgow Subway trains were announced to much fanfare this week, designed to be driverless and completely unstaffed by 2021. As well as having no drivers, they will also have no door staff. While some lauded this as the future of transport, others worried that passenger safety was not being prioritised. Pat McIlvogue, a regional officer for the Unite union, said there were worries about overcrowding and rowdy passenger behaviour on match days. He told The Telegraph: Match days are a well-used situation and how they're going to manage the influx of traffic and people piling into doors when the doors are shut, what ...

    Comcast said its bid came with a series of legally binding commitments on Sky ownership and UK investment Comcast has triumphed in the auction to buy Sky plc, the owner of Sky News, for £29.7bn in the biggest takeover ever seen in Europe's media industry. The US giant's victory follows a dramatic shoot-out with US entertainment giant 21st Century Fox in a rare three-round auction overseen by the Takeover Panel. The news ends 21 months of uncertainty for Sky over its ownership. Both companies want Sky to help them compete more effectively with the new wave of online entertainment providers, including streaming services provided by the likes of Netflix and Amazon Video, who sell their content directly to viewers. Comcast in particular wants Sky to give it a presence...

    Heavy rain and strong winds could put lives at risk today, with large parts of the country set to be battered by extreme weather, forecasters have warned. The Met Office has issued a yellow warning covering southern England, Wales, the Midlands, Yorkshire and North West England. It says there is a danger to life as a result of flying debris. The wind and rain are likely to cause chaos on roads and rail networks, and homes and businesses will be at risk of flooding. The warning is in place between 6am and midnight on Sunday, during which time up to 50mm of rain could fall in some areas. A Met Office statement said: During Sunday there is the potential for a developing weather system to track across southern UK, which is likely to bring a swathe of persistent and a...