Centro has announced plans to close 44 bank branches, putting around 300 jobs at risk.
The lender said its move is a continued response to the changing needs of its customers as more people bank online.
Less than a year has passed since the announcement of plans to close 95 sites.
Centro UK announced that its latest decision would reduce its number of full service branches to just 244.
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The company revealed a list of affected locations and closure dates:
Andover, Hampshire, 12 May Banbridge, County Down, 19 May Bangor, County Down, 29 April Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, 28 April Bishop Auckland, County Durham, 5 May Boston, Lincolnshire, April 28 Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, 12 May Bridgwater, Somerset, 29 April Cwmbran, Gwent, 13 May Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, 12 May Evesham, Worcestershire, 28 April Glengormley, County Antrim, 6 May Golders Green, London, 13 May Gosport, Hampshire, 5 May Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, 5 May Heswall, Merseyside, 13 May Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, 5 May Kirkintilloch, Lanarkshire, 29 April Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, by the end of January 2027 Leyland, Lancashire, 6 May Liskeard, Cornwall, 20 May Macclesfield, Cheshire, 12 May Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, 6 May Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 29 April Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan, 6 May Mould, Clyde, 28 April Newbury, Berkshire, 29 April Newton Abbot, Devon, 19 May Northallerton, North Yorkshire, 6 May Ormskirk, Lancashire, by the end of January 2027 Pontefract, West Yorkshire, 5 May Ramsgate, Kent, 28 April Redditch, Worcestershire, 13 May Ringwood, Hampshire, 6 May Scunthorpe, South Humberside, 29 April Shirley, West Midlands, 20 May Stafford, Staffordshire, 19 May Stranraer, Wigtownshire, 13 May Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, 12 May Tonbridge, Kent, 29 April Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, 5 May Whitehaven, Cumbria, by the end of January 2027 Wilmslow, Cheshire, by the end of January 2027 Woking, Surrey, 28 April
The bank group based in Spain announced that 96% of all transactions now occur through digital channels.
It reassured critics of widespread industry branch closures around access to banking and stressed that its community banker programme would help areas where entire branches are closing.
Its remaining network will also include 19 counter-free branches.
reduced-hour branches, six work cafes and 111 Sanchez residents.
Two-thirds of UK networks have disappeared over the past 10 years as the industry moved away from expensive branch services, but branch services have declined sharply since the financial crisis in 2008/9.
A spokesperson for Santander said, “We will continue to invest in our branch network – including full-service branches, counter-free branches, reduced-hours branches, Santander Locals and our increasingly popular work cafés – as well as our digital banking services, so we can be there to support our customers, however they choose to bank with us.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published soon.
You can receive breaking news alerts on your smartphone or tablet through the Sky News app. you can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our Youtube channel To stay connected with the latest news.
with stars like Timothée Chalamet, Jessie Buckley, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan and Teyana Taylor in the running for acting awards.
One Fight After Another leads the nominations with 14, while the Sinners have 13, and Marty Supreme and Hamnett each have 11.
There are 26 categories in total, including the Rising Star Award voted for by the public. Here’s the full list of nominations.
Image: Teyana Taylor as Perfidia and Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson in One Battle After Another. Photo: Warner Bros.
best movie
Hamnett
Marty Supreme
one fight after another
sentimental value
sinners
best Actor
Robert Aramayo – I Swear
Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One-on-One Fight
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B Jordan – Sinner
Jesse Plemons – Bugonia
Image: If I had legs, I’d kick you, Rose Burn. Photo: A24/Logan White
best Actress
Jessie Buckley – Hamnett
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
kate hudson – sang blue
Chase Infinity – One-on-One Battle
Renate Reinsway – Sentimental Value
Emma Stone – Bugonia
best british film
after 28 years
wallis island song
Bridget Jones: Crazy About the Boy
Die, my love
h is for hawk
Hamnett
I swear.
mr burton
back seat
steve
Image: Harry Melling (left) and Alexander Skarsgård in the pillion. Image: PA/Picturehouse
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Ceremony – Jack King (Director, Writer), Holly Bryan (Producer), Lucy Mir (Producer)
Shadow of My Father – Akinola Davis Jr (director), Wale Davis (writer)
Pillion – Harry Lighton (director, writer)
A Want in Her – Mairead Carton (Director)
Westman – Cal McMaw (director), Hunter Andrews (writer), Ioan Doran (writer)
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Ballad of Wallis Island – Tom Basden, Tim Key
Bugonia – Will Tracy
Hamnet – Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell
One on One Fight – Paul Thomas Anderson
Pillion – Harry Lighton
Image: Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent. Photo: MUBI/CinemaSc’pio/MK Production
Best Original Screenplay
I Swear – Kirk Jones
Marty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
Secret Agent – Kleber Mendonça Filho
Sentimental Value – Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
The Sinner – Ryan Coogler
non-english language film
it was just an accident
secret agent
sentimental value
Sirat
hind ki awaaz rajab
Image: Renette Reinsway in Sentimental Value. Photo: Caspar Tuckson Andersen/MUBI
best director
Bugonia – Yorgos Lanthimos
Hamnett – Chloé Zhao
Marty Supreme – Josh Safdie
One on One Fight – Paul Thomas Anderson
Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier
The Sinner – Ryan Coogler
best Supporting Actress
Odessa A’Zion – Marti Supreme
Inga Ibsdotter Lilias – Sentimental Value
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinner
Carey Mulligan – The Ballad of Wallis Island
Teyana Taylor – One on One Fight
Emily Watson – Hamnet
Image: Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein. Image: Netflix
Best Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro – One-on-One Fight
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Paul Mescal – Hamnet
Peter Mullan – I Swear
Sean Penn – One-on-One Fight
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
Best Children’s and Family Film
Arco
boong
lilo and stitch
Zootropolis 2
Image: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked: For Good. Photo: Universal Pictures
best dress
frankenstein
Hamnett
Marty Supreme
sinners
Wicked: for good
special visual effects
Avatar: Fire and Ashes
f1
frankenstein
how to Train Your Dragon
lost bus
Image: Dalton Loak portrays Britain, while Bailey Bass plays Syreya in Avatar: Fire and Ash. Photo: 20th Century Studios/Disney via AP
production design
frankenstein
Hamnett
Marty Supreme
one fight after another
sinners
sound
f1
frankenstein
one fight after another
sinners
war
Image: Damson Idris and Brad Pitt in F1. Image: Apple TV
makeup and hair
frankenstein
Hamnett
Marty Supreme
sinners
Wicked: for good
best original score
Bugonia
frankenstein
Hamnett
one fight after another
sinners
Image: Emma Stone as Michelle in Bugonia. Photo: Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features
Best Animated Film
Ilio
little emily
Zootropolis 2
British short animation
Cardboard
solstice
two black boys in heaven
Best British Short Film
Maggid/Jafar
nostalgia
terence
this is endometriosis
Welcome home, freckles.
Image: Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme. Image: Entertainment Film Distributors
casting
I swear.
Marty Supreme
one fight after another
sentimental value
sinners
cinematography
frankenstein
Marty Supreme
one fight after another
sinners
train dreams
Image: Idris Elba in A House of Dynamite. Image: Netflix
editing
f1
a house of dynamite
Marty Supreme
one fight after another
sinners
Best Documentary
2000 meters to Andreevka
apocalypse in the tropics
cover-up
Mr Nobody Against Putin
perfect neighbor
Rising Star – Voted by the public
Archie Madekwe – Lurker
Chase Infinity – One-on-One Battle
Miles Caton – Sinner
Robert Aramayo – I Swear
Posie Sterling – Lollipop
The 2026 BAFTA Film Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, 22 February, at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
The clerics who rule Iran have successfully crushed a nationwide rebellion, restoring a climate of fear.
However, he matches his determination to stay in power with his efforts to conceal the events.
The latest update shows that Trump is threatening Tehran.
During the Iran Communication Blackout, which started on January 8, there has been some relief; sporadic internet use has now become possible.
But communicating with people inside the country remains difficult, requiring both courage and practical means to reach them.
Image: Before suppressing the protests in Iran
activist doctor
Dr. Yasser Rahmani-Raad is determined to raise his voice. A specialist in internal medicine at a public hospital in Tehran, he told Sky News what he saw when the regime launched its crackdown in the capital.
“Pressure was being put on the nurses and doctors to vacate the emergency department. In other words, any patient who was there – whether they had clear medical indications or not – was asked to be discharged. They wanted the emergency ward to be vacated for the security forces who were injured.”
Image: Dr Yasser Rahmani-Red
We know that members of Iranian security forces have infiltrated clinics and hospitals. Photos of one such operation inside Imam Khomeini Hospital in western Iran have been posted online.
We see staff members at the front entrance trying to stop them.
Colleagues informed Dr Rahmani-Raad about the consequences of the state’s actions.
“In some cases patients were removed from ventilators and other medical equipment. They said, ‘Let them die. They have no rights. They are against the Islamic system, and they deserve to die.'”
Medical workers also told the doctor that security officers targeted protesters with their weapons inside medical facilities.
“Some people were injured by firearms and (later) killed in the hospital with live ammunition… (protesters) who were shot with live bullets and were killed again inside the hospital with live ammunition.”
Image: The photo shows an X-ray of an injured protester
Dr Rahmani-Raad says that as a result of state action, security forces now have effective control over hospitals.
They’ll arrest anyone who was hurt in the protests and went to the hospital, even if they went before the police found out. By checking their security cameras, they track them down, raid places, and detain them. That’s the situation we are in now.”
Iranian activists discuss the protests, stating, “The regime always lies.”
doctors are being targeted
Online reports have circulated about the targeting of doctors and medical professionals.
Human rights organisations have confirmed six cases of arrests or detentions of medical professionals for treating protesters so far.
Dr Rahmani-Raad confirmed the arrests of colleagues Ameneh Soleimani, Babak Pouramin, and Farhad Nadali.
One of these doctors is Dr Alireza Golchini, who posted on Instagram in early January that he would provide treatment to protesters.
Image: Dr Ameneh Sulaimani is a dermatologist. Credit: Instagram
Image: Dr Babak Pouramin. Credit: LinkedIn
Image: Dr Farhad Nadali is a general surgeon
In recent days, human rights organisations have said security forces raided Dr. Golchini’s home and beat him before detaining him.
Now, Dr Golchini is reportedly facing a death sentence for charges of Moharebeh – known as waging war against God – according to the human rights organisation Hengaw.
How many people have died?
Iranian officials violently stopped protests, and a massive internet blackout was implemented from January 8 to 27.
This has obscured the real impact of the brutal actions, making it difficult to collect verified data on the number of people killed and injured during the rebellion.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has said that 3,117 people have been killed – claiming that the majority of these deaths were by security forces and civilians, not protesters.
Human rights agencies have cautioned that the actual numbers are significantly higher.
The Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) has independently confirmed 6,301 deaths, while 17,091 cases are under review, bringing the total probable number to more than 23,000.
Read more:
Iran warns any attack would mean ‘total war’
‘He was bleeding and gasping for life for 40 minutes.’
Image: Iran’s supreme leader is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo: Reuters
Medical professionals also claim that the officials’ figure is very low.
Dr Rahmani-Raad and his network of doctors previously estimated that around 20,000 to 30,000 people had died and now believe it could be higher.
This number is reiterated by Dr Amir-Mobrez Parasta, a Germany-based eye surgeon and supporter of Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah of Iran.
They assert that since the protests began on January 23, hospitals and clinics across Iran have recorded at least 25,654 deaths. Of these, almost a third (8,354) were in Tehran alone.
Sky News contacted the Iranian Embassy to confirm these figures but did not receive a response.
Image: The USS Abraham Lincoln (pictured) and several other ships are now in the area, raising fears of a US attack. Photo: Reuters
Dr Parasta says he has collected data on medically reported deaths linked to the protests by talking to medical professionals in hospitals and clinics across Iran. At least two individuals in each medical organisation verified the data, according to him.
Sky News has not seen these clinical reports and is unable to independently verify this data.
Demand for care from foreign doctors
Injured protesters who need medical care face a terrible dilemma. By seeking treatment at a clinic or hospital in Iran, they risk arrest and detention by authorities.
Instead, some people are turning to doctors working overseas.
Dr Panteha Rezaian is a cardiovascular specialist in California who has received many calls from protest participants or their family members.
“They were already shot. They couldn’t go to any hospital because they were afraid of being killed or arrested. So what? They are indoors. They have infections; some of them are still bleeding. Some of them have been shot inside the stomach.”
Image: Bodies lie in body bags outside the Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center in Tehran. Image: via social media/ Reuters
Dr Rezaian told us about his most recent call.
“I have a very little boy who has been shot. The bullet struck the boy in both knees from a mere two meters away. And you can imagine he may never walk again.”
The operation is an extreme form of remote health care and the expert says she does what she can, but these are people who need immediate care.
“Many injured people are not going to hospital, and then what does that mean? So that means they are at risk of potentially dying in the next few days or a week.”
Sky News contacted Iranian officials with our findings and did not receive a response.
Driverless cars are coming to London some time this year.
Waymo, Google’s driverless car division, has confirmed that its self-driving cars will be fully operational by the end of 2026, assuming regulators get the go-ahead.
The phrase “Q4” was mentioned: the corporate code for the last few months of the year.
There are currently about 24 Waymo vehicles roaming the streets of London, although they are driven by humans.
This is the mapping and data collection phase of the project.
The next phase will be testing with a safety driver at the wheel, following the code of practice set by the government for autonomous vehicles.
The third and final phase will be when driverless cars will hit the roads and Londoners will be able to go to their destinations in their own cars.
“We intend to open it to riders later this year, subject to government approval,” Waymo spokesman Ethan Teicher told Sky News.
Waymo has been working hard to gain government approval – and their efforts appear to be succeeding.
Image: A Waymo driverless taxi in lower Manhattan, New York City. Photo: Reuters
‘We are not making any compromises.’
Local Transport Minister Lillian Greenwood MP enthusiastically welcomed the news of Waymo’s arrival, saying: “We are delighted that you have chosen London as your first European city.”
“The government must be in the driving seat,” he said, adding, “We are committed to putting safety first.”
But the government is working with Waymo, he said, to develop “world-leading” and “unprecedented” regulation to accelerate the arrival of self-driving cars.
“We’re certainly not making any cuts, but we are accelerating the path towards more autonomous vehicles on our roads,” Ms Greenwood said.
Waymo emphasised the cars’ safety records.
saying they are significantly safer than human drivers, especially for pedestrians and cyclists.
It also claimed to have other perks, like car privacy and safety for women.
“Our sensors are able to see the world around them much better, more accurately, and with a greater field of view than human drivers,” said Nicole Gavel, head of business development and strategic partnerships at Waymo.
The car was capable of achieving “superhuman levels of perception”, he said.
However, many questions remain unresolved about how Waymo will actually work.
Read more from Sky News: The UK launches free AI training, but will it save your job?
For example: How much of London will Waymo cover? It’s currently being tested in 19 towns, 13 short of the total, and Mr Teicher confirmed it would start in a small area, expanding from there, though not exactly where that area would be.
It has so far been operated in American cities, where walking is a crime, and on the gentrified streets of Tokyo.
Will it cope with the behaviour of London’s pedestrians? Or London commuters?
“We see many jaywalkers in San Francisco,” Mr Teicher said.
“Pedestrians are different in Los Angeles, but that’s something we have to deal with. The same is true for every city like Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta and Miami. And in the UK, our pedestrian behaviour has been tried and tested.”
One thing’s for sure: don’t expect driverless cars to flood London’s streets.
In Waymo’s biggest markets, San Francisco and the Bay Area, it has about 1,000 vehicles. In Los Angeles, it numbers 700.
For this reason, Mr Teicher dismissed concerns that the introduction of driverless vehicles would lead to a large increase in traffic, saying, “We’re going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the ride-hailing market.”
However, he also said that tireless Wemos could be far more efficient than humans, so fewer cars could make more trips.
Of course, the proof will be in the pudding – or should we say, in the driving. It looks like we may soon find out if robots can actually work on the streets of London.
politician Ilhan Omar by a man who sprayed her with an unknown substance.
minnesota representative Targeted at an event in Minneapolis on Tuesday Where he called for the dismantling of ICE – the controversial immigration enforcement unit.
The man who attacked him during his address was identified by police as 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, who was arrested for third-degree assault.
Image: Anthony Kazmierczak. Photo: Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office
US federal law explicitly mandates the FBI to investigate attacks on lawmakers.
The agency remained largely silent about the incident until Wednesday evening.
It told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News: “The FBI is investigating this matter. To maintain the integrity of the ongoing investigation, there are no additional details available for release at this time.”
Ms Omar gave a press conference the day after the attack and blamed Donald Trump. He has repeatedly criticised her and last month called her “trash”.
Ms Omar declared, “Every time the President of the United States has used hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community I represent, my risk of death increases.”
She said that “if Donald Trump had not been in office and if he had not been so obsessed with me,” she would not have become such a target.
“I believe the truth of the situation is that if Donald Trump had not been in office, I would not have been where I am today, would have had to pay for security, and would have had to think about providing security for me,” she said.
Read more from Sky News:
King speaks about reaction
US plans to check tourists’ social media
Ms Omar, now an American citizen, fled Somalia with her family during the civil war when she was a child. She is the first Somali-American member of Congress.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is home to approximately 84,000 people of Somali origin – about a third of the total number of Somalis living in the US.
Thousands of ICE agents began being deployed to the city, Minnesota’s largest, on 5th January.
According to the government department, its aim was to arrest “fraudsters, murderers, rapists and gang members”.
This came after a right-wing online influencer alleged that several childcare facilities run by Somali residents in Minnesota committed welfare fraud.
Johannesburg– Human-caused climate change has worsened the situation, as recent torrential rains and floods devastated parts of southern Africa, killing more than 100 people and displacing over 300,000, researchers said Thursday.
A study by World Weather Attribution showed that the region of South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe received a year’s worth of rain in just a 10-day period, analysing the recent heavy rainfall and severe flooding.
It resulted in millions of dollars of widespread damage to housing and infrastructure and countless human suffering, including loss of life.
Many homes and buildings in Mozambique were completely submerged under water, while roads and bridges were washed away in the South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga and parts of Zimbabwe.
The study examines the impact of climate change on severe weather patterns and events.
Scientists from around the world conducted the study using peer-reviewed methods to assess the impact of climate change on severe weather patterns and events.
The study shows that data from recent rainfall, whose rare intensity occurs about once every 50 years, confirms a “clear move towards more violent rainfall.”
This was also linked to the current La Niña weather phenomenon, which naturally brings wet conditions to the Southern Africa region but was now operating in a much warmer environment.
“Our analysis clearly shows that our burning of fossil fuels is not only increasing the intensity of extreme precipitation but also making the number of events that could otherwise occur more severe,” said Izzin Pinto, a senior climate researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
Pinto, a co-author of the study, said the climate models used are struggling to explain how much worse the recent floods were due to climate change, but that a 40% increase in rainfall intensity would be impossible to explain without human-caused climate change.
“This means that what would have already been a severe period of heavy rainfall has turned into even more violent flooding that communities are ill-equipped to deal with,” he said.
The affected areas of southern Africa are no strangers to heavy rain and flooding, but the magnitude of recent events has scientists worried.
“This event was a surprise for us because we had experienced previous events 25 years ago in which the same areas flooded,” said Bernardino Nhantumbo, a researcher at the Mozambique Meteorological Service.
“There are places where the expected rainfall for the entire rainy season has been recorded in two to three days, so it was very challenging to adjust to any given situation.”
According to Nhantumbo, Mozambique is in the flow of nine international rivers, so when such an event occurs, there is the potential for significant damage, not only due to heavy rainfall but also due to stream flow.
“We make accurate forecasts using various models, but these events can still cause damage despite having good predictions,” he said.
Central and southern parts of Mozambique were hardest hit, with Gaza’s provincial capital, Xai-Xai, and the nearby city of Chokwe largely inundated.
The researchers also called for the development of climate models in Africa to better understand the dynamics and extent of climate change impacts in different regions of the continent.
According to Friederike Otto, professor of climate science at the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, the lack of developed climate models in Africa was part of the reason most models had difficulty capturing how much worse the recent floods were due to climate change.
“We have developed all the freely available climate models outside of Africa. They have all been developed within climate modelling centres in the US, Europe and some in Asia.
“But there is not a single climate model that has been developed for Africa. Because of this, they are generally designed to get the best climate for the regions they are built for, and this is true for all models,” he said.
Due to a disciplinary issue, Bundy Aki is likely to miss Ireland’s opening Six Nations match against France.
The center did not travel to Portugal with Andy Farrell; Ulster’s uncapped centre, Jude Postlethwaite, was brought in.
It has been confirmed that, on Wednesday, Aki will face an independent disciplinary hearing following Connacht’s defeat to Leinster “in relation to a misconduct charge made against him under the United Rugby Championship Disciplinary Rules.”.
Ireland is also conducting its own internal investigation and stated: “The IRFU can confirm that Bundy Aki did not travel to Portugal with the men’s senior squad due to disciplinary reasons.”
“The IRFU does not tolerate any form of disrespect towards match officials and does not condone conduct that falls below the standards expected of players representing Irish rugby.
“The IRFU is investigating the matter further internally and no further comment will be made at this time.”
Ireland’s Six Nations fixtures
France – Stade de France – Thursday, February 5 – 8.10pm (GMT)
KKR, the US asset management giant, is in expanding talks about a multibillion-pound deal to take a stake in the sports investment vehicle that has stakes in Six Nations rugby, women’s professional tennis and the top flights of French and Spanish men’s football.
Sky News has learnt that KKR has emerged as the leading candidate to lead an approximately €2.75bn (£2.4bn) transaction that would see it become a shareholder in CVC Capital Partners’ Global Sports Group (GSG).
City sources said KKR was in advanced talks about a deal, although other parties, including Ares management, were ready to participate.
In recent weeks, the idea of debt-only financing for GSGs has also been explored.
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A deal involving KKR would highlight GSG’s ambitions to become the most sophisticated global investor in elite sports teams, leagues and other related assets.
KKR recently agreed to acquire Sports.
KKR recently agreed to acquire sports-focused private equity firm Arctos Partners for approximately $1 billion, bolstering growing investor interest in the sector.
The news of KKR’s increasing interest in a stake in GSG came on the same day. CVC-backed vehicle confirms acquisition of Equine Network The largest for-profit equestrian sports league in America – which was revealed by Sky News last weekend.
Announcing the deal on Wednesday, Gemma Wright, partner in CVC’s sports, media and entertainment team, said, “The creation of Global Sports Group was driven by our conviction that premium sports leagues benefit from long-term, specialist ownership and collaboration.
“CVC’s investment experience in games spans over twenty years, and while much has changed in that time, games IP remains a very attractive opportunity in which we see significant potential for further innovation and growth.”
GSG, whose chairman is former BT Group consumer chief Mark Allera, also has stakes in premiership rugby and international volleyball.
Its new War Chest aims to acquire a range of other assets in the game with substantial commercial growth potential.
Once completed, the deal will enable CVC to remain invested in its sports portfolio for the long term, while also paving the way for the sale of a minority stake in GSG or a future initial public offering on a major international exchange.
Earning billions of dollars from its ownership of Formula One motor racing – one of the most lucrative deals in the history of the sport – CVC has purchased stakes in the league and other assets, spanning a spectrum of specific sporting assets over the past two decades.
CVC expects its investment in media rights for La Liga – Spain’s equivalent of the Premier League – to bring good returns to the company, although a comparable deal in France has faced challenges amid financial difficulties for broadcasters in the country.
CVC’s support of global sports properties is aimed at positioning them to maximise their commercial potential through new media and sponsorship rights deals, as well as expanding them into new formats aimed at attracting wider audiences amid rapid changes in media consumption.
Despite the new umbrella holding entity, its sports properties will remain autonomous and independent from each other.
An expected benefit of the GSG approach will be the sourcing of new investment opportunities, with CVC potentially interested in the acquisition of further niche tennis tournaments.
Global sports properties have become one of the hottest growth areas for private capital in recent years, with firms such as Ares, Silver Lake Partners and Bridgepoint investing substantial amounts in teams, leagues and other assets across the industry.
The bird jumped onto the plane at Hong Kong International Airport when the cabin crew’s backs were turned and the extra passenger pushed the journey back by nearly an hour.
12:27, 28 January 2026 Updated 12:27, 28 January 2026
The flight was delayed due to a bird ‘drip’ in the plane’s cabin.
A flight was delayed when an unticketed passenger decided to travel in the aircraft cabin, throwing the crew into confusion.
The winged stowaway, suspected to be a Eurasian tree sparrow, breached animal transportation regulations on a Cathay Pacific flight when it unexpectedly landed at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday.
The plane was about to take off for Kaohsiung, Taiwan, when a jet-setting bird started whistling in the cabin. The footage shows sparrows flying across a row of luggage compartments and ground staff frantically communicating via walkie-talkie.
A man wearing a white T-shirt, believed to be a passenger, was later seen trapping the bird with a blanket. He then takes it to the cabin to thunderous applause.
The bird started flying here and there, causing a delay in flight (Image: Jam Press).
The Airbus A330 departed Hong Kong about 50 minutes behind schedule at 8:55 am. The flight then landed in Taiwan at approximately 11:10 p.m., about 45 minutes later than expected.
The clip delighted viewers online, with one person joking, “I believe I can fly.” A second person commented, “This is an alternative bird attack.” Cathay Pacific has been contacted for comment.
However, a starling unexpectedly made an appearance in business class on a Singapore Airlines flight to London Heathrow in 2019, captured on video by an anonymous passenger.
The Eurasian tree sparrow was finally caught (image: Jam Press).
It is believed to have entered the plane in Singapore and remained in a dark place until high altitude and low cabin pressure prompted it to emerge. In the footage, Maina is seen sitting on a business class seat looking around as no one is paying attention to her.
According to Singapore Airlines, the stowaway starling appeared when the plane was about two hours away from landing at Heathrow and was believed to be hidden in an overhead bin or somewhere dark and quiet.
According to statistics, birds cause trouble to thousands of air passengers every year. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, there have been 270,000 reports of wildlife strikes on aircraft between 2016 and 2021.
President Trump threatened Iran on Wednesday with an attack “much worse” than the one he carried out at the country’s nuclear sites in June if Tehran does not agree to a deal to curb its nuclear program.
“A vast armada is headed toward Iran. It is moving rapidly with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, led by the massive aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, than the fleet Venezuela sent. Like Venezuela, it is ready, willing, and able to accomplish its mission rapidly, with speed and violence when necessary.” Trump made this statement in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Hopefully Iran will soon ‘come to the table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – no nuclear weapons – that will be beneficial for all parties. Time is running out; the present really is of the essence!”
Mr. Trump stated that if Iran does not reach a deal with the United States, the US could launch an attack that would be more severe than the previous attack in June, which targeted several nuclear sites with bunker-busting bombs.
“As I told Iran once before, make a deal! Iran did not comply, leading to ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ which resulted in massive destruction for the country. The next attack will be much worse! Don’t do it again. Thank you for paying attention to this matter!” Mr Trump said on Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, a U.S. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, which consists of one carrier and three destroyers, has penetrated into the Central Command area of responsibility of the US Army, including the Middle East and the waters around Iran, although it did not necessarily reach its intended final deployment location. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group entered the US Army’s Central Command area of responsibility, which includes the Middle East and the waters around Iran, but it did not necessarily reach its intended final deployment location.
In a file photo the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is being guided by tugboats in San Diego Bay as it returns to its homeport of Naval Air Station North Island following a deployment to the Middle East, December 20,
While Mr Trump has issued threats to Iran for weeks and the Lincoln Strike Group is close to the region, his rhetoric has largely been about Iran brutally quashing mass street protests. For the first time in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, he linked the major deployment of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf region to the stalled nuclear talks.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York issued a social media post on Wednesday, responding to Mr Trump’s statement that the country is “ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and interests – but if pushed, it will defend itself and respond like never before!”
“The last time the US made a mistake in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it wasted more than $7 trillion and lost more than 7,000 American lives,” the Iranian mission said.
Last week, he said an “armada” of US warships was headed to the Middle East as he monitored the Iranian regime’s response to mass protests that began in late December.
“We have many ships going in that direction,” he told reporters Thursday. He called it a “good sign” that Iranian authorities had decided not to execute protesters, adding, “We have an armada going in that direction and we probably won’t have to use it.”
Iran’s army commander on Wednesday reiterated the recent statements of the country’s leaders and said that Iran is ready for any attack by its enemies.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran Army is always ready to face any threat, and if anything happens, the enemy will definitely suffer serious losses,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, chief of staff and deputy coordinator of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said on Wednesday, according to Iranian state media. “We stand against any threat on land, air and sea, and the Army is always ready to face any threat.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on Wednesday that he was in “constant contact” with his counterparts in other regional countries, including US ally Qatar, and they agreed that any new military action against Tehran would destabilise the Middle East.
“Last night, I spoke to Qatar’s foreign minister,” Iranian media quoted Araghichi as saying. “The prevailing view throughout the region is that, given the nature of the US presence here, any military threat would create instability in the entire region.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (C) delivers a statement during a visit to the mausoleum of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in September 2024, in the southern suburbs of Beirut on June 3, 2025.
Araghchi was quoted as telling reporters on the sidelines of a weekly Cabinet meeting in Tehran that he had not had any contact with US special envoy Steve Witkoff recently and that Iran had not sought new talks with Washington, although he said the two sides remained in touch through mediators.
“Our position is clear that pursuing diplomacy through military threats cannot be effective,” he said. “If they want negotiations to take place, they will have to avoid threats, excessive demands and raising illogical issues. Negotiations have their principles and should be based on equal footing and mutual respect.”
Iran has been subject to an international nuclear agreement since 2015.
requiring it to have external monitoring of its enrichment activities and set a limit on the level of uranium it could enrich by 2018, when Mr Trump took America out of this agreement during his first term.
He had long been critical of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was negotiated by President Obama’s administration and signed by Iran, the US, China, France, Russia, Britain, Germany, and the EU, as he believed it was too lenient towards Tehran.
Despite European efforts to keep the agreement viable, the US’s unilateral withdrawal prompted Iran to abandon adherence to the agreement’s terms and its nuclear program. The number of violations has increased in the last half of the decade.
