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Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter
Jun 12
Iran not complying with nuclear obligations for first time in almost 20 years, says UN watchdog

It comes as sources have told US media that Israel is considering taking military action against Iran in the coming days - without American support. Iran said it has "always adhered" to the safeguard obligations laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Tehran said it "has no choice but to respond to this political resolution", and said it would launch a new enrichment site "in a secure location". "Other measures are also being planned and will be announced subsequently," Iran said. The reports come as US President Donald Trump is said to be in advanced discussions with Iran about a diplomatic deal to curtail the Middle Eastern country's nuclear programme. However Mr Trump told the New York Post's "Pod Force One" podcast that he was "getting more and more less confident about" an agreement. Iran will not abandon what it views as its right to enrich uranium, contrary to US demands, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday. Last week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that abandoning such enrichment was "100%" against the country's interests. Israel and the US have long feared that Iran's nuclear programme aimed to develop a nuclear weapon, something Tehran has repeatedly denied. The 2015 Iran deal signed by President Barack Obama sought to place limits on Iran's uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. However, President Trump ultimately pulled America out of the agreement. There has been a recent effort to strike a new deal as fears of Iran's nuclear programme persist in the volatile region. Israel is said to have become more serious about a unilateral strike on Iran, particularly with reports that a deal between the US and Iran could include provisions about uranium enrichment. Israel views those provisions as unacceptable. Such a strike would be a dramatic break with the Trump administration's foreign policy. With tensions in the region simmering as the nuclear discussions unfold and with the potential for unrest, the US State Department ordered the evacuation of all non-essential personnel from its embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. America has also authorised - rather than ordered - the departure of non-essential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait What is going on? Dr Burcu Ozcelik, a Middle East expert at the RUSI thinktank, said it is important to bear in mind that there is "a high level of psychological operation manoeuvring at play". "This is a tactic by all involved parties as each tests the others' threshold even as talks continue in parallel," she added in comments shared with Sky News. She said one possible scenario is that the US announcement of partial evacuation of embassy staff is a way to signal readiness for military escalation, something she described as a "high-risk gamble". "The US may be prepping to deter Iranian retaliation in case of an Israeli strike - but it is unclear if it's real strategy or leverage-building posturing to pressure Tehran into a 'quick deal'." Another possibility, Dr Ozcelik says, is that a first round of strikes against Iran may not directly involve nuclear sites, but other critical national infrastructure to increase pressure and reduce Iranian commitment to its negotiating position, particularly on the point about zero enrichment.

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Mickey Carroll, science and technology reporter
Jun 12
Video game actor strike ends in US - but AI described as 'direct threat' to UK industry

More than 2,500 US performers were barred from working on games impacted by the strike while the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) negotiated a deal with studios. Now, after more than 11 months of discussions, a "tentative" agreement has been reached. "Patience and persistence has resulted in a deal that puts in place the necessary AI guardrails that defend performers' livelihoods in the AI age, alongside other important gains," said SAG-AFTRA's national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. Actors were banned from working with major game makers like Activision, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Formosa, Insomniac Games, Take 2 and WB Games. Other studios were also impacted by the strike, as actors took industrial action in solidarity. "We are pleased to have reached a tentative contract agreement that reflects the important contributions of SAG-AFTRA-represented performers in video games," said Audrey Cooling, spokesperson for the video game producers, to Sky News. "It delivers historic wage increases of over 24% for performers, enhanced health and safety protections, and industry-leading AI provisions requiring transparency, consent and compensation for the use of digital replicas in games." In the UK, actors protested in solidarity with their American counterparts, while Equity, the UK actors' union, called for a similar wide-reaching agreement between UK studios and actors. Earlier this week, the British Film Institute (BFI) released a report detailing the risks posed by AI to the UK screen sector, including video games, and described it as a "direct threat". Read more from Sky News:Powerful new supercomputer to be built in government U-turn'Trump's anti-migrant rhetoric boosting UK's tech industry'Number of Nintendo Switch 2s sold in four days revealed The scripts of more than 130,000 films and TV shows, YouTube videos, and databases of pirated books have been used to train AI models, according to the report. AI poses a particular threat to some video game voice actors, according to one expert, because of the nature of their work creating animal or monster sound effects. "The generic stuff is the easiest thing for generative AI to replace," Video Games Industry Memo author George Osborn told Sky News previously. "Just saying to the model, 'make 200 monster noises' is much easier than convincingly [making AI] sound like it is having a conversation with someone," he said. Unlike the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike in 2023, which saw blockbusters like Deadpool 3 and Gladiator 2 delayed and entire TV series cancelled, huge delays to games were unlikely. Games take years to make and any game already in development before September 2023 was exempt from the strike. Tensions have risen in the game actor community since the industrial action began, as studios appeared to hire international actors to replace the striking US workers.

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Gurpreet Narwan, business and economics correspondent
Jun 12
Trump tariffs a big factor - but latest UK economic performance makes for unpleasant reading

After expanding by 0.7% in the first quarter of the year, output struggled at the start of the second quarter, shrinking by 0.3% in April. The damp performance is likely to continue, with economists expecting a 0.1% decline over the second quarter. The dashboard is flashing warning signs. The economic data for the start of the year was flattered by people bringing forward house purchases to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline as well as businesses racing to get orders out of the door to beat possible US tariffs. Now that those temporary factors have faded away, we can better gauge the state of the economy. It makes for unpleasant reading. A hobbled economy We are still being hobbled by low growth and high taxes, and the two are reinforcing each other. In a more detailed breakdown, the ONS revealed that the services sector shrank by 0.4%. Although economists were expecting consumer spending to hold up, businesses are gripped by a crisis of confidence, with higher national insurance contributions forcing them to put up prices. This led to a drop in sales. At the same time, the legal sector also came crashing down to earth following a drop in house purchases. Consumers have less space than usual to absorb price rises, with utility bills on the up and general inflation proving persistent. Taxes are already at a generational high, and they could go higher if the economy disappoints. The Chancellor Rachel Reeves's headroom against her fiscal rule is tight, with debt interest payments on the country's debt eating into her room for manoeuvre. A Reeves or a Trump problem? The chancellor today pointed to factors outside of her control, hinting towards President Trump's tariff policy. Most of Britain's problems are domestic ones - high government borrowing costs, rising cost of living pressures and higher taxation, but geopolitical forces have also conspired against us. The production sector, which captures manufacturing, fell by 0.6%. This was driven by a 9.5% drop in the manufacturing of cars, with industry groups warning of a slump in export orders after Trump's imposition of industry-wide tariffs at the end of March. British officials are hopeful that the US will start lifting car tariffs this week after a deal was struck back in May, but it still hangs in the balance. Even then, a new quota limits the scope for companies to grow in the US market. That's bad news for the likes of JLR, the maker of Jaguars and Land Rovers. All this matters for a chancellor with a historically small fiscal headroom. Even small changes in the growth outlook could derail her plans, forcing further tax rises to pay for her spending plans. She is betting big on investment in infrastructure- trains, nuclear power, social housing - but it could take many years for that to pay dividends, if it pays dividends at all. In the meantime, the debt continues to grow as she borrows to fund those projects, putting further pressure on her budget to cover the interest payments alone. It's a painful feedback loop for the economy.

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No Writer
Jun 12
US Open 2025 tee times: Full groupings and UK start times for first round of men's major at Oakmont

Rory McIlroy has been given an early-late draw and begins his bid for a second major title of the year alongside Shane Lowry and England's Justin Rose, who he defeated in a play-off to win The Masters in April and complete the career Grand Slam. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, who beat McIlroy to the title in last year's tournament at Pinehurst, is also out early alongside two-time major winner Xander Schauffele and US Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester. US Open LIVE! Latest news, updates, highlightsWhen is the US Open live on Sky Sports? Key TV timesLatest US Open golf headlines and highlightsStream the majors and more top sport with NOW World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is on the other side of the draw and begins his bid for back-to-back major titles alongside Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa, starting at 1.25pm local time (6.25pm BST). Full R1 groupings and tee times All times BST; USA unless stated; (x) denotes amateurs Starting on Hole One 1145 Matt Vogt (x), Kevin Velo, Trent Phillips 1156 Chandler Blanchet, Alvaro Ortiz (Mex), Doug Ghim 1207 Evan Beck (x), Maxwell Moldovan, Justin Hicks 1218 Harris English, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Keegan Bradley 1229 Xander Schauffele, Jose Luis Ballester (Esp), Bryson DeChambeau 1240 Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Wyndham Clark, Gary Woodland 1251 Akshay Bhatia, Matt McCarty, Robert MacIntyre (Sco) 1302 Cam Davis (Aus), Davis Thompson, Thomas Detry (Bel) 1313 Richard Bland (Eng), Trevor Gutschewski (x), Lanto Griffin 1324 Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Sam Stevens, Ryan Gerard 1335 Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Noah Kent (x), Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 1346 Jinichiro Kozuma (Jpn), Cameron Tankersley (x), Chase Johnson 1357 Philip Barbaree, Riley Lewis, Bradly Calkins 1730 Frederic LaCroix (Fra), Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Sam Bairstow (Eng) 1741 Byeong Hun An (Kor), Joe Highsmith, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 1752 Victor Perez (Fra), Jacob Bridgeman, Adam Schenk 1803 Min Woo Lee (Aus), Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka 1814 Sam Burns, Nico Echavarria (Col), Denny McCarthy 1825 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler 1836 Corey Conners (Can), Jason Day (Aus), Patrick Reed 1847 Joaquin Niemann (Chl), Bud Cauley, Daniel Berger 1858 Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Tony Finau, Chris Kirk 1909 Ben James (x), Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 1920 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), Justin Hastings (Cay) (x), Laurie Canter (Eng) 1931 Frankie Harris (x), Emilio Gonzalez R (Mex), Roberto Diaz (Mex) 1942 Grant Haefner, Joey Herrera, George Kneiser Starting at Hole 10 1145 Zac Blair, Scott Vincent (Zim), Alistair Docherty 1156 Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa), Jordan Smith (Eng), Eric Cole 1207 Tom Kim (Kor), JJ Spaun, Taylor Pendrith (Can) 1218 Ludvig Ã…berg (Swe), Adam Scott (Aus), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 1229 Ben Griffin, Andrew Novak, Maverick McNealy 1240 Shane Lowry (Irl), Justin Rose (Eng), Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 1251 Patrick Cantlay, Si Woo Kim (Kor), Lucas Glover 1302 Cameron Smith (Aus), Brian Harman, Phil Mickelson 1313 Niklas Norgaard (Den), Brian Campbell, Justin Lower 1324 Davis Riley, Jackson Koivun (x), Johnny Keefer 1335 James Hahn, Mark Hubbard, Michael La Sasso (x) 1346 Joakim Lagergren (Swe), Mason Howell (x), Chris Gotterup 1357 Zach Bauchou, Jackson Buchanan, Lance Simpson (x) 1730 Will Chandler, Andrea Pavan (Ita), Takumi Kanaya (Jpn) 1741 Bryan Lee (x), Guido Migliozzi (Ita), Preston Summerhays 1752 Erik van Rooyen (Rsa), Max Greyserman, Matt Wallace (Eng) 1803 Russell Henley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Nick Taylor (Can) 1814 Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm (Esp), Dustin Johnson 1825 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Sungjae Im (Kor), Sepp Straka (Aut) 1836 Cameron Young, Tom Hoge, JT Poston 1847 Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Michael Kim, Matthieu Pavon 1858 Marc Leishman (Aus), Aaron Rai (Eng), Nick Dunlap 1909 Matthew Jordan (Eng), Yuta Sugiura, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 1920 Ryan McCormick, Trevor Cone, Zachery Pollo (x) 1931 James Nicholas, Tyler Weaver (Eng) (x), Riki Kawamoto (Jpn) 1942 Austen Truslow, Harrison Ott, George Duangmanee When is the US Open live on Sky Sports? Sky Sports has over 40 hours of live coverage from the four tournament days, with coverage beginning at 12.30pm over the first two rounds and no later than 4pm over the weekend. All four days are live on Sky Sports Golf and - in part - on Sky Sports Main Event, while there will be daily highlights available each morning, while the final round will be shown - in full - the day after the tournament. Who will win the US Open? Watch extended coverage throughout the week live on Sky Sports, with the opening round live on Thursday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream no contract on NOW.

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No Writer
Jun 12
Charges over Ballymena riots as centre housing foreign families attacked

An 18-year-old man, and two boys aged 15 and 17, are expected to appear before Ballymena Magistrates' Court today. The 15-year-old has also been charged with criminal damage. Two other teenage boys who were arrested during the disorder have been released on bail, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said. Masked youths attacked Larne Leisure Centre and set it on fire on Wednesday evening after it emerged some of the foreign families fleeing the rioting were being temporarily held there. There have been calls for Northern Ireland's communities minister to resign after he was accused of inflaming tensions in a social media post. Prior to the attack, he wrote he had been made aware individuals had been "temporarily moved" to the building "following the disturbances in Ballymena", which is around 25 minutes away. Police said ethnic minorities had been targeted in the violence, which they have described as "racist thuggery". Eyewitness: It is hard to see where the violence will end Mr Lyons said in his post: "As a local MLA for the area, neither I nor my DUP council colleagues were made aware or consulted on this decision until late this afternoon." He added: "It has now been confirmed to us by the PSNI and council that all these individuals are in the care of the Housing Executive and have been moved out of Larne. "Protesting is of course a legitimate right, but violence is not and I would encourage everyone to remain peaceful." Some politicians have said Mr Lyons should be considering his position, while Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said it was not helpful to publicise where people had been moved. Asked if he should still be in his job, he told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme: "Absolutely." He insisted the information was already in the "public domain". Read more: Families flee Ballymena riots Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said the leisure centre had been designated as an emergency rest centre, but the families had been safely relocated elsewhere. The fire in Larne coincided with a third night of violence in Ballymena.

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No Writer
Jun 11
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of criminal sexual act in New York retrial

The 73-year-old was found not guilty of another count of committing a criminal sexual act relating to a second woman. The jury has so far not recorded a verdict in relation to an allegation of rape against a third woman. Weinstein pleaded not guilty to all three charges and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. The case was being retried after an appeals court overturned his 2020 conviction last year. He was accused of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in a New York hotel room in 2013 and forcing oral sex on two other women. Two of the charges were those he faced during the original trial, while the third - one of the charges of forcing oral sex - was added last year. The partial verdict came after an extraordinary day which saw the jury foreperson ask to speak to the judge and Weinstein himself call for the trial to be halted. "My life is on the line and you know what? It's not fair," the former movie mogul said. "It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time to say this trial is over." He spoke before there was a verdict on any of the charges. The foreperson requested to speak to the judge about "a situation". The man - who had on Monday complained other jurors were pushing people to change their minds, and talking about information beyond the charges - was questioned in private, at his request. The episode was the latest sign of jurors under strain. On Friday, one asked to be excused because he felt another juror was being treated unfairly - at which point Weinstein lawyers unsuccessfully asked for a mistrial. Nearly eight years ago, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning movie producer propelled the #MeToo movement. Read more:What has happened to the #MeToo movement? Some of those accusations later generated criminal charges and convictions in New York and California. Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He had also denied this charge.

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No Writer
Jun 12
Economy shock overshadows Reeves' big day

Rachel Reeves has said this morning that the latest figures showing the UK economy has shrunk by more than expected are "disappointing". How much will this overshadow yesterday's major spending announcement? The chancellor has now planted Labour's fiscal flag in the sand - and spending mistakes from here on in certainly cannot be blamed on their predecessors. How will Labour react to a potential internal revolt over disability benefit cuts? And how will the party manage the politics around expected tax rises in the autumn?

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No Writer
Jun 11
Tijjani Reijnders transfer: Man City complete £46.3m deal to sign midfielder from AC Milan on five-year contract

The 26-year-old has signed a five-year deal at the club. Reijnders is a Netherlands international who had the most goals and assists of any midfielder in Serie A last season. Reijnders could be key part of Man City rebuilt midfieldTransfer Centre LIVE! | Man City news & transfers🔵Sky Sports' Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games He was a bright spark in a disappointing season for Milan, who only finished eighth in Serie A, missing out on qualification for Europe. Reijnders, who joined the Italian giants from AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023, scored 15 goals in all competitions last season and will bolster Pep Guardiola's midfield options following the departure of Kevin De Bruyne. More to follow... Reijnders could be key part of Man City rebuilt midfield Sky Sports' Adam Bate: There is a revealing tale about Tijjani Reijnders. Barcelona wanted to sign him, but he opted for AC Milan instead. In the aftermath of the decision, it was said - by Reijnders and others - that he had been seduced by the tradition of the Dutch masters in Milan. There was some truth to it. A keen student of the game, Reijnders was following in the footsteps of Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten at the San Siro. But it was not mere romance. He had noted that Barcelona did not have a clear plan for him. Tactically, he wanted to know what the idea was, how they envisaged him fitting into the system. Milan sold that vision more clearly. That story feels pertinent as Reijnders prepares for a move to the Premier League as part of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City rebuild. Fortunately for player and club, it is obvious that Reijnders has qualities that City missed this past season. He is a good fit with his composure on the ball as a passer and a ball carrier but his off-the-ball running also brings a dynamism that has been lacking. Over the past two seasons in Italy, the Netherlands international, now 26, has bolstered his reputation and was recently named as Serie A's midfielder of the year. City will be a step up but there are those who believe he can help make a difference for Guardiola. The former Manchester City defender Michel Vonk coached Reijnders at age-group level when he was developing his game in Alkmaar at AZ. Speaking to Sky Sports, Vonk talks of a "technical, creative player who can play the key pass and scores goals" - ideal. Read more from Vonk and on Man City's new signing Reijnders. Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from next season From next season, Sky Sports' Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live. And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports.

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