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Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

Abercrombie & Fitch's former chief executive is not fit to stand trial on sex trafficking charges as he is suffering from dementia, both prosecutors and his lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries has Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia and the "residual effects of a traumatic brain injury", his defence attorneys wrote in a letter filed at a federal court in Central Islip, New York. The 80-year-old needs around-the-clock care, they added, citing evaluations by medical professionals. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are calling for Jeffries to be placed in the custody of the federal bureau of prisons for up to four months. They say he should be admitted to hospital to have treatment that could allow his criminal case to proceed. The business tycoon, who led fashion retailer A&F from 1992 to 2014, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges in October, and was released on a $10m (£7.65m) bond. A total of 15 ...

The prolific high street investor Hilco Capital is closing in on a deal to fund a buyout of Lakeland, the family-owned homewares retailer. Sky News has learnt that Hilco, which has backed retailers including HMV and Superdry, and Lakeland's management are in advanced talks with its shareholders about a deal to take control of the 61 year-old business. A deal could be formally agreed in the coming days, according to insiders. If confirmed, a sale of Lakeland would follow months of talks with a number of potential buyers, including Modella Capital, the firm which recently agreed to buy WH Smith's high street chain. Lakeland is controlled by the three sons of founder Alan Rayner, and has been seeking tens of millions of pounds of new funding as it faces headwinds including the national insurance hike which came into effect this month. Established in 1964 as Lakeland Plastics, the company employs roughly 1,000 people across a chain of nearly 60 stor...

Parliament is being recalled so MPs can debate draft legislation to "protect" the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe, Number 10 has said. MPs are being summoned back from Easter recess to Westminster, and will sit from 11am on Saturday, the House of Commons confirmed. The news comes as the government has been actively considering nationalising British Steel after Jingye, its owner in Scunthorpe, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running. Union officials have told Sky News that British Steel's blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, the last blast furnaces left operating in Britain, will run out of raw material soon unless more can be sourced. This has led to fears the Scunthorpe plant could be forced to close as early as next month . Politics latest: Gove awarded peerage in Rishi Sunak's resignation honours list More than half of British Steel's 3,500-strong workforce is being put at ris...

China's most recent retaliation raises the stakes, but it does so within what are now relatively predictable parameters. The latest tariff hike follows the pattern we have seen throughout the week, when Chinese retaliation has exactly matched what Donald Trump has done. There is, however, one key difference to the announcement this time. China has said that anything further is just a "numbers game" and they will simply ignore any subsequent raises from Trump. There's a sense they are calling time on what has felt like a relentless tit-for-tat escalation. They are right, of course. Once tariffs exceed 50% or so, trade is basically impossible anyway and the numbers don't make any substantive difference. But there are big questions about whether this move successfully enforces a stalemate of sorts. Trump could either just leave things as they are (perhaps with a nominal raise in the tariff numbers so he can be seen to have the last word)...

It was going to be the revivifying event the video games industry desperately needed - instead, thanks to Donald Trump's tariffs, the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 is experiencing a troubled birth.  Barely had Nintendo announced the pre-order date and price point of the hotly awaited new handheld console when the US president slapped tariffs on China and Vietnam, among others, prompting the Japanese gaming giant to immediately suspend US pre-orders of the Switch 2. Today, Nintendo invited Sky News to be a part of the first group of journalists in the UK to try the console, and get to grips with a product that is fast becoming a totemic casualty of the global trade war. It was already a challenging market for the successor to the third best-selling console of all time, the original Switch, which has sold more than 150 million units. Image: Nintendo are hoping to sell 10 million units this year - whether they succeed, may wel...

We've been waiting for a while for the Office for National Statistics to deliver us some good news on the British economy - and today it came. Output grew by 0.5% in February, up from zero growth in January and higher than the 0.1% forecast by economists. Some usual caveats apply. Monthly data can be volatile and prone to revision - but it can go up as well as down. While publishing the latest figures, the ONS also revised up its January figure from -0.1% to zero. It's clear that, across the economy, sectors performed robustly. The big surprise was manufacturing. Business surveys told us that UK factories were on their knees, anxious about Trump's tariffs and impending tax rises that came into effect in April. Yet the production sector grew by 1.5% - led by pharmaceuticals, metals and transport equipment. Businesses have been resilient. The chancellor will be pleased, but the celebrations are likely to be fleeting. ...

The economy performed better than expected in February, growing by 0.5% according to official figures released on Friday. The standard measure of an economy's value, gross domestic product (GDP), rose in part thanks to a strong performance from the manufacturing sector, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested. It follows a worse month in January, when the economy was flat. And compared to the same month a year ago, GDP was 1.4% higher in February 2025. "The economy grew strongly in February with widespread growth across both services and manufacturing industries," said Liz McKeown, ONS Director of Economic Statistics. Service sectors like computer programming, telecoms and car dealerships all had strong months, said Ms McKeown, while manufacturing industries such as electronics and pharmaceuticals also helped to drive GDP growth in February. Car manufacturing also picked up after its recent poor performance, she added. ...

One year ago, Cassius Walker-Hunt was working at Port Talbot's steel plant. Now, he's running his own coffee shop in the town centre, having been made redundant when Tata Steel announced the closure of the plant's blast furnaces. The 28-year-old told Sky News the situation the town faced was "completely life-changing". "They called it an end of an era, and it was. That type of workforce in Wales now is gone, it wasn't just a company shutting down, it was generations of knowledge and generations of workers," he said. Six months since Port Talbot's last blast furnace was closed as part of Tata's green transition, talks are ongoing to save thousands of jobs at British Steel amid plans to close Scunthorpe's blast furnaces. Image: Mr Walker-Hunt now runs his own coffee shop Mr Walker-Hunt was the fourth generation of his family to work in Port Talbot's steel ...

Getting your hands on a British passport will cost you 7% more from today.  The cost of the online application has jumped by £6 to £94.50. Here, we're going to look at how you can beat the hike... Why has the price gone up? Over the past two years the cost of a UK passport application has risen more than 25%. Where is all that money going? The Home Office insists it makes no profits, and is focused on keeping the waiting time for a British passport at around three weeks. "The new fees will help the Home Office to continue to move towards a system that meets its costs through those who use it, reducing reliance on funding from general taxation," the government said when it announced the rise. Part of the cost goes towards funding passport control and border officers, while some of the money supports "consular support overseas, including lost or stolen passports", the government says. Could an Irish passport help you save money? ...

Global financial markets have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past few days, but now, with President Donald Trump having paused his "retaliatory" tariffs, the situation should stabilise. Here, we outline how the pound in your pocket has been affected. Stock markets, bonds and currencies moved sharply after Mr Trump put a 90-day pause on tariffs other than the base 10% tax slapped on almost all imports to the US. China still faces a levy of 125% on the goods it exports to the US. But there have still been some impactful changes since his so-called "liberation day" tariff announcement last week. So, what's happened? Well, last week two more interest rate cuts were expected by the end of this year, but now traders are pricing in three cuts by the Bank of England. Borrowing will become cheaper as the interest rate is now anticipated to be brought down more than previously thought, to 3.75% by the end of 2025 from the current 4.5%. ...

Britain's biggest private pension fund has entered the race to buy the lease of the O2, London's best-known entertainment venue. Sky News has learnt that the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is among the bidders for the long-term income stream generated by the arena. Pension fund sources said a number of prominent institutional investors were participating in an auction being run by Eastdil, the real estate-focused investment bank. USS, which owns stakes in the operator of Britain's air traffic control service and Moto, the motorway service station chain, is understood to be a serious contender for the O2 arena lease. It is among the shareholders burnt by the financial implosion of Thames Water, and has written its stake down to zero as a rescue deal is negotiated. The auction has been underway for some time, with Sky News having revealed several months ago that it was being put up for sale by Cambridge University's wealthiest college. ...

Profits at Tesco have increased by hundreds of millions in the year it announced 400 job losses and criticised the cost of additional taxes on employers. But the UK's most popular supermarket - with the biggest market share - expects profits to be lower next year amid what its chief executive described as an "intensification of competition" in the UK. Tesco's profits rose £299m from a year earlier to £3.128bn despite cutting 400 jobs in January. Tariffs latest: Beijing takes fight to Trump Despite the higher profits, company boss Ken Murphy refused to rule out further job losses, saying it "would be naive" to do so. Tesco ended the financial year with more staff than it started, Mr Murphy added. Money: Top chef on expensive food item that isn't worth it Such high profits, however, are expected to fall as it looks set to fight an industry price war. Talk of a supermarket price war was sparked after Asda said it was re...