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Chart-topper Taylor Swift broke a pair of Spotify records upon the release of Red (Taylor’s Version), Spotify confirmed in a post today on their official Twitter page. “On Friday, November 12th, Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) broke the record for the most-streamed album in a day by a female,” a Spotify spokesperson wrote, over an

More than 300,000 workers are set to receive a pay rise after higher rates were announced for the Real Living Wage, the voluntary rate paid by thousands of employers. The Living Wage Foundation, which sets the rates, said the new hourly rate would be £11.05 in London and £9.90 outside the capital. They amount to

Chris Daughtry took to Instagram earlier today to address the “devastating loss” of his 25-year-old stepdaughter Hannah, whose cause of death has not yet been disclosed. “I am still processing the last 24 hours. I am absolutely devastated and heartbroken,” said the Daughtry frontman and former American Idol finalist. “I just recently lost my mother

A US-listed real estate investment trust has won a hotly contested auction of one of Britain’s biggest holiday resort operators in a knockout deal that underlines the sector’s post-pandemic boom. Sky News has learnt that Sun Communities has agreed to pay in the region of £900m for Park Holidays, which owns more than 30 sites

On Saturday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 19 new deaths from Covid-19, as well as 1,378 new positive cases. The number of deaths and confirmed cases reported today may reflect delays in weekend reporting. But at present, 605 County residents are said to be hospitalized with Covid-19. COVID-19 Daily Update:November 13,

Three is a trend, so the saying goes. So news of two more big company demergers today, hot on the heels of the three-way break-up of 129-year-old US industrial giant General Electric announced on Wednesday, suggests that “doing the splits” is being looked at anew by company boards. Toshiba, one of the best known companies

“We will not reach the 80% threshold by the beginning of the year,” said Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer today about the county’s vaccination progress. She then noted, “This is one of the 4 measures we must meet to lift restrictions.” Translation: L.A.’s indoor public masking and vaccination requirements will be in place

Lord Cruddas, the Conservative peer, is exploring a surprise break-up of CMC Markets, the financial spread-betting firm he founded 32 years ago, into two separately listed companies. Sky News has learnt that the board of CMC could announce within days that it has begun work on the potential split. City sources said this weekend that

An actor and Mark Zuckerberg look-alike skewed the virtual reality of the Facebook founder’s Metaverse while promoted the stunning waterfalls and wild horses of Iceland in a tourism video. Urging people to visit “Icelandverse,” actor Jörundur Ragnarsson, with a short bowl haircut and awkward body movements and identified in the video as Zack Mossbergsson, chief

A long-awaited plan for railways in the Midlands and north of England will be published next week that could see the eastern extension of HS2 from Birmingham to Leeds mothballed. Regional political leaders are anticipating publication of the government’s integrated rail review for the Midlands and north imminently, with many braced for delays to key

Steve Bannon, the former adviser to President Donald Trump, was indicted Friday on charges of contempt of Congress, after he failed to comply with a subpoena issued by a committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots. Bannon, a former film producer and current podcast host, has claimed through his attorney that he has executive privilege

Drugs firm AstraZeneca has said it plans to start earning a “modest” profit from its COVID-19 vaccine having previously sold it at cost. The Anglo-Swedish company has until now not been making a profit from the Oxford coronavirus jab and said it would not do so during the pandemic. The vaccine has in fact proved

Hollywood’s Covid-19 safety protocols have been extended to January 15. The protocols, which had been set to expire on Oct. 31, include testing and vaccination mandates. Established in September 2020 by an agreement between the AMPTP and Hollywood’s unions – the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, the Teamsters and the Basic Crafts – the return-to-work protocols had

China’s Singles’ Day shopping event has chalked up slower growth this year after a more muted approach from online retail giant Alibaba. Sales grew 8.5% to 540bn yuan (£63bn) but that was down from a 26% increase last year and the smallest bounce since the extravaganza – now the world’s biggest online sales event –

Graeme Edge, the Moody Blues drummer who co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group and stayed with it for more than 50 years, died today. He was 80. His longtime bandmate Justin Hayward posted the news on the English group’s website but offered no details. “It’s a very sad day,” Hayward wrote. “Graeme’s

The economy is recovering, but the pace of that recovery is diminishing – that’s the big picture from today’s gross domestic product statistics. However, the UK is getting ever closer now to regaining the income lost during the crisis. Quite where we are on that front depends somewhat on which measure you’re looking at. Image:

Oprah Winfrey Network and National Research Group released a survey today examining how Black women see themselves reflected in media. Among the key findings are that while strides have been made in the quantity of representation onscreen, the quality of that representation needs to reflect the true diversity of the community. Ninety three percent of

Britain’s economic growth slowed to 1.3% in the third quarter, official figures show. It meant that gross domestic product (GDP) remained 2.1% lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The economy’s July-September performance was slightly weaker than the figure of 1.5% expected by economists and marks a sharp slowdown compared