On July 2 of 2020, when the initial spring surge of Covid-19 was fading, local elected officials across Southern California ordered virtually every beach shut down from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border. Cities around California cancelled fireworks displays. Governor Gavin Newsom closed bars and mandated masks in public spaces. What officials couldn’t stop, however,
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The future of Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port car plant is set to be secured through production of a new electric vehicle, with an announcement possible as soon as next week. Ministers have been in talks with Vauxhall owner Stellantis for months over providing government support for the plant, and Sky News understands the manufacturer has signed
Actors’ Equity says that fully vaccinated theater companies now can dispense with masking and Covid-19 testing mandates. The live-theater union’s newly updated protocols will remain in effect through the end of September. “The health and safety of our members comes first,” said Equity president Kate Shindle. “We are heartened by the declining infection rates nationwide,
Confectionery giant Haribo has warned a shortage of lorry drivers is causing difficulties getting its sweets to shops in the UK. The German firm, whose products include gummy bears, foamy fried eggs and cola bottles, said it was working to tackle the problem. It comes after the haulage industry warned of a widespread UK delivery
Jeff Simpson is the new managing director at BYU Broadcasting, overseeing multiple channels including BYUtv. Simpson joins the Provo, Utah-based company from Deseret News in Salt Lake City, where he’d been president and publisher since 2017. “I often refer to BYUB as ‘the little engine that could,’ persistently steaming up abandoned hilltops, such as capturing a co-viewing family
The announcement of a battery “gigafactory” in Sunderland is a significant moment on the road to electrifying the UK car fleet, a journey that until now had barely left the kerb. The new factory, built by Chinese manufacturer Envision, will be the largest of its kind in the UK with capacity to produce 9GWh of
UPDATED with President Biden’s response: President Joe Biden knocked the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona today in a scathing statement citing “severe damage to two of the most important provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – a law that took years of struggle and strife to secure.” “I am
Nissan is to announce details of a new battery ‘gigafactory’ that will enable its Sunderland car plant to massively increase production of electric vehicles. The Japanese manufacturer is expected to claim the battery plant, built in partnership with Chinese manufacturer Envision, will create 2,000 jobs. The government is thought to have provided some financial support
The film and TV industry’s return-to-work protocols have been extended until “a new agreement is reached,” labor and management said tonight as the protocols were about to expire. The protocols were established last September in an agreement between the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, the Teamsters and the
Gap is to close all of its stores in the UK and Ireland, the American fashion retailer has announced. The decision comes after a review of its operations across Europe and will see the company go online-only in the markets affected. The stores will shut in a phased manner from the end of August through
EXCLUSIVE: “Silence is f*cking golden,” Ari Gold once said on Entourage. Piven, who portrayed the foul-mouthed agent on the HBO series, has now changed his tune and is launching his own podcast. The actor has teamed up with Kast Media, the company behind The Sarah Silverman Podcast and Welcome to the OC, Bitches, for How
The UK economy suffered a slightly worse start to the year than first thought as households squirrelled away cash during latest lockdowns, revised figures show. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 1.6% – compared to an initial estimate of 1.5% – as renewed stay-at-home measures held back business activity and spending, according to the Office
Delia Fiallo, the beloved Cuban writer known as the “mother of the Latin American soap opera,” died on Tuesday, a source close to the scribe tells CNN. She was 96. While Fiallo’s passing was reported earlier in the day by The Televisa network, the cause of her death was not made clear. Born on July
Senior overseas business executives will no longer need to quarantine when arriving in England if their trip is likely to be of “significant economic benefit to the UK”. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said that, subject to business leaders meeting strict criteria, they could “temporarily” leave mandatory COVID-19 isolation for work
HBO and HBO Max chief programmer Casey Bloys has a key message to get across: the storied pay network and the year-old streamer are both on full throttle creatively with ample funding despite all the noise around corporate mergers. “I do think some of those larger business stories have obscured the programming success,” Bloys said
Government must back its commitment to electric vehicles with financial support for new battery gigafactories and manufacturers considering where to build the next generation of cars and vans, Vauxhall’s parent company has told Sky News. Stellantis, which owns the Peugeot and Fiat brands as well as Vauxhall, is currently in talks with ministers over whether
Christina Aguilera has come forward to voice her support for Britney Spears, amid her fellow pop stars’ battle in court to bring her conservatorship to an end. “These past few days I’ve been thinking about Britney and everything she is going through,” Aguilera wrote on Monday, in a multi-part Twitter thread. “It is unacceptable that any
Industries from haulage to hospitality are facing a “perfect storm” of issues creating staff shortages as the economy reopens, the president of the CBI is warning. Lord Bilimoria said the departure of overseas workers during the pandemic, who have not since returned, was among the factors causing headaches for employers. He also said there was
In a first for YouTube, the digital video giant is putting its name on a new 6,000-seat music venue opening at Hollywood Park, the sports and entertainment area in Inglewood, CA just east of LAX. The multi-year agreement follows a similar playbook in Los Angeles and other cities. In downtown L.A., the Staples Center has
Japanese car giant Nissan could announce plans for a battery gigafactory in the UK as soon as this week, Sky News understands. City editor Mark Kleinman said the carmaker’s electric vehicle strategy, tipped to include production of its Qashqai and Juke models at Sunderland, was also expected to confirm the construction of a battery gigafactory.