UPDATE, 8:19 PM: Prolific music producer and music industry giant Dr. Dre said he is doing well after being hospitalized for a brain aneurysm. Dre addressed his friends, family and fans with a social media post shared on Tuesday night. “Thanks to my family, friends and fans for their interest and well wishes. I’m doing
Business
Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will receive up to £9,000 in one-off grants to help them through England’s new coronavirus restrictions, the chancellor has said. The grants were part of a package of measures announced by Rishi Sunak totalling £4.6bn to help struggling firms after the latest measures came into force. Advertisement
John Stephens, the outgoing CFO of WarnerMedia parent AT&T, defended the company’s move to release its 2021 film slate concurrently on HBO Max and in theaters and cited Warner Bros. century-long relationship with Hollywood talent — with some disgruntled at the move and the way it was communicated. “We’ve got a long history of working
Struggling businesses “may simply not be there” when the economy reopens after lockdown unless they are given further support, the government has been warned. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said it was “baffled and disappointed” that more assistance was not announced alongside latest restrictions in England and Scotland. Britain’s beleaguered pub industry was among
“We’re going to start seeing more rapid distribution of vaccines, I can assure you of that,” promised California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday. “That said, it’s gone too slowly, I know, for many of us. All of us, I think, we want to see 100% of what’s received immediately administered in people’s arms.” That has
The FTSE 100 has rallied sharply on the first day of trading this year as hopes over the impact of vaccine roll-outs trumped fears over more lockdowns. London’s leading share index was up by as much as 3% or more than 200 points, pulled higher by commodity giants such as Fresnillo and Glencore which tend
ESPN has expanded its first “MegaCast” of Sunday’s NFL Wild Card playoff game to include streaming service ESPN+ and five Disney networks: ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, Freeform and ESPN Deportes. The Baltimore Ravens-Tennessee Titans matchup will also include a halftime performance by DJ Khaled airing exclusively on Freeform, during a “watch party” hosted by the network.
Ladbrokes owner Entain has confirmed it has received a takeover offer from US casino operator MGM Resorts. The company, which also owns the Coral chain and online brands such as Sportingbet and Foxy Bingo, said it believes the £8.1bn offer “significantly undervalues the company and its prospects”. It said it had asked MGM Resorts to
Star of That ’70s Show, A View to a Kill, and Charlie’s Angels star Tanya Roberts died from unknown causes on Sunday. She was 65. According to TMZ, Roberts’ rep said that the actress collapsed at home after she walked her dogs on December 24. She was brought to the hospital and placed on a ventilator but did not
The marketing services tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell will this week swoop to make two US additions worth more than $200m (£146m) to his digital advertising empire. Sky News understands that S4 Capital – founded by Sir Martin in the wake of his departure from WPP Group – will announce on Monday that it is buying
After a landmark year when several new billion-dollar streaming services jockeyed for attention, there is a big question greeting the new class as 2021 begins: Where from here? Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia, the most prominent new players in the streaming game, have all made a solid go of it, to varying degrees. (Alas, poor
Bitcoin has topped $30,000 for the first time, extending a rally that saw its value climb by 300% in 2020. The cryptocurrency rose to as high as $31,824 early on Saturday – just two weeks after passing the $20,000 mark. Its rise has been attributed to traders increasingly betting on it becoming a mainstream payment
Los Angeles County ended 2020 breaking Covid-19 records and brought in the new year doing just the same. On Saturday Los Angeles Public Health officials reported that L.A. County has surpassed 800,000 total coronavirus cases – with nearly half of the cases being reported in the last month. To date Los Angeles County has confirmed
Lord Sugar, the Amstrad founder and star of The Apprentice, is fuelling a landlord-led revolt against a rescue deal for Caffe Nero, the struggling chain of coffee shops. Sky News has learnt that Amsprop Investments, the peer’s private commercial property group, is among seven parties which have lodged a legal challenge aimed at blocking Caffe
UPDATED with latest: Friday was by far the deadliest day of the pandemic in California. On Wednesday, California saw a frightening new high of 432 Covid-related deaths. Thursday’s number dipped slightly to 428. On Friday, the number of lives recorded lost to the virus rocketed to 585. That’s a 37% rise in one day. Some
Boris Johnson is calling for more teachers, nurses, police officers and other frontline workers to help the UK recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The prime minister will call on those looking for a job or career change this year to consider frontline public sector roles. An advertising campaign will begin on 5 January on TV
The number of daily new Covid-19 cases in Los Angeles County had been falling for two weeks. From an all-time high of 21,411 on December 16, new cases had settled at between 13,000 and 15,000. While deaths remained punishingly high, there was some hope that a plateau in cases meant that transmission of the virus
The dismantling of Sir Philip Green’s high street empire is about to accelerate after the appointment of agents to oversee the sale of the tycoon’s former flagship Topshop store. Sky News has learnt that administrators to Redcastle (214 Oxford Street) Limited, which owns the central London property next to Oxford Circus station have appointed Eastdil
If 2020 began with promise, all that changed as every industry tradition we took for granted was stripped away without warning. The pandemic has seen nearly 20 million positive cases in the U.S. alone, and soon 350,000 will be dead. Every facet of entertainment was impacted: live theaters and movie theaters closed, production in TV
The FTSE 100 has clocked up its worst year since the 2008 financial crisis – underperforming against global rivals that have bounced back following a coronavirus sell-off earlier in the year. London’s leading share index closed at 6460.5 in a shortened closing session on New Year’s Eve, 14.3% down over the course of 2020. It