Boxing Day sales are expected to fall by more than a quarter compared with last year, despite some shoppers queueing in the early hours in some areas under lighter restrictions. Footfall for the sales is already down 60% in the UK up to 12pm – largely due to non-essential shops being closed across swathes of
Business
Beverly Hills Italian restaurant, La Scala, has come under fire for promoting a “speakeasy”-style indoor dining experience that would violate coronavirus safety measures. City officials have denounced the eatery after patrons received slips of paper in their to-go orders advertising the New Year’s Eve event. Beverly Hills officials have directly contacted the restaurant as its
The owner of a think-tank that became one of the most vocal advocates of a hard Brexit is in talks to buy a big stake in GB News, a new current affairs broadcaster that wants to challenge long-standing industry players. Sky News has learnt that Legatum, a Dubai-based group founded by Christopher Chandler, a New
Lin Qi, the Chairman and CEO of Chinese game developer Yoozoo and an executive producer on Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of The Three-Body Problem, has died after allegedly being poisoned by a colleague. The 39-year-old’s death was reported by local media and confirmed by Yoozoo in a statement posted to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange saying it
Doors will stay shut on many stores for the traditional Boxing Day sales due to the coronavirus crisis, but shoppers are poised to splurge £2.7bn online, research indicates. While retail experts expect footfall in the high street to plummet by more than 50% from 26 December last year, cyber bargain hunters plan to spend an
Roger Berlind, the 25-time Tony-winning producer of more than 100 Broadway plays and musicals ranging from Amadeus, City of Angels and Doubt to The Book of Mormon, Dear Evan Hansen and Mean Girls, has died. He was 90. His family said he died December 18 in Manhattan of cardiopulmonary arrest. During his stunning 45-year career, Berlind won Tonys for
A special cargo flight chartered to supply UK supermarkets has landed in Yorkshire with 80 tonnes of fruit and vegetables on board. The delivery was a one-off organised as thousands of trucks remain stranded near Dover after France stopped them crossing over fears about the new coronavirus variant announced last week. The closure has stopped
Dish Network and Nexstar Media Group, the No. 1 U.S. owner of local TV stations, have resolved a carriage dispute that took 164 Nexstar stations and cable network WGN America off the air for more than three weeks. The deal was announced just after 1AM ET on Friday, Christmas Day. In a press release, Nexstar
A Brexit deal ensures that champagne, among other things, will still be available tariff-free come 1 January, but don’t expect many in business to be popping corks. There will be a measure of relief that the agreement has been reached. A deal at least averts the very worst outcome for British businesses and the workers
In better times than these, Hollywood’s charities were a lifeline for thousands of industry workers in need of a little help just to get by. In 2020, that need exploded exponentially as the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged lives, livelihoods and life savings. Mary Pickford, who co-founded the Motion Picture & Television Fund nearly 100 years ago
The pound has made strong gains against the dollar over hopes of a breakthrough in Brexit talks. Sterling has been further buoyed by France lifting a border blockade aimed at stopping the spread of a fast-spreading new COVID-19 strain. Live coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world Please use Chrome browser for a
It wasn’t a great night for reigning champs the LA Lakers or past champs the Golden State Warriors, but the opening of the 2020-2021 season last night was great for the NBA and TNT. Played under Covid-19 safety protocols in the City of Angels and the Republic of Brooklyn, the tip-off doubleheader snagged 2.9 million
More businesses face “insurmountable pressure” after a further 50,000 were forced to shut due to the extension of local lockdowns in England, it has been warned. Moving more areas into the toughest Tier 4 restrictions from Boxing Day to combat a fast-spreading mutant coronavirus strain will take the total number of non-essential shops, hairdressers and
Editors note: Rachel Feldman is a Los Angeles-based film and television director whose credits include over 75 hours of longform movies and recent series including ABC’s The Rookie, CBS’ Blue Bloods and Criminal Minds, and MGM’s The Baxters. A former chair of the DGA Women’s Steering Committee, she is working on a political thriller based
The British Retail Consortium has warned that there could be supply issues for some fresh goods until the backlog of trucks at Dover is cleared. Thousands of trucks have been stranded in Dover after France closed its borders earlier this week in reaction to a new highly-infectious coronavrius variant confirmed in the UK. The closure
As the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations continued its record ascent in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, 30% of the respondents to a recent survey indicated they had visited a friend, neighbor or relative or had visitors at their residence. The survey was conducted by the University of Southern California’s Center for Social and Economic Research,
Furniture retailer DFS has apologised for delays due to congestion at ports, warning that this problem is “likely to persist”. The business has been one of many hit, as ports struggle to handle a global supply chain crisis exacerbated by normal Christmas demand and stockpiling issues ahead of the Brexit deadline at the end of
It was quite the marketing gimmick. To commemorate one of its customers winning the €88.5m (£80.9m) EuroMillions jackpot with a ticket bought at one of its service stations, on the M1 Northbound at Lusk in County Dublin, Applegreen cut fuel prices at the station to 88.5 cents (80p) per litre. In January 2017, with a
Public sector net borrowing is estimated to have been £31.6bn in November – the third-highest for any month since records began in 1993. It means borrowing in the first eight months of the financial year (April to November) is estimated at £240.9bn. This is £188.6bn more than the same point last year, and the highest
A deal has been reached between Royal Mail and the workers’ union following a two-year dispute over job security, pay, and hours. The settlement includes a two-year pay deal backdated to April, worth 3.7%, and a one-hour reduction in the working week, according to the Communication Workers Union. The CWU said there will be no