Author: INDEPENDENT

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USThe bartender shielded by General Hospital star Johnny Wactor as he was shot dead has said she is “heartbroken” by the death of her “goofy” friend.Anita Joy was walking with Wactor to his car at around 3am on Saturday after their shift at a rooftop bar when he was shot and killed in a suspected robbery in Los Angeles.The Los Angeles police department said that three men were trying to steal the catalytic converter from his…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Red Bull has bought a minority stake in Leeds United and will become their principal shirt sponsor next season. Leeds will spend a second campaign back in the Championship after they lost the play-off final to Southampton last Sunday.The global soft drink company has added the Championship outfit to its large portfolio of football clubs with the investment which sees it join existing owners 49ers Enterprises.While Red Bull’s logo will be on the front of the men’s…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThere haven’t been many better bits of telly than the five episodes that make up Boys from the Blackstuff, the seminal series by Alan Bleasdale about a group of tarmac-layers in Liverpool in 1982, each cracking under the pressures of unemployment. It started life as a BBC Play for Today before widening out into a series that was bleak and hard-hitting, but also funny and surreal, slow and lyrical, and absolutely gripping.Forty years later, the…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsHedgefund billionaire Nelson Peltz sold his entire stake in Disney after his bid to shake up Disney’s board was soundly defeated, according to reports.The father of actor Nicola Peltz-Beckham, married to Brooklyn Beckham, reportedly sold his stock at “close to $120 dollars a share,” to make about $1 billion on the sale, CNBC reported.The share price indicates he made the sale in the aftermath of an April shareholder meeting in which he failed to take…

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planetGet our free Climate emailA prolonged and deadly heatwave that has killed at least 48 people in Mexico is headed for the US.Temperatures could reach up to 111 degrees Fahrenheit (43C) in Florida, Texas and parts of Nevada, where an intense zone of high pressure, known as a heat dome, will fuel high temperatures over the next 10 days, meteorologists have warned.The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center issued a warning that much of the Southwest will be impacted by the heat dome between June 5…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Craig Bellamy is a candidate to become the new Burnley manager after Vincent Kompany completed his surprise move to Bayern Munich. The former Wales international striker, who was Kompany’s assistant at Turf Moor and was on his former Manchester City teammate’s backroom staff at Anderlecht, will not follow him to Germany. And he will be a contender to take over at the relegated club as they look for an immediate return to the Premier League. While several…

I am a food and drink wholesaler, supplying thousands of products to thousands of convenience retailers across the West Midlands and, despite the advances of technology over the years, there is no denying wholesaling is a traditional business. From its most humble beginnings, it has centred around people, and this is still the case today.People buy from people. It’s a simple, fundamental rule of business and yet, so many industries are slowly but surely moving away from this as technology continues to advance at pace. But I have to ask, at what cost? There is no doubt that technology has been…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsIsrael has said it is now in effective control of Gaza’s entire land border, having taken over key a buffer zone along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.The Israeli military has also continued deadly raids on Rafah in southern Gaza despite an order from the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to end attacks on the city, where half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people had previously taken refuge.In a televised…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Olympiacos won their first major European trophy as Ayoub El Kaabi’s late extra-time winner inflicted a second straight Europa Conference League final defeat on Fiorentina.A forgettable final sparked into life with just four minutes of extra time remaining as El Kaabi turned home the only goal of a game taking place at the home of Olympiacos’ rivals AEK Athens.While the Greek side could celebrate becoming the first team from their country to win a European trophy, Fiorentina…

You’ve got a breakthrough new product or service idea, and you want to take it to the world and become the next global billionaire. So, what’s stopping you?For small start-up and SME level businesses, while the personal and financial rewards are certainly clear and enticing, the hurdles to success often seem daunting or even overwhelming. So, you decide to seek comfort and consolation in yet another expensive, quaffable enough cappuccino and muffin at the ubiquitous big-brand global coffee-shop franchise around the corner, as you resign yourself to a life of simply dreaming about what might have been.Guess what? The billionaire behind that…