Author: INDEPENDENT

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 emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsNvidia’s sales computing chips powering the artificial intelligence craze surged beyond the lofty bar set by stock market analysts in a performance that may ease recent jitters about a Big Tech boom turning into a bust that topples the world’s most valuable company.The results announced late Wednesday provided a pulse check on the frenzied spending on AI technology that has been fueling both the stock market and much…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Jason Isaacs and Tom Felton had a heartwarming reunion at the latter’s Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in which he reprises his iconic role of Draco Malfoy. Felton, 38, who starred as Draco opposite Isaacs as his on-screen father Lucius in the Harry Potter film series, joined the play’s cast at the Lyric Theatre in New York City last week. The long-running show…

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 emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsFour major players in the travel industry have had their adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading customers.The ASA ruled that Booking.com and hotel groups Accor, Travelodge, and Hilton all used “from” price claims for hotel rooms that overstated how many were available at the advertised rate.With only a limited proportion of rooms genuinely offered at the advertised prices across various dates, the ASA deemed…

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 emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsAn escalating number of UK firms are looking to take their business abroad amid weakening economic growth at home and concerns about tax hikes, Santander has found.Nearly half of businesses, or 47%, are considering international expansion, according to its latest trade barometer.This is up from a third who said so earlier this year, and more than double the 21% that said so in autumn 2023.The bank said a…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Arvind Ethan David remembers the very first time he encountered Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. “A copy was lying about in my grandmother’s house,” he explains. “I must have been about 12, and I distinctly recall going, ‘Can books do this?’”Adams’s words, he says, “do something different to you”. “More than any other novelist, he reaches into your brain, sort of tickles it, and…

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 emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsA boom in the use of weight loss drugs is having “massive repercussions” for the tailoring industry, a Savile Row boss has said.Sean Dixon, co-founder of tailor Richard James, said its cutters were having to make big adjustments or remake suits entirely because of some customers’ rapid weight loss.The businessman pointed to the trend happening among male customers, many of whom are aged in their 40s and 50s.“Male…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Alan Cumming was bored. It was the late Nineties, he was making a film called Buddy with Rene Russo, and Hollywood wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. “I was young and wanted to have fun,” the Scottish actor recalls, “but I felt like I was always missing the party.” Russo tried to shake him from his torpor: “You’re making studio movies, you’re in Hollywood –…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Dame Helen Mirren has expressed her profound excitement over a new Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) curriculum, designed to revolutionise the teaching of Shakespeare in UK secondary schools. The Oscar-winning actress, who joined the global theatre company in the 1960s and has graced stages in productions such as Antony And Cleopatra and Macbeth, lauded the initiative as a vital step forward.Appearing alongside Sir Ian McKellen at a London…

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 emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe Prime Minister has urged John Swinney to end the ban on nuclear energy in Scotland after announcing the UK’s first small modular reactor in Wales.Sir Keir Starmer said the SNP had “bottled it” on nuclear which has caused jobs to “vanish”.Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, accused the First Minister of “student politics”. He has promised to end the ban if he becomes first minister after 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 emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsGrocery price inflation has slowed in some good news for consumers as retailers ramp up festive deals ahead of Christmas, figures show.Supermarket prices were still 4.7% higher than a year ago in October, but this was down from September’s 5.2%, according to market research firm Worldpanel by Numerator, formerly Kantar.Spending on deals climbed by 9.4% to just under 30% of all grocery purchases, while spending on full-priced goods…