UK business momentum slows in June despite falling inflation -PMI
By David Milliken LONDON Growth in Britain's private sector slowed sharply last month, despite businesses facing lower inflation,
2023-07-05 16:52
Kourtney Kardashian and Addison Rae criticised for 'weird' age gap bikini photoshoot
Kourtney Kardashian, 44, turned to Instagram on Tuesday (4 July) with a series of snaps alongside her friend, influencer Addison Rae, 22. The photos show the pair sporting matching bikinis and posing by the pool as The Kardashians star showed off her baby bump. Many people flocked to the post to compliment the two, with a handful of famous faces showing their love, including Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalia, Simon Huck and Rae herself. It didn't take long for harsh trolls to chime in with criticism and questions about their "weird" age-gap friendship. "Why is a 44-year-old friends with a 22-year-old?" one person asked. "This is just weird to me." Another wrote: "I swear to God, this is the most weirdest friendship." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter A third person believed the photo to be intentional after her sister Kim Kardashian accused her of having no friends. "Wait, Kourtney posts her long-lost friend days after Kim says she has no friends," they commented. Meanwhile, some jumped to her defence, with one writing: "People don’t understand that you can be way younger but be way more mature than half the people at Kourtney’s age. Love it." The pair first became friends in 2020 when Rae appeared in a TikTok video with the Poosh founder's son, Mason. Speaking about how their friendship came about, Rae explained: "I met Kourtney through a friend — through David [Dobrik] — and we had surprised Mason because Mason liked my videos on TikTok," "We got really close and we started working out together. We did a video on her YouTube of us doing a butt workout and stuff, so that was fun." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-07-05 16:24
British lawmakers say new health agency had weak financial controls
LONDON The UK Health Security Agency was set up with financial controls that were so weak parliament cannot
2023-07-05 15:28
Britain to set up real-time bond and stock trading record
By Huw Jones LONDON Britain's financial watchdog proposed a real-time record of stock and bond prices on Wednesday
2023-07-05 07:59
Jake Paul gambling advert banned by watchdog as YouTuber has 'strong appeal to under-18s'
Jake Paul is arguably one of the most well-known influencers in the world right now, but unfortunately for gambling firm Ladbrokes, the YouTuber-turned-boxer’s widespread appeal has landed them in a bit of trouble with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The independent advertising watchdog, which regulates the advertising industry, enforces rules drawn up by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which has some pretty strict rules when it comes to gambling ads. In addition to requiring said adverts to be “socially responsible” and “protect children … from being harmed or exploited”, the CAP’s code states marketing communications must not be “likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture”. “They must not include a person or character whose example is likely to be followed by those aged under 18 years or who has a strong appeal to those aged under 18,” it reads. After Ladbrokes shared a promoted tweet in February featuring Paul – following his defeat to Tommy Fury – in which Twitter users were encouraged to vote on “what’s next for Jake Paul”, a single complaint was made to the ASA as to whether it may be in breach of the Code. Responding to the ASA’s enquiries, the betting company noted the advert contained no calls to action, promotions or links back to its website – and was “age-gated” so only users who had confirmed their age as being over 18 could see it. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The ad was specifically targeted at users aged 25 and over, receiving close to 16,500 impressions with just over 47 per cent of these being from individuals aged between 20 and 29 years. Ladbrokes also cited demographics for Paul’s following across several social media platforms, showing that the percentage of users aged between 13 and 17 years old was below 20 per cent on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. On Twitter, zero per cent of his followers were reportedly registered as being under 18. The company also directed ASA to the watchdog’s own guidance on “protecting under-18s” from advertising about gambling and lotteries, in which it states “sports like … boxing … are more adult-oriented and unlikely to be of inherent ‘strong’ appeal” to children and young people. Zing. However, in a decision which saw the regulator uphold the complaint against Ladbrokes, the ASA ruled there was still a responsibility to comply with the rule about not appealing to under-18s because the advert “appeared in a medium where under-18s could not be entirely excluded from the audience”. It continued: “CAP guidance stated that sportspeople involved in clearly adult-oriented sports who were ‘notable’ stars with significant social media and general profiles which made them well-known to under-18s were considered moderate risk in terms of how likely they were to be of strong appeal to under-18s. “We also considered that Jake Paul would primarily be known for making YouTube videos and that he had a large social media following. We acknowledged that he had within the last few years turned to boxing. “However, because of his career on YouTube, we considered that he had a high profile within the sport and was well known outside of the sport and social media.” Although they noted Paul had no followers aged under 18 on Twitter, where the ad was located, the ASA concluded the content creator was still of “inherent strong appeal” to under-18s because “such large numbers” of his followers were in that demographic. They also mentioned Paul’s appearance on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark between 2016 and 2018 about two teenagers, with the target audience for the show likely to be “around the same age”. As such, they found Paul still had a “strong appeal” to under-18s and that Ladbroke’s advert was “irresponsible”. Not the first time Paul and “irresponsible” have appeared in the same sentence, to be honest… Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-07-05 07:17
The Forgotten Fifth Line of the “Something Old, Something New” Bridal Poem
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue—and something else, too?
2023-07-05 05:16
Idris Elba doesn't know who Colin the Caterpillar is and he's gone down in everyone's estimations
Idris Elba has confessed he doesn't know who Colin the Caterpillar is, and has never had the pleasure of indulging in one at a birthday party. Gasp. The actor, who follows an all-vegan diet and has a personal chef on the road with him, landed himself in hot water when he was asked about the sweet treat during a new interview, and whether he'd had one at his own birthday. "Can I ask you a question. Who is Colin the Caterpillar? Is that bad?", he said, before quipping: "If you have to Google him then I don’t know who he is." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
2023-07-04 22:57
Irish government announces RTÉ examination
Minister Catherine Martin announces an independent, root and branch examination of broadcaster RTÉ.
2023-07-04 22:46
Machine Gun Kelly makes a fan's dream come true by punching him in the face
Machine Gun Kelly received an unusual request from a fan who asked the singer who was performing to punch him in the face. In the clip shared on the 33-year-old's Instagram, Machine Gun Kelly was on stage at the Rock Werchter festival in Belgium on 1 July where he can be seen asking the fan: "Why do you want me to punch you in the face so bad?" Good question - to which the fan simply replied: "I love you!" Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Though Machine Gun Kelly did warn the guy that it could hurt as he told him: "I got rings on dude that s***'s gonna hurt." "I don't know it's a lose/lose for me," he added. "I don't if I'm gonna do it, I'll consider it." The video then cuts to Machine Gun Kelly who left the stage to go interact with the crowd and lifted the sign the fan-made to the camera that reads: "I just came from Mexico 4 u 2 punch me in the face." And with that, he fulfilled the fan's request since he came all the way over from Mexico and Belgium for this - though mindful of his rings, the 'Emo Girl' singer landed a softer punch. "I love you!" Machine Gun Kelly proceeded to scream afterwards. For the post caption, the singer wrote: "making dreams come true." In the comments section, fans appeared to be entertained by the interaction. One person was inspired by a Mean Girls quote and said: “One Time Machine gun kelly punched me in the face… it was AWESOME "Boy might be missing teeth and still be smiling," another person wrote. Someone else added: "Bro bouta file a life changing lawsuit." "It’s the way he was happy as hell," a fourth person commented. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings
2023-07-04 22:19
Adele says she will 'kill' anyone who throw objects at her while on stage
Adele has told her fans she would "f*****ing kill" them if they tried to throw an object or something at her while on stage. During one of her Las Vegas residency shows, Adele spoke on the topic, after singers such as Bebe Rexha and Kelsea Ballerini were recently hit by objects fans launched at them from the crowd, with Rexha even having to go to the hospital to get stitches. Meanwhile, Ava Max was slapped on stage by a supposed fan. All of these incidents have caused discussions on social media about concert etiquette. And now the 'Easy On Me' singer hasn't hold back with her thoughts on the issue. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "Have you noticed how people are, like, forgetting f**king show etiquette at the moment? she asked the audience. "Throwing s**t on stage, have you seen them? I f**king dare you, I dare you throw something at me, I'll f**king kill you," the singer warned. But she then jokingly pretended to be an audience member: “Stop throwing things at the artist but you can shoot things at the audience," referring to the fact she launches t-shirts into the audience with a large t-shirt cannon. (Though the audience appeared to love seeing Adele's t-shirt cannon firing skills). @mikesnedegar One of the best things about seeing Adele live is her chats with the audience. She always makes you laugh. #weekendswithadele #adele #lasvegas Fans of the singer who watched the brief clip found Adele's threat amusing and agreed with her stance. One person said: "I believe Adele would come off stage and smack someone!!!! Wouldn't blame her!!!!" "I love being British because of this womanaudience, she's f***ing hilarious," another person wrote. Someone else added: "Lmao. She said you won’t be doing that sh** here." "'Don't underestimate the things that I will do' lol," a fourth person commented referencing a lyric from Adele's song 'Rolling in the Deep'. Elsewhere, read all about why are fans throwing random objects at pop stars. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-07-04 21:18
Rob McElhenney's wife hilariously confirms rumour that he 'cheated' on her
The wife of Rob McElhenney has hilariously trolled gossip sites that claimed her husband cheated on her while in Wales. Actors Kaitlin Olson and McElhenney have been married since 2008 and share two children together, with McElhenney recently making headlines after becoming the co-owner of the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC with fellow actor Ryan Reynolds. It is during one of his trips to Wales that the gossip site PerezHilton.com published the rumour that McElhenney cheated on his wife. Olson shut down the rumours with hilarious a comeback, jokingly writing that it was she who had an affair with an actual whale (yes, the animal). Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter On Twitter, she joked: “It was me who had the affair. But it was not with someone from Wales. It was with a whale. “I’ve always loved whales. They’re the bosses of the ocean and I’m attracted to power. We ask for privacy as we navigate this difficult time.” The tweet sparked a whole host of marine-related puns as people praised Olson and McElhenney for mocking the baseless rumours. One person responded: “I wish you both whale.” Another reasoned: “I have to deduct points for not closing with ‘as we navigate these rough waters’.” “Was it a Sperm Whale?” someone else asked. McElhenney also got in on the action, after sharing his wife’s tweet and jokingly adding: “Sad to admit that the rumor is true. However, some of the details are…. Incorrect.” The USA fan account for Wrexham replied: “Something tells me they are not fin-ished… moar to this story I’m shore.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-07-04 20:18
Arnold Schwarzenegger believes he had a part in the rise of AI
Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he believes The Terminator had a role in AI development. Speaking in Los Angeles at ‘An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger’, the 75-year-old discussed the state of AI in 2023. Schwarzenegger said “today, everyone is frightened of it, of where this is gonna go.” He then goes on to say, “and in this movie, in ‘Terminator,’ we talk about the machines becoming self-aware and they take over.” Because of this he took a moment to commend the “brilliance” of James Cameron, the writer and director of the 1984 movie, because at that time they had only “scratched the surface of AI.” And it seems that the former governor of California attributes this development to The Terminator and James Cameron saying: “Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality. So it’s not any more fantasy or kind of futuristic. It is here today. And so this is the extraordinary writing of James Cameron.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “I wish I could take credit for this movie,” Schwarzenegger added, continuing to praise Cameron, “he’s just such an extraordinary writer and he’s such an unbelievable director.” “I can only take credit of the character that i played and the way I played it,” he added. “But I mean, he has created this character.” Back in May a Twitter user at the Dell Tech World conference shared that Cameron had begun writing a new Terminator movie but “wants to see how #AI shakes out before he goes any further.” At the Los Angeles event, Schwarzenegger said that whilst The Terminator franchise will continue, it will do so without him. “The franchise is not done. I’m done. I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator.” He added that he looks at the franchise “very fondly,” attributing it to much of his success. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-07-04 18:48