List of All Articles with Tag 'brit'

Taylor Swift has already broken a number of records this year with her Eras Tour - and now her shows in Seattle caused seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. For two nights (22 and 23 July), the 33-year-old pop star performed to a record-breaking 144,000 fans at Lumen Field, in the Emerald City in what has now been described as the "Swift Quake." This has been compared to the “Beast Quake," back in 2011 when Seattle Seahawks fans reacted to Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch's touchdown. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, who is a geology professor at Western Washington University noticed someone comparing the two events on a Facebook group and decided to investigate further. “I grabbed the data from both nights of the concert and quickly noticed they were clearly the same pattern of signals,” Caplan-Auerbach told CNN. “If I overlay them on top of each other, they’re nearly identical.” Seismographs are instruments used to record the motion of the ground, When looking at the difference in magnitude, the "Beast Quake" was 2.0, while the "Swift Quake" was just higher at 2.3. An earthquake of this scale is minor, it can shake the ground enough for people to notice but damage is normally limited to objects falling off shelves, according to New Scientist. Though Caplan-Auerbach noted a sizable difference between the "Beast Quake" and "Swift Quake" in terms of shaking. "The shaking was twice as strong as ‘Beast Quake’. It absolutely doubled it," the seismologist told the same publication. But in a tweet, Caplan-Auerbach considered other factors that come into play such as the music, speakers and sound system contributing to the seismic activity, not just the fans. While a reaction to a touchdown lasts for seconds, the seismologist detailed how for Swift's concerts she "collected about 10 hours of data where rhythm controlled the behavior." Swift clearly enjoyed the atmosphere at the weekend as she took to Instagram and wrote: "Seattle that was genuinely one of my favorite weekends ever. Thank you for everything. All the cheering, screaming, jumping, dancing, singing at the top of your lungs." 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.

A British model has recounted her relief at escaping a kidnapping, after she was held prisoner in Italy and put up for sale on the dark web. Chloe Ayling, 25, who was on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018, suffered the traumatic experience the previous year, when she was abducted and drugged by two men in Milan. Ayling was 20 at the time, and had travelled there for a modelling job. Instead, she was taken hostage and held at a £265,000 ransom in a farmhouse near Turin. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Speaking on ITV, she recalled: “I walked into the studio and there was just silence. “Normally someone would greet you at the door but I just didn't hear anything. “Before I had time to process my thoughts, that's exactly when the masked man put his arm around my neck and mouth... and another one came to the front of me and injected me in my wrists.” When she woke up, Ayling was in the boot of a car with “tape on my mouth and handcuffs on my feet and my hands”. The model also saw an empty suitcase in the boot of the car with her, which she assumed her kidnappers planned to put her in. She was held in the farmhouse near Milan for six days as she tried to convince the men to let her go. Ayling was released on 17 July at the British consulate in Milan, after telling the kidnappers about her child at home. Polish national, Lukasz Herba, and his brother, Michal Herba, were subsequently jailed after an Italian court convicted them of kidnapping Ayling. Ayling’s story will be covered in a six-part BBC series called Kidnapped. Georgia Lester, who worked on Killing Eve, will cover her time in captivity, and the subsequent court case. Lester said: “Every moment that I have spent researching this series and spending time with Chloe, learning about the ordeal she suffered both by the men who abducted her and the people who doubted her, has been shocking and infuriating. “It’s been an honour to work with Chloe and I can’t wait for audiences to finally see her courage, her charm and her unwavering resilience.” The BBC Three series will begin filming later this year. 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.

By David Milliken LONDON Ben Bernanke, who chaired the U.S. Federal Reserve during the global financial crisis, will

Lizzo has been taking her trip to Hobbiton, New Zealand very seriously. So seriously, she dressed up as Legolas while playing the Lord Of The Rings theme tune on her recorder and posted it online. The singer stood outside of a hobbit home as she effortlessly jammed to 'Concerning Hobbits', even attracting the attention of Katy Perry, who tagged her husband Orlando Bloom and joked Lizzo was 'coming for his job'. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Joe Pesci's damning SNL speech about Sinead O'Connor has resurfaced following the singer's death. In the monologue delivered in the weeks following her ripping up a photo of the Pope, the actor pieces the photo back together and expresses his dismay. "I would've grabbed her by her... eyebrows. Ah, what am I doing? I'm making myself crazy, for what?", he rants. "I mean, she's just a kid, why should I care? Anyway, the Pope has probably forgiven her already, he forgave that guy that shot him, right?" Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Sinead O’Connor’s death at age 56 this week has led to an outpouring of grief from both celebrities and normal people whose lives the iconic singer touched. Neil Gaiman, the English novelist, is the latest, having shared a coincidence that occurred hours before O’Connor’s death was announced. Gaiman was at the Golden Notebook bookshop in Woodstock, New York, the writer said, where employees gave him a signed copy of Why Sinead O’Connor Matters by the journalist Allyson McCabe. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter He said he did not personally select the book, but “[t]hey chose it for me.” That same day, on 26 July, O’Connor’s passing was announced publicly. The synopsis of McCabe’s book is as follows: “In 1990, Sinéad O’Connor’s video for “Nothing Compares 2 U” turned her into a superstar. “Two years later, an appearance on Saturday Night Live turned her into a scandal. For many people — including, for years, the author — what they knew of O’Connor stopped there. “Allyson McCabe believes it’s time to reassess our old judgments about Sinéad O’Connor and to expose the machinery that built her up and knocked her down.” Gaiman's fans have responded to the unusual coincidence in their droves. Why Sinead O’Connor Matters was published in May 2023. 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.

In one of the more unlikely stories you'll hear this year, Elon Musk has congratulated his ex-wife Talulah Riley on getting engaged to Love Actually child actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Riley and Brodie-Sangster, who are both actors, have been together for two years having met while working on the FX series Pistol. Now after just two years together, Riley announced on Twitter that she and Brodie Sangster were getting hitched. The 37-year-old St Trininan's star wrote: "Very happy to share that after two years of dating, Thomas Brodie Sangster and I are engaged!" Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Riley, who has been married to Elon Musk twice and as a result divorced twice, even chimed in to offer his congratulations as the happy couple shared a wholesome selfie of themselves together. Riley and Musk began dating in 2008 and married each other in Scotland in 2010 only for Musk to end the relationship in 2012 and file for divorce. They then reconciled their differences and in July 2013 got married again but by December 2014 Musk had filed for another divorce only to withdraw. Riley and Musk then lived separately for six months before she filed for divorce in 2016 with the pair finally separating in October 2016. The two appear to still be on good terms with Riley telling Musk in March 2022: "Can you buy Twitter and then delete it, please?" America is going insane. Or can you just buy Twitter and make it radically free speech? So much stupidity comes from Twitter." Some foreshadowing there... Brodie-Sangster is best known for his role as Sam in the Christmas classic Love Actually but has also starred in Nowhere Boy, Game of Thrones and the Maze Runner series. 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.

By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) -Prince Harry can take some of his lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group to

Former Made In Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo attempted to praise David Cameron on social media and it went as well as you might expect. Toffolo, who is also known by the name “Toff”, rose to fame as a reality star and became friends with Stanley Johnson, father of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during an appearance on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. But, in a recent tweet, Toff found receiving pushback after sharing her praise for another former Tory PM, Cameron. She shared a picture of Cameron addressing a room full of people and wrote: “I can confirm that David Cameron has still got it.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It didn’t take long for many people to point out some of Cameron’s decisions made as a leader that they believe had a devastating effect on the country. Political commentator, Supertanskiii, wrote: “By ‘it’ you presumably mean the sheer audacity to show his face in public after absolutely destroying Britain with austerity and Brexit?” In a similar vein, Dom Joly, asked: “By ‘it’ I presume you mean eternal shame for panicking about empty threats from Farage and enabling Brexit, sending us into an economic death spiral?” Someone else joked: “Don’t get too close or your might catch it…” “Hope he keeps it to himself then !!!” another commented. One Twitter user asked: “The ability to f*** everything up and then walk away like it wasn't his fault? Is that 'it'?” Cameron famously called for the 2016 EU referendum that paved the way for Brexit, which many believe has been negative for the country and its economy. 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.

LONDON (Reuters) -Prince Harry can proceed with some of his lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper arm but his allegations

The moment Sinead O'Connor ripped up a photo of the Pope has resurfaced as the singer has died. The Grammy-winning singer who shot to international stardom in 1990 with the hit ballad 'Nothing Compares 2 U', and released 10 studio albums between 1987 and 2014 has died aged 56, her family confirmed. As well as being famous for her music, she also was known for some controversial moments. O'Connor was performing on Saturday Night Live on October 1992 when she ripped up the photo of the head of the Catholic church. The then 26-year-old singer performed an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s 'War' to bring attention to the issue of child abuse. As she finished singing, the singer held up a picture of Pope John Paul II and tore it to pieces in front of the camera. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter She then blew out the candles on stage and walked off. The stunt was reportedly to protest the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, long before such allegations were widely reported. The network received complaints after the stunt and O'Connor also received death threat, boos, and had to cancel lots of gigs. Remembering the incident in her 2021 autobiography, Rememberings, she wrote: "'When I walk backstage, literally not a human being is in sight. "All doors have closed. Everyone has vanished. Including my own manager, who locks himself in his room for three days and unplugs his phone." And in 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI apologized to Ireland to atone for decades of abuse, O'Connor condemned the apology for not going far enough and called for Catholics to boycott Mass until there was a full investigation into the Vatican's role. Announcing the singer's death in a statement yesterday, O'Connor's family said: "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. "Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time." They did not report the cause of her death. 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.

Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor has died at the age of 56 and tributes celebrating her life have poured in. Her death was announced on Wednesday (26 July) by her family in a brief statement. No cause of death was given. It read: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.” The singer hailed from Dublin, Ireland, and rose to fame thanks to a global hit with the 1990 ballad Nothing Compares 2 U. Throughout her musical career, O’Connor was no stranger to controversy and famously shocked the US by ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a 1992 appearance on the talk show Saturday Night Live in protest against child abuse in the Catholic Church. The news of her death stunned many, from the world of entertainment and beyond, and has led to an outpouring of heartfelt tributes for the musical icon. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter O’Connor’s death comes 18 months after that of her 17-year-old son Shane. In one of her last posts on social media, she said he was “the love of my life, the lamp of my soul”. She will be remembered not only for her singing voice but for her activism and bravery in opposing atrocities, even in the face of significant backlash. 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.