Some users were experiencing issues with Apple Cash as a result of an outage confirmed by Apple on Wednesday.
The company’s System Status page indicated that there was an ongoing issue with Apple Cash, with users not being able to send or receive funds. Other Apple-branded services, such as the iOSApp Store, iCloud, and Apple Pay appear to be functioning normally. The issue first occurred at 10:01 a.m. Eastern Time and is was resolved at 5:18 p.m. Eastern Time.
Users took to social media to complain about Apple Cash not functioning. Apple Cash is a popular payment service, similar to CashApp, Venmo, and Zelle, but under the Apple umbrella.
Only some users were affected. Apple Cash was still working for most during the outage.
Apple’s services periodically experience outages and other issues for various reasons. Apple Wallet experienced a similar problem in December 2023, and Apple Cash was facing an issue in May of the same year.
Update: January 8, 10:00 p.m. ET: Apple updated the status page to state the outage was resolved. Text updated.
Red-hot Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight prospect Payton Talbottmakes his first appearance of the year at UFC 311 next weekend (Sat., Jan. 18, 2025) when he takes on UFC veteran Raoni Barcelos inside the brand-new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California.
After he is through with the ultra-tough Barecelos, Talbott already knows who he wants to scrap with next … and it isn’t a UFC fighter. Instead, he wants the very controversial con artistAndrew Tate.
“Yeah, that’s the one. Yeah, let’s get that going,” Talbott said when asked if he wanted to fight Tate. “I’d take that; I’d take that. Yeah, yeah, it’s just a free-for-all.”
“He’s just the antithesis of me,” Talbott said. “It seems like someone just cheated on him when he was younger, and now he has this vendetta against women. I feel like he takes himself super seriously, and it’s just like, he’s kind of a poison for masculine culture.”
Unfortunately for Talbott, he will have to wait to beat up Tate as he is currently under house arrest in Romania for his human trafficking case.
To check out the latest UFC 311 fight card and rumors click here.
The Palisades fire that broke out in California in January 2025 quickly spread throughout Southern California. In just one day, multiple fires erupted across Los Angeles County. Since Pacific Palisades is well known for its celebrity residents, concerned fans wondered if any stars’ homes were affected by the wildfires. One star did, in fact, reveal that their home burned down.
Apart from wealthy stars, countless residents in Pacific Palisades and surrounding L.A. county areas lost their homes or struggled to fend off embers. After the initial Palisades fire erupted, some people abandoned their cars in the streets and fled the area to escape the encroaching flames and smoke.
Find out if any celebrity homes burned down in the Palisades fire and what other stars lived there below.
What Celebrities Lived in Pacific Palisades Before the Fire?
Matthew Perrywas one of the most well-known Pacific Palisades residents. The late Friends alum died at his house in October 2023. One year later, his home was sold to film producer and real estate developer Anita Verma-Lallian, according to PEOPLE.
In addition to Matthew, other stars who reportedly owned homes or resided in Pacific Palisades were Billy Crystal, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, Dan Aykroyd, Kobe Bryant, Dr. Dre, Alden Ehrenreich, Jennifer Garner, Anthony Hopkins and several others.
Which Celebrity Homes Were Burned in the Palisades Fire?
The Hills alumSpencer Prattlost their home during the Palisades fire in January 2025. Spencer shared a frightening TikTok clip at the time, which showed an entire property engulfed in flames. He captioned his video, “Nightmare came true.”
Additionally, Anna Faris, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester‘s homes burned down in the fire, TMZ reported. Paris Hilton and Mandy Moore also revealed that their homes burned down. Paris watched her Malibu house burn, while Mandy had to evacuate Altadena.
Celebrity Homes That Burned in Past California Fires
Miley Cyrus is one of the most well-known stars who lost her Malibu, California, home during the 2018 Woolsey fire. The Grammy Award winner shared her house with then-husband Liam Hemsworth. Miley reflected on the loss of her home during a 2023 TikTok video series.
“The Meet Miley Cyrus record was really where I started writing my own songs as a solo artist, and so, I was working with a producer in Malibu that lived in a house in Ramirez Canyon, which I would’ve never known 15 years later I would be living in that house, which would eventually burn down,” Miley said. “That house had so much magic to it. It ended up really changing my life.”
Miley also seemingly referenced her home’s devastation in her hit single “Flowers” in the lyric, “We were right, till we weren’t / Watched a home and watched it burn.”
Jam tomorrow. That often seems to be the investment case for THG (LSE: THG). The THG share price is now 40% lower than a year ago. And it was not exactly flying high then – in fact, since its stock market listing in 2020, the THG share price has lost a cataclysmic 95%.
Can that be rational?
After all, there is a lot to like about the business – so much, in fact, that several sophisticated financial companies have tried to buy the whole business in recent years at a far higher valuation than it currently commands on the stock market.
So, should I buy the share for my portfolio now, hoping that it could rebound in a big way in the coming year (and beyond)?
Here’s what dogging THG
The issue, as I see it, boils down to whether or not THG has the potential to be a profitable business over the long term.
So far, the numbers are not promising. While it has been doing over a couple of billion pounds a year in sales, THG’s bottom line looks horrendous.
Last year it lost £248m after tax, following a post-tax loss of over half a billion pounds the prior year. The consistently loss-making business has spilt a lot of red ink in its few years on the stock market.
That, bulls might say, is the nature of the beast. THG is a technology business, investing now to build scale in its online retail outsourcing business. Once that reaches the right point, the positive case goes, that expenditure could pay off in spades. It is a similar story to the one heard from believers in the Ocado business case.
As with Ocado, in my opinion, the crux of the issue comes down to whether such a view holds water. Is THG indeed spending now to reap the rewards later? Or is it simply a business with a failed model, ready to keep burning up cash for the foreseeable future?
Strategic fog does not help
I confess, I am even more confused now than a year ago.
For years, THG was touting its Ingenuityplatform as a key growth driver. But last month it finalised plans to demerge that business.
That could help achieve a higher valuation for Ingenuity, which I think has never been well understood in the City.
But I wonder why THG, having blown the platform’s trumpet for so long, decided to demerge it. I also question the rationale for raising money by issuing new shares (as THG did) to demerge the business. Why not simply keep the division within THG, or cut the losses and close it down?
THG management’s strategic plan now seems less credible to me than it did before (and I have long had my doubts). Meanwhile, the beauty division grew sales in the first nine months of last year, while THG’s nutrition revenues shrank 7%.
If another bidder comes along, I reckon the THG share price could soar again.
Looking at the fundamentals, however, I see THG as a consistently loss-making business losing sales in a key division and lacking strategic consistency. Even though it sells for pennies, things might yet get worse. I will not be touching this share with a bargepole.
We’d all love to earn some passive income, wouldn’t we? I mean, who wouldn’t want regular cash coming in that we don’t have to work for?
I reckon the annual £20,000 ISA allowance is great for those of us investing for the long term. All of the profit we make in an ISA is tax-free, even for those who’ve built up a million or more in their accounts. (And thousands have achieved that, by the way.)
Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.
What can we earn?
One thing I love about an ISA is that it’s flexible. We often hear the old saying that we shouldn’t let the tax tail wag the investment dog, and that can make sense. A poor investment remains a poor investment even if we don’t pay tax on it.
But an ISA is just a wrapper, and we can use it to protect a whole range of investments. How well we perform is entirely our own responsibility.
For me, the choice of what to go for is easy. It’s a Stocks and Shares ISA every time, even if it gives me more risk to have to deal with. In the past decade, Stocks and Shares ISAs have averaged 9.6%. In 2019-2020, however, we saw a painful 13% loss.
But then, over the past 20 years, average annual returns from the FTSE 100 have come in at 6.9%. And that’s close to the very long-term rate.
Stocks to consider
So that’s the first thing. I think investing in the stock market needs a horizon of at least 10 years, ideally 20 or more. Over that timescale, the chance of stocks losing out to cash becomes increasingly low.
There are two other key ways to address risk. One is diversification, putting our cash into a wide range of companies in different businesses. The financial crash? The pharmaceuticals and energy sectors were fine, for example.
And then I try to invest in top companies in industries that seem like they could go on for ever. Ideally, they’ll have a defensive moat, generate strong cash flow, and pay steady dividends.
I’m looking at National Grid (LSE: NG.) as a passive income buy candidate. The dividend yield is forecast at 5.9%, which is close to that 20-year FTSE 100 return on its own.
Cash cow essential
National Grid provides an essential service, and it’s well protected against competition. But there’s a side to it that I like less. It’s the costs of maintaining and developing its network in the years ahead.
A new £7bn rights issue to help fund its plans led to this summer’s share price dip. If it happens again, it could drop the share price again. And it might even hit the dividend.
Against that, National Grid generated £7.3bn in cash flow from continuing operations in its last full year. And that’s just what I want to generate long-term passive income for me to reinvest for the future.
Individual investors need to develop their own investing approaches. But this is the kind of stock I go for in my diversified ISA.
Like many investors, I enjoy the passive income streams I can earn from owning dividend shares. One FTSE 250 share I used to own has had a tough year, with its share price falling over a fifth in just 12 months. That has pushed its dividend yield up to 10.8%.
A yield of almost 11% certainly grabs my attention. But, as many investors have learned the hard way, no dividend is ever guaranteed.
So could this be a bargain to snap up for my portfolio – or a value trap that might yet fall further?
Unconvincing dividend record
The share in question is the daftly named abrdn (LSE: ABDN).
While past performance is not necessarily an indication of what to expect in future, abrdn’s dividend history does immediately set an alarm bell ringing in my head.
The dividend has been held flat since 2020. That year saw a cut of around one third in the annual dividend per share. Prior to that, the ordinary dividend per share had been held flat for one year but before that it had been growing annually for a few years.
Before getting into the details of the business, that pattern alone makes this sound potentially like a situation where a company has been unrealistic about its long-term dividend capacity, tried to avoid a cut by holding it steady, and then faced the inevitable by lopping a big chunk off the payout.
Dividend potential – but also some clear risks
Is that what has happened at abrdn? To some extent, I think yes — and it may actually underplay the ongoing challenges the FTSE 250 firm may face in maintaining its payout.
Last year, the dividend of 14.6p per share was not covered by diluted earnings of 0.1p per share. The year before had seen a bigger gap, with the same dividend per share but a diluted loss per share of 26.6p.
Meanwhile, last year saw net cash inflows from operating activities double, to £221m. But that dividend was costing the company £267m, substantially more than its operating profit. That raises a red flag for me about the sustainability of the payout.
abrdn continues to battle risks such as investors pulling out more money than they put in. In its most recent quarter, institutional and retail wealth assets under management and administration shrunk slightly.
Set against that, the company’s interactiveinvestor division reported higher assets under management and administration, as well as a net inflow of client funds. By building its digital footprint, abrdn is hoping to get on a growth trajectory once more. If that can help it generate more cash, the dividend may end up being safer than it currently looks.
I’m not ready to buy
Still, that remains to be seen. abrdn has a lot of work still to do and the outlook for investor demand in the next several years is unclear.
With rising living costs and a weak economy, I see a risk of outflows from the sorts of funds offered by abrdn.
So while the high yield is attention-grabbing, for now I will not be adding this FTSE 250 share to my ISA.
EasyJet has announced flights from a major UK airport to a popular European destination which is perfect for a winter getaway.
Flights to Innsbruck in Austria now run from Birmingham Airport and will operate once a week throughout winter.
Seats are available to book at EasyJet.com and via the mobile app, with fares starting from just £14.99.
Innsbruck is located in the heart of the Austrian Alps and the city is an exciting destination to visit over the colder months.
It boasts a vibrant Old Town, a castle, a palace, a funicular, an alpine zoo and a stunning cathedral.
The flights from Birmingham to Innsbruck will run every Sunday until the end of March, providing a new convenient connection for those in the Midlands seeking a sensational ski or snowboard holiday to some of Austria’s world-famous resorts.
This includes St Anton, the birthplace of modern alpine skiing, which is only one hour away from Innsbruck.
Nestled in the snowy mountain landscape, Innsbruck is packed full of adventures for the non-skier too, with a charming old town, home to the sparkling Swarovski crystal company, and an imposing imperial palace from the former Habsburg dynasty that cannot be missed.
EasyJet UK Country Manager Ali Gayward said: “Our new service from Birmingham to Innsbruck in Austria provides our customers with even more connections to some of Europe’s top ski resorts.
“With demand for flights to the Austrian Alps taking off, we’re sure this fantastic new route will prove popular with our customers in the Midlands this winter season.”
Aviation Director at Birmingham Airport Aviation Director Tom Screen said: “EasyJet’s launch of the Birmingham-to-Innsbruck route highlights our commitment to expanding travel options for customers in the Midlands.
“This new connection not only supports the growing demand for flights to the Austrian Alps but also provides an excellent opportunity to explore Innsbruck’s rich culture and stunning scenery.
“Birmingham Airport is proud to collaborate with EasyJet to enhance connectivity and travel experiences for our passengers.”
IT: Welcome to Derryis just one of many highly anticipated shows set to hit HBO and the streaming service Max in 2025. Along with releases like The Last of Us Season 2, The Righteous Gemstones Season 4, and plenty of other series, the premium cable network has plenty of offerings in the coming year. Now, thanks to a new interview with Andy Muschietti, fans of the It films have new details about the upcoming prequel series along with a surprising new roadmap for the show should it find success with its first season.
In an interview with Radio TU, Muschietti delved into new story details about the series, specifically about the time period for the first season and when the next two seasons would take place should the series be renewed. Welcome to Derry is centered around the early days of Derry, Maine, exploring the origins of the terrifying Pennywise the Clown, with Bill Skarsgård reprising his role from the two It films. Muschietti told the radio show that the first season takes place in 1962, with a second season in 1935 and the third in 1908.
While the first season hasn’t even premiered yet, the director also revealed that HBO is eager to continue the series, wanting to start production on the second season as soon as possible. The faith the television network seemingly has in this series is astounding, which undoubtedly speaks to how good the company thinks the first season is. The financial success of the It films speaks to the untapped potential of further exploring the mythos of the horrific entity that haunts Derry, making an anthology series like Welcome to Derry feel like a no-brainer.
Stephen King’s ‘It’ is the Perfect Story for Anthology Horror
The ancient and evil entity at the heart of Stephen King’s original novel has a vast history that’s only briefly mentioned in both of Muschietti’s films, making this anthology series feel less like a cash grab and more like a natural extension of the two films. In an industry that is continuing to expand cinematic universes to the small screen, with series like The Penguin following up the story of The Batman and Dune: Prophecy serving as a prequel to the Dune films, Welcome to Derry has a chance to stand out with its anthology storytelling format.
‘The Flash’ director reveals that there is a script for ‘Shadow of the Colossus’…but is it actually happening?
With Muschietti’s comments about the setting for each season, it’s safe to assume that every season will also have a new cast of characters inhabiting the town of Derry. With such a drastic change every season, it will also keep new and old viewers interested in the story that the team behind the series aims to tell. So many different period settings also lead to different manifestations of fear, hopefully making the It entity at the heart of the story less repetitive and more unique with each season.
IT: Welcome to Derry is set to premiere its first season in 2025, and with a second season apparently already underway, according to Muschietti, this television series is definitely one to keep an eye on this year. Moreover, there are also plenty of other aspects to Derry to explore besides the entity that stalks it, making this upcoming series all the more exciting.
Despite no signs of a Bloodborne remake in the decade since its release, some talented fans have managed to emulate the uniquely grim world of Yarnham on PC in surprisingly high quality. Taking advantage of the PC’s uncapped hardware, the emulated version of Bloodborne lets players experience the iconic world of Bloodborne in high-definition resolutions and greater frame rates than ever before. While the current Bloodborne emulator builds are far from the perfect FromSoftware remaster fans have been craving for years, a recent mod has pushed them to even greater heights than ever.
Even with the state of the community-made Bloodborne PC port being the most stable yet, it still comes with the huge catches associated with an unofficial project. On top of the instability that comes with the work-in-progress emulator, it can require some tinkering and know-how to get working on most PCs, but it looks fantastic to play after it’s up and running. While it’s great to relive the classic Bloodborne experience on improved hardware, there’s one mod that’s a must-have for anyone still waiting for a Bloodborne.
The Bloodborne Magnus Opus Mod Restores Years Of Cut Content
Transforming Bloodborne Into A Brand New Experience
Reportedly taking the developer Abyss1ne on Nexus thousands of hours of data-mining and remodeling, the Bloodborne Magnum Opus mod aims to restore as much of Bloodborne’s cut content as possible. While the mod itself was first released in 2022, it had a massive update titled the “Project Beast Update” on the 29th of December, adding a plethora of restored content alongside some much-appreciated bug fixes.
Bloodborne’s horror-fueled narrative would normally be something I avoid, but its soulslike gameplay was a game-changer for this 2015 hit.
Given that the unique and dark world of Bloodborne is one of its best-selling points aside from its tension-filled blood-pumping combat, the Magnum Opus project allows players to see never-before-seen content realized in-game for the first time.
Adding a plethora of restored content alongside some much-appreciated bug fixes.
Each character in Bloodborne is dripping with a unique personality tied to their game world, offering some of the most interesting characters from the Soulsborne franchise, from climactic bosses like Lady Maria to nameless yet tragic NPCs. Given that much of the restored content is from previous iterations of Bloodborne‘s development, not all of it fits as cohesively in the game world, although it provides an interesting insight into an alternate version of Yarnham and its characters
While not all the content restored from Abyss1ne’s Magnum Opus is the most lore-friendly for first-time players, this mod provides a fantastic way to relive the experience of playing Bloodborne for the very first time and discovering new things its haunted world has to offer.
Playing Bloodborne Has Never Felt Better On PC
An Even Better Way To Play The Classic Souls Like
While the unofficial Bloodborne PC port had a rocky start initially with poor performance, sound issues, and missing assets, it’s improved exponentially in only a few short years. Using the most recent builds of the Bloodborne PC emulator even allows for a fully seamless playthrough, being excellent proof that an official Bloodborne remake is more than possible, albeit no more likely to be released. While the emulated Bloodborne isn’t the perfect remastered experience players have been craving while being limited to the PC, it’s already a massive upgrade from the PlayStation edition thanks to its uncapped settings and modding capabilities.
10 years after its release, Bloodborne has received some brand new lore from an unlikely source and it could have interesting story implications.
While the Bloodborne port is a fantastic way to relive the iconic souls on its own, mods like the Magnum Opus project and other community projects take the emulated experience to even greater heights. As the Bloodborne PC port rises in popularity, it’s likely that more mod creators will follow suit, adding even more unique content or fan-made DLC and adding even more incentive to skip the wait for an official patch.
Even if it’s highly unlikely an unofficial port would receive any kind of support from developers or Sony, the success of the Bloodborne PC emulator could stir up enough attention to help convince Sony to finally start working on the long-awaited remaster.
Demand For More Bloodborne Content Is Higher Than Ever
A Missed Opportunity For Sony And FromSoftware
Custom Image by Steven Garrard
While it’s easy to think that Sony has completely forgotten about the dark world of Bloodborne, its appearance in the PlayStation’s 30th-anniversary trailer and a number of references in the recent Astro Bot make it hard not to be suspicious. Despite a complete lack of news regarding an official Bloodborne remake, it’s clear that executives at Sony are at least somewhat aware of just how popular the iconic FromSoftware RPG really is.
After countless rumors and leaks, there’s not much more of a chance for an official Bloodborne remake now than half a decade ago, especially with Sony’s recent interest in FromSoftware being more likely to target the monolithic Elden Ring and Dark Souls games.
The FromSoftware team would be more than happy to work on the project but doesn’t currently have any say in the decision.
The demand for Bloodborne has gotten so strong that even the developers at FromSoftware have expressed their interest in the project, with Miyazaki himself claiming that the FromSoftware team would be more than happy to work on the project but don’t currently have any say in the decision. While there’s no concrete evidence for its inclusion, Elden Ring Nightreign‘s inclusion of past characters could see the return of iconic Bloodborne assets and bosses to their fully remastered glory. While it’s pure speculation at this point, some form of inclusion in the seemingly non-canon world of Nightreign would be an excellent compromise for fans of the series desperately waiting for a future port.
Even with disappointment from the lack of official updates for Bloodborne fans, the emulator might be the best way to play in the long run, eliminating the need for a remaster altogether. The PC emulator allows dedicated players to run Blooborne better than they could on consoles, alongside the addition of mods to give players more control over their experience, provided they have the hardware to match.
The NHL has postponed Wednesday night’s scheduled game between the Kings and the Calgary Flames at Crypto.com Arena because of the wildfires burning across L.A. County.
“Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working First Responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community.
“We appreciate the League’s support in keeping our fans, staff, and players safe.”
The Kings said the game will be rescheduled for a later date and tickets for Wednesday’s game will be valid on the rescheduled date. More information and additional ticketing options will be offered by the Kings once the new date and time are confirmed.
The Lakers are scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night. The NBA declined to comment on whether that game will take place as planned.
Firefighters have been battling multiple blazes since Tuesday, with wind gusts reaching nearly 100 mph and fueling three major fires that have burned more than 1,000 buildings and caused at least two deaths. The Palisades fire has burned more than 5,000 acres and many homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades and westward along Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu.
The Eaton fire has burned more than 10,000 acres and numerous structures in Altadena and Pasadena, and the Hurst fire has burned 505 acres around Sylmar.
