Taylor Swift, Football Boost British Digital Publisher Daily Mirror Reach

Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach also owns scores of regional newspaper titles across the UK. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach also owns scores of regional newspaper titles across the UK. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
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Taylor Swift, Football Boost British Digital Publisher Daily Mirror Reach

Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach also owns scores of regional newspaper titles across the UK. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Daily Mirror and Daily Express publisher Reach also owns scores of regional newspaper titles across the UK. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Taylor Swift's Eras tour, the European soccer championship and the UK election boosted digital revenue for British news publisher Reach in its second-quarter, reversing a decline in the first.

The publisher of the Daily Mirror, Daily Express and regional titles and associated websites cut cost to improve its margin by 3.9 points, resulting in a 23% rise in first-half operating profit to 44.5 million pounds ($57.1 million).

According to Reuters, revenue fell 5.2% to 265 million pounds, reflecting double-digit declines in print advertising in both the first and second quarters. Digital revenue, however, rose 6.7% in the second quarter after falling 8.5% in the first.

Chief Executive Jim Mullen said: "Alongside our expertise in managing our print product, we have traded our digital assets hard and delivered an operating margin improvement."

He said the group was delivering multi-platform journalism, with 9 million people signed up to receive news direct to their devices, including by WhatsApp.

"We had that three week burst with the Euros, the election and the phenomenon that is Taylor Swift," he said on Wednesday.

"But also some of the traditional advertisers are going through a purple patch, so food retail helped print, but it also helped digital," he added.

Shares in the company rose 1.2% in morning deals.



Humpback Whale Briefly Swallows Kayaker in Chilean Patagonia

A humpback whale jumps in the Uramba Bahia Malaga National Natural Park in Colombia, Aug. 12, 2018. (AFP via Getty Images)
A humpback whale jumps in the Uramba Bahia Malaga National Natural Park in Colombia, Aug. 12, 2018. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Humpback Whale Briefly Swallows Kayaker in Chilean Patagonia

A humpback whale jumps in the Uramba Bahia Malaga National Natural Park in Colombia, Aug. 12, 2018. (AFP via Getty Images)
A humpback whale jumps in the Uramba Bahia Malaga National Natural Park in Colombia, Aug. 12, 2018. (AFP via Getty Images)

A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed. The incident, caught on camera, quickly went viral as one of the most remarkable footage in Chile in recent years.

Last Saturday, Adrián Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan when a humpback whale surfaced, engulfing Adrián and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before letting him go.

Dell, just meters away, captured the moment on video while encouraging his son to stay calm.

“Stay calm, stay calm,” he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale’s mouth.

“I thought I was dead,” Adrián told The Associated Press. “I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.”

He described the “terror” of those few seconds and explained that his real fear set in only after resurfacing, fearing that the huge animal would hurt his father or that he would perish in the frigid waters.

Despite the terrifying experience, Dell remained focused, filming and reassuring his son while grappling with his own worry.

“When I came up and started floating, I was scared that something might happen to my father too, that we wouldn’t reach the shore in time, or that I would get hypothermia,” Adrián said.

After a few seconds in the water, Adrián managed to reach his father’s kayak and was quickly assisted. Despite the scare, both returned to shore uninjured.

Located about 1,600 miles (3,000 kilometers) south of Santiago, Chile’s capital, the Strait of Magellan is a major tourist attraction in the Chilean Patagonia, known for adventure activities.

Its frigid waters pose a challenge for sailors, swimmers and explorers who attempt to cross it in different ways.

Although it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures in the region remain cool, with minimums dropping to 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) and highs rarely exceeding 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius.)

While whale attacks on humans are extremely rare in Chilean waters, whale deaths from collisions with cargo ships have increased in recent years, and strandings have become a recurring issue in the last decade.