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Xbox Series X and S pre-orders are available today and rapidly selling out across the world, with one website hit by demand.
Although the consoles won’t be physically available until 10 November – for £249 for the smaller Xbox Series S, and £449 for the flagship Series X – consumers wishing to avoid the queues can purchase theirs online today.

Demand appears to be very high with pre-order stock of the Series X completely selling out in Australia, while in the UK the website for high street retailer Game going down this morning as customers tried to use the site.

Image: The website for Game was down while ‘dealing with large volumes of customers’
Game told Sky News: “Xbox customers have come out in force with an exceptional response to pre-orders going live at 8am this morning, in-store and online. We’re dealing with large volumes of customers visiting our website and are working hard to serve their needs.”
A number of retailers in the UK have sold out of the Series X, although the Series S is still available at most outlets.

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When pre-orders went live for Sony’s rival console the PlayStation 5 they sold out in significantly less than an hour.

According to Microsoft, customers in 12 countries – including the UK, US, Australia and South Korea – will be able to pay for the consoles and a gaming pass through a monthly plan starting at $24.99 for two years.

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The cheaper Series S will not have a disc drive and will have lower specifications than the Series X, relying on users to download and stream games.

Image: The new Xbox console will be launched without Halo Infinite. Pic: Microsoft
Despite this Microsoft said the Series S will “deliver everything that is core to next-generation gaming – faster load times, higher frame rates, and richer, more dynamic worlds”.
The main difference between the two versions is the graphics resolution, with the Series S graphics processing unit not as powerful as the Series X, and being unable to output 4K video.
While there are also two new PlayStation 5 consoles, with the flagship model retailing for the same £449, the cheaper digital edition which also doesn’t have a disc drive will cost £359 – £110 more than the cheaper Series S – because Sony said it does not have lower specs.
The new PS5s will be available in the UK from 19 November.

The owner of the Premier Inn chain of hotels and Brewers Fayre restaurants has announced plans to cut 6,000 jobs, hours before the government is to outline new restrictions on the hospitality sector to tackle rising COVID-19 infection rates.
Whitbread said it had begun consultations with staff and hoped the majority of the proposed cuts could be made voluntarily as it revealed the extent of its collapse in sales during the coronavirus crisis.

It reported that sales during the first half of its financial year to 27 August fell by almost 80% as a result of the lockdown that forced the closure of most sites.

Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy
Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy

It said the accommodation division was performing ahead of the market since re-opening while its restaurant brands were “boosted by the positive impact of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme”.
It said August UK total sales improved to be 38.5% down year-on-year.

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The company said its job cut proposals reflected forecasts of continuing subdued demand, as England faces up to new curbs due to be outlined by Boris Johnson later on Tuesday.

It also cited the looming conclusion to the Job Retention Scheme – due to be wound down completely at the end of next month despite a chorus of disapproval from opposition parties, unions and business leaders who are demanding further targeted support.

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Image: Whitbread completed the sale of Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola last year for £2.5bn
Whitbread said of its plans: “These changes create a more flexible labour model that can adapt with changes in the demand environment going forward. Our priority is to ensure that the process is fair and that impacted colleagues are supported throughout”.
It said the job cuts – representing 18% of its workforce – would be on top of cost-cutting measures that would lead to its head office headcount being reduced by up to 20%.

Curfews ‘will take casino sector down’

Its other actions have included the suspension of its dividend and voluntary pay cuts for its board and management team.
The company completed a £1bn rights issue in June to bolster its cash pile.
Shares – which have lost half their value in the year to date – fell by 3%.
Chief executive, Alison Brittain, said: “Our teams have worked very hard to reopen our hotels and restaurants and we are now firmly in the “restore” phase of our response to the COVID-19 crisis.
“Our performance following the reopenings has been ahead of the market, however, it has been clear from the beginning of this crisis that even as restrictions are eased and hospitality businesses such as ours reopen their doors, that demand would be materially lower than FY20 levels for a period of time.
“Given this backdrop, we have already taken extensive action to protect the business, retain financial flexibility and position it for long-term success.”

The City regulator has announced plans to curb charging practices for automatic home and car insurance renewals, to help restore “fair value and trust” in the market.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said its proposals would ensure that customers would pay no more on renewals than if they were a new customer to their provider.

It was the headline measure as the watchdog moved to tackle findings in 2018 that six million consumers’ failure to switch providers meant they were paying a £1.2bn “loyalty penalty”.
The FCA hoped its proposed shake-up, which is now subject to consultation, would save households £3.7bn over 10 years.
It explained that its planned renewal restriction would only apply through the same sales channel.

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For example, if the customer bought the policy online, they would be charged the same price as a new customer buying online.

Firms would be free to set new-business prices, but they would be prevented from gradually increasing the renewal price to consumers over time – known as “price walking”, other than in line with changes in a customer’s risk.

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The regulator said: “Firms use complex and opaque pricing practices that allow them to raise prices for consumers that renew with them year on year.
“While some people shop around for a deal, many others are losing out for being loyal. Firms target price increases on consumers who are less likely to switch and use practices that make it harder for people to leave.”

A deal to prevent TikTok from being banned in the US has been plunged into peril.
The Chinese company ByteDance had reached an agreement with Oracle and Walmart that was designed to allay national security concerns, but Global Times, a newspaper backed by the Chinese state, has suggested Beijing is unlikely to give its approval.

Under the plans, a new US subsidiary would be tasked with running TikTok, a video streaming app that is immensely popular with teenagers.

What data does TikTok collect on its users?

But the newspaper’s editorial denounced a requirement that four of the five board seats of this company must be held by Americans, with only one reserved for a Chinese national.
“It is clear that these [terms] extensively show Washington’s bullying style and hooligan logic. They hurt China’s national security, interests and dignity,” the article warned.

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Another paragraph added: “If the reorganisation of TikTok under US manipulation becomes a model, it means once any successful Chinese company expands its business to the US and becomes competitive, it will be targeted by the US and turned into a US-controlled company via trickery and coercion.”

This isn’t the only threat to the TikTok deal, which requires approval from regulators in both Beijing and Washington.

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While ByteDance says it will continue to own 80% of the TikTok Global subsidiary, Oracle has said that the Chinese company won’t have a direct stake in the business.

Image: The app is especially popular among US teenagers
US President Donald Trump has said that he won’t approve the deal unless he is satisfied that Oracle and Walmart have “total control” over TikTok – and warned he is prepared to scrap it.
“If we can save it, we’ll save it, and if we can’t we’ll cut if off,” he told reporters. “We have to have total security. That’s the only thing, very important, we have to have total security.”
The US Commerce Department had proposed to ban all downloads of the TikTok app in the US from last Sunday, but this measure was delayed by one week to give the companies time to finalise the deal.

Boris Johnson’s plans to impose a 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants have been described as a “crushing blow” for the hospitality sector.
The new measures are set to be enforced from Thursday across England, amid concerns that social distancing rules aren’t respected late at night.

But Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality has argued that this approach will make it harder to control the spread of coronavirus – and pointed to government data that suggests just 5% of infections are linked to hospitality venues.
Watch and follow live on Sky News as Boris Johnson updates MPs on coronavirus plans at 12.30pm

PM to address the nation tonight

She said: “These restrictions will come as another crushing blow for many hospitality businesses struggling to recover so it’s crucial these new rules are applied with flexibility.

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“A hard close time is bad for business and bad for controlling the virus – we need to allow time for people to disperse over a longer period.”

Ms Nicholls also claimed that similar measures enforced in local lockdowns have failed to reduce infection rates and “merely damaged businesses and cost jobs”.

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She is now calling for a support package to be targeted towards the hospitality sector, and said the government must “recognise this will damage confidence even further” and cause the sector to struggle long into next year.
“We need to see an early signal that the VAT cut will be extended through to the end of 2021, that the business rates holiday will continue next year, and an enhanced employment support package specifically for hospitality,” she added.

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The Institute of Economic Affairs has also criticised the plans, which will also ban people from ordering at the bar.
The right-wing think tank’s head of lifestyle economics, Christopher Snowdon, said: “While mandatory table service has been part of the successful Swedish approach and may have merit, the new closing time will be devastating to a hospitality sector that was already suffering after the first lockdown.
“The government should publish the evidence upon which this decision was based.”

What new measures could the PM announce?

Mr Johnson is set to give a TV address to the nation tonight, in which he will unveil a range of new measures to tackle the dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases.

Pubs, bars and restaurants throughout England will be forced to close at 10pm from Thursday, while people have been told to work from home again if they can.
In a House of Commons statement followed by a TV address to the nation, Boris Johnson will unveil a range of new measures to tackle the dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases.

Watch and follow live on Sky News as Boris Johnson updates MPs on coronavirus plans at 12.30pm – with a Downing Street broadcast at 8pm

Image: Pubs will be forced to close at 10pm from Thursday
Speaking to Sky News ahead of the statement, Michael Gove said there would be a “shift in emphasis” and “if it is possible for people to work from home they should do so”.
“They are reluctant steps that we’re taking, but they’re absolutely necessary because as we were reminded yesterday and as you’ve been reporting, the rate of infection is increasing, the number of people going to hospital is increasing, therefore we need to act,” the Cabinet Officer minister told Kay Burley.

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The clampdown, which will include the whole of the hospitality sector being restricted by law to table service only, comes after government medical chiefs raised the COVID-19 alert level.

The chief medical officers for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales raised the level from three to four, which means a high or rising level of transmission requires enforced social distancing.

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While the 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants will dismay the hospitality industry, there will be relief that the government is not proposing a total shutdown, although that could happen in some coronavirus hotspots.
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan has told Sky News he is proposing up to 15 new restrictions in the capital, including masks being worn in more public areas, curbs on weddings and funerals, and more people working from home.

What is the UK’s ‘COVID alert level’ and what does it mean?

The crackdown in England will be revealed by Mr Johnson in a day of frenetic activity for the prime minister, which began with an 8.30am cabinet meeting at which ministers were expected to sign off Downing Street’s proposals.
Mr Johnson will then chair an emergency meeting of the COBRA committee of senior ministers and officials, as well as the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford, and the first minister and deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill.
That will be followed by Mr Johnson’s statement in the Commons at about 12.30pm and his TV address, which Downing Street says will be broadcast at 8pm.
According to Number 10, the TV broadcast will be about “further ways we will confront the virus in line with the latest scientific advice, and the role everyone can continue to play in tackling the spread, including by following the social distancing guidance, wearing face coverings and washing hands regularly”.

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News the end of the government’s back to work drive was not a surprise, adding: “If it takes the pressure off those people who have to go into the workplace, then I think it’s very welcome news.”
She added: “But I do hope the government comes forward with a much more comprehensive message later today.
“I think people are now really struggling to understand what it is they’re being asked to do and why.”
Revealing the scale of preparation for the prime minister’s announcement of further measures, Downing Street has disclosed that he held meetings with scientific advisers, ministers and senior officials to discuss the latest on the pandemic throughout the weekend.

UK could face 200-plus deaths per day in November

On Saturday, the cabinet was briefed by England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, and the chief economist Clare Lombardelli.
And on Sunday evening, Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak held a special summit to hear scientific views from across the spectrum.
Then the working week began with Professor Whitty and Sir Patrick giving a briefing showing the number of coronavirus cases currently doubling around every seven days, and warning that if that continued there could be close to 50,000 cases a day by the middle of October.
After their briefing, at which the pair outlined potential scenarios for a “very challenging winter period”, the prime minister spoke with the leaders of the devolved nations and told them the rising inflection rates were a cause for great concern, which he was taking very seriously.

Later, Ms Foster announced that people in Northern Ireland would be banned from mixing with other households indoors.
In Wales, about a third of the population will be under a form of local lockdown from Tuesday and in Scotland, Ms Sturgeon said more restrictions would be announced shortly.
Responding to the raising of the COVID-19 alert level, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it reflected a significant shift in the current threat posed by coronavirus.
“This country now faces a tipping point in its response and it is vital everybody plays their part now to stop the spread of the virus and protect lives,” he said.

London restrictions on the horizon – but how bad is COVID in the capital?

Mr Khan later announced he had agreed a London plan with council leaders from all parties and public health experts to slow the spread of the virus and save Londoners’ lives.
He said he would be discussing the plan with Mr Johnson and asking the government to implement it.
“Without adequate testing or contact tracing in London, we have no choice but to look at other measures to slow the spread of the virus,” said the capital’s mayor.

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“I firmly believe that acting early, rather than having to impose more stringent measures later, is the right thing to do both for public health and the economy.
“I know that many Londoners, like me, will be deeply frustrated at the likelihood of imminent new restrictions. Londoners have shown incredible resolve by steadfastly following the rules and doing the right thing – at great cost.
“However, taking firm action now to prevent a deeper and longer lockdown in the future is without a doubt the best thing to both save lives, and protect jobs and our economic recovery.”

Microsoft has agreed to buy the company behind hit games such as Fallout, Doom and The Elder Scrolls in a $7.5bn (£5.8bn) deal.
The acquisition of ZeniMax will help Microsoft strengthen its Xbox video game offering as competition with rival Sony heats up ahead of Christmas.

Gaming has been boosted by growing demand at a time when consumers have been stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Image: The new Xbox models will hit shelves on 10 November. Pic: Microsoft
Microsoft and PlayStation 5 maker Sony are launching their next-generation gaming devices in November, with pre-orders for the Xbox going live on Tuesday.
ZeniMax is the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, whose titles include Wolfenstein and Dishonored.

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Microsoft plans to make Bethesda’s future games available on its monthly Xbox Game Pass subscription service – which currently has more than 15 million subscribers.

Its latest acquisition will mean it has more hit titles in its gaming library – a key selling point for gamers choosing a console.

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Microsoft said gaming was the “largest and fastest-growing form of entertainment in the world”, expected to be worth more than $200bn (£154bn) in annual revenue in 2021.
Chief executive Satya Nadella said: “Gaming is the most expansive category in the entertainment industry, as people everywhere turn to gaming to connect, socialise and play with their friends

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“Quality differentiated content is the engine behind the growth and value of Xbox Game Pass – from Minecraft to Flight Simulator.
“As a proven game developer and publisher, Bethesda has seen success across every category of games and, together, we will further our ambition to empower the more than three billion gamers worldwide.”
The ZeniMax deal comes shortly after Microsoft’s bid to take over the US operations of TikTok was rejected by the video app’s Chinese owner ByteDance.
TikTok is instead looking to enter into a partnership with Oracle and Walmart.

The Canadian security group which is mounting a hostile takeover bid for G4S, its larger UK rival, has asked for a meeting with ministers as it seeks to convince the government of its “long-term” commitment to the UK.
Sky News understands that GardaWorld, which is backed by the private equity firm BC Partners, has written to Alok Sharma, the business secretary, to open a dialogue about its £3bn approach.

People close to the situation said that GardaWorld had not raised the prospect of binding pledges about jobs at one of the UK’s biggest private sector employees, but said these were likely to form part of discussions with the government if its offer progressed.

Image: A G4S security worker
One person who has seen GardaWorld’s letter to Mr Sharma said it sought to highlight the company’s “long-term” commitment to doing business in Britain.
GardaWorld went public with its bid for G4S – the second time it has expressed an interest in buying the British company in less than 18 months – last week, after seeing three indicative offers spurned by the target’s board.

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The latest, pitched at 190p-per-share, has seen a number of large G4S shareholders endorse the decision to reject the offers but leave the door open to a higher bid.

A takeover of the support services company, which was among the outsourcing groups to have undertaken work on the government’s makeshift Nightingale hospitals set up during the coronavirus pandemic, would attract scrutiny from the Cabinet Office – a major G4S client.

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GardaWorld has already pitched an unusually aggressive tone in its public statements, questioning the remuneration of Ashley Almanza, G4S’s chief executive, and the stewardship of its vast pension scheme.
“G4S needs an owner, not a manager,” Stéphan Crétier, GardaWorld chief executive, said last week.
“GardaWorld has 25 years of experience in the sector and we know how to improve and repurpose this business.”
A GardaWorld spokesman said: “We have a number of contracts with government departments and wrote to them out of courtesy when our possible offer was announced.”

Labour has launched an attack on the government’s “financial mismanagement” during the coronavirus pandemic, accusing the Conservatives of wasting billions of pounds of public money.
In a speech to the party’s annual conference later, shadow chancellor Annelise Dodds will attack Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s “cavalier” approach to public cash, accusing him of handing over large sums to help businesses with “no strings attached”.

She will claim that as much as £2.6bn of money paid to firms as part of the Jobs Retention Bonus will go to businesses that would have brought staff back to work anyway.

Shapps: UK ‘just few weeks behind Europe’

Ms Dodds will try to contrast Mr Sunak’s record as a former hedge fund manager with her own “responsible approach to the national finances”.
“I’ve never missed an opportunity to confront financial mismanagement. I’ve spent my political career fighting international money laundering and tax evasion,” she is expected to say.

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“While the chancellor was profiting from a financial system that took huge risks and then passed them on to ordinary people, I helped to rein it in.”

Speaking to Sky News ahead of her first conference speech as shadow chancellor, Ms Dodds said the UK was in “very worrying times” with the COVID-19 outbreak.

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She called for a return to the daily government briefings seen earlier in the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked if the public should be hearing from the prime minister instead of the chief medical officer and chief scientist, she told Kay Burley: “We do need to have that kind of leadership – and we’ve been saying that surely we need to have a return to those daily updates that the government was providing.
“Because we do seem to be in really quite difficult circumstances.”

Is the public ready for a form of lockdown?

In her speech to the conference, which is being held online because of the pandemic, the shadow chancellor will set out a three-step plan to rebuild the economy after COVID-19.
This will be built around the principles of “recover jobs, retrain workers and rebuild business”.
A Labour government would help subsidise the wages of workers in key sectors in order to allow companies to bring back more staff on reduced hours.
There would also be a national retraining strategy for workers who have lost their jobs and a business rebuilding programme to help viable firms that are struggling.
Ms Dodds will also say that a future Labour government would try to restore trust with business.

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“Government working hand in hand with business and trade unions, in the best interests of our country,” she is expected to say.
“This is an ambitious Labour vision – where security and fairness aren’t just aspirations, but where they are a reality for families and communities across our country.
“As chancellor, I would restore that trust with business because I understand what a critical role business plays in creating jobs and supporting livelihoods across the country.”

The FTSE 100 has seen £52bn wiped off its value in a single day as markets plunged on fears of tougher coronavirus restrictions.
London’s leading share index plunged by 3.4%, or 203 points, as part of a global sell-off that also saw European and US stocks succumb to heavy selling pressure.

The pound, too, was on the back foot as the prospect of more pain caused by the pandemic added to deepening worries over fraught Brexit trade deal talks.

Market analysts pointed to a string of value negative developments driving the FTSE lower as it plunged by 3% within the first couple of hours of trading on Monday – dipping further as government advisers warned strict measures would be needed to curb surging UK infection rates.
Companies exposed to any new COVID-19 restrictions, including travel firms and housebuilders, saw their stocks face a renewed run from risk.

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The FTSE 100’s slump to 5804 points left it 23% down on the year to date – though still well above the nadir in March when coronavirus panic-selling saw it dip below the 5,000 mark.

Monday’s sell-off, which took £51.7bn off the combined value of the index’s constituent companies, was the biggest one-day slump since June.

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British Airways’ owner IAG was the biggest faller, down by 12%, leaving its shares nearly 77% lower on where they started 2020.
Among the other losers were banks – hit by the publication of a report alleging that a number of global lenders had moved large sums of illicit funds over nearly two decades despite concerns over the money’s origin.

Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy
Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy

The money laundering claims, which extended to UK-listed HSBC and Standard Chartered, led to falls of more than 5% in their share prices taking HSBC’s market value to a 25-year low.
Another company to take a hit was Rolls-Royce which said on Monday morning it was looking to raise up to £2.5bn to strengthen its balance sheet.
The prospect of a rights issue helped take its shares nearly 11% lower.
Away from the FTSE 100, shares in the hospitality sector took a bad turn with Wagamama-owner The Restaurant Group, falling nearly 18%.
Other casualties feeling the hangover included JD Wetherspoon – down 9% – while the company behind Harvester and Toby Carvery, Mitchells & Butlers, saw its shares lose 15%.
The price pressures combined to help take the mid-cap FTSE 250 4% lower.
It was a similar story for equities across Europe after Asia started the week on the back foot.
The German DAX and CAC in Paris were around 4% lower while in New York the Dow Jones was about down by about 3% at the time of the close in London.
In the case of the pound, analysts pointed to fresh pressure from lockdown risks to the UK economy, as it lost more than a cent to dip below $1.28 versus the US dollar.

The currency – a barometer of the state of Brexit talks since the vote to leave the EU in 2016 – has already faced weeks of hardship as a result of the difficulties in trade negotiations.
Investors are demanding a deal to follow the Brexit transition period on 1 January.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said the stock market falls were building on the “September blues” of the past few weeks that have seen the gloss removed from US tech stocks.
“European markets shot lower in early trade on Monday after US stocks fell for a third week in a row – the first such sustained decline in a year.

Can the economy recover as furlough ends?

“The FTSE 100 headed under 5,900 and the DAX gave up the 13,000 handle as risk aversion spread across equity markets.”
He said of the virus link to the declines: “Tighter rules are almost certain as the authorities flounder and seem unable to get any kind of consistently clear approach to the pandemic.
“Travel and leisure was hit hard as new lockdowns and travel restrictions are an almost given heading into half term.”