Harry Potter-author JK Rowling is the world's highest-earning author, making more than 5 pounds (8.80 dollars) every second over the past year, it was reported Friday.
US business magazine Forbes said Rowling made a total of 170 million pounds last year, six times more than literature's next-biggest earner, James Patterson who wrote Along Came A Spider fame, followed by Stephen King in third position with 25 million pounds.
Forbes, describing 43-year-old Rowling as a "children's literary sensation", said: "It was wizardry that transformed JK Rowling from a destitute single mother on welfare into a best-selling billionaire.
Rowling's Harry Potter series, started in 1997, has taken the world by storm with the sale of 400 million books and the transfer to the screen of all seven adventures.
According to this year's Sunday Times Rich List, Rowling has a fortune of 560 million pounds.
The German car market is facing its worse downturn, the nation's auto industry association warned Wednesday as the deepening sense of economic gloom in the country leads to a shakeout in the industry and the prospects of big job cuts.
A comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as a couple trying to avoid their families at Christmas debuted in first place over the weekend at North American box offices, according to preliminary studio estimates issued Sunday.