Author: BBC

More than £13m has been given to a town’s trust to continue its work improving the health and wellbeing of local residents.The money from Luton Rising, the Luton Borough Council company that owns London Luton Airport, has been given to Active Luton to secure investment in leisure and library services until 2030. The council hoped the funding would “inspire participation in physical activity, and create learning and career opportunities”. It would “focus on reducing health inequalities, improving education, cutting crime and supporting sustainability,” the council added.Lawrence Kay, Active Luton’s chief executive officer, said the support had “played a vital role…

The chancellor should be “bold” in next month’s Budget or risk future spending cuts and tax rises, an influential think tank has said. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is projecting Rachel Reeves will need to find £22bn to make up a shortfall in the government’s finances, and will “almost certainly” have to raise taxes. Finding this amount would allow the government to maintain the £10bn of headroom it has built into the system – but the IFS says there is a “strong case” for trying to increase it beyond this amount. IFS director Helen Miller said the lack of…

Georgina HayesBBC ScotlandGetty ImagesThe US is the location of most new data centres but the UK is expanding quicklyData centres powering artificial intelligence (AI) in Scotland are using enough tap water to fill 27 million half-litre bottles a year, according to data obtained by BBC News.AI systems such as the large language models (LLMs) that power OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini require warehouses full of specialist computers.The equipment is power-hungry, consuming large amounts of energy, but they also use tonnes of water in their cooling systems to stop the servers overheating.Freedom of Information data shows the volume of tap water…

Nikki FoxEast of England health correspondent andMatt PreceyBBC East InvestigationsFamily photoColin Flatt, who his partner described as having been a “strong, capable man” never recovered after falling over a hospital balcony on to a glass tableAn ex-footballer with dementia who died after falling from a height was “stripped of his dignity” while in NHS care, his family said.Colin Flatt, whose clubs included Leyton Orient and Cambridge United, was shuffled between 12 different settings in the final few months before he died after a fall at Basildon Hospital in September 2021.An investigation, commissioned by the NHS, found he was given unsafe…

Michael Sheils McNameebusiness reporter andJim ConnollyBBC News InvestigationsGetty ImagesVets should be forced to publish price lists so pet owners can see costs up front and shop around for the best deal, the competition watchdog has said.Owners are often unaware of prices or not given estimates for treatments that can run into thousands of pounds, its investigation into soaring vet costs found.Vet prices have risen at nearly twice the rate of inflation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also found.Its proposals included making vets reveal if they are part of a large group, capping prescription fees and banning bonuses on offering…

Lauren Turner andOsmond ChiaReutersThe US government has seized more than $14bn (£10.5bn) in bitcoin and charged the founder of a Cambodian business empire, the Prince Group, with allegedly masterminding a massive cryptocurrency scam, which involved forced labour camps.UK and Cambodian national Chen Zhi was charged on Tuesday in New York for allegedly engaging in a wire-fraud conspiracy and money laundering scheme.Mr Chen’s businesses were also sanctioned by the US and the UK as part of a joint operation. The UK government says it has frozen assets owned by his network, including 19 properties in London – one of which is…

Sophie HutchinsonBBC health correspondent andStuart Woodwardat the Lampard InquiryBBCOxevision uses infrared sensors and cameras to monitor patients while they are in their bedroomsThe public inquiry into the deaths of at least 2,000 people under the care of mental health services heard “grave concerns” about the use of a digital patient monitoring system.The technology, called Oxevision, was used by half of England’s mental health trusts and uses infrared sensors and cameras to monitor patients alone in their rooms, sending alerts to staff when it detects signs of distress or abnormal activity.The Lampard Inquiry was told campaigners were concerned the technology had…

Liv McMahonTechnology reporterGetty ImagesThousands of Vodafone customers across the UK have reported its services are down.Downdetector, which monitors web outages, showed more than 130,000 people had flagged problems affecting their Vodafone broadband or mobile network on Monday afternoon.According to its website, the firm has more than 18 million customers in the UK, including nearly 700,000 home broadband customers.In an updated statement on Monday evening, Vodafone apologised to customers and said its network was “recovering”.”This afternoon the Vodafone network had an issue affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services,” a company spokesperson said.”2G voice calls and SMS messaging were unaffected and the…

Priti GuptaTechnology Reporter, MumbaiNextWealthIndia’s Virudhunagar is home to ancient templesVirudhunagar, a town in southeastern India, can boast temples that date back thousands of years.But not far from those ancient sites, people are working on the latest tech – artificial intelligence.One of those is Mohan Kumar. “My role is in AI annotation. I collect data from various sources, label it, and train AI models so they can recognize and predict objects. Over time, the models become semi-supervised and can make decisions on their own,” he says.India has long been a centre for outsourced IT support, with cities like Bangalore or Chennai…

Available for over a yearToday, more than half the world’s population live in cities – and as our numbers swell, so will our cities, especially those around the Pacific Rim, where it’s predicted our largest megacities of 10 million plus will be situated. And herein lies an opportunity: 60% of the buildings needed for 2050 are not yet built. Could we shape our cities into places that are good for the climate and also good for our mental health? Can we design buildings and infrastructure that make green decisions easier and also help us deal with stress or depression? In…