Author: BBC

Jim Reed,Health reporterandWesley Stephenson,BBC VerifyGetty ImagesThe NHS says it’s facing its “worst-case scenario” after the number of people in hospital with flu jumped by 55% in a week.NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has warned that between 5,000 and 8,000 hospital beds could be filled with flu patients by the weekend.Health experts at the King’s Fund think tank have said talk of an “unrelenting flu wave” has become worryingly familiar over recent years. But Chris Streather, the medical director for the NHS in London, said the situation was “well within the boundaries” of what the NHS could cope with.How…

GuinnessStaff working at a Guinness canning factory in Belfast have begun strike action Staff working at a Guinness canning factory in Belfast, owned by international drinks firm Diageo, have begun strike action in protest over their pay. The trade union Unite said about 90 Diageo workers began an eight-day strike on Friday which is expected to continue until 06:59 GMT on 20 December. The union said workers are seeking a pay deal that would end their pay gap with those working at Diageo’s other Guinness packaging site in Runcorn, England.Diageo said it had contingency plans in place which would ensure…

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at blocking states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations.”We want to have one central source of approval,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.It will give the Trump administration tools to push back on the most “onerous” state rules, said White House AI adviser David Sacks. The government will not oppose AI regulations around children’s safety, he added.The move marks a win for technology giants who have called for US-wide AI legislation as it could have a major impact on America’s goal of leading the fast-developing…

Michelle RobertsDigital health editorGetty ImagesFlu has come early this winter, and experts predict it could be a particularly nasty season because a new mutated version of the virus is circulating – known as H3N2.The NHS has already sent out a “flu jab SOS” encouraging vulnerable people to get their free vaccination. But should you pay for a jab even if you are generally fit and healthy?Why is flu so bad this winter?The H3N2 “subclade K” is a type of seasonal influenza A virus. Some are calling it “super flu”.People have not encountered much of it in recent years, which means…

Kevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentGetty ImagesPeople who might otherwise turn to friends, family, or social media influencers for financial advice are to be given new help to invest their money.Targeted support from registered banks and other financial firms is being given the go-ahead by the City regulator and should start in April.This will allow firms to make investment and pensions recommendations based on what similar groups of people could do with their money.It still falls short of individually tailored advice, which can only be provided by an authorised financial adviser for a fee.Nearly one in five people turned to family,…

Shares of cloud computing giant Oracle plunged more than 10% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company’s revenues fell short of Wall Street expectations.The company reported revenue of $16.1bn (£12bn) for the three months that ended in November, compared with the $16.2bn projected by analysts.Revenue growth was still up 14%, with a 68% surge in sales at its AI business, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), the company said.OCI services major AI technology developers whose demand for Oracle’s AI infrastructure helped the company’s shares reach new highs in recent months but Wednesday’s results failed to quell fears about a potential AI…

James Gallagher,Health and science correspondentandNatalie Truswell,Investigations producerShutterstockThe donor’s sperm was used in clinics across Europe (stock image)A sperm donor who unknowingly harboured a genetic mutation that dramatically raises the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe, a major investigation has revealed.Some children have already died and only a minority who inherit the mutation will escape cancer in their lifetimes.The sperm was not sold to UK clinics, but the BBC can confirm a “very small” number of British families, who have been informed, used the donor’s sperm while having fertility treatment in Denmark. Denmark’s European Sperm Bank,…

The price of silver has hit a record high ahead of an expected US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and as demand from the technology industry for the precious metal remains high.Silver crossed $60 (£45.10) an ounce on the spot market, where the precious metal is bought and sold for immediate delivery, for the first time on Tuesday.Gold, which hit record highs earlier this year as concerns grew about the impact of US tariffs and the global economic outlook, also made gains this week.Investors tend to move money into precious metals like gold and silver as interest rates come down…

Tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have announced a combined $52.5bn (£39.4bn) investment plan for India over the coming years.Amazon said on Wednesday it was pumping in $35bn into India by 2030 to advance AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation, a day after Microsoft committed $17.5bn strengthen the country’s AI ecosystem. India, which is an emerging AI and cloud infrastructure hub, has witnessed a surge of global tech investments recently.In October, Google announced a $15bn investment to build an AI data hub, and earlier this week Intel announced a collaboration with Mumbai-based Tata Electronics as its first major customer in…

Michael BuchananSocial affairs correspondentGetty ImagesThe review looks at the worst-performing maternity and neonatal servicesHungry mothers, dirty wards and poor care are blighting England’s maternity services while staff receive death threats for working in some units, according to a new report.Baroness Amos, who is chairing a review into maternity care, said that what she has seen so far “has been much worse” than she’d anticipated.Some women had felt blamed for their baby’s death, while others suffered from a lack of empathy, care or apology when things had gone wrong, with poor and black mothers often at the end of discriminatory services.Health…