Author: BBC

Getty ImagesThe government said AI will boost public sector productivity, while also helping teachers and small business ownersThe government is to set out plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) across the UK to boost growth and deliver public services more efficiently.The AI Opportunities Action Plan being announced on Monday will be backed by leading tech firms, which are said to have committed £14bn towards various projects, creating 13,250 jobs, the government said.It includes plans for growth zones where development will be focused, and the technology will be used to help tackle issues such as potholes.”I want to make sure that…

HandoutIn December 2022, Andrea was barely able to open her eyes and suffered swelling around her cheeks following face fillers at a cosmetics clinic in HullA former tattooist who left a woman “looking like a gargoyle” after giving her botched face fillers had been posing as a doctor at his aesthetics clinic, a BBC investigation has revealed. It comes as a leading practitioner warns of more “death and disfigurement” as plans to regulate the industry continue to be delayed.Andrea covers her face when she leaves the house, because she worries people will laugh at her, two years after having cosmetic…

Getty ImagesThe Wanted singer Max George has revealed he wrote his will from a hospital bed before having surgery for a heart condition.”I thought I was going to die,” the 36-year-old told The Sun.He said he was so convinced he wouldn’t make it that he took out his phone and started spelling out what to do with his assets.George, from Manchester, had the operation before Christmas during which he was fitted with a pacemaker to keep his heart beating regularly.Getty ImagesMax George said his girlfriend Maisie Smith, pictured here in 2022, was the first person he saw after surgeryIn the…

Getty ImagesAn impression – or possibly a fear – that 20-somethings are still hanging about in the family home is based on fact, an influential think-tank has concluded.The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds still living with their parents has increased by more than a third in nearly two decades, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).The living at home trend has been driven by men, and those in their late 20s, researchers found. High renting costs and rising house prices were the most significant reasons for the change.Still filling the nestIn 2006, some 13% of people in the UK…

Getty ImagesTikTok users gathered outside the Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court appears poised to uphold a law that bans TikTok in the US over national security concerns unless its China-based parent company sells the platform ahead of a 19 January deadline.The Court’s nine justices heard from lawyers representing TikTok, and content creators that the ban would be a violation of free speech protections for the platform’s more than 170 million users in the US.The US government argued that without a sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation. A decision by the top court…

Atlanta McintyreAtlanta McIntyre was placed in an induced coma due to complications caused by hyperemesis gravidarumA woman who was placed in an induced coma after experiencing severe pregnancy sickness has described waking to find her baby had been born.Atlanta McIntyre, 29, from Llantrisant in Rhondda Cynon Taf, had excessive nausea and vomiting during her pregnancy, known as hyperemesis gravidarum (HG).During one episode of vomiting, Ms McIntyre choked and had to be put into an induced coma by doctors.When she regained consciousness, she discovered that her daughter had been delivered by caesarean section.”I was very shocked and in disbelief,” said Ms…

Katie Piper has decided to get an “artificial eye” more than 16 years after an acid attack which left her with serious injuries and permanent scarring.The TV presenter shared the news on Instagram, saying it follows “many years of battling” with her health.”I’ve reached the end of [the] road somewhat, and the decision has been made to try a prosthetic eye shell,” she wrote.The former model has had hundreds of surgeries to repair damage to her face and eyesight following an attack on the orders of her ex-boyfriend, which took place when she was 24 years old.According to the NHS’s…

ReutersChancellor Rachel Reeves has defended her decision to travel to China to improve economic ties at a time when soaring government borrowing costs threaten to squeeze UK public finances.She says she wants a long-term relationship with China that is “squarely in our national interest” in order to deliver “growth that makes working people in every corner of Britain better off”. Her trip has been overshadowed by UK borrowing costs hitting a 16-year high and a fall in the value of the pound, with the Conservatives accusing Reeves of having “fled to China”.Speaking during a visit to UK bike maker Brompton’s…

Getty ImagesMeta and Amazon are axing their diversity programmes, joining firms across corporate America that are rolling back hiring and training initiatives criticised by conservatives, citing legal and political risks.The move comes just days after Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said it was ending a fact-checking programme criticised by President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans. In a memo to staff about its decision, which affects, hiring, supplier and training efforts, Meta cited a “shifting legal and policy landscape”.Walmart and McDonalds are among the other companies to have made similar decisions regarding diversity efforts since Trump won re-election.In…

A new tablet being developed to cure intestinal worms has shown promising results in trials and could help eradicate the parasitic infection, which affects about 1.5 billion people globally, researchers say.The mango-flavoured pill is a combination of two existing anti-parasitic drugs that, used together, appear more effective in getting rid of worms.These worms are caught through contact with food or water that has been infected by soil contaminated with worm eggs and infections cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms, malnutrition and anaemia. Researchers say the pill could help overcome any future drug resistance problems and better manage the disease on a large…