Author: BBC

BBCKim Thomas has worked in the industry since 2012, and says social media influences many tattoo trendsThere are fears tattoo artists will have to increase their prices as Wales becomes the first part of the UK to introduce new rules for artists.The Welsh government rules mean practitioners will have to meet stricter hygiene and safety standards in order to be given a licence, which they’ll have to renew every three years.It follows concerns from medics about the risk of serious infections.”I imagine the prices of tattoos are going to go up to accommodate this,” said Kim Thomas, a tattoo artist…

Tens of thousands more former mineworkers could be set to benefit after the government announced it would review a controversial pension scheme.The chancellor used last month’s Budget to scrap a 30-year old arrangement that saw the government receive hundreds of millions of pounds a year from the Mineworkers Pension Scheme (MPS).The first instalment of the £1.5bn Rachel Reeves pledged to pay back will be made on Friday. The government has now confirmed it will look at a second miners’ pension after former pit managers in the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS) challenged their exclusion from the new payments.Earlier this…

BBC/Shine TVProduction company Banijay said Wallace is “fully co-operating” with their investigationGregg Wallace is to step away from presenting MasterChef while allegations of historical misconduct by individuals are investigated, the show’s production company has said.It comes after BBC News sent a letter to Wallace’s representatives on Tuesday setting out allegations of inappropriate sexual comments by 13 people who worked with him across a range of shows over a 17 year period.Broadcaster Kirsty Wark, who was a Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2011 said he told “sexualised” jokes during filming.Wallace’s lawyers say it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of…

Uber is facing an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) into its flagship subscription plan, the company has said.As first reported by Bloomberg, the US consumer watchdog was probing the ride-hailing giant over the enrolment and cancellation procedures of the service.Uber One, which has more than 25 million subscribers around the world, offers fee-paying members discounts on rides and deliveries.The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BBC News.“We will continue to answer any questions the FTC may have about our cancellation policies,” said an Uber spokesperson.“The Uber One cancellation process follows both the…

Getty ImagesResearchers say they have found the first new treatment for asthma attacks in 50 years. The injection dampens part of the immune system that can go into overdrive in flare-ups of both asthma and a lung condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Benralizumab is already used in the most severe cases, but the latest research suggests it could be used routinely for around two million attacks in the UK each year. The research team at King’s College London said the drug was a “game-changer” that could “revolutionise” care. The findings stem from the realisation that not all asthma or…

The sale of Royal Mail to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group is close to being finalised and could be confirmed in the next two weeks, according to sources close to the deal.Kretinsky has agreed to make extra concessions in order to clinch the takeover, the BBC understands.Unions have been meeting with Kretinsky’s advisors this week, and while some sources say they remain “wary” of him, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said meetings with the EP Group have been “constructive”.The deal will still have to be approved under the National Security and Investment Act although officials carried out a similar…

DisneyMoana 2 comes eight years after the originalThe sequel to animated Disney musical Moana has been broadly described by film critics as good – but not as good as the 2016 original.The Telegraph awarded four stars to the follow-up, which it called a “giddily animated triumph”.Empire gave the same rating, saying the new film is “a touch less fresh than the original”, but is “still bursting with energy, emotion, warmth and imagination”.However, the Guardian awarded two stars to Moana 2, saying “this frictionless sequel lacks genuine passion”.The newspaper’s critic Peter Bradshaw described it as “a vacuum-packed slice of digital IP…

Getty ImagesCareer-networking site LinkedIn has told Australian lawmakers it is too dull for kids to warrant its inclusion in a proposed ban on social media for under 16 year olds. “LinkedIn simply does not have content interesting and appealing to minors,” the Microsoft-owned company said in a submission to an Australian senate committee.The Australian government has said it will introduce “world-leading” legislation to stop children accessing social media platforms.But companies behind some of the most popular platforms with young people – Meta, Google, Snapchat-owner Snap Inc and TikTok – have all challenged the planned law in submissions made to lawmakers.Prime…

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked a leading Covid lockdown sceptic Jay Bhattacharya to be the next director of a key US public health agency.Trump said he had selected the Stanford University-trained physician and economist to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s biggest government-funded biomedical research entity.Bhattacharya became the face during the pandemic of a fiercely disputed open letter – known as the Great Barrington Declaration – that opposed widespread lockdowns.Tuesday’s nomination rounds out Trump’s top public health team. He has already unveiled all 15 posts for his cabinet as he prepares to take office on 20…

Getty ImagesMrBeast is the most popular YouTuber in the world with more than 300m subscribersMrBeast has claimed he has footage showing that allegations his upcoming reality game show “shamelessly exploited” contestants were “blown out of proportion”.The YouTuber, real name Jimmy Donaldson, released a teaser for Beast Games on Monday and announced it would be released next month.In September, Amazon and MrBeast were named in a lawsuit which made a number of claims about how participants were treated on set. The Amazon series promised to be the biggest live game show in the world with 1,000 people competing in a series…