Author: BBC

Getty ImagesAllu Arjun(in white) is a popular actor in the Telugu film industry A popular Indian actor was arrested and later released on bail in connection with a crush that killed a person at the premiere of his film. Allu Arjun, one of the biggest stars of the Telugu film industry, had made a surprise appearance at the screening last week in Hyderabad city.A 39-year-old woman was killed and her son critically injured in the crush.A court initially sentenced the actor to 14 days in police custody but hours later, the high court granted him bail.Police had filed a case…

Read More

Getty ImagesHair twiddling can be distressing to watch if you have misokinesia”If I see someone tapping their fingers on a desk, my immediate thought is to chop their fingers off with a knife,” an anonymous patient confides to a researcher.Another shares: “When I see someone making really small repetitive movements, such as my husband bending his toes, I feel physically ill. I hold it back but I want to vomit.”Sound familiar? If so, perhaps you too have a condition called misokinesia – a diagnosible hatred of fidgeting. Scientists are striving to understand more about the phenomenon that has no known…

Read More

Getty ImagesPlanned strike action by Avanti West Coast train managers over the Christmas period has been suspended, the RMT rail union has said.The walkouts had been planned for 22, 23, and 29 December, but the union said a new offer had been made that will now be put to train managers.It includes higher rest day working payments and other changes to working arrangements.The RMT said train managers will vote on the offer in a referendum that finishes on 17 December.

Read More

A federal court in St Louis has indicted 14 North Koreans for allegedly being part of a long-running conspiracy aimed at extorting funds from US companies and funneling money to Pyongyang’s weapons programmes.The wider scheme allegedly involves thousands of North Korean IT workers who use false, stolen, and borrowed identities from people in the US and other countries to get hired and work remotely for US firms.The indictement says the defendants and others working with them generated at least $88m (£51.5m) for the North Korean regime over a six-year period.North Korea’s mission to the UN did not immediately reply to…

Read More

YouTuber Yung Filly is facing new charges of reckless driving, according to reports in Australia, where he is accused of raping a woman. The 29-year-old, whose real name is Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos, is accused by police of driving past a speed camera at 158km/h (98mph) on a Perth highway last month. It is alleged to have occurred whilst Barrientos was on bail over an alleged attack on a woman in a Perth hotel in September. The BBC has contacted Barrientos’s representatives and the police for comment. Police say the speeding incident happened on 17 November, in the High Wycombe…

Read More

SWNSThomas Plimmer was struck off after having sex with multiple women at his GP surgeryWarning: This article contains text of a sexual natureA woman says a GP who was struck off for having sex with multiple women at his surgery attempted to choke her during sex.The woman, who does not want to be named, met Thomas Plimmer on a dating app in 2017.She claimed that when they were having sex at her home on a second date, he “started squeezing my throat” without her consent. Mr Plimmer said that under legal advice he was unable to comment due to his…

Read More

Getty ImagesEnergy firms will be forced to offer customers tariffs with no standing charges, under a proposed shake-up of bills by regulator Ofgem.All households pay the fixed daily charges covering the costs of connecting to a supply, but there have been widespread calls for these fees to be scrapped.Ofgem is proposing suppliers offer one price-capped tariff that includes the standing charge, and another that loads these costs on energy usage charges instead. Customers could choose which suits them best.The planned overhaul, for next winter, also raises the possibility of some unpaid bills that built up during a recent high-price crisis…

Read More

Australia’s government says it will create new rules to force big tech companies to pay local publishers for news. The long-awaited decision sets out a successor to a world-first law that Australia passed in 2021, which was designed to make giants like Meta and Google pay for hosting news on their platforms.Earlier this year Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – announced it would not renew payment deals it had in place with Australian news organisations, setting up a standoff with lawmakers.The new rules, announced on Thursday, will require firms that earn more than A$250m ($160m; £125m) in annual…

Read More

Getty ImagesChalamet sings all the songs in the film himself, rather than lip-syncing to the original Dylan recordingsTimothée Chalamet has been praised by critics for his portrayal of Bob Dylan, in a new film biopic of the US singer-songwriter.A Complete Unknown has already scored three Golden Globe nominations and is likely to be in the Oscars race in the new year. The Guardian said Chalamet showed “amazing bravado” in his performance, while Empire said the actor is “superb” and his “musical talent is unimpeachable”.But the Independent said the biopic itself “plays too safe” and Screen Rant described the “serviceable” film…

Read More

Outstanding debt from Carer’s Allowance overpayments rose to more than £250m last year, according to the government’s spending watchdog.The National Audit Office (NAO) said the figure had increased by £100m since 2018/19.Charity Carers UK said the report was “further evidence of a broken system that is failing unpaid carers”. The government launched an independent review of overpayments in October, after some carers were forced to pay back thousands of pounds leaving many in financial hardship.The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) paid £3.7bn in Carer’s Allowance to more than 900,000 claimants last year, according to the NAO report.If someone spends…

Read More