Author: BBC

The police watchdog will review how Metropolitan Police officers handled allegations of sexual offences against former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) will review two cases the Met Police investigated in 2008 and 2013 after the force referred itself. Hundreds of people have contacted the BBC about Harrods and the billionaire since the documentary Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods aired.Over 70 of those were from women who sent the BBC their accounts of abuse by Al Fayed including sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.The Met said it had received complaints from two women regarding prior…

Getty ImagesDonald Trump made the first official hire of his incoming administration, announcing 2024 campaign co-chair Susan Summerall Wiles as his chief of staff.The president-elect’s transition team already is vetting a series of candidates ahead of his return to the White House on 20 January 2025.Many who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, though a handful of loyalists are rumoured by US media to be making a comeback.A new group of colleagues also now surrounds the 78-year-old Republican.There are more than 4,000 positions to be filled across Trump’s cabinet and White House, and across…

Getty ImagesLiam Payne died on 16 October in the Argentine capital Buenos AiresThree people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction star Liam Payne, Argentine authorities have announced.Payne died on 16 October after falling from a hotel balcony in the capital, Buenos Aires.On 6 November, his body was released to his family to be flown back to the UK, having previously been held while toxicology and laboratory tests were carried out. Here’s what we know so far about the police investigation and the circumstances surrounding Payne’s death.Why was Liam in Argentina?Payne was visiting his former bandmate…

Zoe CorbynFifty of these giant driverless trucks work in the Greater Nammuldi iron ore mineIt doesn’t get much more remote than this. I’m in inland Western Australia, at Rio Tinto’s Greater Nammuldi iron ore mine. It’s about a two-hour flight north from Perth in a region called the Pilbara. No-one lives permanently here. Around 400 workers are on the site at any one time, and they are flown in, working between four and eight days, depending on their shift pattern, before flying home. Giant trucks the size of townhouses, capable of hauling 300 tonnes, criss-cross red-earth roads in various sections…

BBCAn NHS mobile lung-cancer screening clinic in Gorton, Manchester.A lung-cancer screening programme that sees mobile clinics visit local communities in England has detected the disease earlier in more than 5,000 people. Specially adapted lorries have been visiting supermarkets, football grounds and town centres in areas with the highest rates of the disease, as part of the biggest initiative of its kind in NHS history.Since the programme’s launch, in 2019, 5,037 lung cancers have been detected, with 76% of those at the earliest stages of the disease. People are nearly 20 times more likely to survive for five years if their…

The Entertainer toy shop chain says it has been forced to drop plans to open two new stores after the government said it would raise National Insurance (NI) Contributions for employers.Chief executive Andrew Murphy told the BBC the higher taxes, announced in last week’s Budget, meant it could no longer go ahead with the shops and it had also frozen hiring at its head office.A number of companies, including Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer, have hinted that Labour’s changes to NI could result in higher prices for customers. The Treasury said: “We had to make difficult choices to fix the…

Getty ImagesThe party that will control the US House of Representatives for the next two years is still in the balance. Republicans were seven seats short of the 218 seats needed to take control on Thursday morning. Democrats need 15 more.The Senate, or upper chamber, and the White House have already flipped to Republicans so President-elect Donald Trump could have total control when he is sworn in on 20 January 2025.Control of the House, the lower chamber, gives a party the power to initiate spending legislation and launch impeachment proceedings against officials.Under Trump, a unified Republican Party could more easily…

Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has stressed that the reason she will not be returning to the series this year has “nothing to do with any previous health scares”. Two weeks ago Dowden was taken to hospital as a “precaution” after she began “feeling unwell”.On Wednesday, she told Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two that she has a “insufficiency stress fracture, if I’ve said that right, on my shin”.Dowden, 34, returned to competing in the BBC show for its 20th anniversary series after missing out last year while undergoing treatment for breast cancer.She said she was “absolutely gutted” to…

Donald Trump’s return to the White House might also prove to be a win for one of his most visible supporters: Elon Musk.The world’s richest man spent election night in Florida with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort as returns came in.“The people of America gave @realDonaldTrump a crystal clear mandate for change tonight,” Mr Musk wrote on the social media platform X as Trump’s victory began to appear all but certain.And at his victory speech at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Trump spent several minutes praising Mr Musk and recounting the successful landing of a rocket manufactured by one of…

Australia’s government says it will introduce “world-leading” legislation to ban children under 16 from social media. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the proposed laws, to be tabled in parliament next week, were aimed at mitigating the “harm” social media was inflicting on Australian children. “This one is for the mums and dads… They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online. I want Australian families to know that the government has your back,” he said. While many of the details are yet to be debated, the government said the ban will not apply to young people…