Author: BBC

PA MediaJunior doctors in England have accepted the government’s offer of a 22% pay rise over two years, ending their long-running dispute.Members of the British Medical Association backed the deal with 66% voting in favour. Nearly 46,000 took part in the online ballot.It brings to an end the 18-month dispute, which saw junior doctors take part in 11 separate strikes.But the BMA warned it expected more above-inflation pay rises in future years or there would be “consequences”.The deal increases the starting salary for a junior doctor from £29,384 in 2022-23 to £36,616 a year in basic pay. Those at the…

ReutersA flooded area in Nysa, PolandThe death toll from the floods that hit central Europe over the weekend has risen, with more casualties recorded in the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria. In the Czech Republic, one person drowned in a stream close to the town of Bruntal in the north-east of the country, while seven people are still missing.Four people are known to have died in Poland, although a spokesman for the interior ministry said the precise cause of death was still to be determined in at least one case. And in Austria, two people aged 70 and 80 died…

Getty ImagesFormer BBC Presenter Huw Edwards arriving at court on MondayDisgraced BBC News presenter Huw Edwards is in court at a hearing where he will be sentenced for charges of making indecent images of children.In July, the former newsreader admitted having 41 such images, which were sent to him on WhatsApp – including some showing a victim aged between seven and nine.He nodded but stayed silent as he walked through a large gathering of photographers and journalists outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday.The court heard that Edwards sent hundreds of pounds to a convicted sex offender after they…

Getty ImagesHarland and Wolff was bought out of administration in 2019There is a growing expectation that Harland and Wolff’s holding company will soon be placed into administration.It will be the firm’s second insolvency in five years.What has gone wrong?Shipbuilding is a capital-intensive business which means you need to spend a lot of money before you can start to make money.The major problem at this incarnation of Harland and Wolff is that it was never really financially strong enough to do that.It ended up being dependent on a hard-nosed US lender while waiting for government support that never materialised.All the while…

Getty ImagesMichelle Obama (l) wore a striking scarlet Alexander McQueen dress while meeting former Chinese President Hu JintaoSir Keir Starmer and his wife Lady Victoria accepted donations of clothing so they could “look their best” to represent the UK, David Lammy has said.Asked about the donations, the foreign secretary suggested other countries had generous taxpayer-funded budgets for leaders’ clothing.It came after reports Sir Keir may have broken parliamentary rules in failing to declare clothes bought for his wife by Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli.Lammy told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “US presidents and first ladies have a huge budget, paid for…

Aunt Lucy mystery to be solved in new Paddington filmFans will find out what happened to Aunt Lucy in the next Paddington film, according to Ben Whishaw, who stars as the voice of the marmalade-loving bear.The third film in the franchise, Paddington in Peru, will be out later this year.It follows Paddington’s return to the South American country to find his beloved Aunt Lucy, voiced by Imelda Staunton.Asked whether he could promise viewers would find out what really happened to Lucy, Whishaw said: “Yes.””You will find out,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.But when asked if he could…

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk are “the worst polluters in human history”, Stephen Fry has said.The actor and comedian made the claim during a lecture at Kings College, London.”You and your children cannot breathe the air or swim in the waters of our culture without breathing in the toxic particulates and stinking effluvia that belch and pour unchecked from their companies into the currents of our world,” he said of the pair.The BBC has approached the two men’s companies for comment.Mr Fry has a track record of being an early adopter of technology – and was…

BBCThe number of people taking ADHD medication is at a record high – and the NHS is feeling the strain as it tries to diagnose and treat the condition.Since 2015, the number of patients in England prescribed drugs to treat ADHD has nearly trebled, and BBC research suggests that it would take eight years to assess all the adults on waiting lists.Last year, ADHD was the second-most viewed condition on the NHS website. Concern about this rising demand has prompted the NHS in England to set up a taskforce.So what’s going on and where will it end? Is ADHD (attention…

Getty ImagesEconomic abuse can take many forms (picture posed by a model)More than a decade after leaving her abusive ex-husband, Lauren is still trapped in their joint mortgage.Her ex stopped making repayments, blocked attempts to sell or remortgage the property and withheld child maintenance.Lauren, not her real name, told the BBC she and her children were left penniless.It comes as a charity warns domestic abusers are using joint mortgages as a weapon. Meanwhile, the banking industry is working to break the cycle of economic abuse.A survey, published on Wednesday, of 1,000 women who held a joint mortgage in the last…

EPARebecca Cheptegei’s last race was at the Paris OlympicsOlympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set ablaze by her former boyfriend and later died has been buried in her father’s homestead in eastern Uganda.As she was also a member of Uganda’s armed forces, soldiers carried the coffin and she was given a three-volley salute.Dickson Ndiema attacked Cheptegei with petrol just under a fortnight ago outside her home in neighbouring north-west Kenya, close to where she trained.The 33-year-old’s killing, and its brutal nature, left her family distraught and shocked many others across the world.It underscored the high levels of violence against…