Author: BBC

Getty ImagesPolice stand before a burning car in Sunderland – one of several towns and cities hit by riotsWhat connects a dad living in Lahore in Pakistan, an amateur hockey player from Nova Scotia – and a man named Kevin from Houston, Texas?They’re all linked to Channel3Now – a website whose story giving a false name for the 17-year-old charged over the Southport attack was widely quoted in viral posts on X. Channel3Now also wrongly suggested the attacker was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat last year.This, combined with untrue claims the attacker was a Muslim…

Kirthana BalachandranKirthana Balachandran was diagnosed when she was three months old and is now studying to be a doctorThe first therapy that uses gene-editing is to be offered on the NHS in a “revolutionary breakthrough” for patients.It will be used as a potential cure for the blood disorder beta thalassaemia.Stem cells which make blood will be extracted, reprogrammed to correct the condition and returned to the patient’s body. It could spare them needing a blood transfusion, every three to five weeks, for life.People with beta thalassaemia struggle to produce enough haemoglobin, which is the protein in red blood cells that…

President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of launching “another major provocation”, after defence officials said Ukrainian troops crossed into Russia’s Kursk region on Tuesday.Moscow said troops, supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured combat vehicles, crossed the border near the town of Sudzha, 10km (six miles) from the frontline. In televised remarks broadcast on Wednesday afternoon, Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov told President Putin that the “advance” into Kursk region had been stopped with Russian forces “continuing to destroy the adversary in areas directly adjacent to the Russian-Ukrainian border”. Mr Gerasimov also said that up to…

Getty ImagesDrake explains the reason behind the title Hotline BlingDrake has released a huge folder of previously unseen content which includes three new songs and behind the scenes footage.Material from studio sessions, audio clips and the fresh tunes were uploaded to website 100gigs, with the Canadian rapper posting a screenshot of the site on his Instagram Story.The three unreleased songs are titled: It’s Up, featuring Young Thug and 21 Savage, Housekeeping Knows, featuring Latto, and Blue Green Red. The release, which totals just over 100 gigabytes of data, comes after a quiet few months for Drake following his feud with…

Lower mortgage costs and more interest rate cuts could fuel a rise in house prices for the rest of this year, Halifax has said.The mortgage lender’s prediction came after property prices ticked up in July following a flat few months.Halifax said recent mortgage rate drops were “encouraging” for first-time buyers, those moving along the housing ladder or those refinancing.But it warned affordability challenges and lack of available properties still posed problems for buyers.”Against the backdrop of lower mortgage rates and potential further [Bank of England] base rate reductions, we anticipate house prices to continue a modest upward trend throughout the…

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has provisionally imposed a £6m fine on an NHS software provider over a data breach which affected more than 80,000 people.The breach took place in 2022 and included sensitive personal information including medical records and “how to gain entry to the homes of 890 people”.But the ICO stressed it was a provisional fine, and it would wait to hear from Advanced Computer Software Group before making a final decision.It said its initial findings were that personal information belonging to 82,946 people had been “exfiltrated” by hackers.”Not only was personal information compromised, but we have also…

Tens of thousands of women who have gone through the menopause might benefit from a new bone-strengthening drug, says the medicines watchdog National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Abaloparatide can protect against the bone-thinning condition called osteoporosis, which causes a high risk of broken bones in older age. It will become available on the NHS in England within the next three months, says NICE. The injection, which comes as a pre-filled pen that people can self-administer at home once a day, encourages cells to make new bone. Other osteoporosis treatments are already available, but this new one is…

Getty ImagesThe tech world is digesting a US judge’s potentially seismic ruling that Google illegally monopolises online search and related advertisingIt took four years to get to this point, and Google-owner Alphabet’s inevitable appeal means this the legal process is likely to carry on for some time yet.But already the potential consequences of the judge’s decision are being considered, ranging from cash fines to other, more complicated remedies.The US government specifically wants “structural relief” – so what could that look like?Breaking up the bandThe nuclear option would be to demand Google breaks itself into smaller chunks – a move US…

Japanese shares rebounded on Tuesday after plunging on Monday and sending shockwaves through global financial markets.The Nikkei 225 stock index jumped by 10.23%, or 3,217 points in its biggest one day gain in points, which almost reversed the previous day’s record drop.In Europe, the FTSE 100 and stock markets in Paris and Frankfurt steadied.The sharp fall in Tokyo followed the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates for just the second time in 17 years.It sent the yen soaring against the dollar making Japanese stocks – and the country’s exports – more expensive for foreign investors and buyers.The Nikkei’s…

Elon Musk has said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he has “no choice” but to move the flagship office of the social platform out of San Francisco.The post was in response to a New York Times report about an email from X chief executive Linda Yaccarino to staff, which said the office was closing, with employees moving to San Jose and Palo Alto.It comes just weeks after Mr Musk said he would move X and his rocket company SpaceX to Texas.He said it was due to recent laws passed by the state – in particular…