Author: BBC

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…

Getty ImagesThe Hamilton production will come to Cardiff for the first time ever this NovemberLin-Manuel Miranda has described Welsh as “one of the most beautifully musical languages ever, that would be so fun to write in”. But the creator of the Pulitzer prize-winning musical Hamilton said it may still be too soon after 2012’s movie Brave, which is set in Scotland, for a Disney animation set in Wales.”The thing is, it’s sort of like a bus, it’s got to come all the way back around the world and back again, so here’s hoping,” he said.Miranda said he fell in love…

Cristiano Ronaldo has hit 1bn total followers across his various social media accounts – making him the first person to reach that mind-boggling figure.The number is calculated by combining his total number of followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Chinese social media sites Weibo and Kuaishou.It does not equate to one billion individual followers, as many people will follow him across multiple platforms, and some will be fake accounts, known as bots.Nonetheless social media expert Paolo Pescatore, from PP Foresight, described it as a “staggering number” that media and brands would pay close attention to.”What an achievement, and it…

A ban on junk food adverts being shown on TV before 21:00 will come into force on 1 October 2025, the government has confirmed. Labour said the watershed on junk food advertising would be enforced alongside a total ban on paid-for online adverts, both aimed at tackling childhood obesity.The Conservatives had previously committed to the ban in 2021 when Boris Johnson was prime minister, but it was pushed back to give the industry more time to prepare. Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said confirming the scope of restrictions and the date they would be implemented provided clarity for businesses.Gwynne said the…

Getty ImagesFalling mortgage rates may, at last, be bringing some relief to embattled homeowners and first-time buyers.In a market described as “frenetic”, lenders are locked in intense competition for new customers while simultaneously trying to hold on to borrowers already on their books.On supposedly unlucky Friday the 13th alone, big-name providers such as the Nationwide, HSBC and NatWest reduced their fixed rates. In an unusual move, TSB did so for the second time in a week.Analysts expect further cuts to come, but brokers say the fear of missing out (FOMO) on better deals is paralysing some borrowers. Failing to act…

Germany has agreed to open the doors to 250,000 skilled and semi-skilled Kenyan workers in a controlled and targeted labour migration deal. Kenya is struggling with increasing difficulties in providing work and sufficient income for its young professionals, while Germany is facing a shortage of skilled labour. Five Kenyan bus drivers have already been welcomed to Flensburg, in the north of Germany, in a pilot project. Migration agreements are a central pillar in the German government’s efforts to curb immigration. The agreement will also simplify the repatriation of Kenyans who are in Germany without legal permission.Immigration is a huge issue…