Author: BBC

Family handoutIan Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar were stabbed to death by Valdo CalocaneThe families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks say those responsible for failings in Valdo Calocane’s care have “blood on their hands”.Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and 65-year-old Ian Coates were killed by Calocane, who was psychotic and suffering from paranoid delusions, on 13 June 2023.A review published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on Tuesday found “a series of errors, omissions and misjudgements” by mental health services.In a statement, the victims’ families said the organisations involved “must bear a heavy burden of…

Social mediaA source said a bullet fired by police had “severely damaged” Arezoo Badri’s spinal cordA mother of two has been left paraplegic after being shot by Iranian police over an alleged violation of the country’s strict hijab rules, a source with knowledge of the case has told the BBC.”She is paralysed from the waist down, and doctors have said it will take months to determine whether she will be permanently paraplegic or not.”Arezoo Badri, 31, was driving home with her sister in the northern city of Noor on 22 July when police attempted to pull her over to confiscate…

Chloe Ayling has spoken to BBC Breakfast about a new six-part BBC series that will dramatise her kidnapping. The model, who came to international attention in 2017 when she was abducted after being lured to a fake photo shoot in Milan, has faced years of doubts about her ordeal. People have accused the model of faking her own kidnapping as part of a publicity stunt. Her story will now be told in the new six-part BBC series, Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, dramatising her abduction and the media storm that followed.

Water companies that fail to meet basic standards will have to pay customers more in compensation, the government is proposing.New rules for what could trigger these payments, including failing to carry out meter readings or installations as promised, will also be introduced.Some payments could amount to customers claiming at least a quarter of their annual water and sewerage bill.The minimum payment for most failings would double to £40, the government is proposing.These new proposals follow the Water (Special Measures) Bill announced in the King’s speech last month, promised to improve water quality.Environment Secretary Steve Reed said households and businesses had…

HysataPaul Barrett’s firm has developed tech to make cheaper green hydrogen“If you remember being a kid and blowing up a balloon or into a milkshake, your cheeks got sore because there is an energy penalty associated with bubble formation.”Paul Barrett, the Dublin-born chief executive of the Australian green energy firm Hysata, is explaining the plan to create the cheapest hydrogen in the world – by eliminating bubbles.The company, based at Port Kembla, an industrial hub south of Sydney, is using a familiar process known as electrolysis, which involves passing electricity through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen.But Hysata…

PA MediaA new vaccination programme aimed at protecting newborn babies and older adults against a dangerous respiratory disease is now being rolled out in Scotland. The Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) immunisation programme begins on Monday morning, and will be offered in the other UK nations from September. RSV is common and highly infectious. It affects the breathing system and can cause severe illness in vulnerable groups, including infants and older people.It is the leading cause of emergency respiratory admissions to hospital in infants. In 2022-23, more than 1,500 infants under the age of one and more than 500 people aged…

A man was arrested for climbing the Eiffel Tower on Sunday, hours before the Olympics closing ceremony, Paris police told the BBC. The man was spotted climbing the tower at about 14:45 local time (13:45 BST) and officers immediately intervened and arrested him, police said. No more details were immediately available on the man’s motivation and nationality.Videos on social media show a shirtless man scaling the tower just above the Olympic rings that have adorned it during the summer games. In another video, the man is escorted away by police, hands cuffed behind his back, and says to a bystander:…

PA MediaThe inside view of the police sentry boxAn artwork of swimming fish painted on to a City of London Police sentry box has led to speculation it may be the latest in a new series of works from the artist Banksy.The glass-fronted box on Ludgate Hill has been transformed to look like an aquarium. The elusive street artist from Bristol has not yet confirmed he is behind the creation, but if he does, it would be his seventh new artwork to be revealed in the capital in as many days.Since Monday, stencilled silhouette images of a goat, elephants, monkeys,…

The transport secretary has voiced “serious concerns” about rail operator CrossCountry and threatened to take action if things do not improve.In a scathing letter to the train company’s interim directors on Friday, Louise Haigh said she “reluctantly” approved its request to temporarily cut down on services.CrossCountry has said the timetable reduction is necessary to address a backlog of training required by drivers, something it said had been worsened by recent industrial action.In a statement, the operator acknowledged its poor service and apologised for the inconvenience of the new timetable, saying it would lead to a more resilient service.The operator announced…

Susan Wojcicki, the former boss of YouTube and one of Google’s earliest employees, has died aged 56. Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai announced that Ms Wojcicki had passed away after two years of living with lung cancer.Mr Pichai, who is also the boss of Google’s parent company Alphabet, said on X/Twitter he was “unbelievably saddened” and Ms Wojcicki was “as core to the history of Google as anyone”.Once described as the “most important Googler you’ve never heard of”, Ms Wojcicki was present at the company’s beginnings when, in 1998, she rented out her Menlo Park garage to the search engine…