Author: BBC

Yasmin Sharman has donated eggs three timesThe compensation that egg donors receive will rise for the first time in over a decade, but people should not donate purely for the money, the UK fertility regulator has warned.It is illegal to pay someone for their eggs in the UK but compensation is paid to cover expenses. This will rise from £750 to £986 on 1 October, partly to reflect price rises.The UK currently has a shortage of egg donors, particularly from black and ethnic minority backgrounds, the regulator said.Yasmin Sharman, from London, was inspired to donate for the first time aged…

A fan with a ticket to one of Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna has said “it feels like a huge loss” after all the singer’s shows in the city were cancelled.Jess, from Bristol, said the news “felt like a break-up”, but that it was the best decision for everyone’s safety.They were cancelled due to a possible security threat, with two people arrested on suspicion of planning attacks inspired by the Islamic State group on large events in the Austrian capital.

Broadcaster Kirsty Young has revealed the loneliness of living with chronic pain, describing it as “very isolating”.The former Desert Island Discs presenter stepped back from the programme in 2018 after she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, Young said she was “hollowed out by it”.She also said she felt a sense of “failure and shame”, as well as a reluctance to talk about it to other people.”It’s very isolating,” she told presenter Emma Barnett. “It came as a surprise to even people I worked very closely with. People who are friends.”They were like, ‘Oh,…

South Korean technology tycoon, Kim Beom-su, who is also known as Brian Kim, has been indicted on charges of stock price manipulation.Kakao executives led by Mr Kim have been accused of buying large amounts of shares in K-pop agency SM Entertainment to inflate its stock price and undermine a competing offer to take over the company.Mr Kim, who founded the internet giant Kakao, has been in detention since being arrested just over two weeks ago.In a statement around the time of his arrest, Kakao said Mr Kim did not order or tolerate any illegal activity.The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office…

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…