Author: BBC

Getty ImagesOil and gas operators have been warned the regulator is “getting tough” on those not meeting their decommissioning obligationsOil and gas operators have been warned by regulators to step up decommissioning in the North Sea.The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) wants companies to clean up their oil and gas legacy and said it was “getting tough” on operators not meeting their regulatory obligations.Repeated delays to well plugging and abandonment – where wells are plugged with concrete to protect groundwater resources and prevent surface pollution and methane emission – were pushing up the estimated bill for decommissioning on the UK…

14 hours agoBy Ethan Gudge, BBC NewsOxford IonicsOxford Ionics says its chip is the first of its kind that could be mass-producedA chip that experts have said could be “pivotal” to creating effective quantum computers has been unveiled.Oxford Ionics has said its chip can be mass-produced and means the world’s first useful quantum computer could be built in three years time.The new technology makes it possible to do very complex calculations extremely quickly and solve problems too difficult for regular computers.University of Oxford Associate Professor of Quantum Computing Aleks Kissinger said the new chip was “very promising”.Oxford Ionics said only one technology…

BBCAmanda Abbington, pictured with partner Giovanni Pernice, withdrew from Strictly last OctoberStrictly Come Dancing has been one of the BBC’s most iconic and beloved shows for the past 20 years.But recently, it has been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, amid allegations concerning two of its professional dancers.Both men – Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima – have now left the show. Both have denied any suggestions of abusive or threatening behaviour during rehearsals.The BBC, for its part, has insisted it has robust duty of care procedures, which it has bolstered with a series of new measures including…

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez has been found guilty on 16 counts tied to a scheme where he accepted bribes, including gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, in exchange for helping foreign governments.Menendez – formerly the head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee – now faces the prospect of decades in prison and possible expulsion from the Democratic party.He had maintained he was not guilty throughout the eight-week trial, with his lawyers arguing that the gifts he accepted did not qualify as bribes, because prosecutors had failed to prove that he took any specific action as a result of receiving…

Fujitsu IT security analyst Andy Dunks gave witness statements in dozens of cases against Post Office sub-postmasters despite saying he had “limited” knowledge of how the Horizon system worked, an inquiry has heard. His statements helped to secure the convictions of some of the highest-profile sub-postmasters, including Seema Misra, Jo Hamilton and Lee Castleton.They were among 700 convicted by the Post Office based on evidence from the flawed computer system Horizon, in what has been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.An inquiry into the scandal heard how other Fujitsu employees were reluctant to…

Microsoft is being investigated in the UK over whether it has effectively merged with an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up firm by hiring its staff.Key employees at Inflection AI left the company in March to join the tech giant, with co-founder Mustafa Suleyman becoming head of its new AI division.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would investigate whether this constituted a merger, and if so, whether it could lessen competition.”We are confident that the hiring of talent promotes competition and should not be treated as a merger,” a Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC.The CMA also said Microsoft had entered into a…

A member of production staff will be in all rehearsals following complaints about two former dancers.

Anti-government protesters in Kenya have returned to the streets stepping up demands for President William Ruto to resign, despite his recent concessions.One man has been shot dead during a confrontation between protesters and security forces on the outskirts of the capital, a BBC reporter on the ground says.In central Nairobi, shops have been closed as police fire tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators.The protests began last month against an unpopular tax bill, which has since been withdrawn by the president.But they have continued, morphing in to broader anger over bad governance, corruption and police accountability over the deaths of…

Countries including the UK and the US are “seeing some persistence” in inflation that might mean interest rates have to stay “higher for even longer”, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. The body also said elections across the world had increased “uncertainty” over economic growth amid concerns over “significant swings” in policy from new governments.The IMF maintained its forecast that the world economy will grow by 3.2% in 2024, but pointed towards slightly stronger growth in 2025 at 3.3%.It also confirmed an upgrade to the UK’s outlook for 2024 to 0.7%, but kept its forecast for 2025 unchanged. It…

5 hours agoBy Riyah Collins, BBC NewsbeatGetty ImagesTrixie Mattel first appeared on the seventh series of Ru Paul’s Drag Race in 2015Drag queen Trixie Mattel will be taking a break from work after “struggling” for more than a year.Trixie became a world renowned star after first appearing on Ru Paul’s Drag Race in 2015.Since then, the queen returned for the All Stars version and as host of the spin-off show The Pit Stop, as well as running a YouTube channel and make-up business. Trixie told fans in a video that all the work was “not sustainable” and there would be “a hiatus”…