Author: BBC

President Nicolás Maduro has won Venezuela’s presidential election, according to partial results announced by the electoral council.The head of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso – who is a close ally of Mr Maduro – said that with 80% of ballots counted, President Maduro had 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for his main rival.The Venezuelan opposition dismissed the CNE’s announcement as fraudulent and promised to challenge the result.It said its candidate, Edmundo González, had won with 70% of the votes and insisted he was the rightful president-elect.The opposition said vote tallies it had received, as well as…

Getty ImagesRachel Reeves claims the Tories masked the true state of UK public finances then “ran away”The chancellor is set to announce immediate cuts worth billions of pounds, aimed at plugging a “black hole” in the public finances, when she addresses Parliament on Monday.Rachel Reeves’ plans are expected to include the cancellation of some road and rail projects, a reduction in spending on external consultants and a drive to cut public sector waste.She will accuse the previous government of “covering up” shortfalls in departmental budgets and then “running away”.However, the Conservative Party said the chancellor’s message was designed to “con…

Blood testing partnership Synnovis has warned that its hacked blood transfusion services may not be fully functioning again until the autumn.Its systems fell victim to ransomware hackers and the pathology partnership says it has rebuilt many of the 60 which were affected.The hackers made systems unusable unless a payment was received and caused significant disruption, with hundreds of operations and thousands of appointments cancelled.Synnovis said the blood transfusion services would “continue to be stabilised over the summer”.The situation is also part of the reason the NHS made an urgent appeal for blood donors after warning stocks had dropped to “unprecedently…

FamilyCharlotte described the 20 minute attack on her son as “horrifying”The mother of a young boy with complex needs has called for all special schools to have CCTV after her son was attacked by a teaching assistant.Her 13-year-old son Tobie, from Wolverhampton, is autistic and non-speaking.He was kicked, pushed and had his head held down in the 20 minute assault, and his mother Charlotte said a security camera had picked up the full extent of the attack.”To see that man attack him in a place he thought was safe – it was just horrendous,” Charlotte said.Tobie’s attacker, William Kevin Clifford,…

A veteran sports commentator has been sacked from his Olympics role after making a sexist remark about Australian female swimmers following their gold medal win. As the 4x100m freestyle relay team were making their way off the pool deck in Paris, Bob Ballard said they were “finishing up”, adding “you know what women are like… hanging around, doing their make up”. The clip quickly went viral and broadcaster Eurosport later said he had been removed from the commentary line-up. Ballard has yet to comment publicly on his remarks. Mollie O’Callaghan, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris and Shayna Jack had just beat…

Ninety-five Libyan nationals have been arrested on suspicion of receiving training at an “illegal” military camp in South Africa, police have said.Officers raided the farm in White River – a small town in the northern province of Mpumalanga – on Friday.They said they found military tents, licenced firearms and other military equipment.Cannabis and cocaine were also found at the camp, the police said.Officers conducted the raid after receiving intelligence on Wednesday.According to national police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, the Libyans allegedly “misrepresented themselves” on their visa applications by saying they would be training as security guards.The camp was initially registered as…

Getty ImagesDrivers are still paying too much for fuel, the UK’s competition watchdog has warned, with high prices costing motorists £1.6bn last year alone.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that weakened competition in the fuel sector is impacting drivers’ wallets.It found that supermarkets’ profit margins – which is the difference between the price they buy fuel at and what they charge motorists – had doubled since 2019.The CMA is calling for more pressure on supermarkets so they “have to offer better prices because they know that they can’t rip consumers off”, chief executive, Sarah Cardell told the BBC’s Today…

A week after a faulty update caused a global IT outage that grounded flights and knocked TV stations off-air, the boss of CrowdStrike has revealed nearly all systems are back online.In a post on LinkedIn, George Kurtz said “over 97%” of systems running its software were back online as of 25 July. Microsoft previously estimated 8.5 million machines had been disabled by a bug in CrowdStrike’s software.That figure, and Mr Kurtz’s estimate of the percentage fixed, suggests approximately 250,000 devices remain offline. The CrowdStrike chief executive thanked the “tireless efforts” of customers and staff as he apologised again for the…

GettyThe body responsible for inspecting NHS hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes in England is not fit for purpose, the health secretary has said.An independent review found inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) lacked experience – some had never been into a hospital before, while some care home inspectors had never met a person with dementia.Wes Streeting said he was “stunned” by the scale of the problems as he announced a set of emergency measures.The CQC said it accepted the findings in full. The full interim report is due to be published on Friday.Lacking experienceThe CQC inspects everything from…

A host of scary monsters and super creeps have descended on Liverpool to revel in all things David Bowie for an annual convention celebrating the singer’s life and works.The event, which returned to the city for its third edition after taking place in New York in 2023, will welcome hundreds to St George’s Hall across its three days.Guest appearances include Woody Woodmansey, the last surviving member of the singer’s Spider From Mars backing band; Ken Scott, the producer of the 1971 smash hit Life on Mars?; and Bowie’s friends and collaborators Dana Gillespie and Ava Cherry.Organisers said it was a…