Author: BBC

Getty ImagesThousands of people have lost their jobs after the UK operations of the international construction giant ISG collapsed into administration.Some 2,200 workers have been made redundant with immediate effect, joint administrators EY said in a statement on Friday.The business, owned by the US firm Cathexis, had been struggling financially for some time.Attempts to secure a rescue deal failed, while 200 employees will be kept on to assist the administrators in winding down the business, which holds more than £1bn worth of government contracts.Apple, Barclays and Google are also among ISG’s private sector clients in the UK.In a widely-reported email…

LinkedIn has suspended the use of UK user data to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models after a regulator raised concerns.The career-focused social networking site, owned by Microsoft, quietly saw users around the world opted into their data being used to train its AI models.But the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said on Friday that it was “pleased” LinkedIn had confirmed that it had paused on using UK users’ information.LinkedIn said it welcomes the chance to engage with the ICO further.”We are pleased that LinkedIn has reflected on the concerns we raised about its approach to training generative AI models with…

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is advising people with a peanut allergy to avoid consuming foods that may contain mustard, because they could be contaminated with peanuts.Mustard ingredients – including mustard powder or flour – can be found in dips, sauces, salads and pre-packed sandwiches, the FSA said.It is trying to identify how many products may be affected – around 50 have already been recalled.Parents of children with a peanut allergy should check the labels of food they are buying and ask restaurants and take-away outlets about foods that might contain mustard, the agency says.Some of the products being recalled,…

A British businessman, who was a former contractor for South Africa’s ailing power utility Eskom, has been extradited from the UK to face 65 counts of corruption. Michael Lomas is accused of taking kickbacks on contracts between his firm, Tubular Construction, and Eskom for work at the Kusile power station, which were worth in excess of 1.4bn rand ($80m; £60m).”He allegedly manipulated contracts. He was previously arrested, got bail and fled the country to the UK,” national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told AFP. He has not yet commented on the allegations against him.Eskom has been beset with corruption allegations…

Hundreds of Sky Glass television and Sky streaming service customers have reported issues with their devices. Users first reported technical glitches seemingly preventing some Sky Glass TVs from working properly or even turning on Thursday evening.Reports to platform outage monitor Downdetector were in the hundreds shortly before 21:00 BST on Thursday.But many customers were still flagging issues with their devices on Friday morning.”We are sorry that some Sky Glass and Stream customers are currently experiencing issues when trying to switch on their devices,” a Sky Spokesperson said.It said customers should try to manually restart their TVs and devices, by following…

Getty ImagesThe longest-running measure of consumer confidence fell sharply in September, raising concerns about whether government rhetoric about Budget “pain” has spooked people.GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index had been recovering after years of rolling crises, higher interest rates and inflation gradually creeping up.But since the end of August, it fell by seven points to -20 overall, which GfK has said does not provide “encouraging news” for the UK’s new government.Some economists have linked the drop to officials’ warnings of a “painful” Budget at the end of August.There were “major corrections” – or double digit falls – for consumers’ perception of the…

The Taiwanese government has said none of the components in thousands of pagers used by the armed group Hezbollah that exploded in Lebanon earlier this week were made on the island.Fragments of the pagers that blew up had labels which pointed to Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo. But the firm denied making the devices used in the attack. The Lebanese government says 12 people, including two children, were killed and nearly 3,000 injured in the explosions on Tuesday.The incident, along with another attack involving exploding walkie-talkies, was blamed on Israel and marked a major escalation in the conflict between the two…

First Born FilmsNeil Harbisson, who sees in black and white, says his antenna lets him “hear” colourFor the past 20 years, self-declared “cyborg artist” Neil Harbisson has provoked debate with his “eyeborg” – a surgically attached antenna.Harbisson, who grew up in Barcelona, is colour blind, having been born with the rare condition achromatopsia, which affects one in 33,000 people. This means he sees in what he calls “greyscale” – only black, white and shades of grey.But he decided to have surgery in 2004 which changed his life – and his senses – attaching an antenna to the back of his…

ReutersMore than a thousand workers are participating in the strikeFor the past 11 days, about 1,500 workers of South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics have been striking work in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, leading to major disruptions in production.The plant in Chennai city, one of Samsung’s two factories in India, employs nearly 2,000 workers and produces home appliances, contributing about a third to the company’s annual $12bn (£9bn) revenue in India.The striking workers gather at a plot of land near the 17-year-old factory daily, demanding that Samsung recognise their newly-formed labour union – the Samsung India Labour…

Nintendo and its partner The Pokémon Company have filed a legal case against the maker of the hit survival adventure game Palworld over alleged patent infringement.Palworld quickly earned the nickname “Pokémon with guns” when its first trailer was unveiled in 2021.Just days after the game’s release in January this year, The Pokémon Company said it would investigate the copycat claims.Palworld’s developer, Pocketpair Inc, acknowledged the lawsuit in a statement on Thursday and apologised to fans for “any worry or discomfort” caused.Pocketpair’s boss previously said the game had passed legal checks.Palworld “infringes multiple patent rights”, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company said…