Author: BBC

Australian fans of a late morning McDonald’s breakfast are having to wake up earlier.The fast food giant has temporarily shortened the hours of its breakfast service in the country by 90 minutes due to an egg shortage caused by a bird flu outbreak.It is currently serving its full breakfast menu only until 10:30am, instead of the usual midday. “Like many retailers, we are carefully managing supply of eggs due to the current industry challenges,” McDonald’s Australia said in a statement sent to the BBC.”We’re continuing to work closely with our network of Aussie farmers, producers, and suppliers, as the industry…

35 minutes agoBy Judith Moritz and Jonathan Coffey, BBC NewsBBCWhen former nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering babies last year, news channels rolled on the story, and her mugshot was splashed across front pages and websites around the world. The scale of Letby’s crimes, the extreme vulnerability of her victims, and unanswered questions about the nurse all combined to stoke interest in the case.But this was a saga that was still unfolding. Hospital consultants who’d suspected Letby spoke of the struggles they’d had to be heard. Public outcry quickly led to the announcement of a public inquiry. Meanwhile, police said they…

23 minutes agoBy Gareth Evans and Kayla Epstein, BBC News, Washington & New YorkEPAPresident Biden and Vice-President Harris presented a united front to Democrats on Wednesday (file image)US President Joe Biden worked to calm senior Democrats and staff on his campaign on Wednesday, as reports suggested he was weighing his future after his disastrous debate with Donald Trump last week.Mr Biden held a closed-door lunch with Vice-President Kamala Harris at the White House as speculation mounted over whether she would replace him as the party’s candidate in November’s election.The pair then joined a call with the broader Democratic campaign where Mr Biden…

Getty ImagesUkraine is facing Russian attacks along the frontOn the frontlines, Ukrainian soldiers use a graphic term to describe the Russian tactics they face daily.They call them “meat assaults”: waves of Russian soldiers coming at their defensive positions, sometimes nearly a dozen times in a day.Lt Col Anton Bayev of the Khartia Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard says wave after wave can arrive in just a few hours at frontlines positions north of Kharkiv.“The Russians use these units in most cases purely to see where our firing equipment is located, and to constantly exhaust our units,” he said.“Our guys stand…

9 minutes agoBy MaryLou Costa, Business reporterHannu RaumaHannu Rauma says that using AI to help him manage has “added years to my life”With the stress of managing 83 employees taking its toll, Hannu Rauma was feeling discouraged and frustrated.“I was getting too bogged down in all these things that were going wrong amongst the teams, and feeling this disappointment,” says Mr Rauma, who is based in Vancouver, Canada.He is a senior manager at a company called Student Marketing Agency, which employs university students to provide marketing support for small businesses.“When I was bringing new clients on board, half of my mind would…

Authorities in northern California have ordered thousands of people to evacuate because of the Thompson and Toll fires, which have burned more than 3,000 acres. The Thompson fire, which began Tuesday morning, is under investigation and has damaged several structures, although no fatalities have been reported. Low humidity, gusty winds, and a dangerous heatwave with high temperatures are exacerbating fire risks. Source link

Belarus has freed five political prisoners in a rare amnesty, almost four years after the country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko launched a brutal crackdown on his domestic opponents.The 69-year-old, who has led the country since 1994, launched mass repressions after he claimed victory in the disputed 2020 presidential election. Thousands of people were detained in the protests which followed.On Tuesday he signalled his intention to release some “seriously ill” prisoners, during a press briefing with reporters in the capital, Minsk. There are still more than 1,400 political prisoners held in Belarus, according to leading human rights group Viasna. Three men and…

More than 20,000 Tesco workers are set to split £30m generated from the supermarket’s share schemes.The company said an employee who invested the average £68 a month over the past five years would be in line to get around £6,640 from their £4,080 investment – a profit of £2,560.It added the payouts from its “save as you earn” schemes were due to its “strong performance”.The majority of employees who will receive a share of the windfall work on the shop floor or in disruption centres, the supermarket said.The news comes after Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy has come under fire…

2 hours agoBy Becky Morton, Political reporterGetty ImagesThe Sun newspaper has endorsed the Labour Party in the general election, declaring “it is time for a change”. In an editorial the paper, which has backed the Conservatives at every general election since 2010, said Rishi Sunak’s party had become “a divided rabble” and needed “a period in opposition to unite”. The tabloid said there were “still plenty of concerns about Labour”, including its immigration plans, but leader Sir Keir Starmer had “fought hard to change his party for the better”. The Sun has only ever backed the party to get the most MPs…

Hezbollah says one of its senior commanders has been killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon.Mohammed Nimah Nasser is the latest senior member of the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group to be targeted by Israel during almost nine months of cross-border violence which have raised fears of an all-out war.Hezbollah said it had launched 100 rockets and missiles at Israeli military positions “as part of the response to the assassination”. No injuries were reported.The Israeli military said Nasser commanded a unit responsible for launching rockets from south-western Lebanon and accused him of directing a “large number of terror attacks”.It…