Author: BBC

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…

25 minutes agoBy Tom Espiner, BBC business reporterPost Office Horizon IT InquiryFormer Post Office chair Tim Parker has denied deliberately hiding a key report he commissioned into the Horizon IT system from members of the Post Office board.The 2016 report, written by former top Treasury lawyer Jonathan Swift, raised concerns about the accounting software which was later found to be faulty. Incorrect data from Horizon led to the wrongful conviction of 700 sub-postmasters for theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015. On Wednesday, an inquiry into the scandal heard that only four copies of the Swift report were made, none of which…

Virtual reality could be used to train the next generation of fire investigators.Researchers build mock crime scenes and, with the help of firefighters, conduct a controlled burn while carefully measuring the results.The scene can then be re-built in virtual reality. Research shows more investigators were able to work out the origin and development of a fire using this technology.The team from the University of Dundee, as well as emergency services, hope virtual reality could soon be used to train new investigators and share crime scene data more easily. Source link

Getty ImagesPeople prescribed semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, to lose weight, may have a higher risk of developing a serious but rare eye condition, a study suggests.Analysing 17,000 patients over six years, US researchers found those taking the drug for type 2 diabetes were four times more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than patients not on the drug.Among those taking it for obesity, the risk of the condition was seven times higher.But the researchers cannot prove semaglutide caused the eye condition, which can lead to loss of vision in one eye, nor can they explain the increased…

27 minutes agoBy Paul Kirby, BBC NewsFRANCOIS MONIER/AFPPM Gabriel Attal is not expected to survive in his job much beyond Sunday’s electionsFrench Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has appealed to voters to block the National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella from winning Sunday’s general election.The party led the first round last Sunday with more than 33% of the vote and has already won dozens of seats outright. If it secures more than half the 577 seats in the National Assembly, it will be be able to form a government.”There’s one bloc in a position to win an absolute…

The role machine learning can play in accurate blood tests for bowel cancer. Source link

A celebrated French drag cabaret has given its final performance, bringing an end to the Parisian fixture that inspired a Hollywood film.Chez Michou said on social media that Sunday’s performance would be its last due to financial reasons. The trailblazing cabaret in the capital’s Montmartre district brought drag entertainment to France in the mid-1950s. The venue’s managers said that a liquidator would be appointed later this month, with hopes that a buyer can be found for the club. Despite being in a tiny venue, Chez Michou decorated with gilt framed mirrors attracted visitors from across France and around the world.…