Author: BBC

Sex Education star Anne-Marie Duff is returning to the London stage for a new production of 1930s play The Little Foxes.The actress won a Bafta TV Award last year for her performance in Apple TV series Bad Sisters, and has also appeared in His Dark Materials and The Salisbury Poisonings.Later this year, Duff will appear at the Young Vic theatre in a new adaptation of The Little Foxes, directed by Oliver Award winner Lyndsey Turner.Duff told BBC News it was “a joy to return to the Young Vic stage and bring Lillian Hellman’s classic play to life”.First performed in 1939,…

31 minutes agoBy Paul Myers, Olga Robinson, Shayan Sardarizadeh and Mike Wendling, BBC Verify and BBC NewsXJohn Mark Dougan, an American ex-cop, now lives in Moscow and runs a network of AI-powered fake news sitesA network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation that is increasingly targeting the US election, a BBC investigation can reveal. A former Florida police officer who relocated to Moscow is one of the key figures behind it.It would have been a bombshell report – if it was true.Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, allegedly…

11 minutes agoBy Umaru Fofana, BBC News, FreetownKhadijatu BarrieKhadijatu Barrie ran away from home aged 10 because her father wanted her to get marriedSierra Leone has brought in a new law banning child marriage with much fanfare at a ceremony organised by First Lady Fatima Bio in the capital, Freetown.Invited guests, including first ladies from Cape Verde and Namibia, watched as her husband President Julius Maada Bio signed the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act into law.Anybody now involved in the marriage of a girl aged under the age of 18 will be jailed for at least 15 years or fined around $…

16 minutes agoBy Zoe Kleinman, Technology editorGetty ImagesUnder Jensen Huang’s leadership Nvidia has seen its share price soarLife comes at you fast.Last month, AI chip giant Nvidia briefly became the world’s richest company, overtaking Microsoft, which had in turn risen above Apple.When this news was mentioned on stage at a tech industry event I attended in Copenhagen, there was spontaneous applause from the audience.As I write, Nvidia is now back in second place, after a fall in its share price took its combined value down to $3tn (£2.4tn) compared with $3.4tn for Microsoft.Two things have propelled these two US tech titans to…

22 minutes agoBy Bernd Debusmann Jr, BBC News, Washington With decisions on everything from civil rights and the environment to guns and religious freedoms, the US Supreme Court has always played a powerful role in American life.But that role has been changing in some ways, with the court’s nine justices – unelected and able to serve for life – now looming larger in the country’s politics.As the grand finale of its 2023-2024 term, the court issued a decision to settle what Chief Justice John Roberts wrote was a “question of lasting significance”, by ruling that Donald Trump and other ex-presidents have a…

15 hours agoBy Pauline McLean, Arts CorrespondentGettyThere is a huge list of credits on the end of Kevin Costner’s latest film Horizon: An American Saga.Hardly surprising, given it is three hours and one minute long and just part of a four-film vision which the Hollywood actor and director has wanted to make for almost 40 years. Among those names is a Scottish orchestra which played a central role in the film, released in cinemas this past weekend.The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) was approached by Costner last year to record the soundtrack for the film.Composer John Debney – whose credits include Elf…

Viktor Orban arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for an unannounced visit having just taken over as rotating president of the European Union.While in Kyiv, the Hungarian prime minister said a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine could speed up negotiations to end the war that has followed Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.Mr Orban has been a critic of Western support for Ukraine and is seen as the European leader closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was his first visit to Ukraine in 12 years, although he has met Mr Putin repeatedly during that time.During his joint appearance with Ukrainian President…

8 hours agoBy Lewis Adams, BBC News, at Chelmsford Crown CourtGetty ImagesFake pornographic images of Holly Willoughby were found on a device owned by Gavin Plumb, it has been allegedA man accused of masterminding a plan to abduct, rape and murder Holly Willoughby was living a “dark, twisted fantasy”, his barrister argued.Defending Gavin Plumb, Sasha Wass KC said the 37-year-old held “vile and misogynistic” conversations online but they were “a fantasy nonetheless”.The trial at Chelmsford Crown Court was previously told that Mr Plumb was arrested after disclosing his alleged plot to an undercover police officer from the US.Security guard Mr Plumb, from…

1 hour agoBy Jaroslav Lukiv, BBC NewsGetty ImagesDonald Trump called May’s verdict in the New York case a “disgrace”Donald Trump’s 11 July sentencing in his hush money case may be delayed after his lawyers asked the judge to set aside his conviction in the wake of Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.In a letter to Justice Juan Merchan, Manhattan prosecutors said that while they believed Trump’s motion to overturn his conviction to be “without merit”, they did not object to his request to delay the sentencing. The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for “official actions” they…

The US government has given $176 million to Moderna to develop an mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccine that would work against bird flu. It says it wants to be “better prepared” for future public health crises, having learned lessons from Covid. Bird flu is not a big threat to people, despite outbreaks in poultry and cattle. But experts want a working vaccine that could be quickly rolled out, just in case the virus mutates and becomes a problem.Making a vaccine using mRNA technology – which the company’s Covid jab is also based on – is faster than previous ways of doing…